The Federal Communications Commission and other U.S. agencies have failed to properly oversee Chinese telecom companies that operate in the United States, according to a bipartisan Senate report released today. Ars Technica reports: After a year-long investigation, the staff report by the US Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations "found that the FCC and 'Team Telecom' -- an informal group comprised of officials from the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Defenseâ"have failed to monitor these three Chinese government-owned carriers," a joint announcement by the subcommittee's Republican and Democratic leaders said. The three carriers the subcommittee referred to are China Telecom Americas (CTA), China Unicom Americas (CUA), and ComNet USA. The companies "operated in the U.S. for nearly 20 Years with little to no oversight from the federal government," the senators' announcement said. "The Chinese government engages in cyber and economic espionage efforts against the United States and may use telecommunications carriers operating in the United States to further these efforts," the report said.

The report comes two months after the FCC stepped up its scrutiny of telecom companies controlled by the Chinese government. The FCC issued orders to China Telecom, China Unicom, ComNet, and ComNet owner Pacific Networks, directing them "to explain why the Commission should not start the process of revoking their domestic and international section authorizations enabling them to operate in the United States." But the FCC and other agencies had previously failed to exercise proper oversight of these companies, the Senate report said. The lack of oversight described in the report occurred during both Republican and Democratic administrations. "An FCC spokesman said the commission looks forward to reviewing the Senate report," according to a Reuters article today.

Commonwealth countries are to gain free access to satellite technology that will help them monitor and protect their endangered coral reefs from threats such as climate breakdown, overfishing and pollution. The Guardian reports: Commonwealth countries hold nearly half of the world's remaining tropical coral reefs, with 47 out of the 54 member countries having a coastline. Nearly half of them are islands or groups of islands, which face particular threats from the climate crisis, and for whom coral reefs are often vital protections against storms as well as fish nurseries and tourist attractions. Nearly all the reefs are at risk of extinction in the coming decades as the climate crisis takes hold, and nearly half of the world's reefs have already been destroyed or badly damaged in the last 30 years owing to changes in the climate, overfishing, pollution and other exploitation. About 250 million people are directly dependent on coral reefs for their livelihoods.

The technology will use high-resolution satellite images and data analyses to allow marine scientists, government officials and policymakers to monitor the health of coral reefs and take the action needed to protect them. Software will be provided to countries free through the Commonwealth's partnership with Vulcan Inc, a US-based group founded by Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen, and a new interactive coral reef map will be hosted online at the Commonwealth Innovation Hub.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Over the past two weeks, cops have been deploying every tool at their disposal to suppress worldwide protests and riots over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and other Black citizens killed by police. Since the protests began, demonstrators in multiple cities have reported spotting LRADs, or Long-Range Acoustic Devices, sonic weapons that blast sound waves at crowds over large distances and can cause permanent hearing loss. In response, two audio engineers from New York City have designed and built a shield which they say can block and even partially reflect these harmful sonic blasts back at the police. The shield's designers, Dave Rife and Gabe Liberti, were inspired to build the device after marching in the protests in New York City and hearing about LRAD sightings at demonstrations across the U.S.

"It's definitely been on our mind a lot how we've been seeing police instigating violence, and we've heard rumblings here and there about LRADs being spotted in NYC," said Rife, the shield's co-designer, who has previously worked in the architecture industry as an expert in acoustics. "We met on Sunday with the aim of building something that resembles a protest sign but can block a fair amount of sound energy. The idea is there could be a few of these in a car, driven to the location where someone has seen an LRAD, and then carried by hand from there." Rife and Liberti designed their shield to reflect audible sound waves that are condensed and carried via ultrasonic frequencies, and have tested it against a smaller and less powerful version of the LRAD that they built in their studio. It's made from a pine batten structure filled with recycled denim insulation, and covered by a half inch of clear acrylic on both sides, enabling the user to see ahead through a small window. According to a detailed teardown of the LRAD 300X posted by another audio technician, the LRADs produced by Genasys, the company that pioneered the devices, do not use an ultrasonic beam to project sound. However, Rife and Liberti say their design would still be effective against these hyper-directional blasts.

jrepin writes: The KDE community has released Plasma 5.19, the popular free and open-source desktop environment. "In this release, we have prioritized making Plasma more consistent, correcting and unifying designs of widgets and desktop elements; worked on giving you more control over your desktop by adding configuration options to the System Settings; and improved usability, making Plasma and its components easier to use and an overall more pleasurable experience," reads the announcement. For a complete list of what's new, you can visit the Plasma 5.19 changelog.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted on Tuesday to adopt auction procedures to provide up to $16 billion to areas that lack broadband service, including nearly 6 million unserved rural homes and businesses. From a report: The FCC voted to commence the auction on Oct. 29. Auction applicants will be required to offer voice and broadband services in unserved locations in exchange for receiving monthly payments over 10 years. The three FCC Republican commissioners approved the proposal, while the two Democrats dissented in part. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican, said Americans without access to high-speed internet "deserve access as soon as possible. They cannot afford to wait ... while we work to develop new, more granular broadband coverage maps" that will be used to award a subsequent $4 billion.

Senate investigators said Tuesday that government officials had "exercised minimal oversight" of the risks posed by three Chinese telecom companies that operate on American communications networks. From a report: Federal agencies failed to properly follow up on some agreements meant to protect national security, did not provide adequate workers to vet the Chinese companies and operated through a "disorganized" process, according to a report from the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The report looked into a group of officials from the Homeland Security, Justice and Defense Departments, known as Team Telecom, that has historically advised the Federal Communications Commission on the possible national security risks of foreign involvement in American networks. The findings could put pressure on officials at those agencies and embolden politicians from both parties who argue that the United States must move quickly to sever any links between its communications networks and Chinese companies.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna called on Congress Monday to enact reforms to advance racial justice and combat systemic racism while announcing the company was getting out of the facial recognition business. CNBC reports: "IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values and Principles of Trust and Transparency," Krishna wrote in the letter delivered to members of Congress late Monday. "We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies."

IBM decided to shut down its facial recognition products and announce its decision as the death of George Floyd brought the topic of police reform and racial inequity into the forefront of the national conversation, a person familiar with the situation told CNBC. IBM's facial recognition business did not generate significant revenue for the company, the person familiar with the situation said, but the decision remains notable for a technology giant that counts the U.S. government as a major customer. The decision was both a business and an ethical one, the person familiar with the situation said. The company heard in the past few weeks concerns from many constituencies, including employees, about its use of the technology, the person added.

"Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool that can help law enforcement keep citizens safe. But vendors and users of Al systems have a shared responsibility to ensure that Al is tested for bias, particularly when used in law enforcement, and that such bias testing is audited and reported," Krishna wrote. The letter was addressed to sponsors and co-sponsors of a sweeping police reform bill unveiled by Democrats Monday -- Black Caucus Chair Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Bridge has started "singing" following recent changes to bicycle-path railings that appear to make music as the wind blows through them, residents have reported. The Guardian reports: Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz, a Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District spokesperson, said the sounds stemmed from long-planned wind retrofitting. "The new musical tones coming from the bridge are a known and inevitable phenomenon that stem from our wind retrofit project during very high winds. The wind retrofit project is designed to make the Bridge more aerodynamic under high wind conditions and is necessary to ensure the safety and structural integrity of the Bridge for generations to come," Cosulich-Schwartz said.

"We knew going into the handrail replacement that the bridge would sing during exceptionally high winds from the west, as we saw yesterday. We are pleased to see the new railing is allowing wind to flow more smoothly across the bridge." Others who posted videos of the novel sound appeared more at ease, however. One described it as "so peaceful." Another said: "So crazy but also kinda beautiful!!" "We can hear this in our house more than three miles away from the bridge. It's crazy making," one user wrote Friday evening.

Brands have long been able to bid for the premier slot at the top left of Amazon's listings, but during the pandemic the online retailer has begun using this position for its private-label items, raising antitrust concerns. From a report: Until recently, when Amazon customers typed "melatonin" into the site's search bar, a variety of sleep supplements would appear in the most coveted real estate on the listings results -- top left on the first page. One of consultant Jason Boyce's clients, a seller of natural supplements, often sought to outbid competitors for the best spots by promising Amazon about $6 each time someone clicked on the product. While the brand never attained the top left slot, it regularly landed in the top row. But in late March, Boyce noticed that Amazon's own brand, Solimo, had taken over the top left, while his client's product had been bumped to a lower row. Then Boyce typed "ground coffee" in the search bar, only to find AmazonFresh Colombia ground coffee in the top left, pushing down another client. Although customers don't necessarily realize it, brands have for years been able to bid on search terms to secure the most visible listing positions at the top of Amazon's product search results pages, where their products carry a "sponsored" tag above the description.

Now, they still bid for top-row placements, but the best spot -- the top left on the first page -- is unavailable across dozens of product search terms, according to consultants and ProPublica's own review. During the pandemic, Amazon has begun to use that position for its own private-label products, without bidding, under the heading "featured from our brands." The domino effect of Amazon's new strategy has demoted competitors' listings for products including diapers, copy paper, kids' pajamas, mattresses, trail mix and lightbulbs. By putting its own private brands in some of the most valuable slots, Amazon is sacrificing short-term ad revenue to build up sales of its private brands over time, consultants said. The new approach violates Amazon's mantra that every decision must put the customer first, said Tim Hughes, a consultant who used to work in product management at Amazon.

If our social platforms are going to be gatekeepers, then they need to acknowledge their role in the information ecosystems. It is knowing what to boost and what to ignore that makes a good platform, writes veteran technology journalist and now a venture capitalist Om Malik. From his essay: The battle of good email versus spam email has taken a long time, but it has been worth fighting. The struggle between real information and fake information is no different. Unfortunately, what we have is ambivalent algorithms on our social platforms that blindly amplify both hope and hate. This gets complicated pretty quickly. Without access to the same platforms currently being used to gaslight our country, we won't see the awful videos of police in conflict with the people they should protect. Without the same platforms, it would be harder to tell that the media just glorifies the titillating stuff, whether it is the opinion page of the old Gray Lady or the fake looting of a non-existent Rolex store.

I am the first to admit that this is one hard and messy problem. The challenge we face today is that technology's supreme commanders fail to fight the real monkey on their back -- how the modern internet works. Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, or Google, the core principle of these companies is engagement and growth. More engagement means more growth, and that means more attention and thus more money. If Facebook removed news from your feed and just restricted it to social items, like baby pictures, ravings of a crazy uncle, and event announcements, there is a good chance that engagement on the platform would decrease. Twitter would be a lot less engaging if it reverted back to its original premise of showing the latest, not the loudest. And what if Google stopped rewarding frequent visits as one of the measurements for showing the results on its search engine? I think you know.

It may seem obvious, with double-digit unemployment and plunging economic output. But if there was any remaining doubt that the U.S. is in a recession, it's now been removed by the official scorekeepers at the National Bureau of Economic Research. From a report: The NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee -- the fat lady of economic opera -- says the expansion peaked in February after a record 128 months, and we've been sliding into a pandemic-driven recession ever since. In making the announcement, the committee pointed to the "unprecedented magnitude of the decline in employment and production, and its broad reach across the entire economy." At the same time, the committee noted the recession could be short-lived. The U.S. added 2.5 million jobs last month, after losing more than 22 million in March and April. Many forecasters expect economic output to begin growing again in the third quarter.

A new study on kids' app usage and habits indicates a major threat to YouTube's dominance, as kids now split their time between Google's online video platform and other apps, like TikTok, Netflix and mobile games like Roblox. From a report: Kids ages four to 15 now spend an average of 85 minutes per day watching YouTube videos, compared with 80 minutes per day spent on TikTok. The latter app also drove growth in kids' social app use by 100% in 2019 and 200% in 2020, the report found. The data in the annual report by digital safety app maker Qustodio was provided by 60,000 families with children ages four to 14 in the U.S., U.K. and Spain, so its data isn't representative of global trends. The research encompasses children's online habits from February 2019 to April 2020, takes into account the COVID-19 crisis and is specifically focused on four main categories of mobile applications: online video, social media, video games and education. YouTube, not surprisingly, remains one of the most-used apps among children, the study found. Kids are now watching twice as many videos per day as they did just four years ago.

A study that analyzed the top 54 open source projects found that security vulnerabilities in these tools doubled in 2019, going from 421 bugs reported in 2018 to 968 last year. From a report: According to RiskSense's "The Dark Reality of Open Source" report, released today, the company found 2,694 bugs reported in popular open source projects between 2015 and March 2020. The report didn't include projects like Linux, WordPress, Drupal, and other super-popular free tools, since these projects are often monitored, and security bugs make the news, ensuring most of these security issues get patched fairly quickly. Instead, RiskSense looked at other popular open source projects that aren't as well known but broadly adopted by the tech and software community. This included tools like Jenkins, MongoDB, Elasticsearch, Chef, GitLab, Spark, Puppet, and others. RiskSense says that one of the main problems they found during their study was that a large number of the security bugs they analyzed had been reported to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) many weeks after they've been publicly disclosed. The company said it usually took on average around 54 days for bugs found in these 54 projects to be reported to the NVD, with PostgreSQL seeing reporting delays that amounted to eight months.

America's Air Force "is hoping to pit an autonomous drone equipped with an artificial intelligence-driven flight control system against a fighter jet with a human pilot in a little over a year," reports The Drive: [T]he general concept of a fully-autonomous unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) capable of air-to-air combat, as well as air-to-ground strikes, hold great potential to fundamentally change the character of aerial warfare... At its most basic, a UCAV would be able to perform many of the same functions as manned aircraft, but would be able to make key decisions faster and more accurately, taking into account much more information in a shorter period of time, without any concern about being distracted or confused by the general chaos of combat. They can also be networked into swarms that work cooperatively to maximize their combat effectiveness at any given time far beyond what a human-piloted formation could.
The head of Air Force's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center "implied that the scheduled faceoff was very much an aspirational goal," according to the article, "and that it wasn't clear if it would happen as planned."

They also remember when Elon Musk responded to a tweet suggesting there should be a competitor to the Air Force's F-35 program. "The competitor should be a drone fighter plane that's remote controlled by a human," Musk wrote, "but with its maneuvers augmented by autonomy. The F-35 would have no chance against it."

89-year-old Forrest Fenn had a secret, reports the Guardian. He'd hidden a treasure chest worth over $1 million somewhere in America's Rocky Mountains: For more than a decade, he packed and repacked his treasure chest, sprinkling in gold dust and adding hundreds of rare gold coins and gold nuggets. Pre-Colombian animal figures went in, along with prehistoric mirrors of hammered gold, ancient Chinese faces carved from jade and antique jewelry with rubies and emeralds.
For more than 10 years, "hundreds of thousands" of fortune-hunters searched for his hidden treasure chest, according to the Guardian (adding "Some have said it was a hoax and pursued lawsuits.") Fenn posted clues online, and included nine hints in a 24-line poem in his 2010 autobiography, The Thrill of the Chase. Many quit their jobs to dedicate themselves to the search and others depleted their life savings. At least four people are believed to have died searching for it.

Fenn, who lives in Santa Fe, said he hid his treasure as a way to tempt people to get into the wilderness and give them a chance to launch an old-fashioned adventure and expedition for riches.
"There seemed to be despair everywhere," Fenn told Business Insider in 2018. "I wanted to give people some hope and something to believe in... I hope parents will take their children camping and hiking in the Rocky Mountains. I hope they will fish, look for fossils, turn rotten logs over to see what's under them, and look for my treasure."

So where was it? "It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains," Fenn posted coyly on his web site, "and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago."