Consumer Confidential: Is the Apple iPhone Really Any Different From Other Consumer Products?
Apple lawyer Ted Olson said last week that the tech heavyweight has good reason not to help federal investigators hack an iPhone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters. The company, he said, “has to draw the line at re-creating code” and “changing” its product. To which there’s a two-word response: seat belts. And here’s two more: air bags. In both those cases, the auto industry said federal officials had no right to make...
Hackers Re-Emerge With New Identities
After Sony Pictures Entertainment was hacked shortly before Thanksgiving of 2014, the attackers — who dubbed themselves the Guardians of Peace — went quiet. Or so it seemed. But now researchers say they’ve linked the attackers — whom the U.S. government has said were directed by North Korea — to a chameleon-like group active since at least 2009 and still on the digital warpath, attacking systems in South Korea and elsewhere in Asia. A...
Bill Allows Firms To Share Data With Government
The Senate passed a cybersecurity bill last week that would give companies legal immunity for sharing data with the federal government, over the protests of some lawmakers and consumer advocates who say that the legislation does not adequately protect Americans’ privacy. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA, must now be reconciled with legislation passed earlier this year by the House. The Obama administration and...
High Court Won’t Take Overturned Insider Trader Conviction
Washington — The Supreme Court said Monday it won’t hear the Obama administration’s appeal of a lower court ruling that made it tougher to prosecute people for trading on leaked inside information. The justices let stand a decision by the federal appeals court in New York last year that threw out insider trading convictions of two high-profile hedge fund managers. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the convictions of...
Supercomputer Maker Advances Weather Forecasts
Seattle — When you pull up the weather forecast on your smartphone or check online to see if a storm is coming tomorrow, you likely have a Seattle company to thank for the predictions. Supercomputer company Cray recently signed another big contract to provide computing power to another major weather center. Under the agreement, Cray’s technology will power weather forecasts from the Swiss Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology....
