Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon

Google’s motto used to be: “Don’t Be Evil!” They dropped that. Now, I guess, they reserve the right to be evil when they want to!

Apple, Firefox tools aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

Fox Business – By: Anick Jesdanun – “Facebook and other companies routinely track your online surfing habits to better target ads at you. Two web browsers now want to help you fight back in what’s becoming an escalating privacy arms race.

New protections in Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox browsers aim to prevent companies from turning ‘cookie’ data files used to store sign-in details and preferences into broader trackers that take note of what you read, watch and research on other sites.

Lance Cottrell, creator of the privacy service Anonymizer, said Apple’s effort was particularly significant, as it takes aim at a technique developed by tracking companies to override users’ attempts to delete their cookies.

Safari makes these protections automatic in updates coming Tuesday to iPhones and iPads and a week later to Mac computers. Firefox has similar protections on Apple mobile devices and is rolling out them out to personal computers in the coming months.

To get the protections, you’ll have to break your habit of using Google’s Chrome browser, which by some estimates has more than half of the worldwide browser usage. Safari and Firefox have less than 20 percent combined.

Even then, Safari and Firefox can’t entirely stop tracking. For starters, they won’t block tracking when you’re using Facebook or Google itself. Nor can they help much when you use phone or tablet apps, unless the app happens to embed Safari, as Twitter’s iPhone app does.

But Will Strafach, a mobile security expert who is designing data security tools for phones, said imperfect protection is better than no protection. He notes that burglars can still break down a door, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother locking it.

Cookies and other trackers can be used by companies to keep track of who you are as you move from website to website. The companies can build a digital profile as you, say, read about Democratic or Republican viewpoints, buy a particular brand of pet food or indulge in the entire season of ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians.’

News, video and other third-party sites use Google and Facebook cookies to customize ads to your hobbies and interests, rather than hawking products you might never buy. That’s why you might see an ad for shoes soon after searching for them elsewhere.

Apple says its tests show that some popular websites are embedded with more than 70 such trackers. Many of these are from Facebook and Google, which are expected to command a combined 57 percent of the $107 billion U.S. digital advertising market this year, according to the research group eMarketer.

Though general awareness of data collection has grown in the wake of Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal , how trackers work behind the scenes remains a mystery to many people.

Ghostery and other products have long offered tracking protection. The browsers are now trying to incorporate that directly so you don’t have to go looking for browser add-ons.

Safari will try to automatically distinguish cookies that are useful from ones that are there just to track you. Apple notes that cookies can appear in unexpected places, such as sites that embed ‘like’ and ‘share’ buttons. Now, those cookies will be blocked until you click on one of those buttons, in which case you’ll be prompted for permission to allow the tracking. If you don’t, your ‘like’ won’t register.

Safari is also attacking a technique developed to circumvent cookie deletions. Through ‘fingerprinting,’ a company can identify you through your computer’s characteristics, such as browser type and fonts installed. Your new cookie can then be tied to your old profile. Safari will now limit the technical details it sends.

Firefox has an anti-tracking feature that also tries to distinguish tracking cookies from useful ones. It’s on by default only on Apple’s mobile devices. Mozilla is testing a broader rollout for personal computers, though its plans for Android are not yet known. For now, you need to turn it on or use a private-browsing mode, which gets more aggressive at killing cookies, including useful ones.

For PCs, Firefox also has an optional add-on, called Facebook Container, to segregate your Facebook activity from everything else. Think of it as a wall that prevents Facebook from accessing its data cookie as you surf elsewhere. A version is available for other trackers, too, but requires configuration on your part.

None of the Firefox tools, though, address fingerprinting.

Unsurprisingly, advertisers aren’t happy.

In a statement, Interactive Advertising Bureau executive Dennis Buchheim said that even as browsers makers feel pressured to deliver privacy-centric features, they should consider the importance of advertising in enabling free services.

The new Safari and Firefox tools don’t block ads. But without cookies, websites might get paid a lot less for them, said Jed Williams, chief innovation officer at the Local Media Association, an industry group for news publishers.

Apple and Mozilla are able to push the boundaries on privacy because neither depends on advertising. Google makes most of its money from selling ads.

Facebook and Google declined comment on the Safari and Firefox tools. But Google said its Chrome browser offers tools to control and delete cookies and set preferences for certain websites. Google says users can also decline personalization and get generic ads instead, though tracking continues in the background while using the company’s services.”

Pay attention to your Facebook account, folks!

Facebook confirms major security breach affecting 50 million users

The Enquirer – By: Carly Page – “Facebook waited until 6 pm on Friday to announce that an estimated 50 million users were affected by a major security breach.

The breach, which Facebook engineers discovered on 25 September, saw hackers exploit a vulnerability in Facebook’s code that impacted ‘View As’, a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks like to someone else.

‘This allowed them to steal Facebook access tokens which they could then use to take over people’s accounts,’ explained Guy Rosen, VP of Product Management at Facebook.

With access to a users’ authentication token, hackers would have had access to private messages, which would have been exposed to harvesting until Facebook forced a log-out.

‘This attack exploited the complex interaction of multiple issues in our code. It stemmed from a change we made to our video uploading feature in July 2017, which impacted ‘View As.’

‘The attackers not only needed to find this vulnerability and use it to get an access token, they then had to pivot from that account to others to steal more tokens.’

The company notes that its internal investigation is ‘still in its early stages’ and says it remains unclear who might be behind the attack or what user data – if any – was taken.

Facebook says it has fixed the vulnerability and reset the access tokens of the almost 50 million accounts affected by the breach. Additionally, as a precaution, it’s resetting tokens for another 40 million accounts that have been subject to ‘View As’.

The firm has also switched off the ‘View As’ feature while it conducts a ‘thorough security review’.

‘People’s privacy and security is incredibly important, and we’re sorry this happened,’ Rosen added. ‘It’s why we’ve taken immediate action to secure these accounts and let users know what happened.

Facebook might end up with another breach to deal with over the weekend, as a Taiwanese hacker claims he’ll delete the Mark Zuckerberg’s account and broadcast himself doing so on Facebook Live on Sunday.”

Interesting article for wireless mic users…

Change is Coming to the Wireless World

Samson – “How the FCC Reallocation of UHF Frequencies may affect your Wireless Mics
We live in a wireless world – and it isn’t just microphones. Our mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, cameras, GPS units and other devices keep us in constant wireless contact with each other, the internet, our files in the cloud, plus a veritable treasure trove of online services and conveniences everyplace we go. At home, in hotels, in restaurants and cafes, at school and in the office, wireless Wi-Fi networks help keep us all connected. And of course, at the gig, in the concert hall, in the theater, in the worship hall and sanctuary, and on the playing field, wireless microphones have become part of the landscape.

For years, all of this wireless growth has had to find a home nestled in among the existing spectrum of television and other frequencies. But here’s the challenge: The wireless communication spectrum is a fixed entity with a finite number of frequencies. We cannot simply unspool or string up more frequencies, as we would with copper wire or fiber optic cables. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which governs the electromagnetic broadcast realm in the United States, has seen this issue coming for decades, and has taken steps to apply some remedies. Most of these FCC remedies apply to the UHF TV band, where many 600 MHz wireless microphone systems also operate.

Understanding the TV Spectrum
From its creation, terrestrial (non-satellite) television was broadcast as an analog signal. The analog TV spectrum ranged from 54 MHz up to 806 MHz*, covering Channels 2 (VHF) to 69 (UHF). Analog signals had limitations about how close neighboring frequencies could be packed together without causing destructive interference with one another, and often a “guard-band” of frequencies was used to isolate a signal from interference. These gaps between adjacent frequencies, local unused channels, and even these so-called guard bands became known as “White Spaces”, where peripheral devices – including wireless microphones – were free to operate. In June 2009, the FCC required all terrestrial TV broadcasts to be digital. At the same time, the digital TV spectrum was redefined as ranging from 54 MHz up to 698 MHz, covering channels 2 to 51. In addition to cannibalizing certain UHF channels, switching “over-the-air” TV broadcasts to the digital domain would free up even more bandwidth for mobile communications, white space devices, and yes, wireless microphones. Digital TV signals could be packed closer together without the risk of destructive interference, and the use of guard-bands was no longer required. By this time, many Americans already received their television signal via cable or satellite, and it was felt the elimination of certain UHF channels in exchange for the greater spectrum available for wireless communications would be well-accepted by the public. Incidentally, this was not the first time such a decision had been made. In 1948, Channel 1 was officially eliminated from the TV spectrum, with those frequencies held in reserve for land-based mobile communications.

*(54 MHz –72, 76–88, 174–216, 470–608, and 614–806 MHz)

New Changes to the UHF Spectrum
Wireless microphones operate in a variety of spectrums – the VHF and UHF television bands, plus the 900 MHz, 1.9 GHz, and 2.4 GHz bands. Upcoming FCC changes to the UHF broadcast band will have a profound effect on wireless microphones operating the in the 600 MHz band. As was the case during the digital conversion, more of the upper UHF TV channel frequencies will now be made available for mobile broadband access. Beginning on July 12, 2020, the UHF TV Spectrum will be re-allocated as follows:

470 MHz – 608 MHz
This portion of the UHF spectrum will be allocated to UHF Channels 14 through 36. In addition, licensed and unlicensed wireless microphones (? 250 mW) may continue to operate in this band. Licensed wireless use generally applies to a fixed venue with a large number of wireless microphones in use, such as a major theatre or a football stadium.

*In thirteen major U.S. cities, Public Safety communications may be operating on one or more select channels (14-20), so wireless microphone use should be curtailed on these channels to avoid conflict.

608 MHz – 14 MHz

Also known as UHF Channel 37, this band of frequencies is reserved for special uses such as wireless medical device telemetry and radio astronomy, plus white space devices.

614 MHz – 616 MHz

Set up and defined as a guard band, these frequencies are available to licensed and unlicensed wireless microphones of ? 20 mW.

616 MHz – 653 MHz

This area of the spectrum is reserved for mobile broadband use; no wireless microphone use is allowed.

653 MHz – 663 MHz

This area of the spectrum is split into two sections. From 653 MHz to 657 MHz, only licensed wireless microphones with a power rating of ? 20 mW are allowed. The frequencies from 657 MHz to 663 MHz are available for licensed and unlicensed wireless microphones (? 20 mW) and white space devices.

663 MHz – 698 MHz

This area of the spectrum is reserved for mobile broadband use; no wireless microphone use is allowed.

Solutions for Samson Wireless Microphone Users
The changes described above will affect Samson wireless microphone systems operating in the 600 MHz band, including the Samson N Channel and the Samson C Band. After July 12, 2020, it will no longer be legal to operate your Samson wireless microphone in these bands. It would be best to transition away from these affected frequencies before July of 2020. In order to ease your transition, Samson has initiated specific rebate programs to aid affected users. For full details, please visit the Samson 600MHz Transition and Rebate Form page below:

https://www.samsontech.com/wireless/600mhz/