THEHACKCITY

Google has introduced its earthquake alert system for Android devices in India. This innovative system utilizes smartphone sensors like accelerators, effectively functioning as miniature seismometers to detect tremors. Developed in consultation with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the National Seismology Center (NSC), the system aims to provide early earthquake alerts to Android users in potentially affected areas. These alerts will be delivered in local Indian languages supported by Android. Google issues two types of alerts: "Be Aware" and "Take Action." "Be Aware" alerts are dispatched to users experiencing MMI 3 & 4 shaking during an earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or higher. These alerts appear on the screen without any accompanying sound, even if the phone is in Do Not Disturb or silent mode. For users facing MMI 5+ shaking during a 4.5 magnitude earthquake, Google sends alerts that bypass the device's notification settings,...

Net neutrality is making a comeback. After a protracted battle that culminated in a defeat during Trump’s presidency, the FCC is poised to reintroduce regulations requiring broadband providers to treat all traffic equally, without giving preferential treatment to business partners or their own services. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, an original champion of this rule over a decade ago, announced the effort to revive this widely supported principle in a speech at the National Press Club. Rosenworcel emphasized that broadband is not a luxury, but a necessity, stating, “It is essential infrastructure for modern life. No one without it has a fair shot at 21st-century success. We need broadband to reach 100% of us, and it needs to be fast, open, and fair.” In a fact sheet posted online, Rosenworcel explained that the FCC aims to largely revert to the successful rules adopted in 2015, which would categorize broadband as an essential service on par with water, power, and phone service. A...

Game developers impacted by Unity’s revised pricing model are taking a stand. A coalition of developers spanning 19 companies, primarily based in Europe and predominantly focused on mobile gaming, has issued an open letter pressing Unity to reconsider its recent pricing alterations. This letter echoes sentiments expressed by other developers this week, but with a significant twist. "As an immediate course of action, our collective of game development companies is compelled to disable all IronSource and Unity Ads monetization across our projects until these changes are reevaluated," the letter states. Effectively, these companies, representing thousands of games with billions of downloads, have prevented Unity from generating further revenue in their games. Some notable companies in the letter include Voodoo.io, Azur Games, and SayGames, each boasting over 100 games. Developers have been sending numerous messages urging the company to reverse its decision. Some have even threa...

  The Justice Department's antitrust case against Google began today, setting the stage for a months-long trial that could have a major impact on the tech industry. The government alleges that Google has abused its monopoly power in the search market by paying billions of dollars to phone makers and other companies to make its search engine the default option. Google denies the allegations, arguing that it is simply offering consumers the best product. The case is being closely watched by other tech giants, who are concerned that they could be next in the government's crosshairs. If the Justice Department is successful in breaking up Google's search monopoly, it could set a precedent for other antitrust cases and lead to a more competitive tech industry. Here are some of the key arguments in the case: The government argues that Google's deals with phone makers and other companies give it an unfair advantage in the search market. By paying these companies to make its sea...

The recent Android beta update for WhatsApp (version 2.23.19.8) introduced a new feature called "Third-party chats," as reported by WABetaInfo. Currently, this screen is not operational or accessible to users, as noted by WABetaInfo. However, its title strongly suggests that this may be the initial step towards enabling Meta's encrypted messaging app to be compatible across different platforms. This beta release follows closely after the European Commission affirmed that Meta, the owner of WhatsApp, falls under the classification of a "gatekeeper" according to the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). This legislation mandates that communication software like WhatsApp must be capable of interoperating with third-party messaging applications by March 2024. WABetaInfo shared a screenshot of the new screen via a tweet. The DMA's primary objective, as outlined in the European Commission's FAQ about the law, is to prevent gatekeepers from imposing unfair condit...

Elon Musk has affirmed that he effectively halted a Ukrainian military strike on Russia by refusing to grant permission for Starlink's use in the operation. The billionaire asserts that this decision was made to avoid complicity in a significant act of war. However, it also raises significant questions about the influence of wealthy individuals in military affairs. According to a forthcoming biography by Walter Isaacson, CNN initially reported this news. In the book, Musk recounts an incident in 2022 when Ukraine planned an assault on Russia's navy near Crimea. The vessels and marine drones slated for this attack depended on Starlink for connectivity, but the satellite internet service, as Musk later stated on Twitter, was not operational over the region. When Ukraine urgently requested activation, he declined, resulting in the drones losing connectivity and drifting ashore harmlessly, leaving the Russian ships untouched. In essence, a government sought a service from a private...

  A BMW executive informed Autocar magazine that the company will discontinue its $18 monthly subscription for heated seats. Instead, the carmaker intends to maintain a subscription model for specific features. BMW drivers can now enjoy the convenience of having their heated seats activated without any additional charges. Pieter Nota, the board member for sales and marketing at the German car manufacturer, revealed in an interview published on Thursday that consumers will no longer be billed for functionalities already included in their vehicles. This includes the approximately $18 monthly fee, or $180 annually, to activate the pre-installed heated seats. BMW cars typically range in price from the low $30,000s to the high $70,000s in the US. In 2020, the company had indicated the possibility of implementing subscription charges for features already present in the vehicles. It appears that seat warming charges were introduced in 2022. Nota clarified, "We no longer offer seat heatin...

 Last week, Citizen Lab discovered an actively exploited zero-click vulnerability while examining the device of an individual employed by a civil society organization based in Washington DC, which also operates internationally. This vulnerability was being utilized to deploy NSO Group's Pegasus mercenary spyware. The Exploit Chain: BLASTPASS Citezen lab dubbed this exploit chain BLASTPASS. It had the capability to compromise iPhones running the latest iOS version (16.6) without requiring any action from the victim. The exploit functioned through PassKit attachments that contained malicious images sent from an attacker's iMessage account to the victim. Citezen lab said they have plan to release a more comprehensive analysis of the exploit chain in due course. Disclosure to Apple & CVEs Citizen Lab promptly shared our discoveries with Apple and provided assistance in their investigation. Subsequently, Apple issued two CVEs pertaining to this exploit chain (CVE-2023-41064 and...

  Google is currently in the testing phase of a new approach to delivering ads on the YouTube app for TVs. Users can anticipate encountering fewer, albeit longer, ads. This shift is aimed at enhancing the viewing experience, particularly during extended content, akin to the customary commercial breaks seen in linear TV programming. Additionally, YouTube is working on refining the ad timer for TV, aiming to provide a clearer indication of the remaining time in the ad break. Currently, YouTube displays the length of a specific ad along with a placeholder indicating "Ad 1 of 2," which doesn't offer a precise estimate of the break's duration. The company has announced plans to commence testing this updated timer, focusing on the total duration of the ad break, in the near future. Earlier this year, YouTube introduced 30-second unskippable ads for TV viewers. In April, the company reported reaching 150 million viewers through connected TVs in the U.S. According to the late...

  According to a report released by the Mozilla Foundation , cars have emerged as the most egregious offenders in terms of user privacy practices. Out of all the product categories assessed, cars received the dubious distinction of being the "official worst" for privacy. The global nonprofit discovered that a staggering 92 percent of the evaluated automakers afford drivers scant control over their personal data, with 84 percent sharing this information with external entities. Renowned for its open-source Firefox web browser, the Mozilla Foundation is committed to safeguarding the health of the internet. Their "Privacy Not Included" series has produced various reports and guides that scrutinize how products and services, ranging from mental health apps to app stores, handle user data, offering recommendations for enhanced protection. A visual representation featuring a car and a startled emoji underscores that all 25 cars examined by Mozilla fell short of the organiz...

  Do you remember Clubhouse? During the height of pandemic lockdowns, the invite-only social audio app experienced a staggering 10-fold increase in monthly growth. However, it quickly faded from public conversation, almost as swiftly as a16z investors opened their wallets. Now, Clubhouse is making a bold move in an attempt to regain relevance. Today, the company unveiled "the new Clubhouse," featuring a fresh format called "chats." According to Clubhouse's blog post, envision a Chat as if your group texts and Instagram Stories had a lively conversation at the park, became fast friends, and fell in love. To be more explicit, Clubhouse chats immerse you and your friends in an asynchronous group where you can send voice messages resembling entries in an Instagram story, rather than individual texts. Unlike iMessage, Clubhouse also transcribes these voice messages. Chats can be set to friends only, or extended to friends of friends. It's worth noting that this w...

  Starting in November, YouTube is streamlining ad controls for creators. Instead of individual settings for pre-roll, post-roll, skippable, and non-skippable ads in YouTube Studio, creators will now have the option to enable or disable ads before or after a video. If ads are enabled, YouTube will determine the appropriate placement, whether it's pre-roll, post-roll, skippable, or non-skippable, according to a notice on a support document authored by "Rob," a member of the YouTube team. YouTube contends that most creators won't experience a significant impact, as many of these ad formats are already enabled by default. Rob stated, "In the last year, for long-form videos that were enabled for monetization at the time of publishing, more than 90 percent of videos had pre-roll, post-roll, skippable, and non-skippable ads turned on." However, for creators seeking finer control over the types of ads shown to their viewers, this change may be disappointing. Additi...

  Google will soon implement a policy mandating political advertisers to prominently disclose their use of AI in creating their ads, as initially reported by Bloomberg. Starting in November, Google stipulates that advertisers must include a disclosure whenever an election ad features "synthetic content" portraying "realistic-looking people or events." This encompasses political ads employing AI to make individuals appear as though they are saying or doing things they never actually did. It also covers alterations to actual event footage (or fabrication of a realistic-seeming event) to depict a scene that never transpired. Google asserts that such ads must feature a disclaimer in a clear and conspicuous location, specifying that this requirement applies to images, videos, and audio content. The labels must state things like "This audio was computer generated" or "This image does not depict real events." Minor adjustments, like enhancing an image, ...

 In recent years, a spyware named WebDetetive, designed to operate in Portuguese, has been utilized to compromise over 76,000 Android smartphones primarily in South America, with a focus on Brazil. WebDetetive is the latest in a series of phone spyware companies that have fallen victim to hacking attacks in recent months. The hackers, whose identity remains unknown, discovered and exploited several security vulnerabilities to infiltrate WebDetetive's servers and gain access to its user databases. Additionally, they manipulated weaknesses in the spyware maker's web dashboard, which abusers use to access stolen phone data from their targets. Using this approach, the hackers managed to extract all dashboard records, including customer email addresses. The hackers also utilized their dashboard access to remove victim devices from the spyware network, effectively severing the server-level connection and preventing further data uploads. In a statement, the hackers asserted their moti...

  In October 2021, Google introduced the Pixel Pass subscription program alongside the launch of the Pixel 6 series phones. This program offered three key benefits for a single monthly payment of $45 for the Pixel 6 or $55 for the 6 Pro: access to Google's premier mobile services, device protection, and regular device upgrades. However, on a recent Tuesday, Google sent emails to Pixel Pass customers announcing that they would no longer be accepting new Pixel Pass subscriptions or renewals. Customers who had already subscribed weren't losing any special privileges since the subscription fee covered the cost of the phone and a discounted rate for bundled services over a two-year period. Nevertheless, some disappointed customers in the Google Pixel subreddit expressed concerns about losing certain perks, such as a lower rate they had previously locked in from Google Play Music to join the Play Pass and losing access to bundled services that were part of the package. The Pixel Pass...

Meta is contemplating the introduction of a paid subscription service for Facebook and Instagram in Europe, as per a report in The New York Times. This move is aimed at addressing European Union (EU) concerns regarding data privacy and advertising. However, there are currently no details available regarding the subscription price, release date, or even whether the product will ultimately be launched. Meta has been engaged in disputes with the EU and other European regulatory bodies over alleged privacy infringements related to its ad-tracking services and data transfers. Ireland's Data Protection Commission previously imposed a $1.3 billion fine on Meta for the improper transfer of European user data to the United States, violating GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). In July, the US and the EU signed a data transfer agreement, relaxing restrictions on social media platforms. Meta has already begun offering an option to opt out of targeted advertising in the EU, and there hav...

  X, formerly known as Twitter, is set to implement a new privacy policy that involves the collection of users' biometric data, as reported by Bloomberg. The updated policy, effective from September 29, also outlines X's intention to gather users' job and education histories. The revised policy states, "With your consent, we may gather and employ your biometric data for purposes related to safety, security, and identification." While X has not explicitly defined what it means by "biometric information," it typically refers to a person's physical attributes like their facial features or fingerprints. The company has not yet disclosed the specifics of how it plans to acquire this data. According to X, the biometric data collection will primarily apply to premium users, offering them the choice to submit their government ID and an image to enhance verification procedures. Biometric data might be extracted from both the ID and image for matching purposes...