ACLU Fights Govt Over Software Terms Of Service Law

The American Civil Liberties Union is a group the many citizens love to hate, but the work they do is vitally important to preserving the rights of everyday citizens. The group’s primary function is to challenge groups that overstep the bounds of the Constitution and infringe on the public’s basic rights, especially when those members of the public are part of groups that have historically been dealt with unfairly.

Now, the ACLU is taking on the US Department of Justice over a law that allows software companies to take legal action against people who violate the terms of service for using their products. That might seem like a colossal waste of time–after all, is Microsoft really going to sue every single individual who checks the “I Agree” box, then violates the 392nd clause in the terms?

The reality is a lot more bleak.

As part of the complaint filed against the DoJ, the ACLU specifically points to the real-world implications of creating fake accounts, a step that has already been deemed necessary for everything from investigating racial bias in real estate (such as refusing to sell homes in “good” neighborhoods to black people) to trapping criminals online.

In a put-into-practice example, if a watchdog group creates a fake account using an alias and false personal details in order to catch an online predator, they can now be held legally accountable for establishing an account that violates the terms of service. While it would be the software company that took legal action against the watchdog group–a very real concern if the software company was named in a lawsuit for allowing pedophiles to use their product to reach children, for example–the other real fear is in the criminal outcome. If the law is allowed to stand, a defense attorney could potentially argue that the evidence was collected in a way that violated the DoJ’s own software law; this could result in all of the evidence against a pedophile being thrown out, essentially costing law enforcement the case and allowing the individual to go free.

Of course, this isn’t an easy topic. While some experts argue that the prohibition on using false information in creating an account is to enable better data mining, there have also been criminal cases in which the defendant created a phony account in order to do harm, such as the aforementioned pedophile who pretends to be a thirteen-year-old girl in order to snare children. Without a clear answer, the ACLU is working towards the good of the highest possible number of people rather than all the people.

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Windows 10: What Happens When The Upgrade Timer Runs Out?

Can Windows 10 really be almost a year old? What will happen after July 29th? Does even Microsoft know? Well, probably, but it isn’t like their telling anybody….

For some of us it may only seem like yesterday we backed up our files, crossed our fingers, and got our hands on Microsoft’s newest flagship operating system for the grand old price of, well, nothing.

And most users of Windows 10 agree, that in the main, the free upgrade to Windows 10 was, a reasonably positive experience, and one they haven’t looked back from.

Of course for others, the upgrade wasn’t by choice, and rightly, perhaps, Microsoft have taken some heavy criticism for the aggressive manner, and malware like stealth tactics they have employed to get people to begin the upgrade.

In fairness to the Washington State based tech giant however, their batting average for the successful adoption of Windows 10 upgrades from 7 or 8, has however, been quite high. According to recently released figures from Microsoft, over 200,000,000 users have gone down the upgrade path.

Of course, this is also the week where the news broke globally that Terri Goldstein succeeded in winning a $10,000 pay out from Microsoft after her Windows 7 computer ‘upgraded’ itself to Windows 10 without her knowledge, and left her laptop virtually unusable.

But what happens when the free upgrade to Windows 10 runs out at the end of this month?

Microsoft’s strategy to release Windows 10 as the final ever version of Windows with a number, and to let anyone with Windows 7 or 8 to get it for free, was as the world has seen, an unparalleled success.

But when the offer to get Windows 10 for free ends at the end of July, there will still be millions of machines out there who haven’t moved to Windows 10. So what are Microsoft going to do?

The answer, according to some sources, is that Microsoft themselves don’t really know, or at least haven’t actually decided just yet.

“For the most part, all of those machines whose owners wanted the upgrade will hopefully have gotten one,” Microsoft corporate vice president Yusuf Mehdi told The Associated Press.

In light of the fact that Microsoft paid out to Goldstein, they’ve now said that upgrade notices will in future carry well defined and clearly marked options to decline the Windows 10 upgrade, so that will make it harder for the tech company to push Windows 10 on people unexpectedly.

Instead other sources have claimed that Microsoft will either extend the deadline for free Windows 10 upgrades by 6 months, or may equally just decide that people have had their 365 days to do it for free, and will now have to pay to get Windows 10.

Of course there is also the third way:

Last month Microsoft did announce permanent free upgrades for those using the ‘Assistive Technologies’ part of Windows 10. Of course, like most magic tricks using smoke and mirrors, this means users will have to have Windows 10 installed.

But considering that Assistive Technologies also includes things such as keyboard shortcuts, well your guess is as good as mine as to quite what that actually means.

In real terms, Microsoft are probably hedging their bets and won’t make any real announcement about what will actually happen to the free upgrade timer until after the deadline is up at the end of July.

If, however, upgrading to Windows 10 is something you’ve been meaning to do for a while, but just never quite got round to it, it might be a good idea to take the plunge, you know, just to be safe.

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Evernote Changes Pricing Structure

Evernote has gone up on its prices or cut some functionality in the free plan…and users aren’t happy.

New outrage has hit the internet as Evernote users deal with changes to the company’s pricing structure, as outlined in a blog post from the company two days ago. Evernote, the productivity app and desktop app that millions of users have come to rely on, offers three current subscriptions: Basic, Plus, and Premium. The two higher level subscriptions will see a price increase in the coming weeks, while the free (Basic) plan will see a minor reduction in the service.

Basic users–arguably, quite a few people–will no longer be able to sync their notes across more than two devices. That means users who rely on the tool for porting their desktop, tablet, and smartphone will have a decision to make as to which devices they want to rely on as their primary workflow method.

Plus, which will cost $3.99 or $34.99 a year, allows unlimited device syncing and offline modes to carry your notes anywhere. It also offers the option to send your emails directly to Evernote for keeping your communications alongside your notes, as well as 1GB of upload space per month.

The bells and whistles package, Premium, offers all the features of Basic and Plus, but comes with 10GB per month of upload space, the ability to sync contacts from external sources, the ability to annotate PDFs, and much more. The price for a Premium plan will go to $7.99 a month, or $69.99 a year.

Of course, you just can’t please everybody, and the response to the changes has been unpopular with some commenters in the forum and on other sites. One of the biggest complaints is the loss of multi-device syncing in the free plan, and the criticism towards getting users “hooked” on a productivity tool then “forcing” them to pay for it after years of free use is almost laughable. Evernote does not engage in ads and does not sell users’ data, so the revenue has to be made up somewhere.

You can download Evernote now here.

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Alpha, The AI Combat Pilot, Beats Human Pilot Comprehensively

An AI combat jet pilot system known as Alpha, has shown that, in simulations, at least, it can repeatedly beat not only other computer controlled simulated fighter jets, but also ones piloted by humans…

I wont lie. I am seriously minded to say something about Skynet here, but I wont because every other story on this news has some sort of reference to it, so I wont, because I’m better than that.

But, this is the news that Alpha, a pilot A.I. designed and developed by a doctoral graduate at the University of Cincinnati successfully managed to defeat retired United States Air Force Colonel Gene “Geno” Lee over multiple simulated engagements, despite Geno’s decades of experience and former role as a Battle Manager and expert tactics instructor.

Alpha uses a specific form of Artificial Intelligence that utilises the concept of “fuzzy logic,’ which is essentially a decision making system that approaches complex decision required problem solving in much the same way that humans do.

The system which currently runs on a computer with components that cost around $500, breaks the overall larger challenges it faces down into smaller tasks, prioritising the most relevant variables such evasion manoeuvres and tactical positioning.

The main difference between Alpha and a retired USAF combat pilot, in a simulated combat environment is the fact that Alpha can calculate and decide the best course of action over 250 times faster than its human opponent.

Alpha’s initial tests against other AI systems proved that the new AI fighter easily dispatched anything its creators threw at it, so they took it to the next level and put it up against a human. In several hour long engagements, Alpha proved to be victorious in every encounter. Colonel Lee later described Alpha as the “most aggressive, responsive, dynamic and credible AI I’ve seen to date.”

Of course, it will be several years before anyone sees something like Alpha outfitted on real world fighter aircraft as not only is Alpha a prototype proof-of-concept construct, fighting in the “blue” for real carries with it an entirely new set of problems and variants, not the least of which is the ability to differentiate between friend, foe, and civilian targets.

So at least we don’t have to worry about Skynet happening for at least a decade or so.  Damn, look at that, I did mention Skynet. I couldn’t help myself.

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