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Submission + - Russian owned snooping software used by US secret service (telegraph.co.uk)

Bruce66423 writes: British police forces, including specialist units within the Metropolitan Police, have used Oxygen Forensics software to break into the phones of suspects during live investigations, public documents show.

The Virginia-based company behind the software has been accused in the US of having hidden its Russian ownership to avoid sanctions, before it was awarded government contracts.

Its American chief executive and a Russian national were arrested last week after a US investigation found the company had sought to hide its ownership in an alleged attempt to avoid sanctions and scrutiny.

By September 2024, the US Secret Service had awarded Oxygen a five-year contract for its software.

Comment Re:M13 Individual Decontaminating Kit (Score 2) 23

We got M13 in the early 1980s to use in exercise (aircraft hydraulic fluid simulated agent since the strips were basically PH test strips similar to those used in swimming pools) and wore the olive green CPOG with flappy overboots (until someone figured out rain boots were better in every way and not prone to holes).

The later gear is much comfier, and unlike M17 masks troops don't have to remove a contaminated mask to replace filters....

Comment CBRN suits are not used for normal work. (Score 1) 23

In US practice expired CBRN ensembles and others stencilled "For Training Use Only" are the standard during military exercises. In case of war new gear is issued.

When troops go through decontamination they doff their contaminated gear for processing or disposal, they shower etc and new or clean gear is issued.

Comment Gear preserves "Ability Ti Survive and Operate" (Score 2) 23

Chems are horrid but one can dress for them.

Nerve agent like other war gases degrades opponents by forcing them to wear CBRN ensembles which are miserable to work and fight in. (Gas is so nasty not even Hitler used it in combat because he'd personal experience in WWI.)

Modern CBRN suits are (barely) breathable because they can filter contaminants. Suits which even partly neutralize nerve agent would not just save lives but reduce misery. Gases are frequently inefficient even when used on undefended targets like Saddam Hussein's bombing of Halabja (which took multiple sorties to execute).

A chem suit fabric that can neutralize contamination could save lives and usefully decrease exposure. Chems don't magically wipe out everyone exposed. The 1995 Tokyo subway attack affected several thousand people while only causing ~14 direct fatalities among a concentrated, defenseless group. Neutralizing fabric would be very useful against highly diluted agents.

Comment That's what curtains are for. (Score 1) 101

Mine work quite well and hold up the blackout panels underneath them. I have no problem making my bedroom pitch dark because I cut rectangular panels of lightweight aluminum-clad siding to fit inside my windows. Masonite etc is cheap, and cardboard not pretty but works in a pinch.

Effective outdoor lighting is useful for work and play. Many residents of extremely hot areas like Las Vegas or the Middle East stay indoors and come out at night because daytime heat is (even more) dangerous. Brightly lit roads make it easier to scan for vehicles and pedestrians. Outdoor "security" lights are rightly popular among home and business owners so we can see where we're going. Working outdoors at night allows me to DIY many things including home and vehicle maintenance and repair.

Comment Re:So what? (Score 1, Insightful) 153

It's just fear porn.

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McDonald's tracks adherence to the platform, and notes any deviations from the algorithm's price recommendations
```

Which is what you'd want to do for any prototype system.

They should then track foot traffic, gross sales, and net profit and see whether the recommendations increased or decreased them when followed.

Having a control group is valuable, not a target for punishment. If McD Corporate were sane, anyway (cf. ice cream machine fiasco).

The one near me was charging over $6 for fries three years ago - I can't imagine what it's up to now. Haven't been back since.

Reuters is mostly jschool grads emoting and distributing propaganda.

Submission + - New Ai-Powered "America.gov" Government Website Uses Gemini and Grok (cnn.com) 3

fahrbot-bot writes: CNN is reporting (and others) that President Donald Trump on Tuesday unveiled America.gov, a government website meant to serve as a one-stop shop for people trying to accomplish basic tasks like renewing a passport, enrolling in Medicare or applying for disaster relief.

The site, which launched with some basic functions ahead of a full rollout next year, is designed to serve as an AI-powered guide through the thicket of government agencies that Trump officials pledged would ultimately save people a whole lot of frustration.

The administration’s new initiative aims to allow Americans to access dozens of federal websites through a single point, making America.gov akin to a search tool that pulls information from across the government. And in the same way that people increasingly use AI models like ChatGPT or Google Gemini to compile information and provide customized answers, Trump officials claimed that America.gov would be able to do the same for people’s interactions with the federal government.

Enrolling in Medicare, for example, will become a matter of typing the request into the America.gov AI tool and following its step-by-step instructions. The same goes for applying to a government job — the new tool will now let people upload their resume directly to the site — or answering questions about federal benefits, publicly available documents or other necessities that fall under the federal government’s vast umbrella.

“Our vision is that one day, this type of convenience and simplicity will be across every government service,” said Joseph Gebbia, who leads the government’s National Design Studio.

But the reality is that the most advanced actions won’t be available until some point in 2027, raising questions about how long it will take for the administration to revamp the way the people interact with the government’s websites. The current version of America.gov can only do “answers.”

In related news, Variety notes that America.gov confirms, for now anyway, that Biden won the 2020 election.

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