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Submission + - City Builds Open-Access Broadband Network With Google Fiber As Its First ISP (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Google Fiber's wireline broadband is expanding to a new city for the first time in several years as part of a public-private partnership to build an open-access network that any ISP can use to offer service. The new network will be in West Des Moines, Iowa. Google Fiber "paused" plans to expand to new cities in October 2016 amid lawsuits filed by incumbent ISPs and construction problems that eventually led to the Alphabet-owned ISP's complete exit from Louisville. But in West Des Moines, Google Fiber will rely on the city to build a network of fiber conduits. "Municipalities like West Des Moines excel at building and maintaining infrastructure. At digging and laying pipes under the roads, restoring and preserving the sidewalks and green spaces, reducing traffic congestion, and lowering construction disruption," Google Fiber said in an announcement yesterday.
The West Des Moines government's announcement said that "once the City installs conduit in the public right of way, broadband providers will pay a license fee to install their fiber in the City's conduit. Google Fiber will be the first tenant in the network." A conduit-license agreement "calls for Google Fiber to cover a portion of the construction cost to build conduit... through their monthly lease payments." "On a monthly basis, Google Fiber would pay the city $2.25 for each household that connects to the network," according to the Des Moines Register. Google Fiber would pay the city a minimum of $4.5 million over 20 years. Construction is expected to begin this fall and be completed in about two and a half years, the city said. While Google Fiber is slated to be the first tenant offering fiber service over the West Des Moines network, the city is hoping to spur broadband competition by letting other ISPs install their own fiber in the conduits. Current ISPs in West Des Moines include CenturyLink and Mediacom.
The West Des Moines government's announcement said that "once the City installs conduit in the public right of way, broadband providers will pay a license fee to install their fiber in the City's conduit. Google Fiber will be the first tenant in the network." A conduit-license agreement "calls for Google Fiber to cover a portion of the construction cost to build conduit... through their monthly lease payments." "On a monthly basis, Google Fiber would pay the city $2.25 for each household that connects to the network," according to the Des Moines Register. Google Fiber would pay the city a minimum of $4.5 million over 20 years. Construction is expected to begin this fall and be completed in about two and a half years, the city said. While Google Fiber is slated to be the first tenant offering fiber service over the West Des Moines network, the city is hoping to spur broadband competition by letting other ISPs install their own fiber in the conduits. Current ISPs in West Des Moines include CenturyLink and Mediacom.
Submission + - Cops Seize Server That Hosted BlueLeaks, DDoSecrets Says (vice.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Authorities in Germany have seized a server used by the organization that published a trove of US police internal documents commonly known as BlueLeaks, according to the organization’s founder. On Tuesday, Emma Best, the founder of Distributed Denial of Secrets or DDoSecrets, a WikiLeaks-like website that has published the police data, said that prosecutors in the German town of Zwickau seized the organization’s “primary public download server.”
“We are working to obtain additional information, but presume it is [regarding] #BlueLeaks,” Best added on Twitter. “The server was used ONLY to distribute data to the public. It had no contact with sources and was involved in nothing more than enlightening the public through journalistic publishing.” Best shared a screenshot of the email they received from DDoSecrets’ hosting provider informing of the server seizure. "Your server has been confiscated," the email reads. "Until now we were not allowed to inform you accordingly." The email then notes that the seizing authority was the Department of Public Prosecution Zwickau.
“We are working to obtain additional information, but presume it is [regarding] #BlueLeaks,” Best added on Twitter. “The server was used ONLY to distribute data to the public. It had no contact with sources and was involved in nothing more than enlightening the public through journalistic publishing.” Best shared a screenshot of the email they received from DDoSecrets’ hosting provider informing of the server seizure. "Your server has been confiscated," the email reads. "Until now we were not allowed to inform you accordingly." The email then notes that the seizing authority was the Department of Public Prosecution Zwickau.
Submission + - Trump Administration Begins Formal Withdrawal From WHO (thehill.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The White House has officially moved to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), a senior administration official confirmed Tuesday, breaking ties with a global public health body in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. has submitted its withdrawal notification to the United Nations secretary-general, the official said. Withdrawal requires a year's notice, so it will not go into effect until July 6, 2021, raising the possibility the decision could be reversed.
The formal notification of withdrawal concludes months of threats from the Trump administration to pull the United States out of the WHO, which is affiliated with the United Nations. President Trump has repeatedly assailed the organization for alleged bias toward China and its slow response to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. But public health experts and Democrats have raised alarms that the decision may be short-sighted and could undercut the global response to the pandemic, which has infected 11.6 million people worldwide. The U.S. has the highest number of reported cases in the world at nearly 3 million. They have also argued that some of the WHO's initial missteps can be attributed to China's lack of transparency in the early stages of the outbreak.
The formal notification of withdrawal concludes months of threats from the Trump administration to pull the United States out of the WHO, which is affiliated with the United Nations. President Trump has repeatedly assailed the organization for alleged bias toward China and its slow response to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. But public health experts and Democrats have raised alarms that the decision may be short-sighted and could undercut the global response to the pandemic, which has infected 11.6 million people worldwide. The U.S. has the highest number of reported cases in the world at nearly 3 million. They have also argued that some of the WHO's initial missteps can be attributed to China's lack of transparency in the early stages of the outbreak.
Submission + - Final Terry Pratchett Stories To Be Published In September (theguardian.com)
sjritt00 writes: The Guardian reports that a final collection of Terry Pratchett's early stories will be published in September
as The Time-travelling Caveman. These stories appeared in the Bucks Free Press and Western Daily Press in the 60s and early 70s and introduce many of the themes which later power his Discworld series.
as The Time-travelling Caveman. These stories appeared in the Bucks Free Press and Western Daily Press in the 60s and early 70s and introduce many of the themes which later power his Discworld series.
Submission + - Security cameras can tell burglars when you're not home, study shows (cnn.com)
schwit1 writes: “Researchers found they could tell if someone was in, and even what they were doing in the home, just by looking at data uploaded by the camera and without monitoring the video footage itself.”
Submission + - DuckDuckGo collecting user browsing data without consent (hackread.com)
AmiMoJo writes: An ethical hacker on Twitter going by the online handle of @Cowreth has revealed that DuckDuckGo is also tracking/collecting the names of the websites that a user visits violating its strong privacy policy. The DuckDuckGo Android Browser app is supposed to protect the user's privacy, but due to the use of a proxy server for website favicons was sending details of every domain visited to the company.
DuckDuckGo denied storing the data and has since updated the source code (the browser is open source) to retrieve favicons directly.
DuckDuckGo denied storing the data and has since updated the source code (the browser is open source) to retrieve favicons directly.
Submission + - Billionaire-Backed Code.org Received $1-2 Million Federal PPP Loan
theodp writes: Code.org's $10+ million "Diamond" supporters include Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, and Infosys. Its $3+ million "Platinum" supporters include Google, the Gates Foundation, and the Ballmer Group. And its $1+ million "Gold" supporters include Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, the world's two richest men. So, it was somewhat surprising to see the nonprofit — which is dedicated to pushing CS into K-12 classrooms — pop up on the list of Seattle-area tech companies that received a PPP loan from the federal government. According to Paycheck Protection Program data released by the SBA and Treasury, Code.org was approved on April 15th for a loan between $1-2 million to retain 81 jobs due to the pandemic. Khan Academy, another pet nonprofit of Gates and other billionaires, received approval for a $2-5 million PPP loan to retain 185 jobs.
Submission + - AI and human collaboration develops unique audio-visual experiences (lionbridge.ai)
shirappu writes: Neural Synesthesia (link: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2Fneuralsynest...) is an AI art project that creator Xander Steenbrugge calls a collaboration between man and machine. To create each piece, he feeds a generative network with curated image datasets and combines the ever-transforming results with music that is programmed to control the shifting visuals.
Steenbrugge is one of a growing number of artists using AI technology as a collaborative tool. In this interview he echoes what others have also said, that the strength of AI is that the artist is no longer limited by their own imagination, and that AI influence can result in unexpected and interesting ideas. He also comments on the growing trend of AI technology, and how it might lead to the creation of a new cinema 2.0-like experience.
Steenbrugge is one of a growing number of artists using AI technology as a collaborative tool. In this interview he echoes what others have also said, that the strength of AI is that the artist is no longer limited by their own imagination, and that AI influence can result in unexpected and interesting ideas. He also comments on the growing trend of AI technology, and how it might lead to the creation of a new cinema 2.0-like experience.
Submission + - Facebook Research releases tech to create 3D models of people from photographs (github.io)
shirappu writes: The technology, called PIFuHD, takes photographs of people and reconstructs them in 3D. The tech works on deep neural networks with multi-level architecture that allows for high resolution and accuracy in 3D models even at low levels of memory. More is available in the detail-heavy research paper: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Farxiv.org%2Fpdf%2F2004.004...
Applications for this kind of automated image digitization include medical imaging and virtual reality, and the researchers have released a version of the model for users to try out themselves on Google Colab (link: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Ffacebookres...)
Applications for this kind of automated image digitization include medical imaging and virtual reality, and the researchers have released a version of the model for users to try out themselves on Google Colab (link: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Ffacebookres...)
