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The Unchained Web Daily #148

Alexandros Dolgov CBA? (Study/Bitcoin)

发布日期: 2023年10月9日

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Reclaim (some) Privacy Webinar Series: Intro to SearXNG & other privacy engines

In April, I am planning my first webinar in a series focused on privacy. The specific webinar will be focused on why Google may not be the best search engine to use and the SearXNG meta search engine and how it can be used to enhance privacy when using a search engine to research or find something to one's interest.

If you are interested in the topic, feel free to click "attend" on the link to the event below: https://www.dhirubhai.net/events/7167975601373458433/about/

Iran Rolls Out Invasive Facial Recognition Tech in Colleges

The Iranian government's tightening control over universities, marked by increased surveillance and political suppression, is causing alarm among the academic community. The use of facial biometric verification for basic services has generated unease among students. Concerns have been raised by student groups nationwide, as evidenced by a video from Shiraz University where students are required to provide facial scans to access food. This invasive trend extends to Isfahan University, where new students must submit to face scans for their student cards, raising suspicions due to the recent installation of surveillance cameras. Furthermore, reports of facial recognition cameras at female dormitory entrances and arbitrary denials of campus entry at Amirkabir University have deepened concerns. Click here for more.

ECH is Going Mainstream, and it Could Help Liberate Blocked Websites

Cloudflare, a prominent internet infrastructure company, has introduced support for the Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) privacy feature, which could have a significant impact on the fight against online censorship and surveillance. Web blocking, a common anti-piracy measure, has been employed by the entertainment industry in many countries, often with Internet Service Providers blocking access to specific websites. ECH, a privacy protocol adopted by major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, is designed to conceal internet traffic, rendering ISP surveillance efforts largely ineffective. Cloudflare's decision to incorporate ECH into all its free plans is a major step towards widespread adoption, and early evaluations suggest it can neutralize site-blocking efforts in some countries like the UK, Netherlands, and Spain. This development reinforces the importance of free speech and privacy in an era marked by censorship and surveillance. Click here for more.

Hundreds of Canadians Have Been Debanked In The Last Five Years, Report Shows

Canada has witnessed a significant de-banking trend affecting more than 800 individuals. An access-to-information request by Blacklock’s Reporter revealed that 837 people had their bank accounts closed over five years, even though these cases did not involve validated terrorism or money laundering. During a hearing, it was revealed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) provided a list of names, but banks were also independently instructed to identify account holders for de-banking, leading to questions about individuals not on the RCMP list facing de-banking. Click here for more.

FCA issues another warning to unregistered crypto firms as promotional rules take effect

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning to 146 crypto companies in the wake of new promotional rules requiring registration with the FCA. This warning is part of the FCA's efforts to combat illegal financial promotions targeting UK customers. The FCA has also published a warning list of companies that have not registered, including KuCoin and Huobi. The FCA stated that they would continue to update the list as they identify firms that may be illegally promoting crypto assets without complying with regulations. Some companies like OKX and Binance have announced their intention to comply with the FCA's rules. Komainu recently became a registered custodian wallet provider under the new regulations. PayPal, on the other hand, temporarily paused crypto purchases for UK customers to ensure compliance with the new regulations and plans to reintroduce the service in 2024. Click here for more.

Gitcoin Accidentally Sends $461,000 GTC to Unrecoverable Address

Gitcoin, an Ethereum-based crowdfunding platform supporting ecosystems and open-source developers, revealed the loss of approximately $461,000 worth of funds from its Treasury due to an incident of misdirected funds related to a proposal called "MMM S19 Budget Request." The transfer intended for this budget mistakenly went to a GTC token contract instead of the intended destination, the MMM multisig wallet. Despite efforts to recover the funds, the Gitcoin team ultimately declared them irretrievable. They now plan to implement safeguards to prevent such incidents in the future, including listing all desired recipient wallet addresses in proposal snapshots. Community reactions varied, with some expressing empathy and others criticizing the lack of due diligence in handling such a significant amount of funds. Click here for more.

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OpenSea ‘unaware’ of any involvement of former exec in $60M rug pull

OpenSea, a popular NFT platform, has responded to accusations that its former Head of Ventures, Kevin Pawlak, was involved in the AnubisDAO rug pull in 2021 under the pseudonym "0xSisyphus." Anonymous accounts on social media alleged that Pawlak played a role in hyping AnubisDAO before funds were transferred to external wallets. OpenSea stated that it was unaware of Pawlak's involvement in such activities and clarified that Pawlak had a limited role while working there. Additionally, blockchain analysts expressed doubts about the accusations, suggesting that the thread making the claims relied on assumptions and unrelated events. The AnubisDAO scandal involved the loss of funds worth $60 million, and the primary culprits were pseudonymous users "Beerus" and "Ersan." Click here for more.

Crypto exchange Upbit targeted by hackers 159K times in H1

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit reported that it experienced over 159,000 hacking attempts in the first half of 2023, according to its operating firm, Dunamu. This represents a 117% increase from the same period in 2022 and a staggering 1,800% increase from the first half of 2020. To enhance security, Upbit increased the proportion of funds held in cold wallets to 70% and improved security measures for funds in hot wallets, which are more vulnerable to hacks due to online storage of private keys. Despite suffering a $50 million exploit in 2019, Upbit has not experienced any security breaches since then. However, in late September, Upbit had to halt Aptos token services due to a failure to recognize a fake token. South Korean Representative Park Seong-jung called on the government to take more action against cryptocurrency hacks, highlighting the need for increased security measures across exchanges. Click here for more.

EU mulls more restrictive regulations for large AI models

Representatives in the European Union are reportedly in negotiations to develop additional regulations for the largest artificial intelligence (AI) systems, including large language models (LLMs) like Meta's Llama 2 and OpenAI's ChatGPT-4. These discussions are part of the forthcoming AI Act, with the aim of ensuring that new startups are not overburdened with regulations while keeping larger models in check. The negotiations are still in the preliminary stages, and the AI Act is expected to follow a similar approach to the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which recently imposed standards on platforms and websites to protect user data and detect illegal activities. The EU's AI regulations would require companies developing and deploying AI systems to conduct risk assessments, label AI-generated content, and prohibit the use of biometric surveillance, among other measures. However, the legislation has not been enacted yet, and member states still have the ability to disagree with specific proposals. China has already enacted its own AI regulations, leading to the release of more than 70 new AI models. Click here for more.

Ukraine rolls out AI regulation roadmap

Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation has unveiled a regulatory roadmap for artificial intelligence (AI) with the goal of helping local companies prepare for legislation similar to the European Union's AI Act. The roadmap adopts a bottom-up approach, focusing on gradual implementation, and provides businesses with tools to adapt to future requirements before formal laws are enacted. This approach includes encouraging businesses to sign voluntary codes of conduct demonstrating ethical AI use and providing a White Paper outlining the regulatory approach, timing, and stages. The draft of Ukraine's AI legislation is expected in 2024, taking into account the EU's AI Act, which bans certain AI services and products while limiting or restricting others, including the prohibition of biometric surveillance and untargeted facial recognition systems. Click here for more.