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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • Tap for full article

    Intel Officials Warned Police That US Cities Aren’t Ready for Hostile Drones

    In a previously unreported August memo, the Department of Homeland Security urged state and local police to conduct exercises to test their ability to respond to weaponized drones.

    Dell Cameron Dec 17, 2024 11:31 AM

    Nature Outdoors Sky Aircraft Airplane Transportation Vehicle Silhouette Helicopter and Animal

    Photograph: Anton Petrus; Getty Images

    The Department of Homeland Security issued warnings to state and local law enforcement agencies this summer regarding the “growing illicit use” of commercial drones, internal documents show. Among the recommended steps was to conduct “exercises to test and prepare response capabilities.”

    A DHS memo from August, which has not been previously reported, paints US cities as woefully underprepared for the “rising” threat of weaponized drones. The capabilities of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are “progressing faster” than available countermeasures offered under “federal prevention frameworks,” the memo says, adding that it’s common for state and local authorities to observe “nefarious” and “noncompliant” flights but still lack the authority to intervene.

    The memo states that violent extremists in the US are increasingly searching for ways to modify “off-the-shelf” drones to ferry dangerous payloads, including “explosives, conductive materials, and chemicals,” with major advancements in the area being propelled largely by rampant experimentation on foreign battlefields, including those in Ukraine.

    The document indicates that DHS has been urging local agencies for months to scout for possible launch sites near and around critical assets, while offering a slew of recommendations designed to mitigate a threat that the agency insists is growing by the day. Local officials have been advised to reposition CCTV cameras to aid in capturing evidence of airborne threats, and to start training local police on how to handle downed drones believed to carry hazardous and explosive materials. Additionally, the agency has urged local agencies to generously deploy, where legal, sensors capable of detecting and identifying commercial drones.

    The memo, first obtained by Property of the People, a nonprofit focused on transparency and national security, was circulated roughly three months before the recent flurry of alleged drone sightings along the East Coast—growing national interest in which has been driven in part by the government’s own nebulous response.

    New Jersey residents have been steadily reportingbright lights and flying objects in the sky over the past few weeks. At the same time, federal authorities have worked to downplay the significance of the reports. While Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas conceded in an interview on Sunday that “people are seeing drones,” DHS had issued a statement days earlier declaring that “numerous detection methods” had failed to corroborate “any of the reported visual sightings.”

    In the memo obtained by WIRED, DHS displays less confidence in its ability to detect menacing drones. The document, which authorities were instructed not to make public, states that “tactics and technology to evade counter-UAS capabilities are circulated and sold online with little to no regulation.” In reality, the ability of police to track errant drones is hindered by a range of evolving technologies, the memo says, including “autonomous flight, 5G command and control, jamming protection technology, swarming technology, and software that disables geofencing restrictions.”

    The mystery in New Jersey and similar phenomena in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland, among other states, have put a spotlight on the ongoing efforts of state and federal legislators to expand the government’s access to counter-UAS technology. Speaking to reporters via Zoom on Saturday, a DHS official said the agency is urging Congress to “extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities,” and ensure “state and local authorities are provided the tools they need to respond to such threats as well.”

    Currently, only a handful of federal agencies—including DHS and the Departments of Energy, Justice, and Defense—are legally permitted to bring down a drone inside US airspace.

    Property of the People’s executive director, Ryan Shapiro, says the August memo makes clear that DHS is working steadily to obtain new technologies and legal privileges for law enforcement. But any impact to Americans’ civil liberties, he says, should not be justified by simply pointing to a “nebulous, misleadingly constructed threat.”

    While terms like “violent extremists” conjure images of neo-Nazis and domestic terrorists hoping to incite a second US civil war, Shapiro says the government has also deceptively applied such labels to help undermine animal rights groups at the behest of corporations. Activists have relied heavily on drones over the past decade, he says, to help gather evidence of cruelty on factory farms—where recording undercover has been criminalized under so-called “ag-gag” laws.

    During Saturday’s briefing, FBI officials said authorities had received roughly 5,000 drone tips in connection with the East Coast sightings, ultimately generating around 100 viable leads. Most of the reports appeared consistent, they said, with misidentified flights landing and taking off from major airports in the region.

    While the FBI worked to allay concerns stemming from the recent sightings, it also urged Americans not to wholly dismiss the idea that rogue drones pose a serious threat. “It is well known to us that criminals breaking the law do, in fact, use [drones] to support their actions,” an official said, adding that, in contrast, the recent widespread sightings appear largely benign.

    In a statement to WIRED, a DHS spokesperson said the agency is continuing to “advise federal, state, and local partners to remain vigilant to potential threats and encourages the public to report any suspicious activity to local authorities.”








  • Tap for Golem Article

    Mozilla baut Stellen ab und fokussiert sich neu

    Kommt die Wende bei Mozilla? Unter der neuen Chefin Laura Chambers startet Mozilla eine umfassende Reorganisation.

    Artikelveröffentlicht am 14. Februar 2024, 7:39 Uhr, Andreas Fischer

    Für Firefox könnten wieder neue Zeiten anbrechen.

    Für Firefox könnten wieder neue Zeiten anbrechen.(Bild: KI-generiert durch Bing Image Creator/Dall-E)

    Keine Woche nachdem die langjährige Mozilla-Chefin Mitchell Baker ihren Wechsel vom CEO-Posten auf den der Executive Chairwoman der Mozilla Foundation bekannt gegeben hat, baut das Unternehmen 60 weitere Stellen beziehungsweise etwa fünf Prozent der Belegschaft ab. 2020 verloren bereits 250 Mitarbeiter ihren Job bei dem Firefox-Anbieter.

    Der erneute Stellenabbau betrifft laut Bloomberg vor allem Mitarbeiter in der Produktentwicklung. Man wolle sich in Zukunft mehr auf Bereiche wie Firefox Mobile konzentrieren, in denen man die größten Erfolgschancen sehe, kündigte Mozilla an.

    Auf der anderen Seite werde man Investitionen in Produkte wie VPN, Relay sowie einen Dienst reduzieren, mit dem Anwender bei Datenbrokern über sie gespeicherte Daten löschen lassen können. Darüber hinaus will Mozilla seine 3D-Umgebung Hubs abschalten und weniger Aufwand bei seiner Mastodon-Instanz mozilla.social betreiben.

    KI und Firefox im Fokus

    Techcrunch veröffentlichte zudem ein internes Memorandum, in dem Mozilla ankündigte, sich künftig unter anderem mehr auf “vertrauenswürdige KI für Firefox” zu konzentrieren. Dazu werde man die Teams zusammenfassen, die sich bislang mit Pocket, Inhalten und KI beschäftigt hätten.

    Die Umstrukturierung erfolgt kurz nachdem das Unternehmen Laura Chambers zur Interims-CEO ernannt hatte. Die Australierin nannte als eine ihrer wichtigsten Aufgaben eigentlich die Suche nach einem neuen Chef für den Firefox-Anbieter und nicht eine Reorganisation.

    Die Änderungen deuten nach Ansicht von Techcrunch aber darauf hin, dass sich Mozilla wieder stärker auf sein Kernprodukt – den Browser Firefox – konzentrieren könnte. In der Vergangenheit brachte die Organisation zahlreiche neue Produkte heraus und vernachlässigte Firefox. Wohl auch deswegen verlor der früher sehr beliebte Browser immer mehr Marktanteile.

    Tap for Bloomberg Article

    Firefox Maker Mozilla Is Cutting 60 Jobs After Naming New CEO

    By Mark Gurman

    February 13, 2024 at 7:16 PM UTC

    Mozilla Corp., the maker of web browser Firefox, is cutting about 60 jobs as part of a shake-up under a new chief executive officer.

    Mozilla said that the move affects about 5% of its workforce and that the cuts were primarily in the product development organization. The company informed employees of the decision on Tuesday.

    “We’re scaling back investment in some product areas in order to focus on areas that we feel have the greatest chance of success,” Mozilla said in a statement. “We intend to re-prioritize resources against products like Firefox Mobile, where there’s a significant opportunity to grow and establish a better model for the industry.”

    The move comes a week after the company named Laura Chambers as its CEO. She’s a former Airbnb Inc. and eBay Inc. executive who joined Mozilla’s board three years ago. Mitchell Baker, Mozilla’s longtime chief, stepped down to become the company’s executive chairman.

    Mozilla last cut a significant number of jobs four years ago at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The not-for-profit company, which competes with Alphabet Inc.’s Google Chrome, Apple Inc.’s Safari and Microsoft Corp.’s Edge, has been grappling with sliding market share of its Firefox web browser in recent years.

    In addition to Firefox, Mozilla’s products include email software Thunderbird and article-saving app Pocket.

    The move comes after a string of tech layoffs, with more than 32,000 jobs lost in the industry so far this year. Several major tech companies have made cuts in recent weeks, including Amazon.com Inc. and Snap Inc.

    — With assistance from Jackie Davalos













  • If you need to add stuff to a PDF document, now you can do that online with Firefox. Open the PDF in Firefox and click the Text or Draw buttons in the upper right corner to make changes to your document. Download the file to save it with your changes.

    Fill in forms online without printing and scanning

    We’ve all faced this: you need to fill in a form that is a PDF, but it isn’t editable. In the past, your only option was to print it on a dead tree, add things with ink, and then scan it back into your computer.

    No more! Now, all you need to do is edit the PDF online with Firefox, save it, and email it from your computer.

    Add text

    Open the PDF in Firefox. Click the Text button to choose a color and text size before selecting where on the document you wish to add text. It’s that easy!

    Add drawings (or your signature)

    Open the PDF in Firefox. Click the Draw icon to choose a color, thickness and opacity before then being able to draw on the document. It probably won’t be any messier than your usual signature!

    Add image with alt text

    Open the PDF in Firefox. Click the image icon, which will then prompt you to upload an image. Adjust size and placement of your image as needed. Click the “+Alt text” button on the image to add a photo description to make your PDF more accessible.

    Create a highlight

    Open the PDF in Firefox. Select the text you want to highlight, then click the highlight icon that appears below your selection, or right click to find the highlight option in the context menu. Click the icon in the top right to freehand highlight sections of the PDF.