Ken Garen, CPA, Co-Founder and President, UBCC

Blogger tests Singapore's fake news law by rebuffing correction order by Reuters Thursday, 28 November 2019 09:24 GMT SINGAPORE, Nov 28 (Reuters) - A blogger said on Thursday he would not comply with a Singapore government order to correct a Facebook post in the first test of the city-state's new 'fake news' law. Singapore's home ministry said the post on the Facebook page of a blog called the States Times Review, which contained allegations of election rigging, was "false" and "scurrilous". It marks the second case in days under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), which also allows government ministers to instruct internet firms like Facebook to correct or block access to content they deem false. Rights groups have raised concerns the fake news law could be used to stifle free speech and chill dissent in the city state, charges government officials have denied. "States Times Review and it's

Black Friday smart TV buyers should take this FBI cybersecurity advice Black Friday smart TV buyers, here’s some cybersecurity advice By  James Leggate Published   November 28, 2019 The FBI’s Portland, Oregon, field office shared some tips this week for anyone who needs to secure a smart TV. Savvy shoppers know that Black Friday presents some of the best deals of the year on  pricey electronics like TVs . Overall, the National Retail Federation expects Americans will spend about $730 billion this holiday season. But new owners of internet-connected smart TVs might not be as good at spotting hackers as they are at spotting deals. The  FBI’s  Portland, Oregon, field office shared some tips this week for anyone who needs to secure a smart TV. Some models of smart TVs include built-in cameras. They can be used for video chatting with friends and family, and some can let the TV recognize who is watching and suggest programming based on their past preferences. But hackers m

Only a few 2020 US presidential candidates are using a basic email security feature Zack Whittaker @zackwhittaker  /  8:59 am PST  •  November 27, 2019 Just one-third of the 2020 U.S. presidential candidates are using an mail security feature that could prevent a similar attack that hobbled the Democrats during the 2016 election. Out of the 21 presidential candidates in the race  according to Reuters , only seven Democrats are using and enforcing DMARC, an email security protocol that verifies the authenticity of a sender’s email and rejects spoofed emails, which hackers often use to try to trick victims into opening malicious links from seemingly known individuals. It’s a marked increase from April, where only Elizabeth Warren’s campaign  had employed  the technology. Now, the Democratic campaigns of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Michael Bloomberg, Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, Tulsi Gabbard and Steve Bullock have all improved their email security. The remaining candidates, incl

Go grandmaster says computers 'cannot be defeated' AFP • November 27, 2019 Seoul (AFP) - The only human ever to beat Google's computer algorithm at the ancient Chinese strategy game Go decided to retire because he is convinced machines "cannot be defeated", a report said Wednesday. South Korean Lee Se-Dol's five-match showdown with Google's artificial intelligence program AlphaGo in 2016 raised both the game's profile and fears of computer intelligence's seemingly limitless learning capability. The 18-time world Go champion lost all but one encounter in the series, but remains the only person to have won a game against AlphaGo. The machines have since developed much further -- an updated self-teaching version of the algorithm beat its predecessor 100 games to none. "Even if I become the number one, there is an entity that cannot be defeated," Lee, 36, told South Korea's Yonhap news agency. "With the debut of AI in

AI mind-reading tool produces video of human thoughts in real-time Chilling footage shows an AI created by Russian researchers using the brainwaves of human participants to accurately guess their thoughts in real-time through video By David Rivers 12:37, 27 NOV 2019 t A mind-reading tool powered by artificial intelligence has produced a staggering video of human thoughts in real-time. Russian researchers trained the programme to guess what people are thinking based on their brain waves. They trained the AI by using clips of different objects, and the brainwave activity of participants watching them. Participants were then shown clips of nature scenes, people on jet skis and human expressions. AI then recreated videos using a electroencephalogram (EEG) cap, reports New Scientist. Out of 234 attempts, 210 were successfully categorised by the video. Colours and large shapes were deemed the most successful, the report adds. But human faces were harder to recreate wit

Corporate Executives Try to Assess Potential Impact of Tax Change Proposals Companies are studying suggestions by the OECD that would mark a departure from current international tax rules, but details are murky By   Nina Trentmann Nov. 25, 2019 7:51 pm ET Corporate tax chiefs are trying to assess the potential implications of a proposal for a new global tax system for consumer-facing businesses, an effort that is being complicated by what some companies describe as a lack of critical details. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is running the initiative, was scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday in Paris to discuss a proposal that would set a standard tax rate for a company’s global operations and allow individual governments to tax profits above that based on sales accounted for by each country. The new rules would represent a departure from current regulations that look at where companies are based and where they hold patents and brands.

Apple says recent changes improve user privacy, but some lawmakers see them as an effort to edge out rivals By  Reed Albergotti The Washington Post Nov. 26, 2019 at 12:36 pm  Updated Nov. 26, 2019 at 4:09 pm Apple has made strengthening privacy protections a central part of its brand. But critics increasingly warn that the iPhone maker may be using privacy as a guise for anti-competitive behavior. The latest flare-up comes after Apple made changes to its new mobile operating system that it advertised as improving privacy, but that also give the company an edge over other app makers in using the location-tracking features of the device. In his first comments on the matter, the top Democrat in charge of a sprawling antitrust investigation into Silicon Valley juggernauts cites the change as one of a number of factors his committee will be exploring as part of an antitrust probe. “I’m increasingly concerned about the use of privacy as a shield for anti-competitive condu

Artificial Intelligence Could Help Solve America's Impending Mental Health Crisis BY  JAMIE DUCHARME   NOVEMBER 20, 2019 Five years from now, the U.S.’ already overburdened mental health system may be short as many as 15,600 psychiatrists as the growth in demand for their services outpaces supply, according to  a 2017 report  from the National Council for Behavioral Health. But some proponents say that, by then, an unlikely tool—artificial intelligence—may be ready to help mental health practitioners mitigate the impact of the deficit. Medicine is  already a fruitful area  for artificial intelligence; it has shown promise in  diagnosing disease ,  interpreting images  and zeroing in on treatment plans. Though psychiatry is in many ways a uniquely human field, requiring emotional intelligence and perception that computers can’t simulate, even here, experts say, AI could have an impact. The field, they argue, could benefit from artificial intelligence’s ability to analyze data