Disruption feed 2021 #7 – Careful what you drink, cameras filtering by “race”, and Saudi Arabia invests in video games
Careful what you drink!
The next thing you know someone is dragging the mouse and clicking around and opening programs and manipulating the system.
Hackers were able to remotely access a computer controlling water supply for about 15,000 people near Tampa, Florida. They tried to increase the addition of lye to dangerous levels. Just think about that for a second.
Now think about how many similar utility systems are there out there, and how many of them have outdated security systems?
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Cameras filtering by “race”
After several rumors it is now known that Chinese manufacturer of connected cameras have included tools to spot people of different racial backgrounds by their facial features, and in particular to spot Uyghurs. The machine learning techniques to do this are now well-understood and mostly a commodity. Completely disgusting and very scary technology.
However, these companies are also seeing international success, Amazon (for instance) has recently signed a contract with Dahua worth $10 million.
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Saudi Arabia invests in video games
During 2020, in good timing after the covid-19 market decline, Saudi Arabia invested heavily in several video game developers. $3.3 billion was invested in Electronc Arts, Activision and Take Two along with several other investments. Even if the country is not particularly diversified from oil yet, it is a step in that direction.
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