Val Cole: November 10th, 1983. In 1983, which was 25 years before I was born, Microsoft announced version 1. 0 of Windows. It was the first graphical user interface for IBM compatible PCs.

Edwin Kwan: WhatsApp is rolling out a privacy feature that allows users to keep their location private. However, there is a potential trade off. The phone quality might be reduced due to the connection relay via the WhatsApp servers.

Hillary Coover: We know many innovators are working to find ways to determine an image’s authenticity with detection technology. What if there’s another way? What if users held the power to determine image authenticity through content credentials?

Olimpiu Pop: Based on estimates from the State of the Software Supply Chain, 96 percent of the running software is open source, and where there are high percentages, there is also government. And government regulates. Given the legislative changes around the globe, does that mean that open source is preparing to enter a new era?

 

The Stories Behind the Cybersecurity Headlines

 

Edwin Kwan
WhatsApp Introduces Location Privacy Feature

WhatsApp is rolling out a privacy feature that allows users to keep their location private.

This is Edwin Kwan from Sydney, Australia.

The Meta owned company is officially rolling out a privacy setting that will protect users IP addresses from being reviewed when making a call. The feature setting is called “Protect IP Address in Calls”. When it is enabled, all calls will be relayed through WhatsApp servers. This is an additional layer of privacy that the company is offering for the privacy conscious.

However, there is a potential trade off. The phone quality might be reduced due to the connection relay via the WhatsApp servers. This is similar to Apple’s iCloud private relay feature.

WhatsApp has reassured that all calls have end to end encryption and the company cannot listen in on your calls. This feature is part of WhatsApp’s broader effort to boost user privacy, with the company introducing a feature to silence unknown callers a few months earlier.

Resources
– Pokde https://pokde.net/system/software/mobile-application/whatsapp-hide-ip

 

Olimpiu Pop
And the gold medal for the largest non-payroll goes to…

I grew up in a bookshop, so books, libraries, and other information bearing objects are dear to my heart. Open source falls into that category as well. Just being able to look inside books without paying when learning, building, and dreaming.

The world is understanding more the impact of open source.

Based on estimates from the State of the Software Supply Chain, 96 percent of the running software is open source, and where there are high percentages, there is also government. And government regulates. Given the legislative changes around the globe, does that mean that open source is preparing to enter a new era? Or maybe a sunset?? I wouldn’t find that romantic, not at all.

Lately, various open source companies made their licenses more restrictive. But hey, that’s an opportunity for some. Just think OpenTofu, the newest project of the Linux Foundation.

We do understand the impact of open source. Log4Shell was still and is living proof of the straw that broke the camel’s back. I always thought open source is priceless. You cannot put a price on passion. But Jim Zemlin, the Executive Director of the Linux Foundation , tried and also managed to do so. Considering the amount of contributions to open source projects, the foundation will be probably the largest software company in the world. They estimate that the amount of money they should pay for the contributions would be around 26 billion, 2 billion more than Microsoft’s 24 billion payroll.

So, let’s do some good and contribute to open source now. Olimpiu Pop, reported from Transylvania, Romania.

Resources
– The Register: https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/28/kubecon_shanghai/

 

Hillary Coover
A Shift Towards Empowering Users for Image Authenticity

We know many innovators are working to find ways to determine an image’s authenticity with detection technology. What if there’s another way? What if users held the power to determine image authenticity through content credentials?

Hi, this is Hilary Coover from Washington, DC.

An initiative led by Adobe, the Content Authenticity Initiative, has changed its strategy from merely detecting deepfakes to empowering users to verify and trust online images. Instead of relying on deepfake detection, content credentials serve as nutrition labels for images, offering information about the content’s creator, creation date, location, and edits made.

Users can access this metadata, providing a chain of trust from image capture to publication.

This approach is meant to put the responsibility in the hands of the public, enabling users to decide whether their trust the images they encounter. It also emphasizes the importance of media literacy and education to make people aware of the need to critically assess visual information.

While AI tools have revolutionized content creation, they can also be misused, and those who deceive others should be held accountable. The initiative’s goal is to incorporate content credentials into images from the start, avoiding the need post facto deep fake detection.

Resources
– Adobe: https://contentauthenticity.org/

 

Val Cole
This Day, November 10, in Tech History

Hello, this is Val Cole sitting in for Marcel Brown to bring you today’s tech history notes for November 10th.

November 10th, 1983. In 1983, which was 25 years before I was born, Microsoft announced version 1. 0 of Windows. It was the first graphical user interface for IBM compatible PCs. Although Microsoft announced Windows 1.0 in 1983. It didn’t become available to the public until 1985. I didn’t even know what Vaporware was until learning about an announcement in 1983 that wasn’t actually available until 1985.

Its major features included pull down menus, tiled windows, mouse support, and multitasking of the program’s applications. This was the first time DOS users could visually navigate a virtual desktop.

November 10th, 2001. The day the music was reborn.

Apple ships the first iPod, the device that changed the course of both the music and technology industries. Of course, at the time, most experts could only focus on the fact that other devices cost less and may have had more impressive technical specs. Sort of like they do today. I guess when it comes to experts and Apple devices, they haven’t learned their lesson just yet.

That’s your tech history for today, November 10th. For an archive of daily historical tech updates, visit ThisDayInTechHistory.com. Marcel will be back with you on Monday. Enjoy your weekend, everybody.

Resources
– https://thisdayintechhistory.com/11/10