Daily Tech News 5 February 2022

• Question and Answer time is back! Drop your questions in the comments today and I'll attempt to answer them tomorrow. I did just get woken up in the middle of the night by work emergencies two days in a row so the answers might not be entirely coherent, but I will answer nonetheless.
  
  
  
• The Freedom Convoy has upended Canadian politics, launched similar protests in other countries, and raised $10 million on GoFundMe so...
  
  

  At the request of Trudeau, @GoFundMe has just stolen $9,000,000 from the truckers. Rather than automatically refunding it to the donors, they say they’re going to give it to groups of their own choosing. What a windfall for Black Lives Matter, Greenpeace and Planned Parenthood! pic.twitter.com/prEwLnypfe

  — Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) February 4, 2022

  
  
  That's not entirely accurate - they're not stealing the money and giving it to other charities of their own choosing, they're stealing the money and giving it to charities selected by the Freedom Convoy organisers from a shortlist created by GoFundMe.
  
  You may wonder how this is legal, and the answer is it may not be.
  
  

  #GoFundMe now won’t honor #FreedomConvoy donations and will instead redirect to other charities?
  
  In WV, organizations must not deceive donors and engage in deceptive advertising practices.
  
  If you’ve been victimized by a deceptive act or practice, let us know!

  — Patrick Morrisey (@MorriseyWV) February 5, 2022

  
  
  There's a new fundraiser up and running at GiveSendGo that has received $336,000 $390,000* in the last few hours. And that's despite the fact that their site was down for half that time.
  
  * They got the site back up and have pulled in $54,000 while I was writing this post. CSS is busted as I write this though.**
  ** $488,000 and the CSS is fixed.
  
  
  

• Apple, facing legal moves that would abolish its forced 30% cut of every payment it processes, has announced a new plan: It will take a forced 27% cut of every payment it doesn't process. (Apple)
  
  Also it will have the right to audit you any time and in any manner it sees fit and ban you if it is not appeased.
  
  
  
• Apple's privacy changes will cost Facebook $10 billion this year. (The Economist)
  
  It's not that Apple is protecting your privacy, it's that they won't let anyone else violate it.
  
  
  
• Meanwhile Facebook is focusing on critical issues like enforcing social distancing in virtual reality. (The Guardian)
  
  We swear we are not making this up.
  
  
  
• Which might help explain why their market cap plunged by a quarter of a trillion dollars in a single day. (The Guardian)
  
  Also because no-one needs Facebook.
  
  
  
• Four of Cisco's small business router lineup have code red critical vulnerabilities. (The Register)
  
  The combination of remote code execution bugs and privilege escalation bugs mean anyone, anywhere, can completely take over your router.
  
  Not good.

posted by Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

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