Month: August 2024
8 Foods You Should Never Freeze
Avoid mealy fruit and curdled milk by keeping these eight foods out of the freezer.
Avoid mealy fruit and curdled milk by keeping these eight foods out of the freezer.
US sues RealPage, claims rental-pricing algorithm used by landlords is illegal
AG: Landlords use RealPage algorithm “to align their rents.”
Enlarge / US Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC, on Friday, August 23, 2024. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)
The United States today sued RealPage, alleging that the software maker distorts competition in rental housing by helping landlords collectively set prices.
“To ensure they secure the greatest value for their needs, renters rely on robust and fierce competition between landlords. RealPage distorts that competition,” said the lawsuit filed by the US government and eight state attorneys general. In a press release, the Justice Department said that “RealPage’s pricing algorithm violates antitrust laws.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland delivered remarks on the lawsuit. “When the Sherman Act was passed, an anticompetitive scheme might have looked like robber barons shaking hands at a secret meeting,” he said. “Today, it looks like landlords using mathematical algorithms to align their rents. But antitrust law does not become obsolete simply because competitors find new ways to unlawfully act in concert.”
AWS CEO Says Most Developers Could Stop Coding Soon as AI Takes Over
An anonymous reader shares a report: Software engineers may have to develop other skills soon as AI takes over many coding tasks. That’s according to Amazon Web Services’ CEO, Matt Garman, who shared his thoughts on the topic during an internal fireside chat held in June, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by Business Insider. “If you go forward 24 months from now, or some amount of time — I can’t exactly predict where it is — it’s possible that most developers are not coding,” said Garman, who became AWS’s CEO in June.
“Coding is just kind of like the language that we talk to computers. It’s not necessarily the skill in and of itself,” the executive said. “The skill in and of itself is like, how do I innovate? How do I go build something that’s interesting for my end users to use?” This means the job of a software developer will change, Garman said. “It just means that each of us has to get more in tune with what our customers need and what the actual end thing is that we’re going to try to go build, because that’s going to be more and more of what the work is as opposed to sitting down and actually writing code,” he said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Software engineers may have to develop other skills soon as AI takes over many coding tasks. That’s according to Amazon Web Services’ CEO, Matt Garman, who shared his thoughts on the topic during an internal fireside chat held in June, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by Business Insider. “If you go forward 24 months from now, or some amount of time — I can’t exactly predict where it is — it’s possible that most developers are not coding,” said Garman, who became AWS’s CEO in June.
“Coding is just kind of like the language that we talk to computers. It’s not necessarily the skill in and of itself,” the executive said. “The skill in and of itself is like, how do I innovate? How do I go build something that’s interesting for my end users to use?” This means the job of a software developer will change, Garman said. “It just means that each of us has to get more in tune with what our customers need and what the actual end thing is that we’re going to try to go build, because that’s going to be more and more of what the work is as opposed to sitting down and actually writing code,” he said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
‘The Time Has Come’ for Interest Rate Cuts, Powell Says
An interest rate cut looks increasingly likely in September. And there could be more in November and December.
An interest rate cut looks increasingly likely in September. And there could be more in November and December.
Hotel room key cards everywhere could be at risk from RFID security flaw
Security researchers find flawed contactless cards dating back to late 2007, and urge users to be careful.
Contactless cards used to open doors in hotels and offices around the world are flawed in a way that could allow any person to open practically any door, experts have warned.
Cybersecurity researchers from Quirkslab focused on FM11RF08S, a variant of the MIFARE Classic card that was released in 2020 by Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics, apparently the “leading Chinese manufacturer of unlicensed ‘MIFARE compatible’ chips.
The report claims the FM11RF08S features countermeasures “designed to thwart all known card-only attacks”, but worryingly, usage of the card is growing increasingly popular by the day.
Cracked in minutes
It reportedly took the researchers a “couple of minutes” to find an attack that cracks FM11RF08S sector keys – when the keys were reused across at least three sectors, or three cards.
Further analysis landed them a hardware backdoor that allows authentication with an unknown key, and when they cracked the card’s secret key, they found it to be “common to all existing FM11RF08S cards!”.
With the backdoor, the experts were able to design “several other” attacks, each of which was able to crack all the keys of any card in just a few minutes, without needing to know any initial keys (besides the backdoor one).
To add insult to injury, Quirkslab then shifted their attention to older models, and found a “similar backdoor” in the previous generation – FM11RF08 – which was protected with another key. After cracking the second key, they found it to be common to all FM11RF08 cards, as well as other Fudan references (FM11RF32, FM1208-10, and probably more), and even old cards from NXP1 (MF1ICS5003 & MF1ICS5004) and Infineon (SLE66R35), some of which date back to late 2007.
To conclude, the researchers warned users to check their infrastructure and assess the risks. “Many are probably unaware that the MIFARE Classic cards they obtained from their supplier are actually Fudan FM11RF08 or FM11RF08S, as these two chip references are not limited to the Chinese market. For example, we found these cards in numerous hotels across the US, Europe, and India,” they said.
Via The Hacker News
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Labor board confirms Amazon drivers are employees, in finding hailed by union
“We are Amazon workers”: Delivery drivers celebrate labor board finding.
Enlarge (credit: Jaroslaw Kilian | iStock Editorial / Getty Images Plus)
Amazon may be forced to meet some unionized delivery drivers at the bargaining table after a regional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) director determined Thursday that Amazon is a joint employer of contractors hired to ensure the e-commerce giant delivers its packages when promised.
This seems like a potentially big loss for Amazon, which had long argued that delivery service partners (DSPs) exclusively employed the delivery drivers, not Amazon. By rejecting its employer status, Amazon had previously argued that it had no duty to bargain with driver unions and no responsibility for alleged union busting, The Washington Post reported.
But now, after a yearlong investigation, the NLRB has issued what Amazon delivery drivers’ union has claimed was “a groundbreaking decision that sets the stage for Amazon delivery drivers across the country to organize with the Teamsters.”
Microsoft will host a security conference after the CrowdStrike shutdown
Microsoft announced it will host a special conference in September to discuss the lessons and security measures the industry can take away from the CrowdStrike computer shutdown in July. The Windows Endpoint Security Ecosystem Summit is scheduled for September 10 at Microsoft’s Redmond, WA headquarters.
The event will feature representatives from Microsoft, CrowdStrike and other cyber and computer security companies. The participants will explore changes in industry practices and the use of applications that can prevent future computer shutdowns.
An executive who spoke to CNBC anonymously says one of the talking points of the conference will address the use of applications that rely more on Windows’ user mode instead of kernel mode. The July outage occurred because Crowdstrike’s agent operated in kernel mode in which the central processing unit gives software total access to a system’s resources and hardware. Applications in user mode are more isolated so they can’t bring down other systems.
The attendees will also discuss implementing eBPF technology into systems to check programs without triggering system wide crashes. The conference will also feature discussions on the use of safer programming languages such as Rust, an alternative to programming languages such as C or C++.
CrowdStrike blamed faulty testing software included in an update as the cause of the crash that shut down 8.5 million Windows machines starting on July 19. The shutdown causes blue screens of death for systems for banks, airlines and businesses around the world.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/microsoft-will-host-a-security-conference-after-the-crowdstrike-shutdown-172119101.html?src=rss
Microsoft announced it will host a special conference in September to discuss the lessons and security measures the industry can take away from the CrowdStrike computer shutdown in July. The Windows Endpoint Security Ecosystem Summit is scheduled for September 10 at Microsoft’s Redmond, WA headquarters.
The event will feature representatives from Microsoft, CrowdStrike and other cyber and computer security companies. The participants will explore changes in industry practices and the use of applications that can prevent future computer shutdowns.
An executive who spoke to CNBC anonymously says one of the talking points of the conference will address the use of applications that rely more on Windows’ user mode instead of kernel mode. The July outage occurred because Crowdstrike’s agent operated in kernel mode in which the central processing unit gives software total access to a system’s resources and hardware. Applications in user mode are more isolated so they can’t bring down other systems.
The attendees will also discuss implementing eBPF technology into systems to check programs without triggering system wide crashes. The conference will also feature discussions on the use of safer programming languages such as Rust, an alternative to programming languages such as C or C++.
CrowdStrike blamed faulty testing software included in an update as the cause of the crash that shut down 8.5 million Windows machines starting on July 19. The shutdown causes blue screens of death for systems for banks, airlines and businesses around the world.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/microsoft-will-host-a-security-conference-after-the-crowdstrike-shutdown-172119101.html?src=rss
US sues RealPage over rent-setting software that allegedly drove up prices
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
The Justice Department is suing the company behind a widely used software that helps landlords set rental prices. It alleges that RealPage’s rent recommendation algorithm drives up prices and “deprives renters of the benefits of competition on apartment leasing terms.”
In the complaint, the DOJ, along with eight states, claim that RealPage obtains nonpublic rental price information from competing landlords who use the software. RealPage then allegedly feeds this information into its algorithmic pricing software, which landlords can use to get suggestions about their rent rates.
When landlords collude to delegate pricing decisions to algorithms, renters can lose out on the benefits of competition and face higher rates. I called on the DOJ to investigate RealPage’s use of algorithms to set rents and now they are taking action with a major antitrust case.— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) August 23, 2024
As alleged in the lawsuit, “these are more than just ‘recommendations,’” as RealPage also “reviews and weighs in on landlords’ other policies,” in which it attempts to end concessions and discounts for renters. Landlords can also “effectively agree to outsource their pricing function” to RealPage with an “auto accept” option that automatically adjusts their rents based on its algorithm.
“In a competitive marketplace, each landlord may independently decide to offer concessions so that it can better compete in enticing lessors,” the complaint alleges. “But, again, RealPage seeks to replace fully independent, competitive decision-making with collective action by ending concessions.”
Additionally, the DOJ claims RealPage maintains a monopoly in commercial revenue management software for multi-family dwellings, making up around 80 percent of market share. RealPage’s “unlawful agreements” with landlords and the sensitive data it receives from them give the company a competitive advantage, the lawsuit alleges. The Verge reached out to RealPage with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.
RealPage has been in the DOJ’s sights for quite some time now. Rumors about a potential lawsuit first surfaced after a 2022 ProPublica report revealed how RealPage’s algorithm may have contributed to increasing rent rates across the country.
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
The Justice Department is suing the company behind a widely used software that helps landlords set rental prices. It alleges that RealPage’s rent recommendation algorithm drives up prices and “deprives renters of the benefits of competition on apartment leasing terms.”
In the complaint, the DOJ, along with eight states, claim that RealPage obtains nonpublic rental price information from competing landlords who use the software. RealPage then allegedly feeds this information into its algorithmic pricing software, which landlords can use to get suggestions about their rent rates.
When landlords collude to delegate pricing decisions to algorithms, renters can lose out on the benefits of competition and face higher rates. I called on the DOJ to investigate RealPage’s use of algorithms to set rents and now they are taking action with a major antitrust case.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) August 23, 2024
As alleged in the lawsuit, “these are more than just ‘recommendations,’” as RealPage also “reviews and weighs in on landlords’ other policies,” in which it attempts to end concessions and discounts for renters. Landlords can also “effectively agree to outsource their pricing function” to RealPage with an “auto accept” option that automatically adjusts their rents based on its algorithm.
“In a competitive marketplace, each landlord may independently decide to offer concessions so that it can better compete in enticing lessors,” the complaint alleges. “But, again, RealPage seeks to replace fully independent, competitive decision-making with collective action by ending concessions.”
Additionally, the DOJ claims RealPage maintains a monopoly in commercial revenue management software for multi-family dwellings, making up around 80 percent of market share. RealPage’s “unlawful agreements” with landlords and the sensitive data it receives from them give the company a competitive advantage, the lawsuit alleges. The Verge reached out to RealPage with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.
RealPage has been in the DOJ’s sights for quite some time now. Rumors about a potential lawsuit first surfaced after a 2022 ProPublica report revealed how RealPage’s algorithm may have contributed to increasing rent rates across the country.