Game On Microsoft!

Google adds Native MS Office editing to Google Docs editor

Quote: "In the battle for the enterprise market, Google today launched a fairly big gun. The Microsoft Office suite, is, it’s fair to say fairly ubiquitous across corporate IT culture around the world, but Google is trying to change that, but to make it easy, they’ve added native MS Office editing to Google Docs."

Okay. If true, this is a very big deal. If true, Google will find itself back in the race to dominate Cloud Computing. But I will wait to see it before believing.

Microsoft Office has dominated office productivity for over 25 years. By 1998, anti trust claims against Microsoft alleged that the tech giant had a monopoly grip on 98% of business productivity systems. In the wake of the anti trust suit, my business partners and I worked for years on the Oasis Open Document Technical Committee. The sole purpose of which was to break the iron grip office applications had on document based information; to provide office applications with an open XML standard that ALL applications could read, write, layout properly and process.

Everyone on the TC knew the dawn of a time was at hand when many applications would be needed to operate on a document or workflow of documents. The world needed an open, Internet ready document format, capable of handling the application complexities of complex Office productivity.

If this news report is true, then the Oasis Open Document TC should take a well deserved bow. Their herculean effort would make ODF the most successful failure in tech standards history.

If this is true.

And, the incredible advance this breakthrough represents comes at a most important time. The world is racing ahead, making a great transition from an aging Windows client/server platform model to a highly mobile Cloud Computing model. We are way beyond the point of no return.

The great transition began with the Internet gradually establishing itself as a universal platform integrating communications, computation and collaboration. The platform evolution somehow survived the browser wars between Microsoft and the rest of the world. But it really took off in 2009 with the introduction of the iPhone; a mobile device finally integrating communications, computation and collaboration. Productivity magic in the palm of your hand, soon enough connecting to the most powerful arrays of computational resources ever assembled.

Suddenly we find ourselves in an AI world, where the power of super computing centers can be delivered anywhere, anytime, to anyone. The computational power of serverless computing in the Cloud is mind boggling.

Only one problem here. We have years of vital information, much of which is in-process and critical to profitable workflows, locked into application bound databases and document resources.

Productivity = Communications X computational power X information (data + documents).

Without information (data and documents), there is nothing for computational power to act on. And communication becomes noise. (hint hint Twitter and Facebook :)

Because most data in application bound databases is SQL ready, moving it or accessing it from a Cloud super computer center is easy. Sure, you lose the application processing power, but the raw data can be moved and accessed. Which means that Oracle does not have anywhere near the lock on data that Microsoft has on documents. And you can see that clearly as the Cloud Computing fortunes of each company shows.

Look, no company is going to move to the Cloud without also taking their information with them. No company is going to endure the disruptive cost of ripping out and replacing existing applications and services to move to the Cloud. Especially if it means leaving important information behind.

In 2014 Microsoft released Office 365, the Cloud Computing version of the venerable Microsoft Office. The company went from zero to an annual run rate of $22 Billion per year in no time flat. That my friends is the incredible power of being able to make accessible the billions of documents that fuel so many in-process workflows. Companies can now make that great transition.

In this context, one can easily see how important this native document announcement from Google really is. If true, they are back in the chase. It is probably a $60 billion per year and up market potential. For sure, it is ESSENTIAL to any document based Artificial Intelligence services.

Let the race begin. I hope this is real.

~ge~

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Video describing how Artificial Intelligence Engines can work with native Microsoft Documents.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Jyd8mwacQ&t=66s

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Video describing how Artificial Intelligence Engines can work with native Microsoft Documents.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Jyd8mwacQ&t=66s

Native Documents And Artificial Intelligence Engines

OpenStack 01/26/2018 (p.m.)

• 2 million people—and some dead ones—were impersonated in net neutrality comments | Ars Technica

  Tags: net-neutrality, FCC-rulemaking, comments, fraud, criminal-investigation

  • An analysis of public comments on the FCC's plan to repeal net neutrality rules found that 2 million of them were filed using stolen identities. That's according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

    "Millions of fake comments have corrupted the FCC public process—including two million that stole the identities of real people, a crime under New York law," Schneiderman said in an announcement today. "Yet the FCC is moving full steam ahead with a vote based on this corrupted process, while refusing to cooperate with an investigation."

  • Some comments were submitted under the names of dead people.

    "My LATE husband's name was fraudulently used after a valiant battle with cancer," one person told the AG's office. "This unlawful act adds to my pain that someone would violate his good name."

    Schneiderman set up a website where people can search the FCC comments for their names to determine if they've been impersonated. So far, "over 5,000 people have filed reports with the Attorney General's office regarding identities used to submit fake comments," the AG's announcement said.

  • While the 5,000 reports provide anecdotal evidence, the AG's office performed an analysis of the 23 million public comments in order to figure out how many were submitted under falsely assumed identities.

    Many comments for and against net neutrality rules are identical because advocacy groups urged people to sign form letters, so the text of a comment alone isn't enough to determine if it was submitted by a real person.

    The AG's office thus examined comment text along with other factors, such as whether names matched lists of stolen identities from known data breaches. Schneiderman's office also told Ars that it looked into whether or not the submission of comments was in alphabetical order, one after another, in short time periods. In general, analysis of formatting and metadata played a role in the analysis.

    The number of comments believed to be fake has grown as the A.G.'s investigation continues, and it isn't done yet. Schneiderman's office is still analyzing the public comments. We asked Schneiderman's office how many of the fake comments supported net neutrality rules, and how many opposed them, but were told that the information was not available.

    While fake comments used names and addresses of people from across the nation, more than "100,000 comments per state" came "from New York, Florida, Texas, and California," Schneiderman's announcement said.

• Net neutrality comment fraud will be investigated by government | Ars Technica

  Tags: net-neutrality, FCC-rulemaking, comments, fraud, GAO, investigations

  • The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) will investigate the use of impersonation in public comments on the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality repeal.

    Congressional Democrats requested the investigation last month, and the GAO has granted the request.

    While the investigation request was spurred by widespread fraud in the FCC's net neutrality repeal docket, Democrats asked the GAO to also "examine whether this shady practice extends to other agency rulemaking processes." The GAO will do just that, having told Democrats in a letter that it will "review the extent and pervasiveness of fraud and the misuse of American identities during federal rulemaking processes."

  • The GAO provides independent, nonpartisan audits and investigations for Congress.

    The GAO previously agreed to investigate DDoS attacks that allegedly targeted the FCC comment system, also in response to a request by Democratic lawmakers. The Democrats charged that Chairman Ajit Pai's FCC did not provide enough evidence that the attacks actually happened, and they asked the GAO to find out what evidence the FCC used to make its determination. Democrats also asked the GAO to examine whether the FCC is prepared to prevent future attacks.

    The DDoS investigation should happen sooner than the new one on comment fraud because the GAO accepted that request in October.

  • The FCC's net neutrality repeal received more than 22 million comments, but millions were apparently submitted by bots and falsely attributed to real Americans (including some dead ones) who didn't actually submit comments. Various analyses confirmed the widespread spam and fraud; one analysis found that 98.5 percent of unique comments opposed the repeal plan.

  • The FCC's comment system makes no attempt to verify submitters' identities, and allows bulk uploads so that groups collecting signatures for letters and petitions can get them on the docket easily. It was like that even before Pai took over as chair, but the fraud became far more pervasive in the proceeding that led to the repeal of net neutrality rules. Pai's FCC did not remove any fraudulent comments from the record.

    Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel called for a delay in the net neutrality repeal vote because of the fraud, but the Republican majority pushed the vote through as scheduled last month.

    New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been investigating the comment fraud and says the FCC has stonewalled the investigation by refusing to provide evidence. Schneiderman is also leading a lawsuit to reverse the FCC's net neutrality repeal, and the comment fraud could play a role in the case.

    "We understand that the FCC's rulemaking process requires it to address all comments it receives, regardless of who submits them," Congressional Democrats said in their letter requesting a GAO investigation. "However, we do not believe any outside parties should be permitted to generate any comments to any federal governmental entity using information it knows to be false, such as the identities of those submitting the comments."

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenStack 01/25/2018 (a.m.)

• European Commission publishes guidance on new data protection rules - nsnbc international | nsnbc international

  Tags: EU, European Commission, digital-privacy, rules

  • The European Commission, on January 24, published its guidance aimed to facilitate a direct and smooth application of the European Union’s new data protection rules across the EU as of 25 May. The Commission also launches a new online tool dedicated to SMEs.

  • With just over 100 days left before the application of the new law, the guidance outlines what the European Commission, national data protection authorities and national administrations, according to the Commission, should still do to bring the preparation to a successful completion.

    The Commission notes that while the new regulation provides for a single set of rules directly applicable in all Member States, it will still require significant adjustments in certain aspects, like amending existing laws by EU governments or setting up the European Data Protection Board by data protection authorities. The Commission states that the guidance recalls the main innovations, opportunities opened up by the new rules, takes stock of the preparatory work already undertaken and outlines the work still ahead of the European Commission, national data protection authorities and national administrations.

    Andrus Ansip, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said: “Our digital future can only be built on trust. Everyone’s privacy has to be protected. Strengthened EU data protection rules will become a reality on 25 May. It is a major step forward and we are committed to making it a success for everyone.”

    Vĕra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, added:” In today’s world, the way we handle data will determine to a large extent our economic future and personal safety. We need modern rules to respond to new risks, so we call on EU governments, authorities and businesses to use the remaining time efficiently and fulfil their roles in the preparations for the big day.”

  • The guidance recalls the main elements of the new data protection rules:

    • One set of rules across the continent, guaranteeing legal certainty for businesses and the same data protection level across the EU for citizens.
    • Same rules apply to all companies offering services in the EU, even if these companies are based outside the EU.
    • Stronger and new rights for citizens: the right to information, access and the right to be forgotten are strengthened. A new right to data portability allows citizens to move their data from one company to the other. This will give companies new business opportunities.
    • Stronger protection against data breaches: a company experiencing a data breach, which put individuals at risk, has to notify the data protection authority within 72 hours.
    • Rules with teeth and deterrent fines: all data protection authorities will have the power to impose fines for up to EUR 20 million or, in the case of a company, 4% of the worldwide annual turnover.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenStack 01/21/2018 (p.m.)

• Forget About Siri and Alexa — When It Comes to Voice Identification, the “NSA Reigns Supreme”

  Tags: surveillance state, NSA, voice-surveillance

  • These and other classified documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden reveal that the NSA has developed technology not just to record and transcribe private conversations but to automatically identify the speakers.

    Americans most regularly encounter this technology, known as speaker recognition, or speaker identification, when they wake up Amazon’s Alexa or call their bank. But a decade before voice commands like “Hello Siri” and “OK Google” became common household phrases, the NSA was using speaker recognition to monitor terrorists, politicians, drug lords, spies, and even agency employees.

    The technology works by analyzing the physical and behavioral features that make each person’s voice distinctive, such as the pitch, shape of the mouth, and length of the larynx. An algorithm then creates a dynamic computer model of the individual’s vocal characteristics. This is what’s popularly referred to as a “voiceprint.” The entire process — capturing a few spoken words, turning those words into a voiceprint, and comparing that representation to other “voiceprints” already stored in the database — can happen almost instantaneously. Although the NSA is known to rely on finger and face prints to identify targets, voiceprints, according to a 2008 agency document, are “where NSA reigns supreme.”

    It’s not difficult to see why. By intercepting and recording millions of overseas telephone conversations, video teleconferences, and internet calls — in addition to capturing, with or without warrants, the domestic conversations of Americans — the NSA has built an unrivaled collection of distinct voices. Documents from the Snowden archive reveal that analysts fed some of these recordings to speaker recognition algorithms that could connect individuals to their past utterances, even when they had used unk

  • The classified documents, dating from 2004 to 2012, show the NSA refining increasingly sophisticated iterations of its speaker recognition technology. They confirm the uses of speaker recognition in counterterrorism operations and overseas drug busts. And they suggest that the agency planned to deploy the technology not just to retroactively identify spies like Pelton but to prevent whistleblowers like Snowden.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenStack 01/19/2018 (p.m.)

• Facebook is done with quality journalism. Deal with it.

  Tags: AI, Internet-censorship, Facebook, journalism

  • For Facebook, journalism has been a pain in the neck from day one. Now, bogged down with the insoluble problems of fake news and bad PR, it’s clear that Facebook will gradually pull the plug on news. Publishers should stop whining and move on.

    Let’s admit that publishers have been screwed by Facebook. Not because Mark Zuckerberg is evil, but because he’s a pragmatist. His latest move should not come as a surprise. On Thursday, for the second time in six months, Facebook stated publicly that news (i.e., journalism) will appear further down in everyone’s newsfeed, in order to favor posts from friends, family and “groups.” Here is how Zuck defended the move:

    “The research shows that when we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being. We can feel more connected and less lonely, and that correlates with long term measures of happiness and health. On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos — even if they’re entertaining or informative — may not be as good. Based on this, we’re making a major change to how we build Facebook. I’m changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions”.

    Consider us notified. Facebook is done with journalism. It will happen, slowly, gradually, but the trend is here. In this context, the emai

• Assange Keeps Warning Of AI Censorship, And It’s Time We Started Listening

  Tags: AI, Internet-censorship, Google, Twitter, Facebook

  • Where power is not overtly totalitarian, wealthy elites have bought up all media, first in print, then radio, then television, and used it to advance narratives that are favorable to their interests. Not until humanity gained widespread access to the internet has our species had the ability to freely and easily share ideas and information on a large scale without regulation by the iron-fisted grip of power. This newfound ability arguably had a direct impact on the election for the most powerful elected office in the most powerful government in the world in 2016, as a leak publishing outlet combined with alternative and social media enabled ordinary Americans to tell one another their own stories about what they thought was going on in their country.

    This newly democratized narrative-generating power of the masses gave those in power an immense fright, and they’ve been working to restore the old order of power controlling information ever since. And the editor-in-chief of the aforementioned leak publishing outlet, WikiLeaks, has been repeatedly trying to warn us about this coming development.

  • In a statement that was recently read during the “Organising Resistance to Internet Censorship” webinar, sponsored by the World Socialist Web Site, Assange warned of how “digital super states” like Facebook and Google have been working to “re-establish discourse control”, giving authority over how ideas and information are shared back to those in power.

    Assange went on to say that the manipulative attempts of world power structures to regain control of discourse in the information age has been “operating at a scale, speed, and increasingly at a subtlety, that appears likely to eclipse human counter-measures.”

    What this means is that using increasingly more advanced forms of artificial intelligence, power structures are becoming more and more capable of controlling the ideas and information that people are able to access and share with one another, hide information which goes against the interests of those power structures and elevate narratives which support those interests, all of course while maintaining the illusion of freedom and lively debate.

  • To be clear, this is already happening. Due to a recent shift in Google’s “evaluation methods”, traffic to left-leaning and anti-establishment websites has plummeted, with sites like WikiLeaks, Alternet, Counterpunch, Global Research, Consortium News, Truthout, and WSWS losing up to 70 percent of the views they were getting prior to the changes. Powerful billionaire oligarchs Pierre Omidyar and George Soros are openly financing the development of “an automated fact-checking system” (AI) to hide “fake news” from the public.
  • To make matters even worse, there’s no way to know the exact extent to which this is going on, because we know that we can absolutely count on the digital super states in question to lie about it. In the lead-up to the 2016 election, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was asked point-blank if Twitter was obstructing the #DNCLeaks from trending, a hashtag people were using to build awareness of the DNC emails which had just been published by WikiLeaks, and Dorsey flatly denied it. More than a year later, we learned from a prepared testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism by Twitter’s acting general counsel Sean J. Edgett that this was completely false and Twitter had indeed been doing exactly that to protect the interests of US political structures by sheltering the public from information allegedly gathered by Russian hackers.

  • Imagine going back to a world like the Middle Ages where you only knew the things your king wanted you to know, except you could still watch innocuous kitten videos on Youtube. That appears to be where we may be headed, and if that happens the possibility of any populist movement arising to hold power to account may be effectively locked out from the realm of possibility forever.

    To claim that these powerful new media corporations are just private companies practicing their freedom to determine what happens on their property is to bury your head in the sand and ignore the extent to which these digital super states are already inextricably interwoven with existing power structures. In a corporatist system of government, which America unquestionably has, corporate censorship is government censorship, of an even more pernicious strain than if Jeff Sessions were touring the country burning books. The more advanced artificial intelligence becomes, the more adept these power structures will become at manipulating us. Time to start paying very close attention to this.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenStack 01/18/2018 (p.m.)

• South Korea considers shutting down domestic cryptocurrency exchanges

  Tags: computer-security, vulneratiblities, Spectre, Meltdown, investigations

  • The request is one of the first responses from the U.S. Congress to the disclosure earlier this month by security researchers of the two major flaws, which may allow hackers to steal passwords or encryption keys on most types of computers, phones and cloud-based servers.

    McNerney, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked the companies to explain the scope of Spectre and Meltdown, their timeframe for understanding the vulnerabilities, how consumers are affected and whether the flaws have been exploited, among other questions.

• 10 Reasons Not To Trust Facebook

  (video)

  Tags: Facebook

  • - By Paul Merrell
  • With over 1.5 billion people using Facebook has become the superpower of the social media landscape. With with power comes responsibility and Facebook has unfortunately been responsibly for some pretty shady revelations!

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.