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January 5 2021

COVID-19 Restrictions by State

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Covid-19 travel restrictions state by state

With cases of Covid-19 reaching new heights in the United States, some states are having to adapt rapidly with their rules and regulations as the new year begins.

If you wish to travel to another state, it is important to be updated on the latest statewide regulations. While some US states have no restrictions on travel, all their sites have important Covid-19 safety information, including possible face mask mandates in public settings. States without travel restrictions might still have mask mandates.

This list is alphabetical and includes links where you should get more information and updates before you head out:

Alabama

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Alabama. However, visitors should be aware of the state’s mask mandate effective through January 22. You can check here for updates.

Alaska

UPDATE: Visitors to Alaska from other states must do one of the following:

— Submit a travel declaration and self-isolation plan online and arrive with proof of a negative Covid-19 test.
— Follow a plan that your employer filed with the state if you come for work.
— Buy a $250 Covid-19 test when you arrive and self-quarantine at your own expense until you get the results.
— Self-quarantine for 14 days or the duration of the trip if shorter.

According to the CDC, “people in quarantine should stay home, separate themselves from others, monitor their health, and follow directions from their state or local health department.” Leaving your home state to enter a state with a mandatory quarantine means you need one place to stay and to stay put.

Alaska residents also have protocols they must follow for travel. Check here for Alaska details and updates.

Arizona

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Arizona. Check here for updates.

Arkansas

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Arkansas. Check here for updates.

California

UPDATE: California is under a regional stay-at-home order with many tourism-related businesses closed, including bars and museums. Nonessential travel is banned except in a region north of Sonoma County.

Travelers to California are directed to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival and avoid nonessential travel, which includes tourism. San Francisco has a mandatory, 10-day quarantine for anyone arriving from outside the nine-county Bay Area region. Check here for updates and details.

Colorado

Pitkin County, Colorado (which includes ski resort Aspen/Snowmass), requires visitors to complete a health affidavit and provide a negative Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours of arrival or face a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

There are no other travel restrictions in Colorado, though nonessential travel is not recommended. Check here for updates and click here for regional information about what’s open.

Connecticut

UPDATE: Anyone traveling to Connecticut from anywhere other than New York, New Jersey or Rhode Island must self-quarantine for 10 days. You must also fill out a travel health form. Failure to do either could result in a $500 fine. You can be exempt from the quarantine with a negative Covid-19 test result taken within 72 hours prior to arrival or after receiving a negative result for a test taken after arrival. Check here for updates and details.

Delaware

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Delaware. Check here for updates.

Florida

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Florida. Check here for updates.

Georgia

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Georgia. Check here for updates.

Hawaii

UPDATE: Hawaii has a complicated and evolving set of travel requirements and you can expect variation within the islands. You should read them thoroughly before you plan a trip and check often for updates.

According to the state: “Travelers wishing to bypass the 10-day mandatory quarantine must have their negative Covid-19 test results — from a trusted testing partner — prior to departure for the State of Hawaii. Travelers heading to Hawaii must upload their negative test result to the Safe Travels system prior to departure or, as an alternative to uploading, bring a hard copy of their negative test result with them when boarding their flight.”

Visitors to Kauai must quarantine regardless of test result unless they qualify to stay in a “resort bubble” hotel. Check here for important additional details and updates.

Idaho

As of January 4, there are no statewide travel restrictions in Idaho. Check here for updates.

Illinois

As of January 4, there are no statewide restrictions in Illinois, but visitors heading to Chicago have been placed in three categories — red, orange and yellow. Anyone from a red state must quarantine for 14 days. Anyone from an orange state must have a negative Covid-19 test result no more than 72 hours old or observe the quarantine. There are no specific requirements for yellow states. Check here for the list of states and more information before you travel.

Indiana

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Indiana. Check here for updates.

Iowa

UPDATE: As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Iowa, but anyone 2 and older is required to wear a face covering in indoor public settings. Check here for updates and gathering restrictions.

Kansas

While mostly open, Kansas has some unusually specific quarantine requirements that often change. Check here for updates and more details.

Kentucky

UPDATE: The Bluegrass State has been discouraging out-of-state leisure travel since December 14. If you decide to go anyway, the state asks you to self-quarantine for 14 days. Read Kentucky’s travel advisory here.

Louisiana

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Louisiana. Check here for updates.

Maine

UPDATE: Travelers must quarantine for 10 days upon arrival or sign a form stating they’ve received a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours. You may also get tested upon arriving in Maine but must quarantine while awaiting results. Residents of New Hampshire and Vermont are exempt from these rules. Check here for updates.

Maryland

UPDATE: People who travel to Maryland must either get a negative Covid-19 test result within 72 hours of arrival or self-quarantine for 10 days. This applies to people in all places except Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, DC. Check the following for updates: VisitMaryland guide | The governor’s recovery plan | PDF with detailed instructions (pages 2 and 3).

Massachusetts

UPDATE: All visitors and returning residents must complete a travel form before arriving in Massachusetts unless they are arriving from a state designated by the Department of Public Health as low risk. As of January 4, the only low-risk state was Hawaii.

Otherwise, visitors must quarantine for 10 days or have proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours of arrival. Check here as well for updates.

Michigan

UPDATE: As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Michigan, though some of the activities and venues vacationers might enjoy are not open for now. Check here for updates.

Minnesota

UPDATE: Visitors to Minnesota are asked to quarantine for 14 days or follow CDC guidelines on how to shorten a quarantine. Also note that many indoor tourism venues are either closed or have tight restrictions. Find out more: Explore Minnesota | Minnesota Department of Health.

Mississippi

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Mississippi. Check here for updates.

Missouri

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Missouri. Check here for updates.

Montana

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Montana. Travel restrictions might vary at Native American reservations. Check here for updates.

Nebraska

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Nebraska. Check here for updates.

Nevada

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Nevada, though many indoor places tourists might visit have strict capacity limits. Check here for updates.

New Hampshire

UPDATE: Visitors to New Hampshire are asked to self-quarantine for 10 days unless they are arriving from elsewhere in New England. People who get a negative Covid-19 test result on or after the seventh day of quarantining can break it early. Check here for updates.

New Jersey

UPDATE: New Jersey is discouraging all nonessential travel. “Travelers and residents returning from any US state or territory beyond the immediate region (New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware) should self-quarantine at their home, hotel or other temporary lodging” for 10 days. The self-quarantine is voluntary, but compliance is expected. The state government is also asking travelers to fill out a voluntary survey regarding information about where they are traveling and their destination. Check here for updates.

New Mexico

UPDATE: People traveling from out-of-state are required to self-quarantine for 14 days or the length of their stay in New Mexico, whichever is shorter. Exemptions from low-risk states are allowed, but as of January 4, no states were deemed low risk. Check here for updates.

New York

UPDATE: Current guidelines allow travelers to New York to “test out” of the mandatory 10-day quarantine. Travelers from states that are contiguous with New York will continue to be exempt from the travel advisory. Covered travelers must continue to fill out the Traveler Health Form. Check for important details on how to test out here along with other updates.

North Carolina

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in North Carolina. Check here for updates and details on closings and mandates.

North Dakota

UDPATE: As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in North Dakota. The state does post suggested travel guidance and testing protocols. Be aware North Dakota has the highest number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people in the country, followed by South Dakota. Check here for updates.

Ohio

Travelers visiting Ohio from states reporting positive testing rates of 15% or more are advised to self-quarantine for 14 days. This list updates each Wednesday. Check here for details.

Oklahoma

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Oklahoma. Check here for updates.

Oregon

UPDATE: People arriving in Oregon from other states or countries, including returning Oregon residents, are encouraged to self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival. Nonessential travel, which includes tourism, is discouraged. Check here for updates and details.

Pennsylvania

UPDATE: Travelers arriving in Pennsylvania are required to quarantine for 10 days or provide a negative Covid-19 test result that’s less than 72 hours old upon arrival. Check here for updates.

Rhode Island

UPDATE: Those traveling to Rhode Island from a state that has a positive testing rate of 5% or more must quarantine for 14 days. Travelers can opt out of the quarantine if they can provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours of their arrival. This exception does not apply to international arrivals. You can check that list of states here.

Those waiting on test results must self-quarantine until a negative test result arrives. You must also fill out a certificate of compliance and travel screening form. Check here for updates and access to the forms.

South Carolina

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in South Carolina. Check here for updates.

South Dakota

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in South Dakota. Some routes through Native American lands might be closed. Check here for updates.

Tennessee

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Tennessee. Check here for updates.

Texas

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Texas. The state urges people to wear a mask, saying “an itty-bitty piece of cloth goes a long way towards keeping yourself and others healthy.” Check here for updates.

Utah

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Utah, though there is a statewide mask mandate. Check here for updates.

Vermont

Vermont has a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival for nonessential travel. You have the option of taking a Covid-19 PCR test on day 7 of the quarantine and ending the quarantine early with a negative reading. Check here for updates.

Virginia

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Virginia. The state suggests getting tested one to three days before travel and again three to five days after you return. Check here for updates.

Washington, DC

Travel requirements apply to anyone traveling to the District from a state with more than 10 cases per 100,000 people. Visitors are asked to get tested 72 hours or less before coming to DC. If you’re there for more than three days, you’re asked to get tested again. Check here for updates and important details.

Washington state

UPDATE: Washington state recommends a 14-day self-quarantine for interstate and international travel. Tourists are being discouraged from visiting. Check here for details, including information on the Covid variant.

West Virginia

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in West Virginia. Check here for updates.

Wisconsin

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions. However, the state is discouraging nonessential travel. Check here for updates.

Wyoming

As of January 4, there were no statewide travel restrictions in Wyoming. Check here for updates.

November 1 2020

Growing Cyber Attacks

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The year 2020 has become remarkable in many ways, especially when it comes to the surge in cyber attacks. The Covid-19 pandemic has given an unprecedented opportunity to cyber attackers to hack and break down the organizations’ IT infrastructure. The work-from-home working module adopted by such organizations has been attributed to the rise of cyber attacks.

The security gap between the home and office network has played a key role to make way for the data breaches in 2020. This issue has resulted in the theft of confidential information, leading to the loss of millions of dollars for breached organizations.

Today, cyber attackers have come up with more innovative ideas to set a new trend in phishing, cryptojacking, ransomware attack, IoT attack, etc. According to a security research firm, 81 global firms from 81 countries reported data breaches in the first half of 2020 alone.

In fact, 80% of firms have seen an increase in cyber attacks this year. Coronavirus is alone blamed for a 238% rise in cyber attacks on banks. Phishing attacks have seen a dramatic increase of 600% since the end of February.

Whereas due to pandemic, ransomware attacks rose 148% in March and the average ransomware payment rose by 33% to $111,605 as compared to Q4 2019. (Source: Fintech News)

We discussed how cyber attacks have dramatically increased today. Let us walk you through the five major cyber attacks that have happened in 2020 till now. These staggering cyber attacks have crippled some famous organizations across the world.

Software AG Ransomware Attack

The second-largest software vendor in Germany and the seventh-largest in Europe, Software AG has been reportedly hit by a ransomware attack in October 2020. ZDNet reported that the German tech firm has been attacked by the Clop ransomware and the cyber-criminal gang has demanded more than $20 million ransom.

The report also says that the company has still not recovered from the attack completely. The company disclosed that the ransomware attack disrupted a part of its internal network. But services to its customers, including cloud-based services, remained unaffected. The company also tried to negotiate with the attackers but it all went in vain.

As per the statement released by Software AG, the company is in the process of restoring its system and database for resuming orderly operation.

Sopra Steria Ransomware Attack

French IT service giant Sopra Steria was attacked by ransomware on the evening of 20th October, as confirmed by the company. Its fintech business, Sopra Banking Software, identified the virus which is a new version of the Ryuk ransomware and previously unknown to cyber security providers.

Sopra Steria claimed that it was able to confine the attack to a limited part of its IT framework, even though it caught the attack after a few days. However, following an in-depth investigation, the company did not identify any leaked data or damage caused to its customers.

Ryuk is one of the most inventive ransomware which has already targeted organizations like EWA, a US defense contractor, and Prosegur, a Spanish logistics firm.

Telegram Hijack

In September 2020, hackers gained access to Telegram messenger and email data of some big names in the cryptocurrency business. Hackers used Signaling System 7 (SS7), which is used for connecting mobile networks across the world, to hack the data.

According to cyber security experts, the hackers were most probably after two-factor authentication (2FA) login codes. They spoofed the short message service center (SMSC) of mobile network operators to send a request on location updates to at least 20 targeted high-profile victims.

This attack is believed to have occurred to obtain cryptocurrency. This type of cyber attack is well known in the cryptocurrency community but the users are generally aware of such requests.

Therefore, there are better authentication methods than just SMS or call-based 2FA in the cryptocurrency community. Cyber security experts think telecom standards must move away from using protocols like SS7, which cannot resolve modern issues.

Seyfarth Shaw Malware Attack

Chicago based leading global legal firm, Seyfarth Shaw LLP became a victim of an “aggressive malware” attack. This attack was later confirmed by the firm as a ransomware attack. The cyber attack reportedly took place on October 10, 2020, and downed the firm’s email system completely, as per a statement published by the company.

The firm claimed in its statement that there was no evidence of client data or firm data unauthorized access or removal. However, many of its systems were found encrypted, following which the firm shut down all of those as a precautionary measure.

The global legal firm notified law enforcement and the FBI has already started investigation. Apart from this, no further information was revealed on how the attack occurred and what family of ransomware hit the firm.

Carnival Corporation Data Breach:

The world’s largest cruise line operator, Carnival Corporation reported a data breach due to a ransomware attack that took place in the month of August 2020. Hackers stole confidential information of customers, employees, and crew members at the time of the attack.

On August 15, 2020, the company detected the ransomware attack that breached and encrypted one of its brand’s IT infrastructure. Following the attack, the cruise line operator notified law enforcement and hired legal counsel and cyber security experts and launched an investigation.

Though the company claimed that no misuse of exposed personal data has come to light, the type of ransomware and how the attack happened have remained unrevealed.

How to Secure Your Organization Against Cyber Attacks?

The global transition to the work-from-home culture has made a way for cyber-criminals to execute incredibly advanced cyber attacks. Moreover, ransomware, phishing, DDoS, malware, etc., are amongst the most prominent forms of cyber attacks that we have experienced this year, till now.

Here are some of the “must follow” measures to secure your organization against emerging cyber attacks:

Conduct VAPT periodically to check for exploitable security vulnerabilities in the IT infrastructure of your organization.
Back up all the sensitive or confidential data and store it separately from time to time.
Keep all the systems, software, and applications up to date with the latest security patches.
Restrict employees from sharing passwords at work openly and encourage them to use unique and strong passwords.
Block email spoofing, spam, and BEC attack by securing your email domain with email authentication protocols like DMARC, SPF and DKIM.
Run a cyber attack simulation campaign to assess the level of cyber awareness among employees. Then train them accordingly with the best in class security awareness training tool.
Make sure to implement the practice of using multi-factor authentication to maintain security and privacy.
Restrict IT admin and access rights to limited employees. Ensure that they are adequately trained on the safe usage and encrypted storage of sensitive data.

September 7 2020

Quitting Social Media

“I’m quitting social media,” you declare. Suddenly a feeling of freedom washes over you as you’re no longer concerned with likes, views and who’s doing what. You stop hunching over your phone and your posture straightens, elongating your spine and immediately you’re an inch taller than just before. You weightlessly drift away from the endless scroll to a trailhead in the mountains. Your free time is filled by strolling through meadows, journaling, meditation, long conversations and lots and lots of “being present.”

Or at least that’s what some of the “I quit social media and it changed my life” blog posts would have you believe. Unfortunately, dropping social media alone will not lead you to full self-actualization. But that doesn’t mean the idea is entirely without merit, either.

In improving your health and wellness, no one change is going to drastically alter your entire life (We know. We’re sorry. We were really hoping it would be green smoothies.). A series of small behavioral changes that lead to positive habits make a lasting impact. Can quitting social media be one of those changes? Absolutely. Some research suggests that social media is harming us in several ways. But that doesn’t mean it’s all bad and cutting it off entirely could have both positive and negative effects on your life.

We weigh the pros and cons.

To Quit Social Media …

Quitting social media is not just a trend or something to make you seem ultra-enlightened. Research has revealed some valid reasons why you might want to toss aside your virtual networks.

Happiness and Mood

Our happiness is one of the most important aspects of our lives. Still, we check on the very thing that might be chipping away at our happiness dozens – or hundreds! – of times a day.. Studies have shown that social media can have a negative effect on your life satisfaction and subjective well-being. Evidence also suggests that social media is linked to depressive symptoms.

We know more about the end result, that those who use social media more tend to be less satisfied, than we do about what causes this result. Social comparison is often cited, because your friends are likely posting about the new job they got and not the 14 jobs they applied for and didn’t get before that. Looking at others’ perpetual highlight reel, versus your own behind-the-scenes life, can make you feel inadequate if you don’t feel like you have anything “post-worthy” at the moment. The Happiness Research Institute also found that people on Facebook had trouble concentrating, felt less present and thought they were wasting their time at a higher rate than peers not using Facebook.

If you’re on social media a lot, enough research suggests that you might want to run your own little experiment to see if a social media break or decrease can boost your mood.

Self-Esteem

What if you can’t hit those selfie angles quite like a Kardashian? (P.s. They hired a photographer for that “selfie.”) Or your entire Facebook community seems to be getting promotions while you can’t seem to impress your boss or get ahead at work?

Social media makes you a lot more aware of what is happening in your world and if you feel like you don’t stack up to those around you it can have a negative effect on your self-esteem. The era of filters, Instagram models and influencers, online fitness celebrities and readily available photo-editing tools can be particularly burdensome on our self-esteem. Two studies looked particularly at the effect of selfies and determined that looking at others’ selfies harmed self-esteem and caused women to compare themselves negatively to others. Another study found that social media use correlated with feeling unattractive.

Going back to social comparisons, Facebook might also be making you feel less successful in your career and relationships.

In just minutes, you can easily be inundated with images of people who seemingly have it better than you in one way or another. Just remember that social media is not real life and every post is made by a person (Well, except for the bots. Actually, there are a lot of bots posting.) and that person has ups and downs, too.

Sleep

So many of us are not getting enough sleep. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 35 percent of Americans don’t get the recommended seven hours of sleep a night. But when it comes time to actually go to sleep so many of us get in our comfortable pajamas and cuddle up cozilly with a … cold chunk of glass, metal and plastic that emits a hue of light and messages that inhibit our sleep.

Yes, the light from our devices, particularly the blue hue that is common, is disruptive to sleep in itself. And one study found that young adults who check social media more frequently and for more time, have greater sleep disturbances.

And given the impact sleep has on the rest of our health, it’s wise to find a way to detach your phone from your bedtime routine.

To Not Quit Social Media …

Frankly, this argument is not as common. And you’re not going to shake up your social networks when you post, “I’ve decided to continue using social media at my current pace!” But particularly in our current reality there are advantages to using social media, provided you do it judiciously.

No Mo’ FOMO

We may not love it, but much of the news about our friends and family is communicated via social media. Particularly as we age, spread out geographically from old friends and family and start families, we have less time to check in via the old-fashioned methods. And the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a well-known feeling to certain generations raised with social media as the norm.

So if you disconnect from social networks you’re simply going to miss pregnancy and engagement announcements, baby pictures, birthday invites, good news and the latest and greatest in memes, goofy kids and cat videos. The thing about quitting social media is all the people you care about don’t magically also quit at the same time and spend their newly-found free time texting and calling you with updates.

Yes, you can make other efforts to stay in touch and up-to-date with what is happening with your friends and family. Certainly, previous generations manage this feat. But sometimes social media simply makes keeping up easier and without it your could feel out of touch and isolated.

The Internet is Good, Actually (Sometimes)

We’ll level with you, a lot of content on social media is probably mean, not particularly useful, unwanted ads, false or somehow otherwise bad. But it also doesn’t take that much digging to find some really positive, uplifting content online.

Body positivity is represented, heard and seen on social media in a way it simply wasn’t in previous generations. Writers with relatively modest Twitter followings can cultivate a loyal community that has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity, including $132,000 to Hurricane Harvey victims. Social media aids in many natural disasters, human rights revolutions and other worthy endeavors. Not to mention crowdsourcing local recommendations for everything from finding a handyman to planning a vacation.

These are just a few ways social media can and has been used for good. You can find your own way. Just remember that you’re in control of your feeds. Bring in the positive and block out the rest. That’s what the mute and block functions are for, or at least that’s how we choose to employ them.

Expand Your Networks

Social media has helped us break down our geographical and ideological barriers and connect with people we wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Sure, that means some overly intense political and sports opinions find their way into your feed, but it also allows you to learn about groups and opinions you don’t see in your everyday life.

Particularly if you live in a remote or non-diverse area, social media can expose you to people and viewpoints you simply wouldn’t encounter where you live. Ideas about new books, movies, activities and interests all help to create a more well-rounded view of the world. If you’ve recently moved, social media can help you build a network around common interests or causes.

And while LinkedIn can be kind of a punchline online, if you sift through the spam and use it to your advantage, it can be a worthwhile networking tool and resource for professional development. And depending on your industry, Twitter, Instagram or lesser-known platforms can be just what your business needs to reach that next rung of success.

This is far from a comprehensive list. Do your own research if you’re considering deleting social media.

Yes, social media is bad. It’s also good. Like most things on the internet, it depends on how you use them. Filter out the negativity, limit your social media exposure, use it for the right reasons and bring your own positivity to your online world.

If you feel like social media is making you less happy, then maybe it needs to go. Just make a plan to replace the positive you do find in social media.

April 1 2020

How far will this take us?

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We all know now how badly underequipped America was to fight a public health battle on the scale of COVID-19. But as we struggle to catch up with countries that have successfully pushed back on the outbreak, we start to see new dangers in the weapons we deploy to fight this disease, including some of those used abroad.

As federal, state and local governments increasingly contemplate big tech and mass surveillance as a tool to combat the spread of the deadly virus, we must guard against surveillance opportunists who will endanger public health and the health of our democracy. For some Americans, the consequences of expanded data collection could be as deadly as the disease itself.

As we’ve seen in China, Taiwan and South Korea, every facet of modern life can become a tool for tracking the virus’s spread. Whether it’s the government using cellphone tower data to track the movement of travelers from Wuhan to other parts of China, or pushing for using new apps that predict if users have been exposed to the disease, or gathering information from social media to map where users are posting from, our digital lives are becoming medical diagnostic tools.

As much as this surveillance might seem like a smart way to fight the pandemic, these programs can get it wrong. There is a profound risk that these types of artificial intelligence systems will mirror the prejudices of their human designers, falsely targeting Asian Americans and other marginalized groups. There is also the risk that they drive many of those who have been infected into the shadows, worsening the spread. And once the period of contagion is over, these emergency surveillance tools may easily be co-opted for other purposes — everything from tracking graffitiing to tax evasion — making Orwellian surveillance a permanent part of American life.

Perhaps the most high-profile public health tech tool that’s actually been put in place to deal with the coronavirus, rather than merely discussed, is the partnership (albeit fraught) between the Trump administration and Google to create a screening triage website to determine whose symptoms, travel history, and other risk factors mean that they should be prioritized for treatment. Users seeking tests at participating facilities log in with their google account, enter their health data, then get a referral to COVID-19 testing if they are deemed a priority.

Making Google part of the national emergency response (long before it was agreed to by Google), caused privacy advocates to ask what would happen with the data. The law is completely unclear on whether this data can also be used by government agencies ranging from public health authorities to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Furthermore, if potential patients have to register with a Google account using their real name, it could dissuade certain groups of individuals from getting screened. Take a moment to imagine what it is like for undocumented immigrants living through the coronavirus crisis. For those who have the symptoms of COVID-19, a trip to the emergency room could bring a death sentence: deportation to a far-off country even less equipped to handle the threat of the pandemic. If even a small fraction of undocumented immigrants feel unsafe getting medical treatment, the virus could expand.

Similarly, those Americans who have outstanding police warrants may also be dissuaded from handing their information to public-private partnerships. And some Americans will avoid registration on ideological grounds to avoid giving corporate entities or the government their intimate health details.

The potential for far-reaching consequences from faulty technology is also greatly enhanced by using surveillance widely to cope with this pandemic. For instance, it’s not that far out to imagine government officials using current tracking software such as HealthMap (which scours social media sites for flu-related words to identify incipient flu outbreaks) or Flu Near You (which asks its users to self-identify their flulike symptoms) to impose quarantines or otherwise restrict people’s movements; local governments in Chicago and New York have relied on similar programs that scraped people’s social media for terms related to foodborne illnesses in order to identify and shut down restaurants prone to food poisoning.

But despite successes using these apps for food poisoning and the flu, the effectiveness of this sort of mass surveillance system is decidedly unclear, especially if expanded more broadly by relying on cellphone locations and internet history. Previously, systems might have been able to guess who had seasonal flu based on their Google queries, for example, but in the midst of this pandemic nearly every American is running these same searches. Other attempts to develop this technology, such as Google Flu Trends, were abandoned as failures.

Moreover, using artificial intelligence to determine who can leave their home or take transit raises the risk of AI bias. In the U.S. (and particularly New York City), where housing is appallingly segregated, it’s easy to imagine how AI could lead to a form of COVID-19 redlining or otherwise replicate the worst shortcomings of “predictive policing,” which often draws on racially biased crime data to recommend even more racially biased policing.

Ultimately, there’s the threat this technology poses to our civil rights and the rule of law. Government access to this type of tracking and personal data means officials will have the power to exclude people from society, effectively subjecting them to home confinement without trial, appeal or any semblance of due process. It’s an appealing response when the government gets that decision right, but a chilling power if abused.

In China, residents have been forced to install phone apps that track their movements and assign them a red, green or yellow coronavirus score. Get a bad score and suddenly public transportation, work and school are out of bounds. And, as people in China are learning, when a computer program quarantines you, that automated judgment can be impossible to challenge and reverse. Disturbingly, there’s growing evidence that the expanded behavioral tracking will stick around long after the crisis is over, giving Beijing a new way to track religious minorities and political dissidents.

In the weeks ahead, we must be vigilant. Whether it was the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the profiling of Muslim Americans following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, or the mass incarceration for petty and nonviolent crimes when crime rates spiked in the ’80s and ’90s, our rights are most at risk when we feel scared. And the changes we accept in times of crisis can last far longer than the immediate crisis.

In the weeks following 9/11, Congress hastily expanded surveillance powers through the USA PATRIOT Act. Many of those emergency provisions were originally supposed to expire more than a decade ago. This week, Congress voted to renew them yet again. Taking evidence-based steps to protect public health will save lives in the coming days, but any damage we do to our Constitution may not heal for decades.

March 19, 2020, 5:50 PM EDT

By Albert Fox Cahn and John Veiszlemlein

June 20 2019

Protecting your DNA

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I have for a long time, or at least since its emergence, been against all varieties of DNA testing kits you can order at home. The Internet has already more than enough information on us as it is, why give them your DNA too?

If you\’re delusional to think that your DNA test won\’t be shared with any 3rd party or able to be accessed by the government or law enforcement agencies, your DEAD wrong. That\’s not to say any law biding citizen would generally worry about this information being out there but one can make the case for mistaken DNA.

Imagine your sitting at home, minding your everyday hum-drum life, and the door comes crashing down with officers to arrest you for something you weren\’t involved in. Could it be because there was a DNA match? A match that perhaps was tainted or labeled improperly?

Or, even more of an Orwellian thought, your DNA was tagged because it contains information about a possible disease outbreak that could be caused by hidden information in your DNA.

At some point, as citizens, have to say enough is enough when protecting our privacy and our own personal information or intellectual properties.

If you\’re not one of these people who are concerned, at least take some steps to keep your DNA as private as you possibly can get it.

Eric Ravenscraft helps with his article in the New York Times.

Consumer DNA testing kits like those from 23andMe, Ancestry.com and MyHeritage promise a road map to your genealogy and, in some cases, information about what diseases you’re most susceptible to. They also ask for a lot of trust with your DNA information — trust that, in some ways, may not be earned. Here’s how to protect and delete your data if you use any of these services.

Home DNA testing kits usually involve taking a cheek swab or saliva sample and mailing it off to the company. In that little sample is the most personal information you can share: your genetic code. Some companies share that data with law enforcement, and most sell your DNA data to third parties, after which it can become difficult to track. For some people who work for small companies or serve in the military, it can affect insurance premiums and even the ability to get insurance at all.

While DNA testing has been used in medical and scientific contexts for decades, direct-to-consumer testing kits are still relatively new and legal policies that govern the private use of consumer data are still being developed.

According to Dr. James Hazel, a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Genetic Privacy and Identity in Community Settings, there are fewer protections for your data with consumer DNA testing kits than there would be if you were taking a medical test. If a doctor takes a DNA sample, that sample is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and there are limits on how it can be shared.

“In the United States, if you’re talking about genetic data that’s generated outside of the health care setting, there’s a relatively low baseline of protection,” Dr. Hazel said. “And that’s provided generally by the by the Federal Trade Commission. So the Federal Trade Commission, although it’s not specific to genetic data, has the ability to police unfair and deceptive business practices across all industries. Other than that, there are really no laws in the United States that apply specifically.”

In other words, if you want to make sure your data is safe, you’re going to have to do the unthinkable: read the company’s privacy policy. That policy will tell you what data the company collects, how it’s used and what control you have over it. If a company deceptively violates its own policy, the F.T.C. can step in. Beyond that, though, you’ll have to read a company’s policy carefully before signing up.

Go for the big names

For most DNA testing companies, the best way to protect your data is to not hand it over in the first place. In 2017, Dr. Hazel’s team studied 90 DNA testing companies and found most of their privacy policies wanting. Some companies only had policies governing use of their website, while others failed to indicate whether they strip away personally identifiable information from a sample before sending it off for testing. A few of the larger companies may have acceptable policies, but Dr. Hazel said you probably shouldn’t trust smaller testing companies that you haven’t heard of.

“When we looked in 2017, we found that 40 percent of companies appear to have no written policy that specifically mentioned genetic data,” Dr. Hazel said. “We saw these smaller companies that you might not have heard of had privacy policies that were a paragraph long, a couple paragraphs long, and really didn’t provide any information whatsoever.”

The more well-known testing companies are safer bets — perhaps because they’re so well-known. “And so when we have larger companies that are constantly sort of in the public spotlight, I think the result has been that these companies are generally more accountable,” Dr. Hazel said. “And their privacy policies are generally much more comprehensive.”

Three of the biggest names in home DNA tests are 23andMe, Ancestry.com and MyHeritage. You can find their privacy policies and specific instructions on how to delete data from each of them below. Wirecutter, the product review website owned by The New York Times Company, evaluated 15 DNA testing kits and recommended AncestryDNA or 23andMe.

What to watch for before you sign up

When you first set up a new smartphone, you might be asked to give a company permission to track your location or share data about how you use your phone. In the same way, once you’ve picked a DNA test to try, there are a few things to watch out for. DNA testing companies tend to ask a lot of questions that may strike you as boring, but if you want to protect your data, you’ll want to read them all carefully.

Consumers “want to look at what choices they have, in terms of the activities that they can opt into, or opt out of,” Dr. Hazel said. Some companies like 23andMe have a separate agreement asking permission to use your DNA data in research studies. This data is stripped of identifying labels like your name or address that tie it to you specifically, but that’s not always guaranteed to protect your privacy.

In some cases, Dr. Hazel said, companies use what’s called “de-identified aggregate data,” which is relatively safe. This kind of data might include summaries that don’t specifically call out individuals, like what percentage of people have a certain ancestry.

“But these companies also use what’s called de-identified individual-level data, where there is, you know, always a risk that a person can be re-identified from that data,” Dr. Hazel said. This kind of data might describe your unique genetic makeup without using your name. While it may be unlikely that this information could be linked back to you, researchers have shown it is possible. Law enforcement famously used crime-scene DNA that was shared with a genealogical research site to track down a suspect in the Golden State killer case, even though he never used a DNA test himself, demonstrating that even anonymized data can be used to identify people.

If you give a company permission to share your data with another research organization, you can revoke that permission later. However, it will be difficult or impossible to delete your data from third parties that have already received it. It’s also hard to guarantee that those third parties won’t also share your data with yet another company or research organization down the road. “Once that data has been shared with a third party, it’s really difficult to control further sharing,” Dr. Hazel said. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t share data with researchers, but you should know the risks going in.

You may also be asked for permission to allow the DNA testing company to store your sample, meaning that it can go back and test it again if more advanced techniques are developed in the future. Some sites also offer a family finder feature that lets potential relatives contact you if your DNA matches. All of these can be very personal permissions to give. Reputable companies will make sure to inform you as much as possible, but be sure to read everything you’re presented with before you click “Agree.”

How to delete your data from the Big Three

Each company has its own steps for deleting your data. We’ll cover the steps for each of the Big Three companies below, as well as what deleting your data with that company entails.

23andMe

To delete your 23andMe data, head to your account settings page and find the “Delete Your Data” option under “23andMe Data.” You can download any or all of your data before you destroy it. If you agreed to have your sample saved, it will also be physically destroyed.

However, 23andMe uses a laboratory that must follow regulations under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, or CLIA. This means that some data, including your DNA, sex and date of birth will be retained in order to comply with these regulations. The company will no longer use that information, though. You can read more about the company’s deletion process here.

Ancestry

To delete data from Ancestry, sign into your account, click the “DNA” tab and choose “Your DNA Results Summary.” From there, click “Settings” and choose “Delete Test Results.” You’ll have to enter your password again to confirm that you want to delete your information.

This process will delete your DNA data, as well as prevent you from appearing in any family finder results. You can also delete your entire Ancestry account. As with 23andMe (and any federally compliant DNA-testing company), your DNA information will be retained for regulatory compliance purposes, but nothing else, according to Ancestry’s privacy policy.

MyHeritage

To delete data from MyHeritage, log into your account, click your name in the upper-right corner, and choose “Account Settings.” From there, scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Delete Account.” You can also choose to delete your Family Tree Builder projects or sites without deleting your entire account, but this will not necessarily delete your data. Since MyHeritage labs are CLIA-certified, they will also retain some information about you.

DNA testing companies have improved their methods for deleting your data over the years. However, since the United States government requires these companies to retain DNA information in order to comply with quality control guidelines, it’s never really possible to delete it forever. Before you sign up for a testing kit, always make sure you know what you’re agreeing to and that you’re comfortable signing that permission away.

March 20 2019

China Testing EMP Weapons

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Written by: Daniel Jennings – Off The Grid News

China’s EMP threat to America and other nations is far greater than most people believe. Significantly, China’s EMP threat could reduce America to an early 19^th Century level of existence.

To elaborate, an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon could destroy most electronics along with the electric power grid. An EMP weapon releases an electromagnetic pulse or radiation that fries a wide variety of technology.

Notably, EMP weapons have been around for a long time. For instance, Operation Fishbowl, a 1961 U.S. Air Force study, claims that an electromagnetic pulse from a high-altitude nuclear blast could shut down the United States.

China’s EMP Threat Is Real

In addition, an EMP from Starfish Prime, a 1962 nuclear test, knocked out electrical service in Hawaii, The Hill claims. Amazingly, Hawaii is 1,000 miles from the Starfish Prime test site.

This operation demonstrates that no new technology is even required for a deadly EMP attack. So, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China can conceivably send America back to the stone age with proven off-the-shelf technology.

Moreover, the Air Force had classified details of Operation Fishbowl until 2007, The Hill states. This action may indicate that the Pentagon has been afraid of an EMP threat for decades.

“Nuclear EMP attack is part of the military doctrines, plans, and exercises of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran for a revolutionary new way of warfare against military forces and civilian critical infrastructures by cyber, sabotage, and EMP,” the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from EMP Attack asserts.

To explain, the Commission is examining the EMP threat for Congress, Investor’s Business Daily notes. In particular, the Commission warns that China’s EMP threat could send America back to the stone age.

China’s EMP Threat Can Send America Back To The Stone Age

“The effects of an EMP would be catastrophic and could plunge a nation into indefinite darkness,” blogger Daniel Ashman explains. Specifically, Ashman fears a surprise attack with a nuclear EMP.

An EMP weapon could instantly shut down America’s infrastructure and make most technology useless. Consequently, Investor’s Business Daily warns that “Modern life would simply disappear” after an EMP attack.

To illustrate, vehicles, mass-transit systems, power plants, airports, telephones, electronics, aircraft, railroads, pipelines, sewer systems, water systems, the internet, and hospitals could instantly shut down. As a result, Americans will find themselves in the Stone Age without modern technology.

Moreover, only a small percentage of America’s modern population possesses the skills and resources to survive in such an environment. For example, most Americans don’t even know how to fish, hunt, trap, plant a garden, or use hand tools.

Those With Guns Could Survive China’s EMP Threat

Under these circumstances, most Americans will starve to death. In addition, firearms will be among the few pieces of modern technology that will work after an EMP attack.

To elaborate, chemical explosions rather than electricity power firearms. As a consequence, most guns will still function after an EMP attack.

Those with guns may survive simply because they can force others to give them food. Furthermore, people with guns can create a comfortable lifestyle by forcing those without guns to perform manual labor. So, there’s a good chance that only people with guns will remain free after an EMP attack.

Significantly, The Investor’s Business Daily claims an EMP weapon will drive America back to the early 19^th Century. Importantly, slavery was one of the defining features of early 19^th Century U.S. society. Is it possible that slavery could make its return in a post-EMP America?

Are America And China Heading To War?

You should fear China’s EMP threat because there are those in Washington who want a conflict with the People’s Republic.

In fact, writer Harry J. Kazianis claims Trump administration officials want to “crush China” in an American Conservative column. Unfortunately, Kazianis presents no proof of his claims and quotes only an “anonymous source.” Furthermore, Kazianis offers no tangible evidence that President Donald J. Trump himself shares those desires.

However, Kazianis claims that an unidentified official says, “America’s strategy when it comes to China is easy to understand: crush them.” For this reason, some in Washington could give the Chinese a reason for launching an EMP attack.

Will A Trade War Unleash China’s EMP Threat?

Notably, some officials believe they can use sanctions and a trade war to crush China. Nonetheless, history proves such sanctions lead to war. Similar sanctions ended up driving the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor in 1941.

To explain further, President Franklin D. Roosevelt thought he could end Japanese aggression in Asia by blocking sales of raw materials to Japan. Instead of ending the aggression, the sanctions gave Japanese militarists a reason to attack the United States.

On balance, a conflict between the United States and China is more likely than many people believe. Because of this, everyone should take China’s EMP threat seriously.

March 20 2019

Cashless Society Chaos

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Written by: Daniel Jennings on Off The Grid News

The cashless society is almost here and it could lead to chaos and violence. Furthermore, many Americans could soon have no way to pay for necessities like food.

Poor people could have no way to buy food because they have no credit cards or smartphones. To elaborate, Big Retail is planning to get rid of cash registers and cashiers to save money.

In fact, Amazon is already operating 10 Go automated convenience stores that have no cash registers or cashiers, Grocery Business reports. Instead of cash, customers pay with digital wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay at Amazon Go. Moreover, Amazon plans to open up to 3,000 go stores by 2021, Bloomberg claims.

Big Retail Wants The Cashless Society

Big Retail wants the cashless society because it reduces expenses. For instance, Amazon does not pay cashiers at their Go stores.

In addition, Amazon needs less security at Go because there is no cash for armed robbers to take. Big Retail can also eliminate the expense of counting, storing, and hauling cash. After all, no safe, armored car, or armed guards are necessary when a store refuses to accept cash.

All in all, most of us are already living in a cashless society. For example, Americans used cash for only 30% of their transactions in 2018, The Federal Reserve estimates.

Additionally, people who do not use cash spend more. In particular, the average cash transaction was under $25 while the average credit card transaction was $67 in 2018, The Federal Reserve calculates. As a result, big retailers are readily embracing the cashless society because it increases their income while lowering their expenses.

We Are Not Prepared For The Cashless Society

Even though the cashless society is nearly here, most of us are still not ready for it.

Notably, the British government has no plan to cope with a cashless economy, Quartz reports. However, cash use is falling faster in the United Kingdom than in other countries. Specifically, the level of cash transactions in the UK could fall to 10% within 15 years.

The number of places where Britons can get cash is dwindling fast. Particularly, 70 bank branches are closing each month in the UK. Likewise, banks remove up to 300 ATMs each month in Britain.

How Cyberwarfare Threatens The Cashless Society

Ultimately, Britons could have no way to get cash if cyberwarfare or an electromagnetic pulse destroys electronic payment systems. So, most of Britain’s population would have no way to buy food after a cyber attack.

Notably, U.S. banks are already preparing for an apocalyptic cyber attack, PYMNTs.com claims. In fact, bank executives fear a cyber attack could wipe out up to 400 million bank accounts. For this reason, a cyber attack may devastate America’s cashless society.

Desperate mobs could roam cities and the countryside looking for food or gasoline. Furthermore, businesses and the government would shut down if employees are unpaid.

Get Ready For The Cashless Society And Chaos

Everybody needs to prepare for the cashless society because it is coming fast. Moreover, events overseas show that you will have no choice but to go cashless.

For example, most banks and many businesses in Sweden no longer even accept cash. In addition, parking lots and vending machines no longer accept cash in Sweden either.

Meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) plans to punish businesses that refuse to accept cash payments. A PBOC press release warned merchants that it is illegal not to accept cash.

The PBOC is threatening merchants because of complaints about businesses forcing customers to pay electronically, The South China Morning Post states. In detail, the PBOC is China’s central bank and the equivalent of America’s Federal Reserve.

In the final analysis, a cashless society is almost here and everybody must prepare for it regardless of current circumstances.

January 3 2019

12 Years Left!!!

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$\"\"$ By Andrew Winston – Harvard Business Review

Every year, I look for important themes in sustainability that will have lasting impact on society, from glaring evidence of global megatrends to inspiring stories of corporate action. The year 2018 brought extreme change — in weather and environmental ecosystems, in political winds and power, and in the expectations of business. It also brought incredible clarity about the scale of our challenges and opportunities.

So let’s start with the big picture before moving to some corporate success stories.

The world’s scientists sound a final alarm on climate

We have about 12 years left. That’s the clear message from a monumental study from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). To avoid some of the most devastating impacts of climate change, the world must slash carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, and completely decarbonize by 2050 (while, in the meantime, emissions are still rising).

The IPCC looked at the difference between the world “only” warming two degrees Celsius (3.8°F) — the agreed upon goal at global climate summits in Copenhagen and Paris — or holding warming to just 1.5 degrees. Even the latter, they say, will require a monumental effort “unprecedented in terms of scale.” We face serious problems either way, but every half degree matters a great deal in human, planetary, and economic losses.

It wasn’t just the IPCC that told a stark story. Thirteen U.S. government agencies issued the U.S. National Climate Assessment, which concluded that climate change could knock at least 10% off of GDP. Other studies tell us that sea level rise is going to be worse than we thought, Antarctica is melting three times faster than a decade ago, and Greenland is losing ice quickly as well. If both those ice sheets go, sea level rise could reach 200-plus feet, resulting in utter devastation, including the loss of the entire Atlantic seaboard (Boston, New York, D.C., etc.), all of Florida, London, Stockholm, Denmark, Paraguay, and land now inhabited by more than 1 billion Asians).

All of this suggests that business must dramatically change how it operates: companies will need to push well past their comfort zones from areas like politics and policy to engaging consumers to how they make investment decisions.

Entire towns are wiped off the map by extreme weather

This year the weather devastation around the world got, in the words of one colleague, “biblical.” The town of Paradise, California, was effectively eliminated by wildfires (that, yes, are made worse by climate change), killing at least 85 people. Most houses in Mexico Beach, Florida, were destroyed by Hurricane Michael. Unprecedented rains and damage from Hurricane Florence slammed North Carolina and temporarily turned a major highway into a river. Typhoon Mangkhut ravaged the Philippines and parts of China, killing dozens of people. Incredible heat blanketed four continents this summer, with records falling across Europe and Asia. Venezuela’s last glacier is disappearing. Finally, Capetown, South Africa, is essentially out of water due in part to drought — the city nearly shut off all the taps this year, but has held off “Day Zero” through ongoing restrictions and aggressive citizen action.

The consequences of these extremes are not theoretical. What is the economic cost to an area with no water, or one that’s under water, or burned to the ground? In the U.S. alone, it was $306 billion in 2017, shattering records.

Coral is dying, insects are disappearing, and the fate of major ecosystems looks dim

The world’s top coral expert confirms that at 2 degrees of warming, all coral will die. This will destroy a critical part of an ocean system that provides protein to hundreds of millions of people, helps blunt coastal storm surges, and supports the livelihoods of people working in fishing and tourism.

And it’s not just coral: there’s the death of pacific kelp forests, radical declines in insect populations, and continuing population drops in all mammals and bees.

How does this all connect to business? For some sectors, it’s obvious: the food and agriculture industry will have trouble feeding us without pollinators, and tourism takes a big hit without coral and other wildlife. But more broadly, society will not thrive in a world where entire pillars of planetary support are collapsing. And if society can’t thrive, neither can business.

The U.S. environmental protection system continues being dismantled … from within

The EPA and Department of Interior are reversing years of protections for air, water, and land. In 2018, the Trump administration has opened up offshore waters and rolled back safety rules for drilling, greatly weakened the voice of science in policy, reduced focus on children’s health, and moved to make it easier to build dirty coal plants.

The big question now is whether businesses will push back and go down a cleaner path on their own. It’s easy to see why multinationals might as they face pressure from sub-national regions — California Gov. Jerry Brown held a Global Climate Action Summit which produced many aggressive climate goes from cities and state, for example. Gov. Brown also signed aggressive new laws committing to carbon-free electricity statewide by 2045 and requiring solar on all new homes. So even if U.S. action sputters, governors and mayors who influence local and regional business conditions will be pushing the clean economy and pro-climate agendas.

In pointed contrast to the U.S., the EU backed a proposal to strike no new trade deals with countries not in the Paris climate accord (i.e., only the U.S.), France will shut coal plants by 2021, India just cancelled plans for big coal plants, and China banned 500 inefficient models of cars.

A prominent leader retires, but new leaders step up

For nearly a decade, no business leader has done more to bring sustainability into the business mainstream than Paul Polman, Unilever’s outgoing CEO (Full disclosure: I’ve worked with Unilever). His depth of understanding of our biggest global, social, and environmental challenges, and his commitment to use business as a way to tackle them, has been unparalleled. But it wasn’t just talk. The company also grew throughout Polman’s tenure and the stock outperformed peers and the FTSE index. Luckily, there are other corporate leaders who are stepping up, including Danone’s Emmanuel Faber (see below for more).

But climate isn’t the only area where we’re seeing bold stances. Societal issues more broadly made headlines, too. The New York Times declared 2018 year that “CEO activism has become the new normal,” with prominent voices like Salesforce’s Marc Benioff leading the way. Other notable moments include Nike making Colin Kaepernick — the man who led NFL player protests about police violence against African Americans — the face of its 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign (sales rose quickly). Under pressure from survivors of school mass shootings, Dick’s Sporting Goods stopped selling assault weapons, and other companies cut ties to the powerful National Rifle Association. Kroger celebrated a year of its “End Hunger” initiative. Unilever threatened to pull its substantial ad dollars from Facebook and Google if they didn’t police “fake news and toxic content.” One hundred U.S. CEOs urged action on controversial immigration issues. And more than 100 U.S. companies gave employees time off to vote.

Danone becomes the world’s largest B Corporation

A “B Corp” certification requires answering an intensive set of questions on environmental, social, and governance issues. But most importantly, it commits a company to create value for all stakeholders (customers, employees, communities, and so on), not just shareholders.

French consumer products giant Danone has now put 30% of its brands and businesses through the certification process and says that “companies are fundamentally challenged as to whose interests they really serve.” Becoming a B Corp is arguably is a direct statement about whose interests it values most, and it’s and fascinating frontal attack on the dominance of shareholder capitalism.

More investors are viewing climate and sustainability as core value issues

Something is shifting in finance. Vanguard wants CEOs to be a force for good. Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, said that “70% of [UK] banks, who normally have a shorter horizon, are viewing climate as a financial risk—not a CSR one.” Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, the world’s largest asset owner, encouraged longer-term thinking about environmental, social, and governance issues in a strongly-worded letter to large-company CEOs.

Anecdotally, I’ve talked to leaders at big banks who are now thinking differently about purpose and systemic risk. And in a quieter move, a major real estate investor in Miami began pulling money out of coastal assets to avoid risk of sea level rise. Watch this space.

The clean technology explosion continues and accelerates

Three big clean tech themes wowed me this year.

1) Renewables keep getting cheaper. According to Lazard’s annual analysis of the cost of building new power plants, renewables are now the cheapest. And another global analysis showed that new wind and solar are cheaper than one-third of the coal already on the grid — and will be cheaper than 96% of existing plants by 2030).

2) Corporate buying of clean energy keeps rising. By the end of just the first half of 2018, businesses bought more clean energy than they did in 2017. Companies like Owens Corning (disclosure: a client of mine) are buying enough green energy to pitch their products as cleanly manufactured (which they started doing in late 2017).

3) Electric vehicles are exploding, and it’s not just small vehicles: even container ships are going electric. UPS bought its first EV delivery vehicles at price parity to combustion engines, and China is adding nearly 10,000 electric buses to the roads — equal to the size of London’s entire bus fleet – every five weeks.

China rejects the world’s trash

For years, the U.S. had a great deal: When container ships arrived from China with goods, we sent them back filled with our recyclable paper and glass. But starting January 1, 2018, China stopped accepting our trash. The ripples of this move are unpredictable and still moving through the system, but in some regions, materials piled up and prices for recycled content plummeted. In a business world trying to go “circular” (i.e., find a use for everything and eliminate waste), it was a wake-up call about how much waste we still produce.

The battle against single-use plastic heats up, starting (somewhat oddly) with straws

Sometimes weird things hit a tipping point. For a combination of reasons, including a viral video showing a turtle with a straw stuck in its nose, companies waged war on straws this year. Marriott, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, and the city of Seattle, among others, all banned or are phasing out straws. It was a very small part of a larger conversation about “single-use plastics,” most notably plastic bags, which IKEA and Taiwan are banning as well.

Raising the bar for suppliers

The greening of the supply chain is a perennial story, but there are some noteworthy recent actions. Apple created a $300 million fund to help suppliers in China build more solar, and also partnered with Alcoa and Rio Tinto to develop a better smelting process to make carbon-free aluminum. On the labor side of the supply chain equation, PepsiCo and Nestle cut ties with a palm oil supplier over human rights abuses and Coca-Cola said it would work with the U.S. State Department to use blockchain to fight forced labor.

Meatless options grow plentiful

Given the way most cattle is currently raised, one of the most effective things an individual can do to reduce her carbon footprint is eat less meat. The options to do so are growing, and the rise of products made from non-animal proteins has been remarkable. The Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat, and other brands have made believers out of skeptics (they taste great) and are, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “overrunning grocery meat cases.” In another fascinating move, tech company WeWork went meat-free in its offices and even stopped reimbursing employees on business trips for meat meals.

What comes next…

I’m sure I missed many stories, especially globally (my view is from the U.S.). Predictions are hard, but I’m safe in assuming 2019 will be a bumpy ride again. Ultimately, today’s global political situation is, at best, unpredictable. Brazil now has a strongman-style leader who talks about cutting down the Amazon, but the U.S. just swung its House of Representatives back the other way, giving power to Democrats who want more focus on climate change, inequality, and other sustainability agenda items. No matter what happens politically, it seems clear that companies will continue to feel pressure, internally and externally, to do more on social and environmental issues. While the problems we are extremely serious, I remain optimistic that companies will be doing more in 2019 than ever before.

November 21 2018

Instagram Releases Passwords

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Instagram has recently patched a security issue in its website that might have accidentally exposed some of its users\’ passwords in plain text.

The company recently started notifying affected users of a security bug that resides in a newly offered feature called \”Download Your Data\” that allows users to download a copy of their data shared on the social media platform, including photos, comments, posts, and other information that they have shared on the platform.

To prevent unauthorized users from getting their hands on your personal data, the feature asks you to reconfirm your password before downloading the data.

However, according to Instagram, the plaintext passwords for some users who had used the Download Your Data feature were included in the URL and also stored on Facebook\’s servers due to a security bug that was discovered by the Instagram internal team.

The company said the stored data has been deleted from the servers owned by Facebook, Instagram\’s parent company and the tool has now been updated to resolve the issue, which \”affected a very small number of people.\”

Download Your Data was rolled out by Instagram in April to comply with the new European data privacy regulations, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and to address the privacy concerns of users worldwide amid Facebook\’s Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Affected users are highly recommended to change their passwords and clear their browser history as soon as possible.

If you have not received any notification from the photo-sharing service yet, it means your Instagram account and password are apparently not affected by the bug. If you are still concerned about the privacy and security of your account, you can also consider changing your password.

Users are also advised to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) and always secure their accounts with a strong and unique password.

Facebook had recently addressed a much more severe bug linked to its \”View As\” feature that was being actively exploited by unknown hackers to steal secret access tokens for 30 million Facebook users.

In late August, Instagram fixed another severe flaw in its API that unknown hackers exploited in the wild to gain access to the phone numbers and email addresses for many \”high-profile\” users with verified accounts.

In the same month, Instagram was also reportedly hit by a widespread hacking campaign that mysteriously locked out hundreds of users of their accounts with their email addresses, account names, profile pictures, and passwords changed.

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November 12 2018

Stockpiling on the Cheap

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Building up a stockpile from scratch can be expensive and financially demanding, but if you’re serious about prepping, it’s a financial burden that will have to be overcome. Fortunately, there are quite a few things you can do to lessen the blow to your wallet, even if you’re on a tight budget.

Treat Your Stockpile Like an Investment

Don’t like eating dried fruit? Don’t stock up on it! Prefer pasta over rice? Buy more of the pasta. Only like one type of shampoo? Don’t bother buying any other kind. When stockpiling, buy items that you would like to eat, drink, or use, and don’t be afraid to start going through your stockpile as you add to it. Rotating items in your stockpile is good. Eating through older food and continually replacing it with new food keeps your stock fresh and helps you keep track of any potential expiry dates (no matter how long into the future you think they may be).

You shouldn’t be picturing your stockpile as a large closet or room where you simply dump food and other products because you might need them one day. A stockpile should be a regularly used thing, accessed and utilized daily or weekly. A stockpile shouldn’t just be there in case doomsday arrives and the shit hits the fan so hard that everyone but you is starving. It should be a back up in case you just can’t go to the grocery store this week, in case you want to try saving gas money by taking less trips to the mall, or even, heaven forbid, in case you have some sort of emergency or have financially difficult times and can’t afford to pay for expensive grocery bills. A stockpile ensures you’re okay and well fed even if you hit your own personal rock bottom. It ensures you peace of mind – that even if all else goes wrong, at least you’ll never starve. You’ll always have food on the table, some medicine in case you get sick, and of course some extra toilet paper: because we all know living without that would suck.

So don’t think about your stockpile as though it’s an expensive tool you bought and stuffed in the back of the garage to gather dust simply because it “might come in handy one day.” Think of it as your own personal convenience store, combined with a small emergency scenario insurance plan.

Stockpile Gradually

There’s no rule that says you have to have a reasonably sized stockpile overnight. If you’re on a budget and can’t afford to spend a lot on stockpiling goods, or even if you would rather be a little more frugal at the moment, say because you have quite a few big payments this month, don’t hesitate to take small steps instead of big ones toward building up your stockpile.

For growing your non-perishable food stockpile, I’d recommend trying to cover one type of food or household item per week: say buying an extra bag or two of rice per person the first week, an extra 5 or 10 cans of beans the next, etc. Try to circle around the food groups as much as possible, so that you don’t end up with too many carbs and not enough proteins, for instance.

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Keep an Eye Out for Deals and Specials

This is by far the best way to make sure you get the most bang for your buck when working on your stockpile. It also goes well in line with the previous tip. Week by week, scan flyers and discount sites for any deals they may be having. Comparison shop if you have the time. If one or more items looks good to you, get a reasonable supply of those products. Wait for other items you may be interested in to go on sale, and in the meantime, spare your wallet the extra loss.

If you live in countries like the United States or Canada, sales can make a big difference, especially when buying in bulk, since products at times regularly drop to around 50 or 75% of their original price.

For household items like shampoo, bleach, soap, tissue paper, paper towels, and toilet paper, buy in huge bulk when there is a substantial sale, so that you don’t have to worry about purchasing these products between sales when they are more costly. Ideally, try keeping at least 3 months to a year’s worth of household products, and check your stock at least once a month to make sure it isn’t depleting faster than you expected. Buying in large bulk when an item is on sale not only reduces cost, but it also gives you time to wait for another good sale, in case sales are more spaced out with the product you want to buy.

Buy Quality Items

If you go through one-ply toilet paper about three times faster than two-ply toilet paper, you should really be spending the extra dollar to buy two-ply. Same goes for quality medical supplies or clothes. If you have to replace your Band-Aid once a day, but buying Elastoplast will keep your cut covered up until it’s healed, you might as well spend a bit more to get the box of Elastoplast. If your cotton socks are getting worn after two weeks of wear, but the expensive wool socks you bought have lasted a year and a half, splurge just the once and get the expensive wool socks. Saving in the short run isn’t wise when you can have bigger savings in the long run.

Don’t (Always) Buy Brand Name

Just because it’s brand name doesn’t mean it’s better. Of course, many times we will like a certain brand of food better than another, or find that a certain type of medicine is much more effective than the non-brand name alternative, but this isn’t necessarily always the case. The next time you’re in a grocery store, if you haven’t pledged your unwavering loyalty to Heinz Ketchup, try a cheaper brand, or a no-name alternative. If you don’t like it better, you can cut your losses and continue buying Heinz. Otherwise, you’ve made a decision that will make the rest of your ketchup-buying days cheaper.

With medicine, it’s relatively easy to find out which brands are important to the product, and which are equivalent if not better bought as non-brand name items.

If you really like buying brand name or you find that a certain brand name product is much more effective, keep an eye out for coupons online, in store, or in the mail. Many brands will give out coupons that heavily discount the price of brand name products, which can be very advantageous for a person looking to stockpile said items.

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Prioritize Stockpile Purchases

If you’re just starting out and you want to eventually have a stockpile for food, household items, medicine, and tradable goods, note that not all of these categories should be set at the highest priority. Food should probably be the highest on the list, though household items, because they are relatively inexpensive and go on sale quite frequently, should probably be stockpiled at the same time as food items are.

Once you have a good amount of household items stockpiled, you will likely be able to neglect this category for extended periods of time (months or even years), as these items never expire and so can be stored without any consideration unlike most long expiry date food. After having acquired a good amount of food and household items for your stockpile (maybe about a month’s worth), you should start to look into buying medicine.

Unlike the other two categories, medicine will need to be replenished much less often, yet at the same time, it often expires much more quickly. You might find it better to begin to stockpile medicine as you need it, i.e., when you get sick. This will make sure that the expiry date is the latest it can possibly be. That being said, not all medicines should be thrown out as soon as they expire. Most medicines are fine to take after their expiry date, and simply get weaker (rather than more dangerous to take) with age. Do a quick check online if you aren’t sure whether or not it is fine to take a certain medicine after it’s expiry date has passed.

The last thing you will want to stockpile are tradable goods. Sure, you might feel like you’re investing if you buy a brick of gold once a month, but if you’re on a tight budget, that money would be better kept in a separate savings account as an emergency fund. What happens if the roof leaks and you need to fix it? That brick of gold is going to take a while to sell and trying to sell in a hurry will likely mean you’ll get less for it than you otherwise would have. Thus, until you’re completely happy with all of your other stockpiles (you have enough food, household items, and medicine to last you however long you want your stockpile to allow you to last), you should probably veer away from working on your tradable goods stockpile.