Facebook Ends Relations With Washington Firm that Attempted to Discredit its Critics

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/technology/facebook-definers-soros.html

Facebook announced on Thursday that it has cut ties with the Washington based consulting firm, Definers Public Affairs, that Facebook had hired to deliberately discredit its critics. Facebook did so after a New York Times article on Wednesday that revealed Facebook shady connection with the firm. Definers Public Affairs attempted to discredit activist protesters who were critical of Facebook by linking them to the liberal financier George Soros. It also attempted to deflect criticism of Facebook by point to rivals like Google. An insider said that the top executives of Facebook including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg were not aware of Definers Public Affairs' s connection to the social network. Facebook released a statement stating it had not hidden its connections to Definers Public Affairs, and defended that it had not spread any false information. Nevertheless, Facebook did not cite any reason for terminating its ties with Definers Public Affairs.

"I have never used a computer." - Japanese Cyber-Security Minister

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46222026
               
                   

                   The Japanese Cyber-Security minister shocked the Japanese public and the world by revealing that he had never used a computer since he was 25 years old when he became independent and started managing people according to Kyodo News Agency. He made the admission during a meeting with the committee of lawmakers when an opposition lawmaker queried about his computer literacy. A follow-up question regarding the use of USB flash drives at the country's nuclear power plants caused further frustration among lawmakers. The 68-year-old was appointed to the position last month. He will be overseeing the cyber-defense preparations for the 2020 Olympic Games that will be held in Tokyo.  The disclosure had some people respond with astonishment and some people on the internet saying at least Yoshitaka Sakurada would be truly hard to hack. I can only draw two conclusions from this; either he is a total genius or a complete lunatic.