A recent study has led to a warning from the Dutch authorities to anti-5G merchandise wearers that a list of ‘negative ion’ jewellery items should not be worn because they emit ionizing radiation.

What Is Negative-Ion Jewellery?

Negative ion jewellery describes jewellery items (e.g. bracelets and pendants) which have a small quantity of ion-generating minerals in their make-up. It is claimed by the manufacturers (and vendors) that these items, if worn, can improve the body’s immune system, create a better ‘balance’, and deliver other health benefits.

Warning

The Dutch Authority for Nuclear Safety and Regulation Protection has published a warning online to owners of a list of negative ion jewellery items, advising them to stop wearing them. The Authority states that “A study commissioned by the ANVS and carried out by the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has revealed that these specific products emit ionizing radiation.”  It goes on to say that “Exposure to ionizing radiation can cause adverse health effects” and “due to the potential health risk they pose, these consumer products containing radioactive materials are therefore prohibited by law.”  Owners of these products have, therefore, been advised that “To avoid any risk the ANVS calls on owners of such items not to wear them from now on.”

List of Ten Products

The ANVS study identified a list of 10 products that emit ionizing radiation which could be harmful to the wearer. The items are:

– Energy Armor:  sleep mask, black and white necklace, and black super bracelet.

– Magnetix: ‘Fit & Slim’ silicone bracelet XL, necklace with negative ions of skin-friendly silicons, ‘Smiley Kids’ bracelet with negative ions, and ‘Sport Boost’ bracelet with negative ions.

– Quantum: pendant and the ‘Basic Nero’ bracelet.

Stop Selling

The Dutch Authority for Nuclear Safety and Regulation Protection has also reported that companies attempting to sell these products will now be in violation of the Nuclear Energy Act and that the ANVS is informing sellers that to stop selling them immediately.

The Anti-5G Connection

The anti-5G movement really came to prominence at the beginning of the pandemic where conspiracy theorists made a link between 5G and the virus, resulting in arson attacks (e.g., in Derby) on 5G masts/transmitters. There is also a market for anti-5G products based on the idea that they offer personal protection from any harmful effects of 5G. These products include jewellery and even a (£399) USB key that claimed to provide protection before attracting the attention of Trading Standards back in May 2020.

There is no evidence that 5G is harmful and The World Health Organization (WHO) says that 5G mobile networks are safe.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

It is, of course, ironic that the kinds of products favoured by those who believe they can protect them from 5G harm and/or have other health benefits in fact emit potentially dangerous radiation. This is of course bad news for many sellers and manufacturers of these products whose sales will inevitably suffer. In reality, some of these products only emit low levels of radiation which would only really pose a danger to health if worn for a prolonged period (e.g., 24 hours), according to the quite stringent limit for skin radiation exposure that applies in the Netherlands. The story does, however, highlight how 5G, the Covid vaccination program, and other recent health and technology events have challenges in tackling the misinformation/disinformation, conspiracy theories, scams, and online markets that feed on widespread fear in an increasingly connected, online/digital society facing new and invisible challenges that most people have to rely upon experts to understand (e.g. viruses and mobile technology).

CNBC recently reported that it had viewed a Google memo, circulated to employees, that they would lose pay, and eventually be sacked if they didn’t comply with the company’s Covid-19 vaccination policy.

Until Dec 3 To Declare Status, And Until Jan 18 To Comply

According to CNBC, the document circulated by Google’s leadership warned employees that they had until Dec 3 2021 to declare their vaccination status and to upload the documentation showing proof, or to apply for any medical or religious exemption. Google informed its employees back in July that it would require vaccinations for those returning to its offices following working from home during the lockdowns and the recent memo reportedly gives employees until Jan 18 2022 to comply with the company’s vaccination policy or enter measures that could lead to being sacked.

Leave, Unpaid Leave, Then Employment Termination

The document is also alleged to have said that failure to comply with vaccination mandated for those people employed and working in its US offices (i.e. needing to be vaccinated) would result firstly in “paid administrative leave” for 30 days followed by “unpaid personal leave” for up to six months. Failure to comply after these leave periods would allegedly result in the person’s employment being terminated.

Options?

It has been reported that those Google employees who really don’t want to get vaccinated may be able to get roles at companies that don’t conflict with the executive order and are able to request exemptions for religious beliefs or medical conditions.

Opposition at Google

The ‘no jab, no job’ executive order/vaccine mandate from Google has reportedly been opposed by several hundred employees who have circulated their own manifesto.

Not The Only Big Company To Do So

Following the Biden Administration’s request for U.S. companies with 100 or more workers to ensure their employees are fully vaccinated or regularly tested for Covid-19 by Jan 4, Google is certainly not the only one to take action.  For example, JP Morgan has recently sent a memo to staff asking those who are unvaccinated to take up the offer of a jab and asking any eligible employees to get a booster jab. Vaccination is also reported to have been made a requirement for US tech companies Uber and Facebook.

Criticism

The Biden Administration’s request for vaccinations and testing in bigger US companies and Google’s recent memo have been met with some criticism. For example, Republicans have criticised the move as infringing on the freedom of workers and putting extra demands on businesses. The manifesto from Google’s employees who object to the mandate has said that it is a sign of a “coercive” leadership at the company, looks like the antithesis of inclusion, and violates the company’s principles of inclusiveness. The manifesto also criticises Google for having/keeping a record of employees’ vaccination status which could be regarded as personal/private medical information.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

In the U.S., tens of millions of people remain unvaccinated and possibly unwilling to take up the jab of their own free will. With the virus still present and spreading, with companies wanting many workers to return to offices (not necessarily full-time), and with the Biden administration wanting to drive the vaccination forward, especially in big companies, this has resulted in the delicate situation that Google finds itself in.  This situation may also be particularly awkward for Google as it is reported to be trying to target the health-care industry for cloud business. Here in the UK, although there has been a much larger proportional take-up of the vaccine, and employment rights have required employers to be more careful, legislation was passed in June making Covid vaccinations compulsory for all care home staff. As more variants emerge and governments try to protect their health systems, populations, and economies, it is likely that vaccinations will be required for more employment, leisure/entertainment, and travel situations.

After Meta (Facebook) recently reported alerting 50,000 people that it believed were being targeted by “surveillance-for-hire” entities, we take a look are who these entities are and what they do.

Meta’s Report

Following months of investigation, Meta recently informed 50,000 people that they were being targeted by seven “surveillance-for-hire” entities / “cyber mercenaries” who were targeting people in over 100 countries on behalf of their clients. It has been reported that Meta has issued cease-and-desist warnings against six of the seven entities it identified. The seventh is known to be in China but couldn’t be identified.

What Does “Surveillance-For-Hire” Mean?

The surveillance-for-hire industry consists of companies that use a combination of social engineering and technology to monitor and gather information about (and sometimes from) individuals for their clients. In the case of Meta’s investigation, these companies are described as entities that use “intrusive software tools and surveillance services indiscriminately to any customer — regardless of who they target, or the human rights abuses they might enable”. Surveillance-for-hire companies claim to use their surveillance services to tackle criminals and terrorists but, offer their services to many government and non-government groups that otherwise wouldn’t have these capabilities as well as private individuals, law firms, businesses, politicians and even law enforcement agencies. Meta’s investigation also claims that these surveillance companies also target journalists, dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition and human rights activists.

Examples

Examples of surveillance-for-hire companies/cyber mercenaries include:

– Black Cube. Although it recently described itself as simply a “litigation support firm”, it is one of the companies identified recently by Meta. Black Cube was formed by former Israeli intelligence agency Mossad veterans. Meta suggested that Black Cube used fictitious personas to contact targets and obtain email addresses for phishing attacks (which Black Cube denies). Black Cube has previously made the news following reports by the New Yorker in 2017 that it was used by Harvey Weinstein to surveil reporters covering allegations about his assaults.

– NSO. Meta identified this company as being behind Pegasus spyware (software used to enable surveillance) that it sued in 2019 (and Apple has also sued).

– Cognyte. Based in Israel, Meta says that Cognyte sells access to its platform which enables managing fake accounts across social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and VKontakte (VK), and other websites to social-engineer people and collect data.

– Bluehawk CI. Based in Israel with offices in the UK and the US, Meta says that Bluehawk sells a range of surveillance-for-hire activities including social engineering, gathering of litigation-related intelligence about people, and managing fake accounts to trick them into installing malware. Meta alleges that the fake accounts pose as journalists working for media organizations like La Stampa (Italy) and Fox News (US) to trick targets into giving an on-camera interview.

– Cobwebs Technologies. Founded in Israel with offices in the United States, Meta says that Cobwebs Technologies sells access to its platform that enables reconnaissance across the internet, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, Flickr, public websites and “dark web” sites. Meta also claims that the accounts used by Cobwebs customers also engage in social engineering to join closed communities and forums and trick people into revealing personal information.

Issues

Some of the issues raised by Meta’s recent investigation that has shone a light on the entities in the surveillance-for-hire industry include:

– Their services are indiscriminately sold to anyone willing to pay, including known bad actors.

– They work across many platforms and national boundaries.

– Their capabilities are used by both nation-states and private enterprises. This means that they lower the barrier to entry for anyone willing to pay.

– It is often impossible for targets to know they are being surveilled across the internet.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The scale of this industry identified in Meta’s report indicates that this dark surveillance is widespread. The fact that there are many different companies who sell their services indiscriminately operating in secrecy means that it is hard to trace activity back to the client. Also, with these entities working across multiple platforms and national boundaries, a collective effort from platforms, policymakers, and civil society, as well public discussion about the use of surveillance-for-hire technology, greater transparency and oversight are now needed to help protect people. Also, as suggested by Meta, industry collaboration as well as more governance and regulator-led conversations about the ethics of these companies could help top protect their targets.

If you’d like an easy way to organise all your Google Chrome browser bookmarks, try putting them in folders.  Here’s how:

To create a bookmark folder:

– On your computer, open Chrome.

– Top right, click on the 3 dots, then ‘Bookmarks’ and ‘Bookmark manager’.

– Top right, click on the 3 dots and ‘Add new folder’.

OR

– If you use the bookmarks bar, right-click the bookmarks bar and click on ‘Add Folder’.

To add your bookmarks to the folders:

– Top right, click on the 3 dots, then ‘Bookmarks’ and ‘Bookmark manager’.

– Drag a bookmark up or down or drag a bookmark into a folder on the left. Also, you can copy and paste bookmarks in the order you want.

– If you use the bookmarks bar, you can drag your bookmarks into the order you want.

It was recently discovered that a bug in the Pixel 3 phone meant that users who had the Teams app installed (even though they weren’t logged in) couldn’t call the US emergency 911 number.

What Happened?

A Reddit user reported that they had needed to call an ambulance for their grandmother who appeared to be having a stroke. The user dialled 911 just by typing and calling on their pixel 3 phone, only to find that the phone “got stuck” after one ring. The user reported that they were unable to do anything other than click through apps with an emergency phone call running in the background. Consequently, they were unable to tell the person on the other end which apartment they were in, or what the emergency was. The user also reported that the fault meant that there was no response from emergency vehicles, no evidence that 911 had been called (from a phone log perspective) and the user’s Verizon phone log showed no evidence that a 911 call had been made.

Google Confirmed The Fault Was Related To Teams App

Google later answered the user’s post on Reddit, saying that it had determined that the issue was caused by unintended interaction between the Microsoft Teams app and the underlying Android operating system, specifically for those running Android 10 or above. Google said that it expected a Microsoft Teams app update to be rolled out soon, and that it would also be providing an Android platform update on January 4. Google has also advised Pixel phone users to keep an eye out for Teams app updates and to ensure they are running the latest version.

What To Do

Google suggests that in order to avoid falling victim to the fault in the meantime, users with Microsoft Teams installed on any Android device running Android 10 and above could take the following steps:

– Check whether you are running Android 10 or above. Those not running Android 10 or above will not be impacted by the issue.

– Check to make sure that you are signed-in to your Teams app because the issue only occurs if the user is not signed in.

– Those who have the Microsoft Teams app downloaded, but are not signed in, should uninstall, and reinstall the app. This will address the problem in the interim, however a Microsoft Teams app update will also be required to fully resolve the issue.

– Keep an eye out for an update to the Microsoft Teams app, and ensure it is applied as soon as available.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This story illustrates how the simple act of being able to make a phone call (on what is primarily a phone) can be prevented by aspects of the other tech and apps that are installed. It raises particular concerns because it relates to stopping an important 911 call. The positive aspects of the story are that the fault was brought to light and has been taken very seriously and acted upon quickly by both Microsoft and Google. This is good news for users and created a positive angle for what was potentially a very damaging story for Google and Microsoft. It also shows the value of thoroughly testing apps and the value of maintaining updates.