Breach in Bank Biometrics; Facebook Contractors Transcribed Messenger Calls; Some 2016 Google Pixel Owners Can Get $500; Future iPhone-NoNotch

A security company in Britain uses facial recognition, fingerprints, and passwords to secure facilities for banks, defense contractors, and even the Metropolitan Police. Now, according to theguardian.com, after their Biostar 2 database was integrated into another control system called AEOS (used by 5700 organizations in 83 countries), a couple of Israeli security researchers found that much of the database was unprotected and mostly unencrypted. The researchers found over 27.8 million records…including admin panels, dashboards, fingerprint data, facial recognition data, face photos of users, unencrypted usernames and passwords, logs of facility access, security levels and clearance, and personal details of staff. When notified, Suprema bused it off saying they would notify people if there was a threat. NOTHING is totally secure on the internet!

You will be thrilled to hear that Facebook has stopped using paid contractors to listen to and transcribe audio clips from Messenger. CNET.com says the social network claims the contractors had no idea of when or where the audio was recorded. They also said the users had selected an option to transcribe their voice chats in the settings of Messenger, and that the chats were anonymized prior to the contractors listening to them. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had previously told the US Senate that Facebook doesn’t “listen to what’s going on on your microphone and use that for ads … we don’t do that.” But hey…it’s ok, because they have stopped the practice. Cough, cough.

In May, Google settled a class action suit over defective microphones on the Pixel 1. Arstechnica.com notes that the settlement was for $7.25 million. Now, owners can file a claim at a new Pixel Settlement website. Owners of a first-generation Pixel could get up to $500 if they bought multiple defective devices, and everyone that bought an original Pixel before the cut off date is entitled to $20, even if they didn’t experience a defect. The deadline to file is October 7, 2019.

A patent was revealed yesterday that indicates that future iPhones may lose the dreaded ‘notch’ entirely, with the phones getting a “Display with light transmitting windows.” Without getting into the weeds on this (which are pretty tall), the so-called windows could be made to be more transparent than other portions of the display, allowing hiding the Face ID sensors, front cam, etc. behind the screen, without interfering with the quality of those sensors and the cam.