AM Prep-Cyber Corner

IN THE NEWS: CIVIL LIBERTY ADVOCATES DENOUNCE PROPOSED GEORGIA LAW

ATLANTA (AP) — It’s designed to stop online snooping. But some civil liberty advocates say a proposed Georgia law could end up making many of us criminals. The bill is aimed at stopping people who peek into a computer system’s innards — without swiping or altering data. But opponents say the law is so broad, it could criminalize relatively mundane things like lying about your weight on an online dating site, checking a game score on a work computer — or using hacking skills to find vulnerabilities in a computer system. Those in favor of the measure note Georgia is one of only three states that has no law against online snooping — and the measure is intended to prevent widespread hacking of online information.

IN THE NEWS: COMCAST HEAD ON FUTURE OF TV

NEW YORK (AP) — The head of Comcast says he doesn’t think the idea of the traditional cable TV “bundle” is on its last legs. Matt Strauss says his company is beginning to offer a variety of options so that people who use TV will feel they are getting better value for their viewing dollar. For example, Comcast has a series of TV channels delivered over the internet — the same as companies like YouTube and Sling TV — two rivals trying to get people to cut the cord from cable firms like Comcast. Strauss says Comcast wants to offer packages that offer viewers options no matter how many, or few, channels they want.

ON THE WEB: RIDE-HAILING CONGESTION STUDY

CYBERSPACE (AP) — One promise of ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft was to usher-in a drop in the number of cars clogging city streets. But studies suggest just the opposite: that ride-hailing companies are pulling riders off buses, subways, bicycles and their own feet and putting them in cars instead. And the trend might well continue going forward. In what could be a new wrinkle, a service by Uber called Express Pool now is seen as directly competing with mass transit by getting people to share rides to or from a destination, not unlike a bus.

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Online:

Uber site: <a target=”&mdash;blank” href=”http://www.uber.com”>http://www.uber.com</a>

Lyft site: <a target=”&mdash;blank” href=”http://www.lyft.com”>http://www.lyft.com</a>

IN STORES: SAMSUNG UNVEILS NEW SMARTPHONES

NEW YORK (AP) — Samsung is out with a new batch of smartphones. But overall, they don’t offer much to write home — or call home — about. The Galaxy S9 isn’t very much different than its predecessors as far as the phone itself is concerned. But the new model does boast of a better camera, which lets users take even better photos in low-light situations. The Galaxy S9 also has a video mode that can freeze fast-moving objects, like a cork popping off a bottle of champagne. Overall, the new units suggest phone manufacturers are trying to settle in and slug it out for customers, since just about all of them offer features like edge-to-edge screens, facial recognition — and water-resistant bodies.

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Online:

Samsung site: <a target=”&mdash;blank” href=”http://www.samsung.com”>http://www.samsung.com</a>

by Oscar Wells Gabriel II

Follow Oscar Wells Gabriel II on Twitter at <a target=”&mdash;blank” href=”https://twitter.com/OWGabriel2″>https://twitter.com/OWGabriel2</a>

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