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The Watercolor Artist Whose Paintings Help Save Rainforests https://ift.tt/2BAYP4d  Earlier this year, Peru established Yaguas National Park, a 2 million acre Amazonian preserve that’s both a biodiversity hotspot and a spiritual nexus for local indigenous people. Its protection was the culmination of a battle hard-fought by indigenous groups and their many supporters—including a watercolor painter at Chicago’s Field Museum. As the resident artist at the natural history Museum, Peggy Macnamara wears many hats, including helping to make the case for national parks through her vibrant paintings. But why add art to a scientific argument for conservation? As Corine Vriesendorp, a senior scientist with the Keller Science Action Center, the museum’s conservation arm, put it to Earther, “Once you see the paintings, you’d never ask.” Macnamara’s studio at the Field Museum is what you’d expect from an artist obsessed with wildlife: Stuffed birds in glass domes, eggs nesting in display cases, and a kaleidoscope of stacked watercolor paintings of animals seem poised to suddenly animate into a jazz rendition of Fantasia. The colorful chaos would drown out the painter were Macnamara not so animated herself. She skips enthusiastically from topic to topic as she tells me how she came to find herself painting a case for the Yaguas Park. Long before Macnamara painted her first animal, the Chicago resident came to the Museum constantly to paint the ancient statues, pottery, and other exhibits in the Chinese artifacts section. After ten years, she’d worked her way through every one. One day, she stopped by the Field Museum’s Hall of Birds, and found herself a new subject. As she walked the spacious hall softly lit by long glass cases of (mostly American) birds, something about the shapes and colors seemed, to her, similar to the Chinese artifacts. She wasn’t fascinated with the birds as creatures of sinew and feathers, but as a menagerie locked in a hall of mirrors. (An early painting of a shorebird, for instance, makes it clear the animal is part of a display, by showing the creature from behind and capturing its reflection in the glass.) “I always included the case. I didn’t pretend that it was in habitat,” Macnamara said. Macnamara’s style diversified with time. Occasionally, she would move from bird-as-exhibits to depicting the creatures with the “suggestion of habitat”—flocking through natural settings or even flying through the museum itself. Then, about 15 years ago, she was approached by Debbie Moskovits, one of the founders of the Museum’s conservation arm. “She just came up behind me and watched me work, said Macnamara. “She knew me because I was here every day.” Moskowitz eventually recruited Macnamara to work for the museum, and later, for the Action Center’s conservation initiatives. Since its formation 23 years ago, the Action Center has provided scientific support for 18 protected areas spanning 26 million acres. It was an odd move. Macnamara’s style was nothing like traditional naturalist’s meticulously labeled and anatomically precise sketches one might expect to find in a scientific document on conservation. She used watercolors like an oil painter. Since her first conservation assignment, Macnamara’s work has become an integral part of the Action Center’s conservation efforts. She’s painted everything from birds to mammals to alligators, and worked on several educational books with the museum, including one on native Illinois insects. Several new protected areas in Peru and Ecuador that the Action Center has supported have also had Macnamara paintings of their wildlife. The Action Center’s work on Yaguas began in the early 2000s, when it took up the cause of an indigenous peoples’ group, the Instituto del Bien Común (IBC), which had been crusading for the formation of network of parks to protect the region. A biodiversity hotspot boasting two-thirds of Peru’s freshwater fish species, the area is sacred to native peoples who fled to its outskirts to escape the horrors of the 20th-century rubber boom. They call it the “sachamama,” a Quechua word indicating its status as an incubator of the surrounding forests’ fecundity. Action Center scientists went to Yaguas to do a series of inventories of its wildlife. They dropped biologists into priority areas for a month to assess plant and animal diversity, in addition to sending social scientists into local communities to learn about their needs and priorities. “[A]nd then we bring that information together to try to protect these places in a way that make sense for those local people,” Vriesendorp said. According to Vriesendorp, the effort faced challenges at every turn, including blowback from illegal logging and mining groups. Eventually, however, Field Museum scientists along with the IBC and others convinced Peruvian officials. By the time the museum crew brought down an original Macnamara for a November 2017 meeting, former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had already expressed commitment to making Yaguas a park. The pieces, Macnamara tells me as she slides out two of the Yaguas paintings, were part a new chapter of muses for her: fish. The first painting shows three stingrays, the second, seven fish, including a predatory arawana with its characteristic upturned mouth and icecicle-esque body, a peacock bass, a catfish, and other Yaguas natives I can’t place. Compared to the grandeur of the life-size, rainbow-colored painting of a massive arapaima Macnamara did for Guyana’s president, these seem unassuming. But Vriesendorp is right. To see them is to know there’s no need to question the value her art. Rather, one can simply smile at the thought that with every new conservation initiative the museum takes on, scientists will be confronting lawmakers with stunning beauty. Digital Trends via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com November 27, 2018 at 12:27PM
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The Stick Vac That Killed Dyson's Corded Vacuums Is Still On Its Cyber Monday Sale https://ift.tt/2u6p52l  Best Home DealsThe best home, kitchen, smart home, and automotive deals from around the web, updated daily.
It’s 2018, and your vacuum shouldn’t have a cord anymore. Dyson’s cordless V-series stick vacs have long been go-to cordless options, but the powerful new V10 is arguably the first that can truly, completely replace a corded vacuum, at least for smaller homes. We haven’t really seen any discounts on the V10 since its release in March, but Amazon’s now offering the powerful Animal configuration for an all-time low $379, down from the original $600 selling price, and the best price ever by $70. This model doesn’t include the soft cleaning head of the Absolute model, but it has a larger bin and more accessories than the entry level Motorhead, which is only a few bucks cheaper right now. All of the V10s include the same 60 minute (!!) battery, and the same powerful motor.
Digital Trends via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com November 27, 2018 at 12:21PM
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Former Facebook manager says the company is failing black people https://ift.tt/2KBVuop Facebook “has a black people problem,” according to Mark Luckie, a now-former manager of partnerships at Facebook. Luckie, whose last day at Facebook was earlier this month, just posted an internal memo he sent to his colleagues that argues Facebook is failing its black employees, as well as its black users. At Facebook, Luckie served as strategic partner manager for global influencers focused on underrepresented voices for a little over one year. During his time there, Luckie said he “heard far too many stories from black employees of a colleague or manager calling them ‘hostile’ or ‘aggressive’ for simply sharing their thoughts in a manner not dissimilar from their non-black team members.” Luckie went on to describe how some black employees said their managers dissuaded them from participating in the employee resource group for black employees. On top of that, “too many black employees can recount stories of being aggressively accosted by campus security beyond what was necessary.” 
Mark S. Luckie Regarding human resources, Luckie said the department too often protects managers rather than the people actually filing the complaints. On the user side, Luckie describes less-than-positive experiences from black people who find “that their attempts to create ‘safe spaces’ on Facebook for conversation among themselves are being derailed by the platform itself.” Luckie has never been one to stay silent around issues of discrimination, racism and exclusion. In 2015, Luckie wrote extensively about what it’s like to be a black employee at a tech company. At the time, he had recently left his job at Twitter, where he spent three years as a manager of journalism and news at the company. Moving forward, Luckie has some recommendations for Facebook. A couple of those are:
For context, Facebook is 3.5 percent black, compared to just 2 percent in 2014, and 4.9 percent Latinx compared to 4 percent in 2014, according to the company’s most recent diversity report. White people, unsurprisingly, still makes up the single largest population of employees (46.4 percent today versus 57 percent in 2014). Luckie’s entire memo is worth reading, so be sure to check it out in full over on Facebook. I’ve reached out to Facebook and will update this story if I hear back. Digital Trends via TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com November 27, 2018 at 12:15PM
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Happy holidays! ‘Fortnite’ now lets you buy your friends gifts https://ift.tt/2DO8dD6 
Thanksgiving has come and gone, which means the jingle bells are jingling, the latkes are sizzling, and everyone is frantically searching for gifts to give to their friends and family this holiday season. If your loved ones are fans of Fortnite, however, you can now give them the gift of a silly skin or dance. Announced by Epic Games on November 27, Fortnite gifting will be available on all platforms except for iOS, due to Apple’s policy restrictions. Once update 6.31 rolls around, you’ll have a one-week trial period to purchase items for your friends from the shop. Alongside the standard “Purchase Items” prompt will be one labeled “Buy As A Gift,” and you can then choose someone on your friends list to receive the new goodies. As it is a gift, you can also add a note alongside it, and we’re guessing some players’ messages will be a little different from what they’d write on an actual gift card. There are a few stipulations, which Epic listed out in the post. You can’t get your money refunded for a gift, so make sure it’s something your friend is really going to love, unless you’re a jerk. You also have to be friends with someone for at least two days before sending a gift and you can only send three gifts per day. If you prefer, you can also disable receiving gifts in your Fortnite account settings, though we’re not entirely sure why you’d do that. 
Update 6.31 includes other additions, as well, including the Team Rumble limited-time mode, which tasks each team with eliminating 100 other players. New Epic and Legendary versions of the Pump Shotgun are also available with the update, for those of you who like to get up close and personal in combat, and crashing and controller input issues have been addressed, as well. Fortnite: Battle Royale is still free-to-play with cross-play across Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android, but we expect parents will be spending plenty of cash on DLC and memorabilia for their kids this holiday season. Perhaps you can buy them a container of floss, too. Digital Trends via Digital Trends https://ift.tt/2p4eJdC November 27, 2018 at 12:05PM
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Luminar lidar sensor aims to detect if you’re sipping a latte or crossing a road https://ift.tt/2DO7Uba                 
The Volvo 360c concept unveiled in September 2018 previews the autonomous future of commuting. The Swedish automaker reaffirmed its commitment to building a fully autonomous car — one without pedals or a steering wheel — after 2021, and it has teamed up with sensor expert Luminar Technologies to reach its goal quickly, safely, and reliably. “For the 360c to go from vision to reality, technology needs to be developed, legislation will need to evolve, and consumers need to be able to trust autonomy with proven safety,” Luminar Technologies explained. The company believes it has made a major a breakthrough in sensor technology that allows an autonomous car to see and identify objects located over 250 yards away. Developed as a new technology from the ground up, Luminar’s lidar boasts a range that’s 10 times greater than the units currently in production. This gives an autonomous car like the 360c (pictured) the ability to identify objects at freeway speeds and react in a timely manner. For example, if a broken-down car is blocking a lane, a car equipped with Luminar’s latest lidar has the ability to see it, reduce its speed, and move over to the next lane in order to drive around it — just like a human driver would. The sooner a car analyzes a situation, the better it will handle it. Luminar founder and CEO Austin Russel noted his firm’s lidar can also detect human shapes and actions, and it’s able to identify body parts like arms and legs. That means it can, in theory, tell whether a pedestrian is sitting down on a bench enjoying a latte or waiting to cross a busy road. Armed with this information, the car can decide whether to slow down and let the pedestrian cross or whether to keep going. The breakthrough in sensor technology helps solve the first part of the autonomous car equation: technology. Ultimately, when autonomous cars will merge into the mainstream depends on when they’re legally allowed to carry passengers and when motorists feel comfortable giving up driving. Volvo wants to start an industry-wide conversation to solve these problems in a timely manner. Henrik Green, Volvo’s vice president of research and development, told Digital Trends the firm aims to build a fully autonomous car on the as-of-yet-unveiled SPA2 platform after 2021. Volvo and Luminar both declined to provide a more specific time frame, but they stressed advancements like the new lidar speed up the development process. “Regardless of the ultimate timeline, Luminar will be able to accelerate the industry by at least five years and have fully autonomous vehicle platforms that work in city environments,” the company promised. Volvo and Luminar will showcase their new sensor technology during the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show. While Volvo isn’t bringing a single car to the event, it will have plenty to talk about.
Digital Trends via Digital Trends https://ift.tt/2p4eJdC November 27, 2018 at 12:05PM
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Patent suggests type cover on Surface Pro could get lighter and thinner https://ift.tt/2Qma6NN 
Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 6 doesn’t look very different from previous models, but there is now reason to believe future versions of the premium 2-in-1 just might be a bit thinner and lighter. A recent patent uncovered by the Dutch blog Windows United suggests that Microsoft is considering making the Surface slimmer by pulling off some weight changes to its Type Cover accessory. 
Originally filed on June 28, 2018, the patent describes a method for “cutting or etching” a circuit board directly into the touchpad of a keyboard. According to Windows United, this can reduce the height of the Surface Type Cover. Microsoft’s patent obviously does not refer to that purpose directly, but the overview points to methods for addressing common problems and making a device that is both slimmer and lighter. It also points to ways for conserving space, and “not requiring additional space and additional components within a device chassis for a separate touch input device.” “For instance, a touch interaction region of the input device is formed by cutting and/or etching a portion of the circuit board such that the touch interaction region is movable with respect to adjacent portions of the circuit board. According to one or more embodiments, an input device includes a switch such that movement of the touch interaction region actuates the switch to generate a click input event,” explains Microsoft in the patent. If this patent holds up, this would not be the first time that Microsoft has made changes to the Type Cover. Over the past few Surface Pro generations, the optional accessory has gotten slightly larger and picked up a bigger trackpad. Microsoft also recently started using a new Alcantara material to create a more premium feel and finish for end users. Of course, not all patents make their its way to a final product, but Microsoft has definitely been considering new technologies for the Surface. We previously saw a patent for a reflective touch display, as well as a new Surface Pen in recent months. There is also still some hope that a much different Surface device could be coming soon. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, a well-known Microsoft watcher, believes that a heavily redesigned Surface Pro, with USB C ports, might arrive toward the middle of next year.
Digital Trends via Digital Trends https://ift.tt/2p4eJdC November 27, 2018 at 12:05PM
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Everything you need to know about ‘Just Cause 4’ https://ift.tt/2DO7T76 
Just Cause 4 has remained under the radar this holiday season, overshadowed by other big releases like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Fallout 76. In the month of December, however, Just Cause 4 is the biggest launch on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The fourth entry in the over-the-top open world series from Avalanche Studios lands on December 4. Based on the footage and details revealed so far, Rico Rodriguez’s latest adventure is shaping up to be his most bombastic yet. Here’s everything you need to know about Just Cause 4 ahead of its launch. A new location called SolisJust Cause 4 sends Rico to a new fictional South American country called Solis. Solis was inspired by Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. The open world map is the largest in series history and features many unique set pieces, from rainforests to commercial cities to caves to temples to deserts to dense pockets of wilderness. Although Rico squares off against the familiar Black Hand mercenary group, he will meet the army’s leader, Gabriella Morales. For those who remember, the Black Hand serviced the main bad guys in Just Cause and Just Cause 3. We should learn more about the history of the Black Hand in Just Cause 4, as Solis is the group’s homeland. At the beginning of the game, Rico learns that his father worked for Black Hand, compelling him to visit Solis to investigate. Game-altering weather events
One of Just Cause 4‘s coolest features is its weather system. In Solis, you’re likely to get caught up in a wide array of game-altering weather events. From tornadoes to blizzards to sandstorms to terrifying lightning storms, all of Just Cause 4‘s weather events are large spectacles that will threaten Rico’s livelihood and the way you play. You can also use weather events to your advantage. For instance, Rico can actually drive a vehicle straight into a tornado in order to vault into the air. If that sounds crazy and unrealistic, it is, but the Just Cause series has always been over the top. Just Cause 4 ups the ante. Each weather system is tied to a certain biome, so you won’t endure a tornado and blizzard at the same time. Travel options aplenty
Since Solis is so large, you won’t want to travel on foot very often. Luckily, the world is populated with many travel options, including sports cars, construction vehicles, planes, micro-jets, hovercrafts, Rico’s signature parachute, grappling hook, and wingsuit. There’s also a jetpack, which is particularly cool. It really just looks like he has a rocket tied to his back, but you can use this to travel quickly through the air. Non-linear gameplay
Your overall goal in Just Cause 4 is to amass an army capable of taking down the Black Hand. This plays out non-linearly. Players can choose the order they want to complete objectives, and the world around you will react accordingly. It’s unclear how this freedom will affect the story, but in a game that’s hell-bent on letting players create chaos at every turn, it makes sense. Customizable weapons and items
For the first time in the series, weapons and key items can be customized. Rico’s well-known grappling hook can be modded to add tethers and air lifters. Basically, you can send balloons into the air and then grapple onto those balloons. This means you can create a grappling opportunity at almost any time. You can also hook a tank up to a set of balloons and fly it into an enemy base. Each weapon in the game has a secondary set of ammunition that focuses on destruction. Based on the trailers we’ve seen so far, you’d be lucky to go a couple of minutes without blowing something up. There’s even a huge bomb that can float into an enemy’s base and blow it to smithereens. The customization options are seemingly endless and are tailor-made to give players the freedom to create as much pandemonium as they want. Look for Just Cause 4 to have much more depth and versatility in terms of mechanics thanks to the customization features. The Frontline is where you test your skillsJust Cause 4 has a new feature called “Frontline.” In these optional areas, the battle is already raging on when you arrive between Solis rebels and the Black Hand. Frontline war zones have been described as more difficult challenges, so they sound like good opportunities to see how you stack up in a full-scale battle. Will there be DLC?Just Cause 4 has an expansion pass for $30 that includes three DLC packs. The first, called Daredevils, is expected to launch in early 2019. Daredevils seems to have a racing focus. Judging by the name, we can probably expect lots of wild stunts. While Avalanche Studios hasn’t revealed anything concrete about the DLC packs, the teaser trailer hints that the weather will be even more chaotic in at least one of them. The second piece of DLC, Demons, could possibly bring literal demons to Solis. As shown in the trailer, the animals are running away from something and traffic has stopped dead. The plot of the third and final expansion, Danger, is harder to peg. If you purchase the season pass, you’ll get seven days early access to each piece of DLC. No multiplayerAvalanche Studios was hiring in 2017 for a multiplayer team, according to studio founder Christofer Sundberg. The studio even hired the lead developer behind the Just Cause 2 fan-made multiplayer mod. Despite these moves that hinted at multiplayer in Just Cause 4, the game is single player only. Special editions and release dateAlong with the standard edition ($60), Just Cause 4 will have a Digital Deluxe version and Gold edition. The Digital Deluxe version, available on Steam, PSN, and the Xbox store, is $70 and comes with 24-hour early access, a Black Hand-themed wingsuit, special micro-jet, and the Deathstalker Scorpion pack (muscle car, assault buggy, explosive rifle). The Gold Edition ($90), also available on Steam, PSN, and the Xbox store, comes bundled with the expansion pass, all of the Digital Deluxe bonuses, and the Golden Gear Pack, which includes special weapons like the Golden Gear Shotgun. The Golden Gear Shotgun’s secondary ammunition locks onto enemies and can even bounce off of walls.
Digital Trends via Digital Trends https://ift.tt/2p4eJdC November 27, 2018 at 12:05PM
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British Cops Are Building an AI That Flags People for Crimes That Haven't Happened Yet https://ift.tt/2RgOOyl  Police in the UK are piloting a project that uses artificial intelligence to determine how likely someone is to commit or be a victim of a serious crime. These include crimes involving a gun or knife, as well as modern slavery, New Scientist reported on Monday. The hope is to use this information to detect potential criminals or victims and intervene with counselors or social services before crimes take place. Dubbed the National Data Analytics Solution (NDAS), the system pulls data from local and national police databases. Ian Donnelly, the police lead on the project, told New Scientist that they have collected over a terabyte of data from these systems already, including logs of committed crimes and about 5 million identifiable people. The system has 1,400 indicators from this data that can help flag someone who may commit a crime, such as how many times someone has committed a crime with assistance as well as how many people in their network have committed crimes. People in the database who are flagged by the system’s algorithm as being prone to violent acts will get a “risk score,” New Scientist reported, which signals their chances of committing a serious crime in the future. The West Midlands Police department is heading the trial project through the end of March 2019, and they expected to have a prototype by that time. There are eight other police departments reportedly involved as well, and the hope is to eventually expand its use to all police departments in the UK. Donnelly told the New Scientist that they don’t plan to arrest anyone before they’ve committed a crime, but that they want to provide counseling to those who the system indicates might need it. He also noted that there have been cuts to police funding recently, so something like NDAS could help streamline and prioritize the process of determining who in their databases most needs intervention. Even if the intentions here are well-meaning, it’s easy to imagine how such a system could have dangerous implications. For starters, there’s a serious invasion of privacy when it comes to intervening with individuals before something traumatizing has even happened. This system effectively is sending mental health professionals to people’s homes because an algorithm suggested that, in the future, there’s a chance they may commit or fall victim to a crime. To enact that type of intervention across an entire country paints a picture of an eerily intrusive future. Aside from the unsettling possibility of Minority Report-like knocks on your door that this system may lead to, there are still a litany of glaring issues with AI-based detection systems. They are not free from bias, and as Andrew Ferguson at the University of the District of Columbia told the New Scientist, number of arrests don’t inherently signal a hot spot for crime, but rather where police officers are sent, and this disproportionately impacts people of color and poor neighborhoods. This also means that the criminal databases the system is pulling from aren’t representative of society as a whole, which in turn means individuals living in heavily policed areas are most at risk of being flagged. Digital Trends via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com November 27, 2018 at 11:51AM
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CDC Says Some Romaine Lettuce Is Now Safe to Eat—but Don't Break Out the Salad Tongs Yet https://ift.tt/2KEd9eW  Just as Americans prepared to gorge on their Thanksgiving meals last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention blasted out an ominous warning: Throw out and definitely do not eat any romaine lettuce, since it might contain potentially deadly E. coli bacteria. But this Monday, following further investigation, the CDC downgraded its warning. Romaine lettuce should be safe to sell and eat, unless it originally came from central or northern California. Unfortunately, most romaine lettuce is not clearly labeled with its source—so unless you can confirm where it was grown, you should still avoid it. Advertisement According to the CDC, at least 43 people in 12 states have been sickened so far with the same outbreak strain of E. coli tied to lettuce, with 11 cases having been reported since last week. Canada has had to deal with the outbreak too, with at least 22 confirmed cases as of November 23. In the U.S., 16 people have been hospitalized as a result, and one person developed kidney failure. Fortunately, as of yet, no one in either country has died from their infection. The CDC, in conjunction with the Public Health Agency of Canada, has determined that the most likely source of the outbreak is romaine lettuce harvested from Central Coastal growing regions of northern and central California. But no common grower, supplier, or brand of tainted lettuce has been spotted so far, according to the agency. The type of E. coli behind the outbreak is known as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157:H7. This particular germ tends to be nastier than other strains of disease-causing E. coli, thanks largely to the Shiga toxin. It can cause severe, bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps, and a slight fever, though some infected people experience no symptoms. Most sick people do recover without treatment within five to seven days, but about 5 to 10 percent can develop a specific type of kidney failure known as hemolytic uremic syndrome. Advertisement The strain of O157:H7 identified in the current outbreak bears a close resemblance to the strain behind a 2017 outbreak caused by tainted leafy greens in the U.S. and by romaine lettuce in Canada. But it isn’t related to the outbreak of O157:H7 traced to romaine lettuce that happened earlier this spring. That outbreak caused more than 200 illnesses and at least five deaths, and was likely spread by a tainted water source close to farming regions in Yuma, Arizona. Though the CDC has narrowed down where this tainted lettuce is coming from, it’ll still take some time for the danger to pass. The tainted lettuce came from summer harvests of the vegetable; for the upcoming winter harvest, major growers have agreed to place labels on their stock so customers, retailers, and public health officials can clearly identify where it was grown and harvested. But for now, many people will still be in the dark about their lettuce’s origins. Anyone who doesn’t know where their lettuce is from, the CDC continues to warn, should still just throw it out. [CDC] Digital Trends via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com November 27, 2018 at 11:39AM Urban Massage exposed a huge customer database including sensitive comments on its creepy clients11/27/2018
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Urban Massage exposed a huge customer database, including sensitive comments on its creepy clients https://ift.tt/2r6IM86 Urban Massage, a popular massage startup that bills itself as providing “wellness that comes to you,” has leaked its entire customer database. The London, U.K.-based startup — now known as just Urban — left its Google-hosted ElasticSearch database online without a password, allowing anyone to read hundreds of thousands of customer and staff records. Anyone who knew where to look could access, edit or delete the database. Security researcher Oliver Hough found the database through Shodan, a search engine for exposed devices and databases, and told TechCrunch of the exposure. It’s not known how long the database was exposed or if anyone else had accessed or obtained the database before it was pulled. It’s believed that the database was exposed for at least a few weeks. Urban pulled the database offline after TechCrunch reached out. Chief executive Jack Tang said in a statement: “Urban is looking into this as a matter of utmost urgency. We have informed the ICO and will take all other appropriate action, including in relation to data and communications.” At the time of securing the database, the company had exposed more than 309,000 user records, including names, email addresses and phone numbers. Each record also had a unique referral code, allowing friends to get discounted treatments. We verified the data by contacting several users at random. One user, who did not want to be named, said the data exposure was a “huge violation” of her privacy. The database also contained over 351,000 booking records, and more than 2,000 records on Urban massage therapists, including their names, email addresses and phone numbers. That roughly amounts to similar figures reported by the company earlier this month. Among the records included thousands of complaints from workers about their clients. The records included specific complaints — from account blocks for fraudulent behavior, abuse of the referral system and persistent cancelers. But, many records also included allegations of sexual misconduct by clients — such as asking for “massage in genital area” and requesting “sexual services from therapist.” Others were marked as “dangerous,” while others were blocked due to “police enquiries.” Each complaint included a customer’s personally identifiable information — including their name, address and postcode and phone number. But from a cursory review of the data, the database didn’t contain financial information — such as credit cards or individual account passwords. How the data came to be exposed remains a mystery, but the severity of the data is serious — and the repercussions could be significant. Because the company falls under the new European-wide GDPR rules, Urban may face steep financial penalties of up to four percent of its global annual revenue. For a company that’s centered around bringing relaxation to the masses, this breach will likely cause unnecessary stress for a lot of people. Digital Trends via TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com November 27, 2018 at 11:29AM |
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