Linked List: March 31, 2017

Friday, 31 March 2017

Great rundown of the changes and additions in 10.3 from Andrew Cunningham.

Apple Fixes 911 Vulnerability in iOS 10.3 ★

Ryan Knutson, reporting for The Wall Street Journal:

Among the changes in an iPhone software update Apple Inc. released this week: a fix aimed at preventing cyberattacks on 911 centers in the U.S.

The vulnerability was exposed in October after an 18-year-old in Arizona allegedly designed code that would cause iPhones to repeatedly dial 911. A link to the code went viral on Twitter, as teenagers began sharing it as a prank.

The incident, which was detailed in a Wall Street Journal article, resulted in thousands of accidental 911 calls, overwhelming operators in at least a dozen states across the U.S.

Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment, Seeking to Avoid Potential Charges ★

Daisuke Wakabayashi and Mike Isaac, reporting for The New York Times:

An Uber executive accused of stealing driverless car technology from his former employers at Google is exercising his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination, according to his lawyers.

The lawyers for Anthony Levandowski, the former head of Google’s self-driving car project who is now leading a similar effort at Uber, said he was broadly asserting his Fifth Amendment rights because there was “potential for criminal action” in the case, according to court transcripts obtained on Thursday.

Pleading the Fifth is not an admission of guilt, but it certainly doesn’t look good. And “potential for criminal action” is a new wrinkle.