Silicon Valley Tech News Roundup – February 20th

QAnon founder unmasked because of machine learning? – 2/19

In a report published by the New York Times, computer scientists believe they have identified the founder of QAnon. The report details findings by two independent research teams based in Switzerland and France.

Swiss forensic linguists from the start-up OrphAnalytics broke down Q’s writings into patterns of three-character sequences using software and tracked how often these sequences repeated. The French team consisting of computational linguists used AI to look for patterns in Q’s writing. They based their analysis on social media posts. Likewise, both teams came to the same conclusions.

Based on their analysis, the original person behind Q is Paul Furber, a software developer from South Africa. Likewise, their software identified Ron Watkins, a congressional candidate from Arizona, as another author behind Q posts. Based on the analysis, the two collaborated on the posts. But after a while, Watkins took over the account.

Both Furber and Watkins deny the claims.

Alibaba and Tencent owned sites land on the US “Notorious Markets List” – 2/18

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published their “Notorious Market List.” For the first time, it includes AliExpress and WeChat e-commerce sites. Alibaba and Tencent operate the sites. The list also includes 35 physical stores and 42 online sites. The list’s purpose is to protect American companies and workers from the effects of cheap counterfeit goods.

The report states these two sites are: “two significant China-based online markets that reportedly facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting”. Other notable China-based sites on the list include Taobao, DHGate, Baidu Wangpan, and Pinduoduo. Katherine Tai, the US Trade Representative, said in a statement: “The global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods undermines critical US innovation and creativity and harms American workers.”

Alibaba did not respond to requests for comment. Meanwhile, Tencent stated: “We strongly disagree with the decision made by the United States Trade Representative and are committed to working collaboratively to resolve this matter.” Furthermore, the company claims it “invested significant resources” to protect intellectual property rights on its platforms.

Apple store workers plan to unionize – 2/18

Based on the report published by the Washington Post, workers at several Apple stores across the United States are trying to unionize.

Workers at Apple’s retail stores decided to take action for several reasons. One reason is that their wages that are below the rate of inflation. Likewise, they want the company, which has record-setting profits, to distribute more of its gains to the workers who sell and repair the products. Workers at two locations are getting ready to file the paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board, and big national unions support their efforts.

With over 270 stores in the US and over 500 locations globally, Apple employs 65.000 retail workers. Based on the SEC filings, the sales via Apple stores and website made up 36% of the $366bn in total revenue.

The Washington Post also reports employees of Apple corporate, including product managers and engineers, support the retail workers. However, the support is secret because the employees fear retaliation for helping the unionization efforts.

Bill Gates believes Covid risks have decreased but warns of another pandemic – 2/18

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Bill Gates concluded the risks of Covid are reduced. But, he also warned another pandemic is a certainty.

Gates said the worst effects of Covid have faded, as the global population gained levels of immunity and the severity of the virus itself decreased with the omicron variant. However, he attributed the development to the virus itself saying it: “done a better job of getting out to the world population than we have with vaccines.” Furthermore, he warned: “We’ll have another pandemic. It will be a different pathogen next time.”

However, he believes the world has a better chance of fighting another pandemic by investing in medical technology advances and called on world governments to do so now. The key is to develop and distribute vaccines faster. Gates stated: “Next time we should try and make it, instead of two years, we should make it more like six months… The cost of being ready for the next pandemic is not that large. It’s not like climate change. If we’re rational, yes, the next time we’ll catch it early.”