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#TechNews

13 posts12 participants1 post today

Europe faces the risk of becoming almost entirely dependent on foreign technology within three years unless it radically changes its approach to supporting the domestic tech sector, a coalition of more than 80 organisations has warned.

computing.co.uk/news/2025/euro

www.computing.co.ukEuropean tech group demands 'radical action' for digital sovereigntyEurope risks becoming dependent on foreign technology within three years unless it radically changes its domestic tech sector support.
#europe#eu#technews

#TechNews picks of day:

This is a large category, skipped descriptions to keep it manageable

GENERAL TECH NEWS
@404mediaco
@arstechnica
@verge
@heiseonline (in German)
@2600
@themarkup
@osnews
@TechCrunch
@TechDesk
@WIRED
@Engadget
@TomsHardware
@EuronewsNext
@mobilesyrup
@Golemde (in German)
@ZDNet
@PCMag
@BGR
@sciencefocus
@Gizmodo
@canaltech (in Portuguese)
@TechTudo (in Portuguese)
@Adrenalinebr (in Portuguese)
@TecMundo (in Portuguese)
@Tecnoblog (in Portuguese)

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If you still use one of these devices, you might want to start looking into alternatives.

"In an email sent to customers today, Amazon said that Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally [...] Starting on March 28, recordings of everything command spoken to the Alexa living in Echo speakers and smart displays will automatically be sent to Amazon and processed in the cloud."

arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/0

via mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11416699

In this photo illustration, Echo Dot smart speaker with working Alexa with blue light ring seen displayed.
Ars Technica · Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28By Scharon Harding

Yikes, from an article that contains a lot more detail, but just to get your attention as to the impact part:

«The ubiquitous ESP32 microchip made by Chinese manufacturer Espressif and used by over 1 billion units as of 2023 contains undocumented commands that could be leveraged for attacks.

The undocumented commands allow spoofing of trusted devices, unauthorized data access, pivoting to other devices on the network, and potentially establishing long-term persistence.

"Exploitation of this backdoor would allow hostile actors to conduct impersonation attacks and permanently infect sensitive devices such as mobile phones, computers, smart locks or medical equipment by bypassing code audit controls."

The researchers warned that ESP32 is one of the world's most widely used chips for Wi-Fi + Bluetooth connectivity in IoT (Internet of Things) devices, so the risk is significant.»

People worried about this topic might also "enjoy" the recent Netflix series Zero Day.

And not to get too far afield, but hopefully it also didn't escape notice that there have been broad firings of qualified people in the US government for reasons related not to their technical skill or ability to protect our nation from issues like this, but because of irrelevant details of their private lives or personal leanings on issues of having fair and competent government, helping the needy, defending individual human freedom and dignity, or avoiding mass death in myriad ever-more-likely ways.

bleepingcomputer.com/news/secu

BleepingComputer · Undocumented commands found in Bluetooth chip used by a billion devicesBy Bill Toulas