Printer maker Epson is under fire this month from activist groups after a software update prevented customers from using cheaper, third party ink cartridges. It’s just the latest salvo in a decades-long effort by printer manufacturers to block consumer choice, often by disguising printer downgrades as essential product improvements.

Hardware makers began cooking draconian restrictions into printers, ranging from unnecessary cartridge expiration dates to obnoxious DRM and firmware updates blocking the use of “unofficial” cartridges.

The Internet Engineering Task Force has been considering when to hold the funeral of TLS 1.0, which will be 20 years old in January 2019, as well as a burial for TLS 1.1, since June this year. Its Internet-Draft on the matter is expected to formalize the 'net standards body's “die die die” recommendation later this year. When the draft progresses to standard status, the IETF will no longer fix new protocol vulnerabilities in TLS 1.0 and 1.1.

DE-CIX said it received orders from the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) to allow it to access data at its internet exchange in Frankfurt. The BND has in recent years received a mirror image of the traffic as part of its counter-terrorism and cyber-security efforts.

In Germany, the right to privacy of correspondence, posts and telecommunications is protected by Art. 10 of the constitution. This is restricted by a law that allows federal and state spy agencies to tap such communications, subject to review by a control commission on which lawmakers sit.

Users of Yale's so-called 'smart' locks were trapped out of their homes for more than 24 hours following after the company's smartphone app went to Borksville.

Yale blamed an "unforeseen issue while carrying out unplanned network maintenance", but claimed to have resolved the problem on Friday morning. However, users still claim that notifications - such as whether an alarm has been armed or disarmed - aren't coming through.

While the app was down, customers complained of being 'stuck' in their homes, while others were forced to wait outside until the problem was fixed.

That staggering nine-figure number is because the security issue was actually within a toolkit, called branch.io, that tracks website and app users to figure out where they've come from, be it Facebook, email links, Twitter, etc.

Among the sites found to be using the vulnerable components were reviews site Yelp, cash wiring biz Western Union, Shopify, and photo-sharing site Imgur, it is claimed. Hochstadt estimated the sites together handle around 685 million user accounts.

After considering the maintenance, performance and security costs of the feed preview and subscription features in Firefox, we’ve concluded that it is no longer sustainable to keep feed support in the core of the product. While we still believe in RSS and support the goals of open, interoperable formats on the Web, we strongly believe that the best way to meet the needs of RSS and its users is via WebExtensions.

Likewise, the feed viewer has its own “special” XML parser, distinct from the main Firefox one, and has not had a significant update in styling or functionality in the last seven years.

Microsoft on Tuesday posted KB4464330 (Windows 10 1809 Build 17763.55) in an effort to halt the damage done by last week's Windows 10 version 1809 update, but it hasn't quite worked.

"After doing updates, this machine blue screens with the error message WDF_VIOLATION," wrote an individual identified as "PhilBJSPC." "I cannot boot to safe mode and it does not allow me to do a system restore before the updates have gone through. …"

"This is why auto-installed updates are so dangerous," observed Steve Bellovin, a professor in the computer science department at Columbia University, via Twitter.

The lawsuits against social media companies brought by victims of terrorist attacks continue to pile up. So far, though, no one has racked up a win. Certain law firms (1-800-LAW-FIRM and Excolo Law) appear to be making a decent living filing lawsuits they'll never have a chance of winning, but it's not doing much for victims and their families.

The problem that continues to be talked around in these lawsuits is that you cannot hold a social media platform responsible for the actions of its users. If the plaintiffs drop the ATA arguments, they're just going to run into Section 230 immunity. While the acts of terrorism were horrific and drastically affected the lives of the families of those killed, suing Twitter, Facebook, et al over these acts doesn't do anything for the plaintiffs but take time and money away from those who've already lost loved ones.

The observatory, described as one of the most important scientific instruments ever created, was placed in "safe mode" over the weekend, while scientists try to fix the problem.

If the "misbehaving" gyroscope turns out not to work, the orbiting observatory may have to operate on one. This would conserve the remaining gyros for as long as possible, but would restrict the telescope somewhat.

In addition to their price and size differences, the Portal+ has a more powerful speaker that includes two tweeters with high-range frequency and a single, four-inch bass speaker for richer sound. Both devices have a four-mic array that's designed to pick up your voice no matter where you are in the room.

Facebook hasn't been the most forthcoming company when it comes to letting users know which data it collects and how it's using that data. It also doesn't have the best track record when it comes to keeping users' data safe.

Facebook said it doesn't "listen to, view, or keep the contents of" Portal video calls and that all video calls are encrypted as well.