Tech Fix: Unknown Tech Brands Aren’t Like Groceries. Don’t Just Grab Them.

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Unknown Tech Brands Aren’t Like Groceries. Don’t Just Grab Them. Photo Credit Minh Uong/The New York Times If there was one broad takeaway from the data leak involving Cambridge Analytica, the voter profiling firm that obtained private information from up to 87 million Facebook accounts, it’s that you should hesitate before sharing your data with an unknown brand.
This lesson applies to just about everything that touches your personal technology, including the apps that you download to your phone or computer and the free online services that you use. And, yes, it also includes those seemingly harmless personality tests run by some unfamiliar organization on Facebook — the kind that helped Cambridge Analytica get the data on users.
To make matters worse, the information that can be stolen from you is becoming increasingly personal. Smartphones, for one, are embedded with microphones, motion sensors and cameras that can spy on your every move if corrupted by a bad actor. Home gadgets lik..

U.S. Seeks 20-Year Prison Term for Turkish Banker in Sanctions Case

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U.S. Seeks 20-Year Prison Term for Turkish Banker in Sanctions Case Photo The deputy general manager for international banking at the Turkish state bank Halkbank was convicted in January at a trial that depicted high-level corruption in Turkey. Credit Sedat Suna/European Pressphoto Agency United States prosecutors asked a judge in Manhattan on Wednesday to sentence a Turkish banker to about 20 years in prison for his conviction in January in a broad scheme to evade American sanctions against Iran.
The defendant, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, 47, the deputy general manager for international banking at Halkbank, a Turkish state bank, was convicted in January at a trial that depicted high-level corruption in Turkey and increased tensions between the Turkish government and the United States.
The government’s star witness, Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader, suggested in his testimony that Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally approved the sanctions-evasion scheme in 2012, when..

Trade War, Facebook, YouTube: Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

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Trade War, Facebook, YouTube: Your Wednesday Evening Briefing (Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)
Good evening. Here’s the latest.
Photo Credit Daniel Acker/Bloomberg 1. It looks a lot like a trade war.
Hours after the White House outlined $50 billion in tariffs on largely high-tech Chinese products, China announced its own tariffs on $50 billion worth of American goods.
China’s list focused on agricultural products that come from the Republican-dominated farm belt, where lawmakers might be expected to have some influence with President Trump. Above, harvesting soybeans in Illinois.
Administration officials say they see no reason to panic, and markets rose after an erratic day.
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Photo Credit Susannah George/Associated Press 2. The White House said that the U.S. would remain in Syria to continue the fight against the Islamic State — just a day after President Trump said “it’s time” to bring the 2,000 U.S. troops there home…