The LAPD admits to using facial recognition since 2009, House Democrats are calling for big changes among the big four, and Facebook bans QAnon. 

GPS tracks sea turtle traffickers; Netflix Canada is hiking its prices, and IBM says goodbye to its managed infrastructure services

We take a trip down memory lane to revisit old websites and feel old, pubs and restaurants sell contact tracing information; and is it time to consider work from home dress codes?

Apple’s new iPhone 12, Prime day kicked off the holiday shopping season, and Disney is going to be making a historical change

Amazon workers are striking in Germany, Google comes out with new robots to help farmers, and Twitter is suspending accounts for posing as Black Trump supporters.

More WFH woes, but in the meantime Dropbox makes WFH permanent, plus, a Facebook exec speaks out and calls Facebook ‘a threat to democracy.’

EV Charging Security Risks: Unreachable Networks, Grid Threats, and the Government Kill Switch Debate

Hashtag Trending would like to thank Meter for their support in bringing you this podcast. Meter delivers a complete networking stack, wired, wireless and cellular in one integrated solution that's built for performance and scale. You can find them at Meter.com/htt

In this holiday edition of Hashtag Trending, host Jim Love shares David Shipley's interview with Steve Visconti, CEO of Xiid Corporation, on the cybersecurity risks surrounding electric vehicles—especially EV charging infrastructure. Visconti explains how modern chargers connect into large IP networks with control, billing, and back-office systems that can become attack targets, potentially disrupting telecom networks or even the power grid as vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid capabilities expand. He describes Xiid's approach of reducing "reachability" by closing ports and static IP exposure while allowing only registered users and machine-to-machine tunnels. The conversation also touches on charger misconfiguration leading to fires, DDoS and cloud attacks already occurring, and concerns about US legislation requiring a government-accessible vehicle kill switch by around 2027.

00:00 Holiday Show Setup
00:34 Kill Switch Nightmare
01:37 Sponsor And Interview Intro
02:00 Meet Steve Visconti
02:37 What Xiid Builds
03:50 EV Charging Symposium
05:03 Why Chargers Matter
07:05 Vehicle To Grid Risks
09:45 Fires And Open Ports
10:56 Securing Commercial Networks
12:28 Make Systems Unreachable
14:51 Car As The Threat
18:25 Policy And Awareness Gaps
21:44 Botnets And Real Attacks
23:15 Kill Switch Policy Returns
25:03 Wrap Up And Call To Action
25:51 Final Sponsor And Goodbye

The COVID Alert app source code is now available on Github, AT&T pulls DSL internet without providing an alternative for people living in the area, and John McAfee gets arrested in Spain.