The FCC lets you upload any file to their website and make that file publicly accessible using the FCC.gov domain. Or rather they don’t, but they have somehow not realized that they are letting people do it and telling them how in their own documentation. From a report: Take a look at this document about FCC Chairman Ajit Pai which has clearly not been put there by anyone who works at the FCC, neither has this one. Those currently uploading files are able to do this using the FCC’s own public API, a key that they seem to send to anyone with any email address. Obviously I am not going to tell you how, but if you have enough of the right kind of technical experience the public FCC API documentation will. People seem to be experimenting uploading different filetypes, so far they have managed pdf/gif/ELF/exe/mp4 files up to 25MB in size, which means that you could easily host malware on the FCC.gov website right now and use it in phishing campaigns that link to malware on a .gov website.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – The FCC Website Lets You Upload Malware Using Its Own Public API Key

In a 30-page report, Larry Miller, the head of New York University’s Steinhart Music Business Program, argues that traditional radio has failed to engage with Generation Z — people born after 1995 — and that its influence and relevance will continue to be subsumed by digital services unless it upgrades. Key points made in the study include: Generation Z, which is projected to account for 40% of all consumers in the U.S. by 2020, shows little interest in traditional media, including radio, having grown up in an on-demand digital environment. AM/FM radio is in the midst of a massive drop-off as a music-discovery tool by younger generations, with self-reported listening to AM/FM radio among teens aged 13 and up declining by almost 50 percentage points between 2005 and 2016. Music discovery as a whole is moving away from AM/FM radio and toward YouTube, Spotify and Pandora, especially among younger listeners, with 19% of a 2017 study of surveyed listeners citing it as a source for keeping up-to-date with music — down from 28% the previous year. Among 12-24 year olds who find music discovery important, AM/FM radio (50%) becomes even less influential, trailing YouTube (80%), Spotify (59%), and Pandora (53%). By 2020, 75% of new cars are expected to be “connected” to digital services, breaking radio’s monopoly on the car dashboard and relegating AM/FM to just one of a series of audio options behind the wheel. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the typical car in the U.S. was 11.6 years old in 2016, which explains why radio has not yet faced its disruption event. However, drivers are buying new cars at a faster rate than ever, and new vehicles come with more installed options for digital music services.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Traditional Radio Faces a Grim Future, New Study Says