Technology

Multiple nations enact mysterious export controls on quantum computers

Published

6 hours ago

September 28, 2024

Multiple nations enact mysterious export controls on quantum computers

Quantum computer exports are being restricted by many countries
Saigh Anees/Shutterstock

Secret international discussions have resulted in governments across the world imposing identical export controls on quantum computers, while refusing to disclose the scientific rationale behind the regulations. Although quantum computers theoretically have the potential to threaten national security by breaking encryption techniques, even the most advanced quantum computers currently in public existence are too small and too error-prone to achieve this, rendering the bans seemingly pointless.

The UK is one of the countries that has prohibited the export of quantum computers with 34 or more quantum bits, or qubits, and error rates below a certain threshold. The intention seems to be to restrict machines of a certain capability, but the UK government hasn’t explicitly said this. A New Scientist freedom of information request for a rationale behind these numbers was turned down on the grounds of national security.

France has also introduced export controls with the same specifications on qubit numbers and error rates, as has Spain and the Netherlands. Identical limits across European states might point to a European Union regulation, but that isn’t the case. A European Commission spokesperson told New Scientist that EU members are free to adopt national measures, rather than bloc-wide ones, for export restrictions. “Recent controls on quantum computers by Spain and France are examples of such national measures,” they said. They declined to explain why the figures in various EU export bans matched exactly, if these decisions had been reached independently.

A spokesperson for the French Embassy in London told New Scientist that the limit was set at a level “likely to represent a cyber risk”. They said that the controls were the same in France, the UK, the Netherlands and Spain because of “multilateral negotiations conducted over several years under the Wassenaar Arrangement”.

“The limits chosen are based on scientific analyses of the performance of quantum computers,” the spokesperson told New Scientist. But when asked for clarification on who performed the analysis or whether it would be publicly released, the spokesperson declined to comment further.

The Wassenaar Arrangement is a system adhered to by 42 participating states, including EU members, the UK, the US, Canada, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland, that sets controls on the export of goods that could have military applications, known as dual-use technologies. Canada has also implemented identical wording on 34 qubits into a quantum computer export ban.

New Scientist wrote to dozens of Wassenaar states asking about the existence of research on the level of quantum computer that would be dangerous to export, whether that research has been published and who carried it out. Only a few responded.

“We are closely observing the introduction of national controls by other states for certain technologies,” says a spokesperson for the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. “However, existing mechanisms can already be used to prevent in specific cases exports of such technologies.”

“We are obviously closely following Wassenaar discussions on the exact technical control parameters relating to quantum,” says Milan Godin, a Belgium adviser to the EU’s Working Party on Dual-Use Goods. Belgium doesn’t appear to have implemented its own export restrictions yet, but Godin says that quantum computers are a dual-use technology due to their potential to crack commercial or government encryption, as well as the possibility that their speed will eventually allow militaries to make faster and better plans – including in relation to nuclear missile strikes.

A spokesperson for the German Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control confirmed that quantum computer export controls would be the result of negotiations under the Wassenaar Arrangement, although Germany also doesn’t appear to have implemented any restrictions. “These negotiations are confidential, unfortunately we cannot share any details or information about the considerations of this control,” says the spokesperson.

Christopher Monroe, who co-founded quantum computer company IonQ, says people in the industry have noticed the identical bans and have been discussing their criteria, but he has no information on where they have come from.

“I have no idea who determined the logic behind these numbers,” he says, but it may have something to do with the threshold for simulating a quantum computer on an ordinary computer. This becomes exponentially harder as the number of qubits rises, so Monroe believes that the rationale behind the ban could be to restrict quantum computers that are now too advanced to be simulated, even though such devices have no practical applications.

“The fallacy there is that just because you cannot simulate what the quantum computer is doing doesn’t make it useful. And by severely limiting research to progress in this grey area, it will surely stifle innovation,” he says.

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Technology

YouTube pulls songs from Adele, Nirvana, and others due to SESAC dispute

Published

12 mins ago

September 29, 2024

NewsAdmin

YouTube pulls songs from Adele, Nirvana, and others due to SESAC dispute

Some of the most watched and listened to music on YouTube and YouTube Music disappeared on Saturday, replaced by a short message:

Video unavailable
This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.

That is probably not what people expected when they tried to stream Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” or other songs from artists as varied as Kendrick Lamar, Britney Spears, Green Day, Kanye West, and Burna Boy.

This leaves two questions: what is SESAC, and when is the music coming back?

SESAC stands for the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, which has been around since 1930 and, according to its website, “…currently licenses the public performance of more than 1.5 million songs on behalf of its 15,000+ affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers.”

It’s smaller than similar organizations like BMI and ASCAP, but SESAC lists many big-name artists in its portfolio. In 2017, it was acquired by the private equity firm Blackstone.

Answering the question of when the SESAC music ban on YouTube and YouTube Music will end, or even what music has been removed, is a little harder.

SESAC has a searchable database of its repertory, although not all the songs listed there appear to have been removed. There’s even a 44,267-page PDF available on the site if you’d like to read the complete list. But not all songs were affected in the same way. While one listing for Kanye West’s “Power” is blocked, as of this writing the music video version continues to stream just fine.

The licensing organization hasn’t commented publicly, but YouTube did respond to an inquiry from The Verge, as spokesperson Mariana de Felice writes:

We have held good faith negotiations with SESAC to renew our existing deal. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach an equitable agreement before its expiration. We take copyright very seriously and as a result, content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the US. We are in active conversations with SESAC and are hoping to reach a new deal as soon as possible.

According to an unnamed source cited by Variety, this could be a negotiating tactic by YouTube because, they say, “the previous deal actually does not expire until next week.”

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Servers computers

Supermicro 1U 5017R-MF Intel Xeon E5 Rackmount Server

Published

28 mins ago

September 29, 2024

NewsAdmin

Supermicro 1U 5017R-MF Intel Xeon E5 Rackmount Server

http://serverfactory.co.uk/budget-intel-xeon-e5-rackmount-server.html
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Intel E5-2603 1.8Ghz 80W QuadCore processor
Kingston 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz ECC REG
Onboard IPMI/KVM with Dedicated LAN
Without DVD player
350W Gold Level Power Supply
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http://serverfactory.co.uk/budget-intel-xeon-e5-rackmount-server.html .

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Technology

Quordle today – hints and answers for Sunday, September 29 (game #979)

Published

33 mins ago

September 29, 2024

NewsAdmin

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now nearly 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

Your Quordle expert

Marc McLaren

Quordle today (game #979) – hint #1 – Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #979) – hint #2 – repeated letters

Do any of today’s Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #979) – hint #3 – uncommon letters

Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today’s Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #979) – hint #4 – starting letters (1)

Do any of today’s Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today’s Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you’re not ready yet then here’s one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #979) – hint #5 – starting letters (2)

What letters do today’s Quordle answers start with?

• S

• B

• W

• S

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #979) – the answers

Quordle answers for game 979 on a yellow background

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today’s Quordle, game #979, are…

A couple of today’s words might cause some problems; SERIF is a relatively uncommon word that has a very uncommon format, with that IF ending, while SLEEK contains a repeated E. WRITE was the one I lost a guess on, though: that -RI-E format is a very common one, and could be the likes of TRIBE or TRITE as well as the eventual answer. Other than that, though, my three start words did the hard work and I survived with a guess to spare.

Unfortunately I was far less careful with the Daily Sequence and failed for the second time in only a few days. There were some very difficult words there, admittedly, but I still should have played a lot more sensibly.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #979) – the answers

Quordle Daily Sequence answers for game 979 on a yellow background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Quordle Daily Sequence, game #979, are…

Quordle answers: The past 20

Quordle #978, Saturday 28 September: BUSHY, CIVIC, SNOUT, EQUIP
Quordle #977, Friday 27 September: GUEST, CHASM, ROOST, BASAL
Quordle #976, Thursday 26 September: STAGE, VOGUE, CLUMP, HEATH
Quordle #975, Wednesday 25 September: UMBRA, DADDY, GLAZE, PRANK
Quordle #974, Tuesday 24 September: SPACE, INNER, SPAWN, BEGAT
Quordle #973, Monday 23 September: GUILT, STERN, ANNEX, FIELD
Quordle #972, Sunday 22 September: ZESTY, MEATY, ALIVE, DRAWN
Quordle #971, Saturday 21 September: VITAL, FRAIL, SPEAR, EERIE
Quordle #970, Friday 20 September: ELIDE, DITTO, SHAWL, BONUS
Quordle #969, Thursday 19 September: MARRY, OWING, DICEY, LUCKY
Quordle #968, Wednesday 18 September: CEDAR, VENOM, MIGHT, MEDIC
Quordle #967, Tuesday 17 September: ETHOS, COUNT, PRINT, THREE
Quordle #966, Monday 16 September: ROUGE, SWAMP, FUGUE, UNDUE
Quordle #965, Sunday 15 September: VILLA, SMOKE, BULKY, THRUM
Quordle #964, Saturday 14 September: ESSAY, GENRE, WIMPY, CHUTE
Quordle #963, Friday 13 September: LEANT, ORGAN, FILLY, PLAIT
Quordle #962, Thursday 12 September: ARBOR, STARK, LEAVE, GOOFY
Quordle #961, Wednesday 11 September: ROUGH, CACTI, SAVOY, ODDER
Quordle #960, Tuesday 10 September: PLUMB, SEIZE, EARLY, ASSET
Quordle #959, Monday 9 September: CHIRP, BEADY, THETA, MINUS

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Technology

Tiny chip could enable super-secure quantum Wi-Fi

Published

55 mins ago

September 29, 2024

NewsAdmin

Concept of communication network technology for internet business. World of global network and telecommunication on earth cryptocurrency,IoT and blockchain. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.; Shutterstock ID 1908304780; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

We may be a step closer to unhackable quantum Wi-Fi thanks to a chip that could establish wireless communication between a wide range of quantum devices.

Quantum communication systems have a distinct advantage over the wireless and fibre-based networks that we use now: they are incredibly hard to hack. This is because they use the quantum states of objects like particles of light to encode and transmit information – those states allow for more complex encryption and can easily reveal if they have been tampered with.

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Servers computers

INSTALASI RACK SERVER 42U #InstalasiRackServer #InstalasiWallmountRack #PindahanKantorJakarta

Published

1 hour ago

September 29, 2024

NewsAdmin

INSTALASI RACK SERVER 42U #InstalasiRackServer #InstalasiWallmountRack #PindahanKantorJakarta

Kami adalah Perusahaan Jasa IT yang berlokasi di Jakarta.
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– Layanan Cloud dengan Office 365 for Bussiness dan G- Suite
– Smart Work Training
– Implementasi CRM (Agile CRM)

Spesialisasi Kami: Pindahan Server dan Perangkat IT Perusahaan.

Info detailnya, silahkan kunjungi website kami: https://mas-it.id/
atau hubungi kami di: 021 – 21472099 atau hallo@mas-it.id

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Technology

SpaceX Crew-9 mission launches carrying astronauts to ISS

Published

1 hour ago

September 29, 2024

NewsAdmin

SpaceX Crew-9 mission launches carrying astronauts to ISS

A SpaceX Crew Dragon craft has launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying two new crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch had been delayed a number of times, most recently due to Hurricane Helene, but lifted off successfully at 1:17 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 28.

The spacecraft, carried by a Falcon 9 rocket and launched from Space Launch Complex-40, carries NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov as members of the Crew-9 mission. It is unusual for a Dragon to launch carrying just two crew members, as it typically carries crews of four. In this case, the spare seats are reserved for the homeward journey of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams who are currently on the ISS, having traveled there on the first crewed test flight of the Boeing Starliner.

Following issues with the Starliner’s thrusters, NASA decided not to being home Wilmore and Williams on the Starliner but instead to have them stay on the station and join Crew-9. The four-person crew will now return to Earth using the Dragon spacecraft in February 2025.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Launch

The re-jigging of crew assignments required some changes around this launch, which had originally been scheduled for August. “This mission required a lot of operational and planning flexibility. I congratulate the entire team on a successful launch today, and godspeed to Nick and Aleksandr as they make their way to the space station,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Our NASA wizards and our commercial and international partners have shown once again the success that comes from working together and adapting to changing circumstances without sacrificing the safe and professional operations of the International Space Station.”

Hague and Gorbunov are expected to arrive at the ISS on the afternoon of Sunday, September 29, where they will join the ISS Expedition 72 crew. There are currently nine people aboard the ISS — six NASA astronauts and three Roscosmos cosmonauts — who will welcome the new arrivals with a welcome ceremony.

The arrival of the Dragon at the ISS and the docking procedure, followed by the hatch opening and welcome ceremony, will be livestreamed by NASA. You can watch along on NASA’s YouTube channel, which will show coverage beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.