(08-25-2023, 06:31 AM)kyonides Wrote:

US Justice Department sues SpaceX over hiring practices

Quote:The US Justice Department filed a lawsuit against SpaceX on Thursday over its hiring practices, accusing Elon Musk’s rocket company of discriminating against asylum seekers and refugees.

“Our investigation found that SpaceX failed to fairly consider or hire asylees and refugees because of their citizenship status and imposed what amounted to a ban on their hire regardless of their qualification, in violation of federal law,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said.

Quote:(a) Making employment of unauthorized aliens unlawful

(1) In general
It is unlawful for a person or other entity—
 
(A) to hire, or to recruit or refer for a fee, for employment in the United States an alien knowing the alien is an unauthorized alien (as defined in subsection (h)(3)) with respect to such employment, or
(b)
(i) to hire for employment in the United States an individual without complying with the requirements of subsection (b) or (ii) if the person or entity is an agricultural association, agricultural employer, or farm labor contractor (as defined in section 1802 of title 29), to hire, or to recruit or refer for a fee, for employment in the United States an individual without complying with the requirements of subsection (b).

Quote:Campaign websites for Democrats who ran in the 2020 primaries are appearing higher in Google search results than the websites of Republican candidates in 2024, as well as the campaign websites of Joe Biden’s top challenger in the Democrat primary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The Media Research Center (MRC), which monitors bias in media and tech companies, discovered the biased search results when conducting searches on Google for “presidential campaign websites.”

MRC Free Speech America researchers searched Google for “presidential campaign websites,” but the search engine did not display a single Republican candidate on its first page of results the day before the first Republican Party presidential primary debate on Wednesday. President Joe Biden’s campaign website, of course, showed up as the second search result along with a Democratic Party challenger Marianne Williamson’s campaign website, which came up as the fifth result.

Google even displayed results for past failed Democratic Party presidential candidates who aren’t even running this cycle, including: Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) website, which showed up as the ninth result; Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) campaign website, which came in twelfth; and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign website, which appeared twenty-ninth in the results.

Notably, 2024 Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., did not appear in Google’s search results even though he is, at present, the biggest threat to President Joe Biden’s nomination.

Of all major tech companies, Google and its related companies seem most committed to maintaining a pro-establishment Democrat bias. While other tech companies, notably Elon Musk’s Twitter/X, have claimed to relax some of the draconian censorship measures against conservatives, Google has ramped them up. YouTube, its video platform, recently doubled down on its COVID censorship policies, and has repeatedly censored interviews with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Quote:Sky News Australia has published an in-depth report about a full throttle attempt to influence the outcome of a democratic referendum in the country. Facebook (now known as Meta) and a legion of supposedly third-party “fact checkers” are shutting down journalists and activists who oppose the referendum in an effort to silence dissent.

The referendum concerns a hot-button issue for the Australian left, the proposed creation of The Voice, a representative body based on ethnic lines, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders, that would act as an advisory body to the Australian parliament.

According to Sky News, Facebook, along with a coalition of international “fact checkers,” is working to skew debate on social media in favor of creating the proposed representative body, which will be put to a vote of the Australian people later this year.

Two of Australia’s most powerful universities and a multi-billion dollar tech giant are fronting campaigns to silence news coverage of the Voice to influence the referendum.

A Sky News Australia investigation has uncovered a disturbing foreign-financed attempt to block political debate and news coverage around the Voice, which exposes the global fact checking system used by tech giant Meta as non-compliant with its own rules of impartiality and transparency.

In one case, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology has been allowed by Facebook parent company Meta to block and deplatform Australian journalism, despite the platform knowing it was a breach of the rules Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg established to distance himself from fact checking responsibilities.

According to Sky News, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), a Facebook-approved fact checker, breached their own rules to throttle Sky’s distribution on the platform.

Quote:A recent study by Indiana University researchers reveals a surge in AI-generated spam bots on social media platforms, particularly exploiting OpenAI’s ChatGPT to promote scams and degrade online information quality.

Business Insider reports that researchers at Indiana University have uncovered a disturbing trend — the proliferation of AI-generated spam bots on social media platforms. The study found that over 1,000 such bots were active on Twitter/X. These bots are part of larger networks, commonly referred to as “botnets,” which have been designed to evade current anti-spam measures. According to researchers, bot accounts try to persuade individuals to invest in fraudulent cryptocurrencies and may even pilfer from their current crypto wallets.
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“New AI tools further lower the cost to generate false but credible content at scale, defeating the already weak moderation defenses of social-media platforms,” said Filippo Menczer, a computer-science professor involved in the study. The bots not only promote fraudulent investments but also contribute to the degradation of the quality of online information.
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Current AI content detectors, such as ZeroGPT and the OpenAI AI Text Classifier, have proven to be unreliable. Wei Xu, a computer science professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has cautioned that without proper regulation, bad actors will continue to stay ahead of those attempting to stop AI-generated content creation due to the availability of more incentives and lower costs.

Quote:TechCrunch reports that a woman named Jiyoung Yoon has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s Tesla after her husband, Jyung Woo Hahn, tragically lost his life in a devastating crash. The incident occurred on March 12, 2022, when Hahn was driving his 2020 Tesla Model 3 on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Rockland County, New York. According to the lawsuit, the vehicle malfunctioned and collided with a tree, immediately bursting into flames.

Yoon alleges in the lawsuit that her husband survived the initial impact but was unable to escape the fast-burning vehicle. Firefighters who arrived at the scene reported that the fire was “extremely difficult” to put out, requiring more than 1,000 gallons of water.

The lawsuit points to the vehicle’s lithium-ion battery as a significant factor in the tragedy. When a lithium-ion battery is ruptured, a process called thermal runaway occurs, leading to a sharp increase in battery cell temperature and pressure. This results in the release of flammable gas, which can ignite due to the battery’s high temperature, causing a quick fire that is hard to extinguish and emits toxic fumes.
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Yoon accuses Tesla of multiple counts of negligence, including producing a vehicle that is “defective and unreasonably dangerous.” She also alleges that Tesla is guilty of breach of implied warranty of merchantability. The plaintiff is demanding a jury trial and is seeking various forms of damages, including actual damages, lost wages, emotional distress, and more.

Quote:In yet another sign of the Biden Administration’s determination to control, censor, and spy on American social media users, the draft of a proposed deal between Chinese-owned TikTok and the Biden administration shows the latter requesting extraordinary authority over the platform.

The proposed deal, outlined in a 100-page draft obtained by Forbes, would give the U.S. government the power to examine TikTok’s servers with no notice — something that could potentially allow the government to spy on American users.

In a sign of the administration’s preoccupation with censoring social media users, the agreement also reportedly gives the government the power to veto any changes to TikTok’s content moderation policies.

The draft agreement, as it was being negotiated at the time, would give government agencies like the DOJ or the DOD the authority to:

• Examine TikTok’s U.S. facilities, records, equipment and servers with minimal or no notice,
  
• Block changes to the app’s U.S. terms of service, moderation policies and privacy policy,
  
• Veto the hiring of any executive involved in leading TikTok’s U.S. Data Security org,
  
• Order TikTok and ByteDance to pay for and subject themselves to various audits, assessments and other reports on the security of TikTok’s U.S. functions, and,
  
• In some circumstances, require ByteDance to temporarily stop TikTok from functioning in the United States.
  

Quote:More than 3,000 Tesla shareholders are set to receive a payout of approximately $12,397 each, following a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against Elon Musk for his infamous “funding secured” tweet from 2018.

MarketWatch reports that in 2018, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent out a tweet that would quickly become infamous. Musk’s tweet claimed that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share. This led to a lawsuit filed by the SEC, accusing Musk of defrauding investors. According to the SEC filing, a total of 3,350 claimants will benefit from the payout, recouping 51.7 percent of their calculated recognized loss.

The SEC has asked a judge to give the payout plan final approval. In order to receive payment, shareholders must have submitted a claim form to the administrator, Rust Consulting, by September 2022. The lawsuit culminated in civil penalties of $40 million plus interest against Musk and Tesla. The SEC estimated that the tweet led to investor losses amounting to $80 million.

In 2022, Musk unsuccessfully petitioned a judge to end the SEC settlement. In particular, Musk seemed to be tired of being tasked to have his tweets reviewed by a Tesla executive popularly referred to as his “Twitter sitter.”

Quote:London’s Metropolitan Police force says it has stepped up security after a company that holds details of its officers and staff was hacked.

The force said late Saturday that there had been “unauthorized access to the IT system” of one of its suppliers. It said the company, which it did not name, had access to names, ranks, photos, vetting levels and payroll numbers for officers and staff, but did not hold personal information such as addresses, phone numbers or financial details.

The force said it was “working with the company to understand if there has been any security breach relating to Metropolitan Police data,” and had referred the incident to the National Crime Agency.

The Metropolitan Police Federation, a staff association for officers, said the breach had caused “incredible concern and anger.”

The breach follows an incident last month in which the Police Service of Northern Ireland acknowledged it had inadvertently published personal information of more than 10,000 officers and staff in response to a freedom of information request.

Quote:Tesla’s first Supercharger diner is on its way to becoming a reality.

The company recently secured permit approval (pdf) from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety for its drive-in movie and diner Supercharger station in Los Angeles, Teslarati reported.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted over the past few years at the possibility of a drive-in movie theater and diner built into one of its Supercharger stations that would house a few dozen charging stalls, two screens to show movie clips, and an eatery with rooftop seating.

The goal is to provide drivers with something to do while they wait for their electric vehicles to charge.

In January 2018, Mr. Musk posted about building an “old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant,” and the new architectural plans provide more detail.
...
Originally, there were plans for the eatery to be built on a few different lots in Santa Monica, but the project is now set to be built on a large site at 7001 W. Santa Monica Boulevard, Teslarati reported.

The current building, the former site of a Shakey's Pizza, will be torn down and replaced with Tesla’s Supercharger diner featuring a 3,800-square-foot enclosed lower level and a 5,500-square-foot outdoor seating and enclosed kitchen area above, Restaurant Business reported.

Tesla Supercharger stations can charge to a 200-mile capacity in 15 minutes.

Quote:Thousands of Australian charity donors have fallen victim to cyber-attacks after their personal details were published on the dark web.

In April, cyber criminals hacked Brisbane-based telemarketer Pareto Phone which provides services to more than 70 Australian charities.

These includes some of the country's largest charities including the Cancer Council, the Fred Hollows Foundation, and Canteen have been affected by the data breach

The personal information leaked to the dark web included phone numbers and email addresses of thousands of Australians.

In a statement, the Fred Follows Foundation said although it had ended the relationship with Pareto Phone for nine years, the telemarketer still kept the private details of 1,700 of its donors.

The charity said it was "deeply disappointed" by the incident.

"We worked with Pareto Phone only during 2013 and 2014. We were not aware our data was still held by them," they said in a statement, according to the Institute of Community Directors Australia.

"Under the Australian Privacy Principles, there is a requirement for personal information data to be destroyed or de-identified once it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected," it continued.
...
Canteen, which provides help for young people struggling with cancer, said the breach had affected 2,600 of its donors whose personal details including name, data of birth, address, email and phone numbers were leaked.

However, the charity had assured that no financial information had been leaked.

Quote:The world's largest tech giants will now have to comply with new European Union regulations coming into effect this week, which will broadly affect their global operations.

Starting on Aug. 26, the sweeping EU Digital Services Act (DSA) will broadly affect everything from social media content moderation, user privacy, transparency, and combating counterfeit goods sold online.

The EU law also attempts to prevent the spread of personally harmful content or disinformation, ban or limit certain user-targeting advertising practices, and make companies share some internal data with regulators.

The DSA is the most ambitiously widespread effort passed by policymakers to regulate the tech industry and is intended to force companies to implement major software changes or face massive fines.

Any company found in breach of the new act will face a fine of up to 6 percent of its global turnover, and repeat offenders may be banned from operating in the EU altogether.
...
Although the DSA passed last year, the big tech companies have had until this week to prepare for its enforcement.

The expiration of the compliance period has put pressure on tech platforms, with more than 45 million users in the EU to follow the obligations set out in the legislation.

The new rules for online platforms will apply to 19 companies for now, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Snapchat, X, TikTok, and many others.

Strangely, some platforms, like eBay, Airbnb, Netflix and even PornHub, were omitted from the list, but it is possible that they may be added later on.

Quote:The United Nations says that it's battling mis- and disinformation on social media and beyond through what it calls a "digital army" located across the globe.

In an Aug. 19 statement, U.N. officials said peacekeepers throughout the world are building the digital army through smartphones, editing apps, and "innovative approaches" as part of efforts to "fight back against falsehoods that can trigger tensions, violence, or even death."

The intergovernmental organization has also been monitoring how mis- and disinformation and hate speech can "attack health, security, stability" as well as progress towards its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), officials said.

"Digital platforms are crucial tools that have transformed social, cultural, and political interactions everywhere. Across the world, they connect concerned global citizens on issues that matter," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a policy brief (pdf) published in June titled "Information Integrity on Digital Platforms."

Such platforms have "given people hope in times of crisis and struggle, amplified voices that were previously unheard, and breathed life into global movements," Mr. Guterres wrote.

However, they have also "exposed a darker side of the digital ecosystem," the U.N. secretary-general noted.

"They have enabled the rapid spread of lies and hate, causing real harm on a global scale," he wrote in the brief. "Optimism over the potential of social media to connect and engage people has been dampened as mis- and disinformation and hate speech have surged from the margins of digital space into the mainstream. The danger cannot be overstated."

The U.N. policy brief acknowledges that there are "no universally accepted definitions" of the term "disinformation" but says that the U.N.'s own working definition of the term refers to "false information that is disseminated intentionally to cause serious social harm."

Quote:Republican lawmakers expressed deep concern on Tuesday after reports surfaced of then-President Joe Biden using email aliases to conduct family business.

Joe Biden used the aliases — “Robert Peters,” “Robin Ware,” and “JRB Ware” — to share government information and discuss business with Hunter Biden and associates, according to the Southeastern Legal Foundation, which filed a lawsuit to compel the National Archives (NARA) to turn over the emails.

In one email sent to Joe Biden in 2016, “Robert L. Peters” received a message that cc’d Hunter Biden about Ukraine. The email includes an attachment with the vice president’s schedule, indicating that he had spoken by phone to then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

“There is more than enough evidence to open an inquiry into Biden Corruption LLC,” House Judiciary Committee member Harriet Hageman exclusively told Breitbart News. “Months ago, I made clear that an impeachment inquiry into the President should be opened and since then we’ve only seen more evidence to support it.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hinted on Sunday that an impeachment inquiry could be launched as soon as late September against Joe Biden. If McCarthy opened an inquiry, it would demand 218 votes to pass articles of impeachment through the House to the Senate. Any impeachment would likely start in the House Judiciary Committee before being sent to the entire House for approval.

“The American people have a right to know how much graft was involved, how deeply our national security was compromised, and how many federal agencies have been corrupted with Joe Biden as leader of the Biden crime family,” Hageman said.

Quote:Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is “outraged” about Republicans’ failure to immediately open an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden following the revelation that the National Archives (NARA) possesses about 5,400 emails and records pertaining to Biden’s email aliases.

“I’m frankly very angry that we haven’t done it yet,” Greene said about a potential inquiry. “And it better happen when we get back into session. I want it the first week.”
...
The “Robert Peters” email alias contains an “@pci.gov” domain name, as Breitbart News reported. “PCI” represents the Executive Office of the President and is connected to a Department of Defense network.

“I think it should be illegal,” Greene said about using an alias on a government network. “I do not think you can hide your identity.”

The “Robert L. Peters” alias received an email in 2016 that cc’d Hunter Biden about Ukraine. The email includes an attachment with the vice president’s schedule, indicating that he had spoken by phone to then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

“Joe Biden is again on record proven to be lying to the American people about his knowledge and involvement with his son and business partners,” Greene said, noting the president is likely compromised “as an elective elected office holder in some of the highest seats in the land as senator and then vice president.”

Greene argued the continual bombshell allegations against Joe Biden demand an impeachment inquiry, and any failure to open an impeachment inquiry represents a failure to hold the president accountable.

Quote:Microsoft is developing a new type of face tracking technology that promises to be both cheaper and more accurate than competitors.

The face tracking tech aims to not just track people’s faces, but also “understand” expressions on human faces — a technology which could have wide-reaching impact in data driven advertising, allowing tech giants to learn even more about us and how we respond to content.

Microsoft aims to use the tech in its Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) video games, which usually require bulky headsets.

ReclaimTheNet talked to the CEO of an enterprise-focused AR and VR company that specializes in marketing, who outlined the possibilities.

If Microsoft succeeds in making facial tracking cheap(er) and more efficient, said Glimpse Group’s VP Jake Maymar – then it could have on its hands “one of the most lucrative (AR and VR) metrics you can possibly have.”

Maymar went on to say that if Microsoft develops the system, then manufacturers will have no problem including it in their products, and added:

“That’s incredibly powerful. You can actually have a clear metric and be able to measure the impact of advertising, the impact of experiences, and the impact of connections with others.”

Understanding how users respond to content, whether AR, VR, or content on traditional text- and video-based platforms, is key to the ad-driven model employed by many big tech companies. The more they know about their users and how they behave, the easier it is to keep those users engaged.

Quote:The Verge reports that during a 45-minute livestream, Musk was seen in the driver’s seat, demonstrating the capabilities of Tesla’s yet-to-be-released FSD v12 software. While the vehicle navigated construction sites without major issues, the car almost ran a red light in Palo Alto, California. Musk was forced to intervene, grabbing the steering wheel to prevent the car from accelerating through the intersection. “So that’s our first intervention because the car should be going straight,” Musk said, acknowledging the software’s limitations. “That’s why we’ve not released this to the public yet.”

Tesla’s handbook advises drivers to “Keep your hands on the steering yoke (or steering wheel) at all times, be mindful of road conditions and surrounding traffic, and always be prepared to take immediate action.” Despite this, Musk was seen filming the drive from the driver’s seat and even interacting with social media commenters during the livestream.

Breitbart News previously reported on a former Tesla engineer who released disturbing footage of Tesla’s full self-driving technology running a red light.

Despite losing his job, Bernal has continued to document his experiences with Tesla’s self-driving technology on his YouTube page, AIAddict. His most recent video, which shows the Tesla vehicle running a red light while turning left onto a highway, has sparked a fresh wave of concern about the safety of Tesla’s autonomous driving technology.

Quote:X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, will reverse a ban on political ads that was imposed in the pre-Musk era, in a move that could have far-reaching significance as the next U.S. presidential election year approaches.

The political ads ban was imposed in 2019, just a year before the 2020 election, when social media censorship was at an all-time high. At that time, as revealed by the Twitter Files, the company was under intense pressure by the media, NGOs, and the security deep state to censor political content.

The CEO at the time, Jack Dorsey, said he believed “political message reach should be earned, not bought.”
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In a blog post, Twitter/X’s Trust and Safety Department — the department tasked with censorship policies on the platform — said the goal was to build on its “commitment to free expression,” although the company also said it would continue to remove content it considers “false or misleading.”

Mike Benz, head of anti-censorship nonprofit the Foundation for Freedom Online, criticized X for using the old language of censorship.

There’s no such thing as “unsafe political discourse.” X already has policies in place for violent threats.

This is Orwellian doublespeak ahead of 2024 to launder in a Twitter 2.0 “safety” predicate for political censorship.

Quote:The Washington Post reports that in a strategic move to diversify its revenue streams, Google is set to license its mapping data to companies in the renewable energy industry, targeting a revenue generation of up to $100 million in the first year.

Google plans to offer specialized Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that will provide solar, energy, and air quality information. One of the most anticipated offerings is the Solar API, designed to serve a wide range of customers including solar installers, solar design companies, and utilities. The API will source some of its data from Google’s consumer-focused pilot, Project Sunroof, which was originally launched in 2015. Project Sunroof allows users to calculate estimated solar costs and even offers 3D modeling of building roofs based on Google Maps data.

Google is not just limiting its focus to energy companies. The tech giant also sees potential customer bases in real estate firms like Zillow and Redfin, as well as hospitality companies like Marriott Bonvoy. The Solar API could offer valuable insights into the energy efficiency of buildings, thereby influencing property valuations and guest experiences.

Quote:The Washington Post reports that OpenAI, the organization behind popular AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT, recently updated its guidelines to mitigate the risks of spreading tailored disinformation in political campaigns. However, more than two months after the update, the chatbot can still be used to generate tailored political messages, a glaring enforcement gap that is causing concern as the Republican primaries loom and global elections take center stage.

Cat Zakrzewski writes for the Washington Post: “When OpenAI last year unleashed ChatGPT, it banned political campaigns from using the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot — a recognition of the potential election risks posed by the tool.” Initially, the ban was a safeguard against the potential weaponization of the chatbot in electoral politics.

The revised guidelines specifically prohibit the use of ChatGPT for creating materials aimed at specific voting demographics. “These rules ban political campaigns from using ChatGPT to create materials targeting specific voting demographics, a capability that could be abused to spread tailored disinformation at an unprecedented scale,” Zakrzewski adds. Despite these guidelines, the enforcement gap remains a significant concern.

The lack of effective enforcement of the updated guidelines has reignited debates about the ethical use of AI in political campaigns. Critics argue that the existing loopholes could allow for the subtle exploitation of the technology in ways that are not explicitly covered by OpenAI’s rules.
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Lead author Dr Fabio Motoki, of Norwich Business School at the University of East Anglia, said: “With the growing use by the public of AI-powered systems to find out facts and create new content, it is important that the output of popular platforms such as ChatGPT is as impartial as possible.”

Quote:SAG-AFTRA leaders announced Friday that they will seek authorization for a strike against major video game companies, which would presumably include giants Activision and Electronic Arts.

The union said talks on a new video game contract have reached a “stalemate,” and that they would hold a strike authorization vote to gain leverage in their fight for wage increases and guarantees concerning artificial intelligence technology.
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Many rank-and-file Hollywood actors make lucrative pay performing voice work or motion-capture performances for video game companies. But A.I. is threatening their gravy train, with A.I. applications already in use in some popular games.

In a statement, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher called out video game companies for their “greed and disrespect.”

“Once again artificial intelligence is putting our members in jeopardy of reducing their opportunity to work,” Drescher said. “And once again, SAG-AFTRA is standing up to tyranny on behalf of its members.”

The last time SAG-AFTRA launched a strike against video game makers was in 2016. The strike lasted nearly a year.

Quote:TechCrunch reports that WebDetetive, a spyware application that has infiltrated over 76,000 Android phones predominantly in Brazil and South America, recently fell victim to a cyberattack. Unnamed hackers claimed to have exploited multiple security vulnerabilities in WebDetetive’s servers, gaining access to its user databases. The hackers were able to access every dashboard record, including customer email addresses, by exploiting flaws in the spyware maker’s web dashboard used by abusers to steal phone data.

The hackers went on to state that they had the capability to delete victim devices from the spyware network, effectively severing the connection at the server level to prevent the device from uploading new data. “Which we definitely did. Because we could. Because #f-+
-stalkerware,” the hackers wrote in a note. This claim, however, has not been independently verified.

The hackers shared a cache containing more than 1.5 gigabytes of data scraped from WebDetetive’s web dashboard with DDoSecrets, a nonprofit transparency collective. The data included information about each customer, such as the IP address they logged in from and their purchase history. It also listed every device that each customer had compromised, the version of the spyware running on the phone, and the types of data being collected. The data revealed that at the time of the breach, WebDetective had compromised 76,794 devices.

WebDetetive is categorized as “stalkerware,” a type of phone monitoring app that is often installed without the victim’s consent. Once activated, the app uploads a wide range of personal data to its servers, including messages, call logs, phone call recordings, photos, and real-time location data. Despite the broad access these apps have to a victim’s personal and sensitive data, they are known for their shoddy coding and security vulnerabilities.

Quote:The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a special order to Tesla, asking Elon Musk’s car company to provide comprehensive data on a lesser-known feature called “Elon Mode” in its Autopilot systems.

CNBC reports that the NHTSA has formally requested Tesla to share details about its “Elon Mode”—a configuration that allows drivers to bypass the standard safety prompts in Tesla’s driver assistance systems. This order comes amid growing concerns about the safety implications of such features.
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Typically, Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) systems require drivers to periodically engage with the steering wheel to confirm they are attentive. Failure to do so triggers a series of warnings, commonly referred to as “nags,” that escalate in urgency. However, with “Elon Mode” activated, these warnings are effectively disabled, raising questions about the potential for misuse and the resulting safety risks.

Automotive safety researcher and Carnegie Mellon University associate professor Philip Koopman weighed in on the matter, stating, “It seems that NHTSA takes a dim view of cheat codes that permit disabling safety features such as driver monitoring. I agree. Hidden features that degrade safety have no place in production software.”

The NHTSA’s request for information is part of a broader investigation into Tesla’s driver assistance technologies, which have been involved in a series of accidents. The agency has yet to conclude its investigations into these incidents, including “fatal truck under-run crashes” and collisions involving stationary first responder vehicles.

Quote:TechCrunch reports that in a step towards enhanced privacy, Elon Musk’s Twitter/X has rolled out a feature that enables paid users to conceal their likes from public view. This comes on the heels of similar features being introduced by rival platforms Threads and Bluesky.

Until now, the likes on Twitter/X have been public, allowing anyone to visit a user’s profile and see the posts they’ve liked. Now, paying users will be able to conceal the tweets they’ve liked. “Your Likes tab on your profile will only be visible to you. Your Likes timeline will also be hidden from the X APIs. Your individual Likes will still be visible on posts,” according to the feature description. This offers an added layer of privacy, allowing users to like posts without the concern of others snooping into their preferences.

One reason the feature is useful for users is that when a cancel culture mob targets an individual, their likes and retweets are typically scrutinized to find examples of opinions that can further enrage the mob.

Earlier this month, the platform started allowing subscribers to hide their verification checkmarks. But, by hiding their likes tab, users that may consider the once-coveted blue checkmark a “mark of shame” reveal that they have a paid subscription.

Quote:UploadVR reports that Facebook is attempting to redefine how we interact with virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) environments. The company’s latest research aims to make text input in these digital realms as efficient and user-friendly as typing on a traditional keyboard. Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook CTO Andrew Bosworth, recently showcased this technology. Using a Quest 2 headset, Zuckerberg claimed he was able to achieve a typing speed of “100 words per minute,” while Bosworth boasted a speed of “119 words per minute.”

Text input in current VR and AR systems leaves much to be desired. Users often find themselves awkwardly holding their hands up to interact with floating virtual keyboards, which provide no haptic feedback and are significantly slower than typing on PCs and smartphones. While Quest headsets do offer the option to pair with a physical Bluetooth keyboard, this requires carrying around an additional device, which is often larger than the headset itself.

Facebook’s research is still in its early stages, and the company has not yet disclosed the specifics of how the technology works. However, the demonstration video featured fiducial markers on the desk, suggesting a robust dynamic calibration system. The upcoming Quest 3 headset is expected to include a depth sensor, which could potentially make this kind of virtual keyboard a reality. The depth sensor would generate a 3D mesh of the environment, allowing for more precise interactions.
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Employees spoke about the company’s numerous failed products, including its disastrous pivot to a focus on VR technology that the public has been slow to adopt.

As the Post notes, even when they do use VR, they don’t necessarily opt for Facebook products. The tech giant staked much on Horizon Worlds, the virtual world Zuckerberg hoped would be the premier destination in the “metaverse” — but users prefer alternatives, like the popular massively-multiplayer VR game Rec Room.

Quote:Ars Technica reports that Plourde, an active member of her community and a piano teacher, found herself in a predicament when her internet and home phone service went out for an extended period. Despite multiple attempts to contact both her Internet service provider, CenturyLink, and Velocity, a liaison company between the provider and the customer, she received little to no assistance. “Even the tone of voice was like, ‘Well, ma’am, it’s too bad, but you’ll just have to wait,'” Plourde recounted about her call to CenturyLink. The outage lasted more than a month, although miraculously the companies jumped into action to restore her service the day after Ars Technica contacted them for comment.

Velocity, the company responsible for acting as a go-between for CenturyLink and its customers, admitted shortcomings in their approach to resolving the issue. “I believe we could have done better here,” said a company representative. “I typically expect these types of tickets to be escalated to me to rattle the cage at CenturyLink. It doesn’t always help, but we will always try.”

The lack of internet access had a significant impact on Plourde’s daily activities. She is a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame and serves on a human trafficking committee. “All our communication is online, and there are so many things. I’m on a human trafficking committee,” she said.

Quote:According to the U.N., there could be over a quarter of a million victims of these slavery and human trafficking rackets.

“Credible sources indicate that at least 120,000 people across Myanmar may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams, with estimates in Cambodia similarly at around 100,000,” the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) said.

“Other States in the region, including Lao PDR, the Philippines and Thailand, have also been identified as main countries of destination or transit where at least tens of thousands of people have been involved,” OHCHR added.

The human trafficking rings spotlighted by the U.N. report specialize in luring job seekers into slavery at “scam centers” that participate in everything from “romance-investment scams and crypto fraud to illegal gambling.” These centers generate billions of dollars per year in illegal revenue.

The connection between human trafficking and online scam operations has been on the radar of international investigators for years.
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Victims come from across the ASEAN region (from Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), as well as mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, South Asia, and even further afield from Africa and Latin America.

Quote:A Florida physician known for being outspoken about COVID-related topics has regained his board certification that was stripped because he publicly criticized COVID vaccines.

Now, Dr. John Littell is moving forward from the experience with plans to help future physicians defend themselves when disciplined for voicing viewpoints that are not in the majority, he told The Epoch Times.

Dr. Littell, a longtime family physician in Ocala and a medical school professor, began posting videos sharing his thoughts about COVID-19 testing, treatments, and vaccines early in the pandemic. He was frustrated to find his content often was pulled down from his YouTube channel.

But he fought against what he saw as censorship by moving the content to other platforms, such as Rumble, he said.

Then, in January 2022 and again five months later, he received warning letters from the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), the organization that issued his certification for his medical specialty.

The letter stated that his videos on YouTube and Rumble spread “medical misinformation” and could put his board certification in jeopardy, he said.

The ABFM declined to comment on the matter because the board's "policy indicates we are unable to comment about professionalism cases," an unidentified spokesperson said in an email to The Epoch Times.

Quote:Hurricane Idalia and subsequent floods have created an electric vehicle (EV) fire risk in Florida as batteries exposed to saltwater become susceptible to combustion, based on statements from one of the fire departments in the state.

“WARNING. If you own a hybrid or electric vehicle that has come into contact with saltwater due to recent flooding within the last 24 hours, it is crucial to relocate the vehicle from your garage without delay. Saltwater exposure can trigger combustion in lithium-ion batteries. If possible, transfer your vehicle to higher ground,” Palm Harbor Fire Rescue (PHFR), Florida, said in an Aug. 31 Facebook post.

“This includes golf carts and electric scooters. Don’t drive these through water. PHFR crews have seen numerous residents out in golf carts and children on scooters riding through water.”

The issue with saltwater is that even if the water dries off, the residue can remain, potentially triggering electrical connections within the EV battery, which eventually sparks into a fire. In the post, PHFR pointed to two Tesla EVs in Dunedin that had caught fire.

EV fires in the wake of the storm are not an unforeseen occurrence. Prior to the storm surge, Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis warned citizens that saltwater from the storms can trigger fires in electric vehicles “which cannot be easily suppressed.”

“The best fire teams can do is keep water on the battery until the fuel burns out,” he said. “If you’re evacuating and leaving an EV, or other lithium-ion powered devices like scooters or golf carts in your garage, you’re creating a real fire threat for your home, your communities, and first responders.”

Quote:Futurism reports that a recent study by Europol suggests that by 2026, up to 90 percent of online content could be artificially generated. This staggering figure has sent ripples through various sectors, from journalism and art to technology and law enforcement. Synthetic media, which refers to content generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence, is not a new phenomenon. However, its rapid proliferation has raised eyebrows and concerns alike.

“In most cases, synthetic media is generated for gaming, to improve services or to improve the quality of life,” the report states. While AI-generated content has its merits — such as enhancing user experience in gaming or streamlining customer service — it also opens the door to more nefarious uses. “The increase in synthetic media and improved technology has given rise to disinformation possibilities,” the report adds.

The report states: “On a daily basis, people trust their own perception to guide them and tell them what is real and what is not. Auditory and visual recordings of an event are often treated as a truthful account of an event. But what if these media can be generated artificially, adapted to show events that never took place, to misrepresent events, or to distort the truth?”

The report also raises existential questions for artists, writers, and other content creators. In a world increasingly dominated by AI-generated content, what is the role of human creativity? Will artists and writers adapt to this new landscape, or will they be overshadowed by algorithms that can produce content at scale?
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Decrypt reports that when professor Jane Friedman discovered books she didn’t write being attributed to her on Amazon, she was met with initial resistance from the e-commerce giant, which did not want to remove the bogus titles from sale. The titles, which Friedman referred to as “garbage books,” were likely created using generative AI and included guides like “Your Guide to Writing a Bestseller eBook on Amazon,” “Publishing Power: Navigating Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing,” and “Promote to Prosper: Strategies to Skyrocket Your eBook Sales on Amazon.

Quote:The Wall Street Journal reports that Tesla has found itself under the microscope of both the DOJ and SEC. The federal agencies are probing into a hush-hush initiative within the company, internally referred to as “Project 42.” The project, described as a “house for Chief Executive Elon Musk,” is under scrutiny for its use of company funds and whether it serves any personal benefits to Musk.
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Inside Tesla, “Project 42” was known for its ambitious plans to erect a dramatic glass-walled building near the company’s headquarters. One design featured a structure resembling a twisted hexagon on waterfront property with Tesla’s factory in the distance. Other designs showed a large glass box with a residential area that appeared to include a kitchen, bathrooms, and bedrooms. This reportedly reminded people of Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan.

However, the project drew attention and scrutiny from within the company. The company placed orders for specialized glass — the type of large-format panels used on building facades — totally millions of dollars. These orders sparked concern among some employees about what the materials would be used for. These concerns led to an internal investigation by Tesla’s board members to determine whether company resources had been misused and if Musk himself had a role in it.

According to sources, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is seeking information related to personal benefits that given to Elon Musk. They are also interested in knowing how much money Tesla spent on a project that involved constructing a large glass structure in the Austin, Texas region, and for what purpose it was intended.

Quote:Internal emails have revealed that Nigel Farage-ally and leader of the rebranded Brexit Party, Richard Tice was also debanked over his political beliefs.

According to bank documents obtained by The Sun on Sunday newspaper, the London branch of financial heavyweight Swiss Re refused to offer a business loan to Reform UK leader Richard Tice’s Quidnet Capital investment firm in April of last year on the basis that he allegedly posed a “reputational risk” to the institution.

The lender went on to note in its “reason for decline” that “Quidnet CEO is Richard Tice, a former member of the European Parliament for the East of England,” adding: “He is currently leader of Reform UK.”

Responding to the apparently politically motivated decision, Tice said: “Because of wokeness I am deemed a reputational risk.

“I am a man who has made money, brought in investment, created jobs and built many homes in this country. If that is how they think of people who are successful businessmen then God help us all… It is insane.”

The leader of Reform UK — formerly the Brexit Party — was one of the leading figures in the 2016 referendum which ultimately saw the United Kingdom leave the European Union.

Tice said that the infection of leftist ideology in the banking sector is holding back the country from truly flourishing post-Brexit, saying: “This is one of the reasons we are struggling to grow as an economy – because people and businesses are being weighed down by all this bureaucracy and it is all down to wokeness.”

Quote:404 Media reports that the MTA’s OMNY contactless payment system was designed to make commuting easier for New Yorkers who rely on the city’s famous subway system. However, a feature that allows riders to check their travel history has raised eyebrows among cybersecurity experts. The feature requires only the credit card information used for travel, with no additional verification steps, making it susceptible to abuse.

“Obviously this is a great fit for abusers who live with their victims or have physical access, however brief, to their wallets,” said Eva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). “Credit card info is not a goddamn unique identifier.”

The issue lies in the lack of authentication. Typically, features that provide access to sensitive information require a multiple step verification process. However, the MTA’s feature allows anyone with a person’s credit card details to access their travel history. This opens up the possibility for stalking, harassment, and other forms of abuse.

Quote:Space.com reports that the National Science Foundation’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) recently reported a cybersecurity incident that led to the temporary suspension of operations at its Gemini North and South Telescopes. The cyberattacks also impacted smaller telescopes located on Cerro Tololo in Chile. “Our staff are working with cybersecurity experts to get all the impacted telescopes and our website back online as soon as possible and are encouraged by the progress made thus far,” said a statement from NOIRLab.

The exact nature and origin of these cyberattacks are still under investigation. NOIRLab has been cautious about the information it is releasing.
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Interestingly, the cyberattacks on NOIRLab’s facilities occurred just days before the United States National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) issued a bulletin warning American space companies and research organizations about the threat of cyberattacks and espionage. The bulletin highlighted that foreign spies and hackers “recognize the importance of the commercial space industry to the U.S. economy and national security, including the growing dependence of critical infrastructure on space-based assets.”

This is not an isolated event in the realm of astronomical observatories. In October 2022, hackers disrupted operations at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. Moreover, NASA has been a frequent target of cyberattacks, including being affected by the worldwide SolarWinds breach in 2021, which was called a “big wakeup call” for cybersecurity.

Quote:Professional car designer Adrian Clarke told Fast Company that “the Cybertruck is a low polygon joke that only exists in the fever dreams of Tesla fans that stands high on the smell of Elon Musk’s flatulences.”

“As soon as we saw [the Cybertruck], everyone I know in the industry started laughing,” Clarke said. “We just thought there is no way they’re gonna be able to get that into production.”

The car designer explained that car panels are made by stamping them with big metal hydraulic presses, and that if you have a dead flat panel, like the Cybertruck does, it will cause problems in production. “They always have an amount of curves in them because they have to be able to hold the shape when the part comes out of the press,” he said. “It’s going to vibrate and they’re going to have massive problems stamping those panels and having them keep their shape.”

Clarke’s observation reportedly aligns with Musk’s own admission about the dimensional variations being prominently visible due to the truck’s straight edges. This design flaw also causes the doors of a Cybertruck to not always align properly with its body, which is a fundamental issue that speaks to the vehicle’s overall build quality, Fast Company noted.

It remains unclear if the changes in the frame and fake exoskeleton were caused by other potential manufacturing problems.

Quote:Then-Vice President Joe Biden used a fourth alias, “auks@att.blackberry.net,” as early as 2010 to communicate with his family, according to the nonprofit Marco Polo, based on information from Hunter Biden’s “Laptop from Hell.”

The House Oversight Committee previously noted only three aliases in its August 17 request to the National Archives for documents related to Joe Biden’s email pseudonyms: “Robert Peters,” “Robin Ware,” and “JRB Ware.”

“Auks” is the mascot of Archmere Academy, a private Roman Catholic college preparatory school in Delaware and the alma mater of Joe and Hunter Biden.

Joe Biden’s “auks” alias received an email on May 10, 2011, from his niece, Casey Owens, who served as a special assistant for the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue at the Treasury Department.

Just days before she left the Treasury, Owens emailed “Uncle Joe” at auks@blackberry.net concerning the vice president’s remarks a day prior, during the opening session of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue:

Uncle Joe,

Just got home from work and couldn’t wait to send you an email. Today was truly a memorable day for me. I keep thinking about Mommom. Can you imagine her seeing us huddled up back stage together? She would have loved it. It chokes me up. I have so much to learn! Sitting back there with you was very, very humbling. I was just blown away. You ALWAYS make time to talk to me. Always. But today was really incredible. I still can’t believe you took the time to discuss the issues with me.

Joe Biden then forwarded the email to Hunter Biden, Beau Biden, and Valerie Biden Owens, Joe Biden’s sister.

Quote:Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm decided to show America how great electric cars are — and only proved the technology isn’t even close to ready.

“When Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm set out on a four-day electric-vehicle road trip this summer, she knew charging might be a challenge,” the welfare queens at NPR report. “But she probably didn’t expect anyone to call the cops.”

The cops were called because Granholm’s advance team used a gasoline-powered car to block access to an electric charging spot for her. On a “sweltering day,” the Granholm team’s gas guzzler just sat there, NPR reports, until a family with a baby got “so upset” they called the cops.

But even with advance teams trying to ease Granholm’s way in their gas guzzlers, the trip was still a debacle:

But between stops, Granholm’s entourage at times had to grapple with the limitations of the present. Like when her caravan of EVs — including a luxury Cadillac Lyriq, a hefty Ford F-150 and an affordable Bolt electric utility vehicle — was planning to fast-charge in Grovetown, a suburb of Augusta, Georgia.

Her advance team realized there weren’t going to be enough plugs to go around. One of the station’s four chargers was broken, and others were occupied. So an Energy Department staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle by one of those working chargers to reserve a spot for the approaching secretary of energy.

Quote:Threads, the app linked to Meta-owned Instagram and touted as a “sane” alternative to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, is blocking searches related to coronavirus and vaccines, per reports.

The two words are among a number of terms that are blocked in the app’s new search function, according to the Washington Post.

Meta acknowledged in a statement to The Washington Post that Threads is intentionally blocking the search terms and said that other terms are being blocked, but the company declined to provide a list of them. A search by The Post discovered that the words “sex,” “nude,” “gore,” “porn,” “coronavirus,” “vaccines” and “vaccination” are also among blocked words.

“The search functionality temporarily doesn’t provide results for keywords that may show potentially sensitive content,” the statement said, adding that the company will add search functionality for terms only “once we are confident in the quality of the results.”

Lucky Tran, director of science communication at Columbia University, discovered this himself when he attempted to use Threads to seek out research related to covid, something he says he does every day. “I was excited by search [on Threads],” he said. “When I typed in covid, I came up with no search results.”

Rather than deal with messy disputes over what’s allowed and not allowed with regards to coronavirus-related discussion (and perhaps avoid having to disclose more of its internal communications, many of which were the result of requests related to coronavirus censorship), it appears Meta has decided to block searches for any kind of discussion on the topic.

Quote:OpenAI, the developers of the massively popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, has officially acknowledged that AI writing detectors are not as reliable as once thought, casting doubt on the efficacy of automated tools in distinguishing between human and machine-generated content.

Ars Technica reports that in a recent FAQ section accompanying a promotional blog post for educators, OpenAI admits what many in the tech industry have suspected: AI writing detectors are not not very good. “While some (including OpenAI) have released tools that purport to detect AI-generated content, none of these have proven to reliably distinguish between AI-generated and human-generated content,” the company stated.

This revelation comes after experts have criticized such detectors as “mostly snake oil,” often yielding false positives due to their reliance on unproven detection metrics. OpenAI itself had released an experimental tool called AI Classifier, designed to detect AI-written text, which was discontinued due to its abysmal 26 percent accuracy rate. This is quite a big deal in academia, given that some college professors have flunked entire classes, alleging that students wrote their essays with ChatGPT.

The FAQ also tackled another common misconception: that ChatGPT, OpenAI’s conversational AI model, can identify whether a text is AI-generated or not. “Additionally, ChatGPT has no ‘knowledge’ of what content could be AI-generated. It will sometimes make up responses to questions like ‘did you write this [essay]?’ or ‘could this have been written by AI?’ These responses are random and have no basis in fact,” OpenAI clarified.

The company also warned against relying solely on ChatGPT for research purposes. “Sometimes, ChatGPT sounds convincing, but it might give you incorrect or misleading information (often called a ‘hallucination’ in the literature),” they cautioned. This warning comes on the heels of an incident where a lawyer cited six non-existent cases that he had sourced from ChatGPT.

Quote:Tesla CEO Elon Musk raged against creepy Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates for shorting Tesla stock, questioning Gates’s commitment to environmental sustainability. The revelations come from a new book about Musk, in which he calls Gates an “a** to the core” that is “categorically insane.”

Fortune reports that when two of the world’s richest men, Elon Musk and Bill Gates, share a tumultuous relationship that has been further strained by financial bets and contrasting philosophies.

The feud between Musk, the CEO of Tesla, and Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, has been public knowledge for some time. But new details continue to emerge based on the publication of a Musk biography written by Walter Isaacson. These feud centers around an incident where Gates shorted Tesla stock, betting that the company’s value would go down based on Musk’s erratic leadership.

The two met in March 2022 at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Austin to discuss philanthropy, but the conversation took a bitter turn. “Once he heard I’d shorted the stock, he was super mean to me,” Gates told biographer Walter Isaacson. “But he’s super mean to so many people, so you can’t take it too personally.”

Musk’s take on the meeting was more blunt. He sent Isaacson a message reading, “At this point, I am convinced that he is categorically insane (and an asshole to the core). I did actually want to like him (sigh).”

Gates justified his bearish stance on Tesla by stating that he believed the supply of electric vehicles (EVs) would soon outweigh demand. For Musk, who views Tesla as a leading force in combating climate change, Gates’ actions were unforgivable. “How can someone say they are passionate about fighting climate change and then do something that reduced the overall investment in the company doing the most? It’s pure hypocrisy,” Musk expressed after the meeting.

Quote:Bloomberg reports that Apple has found itself embroiled in a controversy over the radiation levels of its iPhone 12 model. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant reportedly explicitly advised its tech support staff not to volunteer any information when consumers inquire about this sensitive issue. “If customers inquire about the French government’s claim that the model exceeds standards for electromagnetic radiation, workers should say they don’t have anything to share,” Apple employees were told.

The French government has recently called on Apple to halt sales of the iPhone 12, citing tests that indicate the device emits electromagnetic waves exceeding permissible levels. In response, Apple has been engaging with French authorities, asserting that the iPhone 12 complies with all legal requirements. The company has provided both in-house and third-party lab testing data to back its claims. Despite its claims that the iPhone 12 is within legal levels, the tech giant is updating the iPhone’s software to address the problem.

This development comes at a time when Apple was already in the process of phasing out the iPhone 12, following the announcement of its latest iPhone 15 line. However, the French government’s stance could potentially ignite concerns among the millions of existing iPhone 12 users worldwide. According to Counterpoint Research, Apple sold more than 100 million units of the iPhone 12 within its first seven months on the market.

The controversy has not only caught the attention of French authorities but has also led other European Union countries, including Belgium and Germany, to begin their own assessments of the iPhone 12’s radiation levels. This could signify a ripple effect that may impact Apple’s reputation and sales in the broader European market.

Quote:The New York Post reports that in a courtroom drama that has captured the attention of both Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill, Google finds itself in the hot seat. The tech giant is facing allegations that it has used its default search engine settings to manipulate user choices, thereby stifling competition and maintaining its stranglehold on the market.

Antonio Rangel, a behavioral economist and professor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), took the stand as an expert witness for the government on Thursday. Rangel, who specializes in human behavior, testified that Google has been strategically leveraging default settings to keep users engaged with its search engine and other services. “If I can move your eyes, if I can manipulate your fixations, I can manipulate your choices quite a bit,” Rangel said.

The professor emphasized the power of default settings, stating that they generate a “sizable and robust bias” towards whatever is set as the default. In short, if Google is the default search engine on your smartphone or computer, you’re more likely to stick with it. This, Rangel argues, has a “powerful impact on consumer decisions.”

Google’s legal team was quick to counter these claims. During cross-examination, they reiterated their central argument that users opt for Google’s search engine due to its superior quality, not because it’s the default option on their devices. They cited internal documents showing that even when other search engines were set as the default on certain smartphones, the majority of users still chose Google.

The trial also delved into Google’s financial arrangements with other tech companies. Without disclosing specific figures, it was revealed that Google has been paying “more than $10 billion per year” to secure its dominant position in the search market.

Quote:According to DOJ attorney Kenneth Dintzer, not only did Google cover its tracks by auto-deleting four years of internal chats, but also instructed employees since 2003 to avoid words and phrases that could cause it to run afoul of future antitrust investigations.

“We should be careful about what we say in both public and private,” Google’s chief economist, Hal Varian, wrote in a memo circulated to employees in 2003.

Google employees were allegedly trained to avoid the words “market share,” “scale,” “network effects,” “leverage,” “lock up,” “lock in,” “bundle,” and “tie.”

“We don’t ‘lock up’ or ‘lock in’ our customers,” and “we do not ‘leverage’ anything,” Google told its employees.

Google also conducted a training session for employees called “Antitrust Basics for Search Team,” in 2011, which told employees to avoid phrases involving “wars or sports, winning or losing.”

In opening arguments in the government’s landmark antitrust trial against the tech giant, Google’s lawyers argued that its market advantage is a result of the value it offers to consumers — not a result of backroom deals like the billions it pays to Apple annually to be the default search engine on Safari browsers, or the agreements with Android phone manufacturers that forbid them from pre-installing search engines that aren’t Google’s.

Quote:European regulators hit the China-owned app TikTok with a $368 million fine on Friday for failing to protect children’s privacy on the platform. This is reportedly first time that the Chinese app has been punished over Europe’s strict data privacy rules.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, the lead privacy regulator for Big Tech companies, said it is fining TikTok €345 million — which comes to roughly $368 million — over violations stemming from the second half of 2020, according to a report by Associated Press.

TikTok has been accused of setting their system up so that whenever teen users signed up for the Chinese app, their profiles were set to public by default, allowing anyone to view and comment on their videos.

Those default settings also pose a risk to children under the age of 13 who had created accounts on the platform, even though they are not permitted to do so.

Moreover, TikTok’s “family pairing” feature — meant for parents to manage the settings on their kids’ accounts — was not strict enough, the European investigation found.

TikTok said it disagrees with the decision, “particularly the level of the fine imposed.”

“Most of the decision’s criticisms are no longer relevant as a result of measures we introduced at the start of 2021 — several months before the investigation began,” TikTok’s head of privacy for Europe, Elaine Fox, said.

The regulators are still carrying out a second investigation into whether TikTok complied with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation when it transferred users’ personal information to China, Associated Press reported.
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The app’s parent company, ByteDance, has been caught snooping on U.S. and UK journalists in multiple instances. TikTok has also shown itself to be a danger to kids and teens, a national security threat, and having meddled in U.S. elections.

Quote:The dual proposed class-action lawsuits have the potential to turn into an epic battle if more writers join in — a growing possibility, as more authors are waking up to the fact that Silicon Valley is allegedly mass harvesting books to train A.I. bots.

In the suit against Meta, which was filed this week in a California federal court, the writers accuse the Facebook parent of vacuuming up mass quantities of books across the Internet in order to train the company’s “Llama” large-language model using data that included pirated versions of their writings.

The same writers filed a similar proposed class-action lawsuit last week against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, claiming that their books and plays are particularly valuable for AI language training as the “best examples of high-quality, long form writing,” according to a Reuters report.

In addition to Chabon and Hwang, the other writers leading the suits are authors Matthew Klam, Rachel Louise Snyder, and Ayelet Waldman.
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The two new suits follow a similar one brought by another group of writers headed by comedian-actress Sarah Silverman, alleging Meta and OpenAI used their written content without permission to train A.I. language models.

Other writers including Stephen King, Zadie Smith, and Michael Pollan are among a growing list of authors whose works are being used to train A.I. platforms, according to a recent report.

Quote:Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a break in New York City on Sunday to urge tech giant Elon Musk to open his next Tesla factory in Turkey.

Erdogan’s entreaty makes him just the latest in a long line of leaders to lobby one of the world’s richest men.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who met Musk in June, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, have also tried to lure him to their respective countries.

In March the Mexican government announced Tesla will invest about $5 billion in a massive new factory in the northern city of Monterrey.

Erdogan was in New York to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting, which he is scheduled to address on Tuesday.

AP reports the two men have held a series of meetings both in Turkey and on the sidelines of international forums, developing a seeming friendship that they extended in New York.

Turkish television on Monday showed Musk entering New York’s Turkish House, a new skyscraper across from the United Nations building, with his son, whom he held on his lap during the talks.

Quote:Big-box retailers like Walmart are doing well for themselves these days. In their August earnings report, Walmart announced revenue was up more than five percent, and their stock’s shares are up about ten percent for the year. Part of the reason for Walmart’s success is their sheer size and massive influence on suppliers, but it’s also their habit of lobbying Congress for favors.

This summer, big-box retailer lobbyists were successful in getting Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Roger Marshall (R-KS), J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Peter Welch (D-VT) to introduce legislation that would create new credit card routing mandates. These mandates would allow Walmart to process credit card transactions based solely on what is cheapest for them without regard to the value that consumers derive from rewards and anti-fraud programs.

Although Walmart is promoting this bill under the guise of “competition,” it’s really a ruse. The bill actually gives the federal government massive power to further control payments in Walmart’s favor, cutting out the credit unions and banks who currently invest millions in anti-fraud technology and rewards systems. This isn’t about competition, it’s about cronyism.

This “Big-Box Bait-and-Switch” would add billions of dollars to the bottom lines of mega-retailers every year while eliminating almost all the funding that goes towards popular credit card rewards programs, weakening cybersecurity protections, and reducing access to credit, particularly for Americans that need it most.

Essentially, Walmart and other big-box retailers want to enjoy the many benefits of accepting credit cards without having to pay for that privilege. Currently, most businesses pay an interchange fee of 1-3 percent of every transaction to accept credit cards. This fee has remained stable for roughly a decade. What Walmart doesn’t want to acknowledge is that financial institutions—including payment networks and banks of all sizes—are constantly investing money to improve America’s payment ecosystem to ensure that consumers and retailers have the safest and smartest payment system in the world.

It’s not the first time Walmart has lobbied for the government to make new rules that favor them. In 2010, Walmart teamed up with Target and other mega-retailers to add the Durbin Amendment to the must-pass Dodd-Frank bill. The Durbin Amendment instituted price controls on debit card fees, and it didn’t even get a hearing. Instead, Sen. Durbin slipped it into the bill as a last-minute favor. As is always the case, these price controls backfired and had a ripple effect on the entire economy. Big-box retailers got to pocket billions, while consumers lost massive benefits like debit card rewards and free checking.

Quote:The move comes in the wake several women making allegations of sexual assault against the UK comedian-turned-influencer, as Breitbart News reported.

AP reports YouTube said monetization of Brand’s account, which has 6.6 million subscribers, has been suspended “following serious allegations against the creator.” His agent has also dropped him.

“This decision applies to all channels that may be owned or operated by Russell Brand,” the Google-owned video service said.

Brand, 48, vehemently denies allegations of sexual assault made by four women initially made public in a Channel 4 television documentary and The Times and Sunday Times newspapers.

The accusers, who have not been named, include one who said she was sexually assaulted during a relationship with him when she was 16. Another woman alleges Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012.
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Promoters have since postponed the remaining dates in a string of live gigs by the comedian.

Quote:CNBC reports that Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has once again made headlines, this time for his plans to overhaul the social media landscape. During a livestreamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk announced that X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, may implement a monthly subscription fee for all users. The move is part of a broader strategy to combat the proliferation of bots on the platform.

“Moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system,” Musk said, although he did not disclose the exact cost or features that would be included in the new subscription model. The announcement comes as Musk boasts of 550 million active monthly users on Twitter/X who generate between 100 and 200 million posts per day. Although the number seems impressive, it isn’t clear what percentage of these accounts are bots instead of people, and Musk is not disclosing the platform’s metrics according to measurements formerly used by Twitter, so a historical comparison of the platform’s health is difficult.

The conversation with Netanyahu was initially intended to focus on the theoretical risks of artificial intelligence technology and its potential regulation. However, Musk seized the opportunity to address allegations of hate speech and antisemitism on Twitter/X. The platform has been under scrutiny for amplifying bigotry, leading Musk to threaten legal action against the Anti-Defamation League, a leftist organization.

Quote:Ars Technica reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its Starlink internet services have not lived up to its own lofty expectations, missing its projected targets by a wide margin. In a 2015 presentation aimed at investors, SpaceX had projected that Starlink would boast 20 million subscribers and generate nearly $12 billion in revenue by the end of 2022. These figures were part of the company’s ambitious plan to revolutionize the internet landscape.

However, according to a Wall Street Journal report, the actual numbers tell a different story. Starlink’s revenue for 2022 was reported to be $1.4 billion, a far cry from the projected $12 billion. Moreover, the company had just over 1.5 million customers worldwide, including consumer users and businesses, as opposed to the 20 million it had anticipated.

“Starlink hasn’t signed up customers as quickly as SpaceX had hoped,” the Wall Street Journal noted. The report also highlighted that the documents did not specify whether Starlink is currently profitable, leaving a cloud of uncertainty over the project’s financial health.

SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell stated in February that Starlink is expected to turn a profit this year. However, without specific numbers, it’s hard to gauge the project’s actual profitability. The company’s Q1 2023 numbers reportedly included a $55 million profit on $1.5 billion in revenue, but it remains unclear how much of this was attributed to Starlink.

One of the significant challenges facing Starlink is its struggle to penetrate high-density areas like cities. “The majority of the world’s population that the business could serve and that can afford high-speed broadband lives in cities. In those regions, Internet service is readily available, usually offers cheaper monthly costs than Starlink and doesn’t require specialized equipment,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

Quote:The ongoing antitrust lawsuit against Google has reignited debates about the company’s market dominance and the legal frameworks used to evaluate such cases. One expert believes the case and how the judge views Google’s stranglehold on the search market will come down to the consumer welfare standard and how the court views Google’s “effects on innovation.”

In a recent article published by the Hill and titled “How To Think About the Google Antitrust Case,” Joel Thayer, president of the Digital Progress Institute, discusses how to view the current antitrust case that the Department of Justice has brought against Google.

Thayer believes the case comes down to the consumer welfare standard, writing:

Since the 1980s, courts have used the consumer welfare standard to evaluate whether the actions of a firm with market power violate federal law. The standard takes into account prices, of course, but also considers other factors that are harder to measure. As the D.C. Circuit in the AT&T/Time Warner case put it, the standard extends “beyond higher prices for consumers, including decreased product quality and reduced innovation.” Or, as former FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson explained, the standard considers the effect of “competition on quality … in the analysis of vertical restraints” and requires an evaluation of the “effects on innovation.”

...Microsoft had market power; it leveraged that market power to deny consumers the ability to choose a competitor, and the resulting lack of competition reduced innovation in the browser market. In other words, Microsoft had violated the antitrust laws with its “free” browser.

Google’s tactics mirror Microsoft’s. Google has arranged for service providers, browsers and device manufacturers to make its Search the default engine. For example, Google pays Apple over $15 billion per year to make Search the default search engine for Safari — a direct competitor to Google’s browser, Chrome. Google requires device manufacturers that use its Android operating system to preinstall certain apps that use Google Search as their default search engine.

Quote:Fortune reports that AI is at the epicenter of the labor dispute gripping Hollywood. Among those raising the alarm is British actor and author Stephen Fry, who recently spoke at the CogX Festival in London about his unsettling experience of having his voice digitally replicated without his permission.
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The core issue for actors like Fry is the potential for studios to use AI to digitally clone their likeness without fair compensation. Union president Fran Drescher emphasized that AI “poses an existential threat” to creative industries. “Actors need protection from having their identity and talent exploited without consent and pay,” Drescher stated.

To drive home his point, Fry played a clip at the CogX Festival of an AI system mimicking his voice to narrate a documentary. “I said not one word of that—it was a machine. Yes, it shocked me,” Fry revealed. “They used my reading of the seven volumes of the Harry Potter books, and from that dataset, an AI of my voice was created, and it made that new narration.”

Fry is not alone in his concerns. Emmy-winning actor Brian Cox shared that a friend in the industry had been told “in no uncertain terms” that a studio would keep his image and do what they liked with it. Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey and Star Trek star Simon Pegg have also expressed apprehensions about the rise of AI in Hollywood.