News of the Cyber World

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Biden Admin Sought Power to Spy on TikTok Users, Moderate Content

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.
  

Elon Musk to Pay Investors over Infamous Tesla ‘Funding Secured’ Tweet

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.”

London’s Metropolitan Police Officer Database Hacked

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.

Tesla Gets Approval for Diner Drive-In EV Charging Station in Los Angeles

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.
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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.

Thousands of Charity Donors Have Details Leaked Onto Dark Web

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.
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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.

Tech Giants to Face New Sweeping EU Regulations

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.
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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.

United Nations Countering 'Deadly Disinformation'
Through Creation of 'Digital Army'

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."

So this article shows us that if people defend Trump or claim that the 2020 elections were stolen or they won't ever believe in global warming, they will be silenced by this new UN "Digital Army" that staunchly defends global censorship.