News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

Telegram CEO Arrested

Justice, Europe Style: Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Arrested Due to ‘Lack of Moderation’ on Platform

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France on Saturday after his private jet landed at Le Bourget Airport, French media reported.

Durov was arrested under a warrant related to “various violations of his encrypted messaging service,” according to a report by Le Monde. The 39-year-old, who became a French citizen in 2021, is expected to be brought to court on Sunday.

French authorities are accusing Durov of a “lack of moderation” involving Telegram. The messaging app is reportedly under attack in Europe for the “viral circulation of false information.”

“Telegram has shielded itself from state moderation rules, at a time when the European Union and the United States are putting pressure on major platforms to remove illegal content,” Le Monde reported.

France’s OFMIN (Office to Combat Violence Against Minors) issued the warrant as part of an investigation into “offenses ranging from fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, glorification of terrorism, and fraud,” a source told the French newspaper.

“Enough with Telegram’s impunity,” a French investigator said.

Durov, who doesn’t often sit down for interviews, spoke with Tucker Carlson in April, telling the former Fox News host that the Russian government was the first entity to demand that he censor speech — via his other platform, VK — in an effort to quell protests in the country.

“We were requested to ban these [protest organizing] communities — and I refused,” Durov explained. “But that did not go too well with the government.”

Kansas Bank CEO Lost Millions

Kansas Bank CEO Sentenced to 24 Years for Embezzling $47 Million and Losing It in Cryptocurrency Scam

Shan Hanes, the former CEO of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Elkhart, Kansas, has been sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for embezzling $47 million from the bank and sending it to cryptocurrency wallets controlled by scammers who tricked him with a “Pig butchering” scheme.

NBC News reports that Shan Hanes, the former CEO of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Elkhart, Kansas, has been sentenced to 293 months in prison for looting the bank of $47 million in a cryptocurrency scam known as “pig butchering.” The massive embezzlement led to the collapse and FDIC takeover of the small Kansas bank, one of only five U.S. banks that failed in 2023.

Hanes, 53, fell victim to the scam in late 2022, which convinced him to invest in supposedly legitimate virtual currency investment opportunities. The scammers, whose true identities remain unknown, communicated with Hanes through the messaging app WhatsApp. Initially using personal funds to buy cryptocurrency, Hanes soon began stealing from various sources, including a local church, an investment club, his daughter’s college savings account, and the bank itself.

Between May and July 2023, Hanes directed 11 wire transfers from Heartland Tri-State Bank to accounts controlled by the scammers, totaling $47 million. He made misrepresentations to bank employees and circumvented the bank’s wire policy and daily limits to execute the transfers. Prosecutors noted that the series of wire transfers followed a common pattern in pig-butchering schemes, where initial investments are followed by requests for additional funds to secure or unfreeze the earlier transfers.

The impact of Hanes’ actions has been devastating for the small community of Elkhart. Many of the bank’s shareholders lost significant portions of their retirement savings, and some are now struggling to afford necessities like nursing home care. Brian Mitchell, Hanes’ former neighbor and a local businessman, recounted how Hanes approached him on July 5, 2023, requesting a $12 million loan to “activate” the funds he had already transferred to the scammers’ accounts. Despite Mitchell’s warnings that he was caught in a scam, Hanes proceeded to wire an additional $12.4 million to the scammers over the next two days.

Hanes was fired from the bank within days of Mitchell’s conversation with a board member, and on July 28, 2023, Heartland Tri-State was closed by the Kansas Office of the State Bank Commissioner and taken over by the FDIC. While depositors did not lose any money, shareholders were wiped out.

Sen. Eric Schmitt on Facebook & Google

Exclusive: Sen. Eric Schmitt Demands Facebook, Google Answer for 2024 Election Censorship Practices, Citing 2020 Big Tech-Government Collusion

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) sent a letter to Facebook and Google on Friday, demanding to know their policies on censoring free speech before the pivotal 2024 presidential election.

Schmitt wrote to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, expressing concern about the “increasing attacks on free speech facilitated” by Meta and Google:

This is alarming because the freedom to speak your mind in the public square–or in the virtual public square–is vital to the health of our republic. Far too many Americans are being told what they can say because of censorship facilitated by your companies. While the powerful have often censored the weak for centuries, in America, we recognize and protect the natural right of all people to speak freely, especially when that speech is unpopular. The protection of inalienable rights, such as the freedom of speech, is the cornerstone of our Constitution and vital for this great experiment to flourish. The First Amendment must never be abrogated. [Emphasis added]

FILE_7103 by Breitbart News on Scribd

The Missouri senator, who previously served as attorney general, noted how big tech platforms suppressed free speech during the 2020 presidential election with the help of the Biden-Harris administration:

The suppression of free speech in ways was evident during the 2020 election. The Biden campaign, colluding with your organizations, enacted a coordinated campaign to suppress the free speech of millions of Americans. Since 2020, President Biden, his campaign, and his Administration repeatedly attacked your companies and threatened to revoke Section 230 protections if your companies did not conspire to censor speech opposed to their agenda. As we approach the 2024 election, it is imperative that this pattern of censorship does not repeat because free and open discourse is essential for a fair and democratic election process.
…
In the lawsuit I filed as the Attorney General of Missouri, Missouri v. Biden, I highlighted how government officials, including President Biden and White House officials, coerced and colluded with social media companies to censor speech under the guise of combatting, “disinformation” and “misinformation.” I will provide a few examples to show how this shady collusion resulted in the censorship of truthful information. This “censorship industrial complex”—that a federal judge called an Orwellian Ministry of Truth—suppressed truthful information on mask efficacy, the COVID-19 lab leak theory, and the Hunter Biden laptop story.

Bengio on AI: Time is Running Out

AI ‘Godfather’ Warns that Time Is Running Out to Properly Control Artificial Intelligence

Yoshua Bengio, one of the “Godfathers of AI,” worries that regulators may be running out of time to properly govern the rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence.

Bloomberg reports that Yoshua Bengio, a pioneering researcher in the field of deep learning and one of the most influential academics in artificial intelligence, is sounding the alarm on the urgent need for AI regulation. In a recent interview, Bengio expressed his growing concern that policymakers may not have enough time to implement proper safeguards as AI technology continues to advance at an unprecedented pace.

Bengio, whose groundbreaking work laid the foundation for today’s AI models, admitted that his assumptions about the speed of AI development have been upended following the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022. “I’ve completely changed my mind after we ended up with machines that can talk back to us,” he said, acknowledging that he once believed we were “decades away” from developing AI capable of human-level performance.

In light of this realization, Bengio has begun to focus more on advocating for AI regulation. Along with fellow AI pioneer Geoff Hinton, he has come out in support of a controversial bill in California that would hold companies liable for catastrophic harms caused by their AI models if they fail to take appropriate safety precautions. Given California’s central role in the tech ecosystem and the absence of federal legislation in the US, this bill could set a precedent for how other jurisdictions regulate AI.

While many tech companies, venture capitalists, and AI academics oppose the California bill, arguing that it would stifle innovation and harm U.S. competitiveness in the field, Bengio believes that the conversation around AI regulation may be influenced by those looking to profit from the technology.

Bengio emphasized the importance of swift action, stating that “policy takes a lot of time” and that we may not have a decade to “get this right.” He stressed the need for not only domestic regulation but also international treaties to address the global nature of the issue.

When asked about the potential risks of AI, Bengio remained agnostic, acknowledging that there are compelling arguments on both sides. However, he maintained that from a policy perspective, it is crucial to protect the public against the worst-case scenarios, just as governments do in many other areas.

Bengio also highlighted some of the most concerning applications of AI, such as synthetic child pornography and the potential for deepfakes to distort the democratic process. He noted a recent study from Switzerland that demonstrated GPT-4’s superior ability to persuade people to change their minds compared to humans.

Despite these concerns, Bengio remains optimistic about the potential benefits of AI in fields such as biology, medicine, and drug discovery. He emphasized that these applications are generally not dangerous and should receive significant investment.

Techies Slam Harris for Claiming Inflation was Caused by AI

Tech Experts Slam Kamala Harris for Blaming Inflation on AI Algorithms

Conservative and populist tech experts are slamming Kamala Harris and the Democrats for attempting to blame Biden-Harris inflation on AI algorithms. In addition to calling for nationwide rent control, Vice President Harris is now echoing far left law firms and non-profits in calling for laws against software that recommends rental prices based on market data.

In her speech outlining her economic policy in Raleigh last week, Kamala Harris denounced “corporate landlords collude with each other to set artificially high rental prices, often using algorithms and price-fixing software. It’s anti-competitive, and it drives up costs.”

Harris was referring to potential litigation against RealPage, a Dallas-based rental software company. According to Politico, the Justice Department’s antitrust division, led by Jonathan Kanter, is expected to sue the company for supposed antitrust violations – which is a “key part of” the Biden-Harris Administration’s “economic agenda.”

The suit is expected to allege that RealPage would “estimate supply and demand for their listings, allowing them to maximize rents.” Critics argue that giving these recommendations to multiple landlords using its platform constitutes price fixing.

The Justice Department’s likely action follows lawsuits from Democratic State AGs in the District of Columbia and Arizona. The District is outsourcing its lawsuit to Cohen Milstein, a far-left law firm that brags about partnerships with the NAACP, ACLU, and Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Its lawyers gave 94 percent of their political donations to Democrats and less than three percent to Republicans.

This crusade has been promoted by a host of far-left Soros and dark-money funded organizations such as More Perfect Union, The Groundwork Collaborative, and the American Economic Liberties Project.

Kamala Harris also endorsed the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act, sponsored by ten Democratic Senators, including Amy Klobuchar, Richard Blumenthal, Ron Wyden, and Bernie Sanders, which would ban any software that recommends rental prices based on market data.

Antitrust law against Big Tech has been one area where populist Republicans and progressive Democrats have joined forces. Republican State AGs have joined Justice Department and FTC lawsuits against Facebook, Apple, and Google. Many antitrust reform bills have broad bipartisan support. However, Democrats’ attempts to blame high prices and rental fees on monopolies have received no Republican support.

Adam Candeub, a technology and telecom law professor at Michigan State who led the National Telecommunications and Information Administration under President Trump and has represented JD Vance in cases against Google, explains that this issue differentiates Republican populists from the Democratic party. “I support much of what Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter have done against monopolies like Google, Apple, and Amazon, but blaming high prices and rental costs on tech is just an attempt to cover up for Biden-Harris’s failed policies.”

Nick Whitaker, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute who focuses on AI policy, similarly argued “prices are set by supply and demand. The Biden administration has failed to alleviate housing shortages, so they blame—and now even prosecute—’algorithms’ to excuse their own failure.” He noted that the Biden-Harris administration is focused on these  “spurious concerns” like this while “not paying any attention to the key national security issues raised by AI”.

Candeub further added, “Words like ‘algorithmic collusion’ are superficially appealing to antitrust populists, but they don’t hold up upon any scrutiny.” Candeub pointed out, “we want companies to have accurate information about supply and demand. More knowledge creates more competition.”

NASA's Astronauts Rescue Plan

NASA to Decide on Rescue Plan for Astronauts Stranded in Space by Boeing Starliner

Senior NASA officials will convene on Saturday to determine whether Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is safe enough to bring astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth from the International Space Station.

Ars Technica reports that NASA is set to make a crucial decision this weekend regarding the safety of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and its ability to return astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth. The Flight Readiness Review (FRR), scheduled for Saturday in Houston, will see top NASA leaders, including administrator Bill Nelson, deliberate on the matter.

Wilmore and Williams, who have been on the ISS for 77 days—nearly ten times longer than their planned eight-day stay—were the first people to launch and dock at the station aboard a Boeing Starliner spacecraft. However, the mission encountered issues as the capsule approached the ISS on June 6, with multiple thrusters failing and a helium leak detected in the propulsion system.

The incident led to extensive testing, both in space and on the ground, as well as data reviews and modeling by engineers to determine the root cause of the thruster problems. The current hypothesis is that the thrusters overheated, causing Teflon seals to bulge and obstruct the flow of propellant to the control jets, resulting in a loss of thrust. The condition of the thrusters seemingly improved once Starliner docked at the station and the thrusters were no longer firing repeatedly.

Despite these findings, engineers and managers have yet to reach a consensus on whether the issue could reoccur or worsen during the capsule’s return journey to Earth. In the worst-case scenario, if too many thrusters fail, the spacecraft may be unable to orient itself properly for the critical braking burn required to guide it back into the atmosphere for landing.

If NASA managers deem the risk unacceptable, Wilmore and Williams would have to extend their stay on the ISS until at least February 2024, when they would return to Earth in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. While this alternative eliminates the potential threat posed by Starliner’s thruster issues, it comes with several complications. These include disrupting crew activities on the ISS, exposing the astronauts to additional radiation during their prolonged stay in space, and dealing a significant setback to Boeing’s Starliner program.

It seems reasonable to think here that the writer meant that they would have to wait till February 2025 to be rescued by a new NASA mission.

More on Tesla Semi-Truck Fire

Fresh Trouble for Elon: NTSB Investigates Tesla Semi-Truck Fire on California Freeway

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is sending a team of investigators to examine a crash and subsequent battery fire involving a Tesla semi-truck on a California freeway, focusing on the fire risks posed by electric vehicle batteries.

CNBC reports that a Tesla semi-truck was involved in a crash and fire along Interstate 80 near Emigrant Gap, California, this week, prompting an investigation by the NTSB. The incident has raised concerns about the fire risks associated with lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the Tesla Semi veered off the road around 3:15 a.m., colliding with trees near the right shoulder. The impact caused the battery to catch fire, releasing toxic fumes and reaching temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Firefighters were forced to wait for the battery to burn out before they could begin the cleanup process, resulting in the closure of the freeway for over 16 hours.

The NTSB is sending a team of investigators from its Office of Highway Safety to work alongside the California Highway Patrol in examining the wreckage and gathering information about the events leading up to the collision and the subsequent fire response. The agency’s primary focus will be on the fire risks posed by lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles.

In 2021, the NTSB concluded an investigation that determined high-voltage electric vehicle battery fires present unique challenges to first responders. The agency found that guidelines provided by manufacturers on how to handle such fires were inadequate. As a result, the NTSB called for vehicle-specific response guides to be written by manufacturers, detailing how to combat battery fires, limit chemical thermal runaway, and prevent reignition. The guidelines were also expected to include information on the safe storage of vehicles with damaged lithium-ion batteries.

The Tesla Semi involved in the incident is part of the company’s recently launched line of electric trucks. Deliveries of the Semi began in December 2022, more than three years after Tesla CEO Elon Musk initially announced the company’s plans to produce the trucks. Musk has claimed that the Semi has a range of 500 miles on a single charge when hauling an 82,000-pound load.