Quote:Citing “questionable governance” in Brussels, Thierry Breton has resigned as European Commission’s top censorship czar in a surprise announcement in the wake of a public spat over his threats to ban Elon Musk’s X platform in the bloc.
In an explosive resignation letter posted on X, Frenchman Breton claimed that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had worked behind the scenes to replace him in his post as the EU’s Internal Market Commissioner as she seeks to build out her new government.
Breton, who spearheaded the bloc’s new draconian censorship law, the Digital Services Act (DSA), claimed that von der Leyen lobbied President Emmanuel Macron’s government in Paris to withdraw his nomination for a second term “for personal reasons” and that she had “in no instance” mentioned this to him.
“In light of these developments – further testimony to questionable governance – I have concluded that I can no longer exercise my duties in the College,” he wrote. “I am therefore resigning from my position as European Commissioner, effective immediately.”
According to Euronews, the Commission refused to confirm or deny whether von der Leyen had pushed for a replacement of Breton, merely saying that the EU chief “takes note and accepts the resignation” and “thanks him for his work.”
The surprise announcement from Breton also comes just weeks after he was accused by anonymous sources within Brussels of having gone rogue by publicly threatening an outright ban of Elon Musk’s X social media platform over so-called hate speech and supposed disinformation.
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Breton had also demanded that Musk censor his live interview with U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, warning against allowing “content that may incite violence, hate and racism in conjunction with major political – or societal – events around the world, including debates and interviews in the context of elections.”
The intervention from the top Eurocrat sparked accusations of “election interference” in the U.S. presidential race. The following day, EU sources briefed the press, claiming that Breton had not consulted with von der Leyen before making his threats of censorship against X.
“The EU is not in the business of electoral interference,” one EU official reportedly said at the time. “DSA implementation is too important to be misused by an attention-seeking politician in search of his next big job.”
The resignation of Breton will likely further complicate matters for von der Leyen as she seeks to form her new College of Commissioners, which serves as her effective cabinet in Brussels, already a tough task given the horse trading with various EU state governments needed to fill the posts.
Following his departure, French President Emmanuel Macron nominated former neo-liberal Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Stéphane Séjourné, who previously led Macron’s Renew Europe group in the European Parliament. Séjourné, currently serving as Macron’s Foreign Affairs minister, is also notable for previously being in a homosexual “civil union” partnership with former French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
Quote:The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it took the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) 50,000 gallons of water to extinguish the flames sparked from an electric Tesla Semi crash.
The NTSB is investigating the cause of a Tesla Semi truck single-vehicle crash and fire that resulted in the closure of the eastbound lanes of California’s Interstate 80 for 15 hours last month.
Extinguishing the fire required 50,000 gallons of water, as well as aircraft overhead that dumped f ire retardant, according to a preliminary report released Friday by the NTSB.
“Traffic on I-80 was diverted as emergency responders worked to control the fire, using about 50,000 gallons of water to extinguish the flames and cool the vehicle’s batteries,” the NTSB said.
The truck was then transported to an open-air facility and monitored for 24 hours. The eclectic truck’s battery system did not reignite, a constant concern in Tesla fires due to “thermal runaway.”
The semi truck, driven by a Tesla employee, was traveling to a Tesla facility in Sparks, Nevada, on August 19 when it “struck a traffic delineator permanently mounted on a steel post, collided with a tree about 12.5 inches in diameter, and continued down an earthen slope to rest against several trees,” the NTSB said.
The truck’s “lithium-ion electric battery system ignited after the roadway departure, resulting in a post-crash fire,” the agency added. The driver was not injured.
CAL FIRE, along with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), responded to the scene. Tesla also deployed a technical expert to the scene to help assess “high-voltage hazards and fire safety,” the NTSB noted.
“Air quality measurements were conducted, and a thermal scanner monitored the batteries’ temperature,” the agency added.
The NTSB is currently investigating the matter, with the intent to issue safety recommendations to prevent similar events from transpiring.
Quote:Meta – the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – said on Monday that Russian state media outlets have been banned from its platforms worldwide for “foreign interference activity.”
Meta said its expanded “enforcement against Russian state media outlets” was undertaken after “careful consideration.”
The ban specifically included RT, formerly known as “Russia Today,” and Rossiya Segodnya, which owns Sputnik News and RIA Novosti. Meta’s announcement said it would ban “other related entities” as well.
Meta first began taking action against Russian disinformation operations about two years ago. Monday’s action was a sharp escalation, possibly prompted by new sanctions against Russian state media announced by the U.S. State Department on Friday.
The State Department sanctions targeted RT, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused of maintaining “covert intelligence capabilities” and “longstanding propaganda disinformation efforts.”
Blinken said RT’s staff includes a “unit with cyber-operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence.”
“Our most powerful antidote to Russia’s lies is the truth. It’s shining a bright light on what the Kremlin is trying to do under the cover of darkness,” Blinken said.
Two weeks ago, the Department of Justice (DoJ) unsealed an indictment against two Russian nationals working for RT who allegedly funded several “covert projects” in the United States, including $10 million funneled to Tennessee-based Tenet Media.
RT had a sizable presence on Meta platforms before the ban, with about 7 million followers on Facebook and over a million on Instagram.
The Russians did not take their eviction from Facebook and Instagram well. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov furiously accused Meta’s platforms of “discrediting themselves” with “selective actions against Russian media.”
“We have an extremely negative attitude towards this. And this, of course, complicates the prospects for normalizing our relations with Meta,” Peskov fumed in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.
“It’s cute how there’s a competition in the West: who can try to spank RT the hardest, in order to make themselves look better,” RT said in response to its ban.
“Meta/Facebook already blocked RT in Europe two years ago. Now they’re censoring information flow to the rest of the world,” the statement said.
“Don’t worry, where they close a door, and then a window, our ‘partisans’ – or in your parlance, guerrilla fighters – will find the cracks to crawl through, as by [the] Biden administration’s admission, we are apt at doing,” RT taunted.
Other social media platforms have taken action to restrict or ban Russian state media in recent months. YouTube banned RT, Sputnik, and other Russian media outlets in March, for example.
Quote:Genetic testing company 23andMe has agreed to pay $30 million to settle a class action lawsuit stemming from a data breach that exposed the personal information of over 6.9 million customers.
The Verge reports that 23andMe, the popular genetic testing company, has reached a settlement agreement to resolve a class action lawsuit filed by customers affected by a massive data breach in 2023. The breach, which the company disclosed in October of that year, exposed sensitive information of more than 6.9 million users, including names, birth years, and ancestry data.
As part of the proposed settlement, 23andMe will compensate the affected customers and provide them with access to a three-year security monitoring program. The settlement, which still requires approval from the judge, aims to address the concerns raised by the plaintiffs regarding the company’s failure to adequately protect their privacy.
The data breach, attributed to a tactic known as credential stuffing, involved hackers using recycled login credentials from previous security breaches to gain unauthorized access to 23andMe accounts. However, it wasn’t until December that the company confirmed the full extent of the breach’s impact.
In January 2024, customers filed a class action lawsuit against 23andMe in a San Francisco court, alleging that the company had not only failed to safeguard their personal information but also neglected to properly notify customers with Chinese or Ashkenazi Jewish heritage that they had been specifically targeted by the hackers when their data was put up for sale on the dark web.
The breach dealt a significant blow to 23andMe, which was already struggling financially. CEO Anne Wojcicki’s attempt to take the company private earlier this year was rejected by the special committee last month. The settlement agreement acknowledges concerns about the company’s financial situation, stating, “Any litigated judgment significantly more than the Settlement is likely to be uncollectable.”
Quote:California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed two bills on Tuesday aimed at banning “deepfakes” — digitally manipulated video or images — of candidates before elections, as well as at prohibiting digital “disinformation” during elections.
The controversial legislation has been described as a direct response to X owner Elon Musk, who shared a deepfake parody of Vice President Kamala Harris, which combined real quotes with a fake but convincing Harris voiceover.
(Breitbart News may be legally prohibited from sharing the video, lest it run afoul of the law — pending inevitable First Amendment challenges.)
The two bills, AB 2655 and AB 2839, are related. The first requires “large online platforms” to “block the posting of materially deceptive content related to elections in California, during specified periods before and after an election.”
It also bars “materially deceptive content,” which is defined as “audio or visual media that is digitally created or modified, and that includes, but is not limited to, deepfakes.” That could, in theory, include a broad range of political speech — such as Kamala Harris’s false claims that former President Donald Trump once praised neo-Nazis, a claim known as the “very fine people hoax.”
The second bill targets deepfakes, which show “[a] candidate for any federal, state, or local elected office in California portrayed as doing or saying something that the candidate did not do or say if the content is reasonably likely to harm the reputation or electoral prospects of a candidate.” There are exceptions for satire, parody, and news reporting, as long as the “deepfake” is accompanied by a disclaimer.
Quote:SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has announced that his company will file a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in response to a proposed $633,009 fine related to unapproved launches last year, which Musk calls “lawfare.”
Quartz reports that the FAA has proposed a substantial fine of $633,009 against Elon Musk’s SpaceX, citing the company’s use of unapproved plans during two separate launches in 2023. The aerospace firm, which currently dominates the commercial space launch market, is now facing legal consequences for what the government claims is non-compliance with safety requirements.
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According to the FAA, SpaceX submitted a request in May 2023 to revise a plan related to its license to launch rockets from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The revisions included the addition of a new launch control room and the removal of a readiness poll from its procedures. However, in June 2023, SpaceX proceeded to use the unapproved launch control room for a mission and failed to conduct the required poll. As a result, the FAA is proposing a $175,000 fine for each of these violations. Furthermore, the FAA is seeking an additional $283,009 penalty in connection with SpaceX’s unapproved use of a rocket propellant farm in July 2023.
In response to the proposed fines, Elon Musk took to social media platform X, which he owns, to announce that SpaceX will be filing a lawsuit against the FAA for what he termed “regulatory overreach.” Musk characterized the proposed fines as “lawfare,” a term often used to describe the use of legal systems and institutions to delegitimize an opponent.
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This development comes on the heels of SpaceX’s recent criticism of the FAA, claiming that regulations were hindering its ability to fly rockets. The company cited fines and inquiries from government agencies as obstacles to its operations. Additionally, SpaceX claimed that the FAA had delayed its fifth test of the Starship megarocket from September to November due to “superfluous environmental analysis.”
Breitbart News previously reported that the FAA had grounded the Falcon 9 rocket after a landing mishap:
In a statement released on Wednesday, the FAA announced that while no public injuries or property damage were reported, they are requiring an investigation into the incident. This marks the second time in less than two months that the FAA has grounded SpaceX rockets, with a similar declaration made following a Falcon 9 upper-stage failure on July 12 during the Starlink 9-3 mission, resulting in the loss of 20 satellites.
Jon Edwards, SpaceX vice president of Falcon Launch Vehicles, expressed sadness over the loss of the booster in a social media post, stating, “Losing a booster is always sad. Each one of them has a unique history and character. Thankfully this doesn’t happen often, due to the robust design and vigilance of the team.” He further added that SpaceX is working diligently to understand the root cause and implement corrective actions as soon as possible, emphasizing that the incident was purely a recovery issue and posed no threat to the primary mission or public safety.
Quote:The U.S. Secret Service is reportedly probing Elon Musk’s X post pointing out that “no one” is “trying to assassinate” President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris following two attempted assassinations on former President Donald Trump’s life. Musk later deleted his post, claiming it was a joke.
On Sunday, after Trump survived the second assassination attempt on his life within the span of two months, an X account asked, “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?” to which Musk replied, “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala ????”
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After facing backlash, Musk deleted his X post and said that it had been intended as a joke.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the Secret Service told Bloomberg that the records the agency has regarding Musk’s X post were “compiled for law enforcement purposes” and are being withheld because “disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”
Secret Service spokesperson Nate Herring told the outlet that the agency “is aware of the social media post made by Elon Musk.”
“As a matter of practice, we do not comment on matters involving protective intelligence. We can say, however, that the Secret Service investigates all threats related to our protectees,” Herring added.
Bloomberg reporter Jason Leopold, who said he is no stranger to reporting on “prominent public figures who landed on the Secret Service’s radar,” predicted “The worst that will likely happen if the Secret Service pays a visit to Musk is he’ll be inconvenienced and he’ll have to prove he doesn’t pose an imminent threat” to Biden and Harris.
Leopold also suggested that Musk “may never even hear from the Secret Service, which was the case when former Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider called for Biden and his son, Hunter, to be hanged in a post on X last year.”
“The Secret Service determined Schneider’s post was only a ‘veiled threat’ and declined to take any action,” Leopold recalled.
The Bloomberg reporter also noted a 2018 incident in which rapper Eminem was investigated by the Secret Service over some of his song lyrics, and began to “rap along” with agents as they read him his own lyrics during the interview.
For his part, Musk took to X on Monday to write, “Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X.”
Quote:Republican FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak published a statement on Thursday expressing concern with Big Tech facilitating content harmful to children, but also warning that the Biden-Harris FTC could take actions that result in the censorship of Americans’ online speech.
“How social media companies view and treat users increasingly shapes civic discourse and determines the extent of Americans’ freedoms to participate in the modern public square,” Holyoak said.
In 2020, during the Trump administration, the FTC issued orders to nine tech companies — Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, Snap, Discord, Reddit, Twitter, and Amazon — seeking to examine their data practices and how they operate.
Some of the key findings in the FTC report include revelations that “Companies’ deletion practices varied and may not reflect what consumers expect.” That is, while some companies claim to delete data, they don’t actually follow through with it.
Users might assume that “deletion” means a social media platform has permanently erased their data, but companies have instead been found to “de-identify” data, meaning the data was made anonymous. However, the data could potentially be subject to “re-identification,” the report points out.
Another problematic finding is that companies may have the technical capacity to detect users under age 13, and they often treated teens as adults.
Moreover, kids’ and teen’s data were generally not differentiated from adults’ when shared, and most companies reported that they would not fulfill a parent or legal guardian’s request to delete a teen user’s data.
Other key findings involved companies having difficulty describing the extent of their data collection, and sharing data with foreign entities, which could mean exposing user data to foreign governments.
The report also found that companies have commonly used automated systems (or increasingly AI) to drive users’ experiences on social media, and that their revenues have relied heavily on advertising, which means that consumers are likely paying for zero-price services with their data and information.
Holyoak stressed that she doesn’t support the current administration’s analysis, as it may lead to censorship and the suppression of Americans’ online speech.
Quote:Cuba’s communist regime sentenced dissident José Manuel Barreiro Rouco to two and a half years in prison for having privately shared anti-regime memes with his family, Martí Noticias reported on Wednesday.
Barreiro Rouco is a 52-year-old barber who lives in the city of Cienfuegos and has been a member of Cuba’s Citizens’ Movement for Reflection and Conciliation (MCRR), a local dissident group, since 2010.
The Cuban dissident was initially arrested on June 15, 2023, in the Cienfuegos municipality of Aguada de Pasajeros. At the time, Castro regime officials charged him with crimes against the security of the state and relationships with alleged “counter-revolutionary” groups.
The dissident’s nephew, Jam Pérez Aguiar, explained in a Facebook post on Saturday that the Castro regime tried to fabricate other crimes the courts did not recognize after his uncle proved “his innocence to the point of exhaustion,” but he remained in prison for six months until December 30, when he was placed under house arrest.
Barreiro Rouco maintained a private WhatsApp group chat titled “Family” in which he and other relatives privately exchanged memes criticizing Castro regime officials, including the regime’s figurehead president, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Martí Noticias explained that Barreiro Rouco was tried and sentenced on Monday by a Castro regime court that found him guilty of “carrying out denigrating and offensive actions that affect the honor and integrity of relevant figures of the Cuban Revolution,” including Díaz-Canel.
According to the regime prosecutors, Barreiro Rouco shared “images in which degrading epithets” were attributed to Díaz-Canel, nonagenarian communist dictator Raúl Castro, and his brother, late murderous dictator Fidel Castro, to the messaging group.
“That was a family WhatsApp, and they [police investigators] knew about it after they seized the phone. The memes are not public; the memes were exchanged between brothers, cousins, families, uncles,” MCRR president Juan Alberto De la Nuez told Martí Noticias.
“In the trial, they could not prove that the memes were public. It is an injustice,” he added.
Cuban journalist José Raúl Gallego, who resides in Mexico, told Martí Noticias that Barreiro Rouco’s case is an example of the extreme human rights violations that exist in Cuba.
“We are talking about a person who is being asked to serve two and a half years in prison for sharing images that alluded to leaders of the regime in a private group of his family of 11 people,” Gallego said.
“In other words, how extreme is the persecution, the abuses, the paranoia, that they can imprison a person for what he shares with his family in a closed environment that has no reach whatsoever?” he questioned.
Gallego, in a Facebook post, stressed that there is no need to go to Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, or “anywhere else to exemplify what it means to live in flagrant violation of the most basic human rights” and to show “the extremes to which dictatorships go.”
The Cuban journalist stated that Barreiro Rouco’s case is not an exception “but the norm that has been applied for 65 years.”
“Tens of thousands of people have been imprisoned, expelled, punished, beaten, and intimidated for a simple comment, a joke, or for saying out loud or in a half-voice what many people think,” he observed.
Quote:The British government’s open-doors approach to electric vehicles from Communist China threatens to undercut domestic manufacturing and expose the country to national security risks, with a think tank warning that EVs could be “weaponised” by Beijing.
A report from the China Strategic Risks Institute (CSRI) warned that the growing market share of and dependency on Chinese-made electric vehicles in Britain presents both “economic and security risks” to the United Kingdom.
The report noted that the UK’s domestic car industry is responsible for 198,000 manufacturing jobs, representing 2.5 per cent of the country’s entire GDP.
However, given Communist China’s subsidization of its burgeoning EV sector, producing an excess of five to ten million cheaply-produced cars per year, the failure by Westminster to impose import restrictions will threaten the future of British car manufacturing.
This process has already begun to have major impacts, with the CSRI claiming that Chinese-made EVs have increased their UK market share from just 2 per cent in 2019 to 33.4 per cent in the first half of 2023.
The think tank warned that London’s refusal to levy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, as opposed to the neighbouring European Union, could result in Britain becoming a “dumping ground and a potential backdoor into the European market” for Beijing. This could represent a point of friction between the UK and its allies in Europe as well as in the United States, potentially threatening trade with its closest partners, the CSRI said.
Yet, the threats posed by flooding the UK with cars made in China are not merely contained to the economic realm, with the CSRI warning that components within the foreign EVs could be “weaponised” by the communist nation.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:Hollywood studio Lionsgate has contracted with an artificial intelligence company called Runway to develop a custom AI model to “save millions” in film production.
Even as the entertainment industry is grappling with the effect that AI could have on human crews and behind the scenes workers as well as actors in front of the camera, Lionsgate is moving ahead with the deal in an effort to have more control over the filmmaking process.
The studio says it will initially use the technology to create storyboards to help plan film shots but also hopes that it will be useful for backgrounds and special effects as the tool develops and improves, according to The Decoder.
Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns reportedly said he feels the tool with save “millions and millions of dollars” in film pre-production costs.
Runway will fully digitize Lionsgate’s entire film library and will then create a “personalized AI library” for the studio.
The AI company’s CEO, Cristóbal Valenzuela, says that its computer system is not powerful enough to generate actual movie scenes at this time, but that they are moving towards that goal down the line. Valenzuela added that the latest Gen-3 Alpha Turbo model is available via an API.
Lionsgate’s Brianna Domont — SVP, Visual Effects — says that the new tools from Runway could be a game-changer in helping to keep costs lower in film production, especially for low-budget projects.
But many of Hollywood’s actors as well as the families of legacy actors as worried that AI tools will replace human beings in entertainment. Others are rushing to contract with AI to stave off other companies from stealing a deceased actor’s image, likeness, and voice.
Several high-profile actors and directors, though, have warned that AI will lead to the total destruction of the film industry.
Actor Nicolas Cage, for instance, warned that AI will lead to theft of intellectual property and even remarked that computers are “just going to steal my body.”
Oscar-winner Sean Penn similarly blasted the idea of AI, saying in 2023 that using it will create a “human obscenity.”
Ron Nyswaner, the screenwriter of the film Philadelphia, also warned about AI this year when he said that it will create soulless dreck that will remove the possibility for artists and viewers to “think and feel.”
Producer, writer, and director James Cameron claimed that AI will lead to a Judgment Day-style cataclysm with out-of-control algorithms taking control of warfare.
Director Ridley Scott of Blade Runner fame called AI bad for humanity and compared the technology to a “technical hydrogen bomb.”
Director Christopher Nolan said AI will surely reach an “Oppenheimer moment” — or a point of no return — and that people need to be “held accountable” for its development.
Quote:Nearly half a million General Motors (GM) vehicles are being recalled due to a potentially faulty brake fluid warning light, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced on September 12.
The recall includes 2023 Chevrolet Silverado 1500s and GMC Sierra 1500s as well as 2023-2024 Cadillac Escalades, Cadillac Escalade ESVs, Chevrolet Suburban 1500s, Chevrolet Tahoes, GMC Yukons, and GMC Yukon XLs, the administration’s report stated.
The impacted makes and models amount to 449,671 vehicles, according to CBS News.
“Without a warning light, the vehicle may be driven with low brake fluid, which can reduce braking performance and increase the risk of a crash,” the NHTSA said.
The bug in the Electronic Brake Control Module (eBCM) software will be fixed via an over-the-air (OTA) update or by a dealer, officials stated, adding that letters to impacted owners should be sent out by October 28.
The news comes just a month after GM executives announced layoffs of approximately 1,000 software employees, Breitbart News reported.
“…[W]e’re reducing certain teams within the Software and Services organization. We are grateful to those who helped establish a strong foundation that positions GM to lead moving forward,” company spokesman Kevin Kelly told the Detroit News in August.
This makes for the second major recall from GM in 2024, with around 820,000 pickup trucks being recalled in March due to a tailgate issue, Fox Business reported.
Quote:Internal Google documents released during the ongoing antitrust trial against the tech giant have shed light on the company’s efforts to maintain its dominance in the digital advertising industry through exclusivity deals and tying its ad-tech businesses together.
Marketing Brew reports that on day seven of the Google antitrust trial saw the release of a tranche of internal Google communications that the DOJ claims reinforce its argument that the company unfairly tied its ad-tech businesses together to maintain a monopoly on the industry. The documents revealed that Google employees were aware that the company’s publisher ad exchange, AdX, heavily relied on exclusive access to Google’s advertisers to maintain its dominance in the market.
In an internal memo weighing the benefits of opening up ad inventory to third parties, Google employees expressed concern that if AdX lost exclusivity to Google’s advertisers, “many publishers would terminate their AdX relationship in favor of their preferred vendors.” This revelation underscores the importance of advertiser exclusivity in Google’s strategy to maintain its market position. Internal emails previously revealed at the trial show that crushing competition was vitally important to Google executives.
Further evidence presented in court showed that Google’s own buy-side tools were seen as weaker because they were exclusive to the company’s own AdX. An internal company conversation revealed that Google employees suggested the company’s buy side was “subsidizing” the sell side, which “greatly weakens GDN’s position in the market.” GDN, or Google Display Network, refers to Google’s display ads business.
The extent of Google’s reliance on its exclusivity deals was highlighted in a 2014 internal simulation, which showed that the company’s revenue would fall by 70 percent if Google’s ad network didn’t bid on AdX inventory.
Publishers, in an attempt to circumvent Google’s dominance, turned to header bidding, an open-source technology that allows publishers to access multiple ad exchanges. The DOJ had earlier revealed that Google executive Chris LaSala considered header bidding an “existential threat” in a 2016 email. Google allegedly considered a proposal to “starve” publishers that adopted header bidding technology, although the proposal never went into effect. The company also contemplated building a firewall between its buy and sell-side businesses to “legitimize AdX as a platform,” but Nirmal Jayaram, a senior director of engineering at Google, testified that he wasn’t aware of any formal firewall being implemented.
Quote:As Google’s second antitrust trial this year continues, a Boston University economist testified that Google’s stranglehold over the advertising market allows it to charge between 19 and 27 percent higher rates to advertisers than a “competitive market” would allow.
Marketing Brew reports that the ongoing antitrust trial against Google has shed light on the tech giant’s dominant position in the digital advertising market, with particular attention being paid to its ad exchange, AdX.
The government has argued that AdX is a core component of Google’s advertising monopoly due to its exclusivity. Lawyers for the DOJ have emphasized that publishers cannot access the vast number of advertisers using Google’s ad tools without going through AdX, a claim supported by testimony from executives at major media companies like News Corp and Gannett.
Matthew Wheatland, chief digital officer of the Daily Mail, testified in court that the publication had considered switching from Google’s ad server but ultimately decided against it due to its reliance on AdX. An internal test conducted by the Daily Mail revealed that leaving AdX could result in a 28 percent loss of programmatic revenue. Wheatland also noted that AdX’s take rate of 20 percent is significantly higher than other exchanges, nearly double in some cases.
The DOJ further argued that this reliance on AdX also comes at a cost to advertisers. Expert witness Timothy Simcoe, an economist from Boston University, presented research indicating that AdX overcharges advertisers by 19% to 27% compared to what would be expected in a competitive market.
Throughout the trial, internal documents and emails from Google employees have been presented, highlighting concerns about the exclusivity of AdX. As early as 2011, Google began developing a tool called AWBid (AdWords bidding) to open up the platform and allow more exchanges to bid on Google’s inventory. However, the tool was eventually limited to retargeting campaigns and accounted for only a small portion of Google’s advertising business. Emails from Google employees, including former VP Scott Spencer, expressed apprehension about the potential impact of AWBid on Google’s sell-side business and the desire to maintain the company’s 20 percent revenue share.
Quote:Microsoft has partnered with Constellation Energy to revive the dormant Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, aiming to feed its power-hungry AI data centers with energy from the site of America’s most infamous nuclear accident.
Bloomberg reports that in a move that demonstrates the constantly growing energy demands of AI, Microsoft has struck a deal with Constellation Energy, the largest US operator of nuclear reactors, to resurrect the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. The tech giant has agreed to purchase all the output from the plant, which is set to go back into service in 2028, as it seeks to secure a reliable source of carbon-free electricity for its data centers.
The $1.6 billion investment by Constellation Energy aims to revive one of the two reactors at the Three Mile Island site, which has been dormant since 2019 due to its inability to compete economically. The other reactor at the plant was permanently closed nearly half a century ago following the worst nuclear accident in US history.
Microsoft’s decision to partner with Constellation Energy highlights the growing demand for clean energy sources as the tech industry grapples with the power-intensive nature of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications. Data centers, which form the backbone of these technologies, require vast amounts of electricity to operate, and companies are increasingly looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint while meeting these energy needs.
The agreement between Microsoft and Constellation Energy is a significant step towards achieving this goal, as nuclear power provides a stable, carbon-free energy source that can operate around the clock. By securing the entire output of the revived Three Mile Island reactor, Microsoft aims to ensure a consistent supply of clean energy for its data centers, reducing its reliance on fossil fuels and contributing to its overall sustainability efforts.
The revival of the Three Mile Island plant marks a significant milestone in the ongoing debate about the role of nuclear power in the American economy. While nuclear energy has faced criticism and concerns over safety and waste management, proponents argue that it is a necessary component of a diverse, clean energy mix.
Three Mile Island suffered a partial meltdown in 1979 that forever changed the course of nuclear energy in the United States.
History.com explains:
In the early morning hours of March 28, 1979, a mechanical or electric failure set off an unlikely series of events that led to a partial meltdown at the Unit 2 reactor. Water pumps that helped to cool the radioactive fuel in the reactor core malfunctioned.
Plant staff didn’t realize the reactor was experiencing a loss of coolant and took a series of actions that made the problem worse. These further starved the reactor core of water flow and caused it to overheat.
The nuclear fuel began to melt through its metal container—about half the reactor core melted. Trace amounts of radioactive gasses escaped into the surrounding community as a geyser of steam erupted from the top of the plant.
Breitbart News will continue to report on AI and its implication for the future.
Quote:Italian authorities have dealt a significant blow to crooks trafficking in fake retro video games, confiscating counterfeit vintage consoles and games with an estimated value of nearly $55.5 million (€50 million).
BBC News reports that in a major crackdown on the illegal trade of counterfeit video games and consoles, Italian police have seized a massive haul of fake retro gaming devices and titles. The operation, led by the economic crime unit of Turin’s financial police, uncovered around 12,000 consoles containing over 47 million pirated video games.
According to Alessandro Langella, head of the economic crime unit, the seized items had an estimated value of €47.5 million, which includes the value of the consoles and hundreds of licenses for the pirated programs. Among the counterfeit games were popular titles from the 1980s and 90s, such as Mario Bros., Street Fighter, and Star Wars.
The pirated consoles were imitations of iconic devices produced by Nintendo, Sega, and Atari. However, these counterfeit products did not meet strict safety standards set by the European Union. All the devices were reportedly imported from China and were intended to be sold in specialized shops or online.
Langella noted that the seized consoles were fitted with non-certified batteries and electrical circuits, which posed potential safety hazards for consumers. As a result, the confiscated game systems have been destroyed to prevent them from entering the market.
Nine Italian nationals have been arrested in connection with the trafficking ring and charged with trading in counterfeited goods. If found guilty, they face up to eight years in prison.
The popularity of retro gaming, or “retrogaming,” has surged in recent years, with old games and second-hand consoles commanding high prices. Genuine retro gaming devices can fetch significant sums, depending on their condition. In 2021, a sealed copy of the video game Super Mario 64 sold at auction for more than $1.5 million, setting a new record. Breitbart News previously reported on a sealed copy of The Legend of Zelda selling for $900,000 at auction.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:A recent study by Uplevel, a firm that analyzes coding metrics, has revealed that AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot are not significantly improving developer productivity or preventing burnout, despite the hype surrounding these tools.
TechSpot reports that the rise of generative AI has led to a surge in the development of AI coding assistants, with tools like GitHub Copilot promising to revolutionize the way developers work. These assistants are designed to make coding faster and easier, with the expectation that they will boost productivity and reduce the risk of burnout among developers. However, a recent study by Uplevel, a firm that specializes in analyzing coding metrics, has found that these promised benefits are not materializing.
The study, which tracked around 800 developers over three-month periods, compared their output with and without the use of GitHub Copilot. Surprisingly, the results showed no meaningful improvements in key metrics such as pull request cycle time and throughput for those using the AI coding assistants. This finding contradicts the claims made by GitHub and other proponents of AI coding tools, who have touted massive productivity gains.
Matt Hoffman, a data analyst at Uplevel, explains that the team had initially expected developers using AI tools to write more code and introduce fewer defects, as the assistants would help review code before submission. However, the study’s findings defied these expectations. In fact, developers using Copilot were found to introduce 41 percent more bugs into their code compared to those not using the tools. Additionally, Uplevel found no evidence to suggest that AI assistants were helping to prevent developer burnout.
These revelations run counter to a GitHub-sponsored study that had earlier claimed a 55 percent increase in coding speed for developers using Copilot. While it is possible that developers are seeing some positive results, as evidenced by reports showing nearly 30 percent of new code involving AI assistance, another possibility is that coders are developing a dependency on these tools and becoming lazy.
In the field, experiences with AI coding assistants have been mixed so far. Ivan Gekht, CEO of custom software firm Gehtsoft USA, told CIO that AI-generated code has been challenging to understand and debug, sometimes making it more efficient to rewrite from scratch. This observation is backed by a study from last year, which found that ChatGPT got over half of the programming questions it was asked wrong, although the chatbot has since improved with multiple updates.
Soros Gets Approval for Controlling 200 Radio Stations
Quote:The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday approved a license deal delivering leftist billionaire George Soros control over 200 Audacy radio stations; dissenting commissioners called it “unprecedented.”
Breitbart News reported last week the Democrat majority at the FCC “fast-tracked” a deal to allow Soros to acquire more than 200 radio stations despite Republican objections.
Soros reportedly took foreign investment to make his bid for the 200 Audacy radio stations, which covers 40 media markets, and asked the commission to make an exception to the normal review porcess.
This is reportedly the first time a fast-tracked deal has gone through the commission without a typical national security review process, which normally would take up to a year or more.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a written statement on Monday:
In this decision, we approve the assignment of licenses held by Audacy, which has been under the control of a bankruptcy court, to the new Audacy, so that the company can emerge from bankruptcy proceedings. The process we use to facilitate this license transfer is identical to the one recently used by the agency in the bankruptcy proceedings of Cumulus Media in 2018, iHeart Media in 2019, Liberman Television in 2019, Fusion Connect in 2019, Windstream Holdings in 2020, America-CV Station Group in 2021, and Alpha Media in 2021. To suggest otherwise is cynical and wrong, as this precedent clearly demonstrates. Our practice here and in these prior cases is designed to facilitate the prompt and orderly emergence from bankruptcy of a company that is a licensee under the Communications Act.
FCC Republican-nominated commissioners slammed the decision to fast-track the order, believing it ignores the national security needs to review the deal.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said in a written statement:
The Commission’s decision today is unprecedented. Never before has the Commission voted to approve the transfer of a broadcast license—let alone the transfer of broadcast licenses for over 200 radio stations across more than 40 markets—without following the requirements and procedures codified in federal law. Not once. And yet the Commission breaks this new ground today without seeking public comment on altering our established regulations, without actually changing the rules on the books, and without seeking the feedback of other federal agencies with relevant equities.
…
Federal law requires applicants with excessive foreign ownership to file a petition for declaratory ruling at the same time that they seek FCC approval for the relevant license transfers, they must then complete that process before the FCC can approve the assignment of licenses, and that process must enable Executive Branch agencies with national security and specific policy expertise to weigh in.
Netflix CEO Supports Kamala & it Pays a Heavy Price
Quote:Netflix cancelations have reportedly spiked after the streaming platform’s CEO Reed Hastings announced he’d donate millions to Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.
Netflix’s rate of cancelations nearly tripled in the United States after supporters of former President Donald Trump called for action against the streaming giant following its CEO’s donation to Harris, according to a report by Bloomberg.
While U.S. consumers were already canceling their Netflix subscriptions at a higher rate than usual in July — in large part due to the company’s decision to phase out its cheapest, advertising-free tier — the five-day period after Hastings endorsed Harris saw “unusual” numbers of cancelation, “even for July,” the outlet noted.
On July 23, the Netflix CEO endorsed Harris in an X post, writing, “Congrats to Kamala Harris — now it is time to win.”
Hastings’ congratulatory remark was in reference to President Joe Biden having recently ended his reelection campaign — after being ousted by his own Party — making Harris the soon-to-be Democrat Party nominee.
After issuing his congratulatory X post, Hastings told The Information that he donated $7 million to a pro-Harris super PAC. After that, Trump supporters began calling on customers to end their subscriptions alongside the hashtag #CancelNetflix.
Then, on July 26 — three days after Hastings’ donation to the pro-Harris super PAC became public — Netflix experienced the single worst day of cancellations this year, Bloomberg noted.
This is not the first time Netflix was hit with a wave of cancelations as a result of the streaming service’s behavior.
In 2020, the streaming giant’s cancelations surged in reaction to the film, Cuties, which generated a firestorm over its highly sexualized depiction of underage girls.
In recent years, conservatives have found that boycotts can actually work.
Last summer, sales of Bud Light beer tanked after transgender influencer and biological male Dylan Mulvaney was featured in a cringeworthy and patronizing March Madness advertisement.
Moreover, Americans suffering due to inflation under the Biden-Harris administration don’t appear to be influenced by celebrities and others in the entertainment industry with regards to politics or the upcoming presidential election — and are willing to put their money where their mouths are in order to make that known.
Quote:Verizon suffered a nationwide outage on Monday morning, leaving millions of customers across the U.S. in SOS mode, unable to send and receive calls or text messages all morning and afternoon — with no end in sight for those still impacted.
The outage appeared to kick in at around 9:30 a.m. EST with Verizon customers flooding DownDetector — a site that monitors tech issues — to report their cell service being stuck in SOS mode, while others noted they had bars, but were unable to send and receive calls or texts.
By 10:15 a.m. EST, more than 100,000 customers reported Verizon outages with DownDetector, which suggests that the outage has impacted many more across the country.
While Verizon has 114.2 million U.S. users, the amount of people impacted by the outage remains unclear. The issue also appears to be nationwide, with customers reporting problems everywhere from New York to California.
“In Miami. Still SOS since 11 AM EST,” one customer reported.
“No voice/text/data since this morning in Mid-Michigan,” another revealed.
“I’m in Dallas,” another disclosed. “Started with just no incoming calls around 8:45am CT. then progressed to no outgoing calls an hour or so later. Now I’m unable to receive texts.”
Similar reports from customers across the country flooded into DownDetector.
As the day went on, Verizon customers became increasingly furious with the phone provider, expressing their dismay on DownDetector all afternoon.
“This is fricken ridiculous!! I have a VERY important call coming and I can’t miss it!! Verizon get your stuff together! Ugh!! 5+ hours going now,” one customer exclaimed.
“Have been down since 10:01 am in Warren, Ohio. My Husband is a Truck Driver, this is not acceptable,” another wrote.
“I need my phone for work! Lost out on so much business today,” another lamented.
At 3:30 p.m. EST, one customer wrote, “6 hours and counting… this is unreal,” while another commented, “Damn, didn’t expect it to be down this long.”
“There’s no way this big of a company should be down for this long, I know y’all got people for this stuff,” another surmised.
“Should we start looking for a new provider?” another customer asked.
Verizon addressed the issue in a Monday morning X post, writing, “We are aware of an issue impacting service for some customers. Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue.”
Quote:The social media platform X (formerly Twitter) must pay a fine of ten million Brazilian reais (roughly $1.84 million) to restore its services in Brazil, Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Minister Alexandre de Moraes announced over the weekend.
The demand comes roughly one month after de Moraes, an “anti-fake news” crusader, banned access to the X platform in Brazil after it initially refused to comply with censorship orders against a group of users as well as appoint a new legal representative in the country.
After initially loudly condemning the Brazilian government’s demands, X announced that it would comply with Brazilian court-mandated censorship and reinstated Rachel de Oliveira Villa as its legal representative in Brazil. Twitter reportedly submitted a formal request to de Moraes to allow for its reinstatement in Brazil following compliance with the censorship orders and other court-mandated requirements.
De Moraes, in a ruling issued on Friday, confirmed that X has complied with all the censorship orders issued by the court and appointed a legal representative in the country as requested by the Brazilian top court. He, nonetheless, conditioned the reinstatement of the platform in the country to the payment of the new $1.8 million fine.
The fine, according to the ruling, was imposed in response to the platform’s “failure to comply, for two days” with the ban in mid-September. On that date, users were reportedly able to access the X platform from within Brazilian territory. X described the incident as “inadvertent and temporary” and attributed it to a switch in network providers in Latin America.
In addition to the $1.8 fine, the court fined the social media platform’s legal representative Rachel de Oliveira Villa 300,000 Brazilian reais (roughly $55,284). The amount, according to the ruling, stems from the accumulated sum of a daily fine of 20,000 reais (roughly $3,656) imposed on the legal representative in mid-August at a time when the X platform was in defiance of the court’s orders.
“According to the ruling, made in Petition (PET) 12404, X proved that it had fully complied with two requirements for the resumption of activities: the blocking of profiles and the appointment of a legal representative of the company in the country,” the STF announced. “However, it has yet to prove payment of the fines for non-compliance with the decisions.”
The ruling stated that the STF ordered the Central Bank of Brazil to block the accounts of the X social media platform and its legal representatives, asserting that “no amounts were found sufficient to guarantee” the payment of Oliveira Villa’s fine in her accounts. The court demanded X inform if it will use the amounts the court order blocked to pay the fine and withdraw appeals filed against both the initial ban and the fines.
“The end of the suspension of the operation of the X platform in national territory and, consequently, the immediate return of its activities depend solely on full compliance with Brazilian legislation, the ruling read, “and absolute observance of the decisions of the judiciary, in respect for national sovereignty.”
X’s compliance with de Moraes’ censorship orders comes after a months-long feud between de Moraes and X owner Elon Musk directly, following Musk’s initial refusal to comply with the censorship orders. Musk accused the judge of rigging the 2022 Brazilian election, which far-left President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva narrowly won against then-incumbent conservative President Jair Bolsonaro.
Quote:DirecTV is buying Dish and Sling, a deal it has sought to complete for years, as the company seeks to better compete against streaming services that have become dominant.
DirecTV said Monday that it will acquire Dish TV and Sling TV from its owner EchoStar in a debt exchange transaction that includes a payment of $1, plus the assumption of approximately $9.8 billion in debt.
The prospect of a DirecTV-Dish combo has long been rumored, with headlines about reported talks popping up over the years. And the two almost merged more than two decades ago — but the Federal Communications Commission blocked their owners’ then-$18.5 billion deal, citing antitrust concerns.
The pay-for-TV market has shifted significantly since. As more and more consumers tune into online streaming giants, demand for more traditional satellite continues to shrink. And, although high-profile acquisitions have proven to be particularly tough under the Biden-Harris administration, that may make regulators more inclined to approve DirecTV and Dish’s pairing this time around.
DirecTV said Monday that the transaction will help it bring smaller content packages to consumer at lower prices and essentially provide a one-stop shopping experience for entertainment programming.
It’s hoping this will appeal to those who have left satellite video services for streaming. The company said that combined, DirecTV and Dish have collectively lost 63% of their satellite customers since 2016.
“DirecTV operates in a highly competitive video distribution industry,” DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow said in a statement. “With greater scale, we expect a combined DirecTV and Dish will be better able to work with programmers to realize our vision for the future of tv, which is to aggregate, curate, and distribute content tailored to customers’ interests, and to be better positioned to realize operating efficiencies while creating value for customers through additional investment.”
The current deal could provide a key lifeline for EchoStar. The Colorado-based telecommunications company has reportedly faced the prospect of bankruptcy as it continues to burn through cash and see losses pile up.
In a recent securities filing, EchoStar disclosed that it had just $521 million in “cash on hand.” And the company forecast negative cash flows for the remainder of the year — while also pointing to major looming debt payments, with more than $1.98 billion of debt set to mature in November.
“With an improved financial profile, we will be better positioned to continue enhancing and deploying our nationwide 5G Open RAN wireless network,” EchoStar President and CEO Hamid Akhavan said. “This will provide U.S. wireless consumers with more choices and help to drive innovation at a faster pace.”
By shedding Dish, EchoStar will be able to focus its efforts elsewhere, like its wireless carrier Boost Mobile.
Quote:WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Tuesday that he was freed after years of incarceration because he “pled guilty to journalism.”
Assange gave evidence of the impact of his detention and conviction to the legal affairs and human rights committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. The Parliamentary Assembly includes lawmakers from 46 European countries.
Assange was released in June after five years in a British prison after he pleaded guilty to obtaining and publishing U.S. military secrets in a deal with Justice Department prosecutors that concluded a drawn-out legal saga. Prior to his time in prison, he had spent seven years in self-imposed exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he claimed asylum on the grounds of political persecution.
“I am not free today because the system worked,” Assange said in his first public remarks since he was released. “I am free today after years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism.”
He added: “I pled guilty to seeking information from a source. I pled guilty to obtaining information from a source. And I pled guilty to informing the public what that information was.”
The transition from years of confinement in a maximum security prison to addressing the European parliamentarians has been a “profound and a surreal shift,” Assange said as he detailed the experience of years of isolation in a small cell.
“It strips away one’s sense of self, leaving only the raw essence of existence,” he said, his voice cracking while he offered an apology for his “faltering words” and an “unpolished presentation.”
“I’m not yet fully equipped to speak about what I have endured – the relentless struggle to stay alive, both physically and mentally,” Assange said.
Texan Hospital Hacked, Victim of Ransomware Attack
Quote:The University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, a critical level-one trauma hospital, has been severely impacted by a ransomware attack, leading to the diversion of emergency patients to nearby facilities. With the only level-one trauma center within 400 miles crippled, West Texas residents have been placed at significant risk by America’s failure to fight cybercrime.
The Register reports that the University Medical Center (UMC) in Lubbock, Texas, has fallen victim to a ransomware attack, forcing the hospital to turn away ambulances and limit its operations. The cyberattack, which occurred on Friday, has caused significant disruptions to the hospital’s services, highlighting the growing threat of ransomware to critical healthcare infrastructure.
UMC, a non-profit hospital and the only level-one trauma center within a 400-mile radius, plays a crucial role in providing emergency care to severely ill patients. The hospital maintains a team of specialists around the clock to handle the most critical cases. Any disruption to its services could have life-threatening consequences for patients in need of urgent medical attention.
In response to the attack, the hospital has taken precautionary measures by temporarily diverting incoming emergency and non-emergency patients via ambulance to nearby health facilities until the issue is resolved. The hospital is working to minimize disruptions to patient care and critical services while the investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
The attack on UMC is part of a disturbing trend of increasing ransomware attacks targeting healthcare organizations. According to cybersecurity firm Sophos, while the overall number of ransomware attacks across industries is slowly declining, attacks against healthcare facilities continue to intensify in both number and scope. In the past two years, two-thirds of surveyed healthcare facilities have suffered at least one ransomware infection, with over half paying criminals to regain control of their networks.
Ransomware attacks on hospitals are particularly insidious because they interfere directly with patient care. In 2021, Breitbart News reported that an a cyberattack on an Alabama hospital directly contributed to the death of a baby.
Quote:Notorious censor and surveillance capitalism tycoon Mark Zuckerberg has a clear vision for how he wants his company Meta to be remembered decades from now — as a technology innovator, not for his apps and their negative impacts on society.
Business Insider reports that in a recent interview with content creator Tiffany Janzen, Mark Zuckerberg shared his thoughts on the legacy he hopes to leave behind with his company, Meta. The tech mogul emphasized that he sees Meta as a technology company focused on building fundamental platforms for human connection, rather than simply an app company.
“I would guess that if you look back, you know, 20, 30 years from now, we’re still going to be a technology company,” Zuckerberg stated. “We’re not an app company.” He highlighted his long-term commitment to this vision, adding, “So we’re focused on primarily building the underlying technology platform and I think that that’s going to be true, for probably — and like, certainly as long as I’m doing this.”
Zuckerberg expressed his desire for Meta to be remembered as a company that “builds awesome things” and takes bold risks. “I would like people to look back on us and say, ‘Oh, they took a bunch of really big swings. And maybe not everything that they did worked. But a bunch of the stuff that they did really kind of pushed the industry and pushed the world in different directions and that was cool.'”
In a recent interview on the Acquired podcast, Zuckerberg reiterated his view of Meta as a technology company focused on human connection. “For me, building this kind of glasses to enable the future of people being able to feel present with another person no matter where they actually physically are, is the natural continuation of the kind of apps that we build today,” he explained.
Despite Zuckerberg’s wishes to be known as a technology company, it was his harnessing of the surveillance capitalism business model that propelled his personal wealth beyond $200 billion, an exclusive club with just a handful of other members.
Taylor Swift's Endorsement Makes Her Lose Listeners
Quote:Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris is shaping up to be a costly move for the pop superstar.
Since publicly endorsing Kamala Harris on September 10, the night of the presidential debate, Taylor Swift has lost more than 2 million Spotify listeners, according to data that was shared by Chartmetric, a music streaming analytics company, to the outlet The Wrap.
In addition, the number of people viewing Swift’s YouTube videos in the U.S. reportedly dropped nearly 10 percent post-Harris endorsement.
Just prior to the debate, Swift had 94 million unique Spotify listeners who had streamed at least one of her songs in the past month. As of September 27, Swift’s monthly unique listeners had reportedly dropped to 91.9 million.
For Swift, the drop will likely represent a hit her bank account, since Spotify compensates artists based on the number of streams they generate.
The 2 million decline in Spotify listeners comes as Taylor Swift’s popularity has taken a hit among all voters.
As Breitbart News reported, a recent NBC News poll showed Swift’s favorability among all registered voters fell from last year, decreasing from 40 percent in 2023 to 33 percent this year. While 16 percent had negative feelings about her in 2023, 27 percent say they do now.
About 26 percent of independents have a positive attitude toward Swift, a drop from 34 percent in 2023.
Quote:Arkansas has filed a lawsuit against YouTube and its parent company Google, accusing the video-sharing platform of deliberately fostering addiction and contributing to a mental health crisis among the state’s youth.
AP News reports that in a new lawsuit, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin ® has sued YouTube and Google parent company Alphabet in state court, alleging violations of Arkansas’ deceptive trade practices and public nuisance laws. The lawsuit asserts that the video-sharing site is intentionally designed to be addictive, leading to increased mental health issues among young people and causing the state to spend millions on expanded mental health services and other resources for its youth.
According to the complaint, “YouTube amplifies harmful material, doses users with dopamine hits, and drives youth engagement and advertising revenue. As a result, youth mental health problems have advanced in lockstep with the growth of social media, and in particular, YouTube.” The lawsuit claims that YouTube’s algorithms direct young users to harmful adult content and facilitate the spread of child sexual abuse material.
Google, which owns YouTube and is also named as a defendant in the case, has denied the allegations. In a statement, Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said, “Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work. In collaboration with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls. The allegations in this complaint are simply not true.”
Currently, YouTube requires users under 17 to obtain parental permission before using the site, and accounts for users younger than 13 must be linked to a parental account. However, it is possible to watch YouTube content without an account, and children can easily misrepresent their age.
Arkansas has previously filed similar lawsuits against TikTok and Facebook parent company Meta, alleging that these social media companies misled consumers about the safety of children on their platforms and the protection of users’ private data. These cases are still pending in state court. Additionally, Arkansas enacted a law requiring parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts, although this measure has been blocked by a federal judge.
Quote:Bank of America confirmed that some customers were having trouble “accessing their accounts and balance information,” according to CBS News.
The bank explained in a statement that “some clients” were dealing with a glitch that was preventing them from being able to access “their accounts and balance information,” according to the outlet.
“Some clients are experiencing an issue accessing their accounts and balance information today,” Bank of America said. “These issues are being addressed and have largely been resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Several people took to social media to share how the Bank of America glitch was affecting their bank accounts.
“My personal and business Bank of America accounts were wiped to $0.00 in this alleged cyber attack,” Elijah Schaffer, a journalist with Gateway Pundit wrote in a post.
...
“Bank of America having a glitch and my acct being at $0 gave me a heart attack,” one person wrote in a post on X.
...
Another person wrote that Bank of America was “down and showing $0 balances,” and wouldn’t let them log in to their banking app.
“Can’t call customer support either because they just hang up saying they can’t accept calls right now,” the person added. “Did they get hacked?”
Around 12:39 p.m., there were over 1,000 reports of outages with Bank of America, according to DownDetector.
By 1:09 p.m., there were more than 17,000 reports of outages with the bank.
As of 5:54 p.m., there are currently more than 2,000 reports of outages with Bank of America, according to DownDetector.
Quote:A cyberattack that broke into a police account and accessed work-related contact details of all Dutch police officers was almost certainly carried out by hackers working for a foreign government, the justice minister told lawmakers.
Dutch intelligence agencies “consider it highly likely that a state actor is responsible,” Justice and Security Minister David van Weel wrote in a letter to lawmakers on Wednesday night about the breach, which was first revealed last Friday.
He added that “police, together with national security partners, are doing everything they can to protect police employees and prevent further damage.”
Van Weel did not give further details, citing an ongoing investigation into the data breach. The Dutch police force is the country´s biggest employer with nearly 63,000 staff.
Nine Kooiman, chair of the Netherlands Police Union, called the hack “a nightmare. It is now important to protect data, protect colleagues” and track down the perpetrators.
The government said last week that the hack did not reveal personal details of police officers beyond their names or details about ongoing investigations.
Dutch police chief Janny Knol said she had spoken to staff about their concerns following news of the data breach, noting they were “concerns that I share, because in order to ensure safety outside, you have to feel safe inside.”
The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service warned last year in its annual report that countries including China and Russia were actively engaged in cyberattacks and espionage targeting national interests in the Netherlands.
Quote:A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of a recently passed California law aimed at curbing the spread of AI-generated deepfakes depicting political candidates. In his decision, Judge John Mendez wrote, “While a well-founded fear of a digitally manipulated media landscape may be justified, this fear does not give legislators unbridled license to bulldoze over the longstanding tradition of critique, parody, and satire protected by the First Amendment.”
TechCrunch reports that just two weeks after being signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, a key provision of California’s AB 2839 targeting AI deepfakes has been put on hold by a federal court. The law empowers California judges to order individuals spreading deepfakes of politicians to take them down or face potential penalties if the fakes are deemed likely to mislead voters.
In a decision issued this week, U.S. District Judge John Mendez sided with the plaintiff, Christopher Kohls, who had posted an AI-generated deepfake video depicting Vice President Kamala Harris. Kohls filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of AB 2839 just one day after it was enacted, arguing the faux Harris video was protected political satire under the First Amendment.
In his ruling, Judge Mendez expressed concerns that the California law was overly broad and subjective in its phrasing, potentially encompassing “vast amounts of political and constitutionally protected speech.” He noted that while concerns over manipulated digital content undermining elections may be valid, it does not give legislators free rein to restrict speech traditionally protected by the First Amendment.
“While a well-founded fear of a digitally manipulated media landscape may be justified, this fear does not give legislators unbridled license to bulldoze over the longstanding tradition of critique, parody, and satire protected by the First Amendment. YouTube videos, Facebook posts, and X tweets are the newspaper advertisements and political cartoons of today, and the First Amendment protects an individual’s right to speak regardless of the new medium these critiques may take,” Mendez wrote in his decision. He pointed out that other legal avenues, such as privacy, copyright, and defamation laws, already provide recourse for those whose reputations may be harmed by altered depictions online.
The temporary injunction prevents California Attorney General Rob Bonta from enforcing the deepfake takedown provisions of AB 2839 against Kohls or any other online speakers, with the narrow exception of fraudulent audio content. While acknowledging the state has a strong interest in preserving election integrity, Mendez ruled this was outweighed by the potential First Amendment violations and speech chilling effects experienced by Kohls and other content creators under the law.
Quote:Google has issued a stern warning, threatening to remove links to New Zealand news content and terminate current agreements with local publishers if the proposed Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill becomes law.
The New Zealand Herald reports that global tech giant Google has threatened to sever ties with New Zealand news outlets if the government proceeds with the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill. The proposed legislation, which aims to force tech companies like Google and Meta (Facebook) to pay publishers for their content, has been met with strong opposition from the search engine giant.
Caroline Rainsford, Google New Zealand’s country director, expressed the company’s deep concerns about the bill, calling it a “link tax” that would require Google to pay for simply linking to news articles. She stated, “If the Bill were to proceed on its current trajectory and became law, we would be forced to make significant changes to our products and news investments.”
These changes, according to Rainsford, would include discontinuing the linking of news content on Google Search, Google News, and Discover surfaces in New Zealand. Furthermore, Google would terminate its current commercial agreements and ecosystem support with New Zealand news publishers.
The news media industry has hit back at Google’s threats, accusing the company of deliberately misrepresenting the legislation and engaging in what the News Publishers Association has described as “corporate bullying.” Andrew Holden, the association’s public affairs director, emphasized that the Bill is not a tax but rather a means to create an environment for fair commercial negotiations between media companies and tech giants.
Holden cited recent cases against Google in the United States, quoting Attorney General Merrick Garland, who described one case as “a historic win for the American people” and stated that no company is above the law. The News Publishers Association believes that the New Zealand government should be able to make laws that strengthen democracy without being subjected to what he calls corporate bullying tactics.
However, not everyone is in favor of the proposed bill. Act leader David Seymour, whose party does not support the legislation, warned that the government is “playing chicken” with Google and that New Zealanders could be the ones to lose out if the search engine follows through with its threats. Smaller media outlets, in particular, could suffer as they would be denied the opportunity to connect with new audiences via search results.
Google’s New Zealand operation is substantial, with the company paying nearly $1 billion to its international parent in inter-company service fees for the year ending December 31, 2023. This figure serves as a true indication of the size of Google’s business in New Zealand.
Quote:Elon Musk’s Tesla has announced the fifth recall of the new Cybertruck within a year of its release, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) officials announced.
The electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer is recalling more than 27,000 Cybertrucks over a failure to comply with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) requirements for rear visibility, the NHTSA said on September 26.
Tesla alerted the administration to certain vehicles suffering from a delayed rearview camera display after shifting into reverse, “increasing the risk of crash.”
The company will release an over-the-air (OTA) software update to fix the issue, with owner notification letters expected to be sent by November 25.
Tesla released an over-the-air (OTA) software update, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed November 25, 2024. Owners may contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752. Tesla’s number for this recall is SB-24-00-016.
This makes for the fifth Cybertruck recall announced by the NHTSA since the vehicle officially rolled out in November 2023 after two years of delays, ABC News reported.
Just two months after the EV’s release, nearly 2.2 million Teslas across 35 models had to undergo an OTA fix due to an “incorrect font size” for warning lights violating FMVSS standards.
According to the NHTSA, the small font size could “make critical safety information on the instrument panel difficult to read.”
In April 2024, 3,878 Cybertrucks were recalled over some vehicles experiencing a “trapped” acceleration pedal, leading to the trucks accelerating unintentionally and increasing crash risks.
Another recall was announced in mid-June for 11,688 Cybertrucks over an “excessive electrical current” that could cause the front windshield wiper motor controller to fail. Tesla is set to replace the faulty devices when the remedy “becomes available” sometime in October, the NHTSA noted.
On the same day, another recall was announced for “improperly adhered truck bed trims” that could “detach,” administration officials said.
Over 12,000 Cybertrucks were recalled, with owner notification letters going out in August.
Quote:North Korea's use of electronic attacks against civil aviation in the South has surged by 15 times this year, data shows, with Kim Jong Un's regime doubling down on tactics that have raised concerns at the United Nations.
GPS interference in the form of jamming and "spoofing"—broadcasting false signals to purposely confuse global positioning software used by aircraft and ships—has been reported 578 times between January and August, according to South Korea's Dong-A Ilbo newspaper.
There were only 39 cases last year, and 26 total cases in the three years before that, the report said. Previously, the most intense period of attack—more than 1,400 cases—happened from 2010 to 2013, around the time Kim, now 40, became North Korea's supreme leader. Newsweek could not reach the North Korean embassy in Beijing for comment before publication.
The South Korean government has traced over 90 percent of this year's cases back to the North, and it believes Pyongyang is responsible for the remaining instances, too, the paper quoted ruling party lawmaker Kwon Young-se, South Korea's former unification minister, as saying.
The cyberattacks are part of North Korea's maturing electronic warfare arsenal—potentially effective against unmanned aerial vehicles operated by American forces stationed in the South. They have not resulted in any major aviation accidents to date, but GPS interference can endanger commercial airliners flying in poor visibility and is a violation of international conventions on navigational safety.
The majority of incidents were reported across five consecutive days between May 29 and June 2, when hundreds of civilian aircraft and ships reported suspected GPS jamming around the de facto inter-Korean sea border in the west, known as the Northern Limit Line.
The interference was reported as lasting anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.
They happened as North Korea launched several waves of trash-carrying balloons across the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone into the South as retaliation for anti-North propaganda sent by rights activists via balloons.
Quote:Meta was punished Friday with a fine worth more than $100 million from the social media giant’s European Union privacy regulator over a security lapse involving passwords for Facebook users.
The Irish Data Protection Commission said it slapped the U.S. tech company with the 91 million euro ($101.6 million) penalty following an investigation.
The watchdog started investigating in 2019 after it was notified by Meta that some passwords had been inadvertently stored internally in plain text, which means they weren’t encrypted and it was possible for employees to search for them.
Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said it’s “widely accepted” that user passwords should not be stored in plain text, “considering the risks of abuse.”
Meta said a security review found that a “subset” of Facebook users’ passwords were “temporarily logged in a readable format.”
“We took immediate action to fix this error, and there is no evidence that these passwords were abused or accessed improperly,” the company said in a statement. “We proactively flagged this issue to our lead regulator, the Irish Data Protection Commission, and have engaged constructively with them throughout this inquiry.”
It’s the latest in a series of hefty fines for Meta and its social media platforms from the Dublin-based watchdog, which is the company’s lead regulator under the 27-nation EU’s stringent data privacy rulebook. They include a 405 million euro fine for Instagram over mishandling teen data, a 5.5 million euro penalty involving WhatsApp and a 1.2 billion euro fine for Meta over transatlantic data transfers.
Quote:Google has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, accusing Microsoft of using unfair licensing contracts to stifle competition in the cloud computing industry. Google’s charges become especially interesting in light of the fact that the internet giant has itself been the subject of two different antitrust cases this year.
CNBC reports that on Wednesday, Google lodged a formal antitrust complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission, alleging that the software giant employs unfair licensing terms to “lock in” clients and exert control over the multibillion-dollar cloud computing market. The complaint comes amid growing competition between the two companies in the rapidly expanding cloud sector.
According to Google, Microsoft leverages its dominant Windows Server and Microsoft Office products to make it difficult for its vast client base to use cloud infrastructure offerings other than its own Azure platform. The internet giant claims that restrictions in Microsoft’s cloud licensing terms hinder customers from moving their workloads from Azure to competing cloud services, despite the absence of technical barriers.
Google, which currently ranks third in the global cloud computing market behind Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, cited a 2023 study by CISPE, a trade body for the cloud computing sector. The study found that European businesses and public sector organizations have been compelled to pay Microsoft up to 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) annually in licensing penalties due to limitations on their ability to switch cloud providers.
The complaint follows a settlement agreement reached in July between CISPE, its members, and Microsoft, which would see the latter make changes to address competition concerns. However, Google, along with Amazon Web Services and Alibaba’s cloud unit AliCloud, chose not to participate in the settlement.
In a statement, Microsoft said it expects the European Commission to dismiss Google’s complaint, noting that it had “settled amicably similar concerns raised by European cloud providers, even after Google hoped they would keep litigating.”
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:New Jersey-based company responsible for providing water to more than 14 million people was hit by a cyberattack which appears to only resulted in the loss of billing systems, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday.
American Water Works Company, which first learned of the attack on Oct. 3, said there does not appear to be any impact to water or wastewater services. No ransomware gang has claimed responsibility for the attack on the company, which has operations in 14 states and serves at least 18 military installations.
There has been a steady increase in cyberattacks against water facilities in recent years, as both states and criminals exploit the sector, which experts deem vulnerable. The White House has spent many months warning about the vulnerabilities of the more than 170,000 water systems in the United States, including by sending a letter to governors in March.
At the same time, the Environmental Protection Agency has faced heavy criticism for the sector’s vulnerability, as the industry has faced a rash of hacks against water facilities. Meanwhile, the sector continues to be a largely voluntary operation when it comes to cybersecurity efforts, which critics say is dependent on Congress revamping EPA’s authorities. The Government Accountability Office has also noted as recently as August that the EPA has not identified or prioritized the greatest risks in the sector.
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The EPA has announced plans to increase water security inspections in response to the increasing threats. Additionally, a recent reboot of a landmark critical infrastructure policy will require the government to provide yearly risk mitigation updates through a national plan on infrastructure risk.
While the American Water hack does not appear to impact vital services or operations, the company noted that it is “unable to predict the full impact of this incident” and disconnected some systems. The 8-K filing also notes that American Water does not expect the hack to have a “material effect on the company, or its financial condition or results of operations.”
The company took billing services offline and noted on its website that customers will not incur late charges and water services will not be shut off while they work to get back online.
The company said in a statement to CyberScoop that it had “contacted and [is] receiving assistance from law enforcement, and we are coordinating fully with them.”
In its 2023 annual report, American Water wrote that the company’s “capital investment totaled $2.7 billion, and we are well on track to deliver $3.1 billion in investments in 2024.”
The annual report also included a section on the company’s cybersecurity effort, highlighting a “defense-in-depth” strategy that uses the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s cybersecurity framework. The company “periodically reviews and modifies the implementation of its cybersecurity strategy based on threat trends, program maturity, the results of assessments, and the advice of third-party security consultants,” per the report.A
Quote:Microsoft on Tuesday shared security updates on 117 common vulnerabilities and exposures, including two that are being actively exploited, according to the company.
The actively exploited vulnerabilities relate to the Microsoft Management Console (CVE-2024-43572) and the Windows MSHTML Platform (CVE-2024-43573), the company said.
The list includes five publicly disclosed zero-days in total, as part of 28 elevation-of-privilege vulnerabilities, seven security feature bypasses, 43 remote code execution vulnerabilities, six information disclosure vulnerabilities, 26 denial-of-service vulnerabilities and seven spoofing vulnerabilities, according to Bleeping Computer.
The MSHTML vulnerability exploits an issue with the Internet Explorer web browser, making it the fourth such MSHTML vulnerability to be exploited in the wild in 2024, Brian Krebs reported Tuesday. Security Week reported that the MSHTML platform has been widely targeted by ransomware and advanced nation-state hacking teams.
The Microsoft Management Console vulnerability allows attackers who leverage malicious Microsoft Saved Console (MSC) files to execute remote code on targeted systems, according to Security Week.
WordPress: Love to Complain a Lot? Employees Might Get $30K If They Quit
Quote:The CEO of tech company Automattic, Matt Mullenweg, has offered unhappy employees a buyout package of $30,000 or six months of salary to quit the company and never return amid an ongoing dispute with competitor WP Engine.
SFGate reports that the San Francisco-based tech company Automattic, known for its popular web-hosting site WordPress.com, has been embroiled in a weeks-long drama with competitor WP Engine. The conflict reached a new height last week when CEO Matt Mullenweg announced that 159 of his workers had chosen to accept a buyout offer and quit the company.
Mullenweg, who is also one of the co-creators of the WordPress web software, framed the buyout offer as an opportunity for “alignment” within the company. In a blog post, he explained that it had become clear that a significant portion of his staff disagreed with how he had been handling the dispute with WP Engine. As a result, he decided to offer what he called “the most generous buy-out package possible” to those who wished to leave.
Under the terms of the buyout, employees who chose to accept the offer would receive either $30,000 or six months of salary, whichever was higher. However, they would not be allowed to return to the company in the future. Mullenweg revealed that of the 8.4 percent of the company who took the deal, 18 individuals had salaries exceeding $200,000, meaning their pre-tax severance checks would clear $100,000.
The roots of the conflict between Automattic and WP Engine can be traced back to the open-source nature of the WordPress software. While Mullenweg co-created the software, his control over it is limited due to its open-source status. In September, Mullenweg publicly accused WP Engine and its private equity parent, Silver Lake, of prioritizing financial gain over the ideals of open source software.
The following weeks saw a rapid escalation of the dispute, with Mullenweg calling WP Engine a “cancer” and the two companies trading cease-and-desist letters. WP Engine’s lawyers labeled Mullenweg’s actions as “outrageous” and his statements as “false, misleading, and disparaging.” Mullenweg responded by blocking WP Engine from some WordPress tools, effectively removing certain software functions from their customers.
On Wednesday, the conflict reached a new level when WP Engine filed a wide-reaching lawsuit against Automattic and Mullenweg in the Northern District of California. The lawsuit, which includes 11 different claims, accuses Automattic and Mullenweg of breaking promises, attempting to intimidate WP Engine, and harming the entire WordPress community.
Despite the ongoing legal battle, Mullenweg remains committed to his stance. In a statement to SFGate, he said, “I’ve spent half of my life championing open source. I’m passionate about ensuring the software that runs 43 percent of the web is healthy. When private equity-backed companies take advantage of open source software and its tens of thousands of contributors, I’m going to stand up and fight against them.”
Quote:As the government’s second antitrust trial heads towards closing arguments next month, the DOJ is contemplating asking a federal judge to compel Google to sell parts of its business to address the verdict of its first antitrust trial — that the internet giant has monopoly power with its search engine.
AP News reports that amidst the ongoing second antitrust case against Google, the DOJ is considering drastic measures to address the tech giant’s monopolistic practices related to its search engine, the focus of the first antitrust case. According to a recent court filing, federal prosecutors are weighing the possibility of asking a judge to force Google to sell off parts of its business in order to eliminate its dominance in the online search market.
The filing, submitted on Tuesday, marks the first step in a lengthy legal process aimed at devising remedies that could potentially reshape the company that has long been synonymous with internet search. The DOJ argues that Google has maintained control over the most popular distribution channels for more than a decade, leaving competitors with little incentive to vie for users.
To fully address the alleged harms caused by Google’s practices, the antitrust enforcers suggest that merely ending Google’s current control over distribution is insufficient. They emphasize the need to ensure that Google cannot exert similar control over the distribution channels of the future. As such, the department is considering requesting structural changes that would prevent Google from leveraging its various products, such as the Chrome browser, Android operating system, AI products, or app store, to benefit its search business.
Additionally, prosecutors have set their sights on Google’s default search agreements, indicating that any proposed remedies would aim to restrict or prohibit these deals. Default search agreements effectively lock in Google’s services and products as the automatic choice presented to consumers, exemplified by how Safari browsers on Apple iPhones default to using Google’s search engine.
In response to the filing, Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, expressed concern that the Department of Justice was signaling requests that extend beyond the specific legal issues at hand. She cautioned that government overreach in a rapidly evolving industry could lead to unintended negative consequences for American innovation and consumers.
Quote:Google is experimenting with a new feature that displays blue verified checkmarks next to links in search results that the search giant deems to be legitimate, aiming to help users avoid fake or fraudulent websites.
The Verge reports that to enhance user trust and safety, Google has begun testing a new verification system in its search results. The tech giant is now displaying blue checkmarks beside links to genuine business websites, such as Meta, Apple, and Amazon, to help users identify trustworthy sources and avoid falling victim to copycat sites attempting to capitalize on well-known brands.
Google public affairs spokesperson Molly Shaheen confirmed the experiment, stating, “We regularly experiment with features that help shoppers identify trustworthy businesses online, and we are currently running a small experiment showing checkmarks next to certain businesses on Google.”
The checkmarks are currently visible to a limited number of users and appear to be an extension of Google’s Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) feature, which is already used to display verification checkmarks in Gmail’s web and mobile apps for senders who have adopted the verification platform.
When a user hovers over the checkmark, a message appears explaining, “Google’s signals suggest that this business is the business that it says it is.” According to Shaheen, this determination is based on factors such as website verification, Merchant Center data, and manual reviews conducted by Google.
Google has not officially announced the search checkmarks or provided a timeline for when more users can expect to see the feature. The company’s decision to implement this verification system comes as part of its ongoing efforts to combat the spread of misinformation and protect users from fraudulent websites.
As with all Google features, there is a concern that the company will use this as a political weapon against conservatives. Google has a long track record of censorship and if users become used to only clicking on links with verification checkmarks, selective verification could become a new censorship tool.
Quote:Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has called for a full-scale investment in AI infrastructure, even as the energy-intensive nature of AI development threatens to undermine global climate goals. Saying the quiet part out loud, Schmidt admitted Silicon Valley’s climate goals were always completely unrealistic, stating: “We’re not going to hit the climate goals anyway because we’re not organized to do it.”
Business Insider reports that in a recent AI summit held in Washington DC, Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, made a controversial statement regarding the future of artificial intelligence and its potential impact on the environment.
Schmidt, who served as Google’s CEO from 2001 to 2011 and previously chaired the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence while also being a noted Clinton lackey and progressive advocate, urged the audience to fully invest in AI infrastructure, despite the massive energy consumption required by AI data centers.
The rapid growth of AI has led to a significant increase in spending on data centers, which provide the computational power necessary for training and running AI models. According to a report by McKinsey, data centers are expected to consume 35 gigawatts of power annually by 2030, a substantial increase from the 17 gigawatts consumed last year.
This surge in energy consumption poses a serious threat to the Biden administration’s targets of achieving a carbon-neutral power sector by 2035 and a net-zero US economy by 2050.
Despite the environmental concerns, Schmidt argued that the potential benefits of AI outweigh the risks. He acknowledged that there are ways to mitigate the negative effects of AI on the environment, such as using better batteries and power lines to build data centers.
However, he believes that the rapid growth of AI will eventually outpace these preventive measures. “All of that will be swamped by the enormous needs of this new technology,” Schmidt stated. “Because it’s a universal technology, and because it’s the arrival of an alien intelligence… we may make mistakes with respect to how it’s used, but I can assure you that we’re not going to get there through conservation.”
When pressed by presenters on whether it is possible to meet AI energy needs without disregarding conservation goals, Schmidt expressed his doubts about the feasibility of achieving the current climate targets.
“We’re not going to hit the climate goals anyway because we’re not organized to do it,” he said. Instead, Schmidt suggested that we should “bet on AI solving the problem” rather than “constraining it and having the problem.”
Schmidt’s comments have sparked a debate within the tech industry and among environmentalists. Some argue that the potential benefits of AI, such as its ability to optimize energy systems and develop new clean technologies, justify the increased energy consumption. Others, however, warn that prioritizing AI development over environmental concerns could have disastrous consequences for the planet.
In addition to his advocacy for AI development, Schmidt has also been involved in the defense industry. In 2022, he founded White Stork, a defense company that develops AI-powered drones. During a lecture at Stanford University in April, Schmidt referred to himself as an “arms dealer” due to the company’s involvement in the war in Ukraine. He also mentioned that White Stork would “use AI in complicated, powerful ways for these essentially robotic wars.”
So when anything benefits the elite, climate change doesn't even exist. So this is all about politics & economic decline not science.
Quote:Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has confirmed that images and videos shared with its AI assistant through the company’s Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses can be used to train the company’s AI models.
TechCrunch reports that Meta has shed light on its data usage practices concerning the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The company has confirmed that any image or video shared with the Meta AI assistant through these glasses may be used to train and improve Meta’s AI models, turning the whole world into Zuckerberg’s dataset.
This revelation comes after TechCrunch inquired about Meta’s stance on using photos and videos captured by users on the Ray-Ban Meta for AI training purposes. Initially, Meta provided a vague response, but later clarified that while images and videos captured on the smart glasses are not used for training by default, once a user submits them to the AI for analysis, they fall under a different set of policies.
The implications of this practice are significant, as Ray-Ban Meta users may unknowingly be providing Meta with a vast collection of personal data, including images of their homes, loved ones, and personal files. This data could potentially be used to develop increasingly powerful AI models. The only way for users to opt out of this data collection is to refrain from using Meta’s multimodal AI features altogether.
Meta’s recent rollout of new AI features for the Ray-Ban Meta glasses has made it easier for users to interact with the AI assistant more naturally, which could lead to an increase in data submissions. The introduction of a live video analysis feature, showcased in a promotional video where a user analyzes their closet to pick an outfit, further emphasizes the potential for data collection.
While Meta’s privacy policy does state that user interactions with AI features can be used to train AI models, the specifics regarding images shared through the Ray-Ban Meta were not initially clear. Meta’s AI terms of service also mention that by sharing images with Meta AI, users agree to have those images analyzed, including facial features, using AI technology.
The use of facial recognition software by Meta has been a contentious issue in the past, with the company recently settling a court case in Texas for $1.4 billion related to its now-defunct “Tag Suggestions” feature on Facebook. It is worth noting that several of Meta AI’s image features are not being released in Texas, possibly due to these legal concerns.
Quote:13 states and the District of Columbia have filed lawsuits against China’s TikTok, claiming the popular short-form video app is designed to be addictive and is harming the mental health of children and teens.
AP News reports that in a coordinated legal effort, multiple states and the District of Columbia have filed lawsuits against China-owned TikTok, alleging that the social media platform’s design intentionally fosters addiction in young users, leading to detrimental effects on their mental health. The lawsuits, filed in state courts, stem from a national investigation into TikTok launched in March 2022 by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from states such as New York, California, Kentucky, and New Jersey.
Central to the lawsuits is TikTok’s algorithm, which powers the app’s main “For You” feed by serving users content tailored to their interests. The complaints also highlight specific design features that allegedly contribute to children’s addiction, including endless scrolling, push notifications with “buzzes,” and face filters that create unattainable appearances.
The District of Columbia’s filing referred to the algorithm as “dopamine-inducing,” claiming it was intentionally created to be addictive and trap young users into excessive use for hours on end. The complaint asserts that TikTok engages in these practices despite knowing the potential for “profound psychological and physiological harms,” such as anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia.
Washington DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb stated, “It is profiting off the fact that it’s addicting young people to its platform.” Similarly, Cari Fais, acting director of New Jersey’s Division of Consumer Affairs, said, “The ugly truth is that TikTok misrepresents its platform as being safe for young users when, in reality, it is designed to turn a generation of children into social media addicts for TikTok’s profit.”
While TikTok does not allow children under 13 to sign up for its main service and restricts some content for those under 18, several states argue that these restrictions are easily bypassed, enabling children to access the adult version of the platform despite the company’s safety claims.
The lawsuits also target other aspects of TikTok’s business, such as its virtual currency system, TikTok Coins, and the “Gifts” feature on TikTok LIVE. The District of Columbia alleges that TikTok operates as an “unlicensed virtual economy” by allowing users to purchase coins and send gifts to streamers, who can then cash them out for real money. The company reportedly takes a 50 percent commission on these transactions without registering as a money transmitter with the appropriate authorities.
Furthermore, officials claim that teens are frequently exploited for sexually explicit content through TikTok’s LIVE streaming feature, essentially operating as a “virtual strip club” without age restrictions. The company’s cut from these financial transactions allegedly allows it to profit from this exploitation.
Quote:Actor Ben Affleck was seen stranded on the Los Angeles Freeway with his son on Saturday after his electric Bronco stopped working.
The Batman star and his twelve-year-old son, Samuel, who he shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, where able to make their way to a gas station where they indulged in some snacks while they waited for a tow truck to cart their dead EV back home, according to TMZ.
Samuel’s life has gotten complicated on the parental front as his mom divorced Affleck in 2017 and now his step mom, Jennifer Lopez, is also preparing to divorce Affleck.
However, according to reports, Garner and Lopez have never had any issues with each other and all get along cordially, TMZ notes.
Also, despite the divorce, Affleck has often been seen at events and vacation days with Garner and the three children they had together, so the Justice League star is very much involved in his children’s lives.
...
Quote:Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) hammered Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) for her record of supporting electric vehicle (EV) mandates during Michigan’s U.S. Senate debate Tuesday.
The auto industry has proven to be one of the most critical issues in Michigan for both the presidential and U.S. Senate races and was a hot topic of discussion Tuesday evening.
“My opponent has multiple times supported EV mandates, trying to pick the cars that our companies have to build and the cars that you’re going to have to buy,” Rogers said. “And by the way, that got us 2,400 layoffs at Stellantis, 1,000 layoffs at General Motors.”
Slotkin notably opposed legislation that would block states from being able to limit the number of gas-powered vehicles sold in September 2023, as Breitbart News reported. The legislation passed along bipartisan lines but not with Slotkin’s support.
Moreover, that vote came during the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike. Democrats’ push for electric vehicles was a major factor for striking union members, as it threatened to reduce manufacturing jobs.
Rogers stressed Tuesday that the many Michigan autoworkers he has spoken with “know more than what’s coming out of Washington, DC.”
What is more, in September 2024, Slotkin voted against legislation that would roll back the Biden-Harris administration’s rule to phase out EVs, which polling shows most Michiganders oppose. The rule, announced in March, mandates that most new cars sold in the U.S. by 2032 are EVs or hybrids.
Rogers argued Thursday that hybrids are a better way forward than EVs.
“There’s a better way to get where we want to go, like hybrids. By the way, you don’t have to plug it in, and you get to keep the autoworkers that are here in the state,” he said.
“About a million are reliant on building something, a part or something for a gasoline engine. Why we would take 40% of that labor off the table is beyond me,” he added.
Rogers also emphasized the threat that China poses to the domestic auto markets under a shift to EVs, saying the vast majority of parts processed in EVS go through China.
“Why in God’s green Earth we would cede that auto market to the Communist Party of China is beyond me,” he said.
Rogers contended, “You beat China by selling Americans cars they want to buy.”
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
A pop-up message said the online archive has suffered ‘a catastrophic security breach,’ as its operators say the site has been DDoS’d for days.
Wes Davis - The Verge Wrote:When visiting The Internet Archive (www.archive.org) on Wednesday afternoon, The Verge was greeted with a pop-up claiming the site had been hacked. Just after 9PM ET, Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle confirmed the breach and said the website had been defaced with the notification via a JavaScript library.
Here’s what the pop-up said:
Quote:Have you ever felt like the Internet Archive runs on sticks and is constantly on the verge of suffering a catastrophic security breach? It just happened. See 31 million of you on HIBP!
HIBP refers to Have I Been Pwned?, a website where people can look up whether their information has been published in data leaked from cyberattacks. HIBP operator Troy Hunt confirmed to BleepingComputer that he received a file containing “email addresses, screen names, password change timestamps, Bcrypt-hashed passwords, and other internal data” for 31 million unique email addresses nine days ago and confirmed it was valid by matching data with a user’s account.
A tweet from HIBP said 54 percent of the accounts were already in its database from previous breaches. In posts on his account, Hunt gave further details on the timeline, including contacting the Internet Archive about the breach on October 6th and moving forward with the disclosure process to today, when the site was defaced and DDoS’d at the same time they were loading the data into HIBP to begin notifying affected users.
After closing the message, the site loaded normally, albeit slowly.
As of 5:30PM ET, the pop-up was gone, but so was the rest of the site, leaving either nothing or a placeholder message saying “Internet Archive services are temporarily offline” and directing visitors to the site’s account on X for updates.
Jason Scott, an archivist and software curator of The Internet Archive, said the site was experiencing a DDoS attack, posting on Mastodon that “according to their twitter, they’re doing it just to do it. Just because they can. No statement, no idea, no demands.”
Later on Wednesday evening, Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive confirmed the breach in a post on X:
Quote:What we know: DDOS attack–fended off for now; defacement of our website via JS library; breach of usernames/email/salted-encrypted passwords.
What we’ve done: Disabled the JS library, scrubbing systems, upgrading security.
Will share more as we know it.
An account on X called SN_Blackmeta said it was behind the attack and implied that another attack was planned for tomorrow. The account also posted about DDoSing the site in May, and Scott has previously posted about attacks seemingly aimed at disrupting the Internet Archive.
We’ve reached out to the organization to learn more information.
Update, October 9th: Added information from HIBP and BleepingComputer as well as Brewster Kahle’s confirmation of the breach.
Up is down, left is right and sideways is straight ahead. - Cord "Circle of Iron", 1978 (written by Bruce Lee and James Coburn... really...)
Quote:A Florida attorney and Democrat political candidate claims he was the target of a sophisticated AI voice-cloning scam that almost fooled his father into handing over $35,000.
The New York Post reports that Jay Shooster, a 34-year-old attorney running for the Florida House of Representatives as a Democrat, recently found himself at the center of an elaborate AI voice-cloning scam that nearly cost his father $35,000. The scammers used AI to clone Jay’s voice, likely using a 15-second TV campaign ad as source material, and called his father claiming that Jay had been arrested after a serious car accident and needed bail money.
His father, a retired attorney visiting his daughter in New York at the time, was convinced that the hysterical voice on the phone was indeed his son. The impersonator, posing as Jay, pleaded with his father not to tell anyone about the situation. Soon after, a man identifying himself as an attorney called and demanded a $35,000 cash bond to avoid Jay being held in jail for several days.
The scam took an unconventional turn when the supposed attorney instructed Frank to pay the bond via a cryptocurrency machine, raising suspicions. It wasn’t until Jay’s sister and her friend discovered that AI voice-cloning scams were on the rise that he realized something was amiss and ultimately hung up the phone.
Jay speculated that the scammers might have cloned his voice from his recent campaign ad or other online video footage. The sophistication of the scam left him stunned, as he noted that “all it takes is a few seconds of someone’s voice” for the technology to create a convincing impersonation.
Quote:Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday that the BRICS economic bloc, led by China and Russia, is working to create its own international payment system because the existing Western system is too politicized, and too vulnerable to pressure from the United States.
Siluanov was referring to heavy sanctions leveled against Russia after its brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ever since those sanctions were imposed, Russia has been trying to create an alternative to SWIFT, the international financial tracking system established by Western nations.
“Our task is to create our own independent system, given the largely political decisions of the West,” Siluanov said on Thursday.
“BRICS is beyond politics, beyond any pressures and restrictions. Its aim is to stimulate economic growth and boost the income of our citizens,” he claimed.
BRICS was established by Brazil, Russia, India, and China as a counter to Western organizations like the Group of Seven (G7). The fifth member, South Africa (the “S” in BRICS), joined later.
BRICS added five new members in January 2024, including Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Ethiopia. Argentina was also scheduled to join at that time, but backed out of the largely left-wing and anti-American coalition after the election of libertarian President Javier Milei. Another 13 nations are closely collaborating with BRICS and could apply for membership in the future.
BRICS has long sought ways to facilitate trade between its members without using the Western-dominated global financial system, or the U.S. dollar. Despite Siluanov’s absurd contention that BRICS is “beyond politics,” the big reason for this scramble to devise an alternative to SWIFT is entirely political: many of the BRICS nations have poor-to-appalling human rights records and they resent the ability of the Western world to impose sanctions against them.
The BRICS nations have also collectively exempted themselves from making any major sacrifices for climate change, even though the five core nations of the bloc emit more “greenhouse gas” than the entire rest of the world combined.
Quote:North Korean engineers are using artificial intelligence and other technologies to fool foreign governments and corporations, landing overseas jobs and earning U.S. dollars to fund the regime of Kim Jong-un, the Asian Nikkei Review reported Thursday.
According to Nikkei, U.S. facilitators are aiding the Pyongyang regime in earning foreign currency to fund weapons programs. The newspaper referenced the case of Matthew Isaac Knoot, a 38-year-old man from Nashville, Tennessee, who ran a “laptop farm” with the intent to generate revenue for North Korea’s weapons program.
Knoot used the equipment and stolen identities to deceive American and British companies into hiring North Korean individuals pretending to be remote U.S. IT workers, laundering the proceeds from the remote IT jobs to accounts linked to both North Korean and Chinese actors. According to the Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, the “laptop farm” operation yielded revenues of over $250,000 between July 2022 and August 2023 per each false worker.
American authorities reportedly dismantled Knoot’s operation in August. He stands charged with aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to cause the unlawful employment of aliens, facing a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if found guilty.
The “laptop farm” in Tennessee is the latest in a growing list of similar cases of North Korean actors apparently infiltrating U.S. tech companies using forged or stolen identities in an effort to fund the North Korean regime or for potential cyberattacks or intrusions.
Google’s security subsidiary Mandiant published a report in September detailing the schemes of a North Korean hacker group known as “UNC5267” that dedicates itself to infiltrate U.S. tech companies. According to the report, the group, which does not operate as a “traditional, centralized threat group,” has been operating since at least 2018. Its members have been sent by Pyongyang to live in China, Russia and, in a smaller proportion, to nations in Africa and Southeast Asia.
The group uses stolen identities to apply for various remote job positions or are brought to the companies through a contractor. Some of the individuals work multiple jobs at once, resulting in multi-million-dollar revenues for the North Korean regime.
“We’ve weeded out over 50 candidates that were North Korean spies,” she said, “to the point where I had to put certain controls in place in my hiring process,” Lili Infante, founder and CEO of CAT Labs, a Miami-based cybersecurity startup, told the Wall Street Journal in June.
Similarly, the cybersecurity firm KnowBe4 revealed in July that it had detected a North Korean spy posing as a remote software engineer in their own internal team. KnowBe4 explained on its website that it received the North Korean spy’s resume, conducted interviews, and performed various background checks, which the spy appears to have passed.
Upon being sent a workstation device, the North Korean spy immediately began to load malware to the firm’s network. The spy was able to deceive the firm through the use of a stolen U.S.-based identity and by using artificial intelligence to digitally alter a stock photograph.
Since May, the U.S. has offered a $5 million bounty for any information that can lead to the disruption of North Korean financing networks and information on North Korean IT workers that have generated at least $6.8 million in revenue for North Korea through illicitly obtained remote jobs with U.S. companies using more than 60 stolen U.S. identities.
Brazilian Federal Court Sentenced Streamer to Prison
Quote:A Brazilian Federal court sentenced Bruno Aiub, a political podcaster locally known as “Monark,” to one year and two months in prison for “slandering” Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Minister Flavio Dino by calling him a “fatty,” Brazilian outlets reported Tuesday.
Dino, prior to his appointment as a member of the top Brazilian court in February 22, served as far-left President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s justice minister between January 2023 and February 2.
During his tenure as justice minister, Dino made several calls for the regulation of social media and claimed that platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and others were responsible for a series of deadly school attacks that took place across several Brazilian cities during early 2023.
The STF minister sued Aiub last year for slander and defamation over two videos reportedly published by the podcaster between May and June 2023 in which Aiub insulted the then-justice minister. According to the Brazilian outlet G1, the videos were published on the video platform Rumble.
In the videos, Aiub reportedly reacted to statements issued by Dino at a meeting with representatives from different social media platforms in April 2023 where he criticized the use of social media to promote “hate speech.” According to G1, Dino made his assertions within the context of an attack on a kindergarten that took place in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, in April 2023, in which a 25-year-old man killed four children with an ax and injured five more.
During the response, G1 stated, Monark called Dino “perverse” and criticized his remarks over freedom of speech, claiming that the minister wanted to “enslave” people.
Musk Supports Trump so CA Coastal Commission Cannot Trust SpaceX
Quote:The California Coastal Commission has denied Space Force plans for Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch crucial satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base because the governmental body doesn’t like Musk’s politics. One commissioner claimed SpaceX should not be allowed to support the American military’s work in space because Musk has “aggressively injected himself into the presidential race.”
Politico reports that in a 6-4 vote on Thursday, the California Coastal Commission rejected the Air Force’s plan to allow SpaceX to launch up to 50 rockets per year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County. The decision came as a blow to the aerospace company’s ambitions, with commissioners citing concerns over Elon Musk’s political rhetoric and the classification of SpaceX as a military contractor.
During the meeting in San Diego, Commissioner Gretchen Newsom criticized Musk’s behavior, stating, “Elon Musk is hopping about the country, spewing and tweeting political falsehoods and attacking FEMA while claiming his desire to help the hurricane victims with free Starlink access to the internet.” The commission, known for its strict defense of public access to California’s coastline, had been in ongoing discussions with the Air Force’s Space Force branch since May 2023 regarding the proposed increase in SpaceX’s satellite launches from Vandenberg.
The primary point of contention was the Air Force’s request to shield SpaceX from having to acquire its own permits, even for launches not carrying military payloads. Commissioner Dayna Bochco expressed doubts, saying, “I do believe that the Space Force has failed to establish that SpaceX is a part of the federal government, part of our defense.”
In August, the commission had approved a plan for SpaceX to increase its launches from six to 36 times per year, conditional upon the Space Force agreeing to seven measures aimed at improving environmental protection and coastal access. However, military officials did not commit to these conditions during the hearing, drawing sharp criticism from the commissioners.
Despite a seemingly positive turn in September, when the Air Force agreed to meet the commission’s seven conditions, the goodwill dissipated during Thursday’s meeting. Commissioners raised concerns about Musk’s political rhetoric, the company’s labor record, and the classification of SpaceX as a military contractor.
Commission Chair Caryl Hart acknowledged the work of the Space Force but expressed unease about Musk’s involvement in the presidential race and his management of the company. “I really appreciate the work of the Space Force,” Hart said. “But here we’re dealing with a company, the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the presidential race and he’s managed a company in a way that was just described by Commissioner Newsom that I find to be very disturbing.”
Quote:Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s latest autonomous vehicle concept, the “Cybercab” robotaxi, with his signature flair and ambitious timelines that have become all too familiar to investors. Promising driverless transportation in a few years with scant details, Musk’s presentation has fallen flat as Tesla shares are down seven percent in morning trading.
Gizmodo reports that at a glitzy event held at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, on Thursday night, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took the stage to reveal the company’s latest foray into autonomous transportation — the Tesla Cybercab. Billed as “individualized mass transit,” the futuristic two-seater vehicles lack steering wheels and pedals, relying entirely on self-driving capabilities powered by cameras and AI.
In typical Musk fashion, the billionaire entrepreneur made bold claims about the Cybercab’s pricing and timeline. He stated that Tesla expects the cost to be below $30,000 and that the vehicles would enter production sometime in 2026, before hedging with “well, I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames, but in 2026… Before 2027, let me put it that way.” Musk also asserted that the Cybercab would be “the lowest cost by far of any transportation in history,” even suggesting a per-mile price of as low as 50 cents.
However, Musk’s track record when it comes to delivering on ambitious promises has left many skeptical. The CEO has been touting the imminent arrival of fully autonomous Tesla cars for the better part of a decade, with the goalpost seemingly always just a couple years away. In 2019, Musk infamously claimed that Tesla would have a million robotaxis on the road by 2020, a prediction that failed to materialize. More recently, in 2022 Musk stated that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology would be able to drive without human intervention from home to work, most likely by the end of the year, another unfulfilled promise. A website tracks Musk’s history of broken promises.
The Cybercab event also featured a demonstration of the Optimus robot, with an early prototype performing basic tasks like lifting boxes and watering plants. Musk claimed that the humanoid robot will revolutionize physical labor and cost between $20,000 to $30,000 in the long term. However, details were scant and experts remain doubtful that such a price point is achievable in the near future given the current state of robotics technology. Additionally, Tesla unveiled the “Robovan” capable of carrying a larger number of passengers.
While the Cybercab’s sleek design and promised capabilities seem impressive, Tesla faces stiff competition from established players in the autonomous vehicle space. Companies like Google’s Waymo and GM’s Cruise are already operating driverless taxi services in several U.S. cities, albeit with the crucial addition of Lidar technology that Tesla has thus far eschewed. These companies have logged millions of autonomous miles and have more experience navigating the complex regulatory landscape surrounding self-driving vehicles.
Following the event, Tesla’s stock took a significant hit on Friday morning, with shares falling seven percent in morning trading. Analysts from various firms expressed their disappointment with the event’s revelations. Barclays noted that the presentation emphasized Tesla’s vision for a fully autonomous driving future but failed to highlight any near-term opportunities or provide updates on the company’s low-cost model planned for production in the first half of 2025. Piper Sandler analysts suggested that most trading-oriented firms would be underwhelmed by the robotaxi unveiling and wouldn’t be surprised if the stock sells off in the coming weeks as pre-event momentum fizzles.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:Troubled electric vehicle company Fisker’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings have encountered a significant obstacle, as American Lease, the company set to purchase Fisker’s remaining fleet of SUVs, may back out of the deal due to technical issues.
TechCrunch reports that Fisker’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy process has hit a major snag. American Lease, a New York-based leasing company that agreed to purchase Fisker’s remaining fleet of over 3,000 electric Ocean SUVs, has filed an emergency objection to the liquidation plan. The objection stems from Fisker’s revelation that it may be unable to transfer crucial vehicle information to a new server not owned by the bankrupt company.
The purchase agreement between Fisker and American Lease, approved in July, has been a lifeline for the struggling EV startup. American Lease has already paid “tens of millions of dollars” to Fisker, enabling the company to fund its bankruptcy proceedings and settle debts. The funds have also been crucial in preparing Fisker to liquidate approximately $1 billion in assets that were previously under the control of an insolvent Austrian subsidiary.
Breitbart News previously reported on Joe Biden’s cozy relationship with Fisker:
In 2009, Biden promised that $529 million in new Department of Energy loan guarantees to Fisker Automotive to produce electric cars in Delaware would provide “billions of dollars in good, new jobs.” Four years later, Fisker filed for bankruptcy — without producing a single car in the U.S.
As Breitbart News reported at the time, Fisker was granted the loan guarantees to produce a hybrid sports car called the “Karma” for the luxury auto market, with a price of $103,000. High-profile political figures lobbied for the deal. Fisker filed for bankruptcy failed in 2013 and taxpayers lost $139 million on the venture. Republicans noted: “The jobs that were promised never materialized and once again tax payers are on the hook for the administration’s reckless gamble.”
Along with failed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, Fisker was one of the highest-profile failures of the stimulus, which Biden oversaw, and which he has touted on the campaign trail as proof of his ability to handle America’s economic recovery.
However, last week Fisker informed American Lease that transferring the vehicle information to a new server might not be possible. This week, the startup confirmed that the transfer is indeed unfeasible. American Lease’s lawyers emphasized the significance of this development, stating that the leasing company “cannot overstate the significance of this unwelcome news, conveyed to it only after it has paid [Fisker] tens of millions of dollars under the Purchase Agreement.”
The inability to transfer the vehicle information to a new server poses a significant problem for American Lease, as the company requires this data to operate the SUVs once Fisker is dissolved. In light of this revelation, American Lease is requesting a delay in the bankruptcy court hearing scheduled for Wednesday and is seeking permission to conduct “expedited and targeted discovery” of Fisker and its representatives to determine when the startup became aware of this critical issue.
Quote:SpaceX successfully “caught” the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket Sunday as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, a world first in the company’s quest for rapid reusability.
The “super heavy booster” had blasted off attached to the Starship rocket minutes earlier, then made a picture-perfect controlled return to the same pad in Texas, where a pair of huge mechanical “chopsticks” reached out from the launch tower to bring the slowly descending booster to a halt, according to a livestream from Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.
...
“Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books,” a SpaceX spokesperson said in a voiceover on the company’s livestream, after the booster was safely in the tower’s grasp and company staffers had erupted in cheers.
“The tower has caught the rocket!!” SpaceX founder Musk posted on X.
Liftoff occurred at 7:25 am (1225 GMT) in clear weather. While the booster returned to the launchpad, the upper stage of Starship was due to splash down in the Indian Ocean within the hour.
During its last flight in June, SpaceX achieved its first successful splashdown with Starship, a prototype spaceship that Musk hopes will one day carry humans to Mars.
NASA is also keenly awaiting a modified version of Starship to act as a lander vehicle for crewed flights to the Moon under the Artemis program later this decade.
SpaceX said its engineers have “spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success.”
Teams were monitoring to ensure “thousands” of criteria were met both on the vehicle and at the tower before any attempt to return the Super Heavy booster.
Had the conditions not been satisfied, the booster would have been redirected for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, as in previous tests.
Instead, having been given the green light, the returning booster decelerated from supersonic speeds and the powerful “chopstick arms” embraced it.
Quote:The Walt Disney Company is facing a large class action lawsuit over the massive data breach the company suffered in July when more that 1.1TB of its customers’ private data was stolen by hackers.
The suit was filed on October 3 in Los Angeles Superior Court by Scott Margel against Disney and Disney California Adventure, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The paper notes that thousands of Disney and former Disney customers have signed onto the suit, all of whom are charging Disney with responsibility for losing their “highly sensitive personal information.”
The breach occurred after the Russia-based hacktivist group “Nullbulge” found a way to access Disney’s Slack, its internal employee communication and workflow system, which then gave the hacktivist group access to the data. The group reportedly also gained access to Disney’s Cruise Line information which contained the passport numbers, and other personal details of cruise crew members.
Customers also say Disney has not told them about the full extent of the breach and they simply don’t know how much of their personal information was taken.
Other information stolen by the hackers include granular revenue details about Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu, the Wall Street Journal reported in July.
The Hollywood Reporter writes that the “leaked information includes a trove of internal communications from Disney, images, logins, studio information, ad campaigns and other information, almost all appearing to be from the Salesforce-owned communications platform Slack.”
The hacking incident could not have come at a worse time for Disney as the entertainment giant has been undergoing round after round of layoffs and consolidation or elimination departments and branches. Just last month hundreds of corporate employees found their jobs on the chopping block
The company has also experienced stiff rounds of revenue loss. Things are so bad for the company’s theme parks that Disney shares were downgraded on news of loses at its parks couple with its still struggling streaming service.
AI Comedy or Tragicomedy? AI Tells Man Girlfriend is Breaking up with Him
Quote:A software developer in New York City discovered his girlfriend was breaking up with him when his iPhone delivered an AI-generated summary of her texts.
Ars Technica reports that Nick Spreen, a software developer based in New York City, learned that his girlfriend was ending their relationship through an AI-powered text message summary on his iPhone. The early test version of Apple’s upcoming Apple Intelligence feature summed up the content of several breakup texts, coldly stating, “No longer in a relationship; wants belongings from the apartment.”
Spreen shared a screenshot of the AI-generated message to X (formerly Twitter), which quickly went viral. He confirmed the authenticity of the message, noting that it arrived on his birthday. The AI summary feature, set to fully launch with iOS 18.1 in the fall, is currently available as part of the iOS 18 public beta test.
Apple Intelligence works similarly to a simplified version of ChatGPT, analyzing incoming text messages and generating a concise summary of their contents. Spreen’s experience marks the first known instance of an AI-mediated relationship breakup, but it’s unlikely to be the last as AI message summarization becomes more prevalent across various tech platforms.
While some may find the idea of receiving bad news through an AI summary to be impersonal and insensitive, society’s tolerance for technological progress in communication has evolved over time. In the early days of SMS texting, breaking up via text message was considered rude and unusual. However, as texting became more commonplace, attitudes began to shift, with some even endorsing the practice as a legitimate way to end a relationship.
Spreen’s experience with the AI-generated breakup summary elicited mixed feelings. He acknowledged that the AI’s involvement added a level of distance that wasn’t entirely unwelcome, likening it to a professional personal assistant offering support during a difficult situation. However, he also described the experience as “unreal and dystopian.”
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:A hacker has stolen a massive database of users’ interactions with their sexual partner chatbots, according to 404 Media.
The breached service, Muah.ai, describes itself as a platform that lets people engage in AI-powered companion NSFW chat, exchange photos, and even have voice chats.
As you can imagine, data like this is very sensitive, so the site assures customers that communications are encrypted and says it doesn’t sell any data to third parties.
The stolen data, however, tells a different story. It includes chatbot prompts that reveal users’ sexual fantasies. These prompts are in turn linked to email addresses, many of which appear to be personal accounts with users’ real names.
Mauh.ai says it believes in freedom of speech and to uphold that right, it says:
“AI technology should be for everyone, and its use case to be decided by each mature, individual adult. So that means we don’t actively censor or filter AI. So any topic can be discussed without running into a wall.”
Unfortunately, that means that filth is created to satisfy the needs of some sick users, and some of the data contains horrifying explicit references to children.
Presumably those users in particular don’t want their fantasies to be discovered, which is exactly what might happen if they are connected to your email address.
The hacker describes the platform as “a handful of open-source projects duct-taped together.” Apparently, it was no trouble at all to find a vulnerability that provided access to the platform’s database.
The administrator of Muah.ai says the hack was noticed a week ago and claims that it must be sponsored by the competitors in the “uncensored AI industry.” Which, who knew, seems to be the next big thing.
The administrator also said that Muah.ai employs a team of moderation staff that suspend and delete ALL child-related chatbots on its card gallery (where users share their creations), Discord, Reddit, etc, But in reality, when two people posted about a reportedly underage AI character on the site’s Discord server, 404 Media claims a moderator told the users to not “post that shit” here, but to go “DM each other or something.”
Muah.ai is just one example of a new breed of uncensored AI apps that offer hundreds of role-play scenarios with chatbots, and others designed to behave like a long-term romantic companion.
404 Media says it tried to contact dozens of people included in the data, including users who wrote prompts that discuss having underage sex. Not surprisingly, none of those people responded to a request for comment.
Update October 11
There are reports that this information is in use for active extortion attempts. Whether these are based on actual activities on the platform or solely based on leaked email addresses is not yet known.
Quote:Tesla’s Optimus robots, which played a significant role in Elon Musk’s extravagant robotaxi reveal last week, were not fully autonomous and relied on human intervention, according to attendees and analysts.
The Verge reports that at Tesla’s highly anticipated “We, Robot” event, held in conjunction with the reveal of its Cybercab robotaxi, the company showcased its Optimus humanoid robots which interacted with the crowd, serving drinks, playing games with guests, and even dancing. The robots’ ability to engage in conversation and respond to verbal and visual cues left many attendees impressed. However, it has come to light that the robots’ seemingly advanced capabilities were largely due to human assistance behind the scenes.
Attendee Robert Scoble, who initially posted about the robots’ impressive performance, later clarified that he had learned from an engineer that the robots were being “remote assisted” by humans. This revelation was further supported by Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, who noted in a report that the robots “relied on tele-ops (human intervention).”
Several telltale signs pointed to the involvement of human operators in the Optimus robots’ actions. For instance, each robot had a distinct voice, and their responses to attendees’ questions were immediate and accompanied by matching gesticulations. In one video, an Optimus robot jokingly admitted to an attendee that it might be partially controlled by AI, while another robot, in a stilted synthetic voice, stated, “Today, I am assisted by a human,” acknowledging that it was not fully autonomous.
Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has a history of employing theatrical elements to generate buzz around the company’s products. The initial announcement of the humanoid robot featured a person in a robot suit on stage, setting the tone for the hyperbolic presentation of the Optimus robots at the recent event. While attendees did not seem to feel misled by the robots’ assisted performance, the event provided little insight into the actual progress of Tesla’s humanoid robotics work.
Quote:Newly uncovered emails shed light on the close relationships between tech giants Google and Amazon and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) as the companies sought to undermine overseas regulations, including efforts to protect traditional media outlets.
The New York Post reports that the advocacy group Demand Progress has accused Google and Amazon of attempting to “hijack U.S. trade policy” for their own benefit, maintaining a “revolving door” relationship with the USTR. The report is based on a tranche of emails exchanged between Google and Amazon executives and USTR officials from May 2023 through April 2024, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
One notable email exchange from May 2023 reveals how Google sought to enlist the USTR in its fight against Canada’s Online News Act, which requires Google and Facebook parent Meta to pay publishers for displaying their content online. Google’s head of trade policy, Nicholas Bramble, requested a meeting with three USTR staffers to discuss “upcoming developments on Canada.” The meeting took place just four business days later, and the USTR’s Andrea Boron asked Google to share their public comments detailing objections and concerns about the Online News Act.
Google provided links to a “list of key concerns and proposed amendments” that they had shared with Canadian lawmakers, as well as a transcript of public testimony in which a Google executive warned that the company would “reconsider” offering news content in Canada if the law took effect. Despite Google’s efforts to weaken or kill the bill, the company ultimately cut a last-minute deal with Canada in November 2023, agreeing to pay $74 million to media outlets while securing the right to negotiate with a consortium of local news outlets rather than individual entities.
The emails also reveal instances of Amazon leveraging its ties with the agency. In August 2023, the USTR’s Danielle Fumagalli sought input from Amazon and Google staffers regarding a proposal in Japan aimed at helping domestic cloud-computing firms compete for government contracts. Fumagalli’s email to Amazon was addressed to Mary Thornton, who had previously worked as a director at the USTR before joining Amazon as the head of trade and export controls policy for the company’s cloud unit.
Critics argue that Big Tech firms are using their influence over the USTR and other federal agencies to shape lenient regulatory policies that protect their interests at the expense of smaller competitors. If successful, this effort could undermine future attempts by Congress or individual states to pass anti-monopoly laws
Quote:China’s TikTok admits in its own research that “compulsive usage correlates with a slew of negative mental health effects like loss of analytical skills, memory formation, contextual thinking, conversational depth, empathy, and increased anxiety.” The internal documents have been revealed as part of a lawsuit against the Chinese platform.
A lawsuit brought by the Attorney General of Kentucky claims that TikTok users can become “addicted” to the Chinese app in just 35 minutes, and that the app’s own internal research has found that “compulsive usage” of TikTok can result in “a slew of negative mental health effects,” according to a report by NPR.
“While this may seem substantial, TikTok videos can be as short as 8 seconds and are played for viewers in rapid-fire succession, automatically,” Kentucky authorities said. “Thus, in under 35 minutes, an average user is likely to become addicted to the platform.”
Moreover, “compulsive usage also interferes with essential personal responsibilities like sufficient sleep, work/school responsibilities, and connecting with loved ones,” the lawsuit adds.
Another internal document states that TikTok — which estimates that 95 percent of smartphone users under the age of 17 use the Chinese app — knows the app is designed to keep young people on the platform, and that its features successfully lead to users having a constant and irresistible urge to continue opening the app.
The report also found that while TikTok lets parents place time limits on their kids’ app usage, internal documents show that the Chinese app measures the success of this tool by how it was “improving public trust in the TikTok platform via media coverage,” rather than how it limited teens’ usage of the app.
Court documents also allege that TikTok demoted people it deemed unattractive, despite the Chinese app being aware of the harm its beauty filters can cause young users. An internal document reportedly complains that TikTok showed “a high volume” of “not attractive subjects” on users’ main video feed.
“By changing the TikTok algorithm to show fewer ‘not attractive subjects’ in the For You feed, [TikTok] took active steps to promote a narrow beauty norm even though it could negatively impact their Young Users,” the Kentucky authorities wrote.
Additionally, a TikTok executive reportedly admitted that the app’s algorithm could deprive young users of certain “opportunities,” such as sleep, eating, moving around, and even “looking at someone in the eyes.”
“I think we need to be cognizant of what it might mean for other opportunities,” a TikTok executive said. “And when I say other opportunities, I literally mean sleep, and eating, and moving around the room, and looking at someone in the eyes.”
Quote:Four people have died in a car crash in France after their Tesla vehicle reportedly hit a road sign and caught fire, police said Monday.
A local police spokesman, Lt. Eric Hoarau, said the exact circumstances of the crash Saturday night near the city of Niort were still to be determined and an investigation was underway.
“Everything suggests (the vehicle) came off the road,” Hoarau said, citing marks on the ground and a severed road sign.
There were no witnesses, he said, making the investigation complicated.
The driver and three passengers were burnt beyond recognition, he said.
Tesla did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:Microsoft has been continuing to warn that the U.S. is vulnerable to cyberattacks from China — yet has still maintained closed ties to Chinese government research institutes that could serve as the training grounds for the communist country’s army of hackers.
Earlier this week, Microsoft’s own analysis provided yet more evidence of how Chinese cyberattacks threaten the U.S. Yet the tech giant remains deeply tied to the communist-run country, more than many other tech companies. The tech giant does not seemed concerned to be deeply involved with researchers in a country that blurs the lines between developing technology and hacking it.
Microsoft maintains a close working relationship with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, 中国科学院), a prestigious research academy run by the Chinese government whose institutes have recently been sanctioned by the United States for alleged attempts to acquire U.S. technology to support Chinese military modernization, records show.
Open-source documents show that Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA), Microsoft’s flagship research institute in China, has engaged in research exchanges and technical training of CAS scholars. In at least one case, Microsoft also funded a CAS program.
CAS has long drawn scrutiny from the US government given its status as a Chinese government entity that conducts cutting-edge research into dual-use and sensitive technology, such as advanced AI and quantum computing. In 2022, the CAS Institute of Computing Technology was added to the Department of Commerce’s Entity List, which targets foreign organizations that “pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”
Microsoft has hosted multiple researchers in residency programs at Microsoft Research Asia from the Institute, including at least one who was mentored after the Institute’s designation as a sanctioned entity.
In May 2024, the Department of Commerce added four more CAS institutions to the Entity List. The CAS units were added “for acquiring and attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of advancing China’s quantum technology capabilities, which has serious ramifications for U.S. national security given the military applications.”
In September 2024, the House passed H.R.1516 (DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act), which, if approved by the Senate, would classify any organization affiliated with Chinese Academy of Science as a “Chinese entity of concern,” barring it from cooperating with US higher educational institutions.
Quote:The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has initiated a probe into Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one incident that resulted in a pedestrian’s death.
AP News reports that the NHTSA has launched an investigation into Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system following reports of several crashes occurring in low-visibility conditions. The probe, which was opened on Thursday, comes after the company reported four incidents where Tesla vehicles encountered challenges in situations involving sun glare, fog, and airborne dust. Tragically, one of these crashes led to the death of a pedestrian, while another resulted in an injury.
The investigation, covering approximately 2.4 million Tesla vehicles from the 2016 through 2024 model years, aims to assess the “Full Self-Driving” system’s ability to detect and respond appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions. NHTSA officials will also examine the contributing circumstances surrounding these crashes and determine if any other similar incidents have occurred under comparable conditions.
This development comes on the heels of Tesla’s recent event at a Hollywood studio, where CEO Elon Musk unveiled plans for a fully autonomous robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals. Musk has repeatedly promised autonomous vehicles in the past and stated that the company intends to have autonomous Models Y and 3 running without human drivers as early as next year. However, the impact of the current investigation on Tesla’s self-driving ambitions remains unclear.
While there are no federal regulations specifically focused on autonomous vehicles, they must still adhere to broader safety rules. NHTSA would need to approve any robotaxi lacking pedals or a steering wheel, which is unlikely to happen while the investigation is ongoing. If Tesla attempts to deploy autonomous vehicles in its existing models, the decision would likely fall under state regulations.
Tesla has faced scrutiny from NHTSA in the past, having twice recalled its “Full Self-Driving” system under pressure from the agency. The recalls were issued to address issues such as disobedience of traffic laws. These problems were supposed to be resolved through online software updates.
Quote:The parents of a student in Massachusetts are taking legal action against their child’s high school for punishing him over the use of AI in a class assignment. According to the parent’s lawsuit, being punished for cheating with AI will cause “irreparable harm” to the student.
The Register reports that the parents of a Massachusetts student, identified only as RNH, have filed a lawsuit against their child’s school. The dispute arose after the student admitted to using AI while working on a Social Studies project in December 2022. Although the student claimed that AI was used solely for research purposes and not to write the entire paper, the school administered a Saturday detention and marked down the project grade.
The parents argue in their court filing that their child “will suffer irreparable harm that far outweighs any harm that may befall the Defendants.” They emphasize the potential impact on their son’s future, stating that he is applying to elite colleges and universities, and the incident could jeopardize his chances in the highly competitive admissions process. The parents are seeking an injunction to clear their son’s academic record of any mention of the incident, restore his eligibility for the National Honor Society, and ensure he receives a B grade for the project without any indication of cheating.
In response, the school has filed a motion to dismiss the case, asserting that the student, along with his classmates, was provided with a copy of the student handbook in the Fall of 2022, which explicitly prohibited the use of AI by students. The policy stated that students should “not use AI tools during in-class examinations, processed writing assignments, homework or classwork unless explicitly permitted and instructed.” The school also presented the policy to the class.
The school argues that “RNH unequivocally used another author’s language and thoughts, be it a digital and artificial author, without express permission to do so.” They further contend that the student failed to cite the use of AI in his notes, scripts, or submitted project, and that his peers were not allowed to “cut corners” by using AI to craft their projects, thus giving RNH an unfair advantage.
Quote:A leading Eurocrat has called for more controls on speech in order to confront the supposed scourge of “disinformation narratives” within the bloc.
Despite finding that so-called disinformation did not play a major role in deciding the European Parliament elections in June, European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová said that a “whole of society” approach will be necessary to clamp down on speech.
She said in comments reported by POLITICO that this would include “strategic communication, pre-bunking of the disinformation narratives, effective law enforcement for the digital space, strong independent media as well as the research, fact-checking and critical thinking.”
The push for even more censorship by Brussels comes in the wake of an assesment by the suppoedly independent European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), which claimed that in the lead up to the EU elections, there was the highest ever recorded level of EU-related online disinformation.
However, Jourová admitted that the alleged spike did not produce a “major incident… capable of disrupting the elections.”
Elsa Pilichowski, the public governance director for the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), told the news outlet that “we were predicting, you know, more problems this year than there has been,” and that AI had not been a “game-changer” in the European Parliament elections.
Yet she said that government officials are are “discussing policy options” surrounding the advent of AI, including the potential of the technology to be used to hijack ballots.
“They are in the process of getting ready. But I don’t think we are ready yet for the risks that are coming up,” Pilichowski said.
Quote:She admits she’s never met him, but she knows Elon Musk struggles with evil: top European Commission figure makes latest strike in an ongoing battle between the ‘X’ owner and the European Union.
Outgoing European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová told Politico on Wednesday that the world’s richest man is a “promoter of evil”, because he does not meet European Union ambitions for censorship on the X, formerly known as Twitter, platform he owns.
The Czech politician, who has been a senior figure in the European Union for over a decade fired the latest shots in a long-rumbling battle of wills between Europe and Musk, over their desire to see Brussels rules triumph over the billionaire’s personal vision of freedom of speech. Previous outbursts have not always gone so well, including for EU censorship tsar Thierry Breton, the main protagonist in this struggle, who was forced out of his post last month after clashing with Musk.
Jourová said: “We started to relativize evil, and he’s helping it proactively. He’s the promoter of evil” and said X is the “main hub for spreading antisemitism now”. The politician admitted she’d never met Musk, yet nevertheless was certain she knew his character. She told the publication: “even without this personal meeting, I would say that out of all the bosses I met, he is the only one who is not able to recognize good and evil.”
It’s ‘scary’ for social media companies to decide what is right to have on their platforms, Jourová said, stating they have “monstrous power in their hands… I’m really scared by digital platforms in bad hands”, clearly implying this monstrous power should be in the hands of the European Union instead.
Within hours of the comments being published, Musk appeared to make an indirect rebuttal, posting a graphic claiming to express that “anti-semitic/anti-Israel views” were more highly correlated with other social media platforms than X. Responding more directly later, Musk wrote somewhat churlishly: “If she wants to know what evil looks like, she just needs a mirror”.
These remarks came just hours after she, in other comments, said the European Union needed to launch a “whole of society” approach to clamping down on speech, saying this would involve at the least: “strategic communication, pre-bunking of the disinformation narratives, effective law enforcement for the digital space, strong independent media as well as the research, fact-checking and critical thinking.”
Quote:Vice President Kamala Harris been dominating Snapchat in the battle for young voters, partly due to the platform’s refusal to reinstate former President Donald Trump’s personal account while simultaneously begging his campaign to advertise on the platform.
The New York Times reports that former President Donald Trump has completely avoided advertising on Snapchat for his 2024 presidential campaign, effectively surrendering the popular social media platform to his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. This decision comes despite Trump’s public emphasis on courting younger voters, particularly young men.
According to Snapchat’s disclosures, the Harris campaign has invested over $5.3 million in ads on the platform, while the Trump campaign has not spent a single dollar. The former president’s absence from Snapchat can be attributed to his ongoing feud with the app’s parent company, Snap, which banned his personal account shortly after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Unlike other major tech platforms, Snap has not lifted the ban on Trump’s personal account. The company simultaneously refused to reinstate Trump as it asked his campaign to fork over millions of dollars for advertising.
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Snap maintains that while Trump is not allowed to post personally, his campaign is still permitted to purchase political advertisements, which must undergo an internal fact-check process. Despite this, the Trump campaign has refused to spend money on the platform, a stark contrast to his previous campaigns.
Harris has capitalized on this uncontested space, using it to portray herself as a candidate for the future. Her ads feature her campaign theme song, Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” and frame some messages as “back-to-school assignments” to engage college-aged voters.
With the 2024 election looming, both campaigns have ramped up their efforts to reach Gen Z and millennial voters who primarily consume news through social media. Turning out these voters could prove decisive in securing a narrow victory for either candidate.
Quote:A federal judge has largely denied Meta’s motion to dismiss claims brought by 34 states alleging that the company designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive for young users, causing harm to children, local governments, and public health.
Courthouse News Service reports that U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that many of the consumer protection claims brought by the state attorneys general against Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta can proceed. The judge denied Meta’s request to dismiss parts of the states’ claims under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which prohibits collecting data from social media users under 13 without parental notification and permission.
Meta had argued that neither Facebook nor Instagram is directed at children, and therefore, the COPPA claims should be dismissed. However, Judge Gonzalez Rogers disagreed, stating that third-party content hosted on these platforms can be considered when determining whether the platform, or a portion of it, is directed at children under the act.
The judge found that some of Meta’s design, development, and deployment of certain product features could plausibly constitute unfair or unconscionable practices under federal and state standards. However, she also noted that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online businesses from liability for user-generated content, limits some elements of the lawsuit’s claims.
Certain Facebook and Instagram features that the states claim are designed to get children hooked, such as infinite scroll, autoplay, ephemeral content, disruptive notifications, and the quantification and display of “likes,” are protected under Section 230, according to the judge. Other features, like appearance-altering filters, time restriction features, and Instagram’s multiple account function, are not shielded because they don’t involve altering the publishing of third-party content.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers also rejected Meta’s request to dismiss the states’ failure to warn theory under Section 230, stating that it involves a “constellation of acts which, viewed both individually and holistically, constitute an unfair trade act or practice.” The judge pointed out that the application of Section 230 in this context is still a developing area of legal interpretation and declined to foreclose the states’ and personal injury plaintiffs’ failure-to-warn theories at this early stage.
Quote:Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has started laying off employees in various departments, including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs, as part of targeted reorganizations within specific teams.
The Verge reports that in a move demonstrating that CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s declaration of 2023 as the “year of efficiency” isn’t quite over, Meta has begun laying off employees across several key departments. The affected teams include those working on WhatsApp, Instagram, and the company’s Reality Labs division, which focuses on virtual and augmented reality technologies.
Unlike the mass, company-wide layoffs that Meta implemented in 2022 and early 2023, these latest job cuts appear to be more targeted and coincide with reorganizations within specific teams. The layoffs have impacted employees at various levels, including notable figures such as Jane Manchun Wong, who gained recognition for reporting on unannounced features coming to apps before joining Meta’s Threads team in 2023.
Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold provided a statement explaining, “Today, a few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy. This includes moving some teams to different locations, and moving some employees to different roles. In situations like this when a role is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for impacted employees.”
The latest round of layoffs follows a series of job cuts in Meta’s Reality Labs division earlier this year. In 2022, the company laid off 11,000 employees after overestimating its growth potential in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, in 2023, Meta announced further cuts of 10,000 employees as part of Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” initiative.
The targeted nature of these layoffs suggests that Meta is carefully reassessing its resource allocation and strategic priorities within specific departments. By restructuring teams and relocating employees, the company aims to streamline its operations and focus on long-term goals.
Quote:Amazon is investing heavily in advanced small modular nuclear reactors to meet the rapidly growing power demands of its expanding data centers across the United States. Tech giants are finding the power needs of AI data centers to be insatiable — and nuclear power the only way to keep their servers running.
Forbes reports that Amazon has announced three major deals to develop and deploy small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to power its data centers in Virginia, Washington, and other states. The tech giant has partnered with Dominion Energy, Energy Northwest, and nuclear startup X-energy to bring more than 5 gigawatts of new power projects online by 2039, enough electricity to power a mid-sized city.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman expressed the company’s growing confidence in nuclear power as a scalable, cost-effective, and “carbon-free” solution to meet the ballooning energy needs driven by the rise of AI. Data centers, particularly those focused on AI applications, consume massive amounts of electricity, with AI-oriented facilities using around 80 megawatts compared to 32 megawatts for a typical data center.
SMRs offer several advantages over traditional nuclear power plants. They are smaller, cheaper, and faster to build, and can be located close to data centers for efficient power delivery. Unlike solar and wind power, SMRs provide reliable, round-the-clock energy, making them ideal for the nonstop operations of data centers and factories.
However, the technology is still in its early stages, with no SMRs currently operating in the United States. Questions remain about their cost and feasibility, and the management of radioactive waste remains a concern. Despite these challenges, the U.S. Department of Energy projects that nuclear capacity could triple from 100 gigawatts in 2024 to 300 gigawatts by 2050 to meet the demands of decarbonization and continuous power supply.
Amazon’s partnership with Dominion Energy aims to develop an SMR plant near the utility’s existing North Anna power station in Louisa County, Virginia, close to two of Amazon’s new $11 billion data center projects. In Washington state, Amazon is funding the development and deployment of SMRs with public power agency Energy Northwest, using technology from nuclear startup X-energy.
Quote:Google has struck a deal with Kairos Power to build small modular nuclear reactors to power its AI data centers. The search giant joins Amazon and Microsoft in embracing nuclear energy to feed the insatiable power demands of artificial intelligence.
The tech giant “signed the world’s first corporate agreement to purchase clean nuclear energy from a series of small modular reactors (SMRs), to be developed by @KairosPower – our first-ever advanced nuclear deal,” Michael Terrell, Google’s senior director of energy and climate, announced Monday.
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The small modular nuclear reactors, which will generate 500 megawatts of power, are expected to be completed between 2030 and 2035, and have not yet been created in the United States.
“The grid needs new electricity sources to support AI technologies that are powering major scientific advances, improving services for businesses and customers, and driving national competitiveness and economic growth,” Terrell said in a blog post.
“This agreement helps accelerate a new technology to meet energy needs cleanly and reliably, and unlock the full potential of AI for everyone,” the Google executive added.
Terrell went on to say, “Advancing these power sources in close partnership with supportive local communities will rapidly drive the decarbonization of electricity grids around the world.”
Quote:In a recent New York court case, an expert witness’s reliance on Microsoft’s Copilot chatbot to estimate damages in a real estate dispute has been met with criticism from the presiding judge. This is just the latest example of legal professionals and experts being embarrassed by relying on AI tools.
Ars Technica reports that New York Judge Jonathan Schopf, has called attention to the potential dangers of expert witnesses using AI tools, such as Microsoft’s Copilot chatbot, to provide testimony in court cases. The issue came to light during a real estate dispute involving a $485,000 rental property in the Bahamas, which had been included in a trust for a deceased man’s son.
The case revolved around the executrix and trustee, the deceased man’s sister, who was accused of breaching her fiduciary duties by delaying the sale of the property while using it for personal vacations. To prove damages, the surviving son’s legal team relied on expert witness Charles Ranson to calculate the difference between the potential sale price in 2008 and the actual sale price in 2022.
However, Ranson, who specialized in trust and estate litigation, lacked relevant real estate expertise. To compensate for this, he turned to Copilot AI to assist in his calculations. During his testimony, Ranson was unable to recall the specific prompts he used to arrive at his damages estimate or cite any sources for the information he obtained from the chatbot. He also admitted to having a limited understanding of how Copilot functions and generates outputs. Despite this, Ranson adamantly defended the use of Copilot and other AI tools for drafting expert reports, claiming it to be a generally accepted practice in the field of fiduciary services.
In response to Ranson’s testimony, Judge Schopf took the time to experiment with Copilot himself, attempting to generate the same estimates that Ranson had provided. However, he found that the chatbot produced slightly different answers each time, even when given the same query. This inconsistency raised concerns about the reliability and accuracy of Copilot-generated evidence in court proceedings.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:Why fine Google $1 million when you can fine it $20.5 decillion?
A Russian court has ordered Google to pay a fine worth more than the entire world’s GDP — with an additional $1 million daily penalty — after the tech giant allegedly barred pro-Moscow propaganda channels on YouTube.
The absurd amount would be written as 20 followed by 33 zeros, which far eclipses Google’s own $2 trillion value — and is akin to the outrageous ransom demands made by the fictional Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movie franchise.
The penalty, first reported by Russia’s RBC state news agency, was issued Tuesday as the result of an initial $1 million fine levied against the company four years ago for banning the pro-Kremlin YouTube channels Tsargrad and RIA FAN.
Russian courts had warned at the time that the amount would double every day until the balance was paid and the YouTube accounts restored.
Google shut down its Russian division in 2022 following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with its local subsidiary declaring bankruptcy.
The company also closed its Google AdSense in Russia over the summer, meaning local content creators would “no longer be able to receive monetization.”
Google and its YouTube services have remained accessible to Russians, with the legal battle taking a turn in August when Moscow seized more than $100 million from Google’s bankruptcy entity to help fund the war in Ukraine, the Telegraph reports.
Russia touted that the money was handed to the channels blocked by Google, including Tsargrad, which is owned by oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, according to court documents.
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Quote:Eric Schmidt, the billionaire investor and former CEO of Google, said it’s time for the US military to do away with tanks, artillery and mortars in favor of aerial drones similar to the ones that he is building to help Ukraine.
“I read somewhere that the US had thousands and thousands of tanks stored somewhere,” he told the Future Investment Initiative in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
“Give them away. Buy a drone instead.”
Schmidt’s comments were reported by Bloomberg News.
Schmidt is listed by Bloomberg Billionaires Index as the 51st richest person in the world with a fortune valued at $33.3 billion as of Wednesday.
The former Google boss said that the Russia-Ukraine war has shown how “a $5,000 drone can destroy a $5 million tank.”
Earlier this year, Forbes reported that Schmidt is the founder of White Stork, a military startup that is building a “kamikaze drone” which is designed to loiter on the battlefield before being dispatched to destroy its target.
“White Stork” is also a reference to a species of bird that is commonly found in Ukraine, where Schmidt has taken on a significant role in helping the country’s defense efforts to repel the Russian invasion.
The company has been developing a mass-producible drone that uses artificial intelligence to zero in on a target even in environments were communications have been interrupted by GPS jamming, according to Forbes.
In July of last year, Schmidt penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal touting drones as “the future of war.
Quote:A union representing Google employees is demanding the tech giant lift what it called an illegal “gag order” barring them from discussing landmark antitrust cases that could upend the company’s business.
On Aug. 5, US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google is a “monopolist” with an illegal stranglehold over the online search market.
That same day, Google president of global affairs Kent Walker instructed employees not to comment on the case inside or outside the workplace.
The Alphabet Workers Union alleges that Walker violated a federal labor law with the “overly board directive” in a bid to “suppress worker speech” related to the antitrust battles, according to a copy of the Aug. 15 filing obtained by The Post.
“Our employer continues to demonstrate a blatant disregard for federal labor law and our right to discuss working conditions with coworkers—up to and including the proposed remedies of federal antitrust actions that could affect many of our jobs at Google,” said Parul Koul, a Google software engineer and president of Alphabet Workers Union.
Mehta is expected to decide on remedies to address Google’s search monopoly by next summer.
Quote:Google parent Alphabet topped third-quarter revenue and earnings expectations on Tuesday, helped by an AI-driven 35% surge in its cloud business as well as a jump in its digital advertising revenue.
Alphabet shares, which closed up 1.8% on Tuesday, were up 4.4% in after-hours trading. The stock has risen nearly 22% this year, in line with the broader market.
CEO Sundar Pichai said investments in AI were “paying off” through use and sales in its Search and Cloud businesses.
Perceived as slow to catch up with Big Tech rival Microsoft in the AI race, Google has been beefing up its Gemini AI chatbot and working out more improvements to its AI-powered search offering. The company is continuing to spend big on AI.
Its new chief financial officer, Anat Ashkenazi, fielding her first analyst call, said Alphabet’s capital expenditures in 2025 would be higher than this year.
In the third quarter, Alphabet’s capex rose 62% to $13 billion. The fourth quarter is expected to be similar, she said.
Revenue from Google’s cloud platform grew to $11.35 billion, beating analysts’ estimate of $10.86 billion.
It was the fastest pace of growth in eight quarters, thanks to enterprises doubling down on cloud spending, which is essential to power artificial-intelligence technologies.
“I do think it was an impressive quarter because the fact that Google Cloud could more than offset Search decline speaks both to the growing importance of cloud revenues and the fact that the company continues to diversify its revenue base,” said Bob O’Donnell, president of TECHnalysis Research.
Quote:More than 500 Amazon employees sent a letter on Wednesday to the CEO of its AWS unit urging reversal of a full return-to-office policy and rejecting his assertion that the rule had broad support and opponents should leave Amazon Web Services.
“We were appalled to hear the non-data-driven explanation you gave for Amazon imposing a five-day in-office mandate,” the letter begins.
AWS CEO Matt Garman, at an Oct. 17 all-hands meeting of the cloud computing unit, said nine out of 10 workers he had spoken with supported the return-to-office policy, set to take effect early next year.
Those comments are “inconsistent with the experiences of many employees” and are “misrepresenting the realities of working at Amazon,” according to the letter, which Reuters reviewed after it was sent to Garman.
An Amazon spokesperson said the company offers commuter benefits, elder care and subsidized parking rates, among other things, to help with in-office work.
Garman had said he was “quite excited about this change” and that, under the current three-day-per-week policy, collaboration was too difficult because people may be in offices on different days.
The company-wide policy, announced in September by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, has been controversial inside Amazon, with many calling it wasteful because it adds commuting time and expense when remote work has been effective. Some say they plan to leave the company. Amazon has enforced the policy by asking many workers to go to regional offices, move to Seattle or “voluntarily resign.”
Garman’s comments do not reflect any independent data, the letter says, and “break the trust of your employees who have not only personal experience that shows the benefits of remote work, but have seen the extensive data which supports that experience.”
Requiring five days in the office every week also particularly impacts protected classes of workers such as those with neurodiversity or childcare responsibilities and “does not uphold Amazon’s espoused “Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer” leadership principle,” according to the letter.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
News of the Cyber World
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So this is all about politics & economic decline not science.
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