The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, claiming the two companies built their AI models by “copying and using millions” of the publication’s articles and now “directly compete” with its content as a result....
I got interested in this question a few years ago, when I started writing about the “denominator problem”. A great deal of social media research focuses on finding unwanted behavior – mis/disinformation, hate speech – on platforms. This isn’t that hard to do: search for “white genocide” or “ivermectin” and...
NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s attorney general filed suit Wednesday against SiriusXM, accusing the satellite radio and streaming service of making it intentionally difficult for its customers to cancel their subscriptions....
Comcast has confirmed that hackers exploiting a critical-rated security vulnerability accessed the sensitive information of almost 36 million Xfinity customers....
Today we are beginning to open Flipboard to the Fediverse, a rapidly emerging part of the Web which includes social services like Mastodon, Threads, Pixelfed, Firefish and PeerTube all built on a revolutionary open protocol called ActivityPub....
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on Threads that the platform is beginning to test making Threads posts available on Mastodon and other ActivityPub-supporting services. Zuckerberg wrote that making Threads work with the interoperable standard “will give people more choice over how they interact and it will help content reach...
In one of the coolest and more outrageous repair stories in quite some time, three white-hat hackers helped a regional rail company in southwest Poland unbrick a train that had been artificially rendered inoperable by the train’s manufacturer after an independent maintenance company worked on it. The train’s manufacturer is...
These TVs can capture and identify 7,200 images per hour, or approximately two every second. The data is then used for content recommendations and ad targeting, which is a huge business; advertisers spent an estimated $18.6 billion on smart TV ads in 2022, according to market research firm eMarketer.
Despite delays, the plan to connect Tumblr's blogging site to the wider world of decentralized social media, also known as the "fediverse," is still on....
The Breakthrough Listen search for intelligent life is, to date, the most extensive technosignature search of nearby celestial objects. We present a radio technosignature search of the centers of 97 nearby galaxies, observed by Breakthrough Listen at the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. We performed a narrowband Doppler...
ArsTechnica article on the letter. Just a short summary, with some more context on other works and investigations into the auto industry's privacy issues....
A newly discovered trade-off in the way time-keeping devices operate on a fundamental level could set a hard limit on the performance of large-scale quantum computers, according to researchers from the Vienna University of Technology.
ChatGPT is full of sensitive private information and spits out verbatim text from CNN, Goodreads, WordPress blogs, fandom wikis, Terms of Service agreements, Stack Overflow source code, Wikipedia pages, news blogs, random internet comments, and much more....
Ahead of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s four days in exile, several staff researchers wrote a letter to the board of directors warning of a powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten humanity, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters....
Blur tools for Signal: if you take or edit photos of crowds or strangers with Signal, you can use our face blur tool to quickly hide people's biometric face data....
Chief technology officer Mira Murati appointed interim CEO to lead OpenAI; Sam Altman departs the company. Search process underway to identify permanent successor.
The Federal Communications Commission has approved a new set of rules aiming to prevent “digital discrimination.” It means the agency can hold telecom companies accountable for digitally discriminating against customers — or giving certain communities poorer service (or none at all) based on income level, race, or...
Google Will Now Back Right-to-Repair ( gizmodo.com )
The Android phone maker says go ahead, fix your own phone....
The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement ( www.theverge.com )
The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, claiming the two companies built their AI models by “copying and using millions” of the publication’s articles and now “directly compete” with its content as a result....
Authorized Fetch Circumvented by Alt-Right Developers ( wedistribute.org )
A controversial developer circumvented one of Mastodon's primary tools for blocking bad actors, all so that his servers could connect to Threads....
How Big is YouTube? ( ethanzuckerman.com )
I got interested in this question a few years ago, when I started writing about the “denominator problem”. A great deal of social media research focuses on finding unwanted behavior – mis/disinformation, hate speech – on platforms. This isn’t that hard to do: search for “white genocide” or “ivermectin” and...
New York sues SiriusXM, accusing company of making it deliberately hard to cancel subscriptions ( apnews.com )
NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s attorney general filed suit Wednesday against SiriusXM, accusing the satellite radio and streaming service of making it intentionally difficult for its customers to cancel their subscriptions....
Verizon Gave Her Data to a Stalker. ‘This Has Completely Changed My Life’ ( www.404media.co )
“Verizon royally fucked up,” Poppy told me in a phone call. “There’s no way around it.” Verizon, she added, was “100% at fault.”...
Comcast says hackers stole data of close to 36 million Xfinity customers ( techcrunch.com )
Comcast has confirmed that hackers exploiting a critical-rated security vulnerability accessed the sensitive information of almost 36 million Xfinity customers....
Flipboard Begins to Federate ( medium.com )
Today we are beginning to open Flipboard to the Fediverse, a rapidly emerging part of the Web which includes social services like Mastodon, Threads, Pixelfed, Firefish and PeerTube all built on a revolutionary open protocol called ActivityPub....
Without a Trace: How to Keep Your Phone Off the Grid ( themarkup.org )
We answer the questions readers asked in response to our guide to anonymizing your phone...
Threads is officially starting to test ActivityPub integration ( www.theverge.com )
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on Threads that the platform is beginning to test making Threads posts available on Mastodon and other ActivityPub-supporting services. Zuckerberg wrote that making Threads work with the interoperable standard “will give people more choice over how they interact and it will help content reach...
Polish Hackers Repaired Trains the Manufacturer Artificially Bricked. Now The Train Company Is Threatening Them ( www.404media.co )
In one of the coolest and more outrageous repair stories in quite some time, three white-hat hackers helped a regional rail company in southwest Poland unbrick a train that had been artificially rendered inoperable by the train’s manufacturer after an independent maintenance company worked on it. The train’s manufacturer is...
Your Smart TV Knows What You’re Watching ( themarkup.org )
These TVs can capture and identify 7,200 images per hour, or approximately two every second. The data is then used for content recommendations and ad targeting, which is a huge business; advertisers spent an estimated $18.6 billion on smart TV ads in 2022, according to market research firm eMarketer.
Tumblr's 'fediverse' integration is still being worked on, says owner and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg ( techcrunch.com )
Despite delays, the plan to connect Tumblr's blogging site to the wider world of decentralized social media, also known as the "fediverse," is still on....
Debian Bug report logs: #1057843 - linux: ext4 data corruption in 6.1.64-1 ( bugs.debian.org )
https://micronews.debian.org/2023/1702150551.html...
The Breakthrough Listen Search for Intelligent Life: Technosignature Search of 97 Nearby Galaxies ( arxiv.org )
The Breakthrough Listen search for intelligent life is, to date, the most extensive technosignature search of nearby celestial objects. We present a radio technosignature search of the centers of 97 nearby galaxies, observed by Breakthrough Listen at the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. We performed a narrowband Doppler...
Sen. Markey Writes to 14 Car Companies with a Variety of Questions About Data Privacy Policies ( www.markey.senate.gov )
ArsTechnica article on the letter. Just a short summary, with some more context on other works and investigations into the auto industry's privacy issues....
Physicists May Have Found a Hard Limit on The Performance of Large Quantum Computers ( www.sciencealert.com )
A newly discovered trade-off in the way time-keeping devices operate on a fundamental level could set a hard limit on the performance of large-scale quantum computers, according to researchers from the Vienna University of Technology.
Security flaws in court record systems used in five US states exposed sensitive legal documents ( techcrunch.com )
The vulnerabilities allowed public access to restricted, sealed and confidential court filings using only a web browser...
Google Researchers’ Attack Prompts ChatGPT to Reveal Its Training Data ( www.404media.co )
ChatGPT is full of sensitive private information and spits out verbatim text from CNN, Goodreads, WordPress blogs, fandom wikis, Terms of Service agreements, Stack Overflow source code, Wikipedia pages, news blogs, random internet comments, and much more....
GitHub: Can no longer search code without being logged in. ( github.com )
Response from Martin Woodward, GitHub's VP of Developer Relations:...
GitHub: Can no longer search code without being logged in. ( github.com )
Response from Martin Woodward, GitHub's VP of Developer Relations:...
Sports Illustrated Published Articles by Fake, AI-Generated Writers ( futurism.com )
Sports Illustrated was publishing articles under seemingly fake bylines. We asked their owner about it — and they deleted everything.
OpenAI researchers warned board of AI breakthrough ahead of CEO ouster, sources say ( www.reuters.com )
Ahead of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s four days in exile, several staff researchers wrote a letter to the board of directors warning of a powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten humanity, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters....
Blur tools for Signal ( signal.org )
Blur tools for Signal: if you take or edit photos of crowds or strangers with Signal, you can use our face blur tool to quickly hide people's biometric face data....
This color picker on Flathub got rated 12+
https://i.imgur.com/ZLtTL1e.png...
OpenAI announces leadership transition Sam Altman departs the company ( openai.com )
Chief technology officer Mira Murati appointed interim CEO to lead OpenAI; Sam Altman departs the company. Search process underway to identify permanent successor.
The FCC can now punish telecom providers for charging customers more for less ( www.theverge.com )
The Federal Communications Commission has approved a new set of rules aiming to prevent “digital discrimination.” It means the agency can hold telecom companies accountable for digitally discriminating against customers — or giving certain communities poorer service (or none at all) based on income level, race, or...