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Texas AG Wins $1.4B Settlement From Facebook-Parent Meta Over Facial-Capture Charges + More
Texas AG Wins $1.4B Settlement From Facebook-Parent Meta Over Facial-Capture Charges
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has won a $1.4 billion settlement from Facebook-parent Meta over charges that it captured users’ facial and biometric data without properly informing them it was doing so.
Paxton said that starting in 2011, Meta, then known as Facebook, rolled out a “tag” feature that involved software that learned how to recognize and sort faces in photos.
In doing so, it automatically turned on the feature without explaining how it worked, Paxton said — something that violated a 2009 state statute governing the use of biometric data, as well as running afoul of the state’s deceptive trade practices act.
“Unbeknownst to most Texans, for more than a decade Meta ran facial recognition software on virtually every face contained in the photographs uploaded to Facebook, capturing records of the facial geometry of the people depicted,” he said in a statement.
Senate Passes Landmark Bills to Protect Kids Online, Raising Pressure on House
The Senate overwhelmingly passed a pair of bills to expand online privacy and safety protections for children on Tuesday delivering a major win for parent and youth activists who have clamored for action against tech companies they say are endangering the well-being of kids.
The legislation, approved 91-3, would force digital platforms to take “reasonable” steps to prevent harms to children such as bullying, drug addiction and sexual exploitation, and it would broaden existing federal privacy protections to include kids and teens 16 years old and younger.
The bills — the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, referred to as COPPA 2.0. — represent the most significant restrictions on tech platforms to clear a chamber of Congress in decades.
Strict Mask, Vaccine Rules Could Have Saved as Many as 250K Lives, Says New Study
Stricter COVID-19 restrictions could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives in the states that refused to institute them, though efforts to close nursing homes and schools likely caused more harm than good, a new study has found.
Between 118,000 and 248,000 more Americans would have survived the pandemic if all states had followed some restrictions practiced in Northeastern states, according to findings published July 26 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
The most effective responses were mask mandates and vaccine requirements, the JAMA Health Forum study found.
Hackers Can Wirelessly Watch Your Screen via HDMI Radiation
Covertly intercepting video signals is a very old-fashioned way to go about electronic spying, but a new method discovered by researchers puts a frightening spin on it.
A research team out of Uruguay has found that it’s possible to intercept the wireless electromagnetic radiation coming from an HDMI cable and interpret the video by processing it with AI.
Three scientists from the University of the Republic in Montevideo published their findings on Cornell’s ArXiv service, spotted by Techspot.
According to the paper, it’s possible to train an AI model to interpret the tiny fluctuations in electromagnetic energy from the wired HDMI signal.
Even though it’s a wired standard and it’s usually encrypted digitally, there’s enough electromagnetic signal coming off of these cables to detect without direct access.
B.C. Launches New Vaccine Registry for Healthcare Workers
Healthcare workers in British Columbia must now report their vaccination status against a number of diseases as the provincial government starts a new vaccine registry.
All health-care workers in public health-care facilities must report their immunization for COVID-19 and influenza and their immune status for other critical vaccine-preventable diseases.
The requirement to report will be phased in, beginning with the immediate collection of immune-status records for all new hires and appointees.
The move is the provincial government’s response to the provincial health officer’s decision to end the COVID-19 public health emergency, which ends the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in health-care settings.
‘Unreasonable’: 20 Universities Still Require Students Get COVID Vaccine + More
‘Unreasonable’: 20 Universities Still Require Students Get COVID Vaccine
Twenty United States colleges continue to require their students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the watchdog organization No College Mandates.
These mandates face increasingly heavy criticism from medical doctors and scholars who point to concerns regarding the vaccine’s safety, efficacy, and necessity.
Lucia Sinatra, co-founder of No College Mandates, an organization that tracks and advocates for the abolition of vaccine mandates, told The College Fix that such policies are “unreasonable and discriminatory.”
Many schools have been quietly retiring their vaccine mandates over the past year. The most recent of these include Wayne State University, which announced this month that it “strongly” recommends but no longer requires the vaccine.
Navy SEALs, Sailors Who Refused COVID Vaccine Will Have Records Expunged After Legal Settlement
The U.S. Navy has reached a settlement with sailors who filed a lawsuit over the service’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, ending a nearly four-year saga that pitted Navy SEALs and other service members against their commander in chief.
Under an agreement in the case announced Wednesday, Navy sailors who refused the vaccine for religious reasons can now have their records corrected and will be protected against discrimination on promotion boards for the next three years, according to their attorneys.
Promotion boards “must not consider any adverse information related solely to COVID-19 vaccine refusal in cases in which a religious accommodation was requested,” according to a release from the First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit legal organization that defends religious liberties, and the law firm Hacker Stephens LLP.
The Navy also agreed to review the personnel records of all plaintiffs to ensure that the service expunged any information on administrative separation, counseling or nonjudicial punishment for failing to comply with the mandate.
It will also correct the records of members who left the service and post a public statement “affirming the Navy’s respect for religious service members,” among other requirements.
Colorado Ramps Up Bird Flu Response, Requires Milk Testing
Colorado began requiring dairies to test milk supplies for bird flu every week, the state’s veterinarian told Reuters on Tuesday, as a federal team arrived to help investigate an escalating outbreak in cows that has spread to chickens and people.
The state’s new mandate aims to identify additional farms that could be infected and spread the disease to other dairies or poultry flocks, after the largest cluster of human cases to date in the United States occurred on a Colorado farm this month.
Bird flu infections linked to dairy cows have wiped out 3.1 million egg-laying chickens in Colorado in recent weeks, and poultry workers also tested positive.
Colorado has confirmed infections in 47 dairy herds since the U.S. outbreak in cows began in late March, with about 60% of its cases detected in the past month, according to U.S. data. Nationally, 13 states have reported infections in about 168 herds since spring.
A Judge Rules That Yes, the Biden Administration Was Trying to Censor People Online
For free speech advocates, there are few images more chilling than that of Nina Jankowicz singing her now-infamous tune as “the Mary Poppins of Disinformation.” The woman who would become known as the “Disinformation Czar” sang a cheerful TikTok parody of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” to rally people to the cause of censorship.
When the press caught wind of President Biden’s plan to appoint Jankowicz as head of the Department of Homeland Security’s new “disinformation board,” Fox News said she “intended to censor Americans’ speech.” The backlash was swift. Plans for the board were suspended, and Jankowicz resigned in 2022. She then sued Fox News for defamation.
On Monday, the case was dismissed. But Chief Judge Colm Connolly didn’t just say it was legally unfounded — he demolished the claims of figures like Jankowicz that they are really not engaged in censorship.
Connolly made fast work of that effort. After holding that people are allowed to criticize Jankowicz as protected opinion, the court added: “The Disinformation Governance Board was formed precisely to examine citizens’ speech and, in coordination with the private sector, identify ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation.’ … that objective is fairly characterized as a form of censorship.”
COVID: Emergency Ends, Vaccine Mandates Lifted for Healthcare Workers in B.C.
More than two thousand B.C. healthcare workers who lost their jobs because they refused a COVID-19 vaccine will now be allowed to return to work, after the B.C. government announced it was ending the public health emergency.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, made the announcement Friday morning in Victoria along with Health Minister Adrian Dix. Henry said they were rescinding the public health emergency and lifting all the remaining orders, including the vaccine mandate that was brought in in 2021 for healthcare workers.
Dix also announced a provincial regulation requiring all health workers to report their immunization status for all high priority pathogens of relevance.
That means doctors, nurses, and other health professionals will be required to report their vaccination status for COVID-19, influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, whooping cough, and chickenpox.
Google Scraps Plan to Remove Cookies From Chrome
Google is planning to keep third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, it said on Monday, after years of pledging to phase out the tiny packets of code meant to track users on the internet.
The major reversal follows concerns from advertisers — the company’s biggest source of income — saying the loss of cookies in the world’s most popular browser will limit their ability to collect information for personalizing ads, making them dependent on Google’s user databases.
Since 2019, the Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit has been working on the Privacy Sandbox initiative aimed at enhancing online privacy while supporting digital businesses, with a key goal being the phase-out of third-party cookies.
Cookies are packets of information that allow websites and advertisers to identify individual web surfers and track their browsing habits, but they can also be used for unwanted surveillance.
Pensacola Furniture Store Ordered to Pay $110K to Former Manager Who Refused COVID Vaccine + More
Pensacola Furniture Store Ordered to Pay $110K to Former Manager Who Refused COVID Vaccine
Pensacola News Journal reported:
Following a lawsuit by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Pensacola store Hank’s Fine Furniture (Hank’s Furniture Inc.) settled for a six-figure sum payout to a former manager fired for refusing a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.
Federal court records indicate a settlement had been reached Monday, and federal Judge M. Casey Rodgers ordered Thursday that the store pay former manager known as “K.M.O.” $110,000 after she denied a companywide COVID vaccine mandate based on religious beliefs.
Rodgers also wrote that HFI cannot require proof that an employee’s or applicant’s religious objection to an employer requirement be an official tenet or endorsed teaching of said religious belief.
The furniture store must also, within 30 days, adopt, implement and disseminate a written policy to all employees that HFI “will not require any employee to violate sincerely held religious beliefs, including those pertaining to vaccinations, as a condition of his/her employment.”
Are We Witnessing the Weaponization of AI?
OpenAI recently announced the appointment of retired General Paul Nakasone to its board. This marks a major shift in the company’s alignment toward national security issues, a development that should concern us all.
Tasked with advising on safety and security, Nakasone’s influence signals a deeper integration of OpenAI‘s interests with those of the U.S. government. This development is not an isolated incident but rather a continuation of a well-trodden path by tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, who have increasingly aligned themselves with governmental and military agendas under the guise of “security” and “keeping Americans safe.”
These platforms, once lauded for their potential to democratize information and connect the world, gradually transformed into tools of surveillance and control. With OpenAI, the trajectory seems alarmingly similar.
Initially focused on cybersecurity and public safety, OpenAI’s collaborations with government agencies are poised to deepen. Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems, originally intended for defensive purposes, are likely to evolve into tools for mass surveillance. Under the pretext of combating terrorism and cyber threats, these systems could monitor citizens’ online activities, communications, and even predict behaviors. This encroachment into privacy will likely be justified by calls to protect national security. OpenAI will likely capitalize on its data analytics capabilities to shape public discourse. In fact, some suggest that this is already occurring.
Health System’s Tech Vulnerabilities Exposed Again
The CrowdStrike internet meltdown that wreaked havoc with some health systems’ procedures and billing on Friday could be a harbinger of future threats and disruptions to medical facilities, experts said.
Why it matters: The U.S. health system is still dealing with the fallout from the massive Change Healthcare ransomware attack and other incidents that have underscored the sector’s reliance on a few key technology companies to meet their IT needs.
Catch up quick: The outage resulted early Friday morning from a faulty software update pushed out by CrowdStrike.
The issue, which CrowdStrike said was not a malicious cyberattack, affected devices using Microsoft Windows operating system. Users saw the dreaded “blue screen of death” and were essentially locked out of their systems until they found another way in.
With AI, Jets and Police Squadrons, Paris Is Securing the Olympics — and Worrying Critics
A year ago, the head of the Paris Olympics boldly declared that France’s capital would be “ the safest place in the world ” when the Games open this Friday. Tony Estanguet’s confident forecast looks less far-fetched now with squadrons of police patrolling Paris’ streets, fighter jets and soldiers primed to scramble, and imposing metal-fence security barriers erected like an iron curtain on both sides of the River Seine that will star in the opening show.
Olympic organizers also have cyberattack concerns, while rights campaigners and Games critics are worried about Paris’ use of AI-equipped surveillance technology and the broad scope and scale of Olympic security.
Campaigners for digital rights worry that Olympic surveillance cameras and AI systems could erode privacy and other freedoms, and zero in on people without fixed homes who spend a lot of time in public spaces.
NIDA Should Beware of Funding Companies That Violate People’s Privacy
In a ground-breaking settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, two online addiction and mental health treatment companies, Monument and Cerebral, admitted to deceptively and widely sharing sensitive personal and health information with third-party advertising platforms including Meta (Facebook) and Google. They aren’t alone.
Our research at the Opioid Policy Institute has found more than a dozen other online addiction treatment companies engaging in similar deceptive behavior that contradicts their claims of private, secure, or confidential services. Perhaps the most shocking aspect of these business practices is the role of federal funding for these services.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is the premier drug addiction research branch of the National Institutes of Health. For decades, NIDA’s work to reduce opioid overdose deaths has been stymied by long-standing gaps in treatment, with fewer than 25% of people receiving evidence-based medications for opioid addiction. One way NIDA has been working to address addiction treatment gaps is through encouraging grant proposals for digital health.
Digital Rights Groups Rally Against UN Convention That Threatens Free Speech and Privacy
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital rights group, joined by nearly two dozen other similar civil organizations, has appealed to the EU Commission (EC) regarding the developments around the UN’s Cybercrime Convention.
The reason for turning to the EU mere days ahead of the finalization of the controversial text, criticized as a threat to free speech and privacy, is the bloc’s own data protection framework (concerning personal data transfers).
“Despite the latest modifications, the revised draft fails to address our concerns and continues to risk making individuals and institutions less safe and more vulnerable to cybercrime, thereby undermining its very purpose,” the letter reads.
The EC and member states are urged to act with the goal of properly addressing these issues during the final negotiating session, in order to introduce what the rights groups see as necessary changes. Alternatively, they want the EU to block the treaty from reaching the UN General Assembly for adoption.
Traveling This Summer? Maybe Don’t Let the Airport Scan Your Face. + More
Traveling This Summer? Maybe Don’t Let the Airport Scan Your Face.
Here’s something I’m embarrassed to admit: Even though I’ve been reporting on the problems with facial recognition for half a dozen years, I have allowed my face to be scanned at airports. Not once. Not twice. Many times. But the main reason I haven’t declined airport face scans is actually very simple: I had no idea I could opt out.
It turns out that saying no is not only doable but surprisingly easy — at least in theory. Everyone, regardless of citizenship, can opt out when it comes to domestic flights in the U.S. (For international flights, U.S. citizens can opt out but foreign nationals have to participate in face scanning, with some exceptions.) Simply stand away from the camera or keep your face covered with a mask, present your ID, and say, “I opt out of biometrics. I want the standard verification process.”
In theory, an officer is then supposed to manually look over your ID and compare it to your face, as they used to do before facial recognition. But in practice, there have been reports of passengers — even a senator — facing resistance or intimidation when they try to go this route.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are also supposed to have clear signs informing passengers of the right to opt out. But at many airports, you have to look really, really hard to spot that message. Be prepared to crane your neck at an unnatural angle or squint at a very small font!
USPS Shared Customer Postal Addresses With Meta, LinkedIn and Snap
The U.S. Postal Service was sharing the postal addresses of its online customers with advertising and tech giants Meta, LinkedIn and Snap, TechCrunch has found. On Wednesday, the USPS said it addressed the issue and stopped the practice, claiming that it was “unaware” of it.
TechCrunch found USPS was sharing customers’ information by way of hidden data-collecting code (also known as tracking pixels) used across its website. Tech and advertising companies create this kind of code to collect information about the user — such as which pages they visit — every time a webpage containing the code loads in the customer’s browser.
In the case of USPS, some of that collected data included the postal addresses of logged-in USPS Informed Delivery customers, who use the service to see photos of their incoming mail before it arrives.
It’s not clear how many individuals had their information collected or for how long. Informed Delivery had more than 62 million users as of March 2024.
After Massive IT Outage for Airlines and Healthcare, Officials See Signs of Recovery
Federal officials expect transportation systems will largely return to normal operations by Saturday, following a massive IT outage for Windows users that knocked out systems for transportation, delivery and healthcare.
Airports on Friday were crowded with stranded travelers as major U.S. airlines grounded flights. Several healthcare providers delayed some scheduled procedures. Emergency 911 call service was disrupted in some areas.
Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike pointed to a defect in an update it had delivered for Microsoft’s Windows systems. Microsoft and CrowdStrike said the underlying problems were being fixed, but the incident underscored how a software glitch can have profound ripple effects.
Biden Has COVID and Didn’t Wear a Mask. The CDC’s Guidelines Say He Doesn’t Have to
President Joe Biden did not wear a face mask in public a couple of times after the White House announced he had tested positive for COVID-19. The White House said the Democratic incumbent was experiencing “mild” symptoms while the president’s physician said Biden would self-isolate “in accordance with CDC guidance for symptomatic individuals.”
After the announcement on Wednesday, Biden emerged bare-faced from the motorcade after he arrived at the airport in Las Vegas, where he had made several appearances, and boarded Air Force One. He also was not wearing a mask, which medical professionals have said can help slow the spread of disease, as he stepped off the plane hours later at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Biden was surrounded by Secret Service agents and aides on both ends of the trip.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages people recovering from COVID-19 or any other respiratory illness to wear masks as part of an overall strategy to reduce transmission, but masks are not mandated.
Most of Gen Z Using TikTok for Health Advice: Survey
Most of Generation Z is turning to TikTok to seek health advice, citing quick responses and free advice, a recent survey found.
The poll, conducted by Zing Coach, found that 56% of Gen Z respondents use TikTok for wellness, diet and fitness advice and that a large share of them use the platform as their main form of health advice. Among those surveyed, 34 percent said they use TikTok to get most of their health advice, making it more than twice as popular as the other options listed.
Meanwhile, 14% said they got their advice from friends, 13% said Google and 11% said qualified doctors or trainers.
Senators Press AT&T on Why It Stores Call Records on a Third-Party ‘AI Data Cloud’
U.S. senators are starkly questioning AT&T’s data storage practices after a serious data breach.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) — the chair and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law — wrote letters questioning the telecom giant and its practice of storing call and text records with a third-party platform called Snowflake.
The lawmakers demanded more info regarding the hack in which the company said“nearly all” text and phone records were stolen in mid-to-late 2022. The letters demanded answers from the CEOs of both AT&T and Snowflake.
Not long after the news of the breach broke, it was reported that AT&T had actually paid a hacker roughly $370,000 to delete the stolen information — though that does not actually guarantee the data is actually fully gone.
Nvidia, Pfizer Lead $80 Million Funding for Israeli Medical AI Tech Firm CytoReason
Israel’s CytoReason, which uses AI to develop disease models, said on Wednesday it had raised $80 million in a private funding round. Nvidia (NVDA.O), Pfizer (PFE.N), Thermo Fisher (TMO.N) and venture capital investor OurCrowd participated in the round, CytoReason said.
The company said it aims to expand the application of its models into additional indications and grow its proprietary molecular and clinical data.
In 2022, Pfizer expanded its partnership with CytoReason with a $20 million investment that could reach $110 million by 2027.
“The rapid expansion of new technologies, like artificial intelligence, holds tremendous potential to help transform what is possible in human health,” said Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer.
SITA Extends Contract With Heathrow as Biometrics Expand in Airports Globally
SITA’s contract with Heathrow Airport has been extended by five years, setting up the Swiss firm to continue providing network, telecom and connectivity services for the airport’s IT infrastructure and potentially opening the door to more biometrics deployments.
A release says that, in addition to digital infrastructure support for thousands of network access switches and wireless access points, SITA will develop new projects around Heathrow’s network telecoms infrastructure, cyber-security, radio and operational technology. This applies not only for airport operations but also for businesses operating within Heathrow.
SITA recently posted $1.5 billion in 2023 revenues, up 7 percent from the previous year, driven by record sales of its airport biometrics, digital identity initiatives, and deployments of software and IT infrastructure for the aviation industry. With Europe’s busiest airport as its client for another half-decade, the firm stands to cement its position as a leader in providing biometric technology for the airport experience.
Nigeria Fines Meta $220 Million for Violating Consumer, Data Laws
Nigeria fined Meta Platforms (META.O) $220 million, its competition watchdog said on Friday, after investigations showed data-sharing on social platforms violated local consumer, data protection and privacy laws.
Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) said Meta appropriated the data of Nigerian users on its platforms without their consent, abused its market dominance by forcing exploitative privacy policies on users, and meted out discriminatory and disparate treatment on Nigerians, compared with other jurisdictions with similar regulations.