Login
Big Brother News Watch
Edward Snowden’s Ominous Warning to the World + More
Edward Snowden’s Ominous Warning to the World
Whistleblower Edward Snowden issued an ominous yet vague warning on Thursday about how the failure of institutions will usher in a “revolution” with unknown consequences.
Although he has been a Moscow citizen for years, Snowden has not hesitated to share his views on domestic matters in the U.S. — such as urging House Speaker Mike Johnson to push back against warrantless surveillance or reprimanding Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, after a bitcoin-related post appeared following the hacking of the SEC’s X (formerly Twitter) account.
In the U.S., trust in public institutions — which began rapidly declining during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — is at historic lows, according to aggregated polling data.
After recording significant declines in public confidence in 11 of 16 institutions in 2022, the most recent Gallup data found that numbers decreased even more last year. Public resentment grew due to a perceived lack of faith in Congress, the criminal justice system and various forms of news media. In addition, the presidency and the Supreme Court drew citizens’ resentment in 2022. Public faith has also decreased in financial institutions and organized religion.
On X, Snowden also mentioned a coming revolution in artificial intelligence, saying that “if you thought human judgment was bad, just wait until you see what replaces it.”
House GOP Twists Screws on State Dept in Censorship Probe
A House panel is pressing the State Department to be more forthcoming in a probe into alleged government censorship that is also the subject of a lawsuit brought by The Daily Wire.
GOP lawmakers, who are looking into whether the government-funded private entities to discredit small businesses and their owners over their political speech and views, sent a letter on Monday to James Rubin, coordinator of the agency’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), contending the organization’s previous delivery of information to Congress “appears to be incomplete” with dozens of awards doled out in recent years seemingly omitted from the tranche.
On its website, the GEC touts how it is focused on “proactively” leading interagency efforts to counter disinformation and propaganda from foreign adversaries. But Republicans suspect the center is surreptitiously propping up activities that suppress free speech at home, particularly on social media as has been illustrated by the “Twitter Files,” and they have talked about pulling taxpayer dollars from the GEC.
The Daily Wire reached out to the State Department seeking comment on the letter. A deadline of January 22 was given for the additional documents and information requested by the lawmakers.
The Rising Threat to Democracy of AI-Powered Disinformation
Online disinformation has been a factor in elections for many years. But recent, rapid advances in AI technology mean that it is cheaper and easier than ever to manipulate media, thanks to a brisk new market of powerful tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, AI art start-up Midjourney or other text, audio and video generators. At the same time, manipulated or synthetic media is becoming increasingly hard to spot.
Already, realistic deepfakes have become a new front in the disinformation landscape around the Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine conflicts. Now, they are poised to muddy the waters in electoral processes already tarnished by dwindling public trust in governments, institutions and democracy, together with sweeping illiberalism and political polarisation.
Social media platforms including Meta, Google’s YouTube, TikTok and X now face pressure to introduce guardrails around deepfakes, curb nefarious actors and ensure they make the correct moderation calls when it comes to highly ambiguous media, while simultaneously remaining non-partisan.
Snapchat to Let Parents Decide Whether Their Teens Can Use the App’s AI Chatbot
Snapchat will now give parents the option to block their teens from interacting with the app’s “My AI” chatbot following some questions about the tool’s safety for young people.
The change will mean that if parents opt to turn off the tool, teens can message My AI but the chatbot will respond only with a note that it has been disabled. Thursday’s announcement is part of a broader set of additions to Snapchat’s parental oversight tool Family Center.
Snapchat will also now offer parents visibility into their teens’ safety and privacy settings in the Family Center. A parent can see who their child shares their Stories posts with, who is able to contact their child on the app and whether their child is sharing their location with friends on the app’s live “Snap Map” feature.
A federal judge in November ruled that Snapchat parent company Snap, along with Google, Meta and TikTok, must face a lawsuit alleging that their services addicted teen users and caused other mental health harms. The companies had moved to dismiss the lawsuit on First Amendment grounds and cited the legal shield known as Section 230.
Microsoft Briefly Overtakes Apple as World’s Most Valuable Company
Microsoft (MSFT.O) on Thursday briefly overtook Apple (AAPL.O) as the world’s most valuable company for the first time since 2021 after the iPhone maker’s shares made a weak start to the year on growing concerns over demand.
Microsoft’s shares have risen sharply since last year thanks to the early lead the company has taken in generative artificial intelligence through an investment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. They were up 0.7% on Thursday, giving Microsoft a market value of $2.865 trillion.
The stock rose as much as 2% earlier in the session and Microsoft was briefly worth $2.903 trillion.
Shares of Apple were 0.9% lower, giving the company a market capitalization of $2.871 trillion. Microsoft and Apple have jostled for top spot over the years.
Big Tech Not Done With Layoffs as Google, Amazon Announce Cuts in 2024
The wave of layoffs that has broken over Silicon Valley in the past two years isn’t over.
On Wednesday, Google confirmed it had cut hundreds of engineering and hardware workers as it sought to cut costs and refocus on artificial intelligence. The same day, Amazon said it would cut some positions at its Prime Video and MGM Studios entertainment divisions. Twitch, a video game streaming company owned by Amazon, also said it was laying off 500 staff.
The cuts at two of the industry’s biggest and most profitable firms show that the tech world is not done with the waves of layoffs that began in 2022. After a massive hiring spree during the first years of the pandemic, start-ups and Big Tech firms alike have been firing tens of thousands of workers as higher interest rates make it more expensive to invest in new projects and the companies seek to increase their profitability, rather than focusing on growth.
U.K. to Make Big Tech Give Rivals Access to Data Under New Plans
Britain’s competition regulator plans to make big tech companies give their rivals greater access to data and limit them from promoting their own products under new powers it is due to receive from the government, it said on Thursday. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has bolstered its oversight of Big Tech firms like Facebook owner Meta (META.O), Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Apple (AAPL.O).
Its willingness to take them on was made clear last year when it intervened in Microsoft‘s purchase of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, and again more recently when it said it was reviewing the U.S. giant’s deal with ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
The CMA set up a dedicated Digital Markets Unit more than two years ago, armed with the expertise to examine rapidly evolving markets like social media. Big tech companies with designated status will have to comply with the new rules.
The CMA could also make them allow rivals’ products and services to work with their own or ensure they provide their users with an effective choice, and require them to increase transparency with respect to aspects of their algorithms.
‘Ridiculous’: Nurses Sacked for Refusing COVID Jab Despite Queensland Lifting Vaccine Mandate
Experienced nurses in Queensland who were stood down after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic are now being sacked from their jobs.
This is despite the state government lifting the vaccine mandate in September last year.
“What a ridiculous situation,” Sky News host Caleb Bond said.
“When you have a shortage of nurses and frontline health workers — to sack them for something that is no longer an issue.” Bond sat with Queensland nurse Ella Leach to discuss the state’s controversial decision to fire these experienced health workers.
COVID ‘6-Feet’ Social Distancing ‘Sort of Just Appeared,’ Likely Lacked Scientific Basis, Fauci Admits + More
COVID ‘6-Feet’ Social Distancing ‘Sort of Just Appeared,’ Likely Lacked Scientific Basis, Fauci Admits
Dr. Anthony Fauci confessed to lawmakers Tuesday that guidelines to keep six feet of separation — ostensibly to limit the spread of COVID-19 — “sort of just appeared” without scientific input.
Fauci, 83, revealed to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic that the “six feet apart” recommendation championed by him and other U.S. public health officials was “likely not based on scientific data,” according to Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), who is also a physician.
Schools nationwide remained closed well into the second year of the pandemic as a result of the social distancing guidelines, which were disputed by both research studies and other health officials.
A top White House adviser to two presidential administrations, Fauci’s transcribed interview before the House COVID panel “revealed systemic failures in our public health system and shed light on serious procedural concerns with our public health authority,” according to Wenstrup.
Those “failures” included foisting vaccination mandates on schools and businesses.
With School Services Strained, Students Go Online for Mental Health Support
An overwhelming majority of teens and tweens — 87% — have sought mental health information online, and 64% have used mobile health apps, according to a report by the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit focused on emotional health and suicide prevention among U.S. teens and young adults.
But it’s not just a desire for relatability and privacy that is pushing high school and college students to seek mental health services virtually.
Schools are straining to meet demand. School counseling centers are overwhelmed and short-staffed, causing long waiting lists that discourage students, according to Sharon Hoover, director of the National Center for Safe Supportive Schools and a professor at the University of Maryland.
Instagram’s New Teen Safety Features Still Fall Short, Critics Say
Instagram and Facebook unveiled further limits on what teens can see on the apps, a move their parent company Meta says will reduce the amount of potentially harmful content young people encounter.
The change comes weeks before Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about what lawmakers have called the company’s “failure to protect children online.” In the Jan. 31 session Zuckerberg, along with executives from social apps TikTok, Snap, Discord and X, will respond to online safety concerns such as predatory advertising, bullying and posts promoting disordered eating.
If effective, Meta’s latest changes would mean fewer mentions of topics such as dieting or mental illness on teens’ timelines. But without internal data from Meta, which the company generally doesn’t share, it’s unclear how effective such limits are on protecting teens from harmful content. Furthermore, while teen accounts have the sensitive content filter turned on by default, they can easily make new accounts and don’t have to disclose their true age.
“If Meta is really serious about safety, they would get out of the way of regulation,” said Josh Golin, executive director at Fairplay, a nonprofit organization that aims to end marketing targeted at children. “They’ve had more than a decade to make their platform safer for young people, and they’ve failed miserably.”
Bipartisan House Bill on AI Fraud Aims to Set Safeguards on Americans’ ‘Digital Personas,’ Rights to Likeness
Rep. María Salazar, R-Fla., and Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., introduced legislation on Wednesday focused on protecting Americans’ rights to their likenesses and voices against artificial intelligence fraud.
Recognizing that artificial intelligence (AI) brings immense innovation and convenience to America’s most critical business sectors and consumers, the No Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas And Unauthorized Duplications, or No AI FRAUD Act, aims to address the unintended consequences of the new technology allowing thieves to steal their victims’ identities and intellectual property (IP).
The bill aims to establish a federal framework to protect Americans’ individual rights to their likeness and voice against AI-generated fakes and forgeries, while also laying out clear First Amendment protections.
A Judge Has Temporarily Halted Enforcement of an Ohio Law Limiting Kids’ Use of Social Media
A federal judge issued an order Tuesday temporarily halting enforcement of a pending Ohio law that would require children to get parental consent to use social media apps.
U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley’s temporary restraining order came in a lawsuit brought Friday by NetChoice, a trade group representing TikTok, Snapchat, Meta and other major tech companies. The litigation argues that the law unconstitutionally impedes free speech and is overbroad and vague.
While calling the intent to protect children “a laudable aim,” Marbley said it is unlikely that Ohio will be able to show the law is “narrowly tailored to any ends that it identifies.”
Fidelity National Financial Attack Saw Hackers Steal Data on Over a Million Customers
The recent cyberattack against Fidelity National Financial has been confirmed as a ransomware attack, with the company now confirming sensitive customer data was taken during the incident.
The company has filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in which it gave more details about the attack.
“We determined that an unauthorized third-party accessed certain FNF systems, deployed a type of malware that is not self-propagating, and exfiltrated certain data,” it was said in the filing, adding that it, “notified its affected customers and applicable state attorneys general and regulators, and approximately 1.3 million potentially impacted consumers.”
Fidelity National Financial is one of many large corporations that suffered a ransomware attack in recent weeks. Besides it, mortgage and loan giants LoanDepot, LoanCare, and Mr. Cooper, all fell victim to similar incidents.
Texas-Based Care Provider HMG Healthcare Says Hackers Stole Unencrypted Patient Data
Texas-based care provider HMG Healthcare has confirmed that hackers accessed the personal data of residents and employees but says it has been unable to determine what types of data were stolen.
HMG Healthcare is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, and provides a range of services, including memory care, rehabilitation and assisted living. HMG’s website says it employs more than 4,100 people and serves approximately 3,500 patients, generating more than $150 million in annual revenues.
HMG said the stolen information “likely contained” personal information, including names, dates of birth, contact information, Social Security numbers and records related to employment; as well as medical records, general health information and information regarding medical treatment, according to the notice.
HMG also said that the notice has been published in order to inform “individuals for whom HMG has insufficient or out-of-date contact information” about the incident, suggesting historical patient data may have been impacted.
Why so Many Kids Are Still Missing School + More
Why so Many Kids Are Still Missing School
When schools reopened their doors after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, eager to “return to normal,” millions of students didn’t show up. Teachers prepared their classrooms to welcome children back to in-person learning, but millions of desks were unfilled.
With an eye toward pandemic recovery, the government allocated billions of dollars to help students regain what they lost at the height of the pandemic, but many of them weren’t there to receive the aid.
Many of them were absent — and still are. Some of the latest absenteeism data reveals the staggering impact the pandemic has had on student attendance.
Before the pandemic, during the 2015–16 school year, an estimated 7.3 million students were deemed “chronically absent,” meaning they had missed at least three weeks of school in an academic year. (According to the U.S. Department of Education, there were 50.33 million K-12 students that year.)
After the pandemic, the number of absent students has almost doubled. Experts point to deeper issues, some that have long troubled students and schools and others that are only now apparent in the aftermath of school shutdowns.
Meta to Restrict More Content for Teens as Regulatory Pressure Mounts
Meta Platforms (META.O) said on Tuesday it would hide more content from teens on Instagram and Facebook after regulators around the globe pressed the social media giant to protect children from harmful content on its apps.
All teens will now be placed into the most restrictive content control settings on the apps and additional search terms will be limited on Instagram, Meta said in a blog post.
The move will make it more difficult for teens to come across sensitive content such as suicide, self-harm and eating disorders when they use features like Search and Explore on Instagram, according to Meta.
Meta is under pressure both in the United States and Europe over allegations that its apps are addictive and have helped fuel a youth mental health crisis. Attorneys general of 33 U.S. states including California and New York sued the company in October, saying it repeatedly misled the public about the dangers of its platforms.
Fauci Sits for Testimony on Mask Mandates and COVID Origin; Here’s What Congress Should Ask
Anthony Fauci is sitting for testimony in front of Congress on Monday and Tuesday to answer questions over mask mandates, lockdowns, and social distancing (which Deborah Brix admitted they pulled out of their asses) — as well as the origins of COVID-19.
The 83-year-old former NIAID director was the chief architect of the U.S. response to COVID-19, which he may have been responsible for in the first place after offshoring banned gain-of-function research to make bat coronaviruses more transmissible to humans.
To review: The U.S. was doing risky gain-of-function research on U.S. soil until 2014 when the Obama administration banned it. Four months before the ban, Dr. Fauci offshored it to Wuhan, China through New York nonprofit, EcoHealth Alliance.
After SARS-CoV-2 broke out down the street from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Fauci engaged in a massive campaign to deny the possibility of a lab leak from the lab he funded, and instead, pin the blame on a yet-to-be-discovered zoonotic intermediary species. And if you’d like to dig even deeper, this is perhaps the best, most comprehensive summary of the “proximal origin” timeline.
TikTok Restricts Tool Used by Researchers — and Its Critics — to Assess Content on Its Platform
TikTok has restricted one tool researchers use to analyze popular videos, a move that follows a barrage of criticism directed at the social media platform about content related to the Israel-Hamas war and a study that questioned whether the company was suppressing topics that don’t align with the interests of the Chinese government.
TikTok’s Creative Center — which is available for anyone to use but is geared towards helping brands and advertisers see what’s trending on the app — no longer allows users to search for specific hashtags, including innocuous ones.
The social media company, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, has also removed certain hashtags from the Creative Center that some online researchers had stored for analysis. They include topics that would be seen as controversial to the Chinese government — such as “UyghurGenocide” and “TiananmenSquare” — as well as hashtags about U.S. politics and the war in Gaza and Ukraine. The Center will now only allow searches for the top 100 hashtags by industry, the company said.
The New York Times first reported on the changes, which came to light last week in an addendum to a study published in December by the Network Contagion Research Institute at Rutgers University.
In the study, researchers with the nonprofit had compared hashtags for certain geopolitical topics on Instagram and TikTok and concluded there was a “strong possibility” TikTok content was being amplified or underrepresented based on how it aligns with the Chinese government’s interests.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Is Urged to Find Keyword Search Warrant Unconstitutional
Law enforcement agencies are always seeking innovative but questionable methods to solve crimes. One such method is the keyword search warrant. Unlike conventional warrants, these warrants do not target a person or a place but are based on specific search terms used by individuals on search engines, social media, and other online platforms. In other words, agencies are finding information on everyone who searched for a specific search term.
When law enforcement agencies suspect a crime, they can request a keyword search warrant from a court. This warrant compels tech companies to hand over data on who searched for specific terms. For example, if the police are investigating a burglary, they might ask a search engine for data on who looked up “how to pick a lock” in a certain location.
The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. Critics argue that keyword search warrants are inherently overbroad and indiscriminate, potentially infringing on this fundamental right. These warrants often capture data on individuals who have no connection to the crime under investigation.
In a recent legal filing to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with several other advocacy groups, has vehemently opposed the use of keyword search warrants.
AI Is Being Used to Catch More Child Predators
While the use of artificial intelligence in the legal profession has received some bad press over the past year in instances when ChatGPT bungled cases, AI technology has been used for years outside the courtroom for investigative purposes and is becoming more efficient all the time.
One area where AI tools have delivered real results is in helping to put away suspects targeting children.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has been leveraging AI technology to save time and precious resources to identify and eventually prosecute child predators at scale.
The non-profit — which works with law enforcement to prevent child abductions, recover missing kids and combat child exploitation — uses AI technology made by eDiscovery firm Reveal, which saved NCMEC over 4,000 hours in review and investigation time and helped them process more than 21,000 cases of missing children last year.
Apple Faces Epochal Moment With Looming Antitrust Scrutiny
A potential antitrust lawsuit against Apple by the federal government could be a turning point as big in the company’s 48-year history as the return of founder Steve Jobs or the invention of the iPhone, according to legal experts.
Speculation about a landmark case is again on the rise after The New York Times reported Friday that the Justice Department is in the final stages of a years-long investigation into Apple, which could lead to a lawsuit later this year.
The probe reportedly focuses on everything from the seamless integration between the iPhone and Apple Watch to the company’s digital payments system and Apple’s use of green text bubbles to differentiate Android text messages from iMessage communications — in short, a broad look at Apple’s tightly controlled, walled-garden ecosystem that’s turned it into $2.8 trillion behemoth.
Spain Makes Face Masks Mandatory in Hospitals and Clinics After a Spike in Respiratory Illnesses
Face masks will be mandatory in hospitals and healthcare centers in Spain starting Wednesday due to a surge in respiratory illnesses, the Health Ministry said.
The new leftist minority coalition government is imposing the measure despite opposition from most of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions.
“We are talking about putting on a mask when you enter a health center and taking it off when you leave,” Health Minister Mónica García told Cadena Ser radio late Monday.
García’s ministry decided to impose the measure after failing to reach an agreement with regional health authorities, many of whom argued that mask use should be recommended but not obligatory.
Facebook and YouTube Censored Victims of AstraZeneca COVID Vaccine + More
Facebook and YouTube Censored Victims of AstraZeneca COVID Vaccine
Those who have experienced serious health issues following their Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccination are raising more concerns about censorship on social media platforms. These individuals, who consider themselves victims of the vaccine, report that their attempts to share their experiences and symptoms online are being stifled.
Among these is a father of two who suffered a life-altering blood clot, leading to permanent brain damage, after receiving the vaccine in spring 2021. He is currently pursuing legal action against AstraZeneca in the High Court in London. Similarly, a lawsuit has been filed by the husband of a woman who tragically died following her vaccination.
Others who believe they have suffered adverse reactions to the jab, yet are not involved in any legal battles, have expressed frustration over the suppression of their voices on platforms like Facebook. U.K. CV Family, a private Facebook group founded by Charlet Crichton, serves as a support network for over 1,000 members who feel they have been harmed or bereaved by the COVID vaccines.
Crichton, who experienced a severe reaction to the AstraZeneca vaccine, had to abandon her 13-year-long Sports Therapy business due to prolonged bed rest. The group, which was established in November 2021, has earned the status of core participant in the COVID Inquiry, allowing members like Crichton, who claims to have suffered myocarditis post-vaccination, to testify in the inquiry.
Fauci to Face the Music
Anthony Fauci, the former chief medical adviser to the president who was regularly the face of the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, will give testimony to the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into how the crisis was managed.
The former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will be interviewed on Monday and Tuesday for seven hours each day with two personal and two government lawyers in attendance. Fauci has agreed to attend a public hearing at a later date, which has yet to be confirmed.
Representative Brad Wenstrup, the subcommittee chair, said in a statement that Fauci’s testimony will serve as a “crucial component” of its investigation. “It is time for Dr. Fauci to confront the facts and address the numerous controversies that have arisen during and after the pandemic,” the Republican from Ohio said. “Americans deserve trusted public health leaders who prioritize the well-being of our people over any personal or political goals.”
The House Oversight Committee noted previous accusations made against Fauci, including that he attempted to obfuscate indirect United States funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology — which some suspect may have been the true origin of COVID-19, rather than the virus jumping the species barrier into humans — and that America had financed research to enhance viruses in a lab.
Fauci came under fire after it emerged that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — which he had been a key member of between 1984 and 2022 — gave U.S.-based EcoHealth Alliance a $3.7 million grant in 2014, $600,000 of which was sent to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to study bat coronaviruses.
Lawsuit Against Snap Over Fentanyl Deaths Can Proceed, Judge Rules
A lawsuit blaming Snapchat for a series of drug overdoses among young people can proceed, a Los Angeles judge ruled this week.
A group of family members related to children and teens who overdosed on fentanyl sued Snapchat maker Snap last year, accusing the social media company of facilitating illicit drug deals involving fentanyl, a synthetic opioid many times deadlier than heroin. Fentanyl, which is cheap to produce and often sold disguised as other substances, can prove lethal in even extremely small doses.
The parents and family members involved in the lawsuit are being represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center, a firm that specializes in civil cases against social media companies in order to make them “legally accountable for the harm they inflict on vulnerable users.”
The lawsuit, originally filed in 2022 and amended last year, alleges that executives at Snap “knew that Snapchat’s design and unique features, including disappearing messages … were creating an online safe haven for the sale of illegal narcotics.”
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects X Corp’s Surveillance Disclosure Challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request by Elon Musk‘s X Corp to consider whether the social media company, formerly called Twitter, can publicly disclose how often federal law enforcement seeks information about users for national security investigations.
The justices declined to hear X’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling holding that the FBI’s restrictions on what the company could say publicly about the investigations did not violate its free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
X had said it was “critical” for the justices to take up the case to establish clear standards for when and how tech companies can speak about government demands for confidential information about their users for surveillance. “History demonstrates that the surveillance of electronic communications is both a fertile ground for government abuse and a lightning-rod political topic of intense concern to the public,” X’s lawyers wrote in its petition to the Supreme Court.
The long-running lawsuit was filed in 2014, long before Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked information in 2013 about the extent of U.S. spying and surveillance efforts.
The Battle for Biometric Privacy
In 2024, increased adoption of biometric surveillance systems, such as the use of AI-powered facial recognition in public places and access to government services, will spur biometric identity theft and anti-surveillance innovations. Individuals aiming to steal biometric identities to commit fraud or gain access to unauthorized data will be bolstered by generative AI tools and the abundance of face and voice data posted online.
Already, voice clones are being used for scams. Take, for example, Jennifer DeStefano, a mom in Arizona who heard the panicked voice of her daughter crying “Mom, these bad men have me!” after receiving a call from an unknown number. The scammer demanded money. DeStefano was eventually able to confirm that her daughter was safe. This hoax is a precursor for more sophisticated biometric scams that will target our deepest fears by using the images and sounds of our loved ones to coerce us to do the bidding of whoever deploys these tools.
In 2024, some governments will likely adopt biometric mimicry to support psychological torture. In the past, a person of interest might be told false information with little evidence to support the claims other than the words of the interrogator. Today, a person being questioned may have been arrested due to a false facial recognition match.
Dark-skinned men in the United States, including Robert Williams, Michael Oliver, Nijeer Parks, and Randal Reid, have been wrongfully arrested due to facial misidentification, detained and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. They are among a group of individuals, including the elderly, people of color, and gender-nonconforming individuals, who are at higher risk of facial misidentification.
Another Top U.S. Mortgage Firm Hit by Major Cyberattack
Another day, another U.S. mortgage giant cyberattack, as hackers have now disrupted loanDepot.
Other details about the attack are unknown at this time. We don’t know if this is a “simple” malware attack, or if it’s ransomware. We don’t know who the threat actors are, their motives, or whether they stole any sensitive information during the attack. Usually, companies would take their systems offline in case of a ransomware attack, and in such scenarios, hackers usually steal user data, too.
As this is a mortgage company, the data could be highly sensitive, including financial and bank account information. Customers should be particularly wary of incoming email messages, as the potentially stolen information could be used in phishing and identity theft attacks.
Mask Mandate in Missouri Reversed Within Hours
A mask mandate for city workers in St. Louis, Missouri, ended hours after it was announced. St. Louis’s Department of Health told city employees on Thursday that they would have to wear masks indoors from Friday. The department cited a spike in respiratory illnesses in the region, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
However, the department reversed course on the mandate on Friday afternoon. City spokesman Nick Dunne said it now just “strongly recommends” that employees wear masks indoors.
Dunne did not specify what prompted the change, but Missouri Governor Mike Parson’s office took credit. Newsweek contacted Dunne for comment via email on Monday.
Johnathan Shiflett, a spokesperson for the Republican governor who opposed mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, told Newsweek that Parson had recently said on the radio that he “would step in and oppose new mask mandates.”
Steve Burton Returning to ‘General Hospital’ After Being Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccine
Steve Burton will return to “General Hospital” after having been fired in November 2021 because of his refusal to get the COVID vaccine.
At the time, Burton was one of two actors on the long-running ABC soap opera who refused to be vaccinated; Ingo Rademacher was also fired. Rademacher later sued ABC and lost.
Burton announced his “General Hospital” ouster himself in November 2021. “I wanted you to hear it from me personally,” he said at the time on Instagram. “Unfortunately, ‘General Hospital’ has let me go because of the vaccine mandate. I did apply for my medical and religious exemptions, and both of those were denied. Which, you know, hurts. But this is also about personal freedom to me.”
But he also left the door open to come back. “Maybe one day if these mandates are lifted, I can return and finish my career as Jason Morgan. That would be an honor.”
U.K. Police Have Been Secretly Using Passport Database for Facial Recognition Since 2019
It has come to light that U.K. police forces have been using facial recognition technology to conduct extensive searches within the nation’s passport database, which comprises 46 million British passport holders. This clandestine operation, ongoing since at least 2019, The Telegraph and Liberty Investigates have found.
Passport photos are collected for a specific purpose — to verify the identity of individuals for international travel. When these photos are repurposed for a facial recognition database by law enforcement, it constitutes a significant invasion of privacy.
People do not expect their passport photos to be used for surveillance or policing purposes, which can lead to a feeling of constant monitoring and a loss of anonymity in public spaces. Misuse can lead to a chilling effect on free speech and assembly, as individuals might fear being unjustly targeted due to their presence in these databases.
This lack of consent is a fundamental issue, as it bypasses the individuals’ rights to control how their personal data is used. The use of these photos without explicit permission for law enforcement purposes can be seen as a violation of personal autonomy and rights.