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Amazon Dominates the $113 Billion Smart Home Market — Here’s How It Uses the Data It Collects + More
Amazon Dominates the $113 Billion Smart Home Market — Here’s How It Uses the Data It Collects
Since Amazon introduced the Echo smart speaker in 2014, it’s remained the biggest and fastest-growing player in the smart home market. Its most recent expansion includes four new Echo devices, a new Fire TV, two new Ring cameras with features like radar-triggered motion detection and the Halo Rise contactless bedside sleep tracker that can sense your breathing and movement to determine sleep stages. The new devices were all introduced Wednesday at Amazon’s annual smart home event.
Last month, Amazon made moves to enter a new segment of the smart home, with a $1.7 billion offer to buy iRobot, the maker of the smart Roomba vacuum. Now, the Federal Trade Commission is requesting more information from both iRobot and Amazon before deciding whether to approve the deal.
Earlier this month, 20 privacy and labor groups sent a letter to the FTC asking it to block the acquisition. The letter cited concerns about privacy and Amazon’s growing dominance of the smart home market.
“To track your shopping habits, to track your movements, to track even where things are placed in your home, what’s going on outside your front door. They can create this incredibly complex, detailed data profile that they can then use to expand and grow their own business,” said Sarah Miller, who founded the American Economic Liberties Project, which also signed the letter to the FTC seeking to block the iRobot deal. “And through that process, to push out competitors that simply could never surveil you with that degree of sophistication.”
Tech Billionaires Lost $315 Billion in 2022, and It Genuinely Doesn’t Matter
It’s been a gloomy year for the economy, with high inflation and recession anxieties leading to sharp downturns in the stock market. Tech companies have suffered some of the largest shocks: Netflix’s stock is down more than 60% so far this year; Meta’s has fallen about 58%. According to Google Finance, Amazon and Google stocks have both dropped around 30% year-to-date in 2022.
With tech stocks plummeting, the industry’s billionaire leaders have seen losses to their personal fortunes, too. That’s one of the takeaways of this year’s Forbes 400 list, an annual accounting of the top 400 richest Americans. Tech billionaires have lost a collective $315 billion since last year.
But while the tumult that tech companies are facing right now is very real, tech leaders are doing just fine. The vast majority are still richer than they were before the pandemic when they saw their wealth reach unprecedented heights.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos lost $50 billion in 2022, leaving him with a net worth of around $151 billion, according to Forbes. That still means he’s 32% richer than he was in 2019 when he had $115 billion. Microsoft founder Bill Gates lost $28 billion, but that leaves him about as rich as he was before the pandemic, with a net worth of $106 billion. Google founder Sergey Brin is about $35.5 billion richer compared to 2019.
Amazon.com Unveils Device That Tracks Breath While Sleeping
Amazon.com Inc. on Wednesday announced a contactless gadget that can monitor people’s sleep, along with updates to its lineup of voice-controlled devices and e-readers.
The online retailer said its $139.99 sleep gadget, known as Halo Rise, tracks room temperature, humidity and light, plus the breathing patterns of the person closest to it. The goal is to provide insight to users on why they may or may not feel well-rested when they wake up.
Like peers Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Amazon has invested in health-tracking technology for consumers, at times drawing regulatory scrutiny for sensitive information it aimed to collect, like body fat percentage via its fitness wristband called Halo.
Russell Brand Dumps YouTube for Rumble Over Censorship Beef
Russell Brand announced he’s moving his show from YouTube to Rumble after he said the platform “officially censored” his content.
In the clip shared Tuesday, the 47-year-old actor explained that after his video about the “changing narratives around COVID” was taken down he’s moving to Rumble, where he will be live streaming weekdays for one hour.
“We have been officially censored by YouTube,” Brand explained. “They took down one of our videos for misinformation, but why are big media organizations not censored for misinformation in the same way? Is it because YouTube is part of the mainstream media now?”
At one point, the “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” star explained that both videos that were removed from YouTube are now on Rumble because that platform is “not going to censor our content.”
Supreme Court Confirms Public Can Attend Hearings in October for First Time Since COVID Lockdown of March 2020
The Supreme Court starting Monday will allow members of the public to attend oral argument hearings for the first time since the COVID-19 lockdown of March 2020, the court’s press office confirmed in a statement Wednesday.
The resumption of public access will coincide with the beginning of the high court’s October term when the court’s justices are due to hear arguments in three cases. And the reopening will come a year after the court resumed in-person oral arguments after more than a year of conducting those sessions remotely.
In its announcement Wednesday, the court’s press office said, “Masking in the Courtroom for oral arguments will be optional.”
But other than oral arguments, the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC, “will otherwise be closed to the public until further notice,” the office said.
Molly Russell Inquest Must Lead to Action on Internet Dangers, Says Coroner
The senior coroner examining the death of Molly Russell has said the inquest must serve as a catalyst for protecting children from the risk that the internet has brought into family homes.
Andrew Walker outlined a series of concerns about the impact of social media on children, including the use of algorithms to push content to their accounts, a lack of age verification and a lack of content regulation.
Walker, who is presiding over the inquest at north London coroner’s court, said it represented an opportunity to protect children from harmful content.
Molly, 14, from Harrow, north-west London, killed herself in November 2017 after viewing extensive amounts of content related to suicide, self-harm, anxiety and depression on social media platforms including Instagram and Pinterest.
Judge Upholds British Columbia Employer’s Mandatory COVID Vaccination Policy
A B.C. judge has upheld an employer’s right to place an employee on an unpaid leave of absence for failing to comply with a mandatory COVID vaccination policy. The decision of B.C. Supreme Court Justice Heather MacNaughton was made in the case of a senior manager of a property management firm who had declined to get vaccinated.
In her lawsuit, Deepak Parmar alleged that she had been constructively dismissed from her employment with Tribe Management, claiming that the company had breached its contractual obligations by imposing the mandatory policy.
The company, which has more than 200 employees, required all of its workers to be vaccinated by Nov. 24, 2021 and advised them if they failed to comply, they would be put on an unpaid leave of absence.
In the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic in the winter of 2021-22, implementing a mandatory vaccination policy was a “reasonable” policy choice for employers, including Tribe, said the judge.
Judge Approves $100 Million Google Privacy Deal. Here’s How Much Illinois Residents Will Get.
Illinois residents who filed claims for a cut of Google’s $100 million class-action settlement over alleged violations of state privacy law could receive checks of about $154 each.
Cook County Circuit Judge Anna M. Loftus granted final approval of the settlement Wednesday. She granted preliminary approval of the agreement in April.
The payout comes after Google settled a class-action lawsuit alleging its face grouping tool, which sorts faces on Google Photos by similarity, violated Illinois’ biometric privacy law. State law requires companies to obtain affirmative consent from users before collecting and saving their biometric information.
According to Loftus, about 420,000 people have filed valid claims. That would put payments at about $154 per person, less than the $200 to $400 attorneys originally estimated residents might receive.
Company Bashed for Using ‘Surveillance’ Software on Workers: ‘Dystopian’
Online commenters have bashed a company for purportedly using a “surveillance” tool to track worker productivity.
An employee with the company, u/Hour-Ad8095, posted about the tool in Reddit‘s “Mildly Infuriating” forum, writing: “Micromanagement in our company. A tool takes a screenshot of our system every 10 minutes and counts our mouse and keyboard clicks.” The post has garnered over 33,000 upvotes and nearly 2,000 comments. You can view the full post here.
Many employers want to return to the office, but their employees are “putting up a fight,” said Fortune. To prevent mass walkouts but still “maintain a sense of control,” some companies have allowed their employees to work from home but have installed “tattleware” on company-issued computers to track employees’ productivity.
Different types of “tattleware” can take pictures of workers’ screens, log emails, take video recordings and track keystrokes, TODAY reported.
Why the NFL’s Deal With Apple Is Bigger Than the Halftime Show
The Hollywood Reporter reported:
The Roger Goodell-led NFL, which long has been among the most conservative of major sports leagues, suddenly finds itself deep in business with big tech. Amazon is now a national media partner, and tech companies are among the bidders on a sliver of its media businesses, including its new subscription service, NFL+.
The latest tech team-up? Apple, in a deal that will see the Apple Music service become the official sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show, replacing Pepsi after a decade-long run.
Now the league and Apple, with its global reach and tens of millions of Apple Music subscribers (estimates peg the service with more than 80 million subs), will get their chance to make the halftime show its own, with Rihanna at the center of it.
YouTube Will Show Personal Stories of Patients in Search Results for Health-Related Queries
YouTube announced Wednesday that it will show a new section called “Personal Stories” in search results starting this week when users enter health-related queries. The company said when people search for videos of certain health conditions on YouTube, it will show a panel featuring videos from people who are diagnosed with those disorders.
YouTube said that at launch, the Personal Stories section will show videos related to cancer and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. Later, the company will expand this feature to cover other topics and other regions outside the U.S.
While this feature is not meant for getting medical advice, YouTube has faced a lot of criticism over health-related misinformation — especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, more than 80 fact-checkers across the world wrote to YouTube about taking stricter actions against videos related to COVID misinformation. No doubt YouTube will face scrutiny for what kinds of videos are featured in this new “Personal Stories” section and how well they’re able to moderate the content presented.
27 Seattle Firefighters Suing City Over Termination After COVID Vaccine Mandate + More
27 Seattle Firefighters Suing City Over Termination After COVID Vaccine Mandate
In two separate lawsuits, 27 Seattle firefighters are suing Seattle Fire Department Chief Harold Scoggins and the city of Seattle over their imminent terminations or past terminations due to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
In the first complaint, 24 former Seattle firefighters say they submitted requests for a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine, claiming the exemption requests were based on sincerely held beliefs. They also acknowledged that each of them had a legitimate conflict with the vaccine, and the city did not offer any accommodations to address their issues.
The firefighters said they believe the city had already determined it would not accommodate any religious exemptions and that based on testimony from Deputy Chief Thomas Walsh, the entire religious exemption assessment process was a sham. The firefighters are asking for their lost wages and benefits, including pension rights, since October 18, 2021, attorney fees and damages.
In a separate lawsuit, three additional Seattle firefighters claim they are facing termination, due to the city not providing accommodations for their religious exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccination. They are asking for a court to prevent their termination, along with attorney fees and damages.
Generation COVID: Record Numbers of Youth Opt out of College, Work
Three years into the pandemic, after two years of isolation, shuttered schools and virtual commencements, high school graduates from the classes of 2020, 2021 and beyond — call them Generation COVID — are shunning college in record numbers.
Enrollment is down nearly 10% over the past two years, a loss of 1.4 million students pursuing degrees. At TikTok, where variations on the hashtag #NotGoingToCollege have racked up more than 30 million views, young people argue “my career doesn’t need college” and talk about starting their own businesses (often as influencers).
Overall, just 51% of Gen Z teens are now considering a four-year degree, according to a survey this year by the nonprofit ECMC Group — a 20-point drop since May 2020. “Gen Z students are sharp,” says Jeremy Wheaton, the organization’s former president and CEO. “They’re thinking about things such as the return on their time and dollar investment.”
Their calculations, however, could be misleading. In fact, behind the upbeat TikToks and occasional very public success stories, there are already troubling signs that the kids of Generation COVID aren’t alright.
All Major Cruise Lines Will Soon Allow Unvaccinated Travelers
Disney Cruise Line will no longer require vaccinations on most of its voyages beginning in October, the company announced Tuesday, marking the final major cruise line to ease its vaccine requirement on most U.S. sailings.
For voyages on the Disney Wish, Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy and Disney Wonder beginning Oct. 14, full vaccination is “highly recommended,” but not required, according to the cruise line’s website. Unvaccinated travelers 5 and older must provide proof of a negative coronavirus test taken within two days of the sail date, either through an observed antigen test or a lab-based PCR test. Vaccinated travelers and children under 5 are not required to test.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ended its COVID program for cruises in July. Since then, all major cruise lines serving the U.S. — including Norwegian, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess and MSC Cruises — have dropped their vaccine requirements for all but a few voyages, according to their websites.
Elon Musk Wants ‘Government-Imposed Muzzle’ on His Tweets Thrown out
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is sick and tired of having to pause before tweeting to consider the potential implications on his company’s stock price. The celebrity executive is urging a federal appeals court to throw out a provision in his 2018 consent decree with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that requires him to get pre-approval from Tesla lawyers for certain Tesla-related public communications.
The appeal comes a month after a federal judge quashed Musk’s motion to end the same SEC settlement provision.
In the brief, which was filed on Tuesday with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan and reported by Reuters, Musk’s lawyers call the mandate a “government-imposed muzzle,” the effect of which is “to inhibit and chill Mr. Musk’s lawful speech.” They say the provision violates the First Amendment and restricts Musk’s speech on a broad range of topics that are unrelated to the statements that gave rise to the SEC’s 2018 lawsuit.
A Federal Ruling Means a Supreme Court Showdown on Big Tech Censorship Is Ahead
A staggering 99% of Twitter employees who make political contributions give to Democrats. It’s almost as lopsided at Facebook and Alphabet (Google’s parent company), according to Federal Election Commission records.
Relying on these left-leaning tech platforms to be evenhanded was always naïve. But recent evidence — email correspondence between Big Tech executives and some 45 Biden administration officials — suggests a danger even bigger than Silicon Valley bias.
The government is actually calling the shots on what to censor. The U.S. Constitution bars the government from censoring, so Team Biden has deputized Silicon Valley to do its dirty work. The complicity between the Biden administration and Big Tech should frighten all Americans. It’s like a vise tightening its grip, snuffing out freedom. That makes reining in Big Tech even more urgent. On Friday, the opportunity arrived.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected “the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say.” The federal court upheld a Texas law that bars social-media companies from taking down postings based on political views. For two decades, tech giants have claimed a constitutional right to remove anything and anyone from their platforms. The appeals court said no.
Inactive AFLW Player and Nurse Deni Varnhagen’s COVID Vaccine Mandate Challenge Dismissed by South Australia Supreme Court
A legal challenge to South Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers has been dismissed by the Supreme Court in Adelaide.
Nurse and inactive AFLW player Deni Varnhagen led the challenge against the mandate after she lost her nursing job last year because she was not vaccinated against the virus.
Ms. Varnhagen and fellow nurse Courtney Millington initially challenged the mandates that were legislated by the Emergency Management Act, and as their case was coming to an end, the state government revoked the laws in May this year.
Instead, the government enforced the vaccine mandate on healthcare workers by making changes to the South Australian Public Health Amendment Act. Lawyers for the nurses said they would appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal.
The Washington Post Has a Bezos Problem
Columbia Journalism Review reported:
For a news organization, being owned by an oligarch can be complicated.
In 2013, when Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post from the Graham family, those complications were not top of mind. The Post was in a downward spiral, sloughing off staff and flirting with irrelevance. Bezos’s money changed everything, bulking up the newsroom, revolutionizing its technology and firmly reestablishing it as a dominant voice in the national media.
But the conflicts of interest are self-evident. Pretty much every public-policy issue the Post covers affects Bezos’s sprawling personal and business interests in material ways. The very existence of people as rich as Bezos clashes with the notion of economic fairness.
Amazon has never been bashful about its political goals: its $20 million annual lobbying budget, which makes it the second-highest corporate spender in Washington, has been ruthlessly effective at fending off privacy protections, antitrust issues, internet regulation, tougher labor laws and greater worker protection.
FDA Warning About NyQuil Chicken TikTok Challenge May Have Spiked Interest
A statement issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asking people to stop combining NyQuil with chicken after a “Sleepy Chicken” challenge went viral on social media earlier may have unintentionally spiked interest in the trend.
There were fewer than five searches for NyQuil chicken content on TikTok a day prior to the Sept. 15 statement from the FDA, according to data provided to Fox News Digital by the social media app. By Sept. 21, around 7,000 searches were recorded.
The #SleepyChicken hashtag on TikTok has 1.2 million views, and it has been tagged with trending reaction videos in which users share their thoughts on the medicine-cooked dish — many of which have expressed shock and disgust.
The FDA acknowledged that the viral “Benadryl Challenge” of 2020 — in which people consumed high amounts of allergy medicine (diphenhydramine) to induce hallucinations — led to hospitalizations and death, even though the agency warned the public not to participate.
Polite Propaganda: Here’s How a ‘Silk Glove Invasion’ Works
Have you ever heard of a silk glove invasion? The term typically involves a government that invades or undercuts its civilian population through business, politics and propaganda; force is rarely used in a silk glove invasion. It occurs slowly and politely over time — through the bureaucracy.
I believe this is exactly what’s happening in America. When it comes to authoritarian and totalitarian policies in the United States, there’s hardly ever any use of force; legislation and policy are accomplished through gaslighting and keeping citizens content with consumer products and relative freedom. In other words, a silk glove invasion.
When did parents start feeling pressure from the pharmaceutical industry on every vaccine and medical decision? When did vaccines become a prerequisite for children to receive an education?
All of this is legislated under the guise of things that are supposed to be good, i.e. the health of your child. Sounds very polite, doesn’t it? Except these decisions never legislate into the hands of the citizenry. The state always retains and gathers more power through its “polite” and “kind” assertions.
Freespoke Offers Alternative to Google With Emphasis on Free Speech: ‘Our Whole Society Is Under Attack’
Former Republican National Committee finance chair Todd Ricketts launched Freespoke, an alternative to Google, earlier this year because he believes Americans have a “duty to protect” free speech.
“When free speech is under attack, our whole society is under attack,” Ricketts told Fox News Digital. Ricketts, who serves as Freespoke CEO, believes it’s important for Americans to remember Big Tech companies are “not government institutions” and shouldn’t have the power they currently possess.
Ricketts is concerned that Americans have no clue who is pulling the strings at Big Tech juggernauts, and companies such as Google don’t share anything about their algorithms. He isn’t sure that executives from these behemoths purposely cater to left-leaning results, but has noticed that many things that have been censored or de-platformed have a conservative tilt.
Invisible AI Raises $15 Million to Stick Worker-Monitoring Cameras in Factories
The rise of so-called “smart factory” technologies is leading to a race to modernize manufacturing plants and warehouse floors. Old equipment is being replaced by newer, more advanced machinery as manufacturers look to keep pace with the competition — and wrestle with high turnover rates.
According to a survey by Plex Systems, 50% of manufacturers accelerated their adoption of automation and digital systems during the pandemic. A separate report from The Harris Poll, commissioned by Google, found that two-thirds of manufacturers were using artificial intelligence in their day-to-day operations as of June 2021.
Invisible AI today announced that it raised $15 million for its product that uses cameras and algorithms to track workers’ body movements as they work through assembly processes. CEO Eric Danziger claims that the platform, which gives feedback to operators as they work, is already being used in 8 facilities including some owned by Toyota’s North America division, with an additional 8 deployments planned over the next 6 months.
Nets’ Kyrie Irving Says Decision to Be Unvaccinated Against COVID Cost Him Millions + More
Nets’ Kyrie Irving Says Decision to Be Unvaccinated Against COVID Cost Him Millions
Kyrie Irving missed more than half of his third season with the Brooklyn Nets because of mandates that kept him off the court unless he was vaccinated against the coronavirus. Irving refused to take the COVID-19 shot and instead wait until the mandates were lifted. Irving was able to play in road games and later made his first home appearance of the season on March 27.
The star point guard vigorously defended his position to avoid the vaccine and told reporters during Nets media day on Monday his decision cost him millions.
“I gave up four years, 100-and-something million deciding to be unvaccinated and that was the decision. It was contract, get vaccinated or be unvaccinated and there’s a level of uncertainty with your future whether you’re gonna be in this league, whether you’re gonna be on this team,” Irving explained.
Irving has been very vocal about his stance when it comes to being unvaccinated. He also was open in his disagreement with New York City Mayor Eric Adams for keeping the vaccine mandate among city workers.
Marines Dismiss Case Against Japan-Based Lance Corporal Who Refused COVID Vaccine
The Marine Corps has dismissed its case against a lance corporal who faced special court-martial charges stemming from her refusal to take a COVID-19 vaccine.
Lance Cpl. Catherine Arnett, 24, of Fort Worth, Texas, was not charged with refusing the vaccine, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing spokesman Maj. Rob Martins told Stars and Stripes in July. The court-martial came from her refusal “to board multiple flights to complete the separation process which occurred after she refused the COVID-19 vaccine,” he wrote.
Arnett said she would not board those flights because the orders stemmed from the 2021 Defense Department mandate on COVID-19 vaccination, which she considers unlawful.
“In weighing the considerations for both the Marine Corps and the Marine, within the context of the most recent injunction for COVID-19 vaccine refusal cases, the commanding general has decided to dismiss [Arnett’s] COVID-19 related charges,” Martins, the wing spokesman, said in an email Monday.
NYC to Appeal Judge’s Vaccination Enforcement Ruling, Until Then NYPD Will Comply With Order
New York City will enforce a judge’s order barring enforcement of the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the largest police union while the decision is appealed.
In a letter shared with the Daily News, the city Law Department confirmed that the “New York City Police Department has been notified that no member of the Police Benevolent Association may be placed on leave without pay or terminated due to their non-compliance with the vaccine mandate.”
Manhattan State Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank ruled on Friday that the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s vaccination mandate couldn’t be used to fire or put PBA members on leave.
The city vowed an immediate appeal to Frank’s order. In the same letter, Assistant Corporation Counsel Lora Minicucci indicates that the city “dispute(s) the contentions” in the decision and “reserve all their rights and defenses in connection therewith.”
“We are appealing the entire court ruling. The city’s appeal puts the portion of the decision calling for the reinstatement of unvaccinated officers on hold until the appeal is decided. For technical legal reasons, the part of the ruling which prevents the NYPD from terminating or placing unvaccinated officers on leave without pay is in effect until the court decides the appeal,” said spokesman Nicholas Paolucci.
Mark Zuckerberg Is No Longer One of the 10 Richest Americans
For the first time since 2015, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg isn’t one of the 10 richest people in America.
Zuckerberg has lost more than half his fortune — a staggering $76.8 billion — since September 2021, dropping him from No. 3 on The Forbes 400 list of the U.S.’ wealthiest people to No. 11.
Worth $57.7 billion on this year’s list, which used stock prices from September 2, Zuck trails Walmart heir Jim Walton, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and other tech moguls such as ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. No one in America has lost as much money over the past year as Zuckerberg.
He has the cratering stock price of Meta (formerly Facebook) to thank for his exit from the top 10. Shares have plunged 57% since last year’s Forbes 400, which used stock prices from September 3, 2021. Tech stocks are generally in a slump with the market downturn, but Meta’s fall outpaces both the Nasdaq (-9.8%) and the S&P 500 (-13.5%), as well as Microsoft’s 14% decline, Google-parent Alphabet‘s 25% drop and Amazon’s 27% dive.
Truckers, Lawmaker Push for U.S. to Drop Foreign Visitor Vaccine Requirement
A group representing truck drivers in North America and a New York lawmaker on Monday asked the Biden administration to rescind a requirement for foreign visitors to be vaccinated.
The United States in June rescinded its requirement that people arriving in the country by air test negative for COVID-19 but has not lifted vaccination requirements for nearly all foreign visitors arriving by air or at land ports.
Canada said Monday it will drop all COVID-19 restrictions for travelers starting Oct. 1, including vaccination and masking requirements for flights and trains.
Representative Brian Higgins, a Republican who represents a New York district on the Canadian border, said Monday “the end of restrictions is overdue. Canada’s decision is the right one. The U.S. should follow immediately.”
TikTok Can Keep Operating in U.S. Under Deal Being Worked out With Biden
Millions of Americans share data daily on the video-streaming app TikTok — data the federal government considers a national security risk because the app is owned by China, a foreign adversary. Now it has been left up to President Joe Biden to figure out a way to minimize the national security risks without forcing the sale of TikTok or taking away one of America’s favorite apps, as former President Donald Trump tried and failed to do in 2020.
Today, The New York Times reported that Biden may be close to arriving at a potential solution to the TikTok problem. “Four people with knowledge of the discussions,” told NYT that over the past few months, the Biden administration has drafted a preliminary agreement with TikTok “to resolve national security concerns.”
Because the negotiation is confidential, all sources requested anonymity, and not much is yet known about the terms. However, there are three main areas of change in the current draft. The first focuses on preventing China-based employees from accessing American data by storing all TikTok data solely on U.S. servers.
The second is designed to block Chinese propaganda or disinformation campaigns by granting U.S.-based Oracle power to monitor what’s recommended by algorithms. The last provides some oversight by forming a TikTok board of security experts that oversees TikTok’s U.S. operations and reports directly to the U.S. government. (Oracle declined to comment to NYT and did not immediately respond to Ars.)
Amazon’s Robots Are Getting Closer to Replacing Human Hands
In 2019, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos predicted that within a decade, robotic systems will be advanced enough to grasp items with the dexterity of a human hand. Three years later, Amazon looks to be making progress toward that goal.
A recent video published on the company’s science blog features a new “pinch-grasping” robot system that could one day do a lot of the work that humans in Amazon warehouses do today. Or, potentially, help workers do their jobs more easily.
At the rate it’s going in the video, Amazon says the robot could handle more than 1,000 items an hour, meaning it could pick and stow items at rates several times faster than a human worker could. From a box of crayons to a container of what looks like garlic powder to a whisk broom, each item is grasped and moved with no human direction.
The robot utilizes multiple cameras to help it “see” the assortment of items in front of it, as well as machine learning to help it decide the best way to pick up a given item, and motion-planning algorithms to help the robot navigate the crowded scene without bumping or damaging any of the goods. Preliminary tests also found that the robot damages certain products at a much lower rate than other manipulation robots Amazon has tested.
Molly Russell: Posts Left Psychiatrist Unable to Sleep — Inquest
A child psychiatrist was “not able to sleep well” after seeing self-harm material viewed on social media by a 14-year-old girl who went on to take her own life, an inquest has heard. Molly Russell engaged with thousands of such posts before her death in 2017.
Giving evidence at North London Coroner’s Court, Dr. Navin Venugopal said the “very disturbing” content Molly had engaged with would “certainly affect her and made her feel more hopeless.”
Under questioning from coroner Andrew Walker, the psychiatrist said: “This material seems to romanticize, glamorize and take the subject of self-harm, take it away from reality and make it seem almost unreal, take away from these terrible acts any kind of consequence.”
Molly used her Instagram account up to 120 times a day.
How to Advocate for Data Privacy and Users’ Rights
Your Facebook is no longer a naked-to-the-public firehose of information about your family and social life. Your mobile phone is as do-not-track as you’re able to function under. You cover your webcam lens when it’s not in use.
In short, you’ve done what you can to mitigate the way the current world seeks to share and expose your personal information. It takes energy and knowledge to break away from the default settings of digital devices, social networks and retailers seeking more, more, more information. But you’ve done it, at least what you can. You feel pretty good about safeguarding some (but not all) of your private data and being proactive about it.
So what’s this nagging feeling in the back of your skull? Do you sometimes feel like you could be doing even more in the battle to protect citizens from the overreach of data scrapers and tech moguls who value monetization over individual rights?
It takes a lot of committed people to fight these battles in courtrooms, in the digital marketplace and on the platforms themselves (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, among others) that have become battlegrounds for our data. You could be one of these people: an advocate for data privacy who is actively involved in helping protect us all.
China Alleges U.S. Spy Agency Hacked Key Infrastructure and Sent User Data Back to Headquarters
China accused a top U.S. spy agency of stealing Chinese user data and infiltrating the country’s telecommunications infrastructure, according to a report published Tuesday, which lays out details of the alleged cyberattack method.
Chinese state media last week first reported on an alleged attack by the U.S. National Security Agency on China’s government-funded Northwestern Polytechnical University and promised that more details would follow.
Tuesday’s report from China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and cybersecurity company 360, lays out the specific ways the alleged attack was carried out.
The report adds further tension between the U.S. and China in the cyber sphere. Beijing has for years accused Washington of carrying out cyberattacks, but rarely discloses details of specific incidents. This new report is a change in approach from China.
TikTok Could Face $29 Million Fine From U.K. Over Kids’ Data Privacy Violations + More
TikTok Could Face $29 Million Fine From U.K. Over Kids’ Data Privacy Violations
TikTok could face a fine of 27 million pounds, or roughly $29 million, over allegations of violating the United Kingdom’s children’s data privacy protection standards, a U.K. agency said Monday.
TikTok allegedly breached the U.K.’s protections for children’s data privacy between May 2018 and July 2020, in part by processing the data for children under 13 without appropriate parental consent, according to an investigation by the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The ICO also found that TikTok breached privacy protections by failing to provide proper information to users in a transparent way, and processing “special category data” without legal grounds to do so, according to the announcement.
“We all want children to be able to learn and experience the digital world, but with proper data privacy protections. Companies providing digital services have a legal duty to put those protections in place, but our provisional view is that TikTok fell short of meeting that requirement,” Information Commissioner John Edwards said in a statement.
Federal Judge Grants Marines Class Action Status in Challenge to COVID Vaccine Requirement
A federal judge has granted class-action status for U.S. Marines in their fight against Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The ruling is another blow to the Biden administration and consistent with other court rulings that have found military branches are violating federal law.
Judge Steven Merryday of the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida Tampa Division granted a classwide preliminary injunction for Marines serving in active and reserve duty who were denied religious accommodation requests from taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
Merryday preliminarily enjoined the Department of Defense from “enforcing against a member of the class any order, requirement or rule to accept COVID-19 vaccination, … from separating or discharging from the Marine Corps a member of the class who declines COVID-19 vaccination, and … from retaliating against a member of the class for the member’s asserting statutory rights under RFRA [Religious Freedom Restoration Act].
Manhattan Judge Says NYC Vaccine Mandate Can’t Be Enforced Against NYPD Union Members
A Manhattan judge on Friday barred enforcement of New York City’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate against members of the city’s largest police union. The city vowed an immediate appeal of the ruling by Supreme Court Judge Lyle E. Frank, who said the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s mandate couldn’t be used to fire or put on leave members of the Police Benevolent Association.
In his ruling, Frank wrote that the city’s vaccine mandate is “invalid to the extent it has been used to impose a new condition of employment to current PBA members.” Frank ordered the reinstatement to the NYPD of any PBA member who was “wrongfully terminated” or put on unpaid leave for refusing to get vaccinated.
The union said the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene “exceeded” its legal authority when ordering the mandate, which in its view lacked a “rational basis.”
In a joint statement Friday, the Uniformed Firefighters Association, which represents rank-and-file firefighters, and the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, which represents FDNY commanders, praised Frank as a “common sense judge,” and said they would ask the department to reinstate their members fired or suspended because they refused COVID-19 vaccines.
Meta Executive Apologizes Over Inappropriate Content Seen by Molly Russell
A senior executive at Instagram’s owner has apologized after admitting that the platform had shown Molly Russell content that violated its policies before she died.
Elizabeth Lagone, head of health and wellbeing policy at Meta, acknowledged that some of the posts and videos had broken Instagram guidelines at the time, which prohibited the glorification, encouragement and promotion of suicide and self-harm.
Molly, 14, from Harrow, north-west London, killed herself in November 2017 after viewing extensive amounts of content online related to suicide, self-harm, depression and anxiety.
Fired WSU Coach Nick Rolovich Explains Why He Refused COVID Vaccine
Former Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich spoke publicly for the first time since being fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine during the 2021 season.
The website DailyWire+ published an interview with Rolovich on Friday. He said a “lack of answers” and “lack of dialogue” about the effects of the vaccine, along with his religious beliefs, led him to decide against the vaccine, which was mandated for state employees by Gov. Jay Inslee. ESPN first reported a story based on the interview.
This year Rolovich filed a $25 million wrongful-termination claim against Washington State, which fired him for cause with about $9 million remaining on his contract. Rolovich coached 11 games in less than two seasons. Four of his assistant coaches also were fired for not taking the vaccine.
CDC Says Some Nursing Homes and Hospitals No Longer Need to Require Universal Masking
Outside of communities seeing “high” levels of COVID-19 transmission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ended a blanket plea for Americans in hospitals and nursing homes to wear masks indoors.
The change, one of many published Friday evening to the agency’s guidance for COVID-19 infection control for healthcare workers, marks one of the final sets of revisions in a sweeping effort launched in August to overhaul the CDC’s recommendations for the virus.
Now, the CDC says facilities in just over a quarter of counties can “choose not to require” all doctors, patients and visitors to mask.
After Friday’s revisions, the agency now has exceptions for where masking “remains recommended.” These include situations like during an outbreak among patients, or “when caring for patients who are moderately to severely immunocompromised.”
Judge Rejects Attempt by 5 Western University Students to Block COVID Booster Mandate
An attempt by five Western University students to block the school’s COVID-19 booster shot mandate has been rejected by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
In a written decision, Justice Kelly Tranquilli stated that as an independent, autonomous and self-governing institution, Western can govern its affairs separately from the province, and collecting personal health data from staff and students is its way of implementing the vaccination policy.
The students — Simon Hawke, Tiana Gleason, Michael Puzzo, James Donalds and Ashanté Camara — alleged that by collecting the personal medical information of students, Western is violating the Freedom of Information and Protection of the Privacy Act (FIPPA), arguing that it was not categorized as “lawfully authorized activity,” according to section 38(2).
They wanted an injunction to block Western from requiring students to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enroll in classes, attend campus “or for any other purpose” and to destroy the existing personal vaccine data they collected to date from earlier in the pandemic.
U.S. Should Follow Canada and Scrap COVID Border Rules, Lawmakers Urge White House
Lawmakers from the northern United States are cheering reports that Canada is poised to abandon COVID-19 vaccination rules for foreign visitors, and want President Joe Biden’s administration to follow suit.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this week to urge him to lift the vaccine requirement for truck drivers and other travelers entering the U.S.
Vaccine mandates at the border are making international trade “harder and more expensive,” particularly in states like Montana that enjoy a special trading relationship with their northern neighbors, he continued.
New York congressman Rep. Brian Higgins, the co-chair of the multipartisan, bilateral Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group, said the question of vaccination rules at the border was a hot topic during recent meetings in DC. Higgins said it would defy logic for the U.S. to maintain its vaccine mandate for foreign travelers in light of Biden’s own claim in a recent “60 Minutes” interview that “the pandemic is over.”
Social Media Challenges Pose Dangers to Even the Most Well-Adjusted Kids, Experts Say
A recent FDA warning about the latest social media challenge to go viral has brought renewed focus on the dangerous trend that endangers impressionable children and teens.
The need for affirmation on social media heightened by peer pressure can lead to dangerous consequences, as stunts like eating a Tide detergent pod, holding one’s breath until they pass out or ingesting chicken cooked in NyQuil have injured young people and even led to fatalities.
“That’s where the danger lies, in immature children combined against very powerful algorithms and the desire to be liked and accepted,” said Titania Jordan, chief parent officer of Bark Technologies, an app that gives parents control over their kids’ internet activities.
“Social media rewards outrageous behavior, and the more outrageous, the bigger the bragging rights,” the American Academy of Pediatrics said on its website. “It’s a quick-moving, impulsive environment, and the fear of losing out is real for teens. That environment plays into a teen’s underdeveloped ability to think through their actions and possible consequences.”
U.S. Courts Must Stop Shielding Government Surveillance Programs From Accountability
Imagine the government has searched your home without a warrant or probable cause, rifling through your files, your bedroom dresser, your diary. You sue, arguing that the public record shows it violated your fourth amendment rights. The government claims that it has a defense, but that its defense is secret. The court dismisses the case.
That’s precisely what the federal government has increasingly said it can do in cases related to national security — under the so-called “state secret privilege.” It can violate constitutional rights and then defeat any effort at accountability by claiming that its defense is secret — without even showing its evidence to a court behind closed doors.
The latest installment in this troubling trend involves the National Security Agency’s monitoring of Americans’ international internet communications.
Elon Musk to Face Deposition by Twitter Lawyers Ahead of Trial
Elon Musk is scheduled to spend the next few days with lawyers for Twitter, answering questions ahead of an October trial that will determine whether he must carry through with his $44 billion agreement to acquire the social platform after attempting to back out of the deal.
The deposition, planned for Monday and Tuesday and a possible extension on Wednesday, will not be public. As of Sunday evening, it was not clear whether Musk will appear in person or by video.
Twitter’s attorneys are expected to use the interview to try to show that Musk abandoned the deal due to falling financial markets and not because the company misled him about the real number of users or hid security flaws, as he alleged.
AI Is Probably Using Your Images, and It’s Not Easy to Opt out
Viral image-generating artificial intelligence (AI) tools like DALL-E and Stable Diffusion are powered by massive datasets of images that are scraped from the internet, and if one of those images is of you, there’s no easy way to opt out, even if you never explicitly agreed to have it posted online.
In one stark example of how sensitive images can end up powering these AI tools, a user found a medical image in the LAION dataset, which was used to train Stable Diffusion and Google’s Imagen. On the LAION Discord channel, a user expressed their concern for their friend, who found herself in the dataset through Have I Been Trained, a site that allows people to search the dataset.
The person whose photo was found in the dataset said that a doctor photographed them nearly 10 years ago as part of clinical documentation and shared written proof that she only gave consent to her doctor to have the image, not share it. Somehow, the image ended up online and in the dataset anyway.