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American Teens Are Really Depressed. I Asked My Friends to Help Explain Why.

Newsweek reported:

American teens are in trouble. There is a growing mountain of evidence that teens like me are experiencing record levels of anxiety, depression, and even suicide. New research from JAMA Pediatrics published this week added to that mountain, finding that the number of adolescent suicides increased in five states throughout the pandemic.

These statistics are a horrifying reflection of poor policy decisions made throughout the pandemic, and their long-lasting ramifications. But while Americans may be familiar with the statistics, they don’t often get to hear from teenagers themselves about why they are so engulfed with despair.

I spoke to my friend Ella, a senior and fellow student at the selective New York City public high school I attend. Like most of our peers at school, Ella was always a disciplined student, well aware of the value of the education she was getting. Well, she was before the spring of 2020, when what was supposed to be a two-week lockdown to “slow the spread” of COVID-19 dragged into a two-year nightmare.

Tough COVID Measures Were Tough on Mental Health

U.S. News & World Report reported:

As the pandemic unfolded, nations adopted diverse methods to contain COVID-19. Some sought to eliminate the virus, targeting zero community transmission. Others tried to slow transmission through a mix of intermittent lockdowns, workplace, business and school closings, social distancing, the wearing of face masks, and the cancellation of public gatherings and public transport.

Efforts to slow transmission, rather than eliminate the virus, were associated with poorer mental health, according to two new studies published in The Lancet Public Health.

In this study, researchers compared 15 countries that either tried to eliminate or control the virus. Eliminator countries implemented early and targeted actions such as strong international travel restrictions, testing and contact tracing. That led to lower rates of COVID-19 and enabled them to have looser domestic restrictions.

Other countries (mitigators) chose weaker international travel restrictions and aimed to control, rather than eliminate, the virus through strict and lengthy measures including physical distancing and lockdowns.

California Lawmakers Retreat From Vaccine Fight

Politico reported:

California lawmakers were on the front lines of the vaccination wars long before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Democrats pushed through laws that closed off commonly used exemptions for shots required to attend school and cracked down on doctors who gave out questionable exemptions. Now, they are backing away.

In recent weeks, lawmakers have shelved a proposed private employer mandate and a bill to eliminate personal belief exemptions at schools for COVID shots. Another contentious measure — to let children 12 and over get vaccinated without a parent’s consent — is yet to be scheduled for a hearing despite looming deadlines to advance bills this session.

Until recently, the Golden State looked ready to reprise its role as vaccine champion and enforcer. Last summer, Newsom made California the first state to order healthcare workers, teachers and school staff to get COVID shots. He later announced a mandate for K-12 students. And in January, as Omicron-driven cases exploded, lawmakers unveiled the most ambitious vaccine legislation in the nation.

But instead of inspiring a wave of similar policies across the country, as some advocates had hoped, California’s vaccine agenda has begun to fall apart.

Denmark Becomes World’s First Country to Suspend COVID Vaccination Campaign

Newsweek reported:

Denmark has become the first country in the world to suspend its COVID vaccination program. The country has cited its high vaccination rate and a reduction in the number of new infections and stable hospitalization rates as the reason for the move.

The decision means that invitations for vaccinations will no longer be issued after May 15, but health officials in the country expect that vaccinations will resume after the summer.

As Newsweek previously reported Denmark made headlines in February when it became the first country in the European Union to lift all of its COVID restrictions.

China’s COVID Lockdowns Will Create a New Supply Chain Crisis

Fox Business reported:

In 2020, China’s draconian lockdowns created massive supply chain shortages that rippled throughout the globe almost as fast as COVID-19. For months, Americans faced empty shelves and enormous shipping delays. Two years later, we’re still dealing with the problem, with a new round of Chinese lockdowns threatening to produce yet another wave of disruptions.

Shanghai is the largest container port in the world and processes a massive 20% of Chinese exports. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) measures have put almost every one of the city’s warehouses, plants and trucks out of commission, and the port and airport are only functioning in a limited capacity. Cargo is piling up, and it will continue to do so for as long as the lockdown remains in effect.

When Shanghai’s lockdown lifts — which experts predict will occur in June at the earliest — the global supply chain will be overwhelmed by a tidal wave of freight. Industry insiders are saying that the situation is “worse than Wuhan” and may create “the most significant logistics disruption since the start of the pandemic.” Americans will doubtlessly feel the impact, which is bad news for working families already struggling with inflation, rising fuel prices and food shortages.

Victoria Stands Down 420 Public School Teachers Over Vaccine Mandates

The Guardian reported:

About 420 public school teachers across Victoria have been stood down for failing to meet COVID vaccination requirements — with the majority of them not working because they haven’t received the third dose.

Despite previous fears of staff shortages in schools, Guardian Australia understands there are 420 full-time-equivalent teachers across Victoria’s public school system who are unable to work as they have not met the state’s vaccination mandate. This means they have been placed on leave without pay and unable to work since the third dose deadline came into effect on March 25.

Of this figure, Guardian Australia understands that about 240 teachers — or 57% — have not met the requirement because they haven’t received a booster shot. This is in addition to about 180 teachers who were stood down after failing to receive a first or second dose of a vaccine last year.

Google to Pay $100 Million Class-Action Settlement in Illinois Biometric Privacy Lawsuit

Chicago Tribune via MSN reported:

Illinois residents who have appeared in a photograph on the Google Photos app within the last seven years may be eligible for a cut of a $100 million class-action privacy settlement reached by Google this month.

The lawsuit alleges Google’s face grouping tool, which sorts faces in the Google Photos app by similarity, runs afoul of Illinois’ biometric privacy law. The law requires companies to get user consent for the use of such technologies.

The settlement was filed in Cook County Circuit Court on April 14, and Judge Anna M. Loftus issued an order granting preliminary approval of the agreement Monday.

Report: Hackers Have Been Sexually Extorting Kids With Data Stolen From Tech Giants

Gizmodo reported:

Cybercriminals have been sexually extorting children and women using data stolen from large tech companies, according to a new report.

Apple, Twitter, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Discord, Meta and Snap Inc. have all recently handed over sensitive user information to criminals, which has frequently been used to hack into victims’ accounts or to initiate sextortion schemes against them, Bloomberg reports, citing federal law enforcement and industry investigators. The data — which includes names, email addresses and IP and physical addresses — has been stolen using fake legal requests filed by the hackers.

Joe Rogan Caused Some Artists to Leave Spotify. But Not Paying Customers.

CNN Business reported:

Earlier this year, Spotify found itself embroiled in a controversy sparked by one of its most notable podcast hosts, Joe Rogan. The comedian’s frequent and sometimes inaccurate claims about Covid-19 and vaccines on his very popular, “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast led some artists to leave the site in protest.

Spotify’s paying customers apparently couldn’t care less.

Despite the backlash, Spotify (SPOT) saw its paid memberships increase, and the platform now has 182 million premium subscribers — up from 180 million in the previous quarter and 15% higher year over year, the company said in its first-quarter earnings report Wednesday. Total revenue was up 24% over last year.

Online Privacy Protections Gain Traction With Lawmakers, Tech Industry

The Wall Street Journal reported:

Congressional leaders are negotiating in earnest on long-stalled consumer-privacy legislation, raising the prospect that a bipartisan bill could become reality after years of false starts.

Congress is under pressure to act following recent disclosures of content potentially harmful to young people on social media sites including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

And tech companies themselves, after years of resisting privacy legislation in many instances, have begun to push hard for a federal privacy standard — which to many is preferable to a jumble of state laws, and might ease demands for antitrust legislation that could hit the companies even harder.

The policy negotiations involve Democratic and Republican leaders on both the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. They are seeking to put guardrails on tech giants’ collection, storage and use of consumers’ personal information, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Musk’s Contentious History on Twitter, in Tweets

Politico reported:

Elon Musk has been a Twitter antagonist since long before he had the power to do anything about it.

The Tesla CEO is known for his candid, bizarre use of the social media platform. And this free tweeting has landed Musk in hot water a few too many times to count — from Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuits to trouble with his Tesla board to COVID-19 controversies.

Here’s a list of Musk’s tweets that have caused him the most trouble — giving a sense of how he views the site and what it could mean for the future of social media platforms. This list is not exhaustive.

‘Bossware Is Coming for Almost Every Worker’: The Software You Might Not Realize Is Watching You

The Guardian reported:

Can a company really use computer monitoring tools — known as “bossware” to critics — to tell if you’re productive at work? Or if you’re about to run away to a competitor with proprietary knowledge? Or even, simply, if you’re happy?

Many companies in the U.S. and Europe now appear — controversially — to want to try, spurred on by the enormous shifts in working habits during the pandemic, in which countless office jobs moved home and seem set to either stay there or become hybrid. This is colliding with another trend among employers towards the quantification of work — whether physical or digital — in the hope of driving efficiency.

The number and array of tools now on offer to continuously monitor employees’ digital activity and provide feedback to managers is remarkable. Tracking technology can also log keystrokes, take screenshots, record mouse movements, activate webcams and microphones or periodically snap pictures without employees knowing. And a growing subset incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and complex algorithms to make sense of the data being collected.

Leaked Document Indicates Facebook Has Little Insight Into How User Data Is Handled

Engadget reported:

Facebook is reportedly unable to account for much of the personal user data under its ownership, including what it is being used for and where it’s located, according to an internal report leaked to Motherboard.

Privacy engineers on Facebook’s Ad and Business Product team wrote the report last year, intending it to be read by the company’s leadership. It detailed how Facebook could address a growing number of data usage regulations, including new privacy laws in India, South Africa and elsewhere. The report’s authors described a platform often in the dark about the personal data of its estimated 1.9 billion users.