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College Football Coach Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccine Loses Lawsuit After Obama-Appointed Judge’s Ruling
Former Washington State head football coach Nick Rolovich lost his lawsuit against the university after he was fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine during the 2021 season.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in June 2011, ruled Monday that Washington State could not accommodate Rolovich without undue hardship, including increased travel costs and hindered recruitment and fundraising efforts. The university also claimed damage to its reputation.
The university fired Rolovich, along with four assistant coaches, in Oct. 2021 for refusing to comply with a mandate that required all state employees to be vaccinated. Rolovich filed his lawsuit soon after, claiming the university made an illegal termination in part because of “discriminatory and vindictive behavior” by athletic director Pat Chun.
Meta Will ‘Work With’ Trump to Counter Censorship, Global Affairs Officer Says
Meta’s chief global affairs officer joined Fox News Tuesday, where he promised his company would “work with” President-elect Donald Trump to counter censorship amid a transition to a new community note system. The tech giant announced Tuesday it would move away from its fact-checking program and instead employ a community note system similar to that of Elon Musk’s X.
Heavily debated topics like gender identity and immigration will also be subjected to fewer restrictions under the change, it said. Joel Kaplan said the company intends to work with Trump to counter censorship of political thought on Meta’s platforms.
We’ve got a real opportunity now,” he said. “We’ve got a new administration, a new president coming in, we’re big defenders of free expression and that makes a difference.”
“One of the things we’ve experienced is that when you have a U.S. president and administration that’s pushing for censorship, it just makes it open season for other governments around the world that don’t even have the protections of the First Amendment to really put pressure on U.S. companies,” he added. “We’re going to work with President Trump to push back on that kind of thing around the world.”
Siri’s Listening to You — But Is It Spying?
$95 million is a headline-making number, especially when it comes as a result of a proposed class action lawsuit settlement in which claimants accused Apple of unlawfully surveilling them through Siri and other Apple devices. If the settlement is approved by the district court in Oakland, California, overseeing the case, people who owned a Siri between Sept. 17, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2024, and who believe they experienced an “unintended Siri activation,” will be able to file a claim for $20 as compensation.
The lawsuit began in 2019 after a Guardian investigation in which a whistleblower came forward to allege “countless instances” in which Apple devices, including Siri and the Apple Watch, had inadvertently listened in on users. At the time, Apple had staffed numerous third-party contractors to listen to the devices, which included the inadvertently obtained data — though it claimed this was only for purposes of improving them, not, as many litigants alleged, selling the data to advertisers.
The company quickly stopped the practice, though not before public debate about whether Siri was really spying on its users became widespread. After all, this wouldn’t be the first time a tech company had been accused of audio surveilling its users without their knowledge or consent. Not only that, but a nearly identical lawsuit concerning Google’s Voice Assistant, filed in the same court and likely to result in a similar settlement, is waiting in the wings.
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Beware, 80% of the Most Popular Fitness Apps Are Selling Out Your Privacy
About 12 out of 15 of the best fitness apps actively share your personal data with third parties, de-facto selling out your privacy. Among these, Strava and Fitbit are the most data-hungry, collecting 84% of all potential data points. These are some of the worrying findings from new research released by Surfshark, one of the best VPN services on the market, after looking at data collection and sharing practices of the most popular fitness mobile applications.
“Our research shows that free apps share significantly more data with third parties compared to paid apps, highlighting the importance of evaluating privacy implications,” said Tomas Stamulis, Chief Security Officer at Surfshark.
Powerschool Says Hackers Stole Students’ Sensitive Data, Including Social Security Numbers, in Data Breach
Edtech giant PowerSchool has warned customers that hackers accessed its customers’ highly sensitive information — including student Social Security numbers, grades, and medical information — during a recent data breach, TechCrunch has learned.
In an FAQ obtained by TechCrunch that was sent to affected customers this week, PowerSchool says that “sensitive personal information” was accessed during its December breach, which was confirmed by PowerSchool on Wednesday.
The hackers broke into PowerSchool’s internal customer support portal using a stolen credential, the company previously said. The breach affects users of PowerSchool’s school information system, which schools use to manage student records, grades, attendance, and enrollment. PowerSchool said in its FAQ that while the stolen data primarily includes contact details, such as individuals’ names and addresses, the hackers were also able to access Social Security numbers, some medical and grade information, and other unspecified personally identifiable information belonging to students and teachers.
Venezuela Restricts TikTok — Leaving Citizens Turning To VPNs
People in Venezuela have increasingly turned to VPN services, yet again, as authorities restrict access to TikTok. Proton VPN confirmed to TechRadar that sign-ups across the country have spiked 350% so far, and usage is still increasing at the time of writing.
This surge comes as TikTok is being disrupted in Venezuela, “following a pattern of daily multi-hour restrictions from midnight,” internet watchdog NetBlocks reported today, Jan. 8. The block comes because the popular Chinese video-sharing app failed to comply with the eight-day deadline issued by Venezuela’s Supreme Court to appoint a local representative.
This isn’t the first time, however, that Venezuela restricts access to a popular social media app. In August, President Nicolás Maduro banned X for 10 days over a public row with owner Elon Musk, while calling for a boycott on WhatsApp. At that time, Maduro also said the social media platform was used to incite violence and create political unrest — the Guardian reported.
