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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.
