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FBI Says Public Phone Chargers May Put Your Data at Risk: What to Know
Many of us know the dread of a phone battery on 1% and the panic of watching its screen flicker out. But rushing to plug your phone into a public charging station in a hotel, airport or cafe could be risky, according to a recent warning from the FBI.
“Bad actors have figured out ways to use public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software onto devices,” FBI Denver wrote in a tweet. “Avoid using free charging stations in airports, hotels or shopping centers.” Its advice: Carry your own charger and USB cord and use an electrical outlet to power up your device instead.
The alert from the FBI is only the latest instance of government concern over what’s known as “juice jacking,” a cybercrime in which a hacker uses public USB ports to steal data, such as credit card numbers, or install malware on a user’s device.
Ritesh Chugh, an associate professor and technology and society expert at Central Queensland University, wrote in an email that public charging docks are a “significant privacy hazard.” Research has shown that in less than 10 seconds, a malicious charging station can identify the web pages loaded on your phone’s browser, he wrote, while “as little as one minute of charging time may be adequate for compromising a user’s phone.”
Should California Push Sexually Transmitted Disease Vaccine for Teens? Bill Could Mandate It
A California lawmaker wanted to push more middle schoolers to get vaccinated against a sexually-transmitted disease that causes cancer. But now she’s shifting her efforts to college students.
Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, authored a bill that would have added the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine to a list of shots required for eighth-grade enrollment. But amendments to her bill have since stripped the enforcement provision from the middle school requirement, stating that students entering eighth grade are “expected to be fully immunized.”
The newer version of the bill would still require the HPV vaccine in the University of California and California State University systems. Students enrolling at public colleges would need to get HPV shots to attend classes.
Biden Administration Considers Rules for AI Systems Like ChatGPT
The Biden administration on Tuesday took a step toward regulating artificial intelligence, as the overnight explosion of A.I. tools like ChatGPT spurs scrutiny from regulators around the globe.
The Commerce Department asked the public to weigh in on how it could create regulations that would ensure A.I. systems work as advertised and minimize harm.
Tools like ChatGPT have dazzled the public with their ability to engage in humanlike conversations and write essays. But the technology’s swift evolution has prompted new fears that it may perpetuate bias and amplify misinformation.
In recent weeks, the government’s interest in A.I. has accelerated, as consumer advocates and technologists alike descend on Washington, aiming to influence the debate. As companies compete to bring new A.I. tools to market, policymakers are struggling to both foster innovation in the tech sector while limiting public harm.
Biden Ends COVID National Emergency After Congress Acts
The U.S. national emergency to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic ended Monday as President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to bring it to a close after three years — weeks before it was set to expire alongside a separate public health emergency.
The national emergency allowed the government to take sweeping steps to respond to the virus and support the country’s economic, health and welfare systems. Some of the emergency measures have already been successfully wound down, while others are still being phased out. The public health emergency — it underpins tough immigration restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border — is set to expire on May 11.
SUNY Announces End of COVID Vaccine Mandate for Students
SUNY announced that it is no longer mandatory for students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in order to attend classes.
According to SUNY Chancellor John B. King, Jr., the updated guidance applies to all 64 campuses across the state. However, students, staff, and faculty will be strongly encouraged to stay up to date on the vaccines. King says that the safety of students is SUNY’s top priority.
This announcement comes after President Biden announced the end of the COVID-19 national emergency, with some emergency measures in the midst of being phased out.
Research With Exotic Viruses Risks a Deadly Outbreak, Scientists Warn
When the U.S. government was looking for help to scour Southeast Asia’s rainforests for exotic viruses, scientists from Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University accepted the assignment and the funding that came with it, giving little thought to the risks.
The goal was to identify unknown viruses that might someday threaten humans. But doubts about the safety of the research began to simmer after the virus hunters were repeatedly bitten by bats and, in 2016, when another worker stuck herself with a needle while trying to extract blood from an animal.
As if to underscore the risks, in 2018 another lab on the same Bangkok campus — a workspace built specifically to handle dangerous pathogens — was shut down for months because of mechanical failures, including a breakdown in a ventilation system that guards against leaks of airborne microbes. Then, in a catastrophe that began in Wuhan, a Chinese city 1,500 miles away, the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe, becoming a terrifying case study in how a single virus of uncertain origin can spread exponentially.
In spring 2021, the Thai team’s leader pulled the plug, deciding that the millions of dollars of U.S. research money for virus hunting did not justify the risk.
Governments and private researchers continue building high-containment laboratories to work with the most menacing pathogens, despite a lack of safety standards or regulatory authorities in some countries, science and policy experts said. Meanwhile, U.S. agencies continue to funnel millions of dollars annually into overseas research, such as virus hunting, that some scientists say exposes local populations to risks while offering few tangible benefits.
Nurse Fired Over COVID Concerns Sues Alberta Health Services for $3.7 Million
A nurse is suing Alberta Health Services (AHS) for firing her after she publicly criticized AHS’ handling of patient care during the pandemic and its treatment of unvaccinated patients and staff.
Debra Carritt says she first went through official channels with her concerns, from her direct manager up through to the province’s health minister. When that failed, she went to the media. Among the concerns she voiced about AHS, as outlined in her statement of claim filed March 17, was, “open discrimination, judgment, and hostility towards un-vaccinated patients and staff.”
Carritt says the AHS staff COVID-vaccination policy, which went into effect September 2021, caused staff shortages, something she had warned AHS about. She said AHS disregarded valid vaccine accommodation requests, such as requests by pregnant and breastfeeding staff worried about the novel nature of the vaccine.
The statement of claim says Carritt’s warnings proved valid when a staff shortage led AHS to modify its vaccination policy in December 2021 to allow for targeted virus testing as an alternative to vaccination.
Alibaba Now Has a ChatGPT Rival for Its Cloud Customers to Use
In an effort to keep pace with its Western rivals, the huge Chinese-based multinational Alibaba now has its own Large Language Model (LLM) to rival ChatGPT.
Just like the popular ChatGPT, Tongyi Qianwen, to give it its full name, can be given short instructions or prompts in natural language to automatically generate new content and perform other complex tasks in an instant. Eventually, Alibaba hopes to incorporate the chatbot into its numerous services.
