In a two-day test across top Mastodon instances, researchers find 600+ pieces of known or suspected CSAM and ~2,000 posts with the top 20 CSAM-related hashtags
Happy Monday! Send news tips and summer podcast recommendations to: cristiano.lima@washpost.com.
Sources: SVB bought long-term assets that paid more interest based on a misplaced profit-driven strategy, falling out of compliance with its internal risk model
and over the concerns of some staffers — SVB executives simply changed the model's assumptions, according to the former employees and securities filings.” https://www.washingtonpos...
An AI-focused tech ethics group asks the FTC to investigate OpenAI, saying the rollout of its AI tools has been “biased, deceptive, and a risk to public safety”
An artificial intelligence-focused tech ethics group has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate OpenAI …
Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins says Midjourney banned him after he made images of a Donald Trump arrest; the company banned the word “arrested” in its tool
India cuts mobile internet for a second day in Punjab, a state with ~27M people, as officials try to catch a Sikh separatist and curb “fake news” and unrest
Washington Post :
Sources: Microsoft laid off one of its responsible AI teams that was tasked with assessing the risks associated with integrating OpenAI's tech into its products
As the company accelerates its push into AI products, the ethics and society team is gone — I.
How Twitter played a major role in research and science communication, especially during the pandemic, as researchers and scientists leave the service
In November, Vince Knight decided he'd had enough of Twitter. After more than a decade on the social-media platform, Knight … Tweets: @erictopol , @marionkoopmans , @ibjiyongi , @...
Mastodon, nostr, and other decentralized social networks are having a moment, despite some complexity, propelled by the apparent decline of Twitter and Meta
So, it's been quite a year for legacy, centralized social media — and all without any really big change to the laws that govern it … Mastodon: @kkomaitis@techpolicy.social . Tweets...
Online sports betting companies are cutting big deals with US colleges to promote gambling to students, like Caesars Sportsbook's $8.4M deal with Michigan State
In order to reap millions of dollars in fees, universities are partnering with betting companies to introduce their students and sports fans to online gambling.
“Welcome to hell, Elon”: Musk won't be able to grow Twitter users and revenue without enormous compromises and realizing that content moderation is the product
Now It's Elon Musk's Turn Benj Edwards / Ars Technica : How to download a backup copy of your Twitter data (or deactivate your account) Peter Kafka / Vox : The Big Tech boom is ove...
Elon Musk says Twitter will form a content moderation council with “widely diverse viewpoints” for making major decisions about content and reinstating accounts
Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
[Thread] Via iRobot, Amazon, one of the most powerful data collection companies on earth, will get another vast and intrusive set of data about people's homes
1. Hello. Amazon today announced it would pay $1.7 billion to acquire iRobot, the company behind the Roomba robotic vacuum. It may be the most dangerous, threatening acquisition in...
Celsius files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York, declaring assets and liabilities between $1B and $10B, plus $167M in cash on hand for operations
- Crypto company Celsius has started the process of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Rogers experienced an 18+ hour outage on Friday, affecting internet and phone services, including 911 calls, in parts of Canada
Home internet and wireless connections are coming back, but 18 hours later, there's still no ETA for full restoration. — Canadian telecom Rogers is suffering …
Rogers experienced an 18+ hour outage on Friday, affecting internet and phone services, including 911 calls, in parts of Canada
One of Canada's largest service providers had a major outage this morning. Voice of America : Millions of Canadians Lose Mobile, Internet Services Jem Aswad / Variety : The Weeknd'...
Texas AG Ken Paxton announces an investigation into Twitter for potentially misreporting its bot accounts, after Elon Musk's complaints about the alleged issue
Texas AG Ken Paxton announces an investigation into Twitter for potentially misreporting its bot accounts, after Elon Musk's complaints about the alleged issue
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he opened an investigation of Twitter saying the social media platform may be misleading people …
Google researchers found a watering hole attack in August exploiting a macOS zero-day and targeting Hong Kong pro-democracy sites; Apple patched on September 23
“The nature of the activity and targeting is consistent with a government backed actor,” the Google researchers say. Source: The Keyword .
Google researchers found a watering hole attack in August exploiting a macOS zero-day and targeting Hong Kong pro-democracy sites; Apple patched on September 23
“The nature of the activity and targeting is consistent with a government backed actor,” the Google researchers say. Source: The Keyword .
Google is investigating why Margaret Mitchell, who helps lead its ethical AI team, downloaded and shared a large number of files with people outside the company
Ina Fried / Axios :