Podcast #45: Cybertruck salad, gym leaks, mouse jigglers, and more funky tech stories
This week at Cybernews, we focused on a few interesting stories. We encountered a relatively big database leak, a new addition to the Cybertruck chronicles, and the invasion of the mouse jigglers.
If any of these topics pique your interest, you can watch the latest podcast episode, available on Spotify and YouTube.
Let’s jump into the topics
Total Fitness witnessed a big data leak
One of the stories we focused on this week was the Total Fitness database leak, which featured almost 500,000 images of gym members, personal records like passports and credit cards, oh and children. The database was openly accessible and wasn’t password protected, meaning that anyone could have accessed those images.
Total Fitness is a health club chain based in northern England and Wales. It serves about 100,000 customers and has roughly 600 employees. The database was a bizarre amalgamation of images that didn’t seem relevant to those signing up for the gym. Why someone would need a picture of your children to sign up for the gym is beyond me, and it seems that no one really knows why these pictures surfaced on the Internet.
However, one researcher, Jeremiah Fowler, found the leak and explored it, discovering a treasure trove of personal information that could be exploited by threat actors. He raised concerns surrounding the use of this personally identifiable information to steal these victims’ identities, commit fraud, or even blackmail and extort those whose information had been leaked.
It’s unclear how long that data was publicly available and whether or not threat actors misused any of the data. But it’s safe to say that the details are murky, and it seems that Total Fitness wants to cover their backs.
Cybertruck-obsessed men trap fingers in frunk
Now, you might be wondering what would make a person trap their fingers in their Tesla frunk (front trunk). Well, for scientific purposes, of course. But this is not only a story of some men’s stupidity. It’s also a fun experiment to test out Tesla’s new updated frunk feature.
It all started with Cyberfreak Joe Fay when he allegedly broke his finger, testing out the “safety” of his frunk.
After this, it appeared that Tesla had gotten the message and released a slew of updates, including the pinch prevention feature, which supposedly detects an obstruction before chomping down on it.
Certain TikTokers took to the platform to test the updates, with one guy making a salad with the help of his frunk. He used cucumbers, eggplants, carrots, and bananas to test the frunk pre and post-update.
The results are quite remarkable. He even tested it on his arms, hands, and fingers, which might not have ended so smoothly.
Invasion of the mouse jigglers: corporate bosses vexed
Have you ever considered whether or not our bosses spy on us at work? Well, maybe it’s something to think about as more employers are downloading software to monitor employee productivity.
This week, one of the biggest banks in the US, Wells Fargo, fired a few of its employees for using software that made themselves appear more productive. Mouse jigglers and custom keyboards make you seem like you’re interacting with your computer. The employees supposedly installed this software in an attempt to spoof the surveillance systems their bosses had employed.
It’s absolutely insane that bosses and people in management positions are using software that tracks your mouse movement, keystrokes, application usage, and more – to track how productive you’ve been at work. The erosion of trust between employees and employers is real people.
However, in this podcast, we present some tips and tricks to avoid trouble if you decide to use this type of software (but be warned, we advise against using this kind of software). We also talk about the ethics of surveillance software and what is now commonly known as ‘bossware.’
Why is Big Tech reinforcing the digital divide?
With the advent of Apple’s new AI feature, ‘Apple Intelligence,’ many have commented that not all Apple users can use these new AI features. Those who are, as my colleague puts it, “the chosen ones” will be able to use Apple Intelligence on certain devices, while peasants who have, say, an iPhone 14 won’t be able to use the feature at all.
This begs the question, is Big Tech reinforcing the digital divide, and why is it doing this? Well, throughout the podcast, my colleague goes into detail regarding big tech’s motives and whether or not the digital divide is being purposefully strengthened by companies like Apple.
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