News
Social media more like a funhouse mirror distorting reality, researchers say
Researchers at New York University have – unsurprisingly – concluded that social media isn’t an accurate reflection of society. It’s more like a funhouse mirror distorted by a small but vocal minority of users. Algorithms do their part, too.
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Three individuals face charges as police dismantle Redline and Meta infostealers
In a major cybercrime breakthrough, a Dutch-led international operation dismantled one of the largest global malware platforms. Authorities continue investigations into the cybercriminals who were behind notorious infostealers. ESET released an online scanner to check for this malware.
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Fitness app Strava betrays location of Biden, Trump, and other leaders
Sometimes, the schedules of Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, and other world leaders are public – and sometimes they’re not. But Strava, a fitness app used by their bodyguards, makes it easy to track them anyway, a French newspaper Le Monde has found.
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CrowdStrike vs Delta: outage blame game to play out in court
It’s dueling lawsuits between CrowdStrike and Delta as the cybersecurity firm – whose faulty patch led to a worldwide outage of Microsoft Windows-run systems this summer – decides to counter the airline carrier’s own legal action, both filed on Friday.
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Russia puts REvil hackers behind bars. Yes, you heard it right
A Russian court has sentenced four cybercriminals from the notorious REvil ransomware gang to four to six years in prison.
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Welcome aboard: flying taxis coming our way after important FAA ruling
It took around eight decades, but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has officially recognized a new category of aircraft, an electric vehicle capable of taking off and landing vertically – a flying taxi.
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Can social media be blamed for deteriorating mental health?
A grieving mother from Florida has blamed a chatbot for the death of her teenage son. This is just one of many stories that demonstrate the dangers associated with digital platforms and suicide in young people.
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Robots could fill in for absent students in schools, UK groups propose
Robots could be used to boost school attendance in the UK, allowing students to join classes remotely from a “safe space,” according to a proposed strategy.
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WSJ bombshell: Musk in regular contact with Putin since 2022
US tech mogul Elon Musk has allegedly been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022, a new report by The Wall Street Journal claims.
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Internet Archive is back online, but for how long?
After a long battle with hackers who launched a DDoS attack and breached the Internet Archive’s systems, the archive is finally back online, at least for now.
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From bad to infamous: UnitedHealth says hack impacted 100M Americans
The devastating ransomware attack on UnitedHealth Group’s (UHG) subsidiary Change Healthcare has impacted nearly a third of the US population, making the attack the largest known US healthcare breach.
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LinkedIn fined €310 million for violating EU privacy rules
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has ruled that LinkedIn unlawfully handled user data, imposing three administrative fines totalling €310 million ($335 million).
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Pinterest accused of secretly tracking their users
Pinterest, a popular platform for creating visual mood boards, profits off users' private data without consent, digital rights watchdog claims.
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Nipple-pinching parody of Harris and Walz get thumbs up from Meta’s Oversight Board
Meta’s Oversight Board on Wednesday announced that a “Dumb and Dumber” parody meme posted on Facebook depicting US Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz twisting each other's privates should be allowed to stay on the social media site.
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Turkey blocks all social media access after deadly aerospace attack
In an apparent response to Wednesday’s attack on the Turkish military's aerospace headquarters, all social media users are being blocked from accessing multiple platforms, including Elon Musk's X, and Meta's Instagram and Facebook.
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Mother files lawsuit blaming Character.AI for the death of her 14-year-old boy
A minor became detached from reality when talking to fictional AI-based bots on Character.AI and ended up committing suicide. The New York Times (NYT) reports that the ninth grader’s mother is filing a lawsuit against the AI role-playing app.
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Verified ideologues on X play crucial role in reinforcing echo chambers
In a new study, researchers demonstrate that the updated verification system at X has indeed increased polarization and triggered the formation of echo chambers. Manipulating others and their opinions is now easier, scientists say.
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Ernst & Young fires staff in latest corporate perk abuse case
Following Meta’s purge of employees over food coupons, accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY) has fired employees for taking multiple online courses.
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Wells Fargo named in Infosys attack affecting 6M
Wells Fargo and two other Infosys McCamish Systems customers have been impacted by a ransomware attack that affected a further six million people back in 2023.
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Musk sued by creator of Blade Runner 2049 over ‘We, Robot’ copyright
The creators of Blade Runner 2049 are suing Elon Musk and Tesla. The lawsuit alleges that iconic images from the movie were stolen to promote Musk’s new electric vehicles.
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