Month: May 2022

UK watchdog fines facial recognition firm £7.5m over image collection

Clearview AI hit with penalty for collecting images of people from social media and web to add to global database The UK’s data watchdog has fined a facial recognition company £7.5m for collecting images of people from social media platforms and the web to add to a global database. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) also …

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Zuckerberg sued by DC attorney general over Cambridge Analytica data scandal

Karl Racine accuses Facebook co-founder of direct knowledge of policies that allowed firm to gather data of millions of Americans Washington DC’s attorney general has sued Mark Zuckerberg, seeking to hold the Facebook co-founder personally responsible for his alleged role in allowing the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to harvest the personal data of millions of …

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Dutch police create deepfake video of murdered boy, 13, in hope of new leads

Video shows simulation of Sedar Soares, who was shot dead in 2003, asking public to help solve case Dutch police have received dozens of leads after using deepfake technology to virtually bring to life a teenager almost two decades after his murder. Sedar Soares was shot dead in 2003 while throwing snowballs with friends in …

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Airbnb to close in China amid repeated Covid lockdowns

With pandemic restrictions showing no sign of ending, home rental service says it will cease taking bookings for accommodation inside China from 30 July Airbnb is closing down its business inside China indefinitely, as the country’s zero-Covid policy, lockdowns and travel restrictions continue. On Tuesday Airbnb told its China-based users it would cease taking all …

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Activision Blizzard’s Raven Software workers vote to form industry’s first union

The vote marks a victory for labor advocates in an industry mired with allegations of abuse and poor working conditions Workers in a division of video game company Activision Blizzard have voted to unionize, creating the first labor union at a major US gaming firm. A small group of Wisconsin-based quality assurance testers at Activision …

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America’s billionaire class is funding anti-democratic forces | Robert Reich

Billionaire donors are pushing an unsettling agenda for America – backing Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, calling for restrictions on voting and even questioning the value of democracy itself Decades ago, America’s monied interests bankrolled a Republican establishment that believed in fiscal conservatism, anti-communism and constitutional democracy. Today’s billionaire class is pushing …

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Tether pays out $10bn in withdrawals since start of crypto crash

Pace of withdrawals in May means ‘stablecoin’ company effectively dealing with slow-motion bank run Tether, the multibillion dollar “stablecoin” that functions as the largest bank in the cryptocurrency economy, has paid out $10bn (£8bn) in withdrawals since the crypto crash started in early May. The pace of withdrawals means the company is effectively dealing with …

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Ukrainian man loses life savings in ‘stablecoin’ crypto slump

Yuri Popovich invested in the supposedly safe cryptocurrency to protect against risks of the invasion A Ukrainian man who converted almost all his family’s money into the crypto “stablecoin” terra in April in an effort to protect against the risks of invasion or currency collapse has lost almost $10,000 (£8,000) after its sudden demise. “It …

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‘Phones are like a scab we know we shouldn’t pick’: the truth about social media and anxiety

Although connecting with friends online has positive benefits for mental health, overdoing screen time can lead to a catastrophic emotional crash Most people think that phones are a bad thing for anxiety. Parents, in particular, believe phones are terrible for the mental health of children, teenagers and young adults. So, what is the truth? While …

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