Utah Legislature Passes Cell Phone Pornography Bill
The Utah House of Rpresentatives approved a bill on Thursday that means cell phones and tablets sold in the state should contain filters to block owners accessing pornographic material. The bill was previously approved by the state senate. The bill, HB72, would require phones “activated in the state” to automatically filter material considered “harmful to […]
Reddit Removed 6% Of Its Content in 2020
Reddit recently announced that it had removed 6% of the content uploaded to the platform in 2020. This figure is up slightly from the 5% removed for 2019. Reddit admins suggest the increase in removal is down to policy changes reflecting a harsher stance against hate speech and racism. The change came alongside Reddit banning […]
Try This Windows Update to Fix CPU Usage Spikes
Microsoft recently released the preview build of the next Windows cumulative update. Installing the update could potentially improve computer speeds by fixing CPU spikes. If you’ve noticed CPU spikes, it’s worth trying the update to see if it works. The problem appears to be caused by an undocumented bug with Windows 10. While the […]
AdBlock Use Surges as Millions Hope to Avoid Interruptions and Viruses
As Apple and Facebook continue to fight over the benefits and drawbacks of online advertising, more people are avoiding the issue entirely by blocking ads. Use of ad blockers is surging, particular on mobile devices, according to a survey published on Monday. The number of people blocking ads on their personal computers has remained […]
Intel to Invest $3.5b in New Mexico Fab Upgrade
Intel announced on Monday that it plans to invest $3.5 billion to upgrade a New Mexico chip manufacturing plant. The upgrade, combined with a further $20 billion to build two new facilities in Arizona, form part of a major plan to rejuvenate Intel manufacturing. The chipmaker confirmed a report from 60 Minutes that there […]
Resident Evil Village Demo Goes Live – And PC Users Have Already Hacked the Timer
The demo version of Resident Evil Village has gone live across all platforms, including PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Google Stadia. The demo was originally intended to be up for only 24 hours, but Capcom relented and said that the demo will be up until the end of this week. As with the Resident Evil […]
Facebook and Instagram Launch Notices that Tracking Keeps Them “Free of Charge”
Facebook continues its campaign against the privacy updates in iOS 14, telling users that information collected from other apps “help keep Facebook free of charge.” A similar message appeared on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. The company calls these notices “educational screens” and says they offer “more details about how we use data […]
Bitcoin Mining Uses More Electricity than the Entire Country of Argentina
Cambridge University suggests bitcoin mining now consumes more electricity than the entire country of Argentina, following the results of an energy tracker. The digital cryptocurrency exists entirely online and has no physical form or association with a real-life bank. Bitcoin is obtained through mining. Bitcoin mining uses powerful computer components, in particular graphics cards, […]
Florida Introduces Bill to Fine Social Media Platforms for Banning Politicians – Except Disney
Florida may soon pass a bill to fine social media companies like Facebook and Twitter for banning political candidates. The bill was introduced by Gov. Ron DeSantis in February. DeSantis is a staunch supporter of former president Donald Trump, but Republicans insist the bill has nothing to do with Trump and his being banned from […]
Amazon Launches a New Anti-Union Campaign
Amazon recently launched new anti-union efforts in Staten Island warehouses following a historic unionization vote in April at an Alabama facility that the union lost. The company ran anti-union ads at TV screens at the JFK8 warehouse at Staten Island. The screens displayed messages such as “KNOW THE FACTS BEFORE YOU SIGN A UNION […]
Tech News
Utah Legislature Passes Cell Phone Pornography Bill
The Utah House of Rpresentatives approved a bill on Thursday that means cell phones and tablets sold in the state should contain filters to block owners accessing pornographic material. The bill was previously approved by the state senate. The bill, HB72, would require phones “activated in the state” to automatically filter material considered “harmful to […]
Reddit Removed 6% Of Its Content in 2020
Reddit recently announced that it had removed 6% of the content uploaded to the platform in 2020. This figure is up slightly from the 5% removed for 2019. Reddit admins suggest the increase in removal is down to policy changes reflecting a harsher stance against hate speech and racism. The change came alongside Reddit banning […]
Try This Windows Update to Fix CPU Usage Spikes
Microsoft recently released the preview build of the next Windows cumulative update. Installing the update could potentially improve computer speeds by fixing CPU spikes. If you’ve noticed CPU spikes, it’s worth trying the update to see if it works. The problem appears to be caused by an undocumented bug with Windows 10. While the […]
AdBlock Use Surges as Millions Hope to Avoid Interruptions and Viruses
As Apple and Facebook continue to fight over the benefits and drawbacks of online advertising, more people are avoiding the issue entirely by blocking ads. Use of ad blockers is surging, particular on mobile devices, according to a survey published on Monday. The number of people blocking ads on their personal computers has remained […]
Intel to Invest $3.5b in New Mexico Fab Upgrade
Intel announced on Monday that it plans to invest $3.5 billion to upgrade a New Mexico chip manufacturing plant. The upgrade, combined with a further $20 billion to build two new facilities in Arizona, form part of a major plan to rejuvenate Intel manufacturing. The chipmaker confirmed a report from 60 Minutes that there […]
Resident Evil Village Demo Goes Live – And PC Users Have Already Hacked the Timer
The demo version of Resident Evil Village has gone live across all platforms, including PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Google Stadia. The demo was originally intended to be up for only 24 hours, but Capcom relented and said that the demo will be up until the end of this week. As with the Resident Evil […]
Facebook and Instagram Launch Notices that Tracking Keeps Them “Free of Charge”
Facebook continues its campaign against the privacy updates in iOS 14, telling users that information collected from other apps “help keep Facebook free of charge.” A similar message appeared on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. The company calls these notices “educational screens” and says they offer “more details about how we use data […]
Bitcoin Mining Uses More Electricity than the Entire Country of Argentina
Cambridge University suggests bitcoin mining now consumes more electricity than the entire country of Argentina, following the results of an energy tracker. The digital cryptocurrency exists entirely online and has no physical form or association with a real-life bank. Bitcoin is obtained through mining. Bitcoin mining uses powerful computer components, in particular graphics cards, […]
Florida Introduces Bill to Fine Social Media Platforms for Banning Politicians – Except Disney
Florida may soon pass a bill to fine social media companies like Facebook and Twitter for banning political candidates. The bill was introduced by Gov. Ron DeSantis in February. DeSantis is a staunch supporter of former president Donald Trump, but Republicans insist the bill has nothing to do with Trump and his being banned from […]
Amazon Launches a New Anti-Union Campaign
Amazon recently launched new anti-union efforts in Staten Island warehouses following a historic unionization vote in April at an Alabama facility that the union lost. The company ran anti-union ads at TV screens at the JFK8 warehouse at Staten Island. The screens displayed messages such as “KNOW THE FACTS BEFORE YOU SIGN A UNION […]
The EU Adopts Controversial Law to Enforce Rapid Takedown of Terrorist Content
The European Union has formally adopted a law that requires internet companies to remove terrorist content or make it inaccessible within an hour of being notified by the authorities. The takedowns apply to the entire EU, with member states able to issue financial penalties to firms that don’t comply with requests. The law comes […]
EU Charges Apple with Breach of Competition Law
EU antitrust legislators charged Apple with illegally preventing competition on the music streaming market with restrictive App Store policies. This is one of the largest competition cases against Apple and could see the company hit with massive fines. Apple rejected the claims through a spokesperson, saying that the charges were the “opposite of competition.” […]
Experian API Exposed Millions of American’s Credit Scores
Credit bureau Experian has only just fixed a weakness with a partner site that allowed anyone to search through tens of millions of records with a name and mailing address. Experian says the leak has been plugged, but the researcher who first reported the leak says the flaw could still be present in other websites […]
Hackers Threaten to Expose Police Informants
A gang of ransomware operators have threatened to expose the identities of confidential police informants to street gangs unless the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C pays $50 million. The group, called Babuk, said it obtained a 250GB database of sensitive information after hacking into the Metropolitan Police Department network. The group runs a website […]
The FBI is Using “Have I Been Pwned” to Alert Emotet Victims
The FBI collected over 4.3 million email addressed during a January takedown of the Emotet botnet. The agency recently handed those email addresses to the Have I Been Pwned service to better alert victims. The service, owned and operated by Australian security researcher Troy Hunt, is a trusted breach alert service, underpinning the Mozilla breach-alert […]
Amazon Allows In-Garage Delivery on Grocery Deliveries
Amazon is to expand in-garage delivery to every city where grocery deliveries are available. The company says Key by Amazon Grocery Delivery is available in over 5,000 cities, allowing shoppers to have Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods orders delivered to their garage. Check to see if the service is available for you through the Amazon […]
Apple Could Face Antitrust Charges in the EU
The Financial Times is reporting Apple could face antitrust charges from the European Commission over concerns about App Store practices. The commission is investigating if Apple broke EU competition rules with App Store policies, following a complaint from Spotify in 2019. Spotify complained Apple took 30% on subscriptions. The European Commission went on to […]
Microsoft Teams Goes Down for Two Hours
Microsoft Teams went down in a worldwide outage for a few hours. The issues began at around 6:30AM this morning, with systems across Asia and Europe taken down. Microsoft has since identified the root cause and fixed the problem. “We’re seeing signs of recovery and will continue to monitor the service.” It said. The […]
Internet Goes Down in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. After Beaver Bites Fiber Cable
Roughly 900 people in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, lost internet access after a beaver caused “extensive “damage by chewing through a fiber cable. Telus spokesperson Liz Sauvé issued a statement about the events, describing a “very bizarre and uniquely Canadian turn of events.” Telus crewmembers discovered that a beaver had chewed through the wire […]
Tim Cook Urged Mark Zuckerberg to Delete User Data From 3rd-Party Apps in a Private Meeting in 2019
The New York Times reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook urged Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to delete user information collected through third-party apps at a private meeting in 2019. The meeting came when Facebook was embroiled in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Facebook was under intense scrutiny for sharing information of over 50 […]
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Curated Posts
Twitch Bans Over 7 Million Accounts Inflating Viewership
Streaming giant Twitch has banned over 7.5 million accounts that it says were contributing to “fake engagement” on the platform. The accounts were banned for violating the Twitch terms and service agreement. The accounts were potentially involved in manipulating followers and viewership for accounts and didn’t belong to individual users. Most of these accounts […]
Fraud Concerns After Crypto Exchange Goes Dark
Thodex, a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange, has abruptly gone dark – leaving nearly 400,000 users unable to access their accounts and withdraw money, according to a Bloomberg report. Turkish news outlets are reporting that CEO Faruk Fatih Özer fled to Thailand on Tuesday with $2 billion in digital assets, adding more fuel to the allegations […]
Stanford Student Spots Glitch in Ransomware Payment System, Saving Victims $27,000
The hackers behind a ransomware attack ran into a problem this week when a security researcher discovered a flaw in their payment system, helping victims save $27,000 on potential losses. The researcher in question is Stanford University student Jack Cable. Cable received a call from a family friend on Wednesday. The friend needed help because […]
EU Privacy Watchdog Says Facial Recognition Should be Banned
EU privacy watchdog the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) says that facial recognition should be banned in Europe due to a “deep and non-democratic intrusion” into private lives. The comments come only two days after the European Union proposed rules to allow facial recognition in the search for criminals and missing children and in […]
Federal Judge Rules Apple Lawsuit Over Digital “Buy” and “Rent” Labels Can Continue
A federal judge has rejected a motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit against Apple over how the company uses “Buy” and “Rent” labels when selling digital content. While the suit can go ahead, The Hollywood Reporter suggests it could still be settled before reaching the courts. David Andino, the lead plaintiff for […]
NVIDIA Suggests Rolling Back Windows 10 to Fix Game Issues
An NVIDIA staff member has responded to complaints about game performance by suggesting Windows users rollback their computer to an earlier version of Windows 10. Gamers have complained of low frame rates and stuttering since the release of the April 2021 cumulative update. “This update seems to introduce a large amount of stuttering on […]
The FCC Will Hold Providers Accountable for Anti-Robocall Efforts
The FCC is set to introduce a new database that all voice providers must use so that the agency can track their efforts to prevent robocalls. From September 28th of 2021, phone companies must block incoming traffic from those outside of the Robocall Mitigation Database. If a company adopts STIR/SHAKEN, a protocol that lets carriers […]
Signal CEO Hacks The Cops’ Favorite Phone Cracking Tool
Cellebrite is an Israeli digital intelligence firm known for selling software to crack phones and pull data from them. As such, it’s no surprise Cellebrite products are popular with law enforcement agencies in the US. Police regularly use these tools to get evidence from devices seized from suspects. The company has drawn criticism for […]
Apple Sued by Man Over Terminating an Apple ID With Over $24k Worth of Content
A man is suing Apple alleging that the company’s media services terms and conditions allowing the company to terminate an Apple ID are “unconscionable” and “unlawful.” The complaint was filed in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday. The suit tackles an Apple services clause stating users can’t access […]
Tik Tok Sued for Allegedly Collecting Children’s Data
The former Children’s Commissioner of Britain has filed a lawsuit against social media giant Tik Tok. The lawsuit alleges that the company collected the personal information of millions of children using the application. The complaint was filed on Tuesday by Anne Longfield. Longfield is seeing over a billion in damages from Tik Tok and parent […]