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Submission + - Censorship and fraud driving creators away from YouTube 1

Submitted by NewtonsLaw
NewtonsLaw writes: When YouTuber Bruce Simpson received notification of a community guidelines infringement on his xjet YouTube channel he wasn't happy. YouTube alleges that one of his videos constitutes "hate speech" and even after review, the platform stands by its allegations.

What was the video that risks inciting hate and violence to such an extent that it needed to be removed, even after "appeal"?

Well it wasn't anything political, ideological or even violent. It was a two minute video of a radio controlled model aircraft flying in the skies at his local airfield in Tokoroa, New Zealand.

Incensed by this baseless allegation, Simpson posted this video to YouTube and within a few hours it had already gathered tens of thousands of views and over a thousand comments. Those comments make for great reading and show just how "out of touch" YouTube has become with its target audience and its creators.

The hypocrisy is also highlighted, as Simpson points out just how YouTube is prepared to overlook or even support frauds being perpetrated on its audience by way of scam advertisements that continue to play weeks or even months after they've been reported by countless people, many of who have become victims of the scams.

Has YouTube lost its way? Has it forgotten its roots? Are many creators now turning to self-hosting in reaction to ridiculous levels of censorship?

Or do we have a reverse adpocalypse — where content creators are shunning YouTube because they do not want their content being run alongside fraudulent scammy ads placed by YouTube?

Submission + - FDA did not notify the public of deadly E. coli outbreak across 15 states (nbcnews.com)

Submitted by joshuark
joshuark writes: The outbreak is linked to romaine lettuce killed one person and sickened at least 88 more, including a 9-year-old boy who nearly died of kidney failure.

“There were no public communications related to this outbreak,” the FDA said in its report, which noted that there had been a death but provided no details about it.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported in February that it had closed the investigation without publicly detailing what had happened, or which companies were responsible for growing and processing the contaminated lettuce.

The FDA said its staff members “continue to provide critical communications to consumers associated with foodborne outbreaks,” including information about recalls and investigations.

Submission + - Ann Arbor building a new electricity grid along side the old one (techxplore.com)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: An experiment is underway in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that could change how communities generate and distribute power in the future. The city, with voters' strong support, is launching its own sustainable energy utility. This new utility won't replace DTE Energy, the local investor-owned power company, or even use DTE's wires. Instead, Ann Arbor will slowly build out a whole new modern power system, starting with installing rooftop solar and battery storage and reducing energy usage in individual homes and businesses whose owners opt in. The city then plans to expand by connecting homes and neighborhoods into microgrids and by using community solar and networked geothermal to allow broader access to clean energy. If it works as planned, a sustainable energy utility like this could quickly build the clean energy grid of the future by shedding outdated infrastructure while creating a reliable, clean and resilient model.

Submission + - Email shows that Musk ally is moving to close office behind free tax filing prog (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Alain Williams
Alain Williams writes: An Elon Musk ally installed in the US government said in a late night email going into Saturday that the office behind a popular free online tax filing option would be shuttered – and its employees would be let go.

The 18F office within the General Services Administration (GSA) created the IRS Direct File program that allows for free online tax filings. It has been a frequent target of Musk, and one of the billionaire businessman’s close associates who holds a key position in the GSA informed staffers that the agency would close 18F in an email to staffers that arrived around 1am on Saturday morning.

Submission + - Defense of FOSS licensing rests on the shoulders of a guy in Virginia (theregister.com) 1

Submitted by jms00
jms00 writes: The open-source community is finally realizing that Neo4j v. PureThink could set a dangerous legal precedent, allowing companies to impose new restrictions on open-source licenses. If the Ninth Circuit upholds the lower courtâ(TM)s ruling, it wonâ(TM)t just threaten the GPL, it could undermine all open-source licenses, undoing years of work to protect software freedom.

With one developer fighting this battle pro se, the stakes couldnâ(TM)t be higher!

Submission + - Argentinian president promotes $LIBRA cryptocoin... which crashes into oblivion

Submitted by gwolf
gwolf writes: On Friday, February 14, Libertarian Argentinian president, Javier Milei, promoted the just-created $LIBRA cryptocoin, created by the Viva la libertad project, strongly aligned with his political party, La Libertad Avanza. Milei tweeted, ÂThis private project will be devoted to promote growth of the Argentinian economy, funding small startups and enterprises. The world wants to invest in Argentina!Â. It is worth noting that the project's website was registered a mere three minutes before Milei tweeted his endorsement. The cryptocoin quickly reached a $4.6 billion market cap... Only to instantaneously lose 89% of its value, with nine core investers pulling the rug from under the enthusiast investers. Of course, Milei angrily answered with a new tweet blaming everybody but himself. Is there any way to believe he wasn't aware of the shoddy associates he was promoting? Or that promoting a memecoin is not responsible for the head of state of a country?

Submission + - Pairwise authentication of humans.

Submitted by Kernel Kurtz
Kernel Kurtz writes: Picked up on this article from Bruce Schneier's most recent Cryptogram newsletter;

Bad actors can now digitally impersonate someone you love, and trick you into doing things like paying a ransom. Here is an easy system for two humans to remotely authenticate to each other, so they can be sure that neither are digital impersonations. As it becomes more and more difficult to trust anything you see or hear online, this is a simple elegant solution to an emerging problem.

Submission + - Musk Shows Us What Actual Government Censorship On Social Media Looks Like (techdirt.com)

Submitted by theweatherelectric
theweatherelectric writes: Self proclaimed "free speech absolutist" Elon Musk is now suppressing free speech on Twitter. Over the weekend, Wired reported on the inexperienced twenty-somethings between 19 and 24 working for Musk who have been given unprecedented access to sensitive government systems.

When someone posted these government employees’ names on Twitter, Musk first declared it “criminal” to name government employees (it isn't) and then he followed it up by having the comment removed.

Submission + - Evolution Journal's Editors Resign En Masse Amid Elsevier's Meddling

Submitted by ewhac
ewhac writes: Retraction Watch is reporting that the entire editorial staff (save one) for the Journal of Human Evolution has resigned in protest over creeping harmful changes imposed by its publisher, Elsevier. In an open letter posted to social media, JHE editors recount Elsevier's changes to JHE's scientific and editorial processes — with Elsevier inserting itself into those processes — along with staff and budget reductions, negatively impacting their ability to review and publish submissions. When the editorial board complained of Elsevier's eliminating support for a copy editor, Elsevier allegedly responded, "...the editors should not be paying attention to language, grammar, readability, consistency, or accuracy of proper nomenclature or formatting." When the editors fiercely protested Elsevier's ending of JHE's dual-editor model, Elsevier allegedly responded, "...it would support a dual-editor model by cutting the compensation rate by half."

But perhaps most damning is a footnote revealing Elsevier's use of so-called "AI" in the publication process: "In fall of 2023, for example, without consulting or informing the editors, Elsevier initiated the use of AI during production, creating article proofs devoid of capitalization of all proper nouns (e.g., formally recognized epochs, site names, countries, cities, genera, etc.) as well italics for genera and species. These AI changes reversed the accepted versions of papers that had already been properly formatted by the handling editors. This was highly embarrassing for the journal and resolution took six months and was achieved only through the persistent efforts of the editors. AI processing continues to be used and regularly reformats submitted manuscripts to change meaning and formatting and require extensive author and editor oversight during proof stage." Except for one unnamed associate editor, the JHE's editorial board determined that the situation with Elsevier was no longer tenable, and resigned.

Submission + - AI scoring of tenant's characteristics leads to rejection - and payout (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Bruce66423
Bruce66423 writes: 'Despite a stellar reference from a landlord of 17 years, Mary Louis was rejected after being screened by firm SafeRent'. The software, SafeRent, didn’t explain in its 11-page report how the score was calculated or how it weighed various factors. It didn’t say what the score actually signified. It just displayed Louis’s number and determined it was too low. In a box next to the result, the report read: “Score recommendation: DECLINE”.'

However there is a question as to whether this is AI or merely automated scoring of standard factors being toted up to produce a result. The prospective tenant's problem was her low credit rating — that she had 'a low credit score and some credit card debt, she had a stellar reference from her landlord of 17 years, who said she consistently paid her rent on time. She would also be using a voucher for low-income renters, guaranteeing the management company would receive at least some portion of the monthly rent in government payments. Her son, also named on the voucher, had a high credit score, indicating he could serve as a backstop against missed payments.'

Surely what's needed is a clear algorithm. To suggest that the algorithm is wrong is fair, and for it to be hidden inside a black box called 'AI' is especially problematic.

Comment Re:Congradulations (Score 4, Informative) 203

No, Musk didn't give the people in a hurricane disaster zone free internet. They get one free month on Starlink, but they have to buy a $400 dish and at the end of their free month, they get automatically converted into a $120/month plan.

Robo-taxi doesn't have a plug. It charges - slowly - by driving over special roads w/embedded coils. There's 1/4 mile of such road in the US, so the thing is useless.

Submission + - The Radio-Obsessed Civilian Shaping Ukraine's Drone Defense (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov hates going to the front line. The risks terrify him. “I’m really not happy to do it at all,” he says. But to perform his particular self-appointed role in the Russia-Ukraine war, he believes it’s critical to exchange the relative safety of his suburban home north of the capital for places where the prospect of death is much more immediate. “From Kyiv,” he says, “nobody sees the real situation.” So about once a month, he drives hundreds of kilometers east in a homemade mobile intelligence center: a black VW van in which stacks of radio hardware connect to an array of antennas on the roof that stand like porcupine quills when in use. Two small devices on the dash monitor for nearby drones. Over several days at a time, Flash studies the skies for Russian radio transmissions and tries to learn about the problems facing troops in the fields and in the trenches.

He is, at least in an unofficial capacity, a spy. But unlike other spies, Flash does not keep his work secret. In fact, he shares the results of these missions with more than 127,000 followers—including many soldiers and government officials—on several public social media channels. Earlier this year, for instance, he described how he had recorded five different Russian reconnaissance drones in a single night—one of which was flying directly above his van. “Brothers from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, I am trying to inspire you,” he posted onhis Facebook page in February, encouraging Ukrainian soldiers to learn how to recognize enemy drone signals as he does. “You will spread your wings, you will understand over time how to understand distance and, at some point, you will save the lives of dozens of your colleagues.”

Drones have come to define the brutal conflict that has now dragged on for more than two and a half years. And most rely on radio communications—a technology that Flash has obsessed over since childhood. So while Flash is now a civilian, the former officer has still taken it upon himselfto inform his country’s defense in all matters related to radio. As well as the frontline information he shares on his public channels, he runs a “support service” for almost 2,000 military communications specialists on Signal and writes guides for building anti-drone equipment on a tight budget. “He’s a celebrity,” one special forces officer recently shouted to me over the thump of music in a Kyiv techno club. He’s “like a ray of sun,” an aviation specialist in Ukraine’s army told me. Flash tells me that he gets 500 messages every day asking for help.

Submission + - That cyber-heist of 2.9B personal records?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: That cyber-heist of 2.9B personal records? There's a class-action lawsuit looming for that

“If the thieves are to be believed, the database included 2.9 billion records on all US, Canadian, and British citizens, and included their full names, addresses, and address history going back at least three decades, social security numbers, and the names of their parents, siblings, and relatives, some of whom have been dead for nearly 20 years.”

Ma href ="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teiss.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fnews-scroller%2Fjerico-pictures-faces-class-action-over-massive-data-breach-14429">Jerico Pictures faces class action over massive data breach

Submission + - California Prohibited from Enforcing PI Licensing Law Against Anti-Spam Crusader (ij.org)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: U.S. District Judge Rita Lin has permanently enjoined the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services from enforcing its private-investigator licensing requirement against anti-spam entrepreneur Jay Fink. The order declares that forcing Jay to get a license to run his business is so irrational that it violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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