Technology

Wikipedia has a new initiative called WikiProject AI Cleanup. It is a task force of volunteers currently combing through Wikipedia articles, editing or removing false information that appears to have been posted by people using generative AI.

A multi-year competition challenge to Facebook (aka Meta), which saw Germany’s antitrust authority become a pioneering champion for privacy rights in 2019 after it sought to block the social media giant’s ‘superprofiling’ of users on the grounds that consentless cross-site tracking of users is an “exploitative abuse” of Facebook’s monopoly position, finally concluded Thursday with Germany’s federal competition regulator, Bundeskartellamt, announcing the procedure’s end.

Buchanan walks through his process of experimenting with low-cost fault-injection attacks as an alternative when typical software bugs aren't available to exploit.

All your content are belongs to us.. sorry what they mean is "We’re always experimenting with different ways to connect our users with high-quality and helpful information. "

Quite funny how all recipe posts have (frustratingly) a ton of content before you get to the recipe I assume to assist with ranking on their search and then Google just lifts the good stuff.

I wonder what the site gets as part of the agreement.

Microsoft's LinkedIn will update its User Agreement next month with a warning that it may show users generative AI content that's inaccurate or misleading.

LinkedIn thus takes after its parent, which recently revised its Service Agreement to make clear that its Assistive AI should not be relied upon.

LinkedIn, however, has taken its denial of responsibility a step further: it will hold users responsible for sharing any policy-violating misinformation created by its own AI tools.

The relevant passage, which takes effect on November 20, 2024.

In short, LinkedIn will provide features that can produce automated content, but that content may be inaccurate. Users are expected to review and correct false information before sharing said content, because LinkedIn won't be held responsible for any consequences.

Researchers call for a dedicated law requiring platforms to remove revenge porn.

Newer Samsung Galaxy phones are promised seven years of updates.

Discord has been suddenly blocked in Russia and Turkey since yesterday due to illegal activity residing on the platform, leaving legitimate users in those countries unable to visit the website or connect to the service.

The circuit works by mimicking how certain parts of the human body operate. The engineers were able to use it to encode a series of instructions through variations in the pressure of liquid flowing through these special circuits. The circuits themselves act like the transistors in normal electronics, except they use hydraulic pressure instead of electricity as the input signal.

Consumers are victims of online scams and have their data stolen, but they are slow to adopt security tools to protect themselves.

Does this mean the end of itch.io and greenhouse.io?

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/16468659

The company still isn’t profitable on an annual basis, and declined to say how much revenue has grown since it was reported to be a modest $9 million in 2022. But Substack has added more than a million paid subscribers over the last year. News content continues to account for the company’s largest segment of subscribers, and it has more in the pipeline.

To avoid fizzling the way competitors like Medium have, Substack is trying to become less a journalism platform and more a payment system for creators.

In recent months, the company has been reaching out to influencers, video creators and podcasters to convince them to join the platform. It doesn’t need beauty influencers, say, to all of a sudden become bloggers. But it does want to be the primary vehicle for paying creators regardless of medium.

Archived version

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law a measure imposing the 12% value-added tax (VAT) on nonresident digital service providers, such as Netflix, Amazon, and Shein.

“With this law, we say that ‘if your presence in the Philippine market is as real as your profits, then your tax responsibilities should also be equally tangible,'” Marcos said during the ceremonial signing of the law on Wednesday, October 2.

Marcos also clarified that this was not an imposition of a new tax, but just a way to streamline the BIR’s ability to collect VAT from digital services.

[...]

Republic Act 12023 extends VAT to all digital services consumed in the Philippines, even if provided by companies without a physical presence in the country. This includes purchases from popular electronic marketplaces like Amazon, Shein, and Temu, and subscriptions to streaming services like Netflix and Disney+, which were previously not subject to VAT.

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The VAT imposed will be equal to 12% of gross receipts derived from the sale or exchange of services, including digital services, and the use or lease of properties.

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“This means our artists, filmmakers, musicians, the very people who fill our platform with stories and with content, will directly benefit. It ensures that our creative talents are not just surviving in a competitive digital market, but will be allowed to prosper,” Marcos said.~~

Microsoft warned users of a new known issue that may cause Word for Windows to delete some documents instead of saving them.

MIT has created a chip-based optical tractor beam that can focus a penetrating beam of light over 5 millimeters away from the surface of the chip itself. That might not sound like much, but it's a game-changer compared to previous integrated "optical tweezers" that could only work within a few microns of the chip. Those older approaches essentially had to remove cells from their sterile glass containers (used commonly for biological experiments) and place them directly on the chip's surface, raising contamination risks.

Archived version

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The inquiry will focus on whether TikTok adequately informs users about its advertising policies and provides them with the opportunity to opt in rather than opt out.

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Concerns have been raised that TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, does not fully disclose the details of its terms of service and privacy policy at the time users sign up. Under South Korean law, digital platforms are required to give users the freedom to decide if they wish to receive marketing communications, ensuring that consent is obtained clearly and transparently prior to any such communications being sent.

[...]

The [South Korean media regulator Korea Communications Commission] KCC's probe into TikTok comes amidst a broader global conversation about the responsibilities of social media platforms in protecting user data. As authorities worldwide seek to enforce stricter data protection measures, companies must navigate complex legal landscapes to maintain user trust and compliance.

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Snapchat is bringing ads to the main Chat tab of its app, the company announced on Tuesday.

According to the developers, Rebound 11 does not modify any essential system files but offers plenty of new toys for power users to experiment with. After a "simple" installation process, the tool introduces its own WinUI apps that change several aspects of the Windows 11 experience. The package includes a couple of WordPad-style text editors, a modern file explorer, a redesigned Control Panel for managing system settings, and more.