Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Eating the Internet
This week, we discuss just doing it, machines that eat the internet, and an eavesdropping watch.
News
AI Avatars Are Doing Job Interviews Now
“This HR AI avatar is a perfect demonstration of late stage capitalism,” Jack Ryan, someone who was interviewed by a tool called Fairgo.ai, told 404 Media.
Gaming
Steam Removes Forced Arbitration Clause, Gamers Can Now Sue Valve
"The updated Steam Subscriber Agreement (SSA) now provides that any disputes are to go forward in court instead of arbitration."
Privacy
DeleteMe Helps Companies Fight the Growing Threat From Data Brokers
Delisting yourself or your employees from data brokerage sites manually is a time consuming and laborious task. DeleteMe makes it easier.
News
Eric Adams Told FBI He Forgot His Phone’s Passcode
“But, Adams further claimed, he had forgotten the password he had just set, and thus was unable to provide the FBI with a password that would unlock the phone.”
repair
Paralyzed Jockey Loses Ability to Walk After Manufacturer Refuses to Fix Battery For His $100,000 Exoskeleton
Michael Straight learned to walk again with the help of an exoskeleton. After an accessory to the device broke, the company refused to fix it.
News
The Secret Service Spent $50,000 on OpenAI and Won’t Say Why
As the White House plans to force federal agencies to be more transparent with their use of AI, the Secret Service won’t say why it’s already spending tens of thousands of dollars on the tech.
Deepfakes
Schools Are Failing to Protect Students From Non-Consensual Deepfakes, Report Shows
A survey of teachers, students and parents showed that schools are unprepared for non-consensual imagery, AI generated or otherwise, spreading throughout communities of young people.
Podcast
Podcast: Telegram is Working With the Cops
Telegram says it will now provide user data to the police; the walls are closing in on the Snowflake hacker; and why Nintendo's lawsuit against Palworld is bad (and Nintendo will probably win).
Piracy
Major Private Music Torrenting Site Suffers ‘Massive Peer Scraping Attack’
Orpheus Network tells users: "With great displeasure we need to inform you that a malicious actor has successfully carried out a massive peer scraping attack on our tracker."
News
Ghost, Encrypted Phone for Criminals, Was an ‘Absolute Mess’
A security researcher managed to pull a list of Ghost users, resellers, and even customer support messages from an exposed server. It shows how as organized criminals move to making their own encrypted platforms, they might make vulnerable products.
News
Google Serving AI-Generated Images of Mushrooms Could Have 'Devastating Consequences'
AI-generated images of mushrooms that look nothing like the real species could spread misleading and dangerous information.
News
Privacy Service Optery Faces Backlash After Plan to Send OpenAI User Data
Optery initially planned to send users' data to OpenAI by default, but walked back the decision over the weekend.