Group suing Arkansas says book ban law seeks to ‘criminalize librarians’

Story by Erum Salam in New York •  The Guardian

Yesterday 

Photograph: Katie Adkins/AP

A coalition of publishers, booksellers, librarians and readers filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Arkansas state government, over a book ban law set to go into effect in August.

Related: Illinois set to become first state to end book bans

Carol Coffey, the president of the Arkansas Library Association and lead plaintiff, told the Guardian: “Library workers across Arkansas are rightly concerned that the overly broad edicts of Act 372 will prevent them from serving their patrons as they have always done, by providing a wide variety of materials to fill their information needs, and perhaps more importantly, materials that allow each child to see themselves in the books in their library.”

The plaintiffs argue the new law is illegal because it is a direct attack on free speech guaranteed by the first and 14th amendments to the US constitution.

They call Act 372 a censorship law that seeks to “ban books in libraries and criminalize librarians”.

Related video: Illinois bill will cut off public funding to libraries that ban books 

(Straight Arrow News)  Duration 1:56  View on Watch

Coffey said: “The primary mission of the Arkansas Library Association is to support libraries and library workers and to defend intellectual freedom. We join in this lawsuit because it is the best way for us to fulfill our mission.”

Act 372 was signed on 31 March by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, once White House press secretary under Donald Trump and now Arkansas’s Republican governor.

The law will subject librarians to criminal charges if they are found to have furnished any item deemed “harmful to minors”.

Democracy Forward, a non-profit legal advocacy group, is leading the legal action on behalf of the coalition which also includes the Central Arkansas Library System.

In the filed complaint, the legislation is described as a “vague, sweeping law that restrains public libraries and booksellers”.

Proponents of the new law say it will protect children from “indoctrination” and shield them from issues surrounding the teaching of race and racism in US history, sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Arkansas law is one of several in Republican-led states. Other lawsuits against such laws have been filed across the US.

Last month, the writers’ organization PEN America and the publishing company Penguin Random House filed suit against a Florida school district, for implementing book bans.

On Friday, Coffey told the Guardian: “My hope is that all residents of Arkansas and the US will be able to read freely, that all parents will be able to make the choices they believe best for their families and that those choices will not be limited by the desires of a few outspoken people who believe they know best for everyone.”

ALL IS VANITY

It’s Time To Enforce Rules Against Cancer-Causing Tanning Beds

Story by Refinery29 Staff • Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Welcome to Sun Blocked, Refinery29’s global call-to-action to wake up to the serious dangers of tanning. No lectures or shaming, we promise. Instead, our goal is to arm you with the facts you need to protect your skin to the best of your ability, because there’s no such thing as safe sun.

Let’s state the obvious: Using a tanning bed is life-threatening. The reality is that just one tanning bed session before age 35 can increase your chances of developing melanoma by 75%. And yet we continue to tan. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, 40% of 18 to 25 year olds are unaware of the risks of tanning (including premature aging and an increased chance of developing melanoma skin cancer). In fact, 20% say that getting a tan is more important than preventing skin cancer. It’s clear that we have a serious public health problem on our hands — and it’s time to do something about it.

That’s why Refinery29 is partnering with the Skin Cancer Foundation to call on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to finalize rules first proposed in 2015 that would prohibit minors from using tanning beds and require an acknowledgement of the associated risks from adult users, among other changes, as soon as possible. Enforcing such rules could save lives and reduce the number of melanoma skin cancer cases across the country, especially among younger people whose risk for harm increases with tanning bed use during adolescence.

This action is not impossible. Currently, 44 states and the District of Columbia ban or regulate indoor tanning devices for those who are age 18 and under, joining countries like Brazil and Australia, which have done so, too. Now, we need enforceable measures that will protect us nationally. Enacting these rules would be an important step forward in the fight against skin cancer.

We hope that you’ll join us in voicing your support of banning tanning bed use for minors in the US by signing this letter to the FDA. Remember, no tan is ever worth the risk.

Inuit, environmental groups praise cruises for agreeing to avoid Eclipse Sound

Story by The Canadian Press • June 3, 2023

Inuit, environmental groups praise cruises for agreeing to avoid Eclipse Sound© Provided by The Canadian Press

POND INLET, Nunavut — A marine conservation charity and Inuit hunters are praising cruise operators for agreeing to avoid a Nunavut waterway where thousands of narwhal migrate each summer.

The Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators recently said its members' ships would not travel through Eclipse Sound this summer and instead go through the Pond Inlet strait.

Oceans North and the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization had requested the move as numbers of summering narwhal in the area off the northeastern coast of Baffin Island have decreased, which they say is due to increased shipping traffic.

“Narwhal continue to decline in our area and have not bounced back to historical numbers as we had hoped," David Qamaniq, chair of the hunters and trappers organization, said in a news release. "We thank the cruise ship operators for working with us this year to protect the animals that remain."

Aerial surveys have shown a drop in the number of narwhal migrating to Eclipse Sound from Baffin Bay. Surveys conducted for Baffinland Iron Mines Corp, which operates the Mary River Mine, estimate numbers decreased from 5,019 in 2020, to 2,595 in 2021. The company said, however, its 2022 estimate shows an increase to 4,592.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada estimated there were more than 12,000 narwhal in Eclipse Sound in 2016 and more than 20,000 in 2004.

"This area historically is some of the most important narwhal habitat anywhere in the world," said Chris Debicki, Ocean North's vice president of policy development, noting Milne Inlet, a small arm of Eclipse Sound, is a critical calving area.

"Displacing narwhal from that area not only moves narwhal out of their preferred habitat, but also potentially makes it much harder for harvesters to participate in narwhal hunts."

Hunters from Mittimatalik, or Pond Inlet, rely on narwhal for food, livelihoods and culture.

While cruise ships avoiding Eclipse Sound will make a difference, Debicki said, they make up just a fraction of ship traffic. The Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators said its ships accounted for 14 per cent of those travelling through the area last year with 15 ships making 26 trips. It said 14 of its members have planned 32 stops in Pond Inlet this summer.

Oceans North said the majority of ships are travelling to and from the Mary River Mine, with 44 vessels making 76 trips in Eclipse Sound and adjacent fiords in 2022, or around 40 per cent of all ship traffic.

A report from working groups from the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission and Canada/Greenland Joint Commission on Beluga and Narwhal published earlier this year concluded increased shipping traffic is "by far the most likely cause" of declining narwhal numbers in Eclipse Sound, particularly from the iron ore mine.

Baffinland has criticized the report and said factors other than shipping may have led to the decrease. It said that includes changing ice conditions and predator-prey dynamics, which the report disputes.

Baffinland spokesperson Peter Akman said the company welcomes the decision by the cruise operators association and "any measures that protect marine life and balance the needs of the local community as a whole."

He noted Baffinland has several voluntary mitigation measures including the use of convoys, avoiding restricted areas, using a fixed shipping route and capping vessel speeds at nine knots. Akman added the company employs six full-time and four part-time Inuit shipping monitors in Pond Inlet.

Last summer the company raised concerns about cruise ships travelling too fast in the area. Akman said it has continued to reach out to Oceans North, the Association of Arctic Expedition and Cruise Operators and cruise ships approved to travel through the community this summer to support its marine mitigation measures.

Baffinland, which began operations in 2015, has a request with the Nunavut Impact Review Board to increase the amount of ore its allowed to ship from the mine to six million tonnes from 4.2 million tonnes, as it has been permitted annually since 2018, using up to 84 ore carriers. It is additionally asking to ship ore that was stranded at the Milne port last year, as well as any that could be left behind at the end of this year's shipping season.

Oceans North and the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization have called on the federal government to issue an interim order under the Canada Shipping Act to close the Eclipse Sound and adjacent fiord system this summer to all non-essential vessels and enforce a speed limit of nine knots. They said Transport Canada should also work with Baffinland to reduce shipping through Eclipse Sound and Milne Inlet.

"We believe these to be the minimum steps needed toward reducing the risk of extirpation of the Eclipse Sound narwhal population," a March letter from the organizations states.

Transport Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2023.

— By Emily Blake in Yellowknife

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press

Ethnic cleansing continues in Tigray, despite truce: Report

Yesterday 

Ethnic cleansing campaigns have continued in Ethiopia's Tigray region, despite a November 2022 peace agreement, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.

"The November truce in northern Ethiopia has not brought about an end to the ethnic cleansing of Tigrayans in Western Tigray Zone," Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "If the Ethiopian government is really serious about ensuring justice for abuses, then it should stop opposing independent investigations into the atrocities in Western Tigray and hold abusive officials and commanders to account."MORE: Ethiopians abroad celebrate Christmas with hope and angst after November cease-fire in Tigray

The new report highlights that Tigrayans have suffered forced expulsions and deportations, torture, death and life-threatening treatment that "may amount to the crime against humanity of extermination" on the basis of their identity.

The Ethiopian military entered Tigray, a semi-autonomous region in the northern part of the country, on Nov. 4, 2020, in response to claims the Tigray People's Liberation Front attacked a military base in the region, according to the country's prime minister.


Internally Displaced People (IDP), fleeing from violence in the Metekel zone in Western Ethiopia, collect water from taps in a camp in Chagni, Ethiopia, Jan. 28, 2021

.© Eduardo Soteras/AFP via Getty Images

The war in Tigray is estimated to have claimed the lives of up to 600,000 civilians between November 2020 and August 2022, according to researchers from Belgium's Ghent University. Han Nyssen, senior professor of geography at Ghent University, told ABC News in January that the true scale of death in Ethiopia's Tigray region remains hard to ascertain.

"We [still] have almost no view of what happens in Western Tigray," he said.MORE: After ending Ethiopia's trade status, US weighs sanctions, genocide designation over Tigray war

Human Rights Watch conducted dozens of interviews with witnesses, victims and humanitarian aid staff in gathering information about the bleak conditions for Tigrayans.

"The [militias] came into my home and said I need to leave because it's not our land," a woman from the town of Adebai who was forced to flee toward Sudan told Human Rights Watch on the condition of anonymity. "They would knock at midnight and say Tigrayans can't come back."



Displaced people from Western Tigray stand at the door of a classroom in the school where they are sheltering in Tigray's capital Mekele on February 24, 2021

.© Eduardo Soteras/AFP via Getty Images

More than a thousand Tigrayans have been arbitrarily detained from September 2022 to April 2021, in the Western Tigrayan towns of Humera, Rawyan and Adebai, according to the report. One interviewee who was held at Bet Hintset prison told Human Rights Watch that detainees endured poor treatment, with many dying due to lack of food and medication.

The African Union, which convened the peace talks alongside members of the high-level, AU-led Ethiopian Peace Process panel, reached a "cessation of hostilities agreement" on Nov. 2, 2022. It said at the time it marked an "important step in efforts to silence the guns."



People organize piles of items during an items distribution by an international non-governmental organization for Internally Displaced People (IDP) fleeing from violence in the Metekel zone in Western Ethiopia, in Chagni, Ethiopia, Jan. 28, 2021.© Eduardo Soteras/AFP via Getty Images

Many of the displaced -- which the U.N. registered as 47,000 in eastern Sudan as of October 2022 -- told Human Rights Watch that they felt unsafe returning home due to intimidation from abusive officials and security forces that remain in the region.

The Human Rights Watch has called on the Ethiopian government to "suspend, investigate and appropriately prosecute" commanders and officials who are implicated in the abuse of human rights in Western Tigray.

"If the Ethiopian government is really serious about ensuring justice for abuses, then it should stop opposing independent investigations into the atrocities in Western Tigray and hold abusive officials and commanders to account," Bader said.

US poet laureate dedicates ode to Europa for NASA mission to Jupiter's icy moon

Story by By Colette Luke and Steve Gorman • Yesterday 

U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón sits for interview with Reuters in Washington

© Thomson Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon was asked to write a poem for inscription on a NASA spacecraft headed to Jupiter's icy moon Europa, she felt a rush of excitement at the honor, followed by bewilderment at the seeming enormity of the task.


U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón is interviewed by Reuters in Washington

© Thomson Reuters

"Where do you start a poem like that?" she recalled thinking just after receiving the invitation in a call at the Library of Congress, where the 47-year-old poet is serving a two-year second term as the nation's top bard.

On Thursday night, exactly one year later in a ceremony at the library, across the street from the U.S. Capitol, Limon's 21-line creation, "In Praise of Mystery: a Poem for Europa," was unveiled and read aloud to a public audience for the first time, receiving a standing ovation.

The entire poem, a free-verse ode consisting of seven three-line stanzas, or tercets, will be engraved in Limon's handwriting on the exterior of the Europa Clipper, due for launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in October 2024.


U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón interview with Reuters in Washington

© Thomson Reuters

Now being assembled at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles, the spacecraft - larger than any other flown by NASA on an interplanetary mission - should reach Jovian orbit in 2030 after a 1.6 billion-mile (2.6 billion km) journey.

In praise of mystery. A poem for Europa.

Duration 1:58  View on Watch

DailymotionUS Poet Laureate Unveils Poem for NASA Mission

1:27

The Washington Post  Listen to the poem engraved on NASA’s Jupiter rocket

1:31

The solar-powered Clipper will have an array of instruments designed to study the vast ocean of water that scientists strongly believe lies beneath Europa's icy crust, potentially harboring conditions suitable for life.

During its mission, the spacecraft is expected to make nearly 50 fly-bys of Europa, rather than continuously orbit the moon, because doing so would bring it too close for too long to Jupiter's powerfully harsh radiation belts.

UNITING TWO WATER WORLDS

Limon's "Poem for Europa" is less a meditation on science - though its first line seems to allude to a rocket launch - as it is an ode to nature and the awe it can inspire in humankind.

Except for its title, it does not mention Europa explicitly but refers to its place among Jupiter's natural satellites, and to the commonality of water that it shares with Earth: "O second moon, we too are made of water, of vast and beckoning seas."

It concludes: "We, too are made of wonders, of great / and ordinary loves, of small invisible worlds / of a need to call out through the dark."

"I wanted to point back to the Earth, and I think the biggest part of the poem is that it unites those two things," she told Reuters in an interview in the Library of Congress poetry room hours before the piece was unveiled. "It unites both space and this incredible planet that we live on."

Limon, who won the National Book Critics Circle Award for her poetry collection "The Carrying," recounted great difficulty when she first tried composing the Europa poem at a writers retreat in Hawaii.

Her breakthrough came on a suggestion from her husband, who Limon said encouraged her to "stop writing a NASA poem" and to create "a poem that you would write" instead. "That changed everything," she remembered.

The only firm parameters NASA gave her were to relate something about the mission, to make it understandable to readers as young as 9, and to write no more than 200 words.

At the Library of Congress on Thursday night, Limon said she considers the Europa commission "the greatest honor and privilege of my life."

Reflecting earlier on what the assignment meant, Limon said she wonders at "all of the human eyes and human ears and human hearts that will receive this poem and ... it's the audience that really overwhelms me."

A writer of Mexican ancestry, Limon became the first Latina U.S. poet laureate and the 24th individual to hold the title when she was first appointed in September 2022.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Colette Luke in Washington; Additional reporting by Kimberley Vinnell in Washington. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Why a federal government agency is warning people not to keep a lot of money sitting in Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App

Story by amcdade@insider.com (Aaron McDade) • Yesterday 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a new report advising Americans against storing too much money in payment apps like Venmo and PayPal

 Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advised Americans against storing money in payment apps.

Surveys have found that about 76% of all Americans have used an app like Venmo at least once.

Money stored in apps is often not insured, unlike deposits at larger banks insured by the government.

You should probably stop leaving money in your Venmo and PayPal accounts for days, weeks, or even months at a time.

That's the official view of a federal government agency that is warning users of popular payment apps like Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, and more that they should avoid keeping large amounts of money on the app because it could be at risk.

Considering they are just apps and not federally regulated banks, deposits held in payments apps may not be federally insured like they are in a normal bank, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a report and a consumer advisory published Thursday.


BenzingaMoney at Risk in Apps
0:48

While the apps are massively popular, with a 2022 survey finding about 76% of Americans, and a staggering 85% of people aged 18-29, have used a payment app at least once, the CFPB warned that too many Americans are stashing money in them.

The apps saw a collective $893 billion in transactions last year, per the CFPB's report. That's expected to nearly double to $1.6 trillion by 2027. Given the massive amounts of money passing through the apps, the CFPB said the lack of federal regulation and oversight on the apps comparable to what banks have to face is concerning.

Without deposit insurance, if money is no longer accessible because of something like a bankruptcy filing, that money could be gone forever with little to no chance for the user to be reimbursed, the CFPB said. Deposit insurance has been a popular topic across the finance industry this year with the collapse of three regional banks sparking discussion and questions about bank deposits that are insured by the federal government.

"As tech companies expand into banking and payments, the CFPB is sharpening its focus on those that sidestep the safeguards that local banks and credit unions have long adhered to," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement.

The CFPB also found that user agreements for the payment apps often contain little to no information about whether a user's money can be insured in a given app, or whether their money may be used for other investments or purposes within the company while it is held in the app.

The $500 million robot pizza startup you never heard of has shut down, report says

Story by nrennolds@insider.com (Nathan Rennolds) 

A Zume truck. Getty Images© Provided by Business Insider

A robot pizza startup that raised almost $500 million has shut down, The Information reported.

Zume aimed to automate the pizza-making process and raised funds from the likes of Softbank.

The company struggled with technological problems before changing its business model.


Zume, the robot pizza delivery startup that raised close to $500 million, has shut down, The Information reported.

The company was founded in 2015 and aimed to automate the pizza-making process, but suffered a series of technological difficulties. It then changed its business model and tried to become a sustainable-packaging manufacturer.

The failure comes despite Zume raising hundreds of millions from investors including Softbank and AME Cloud Ventures, per Crunchbase.

According to The Information, Zume was "insolvent," and Sherwood Partners, a restructuring firm, had been instructed to sell the company's assets. It ceased trading in May, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, per the report.

Zume had struggled with problems like stopping melted cheese from sliding off its pizzas while they cooked in moving trucks, per Bloomberg. Its difficulties led to a string of high-profile departures and financial problems.

It made a series of layoffs in 2020, cutting headcount by more than 500 employees — including all of its robotics and food-delivery truck business, Insider previously reported.

In a leaked email seen by Insider at the time, cofounder and CEO Alex Garden blamed the job cuts on a series of funding deals that had fallen through, as well as the economic impact of the pandemic.

Zume did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Three industries ripe for automation, according to a robotics guru

Story by Michael Wayland • CNBC

Automotive and logistics industries industries are among the most heavily invested in automation in the U.S. economy.

But there's still room to run for robotics in a host of other industries.

Jeff Burnstein, an automation industry guru and president of the Association for Advancing Automation, outlines how automation could be applied in agriculture, food processing and health care.


A software and robotics machine called mGripAI from Massachusetts-based Soft Robotics sorts artifical pieces of chicken into trays for packaging at an automation conference held by the Association for Advancing Automation in Detroit.© Provided by CNBC

DETROIT — The automotive and logistics industries are no strangers to robots.

They're among the most heavily invested businesses in automation in the U.S. economy, using robots to sort packages, transport goods and assist in building vehicles.

But other industries where robotics haven't yet taken hold may be potential investment opportunities and expansion areas for automation companies in the coming years.

Those emerging areas intrigue Jeff Burnstein, an automation-industry guru and president of the Association for Advancing Automation. His trade group represents more than 1,000 global companies involved in robotics, machine vision, motion control, and motors and related technologies.

Burnstein, who recently received a prestigious award for his more than 40 years in the industry, believes automation and robotics could greatly assist in doing the "dull, dirty, dangerous jobs" that people don't necessarily want to do.



Jeff Burnstein (right center), president of the Association for Advancing Automation, after receiving a Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award for his more than 40-year career in the industry

.© Provided by CNBC

"If you look at what's driving a lot of the automation in many industries it's shortage of people," he said on the sidelines of an automation convention last week in Detroit.

Labor shortages, led by the manufacturing industry, are the key driver in the growth of automation, he said.

Here are three industries Burnstein predicts are next for automation:

Agriculture

The agriculture industry is already testing or using various automated, if not autonomous, technologies to make operations more efficient and safer. It also serves to cut costs

Tractor maker Deere & Co., for example, offers a suite of automated-assistance features such as turning and guidance for crop row lines. Deere is working on an autonomous tractor that can "see, think, and work on its own, freeing up time for farmers to complete other tasks simultaneously," according to its website.

Other automated technologies for agriculture include drones that can spray pesticides over crops, remote-controlled tractors, automated harvesting systems, and other data and logistics farming apps.


Deere's autonomous 8R tractor© Provided by CNBC

Food processing

Harvesting and sorting chicken parts is exactly the kind of dull, dirty, dangerous jobs automation could assist in doing, Burnstein says.

At the automation convention, at least two companies were showcasing food-sorting robots whose abilities included identifying what types of cuts fit into a tray for packaging.

Beyond efficiency advantages, there are health and safety benefits, too, advocates point out.

"The machine can't sneeze. It can't rub its face. It can't have hair fall into anything. So, it's really safe. And less hands touching it, the less introduction for any disease," said Anthony Romeo, a representative of Massachusetts-based companies Cognex Corp. and Soft Robotics, one of the companies working on sorting food and chicken parts, who also attended the convention.


Employees of Tyson Foods© Provided by CNBC

In 2021, Tyson Foods said it would invest over $1.3 billion in new automation capabilities through 2024 to increase yields and reduce both labor costs and associated risks — and ultimately deliver savings for the meat processor.

Tyson CEO Donnie King last month told investors the company is continuing to "invest in automation and digital capabilities with opportunities to improve our yield."

He said the company has 50 lines for deboning chickens that are fully automated.

Pilgrim's Pride, one of the world's largest chicken producers, also has announced substantial investments in automation, including more than $100 million it announced in 2021

.
Health care

Automation in health care could be viable in a variety of cases — from transportation of goods and personal medications to someone's bedside, to cleaning and disinfecting tools.

"You can do that robotically," Burnstein said. "If you're having trouble finding people that could be a good solution. There's all kinds of those things and then drug discovery, of course, and other applications."

One notable company currently in the space is Aethon, a Pittsburgh-based robotics company that's made strides in the health-care sector with an autonomous mobile robot called the TUG. The robots are capable of navigating around a hospital independently, according to the company's website.

The TUG can be programmed to avoid obstacles and even operate elevators, according to the company.

It's one example of an AMR, or autonomous mobile robot: a type of vehicle that can perform several different delivery tasks, which Burnstein called "hot in automation" at the moment.

Hackers use flaw in popular file transfer tool to steal data, researchers say

Story by By Zeba Siddiqui • Yesterday 

 A computer keyboard lit by a displayed cyber code is seen in this illustration picture

© Thomson Reuters


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hackers have stolen data from the systems of a number of users of the popular file transfer tool MOVEit Transfer, U.S. security researchers said on Thursday, one day after the maker of the software disclosed that a security flaw had been discovered.

Software maker Progress Software Corp, after disclosing the vulnerability on Wednesday, said it could lead to potential unauthorized access into users' systems.

The managed file transfer software made by the Burlington, Massachusetts-based company allows organizations to transfer files and data between business partners and customers.

It was not immediately clear which or how many organizations use the software or were impacted by potential breaches. Chief Information Officer Ian Pitt declined to share those details, but said Progress Software had made fixes available since it discovered the vulnerability late on May 28.

The software's eponymous cloud-based service had also been impacted by this, he told Reuters.

"As of now we see no exploit of the cloud platform," he said.

Cybersecurity firm Rapid7 Inc and Mandiant Consulting - owned by Alphabet Inc's Google - said they had found a number of cases in which the flaw had been exploited to steal data.

"Mass exploitation and broad data theft has occurred over the past few days," Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer of Mandiant Consulting, said in a statement.

Such "zero-day," or previously unknown, vulnerabilities in managed file transfer solutions have led to data theft, leaks, extortion and victim-shaming in the past, Mandiant said.

"Although Mandiant does not yet know the motivation of the threat actor, organizations should prepare for potential extortion and publication of the stolen data," Carmakal said.

Rapid7 said it had noticed an uptick in cases of compromise linked to the flaw since it was disclosed.

Progress Software has outlined steps users at risk can take to mitigate the impact of the security vulnerability.

Pitt did not have a comment on who might have been trying to steal data by exploiting the flaw.

"We have no evidence of it being used to spread malware," he said.

MOVEit Transfer was used by a relatively "small" number of customers compared to those of the company's other software products that number more than 20, he said.

"We have forensics partners on board and we are working with them to make sure that we have an ever-evolving grasp of the situation."

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in San Francisco; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

This Play Store malware was downloaded over 420 million times

Story by MobileSyrup • Thursday, June 1,2023

New Android spyware has been discovered in the Play Store that has been downloaded over 420 million times.

The spyware, dubbed SpinOK by cybersecurity researchers Doctor Web (via Bleeping Computer), collects data from your device and sends it to remote servers. It also displays ads and manipulates your clipboard.

As shared by Doctor Web, SpinOK is a malicious SDK (software development kit) that developers can use to add mini-games, tasks and prizes to their apps. These features are meant to “spark user interest,” and keep them on the app while collecting information from the back door.

The malicious SDK’s spying and information collection capabilities include:

Sending information about your device, such as its model, OS version, screen size, battery level, etc., to remote servers.

Using your gyroscope and magnetometer sensors to detect if you are using a real device or a virtual one.

 This is done to evade security analysis and detection.

Displaying ads on your screen.

Sccaning your device for files and directories and sending their names and locations to the remote server.

Stealing specific files from your device if instructed by the server.

Copying or replacing the contents of your clipboard with malicious data.

Doctor Web has identified 101 apps on the Play Store that contain the SpinOK module. These apps have been downloaded more than 420 million times in total, posing a huge security risk for Android users worldwide.

The most popular apps among them are:

Noizz: video editor with music – At least 100 million downloads
Zapya – File Transfer, Share – At least 100 million downloads
VFly: video editor&video maker – At least 50 million downloads
MVBit – MV video status maker – At least 50 million downloads
Biugo – video maker&video editor – At least 50 million downloads
Crazy Drop – At least 10 million downloads
Cashzine – Earn money reward – At least 10 million downloads
Fizzo Novel – Reading Offline – At least 10 million downloads
CashEM: Get Rewards – At least 5 million downloads
Tick: watch to earn – At least 5 million downloads

A full list of infected apps can be found here.

Bleeping Computer suggests that Google has removed most of these apps from the Play Store, except for Zapya, which has been updated to remove the SpinOK module. However, if you have already installed any of these apps on your device, you should take action immediately.

You should uninstall the app from your device, even if it has been removed from the Play Store, followed by running an antivirus scan on your device to make sure there are no traces of malware left.

Source: Doctor Web Via: Bleeping Computer by cybersecurity researchers Doctor Web (via Bleeping Computer), collects data from your device and sends it to remote servers. It also displays ads and manipulates your clipboard.

Source: Doctor Web Via: Bleeping Computer

AI hypocrisy: OpenAI, Google and Anthropic won't let their data be used to train other AI models, but they use everyone else's content

Story by insider@insider.com (Alistair Barr) • Yesterday

Samuel Altman, CEO of OpenAI, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law May 16, 2023 in Washington, DC. 

Win McNamee/Getty Images© Provided by Business Insider

Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Google and Anthropic ban the use of their content to train other AI models.

However, these companies have been using other online content for their own model training. 

Can Big Tech have it both ways? Reddit and others are trying to stop this.

In the new age of generative AI, big tech companies are following a "do as I say, not as I do" strategy when it comes to the use of online content.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI, along with Google, and Google-backed Anthropic have for years been using online content created by companies to train their generative AI models. This was done without asking for specific permission, and it's part of a brewing legal battle that will decide the future of the web and how copyright laws are applied in this new world.

The tech industry will likely argue that their approach is fair use. That has yet to be decided. However, these big tech companies won't let their own content be used to train other AI models. So why should they be allowed to do this to everyone else?

Take a look at the terms of service for Claude, Anthropic's AI assistant:

"You may not access or use the Services in the following ways, and if any of these restrictions are inconsistent with or ambiguous in relation to the Acceptable Use Policy, the Acceptable Use Policy controls: To develop any products or services that compete with our Services, including to develop or train any artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithms or models."

Here's an excerpt from the top of Google's generative AI terms of use:

"You may not use the Services to develop machine learning models or related technology."

And here's the relevant section from OpenAI's terms of use. This is the company behind ChatGPT.

"You may not... use output from the Services to develop models that compete with OpenAI."

These companies are not dumb, but they are hypocritical

These companies are not dumb. They know that quality content is vital for training new AI models. So it makes sense that they won't allow their output to be used this way.

But why would any other website or company let their content be freely used by these giant tech companies to train their models?

Insider asked OpenAI, Google and Anthropic for comment on Friday. At the time of publication, they had not responded.

Reddit and other companies say enough is enough

Other companies are just beginning to realize what's been happening, and they are not happy. Reddit, which has been used for years in AI model training, plans to start charging for access to its data.

"The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable. But we don't need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free," said Steve Huffman, CEO of Reddit.

In April, Elon Musk accused Microsoft, the main backer of OpenAI, of illegally using Twitter's data to train AI models. "Lawsuit time," he tweeted.

"There is so much wrong w/ this premise I don't even know where to start," a Microsoft spokesman wrote in an email to Insider when asked for comment.

OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman is trying to be more thoughtful on this issue, by working on new AI models that respect copyright. "We're trying to work on new models where if an AI system is using your content, or if it's using your style, you get paid for that," he said recently, according to Axios.

Publishers, including Insider which produced this story, have a vested interest here. Some publishers, including News Corp., are already pushing tech companies to pay to use their content for training AI models.

The current way AI models are trained 'breaks' the web

One former Microsoft executive believes something is wrong here. Steven Sinofsky recently said the current way AI models are trained "breaks" the web.

"Crawling used to be allowed in exchange for clicks. But now the crawling simply trains a model and no value is ever delivered to the creator(s) / copyright holders," he tweeted. Insider asked him for comment, but he was traveling on Friday and couldn't respond.

Japan privacy watchdog warns ChatGPT-maker OpenAI on user data
Story by By Kantaro Komiya and Sam Nussey • Yesterday 

SEXIST NERD BOY Illustration shows ChatGPT BY Thomson Reuters

By Kantaro Komiya and Sam Nussey

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's privacy watchdog said on Friday it has warned OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed startup behind the ChatGPT chatbot, not to collect sensitive data without people's permission.

OpenAI should minimise the sensitive data it collects for machine learning, the Personal Information Protection Commission said in a statement, adding it may take further action if it has more concerns.

Regulators around the world are scrambling to draw up rules governing the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI), which can create text and images, the impact of which proponents compare to the arrival of the internet.

While Japan has been on the backfoot with some recent technology trends, it is seen as having greater incentive to keep pace with advances in AI and robotics to maintain productivity as its population shrinks.

 OpenAI CTO's Twitter Hacked, Promotes Fraudulent 'OPENAI' Token (CoinDesk)
We are talking about another scam on Twitter.  Duration 7:14   View on Watch

The watchdog noted the need to balance privacy concerns with the potential benefits of generative AI including in accelerating innovation and dealing with problems such as climate change.


Japan is the third-largest source of traffic to OpenAI's website, according to analytics firm Similarweb.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in April met Prime Minister Fumio Kishida with an eye to expansion in Japan, ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders summit where Kishida led a discussion on regulating AI.

The EU, a global trendsetter on tech regulation, set up a taskforce on ChatGPT and is working on what could be the first set of rules to govern AI.

In the meantime, the rapid spread of such chatbots has meant regulators have had to rely on existing rules to bridge the gap.

Italian regulator Garante had ChatGPT taken offline before the company agreed to install age verification features and let European users block their information from being used to train the system.

Altman last week said OpenAI had no plans to leave Europe after earlier suggesting the startup might do so if EU regulations were too difficult to comply with.

(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Sam Nussey; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Christopher Cushing and Sharon Singleton)

Factbox-Governments race to regulate AI tools
Story by Reuters • Yesterday

REUTERS NERD BOY SEXISM

(Reuters) - Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT are complicating governments' efforts to agree laws governing the use of the technology.

Here are the latest steps national and international governing bodies are taking to regulate AI tools:

AUSTRALIA

* Seeking input on regulations

The government is consulting Australia's main science advisory body and is considering next steps, a spokesperson for the industry and science minister said in April.

BRITAIN

* Planning regulations

The Financial Conduct Authority, one of several state regulators that has been tasked with drawing up new guidelines covering AI, is consulting with the Alan Turing Institute and other legal and academic institutions to improve its understanding of the technology, a spokesperson told Reuters.

Britain's competition regulator said on May 4 it would start examining the impact of AI on consumers, businesses and the economy and whether new controls were needed.

Britain said in March it planned to split responsibility for governing AI between its regulators for human rights, health and safety, and competition, rather than creating a new body.

CHINA

* Planning regulations

China's cyberspace regulator in April unveiled draft measures to manage generative AI services, saying it wanted firms to submit security assessments to authorities before they launch offerings to the public.

Beijing will support leading enterprises in building AI models that can challenge ChatGPT, its economy and information technology bureau said in February.

EUROPEAN UNION

* Planning regulations

The U.S. and EU should push the AI industry to adopt a voluntary code of conduct within months to provide safeguards while new laws are developed, EU tech chief Margrethe Vestager said on May 31. Vestager said she believed a draft could be drawn up "within the next weeks", with a final proposal for industry to sign up "very, very soon".

Key EU lawmakers on May 11 agreed on tougher draft rules to rein in generative AI and proposed a ban on facial surveillance. The European Parliament will vote on the draft of the EU's AI Act in June.

EU lawmakers had reached a preliminary deal in April on the draft that could pave the way for the world's first comprehensive laws governing the technology. Copyright protection is central to the bloc's effort to keep AI in check.

The European Data Protection Board, which unites Europe's national privacy watchdogs, set up a task force on ChatGPT in April.

 Can AI be regulated? What to know about the technology's future. (USA TODAY)

Duration 2:07 View on Watch

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has joined in the concern about ChatGPT and other AI chatbots, calling on EU consumer protection agencies to investigate the technology and the potential harm to individuals.

FRANCE

* Investigating possible breaches

France's privacy watchdog CNIL said in April it was investigating several complaints about ChatGPT after the chatbox was temporarily banned in Italy over a suspected breach of privacy rules.

France's National Assembly approved in March the use of AI video surveillance during the 2024 Paris Olympics, overlooking warnings from civil rights groups.

G7

* Seeking input on regulations

Group of Seven leaders meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, acknowledged on May 20 the need for governance of AI and immersive technologies and agreed to have ministers discuss the technology as the "Hiroshima AI process" and report results by the end of 2023.

G7 nations should adopt "risk-based" regulation on AI, G7 digital ministers said after a meeting in April in Japan.

IRELAND

* Seeking input on regulations

Generative AI needs to be regulated, but governing bodies must work out how to do so properly before rushing into prohibitions that "really aren't going to stand up", Ireland's data protection chief said in April.

ITALY

* Investigating possible breaches

Italy's data protection authority Garante plans to review other artificial intelligence platforms and hire AI experts, a top official said on May 22.

ChatGPT became available again to users in Italy in April after being temporarily banned over concerns by the national data protection authority in March.

JAPAN

* Investigating possible breaches

Japan's privacy watchdog said on June 2 it has warned OpenAI not to collect sensitive data without people's permission and to minimise the sensitive data it collects, adding it may take further action if it has more concerns.

SPAIN

* Investigating possible breaches

Spain's data protection agency said in April it was launching a preliminary investigation into potential data breaches by ChatGPT. It has also asked the EU's privacy watchdog to evaluate privacy concerns surrounding ChatGPT, the agency told Reuters in April.

U.S.

* Seeking input on regulations

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission's chief said on May 3 the agency was committed to using existing laws to keep in check some of the dangers of AI, such as enhancing the power of dominant firms and "turbocharging" fraud.

Senator Michael Bennet introduced a bill in April that would create a task force to look at U.S. policies on AI, and identify how best to reduce threats to privacy, civil liberties and due process.

The Biden administration had earlier in April said it was seeking public comments on potential accountability measures for AI systems.

President Joe Biden has also told science and technology advisers that AI could help to address disease and climate change, but it was also important to address potential risks to society, national security and the economy.

(Compiled by Amir Orusov and Alessandro Parodi in Gdansk; editing by Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan and Milla Nissi)

Maryland school district sues Meta, Google, and TikTok over ‘mental health crisis’

Story by Emma Roth • Yesterday



 Illustration by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

AMaryland school district is suing Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok owner ByteDance for allegedly contributing to a “mental health crisis” among students. A lawsuit filed by the Howard County Public School System on Thursday claims the social networks operated by these companies are “addictive and dangerous” products that have “rewired” the way kids “think, feel, and behave.”

The lawsuit cites a laundry list of issues on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok that it accuses of harming kids. That includes the (allegedly) addictive “dopamine-triggering rewards” on each app, such as TikTok’s For You page, which leverages data about user activity to provide an endless stream of suggested content. It also mentions Facebook and Instagram’s recommendation algorithms and “features that are designed to create harmful loops of repetitive and excessive product usage.”

Additionally, the school district accuses each platform of encouraging “unhealthy, negative social comparisons, which in turn cause body image issues and related mental and physical disorders” in kids. Other parts of the lawsuit address “defective” parental controls in each app, along with safety gaps it alleges promote child sexual exploitation.


“Over the past decade, Defendants have relentlessly pursued a strategy of growth-at-all costs, recklessly ignoring the impact of their products on children’s mental and physical health,” the lawsuit states. “In a race to corner the ‘valuable but untapped’ market of tween and teen users, each Defendant designed product features to promote repetitive, uncontrollable use by kids.”

The Howard County Public School System is far from the only school district that has decided to take legal action against social media companies as of late. In addition to two other school districts in Maryland, school systems in Washington state, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Alabama, Tennessee, and others have filed similar lawsuits over the negative effects that social media has had on the mental health of kids.

“We’ve invested in technology that finds and removes content related to suicide, self-injury or eating disorders before anyone reports it to us,” Antigone Davis, Meta’s head of safety, says in an emailed statement to The Verge. “These are complex issues, but we will continue working with parents, experts and regulators such as the state attorneys general to develop new tools, features and policies that meet the needs of teens and their families.”

Google denies the allegations outlined in the lawsuit, with company spokesperson José Castañeda saying in a statement to The Verge, “In collaboration with child development specialists, we have built age-appropriate experiences for kids and families on YouTube, and provide parents with robust controls.” Meanwhile, Snap spokesperson Pete Boogaard says that the company “vet[s] all content before it can reach a large audience, which helps protect against the promotion and discovery of potentially harmful material.” ByteDance didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

Critics have drawn attention to social media’s potential impact on children and teenagers, particularly after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen came forward with a trove of internal documents that indicated Meta knew about the potential harm Instagram had on some young users. Last week, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a public advisory that calls social media a “profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”

Some states have responded to the safety issues posed by social media by enacting laws that prevent kids from signing up for social media sites. While Utah will bar children under the age of 18 from using social media without parental consent starting next year, Arkansas has passed similar legislation preventing underage kids from signing up for social networks. At the same time, a flurry of national online safety laws, some of which could implement some sort of online age verification system, has made their way to Congress despite warnings from civil liberties and privacy advocates.