Millions of people rely on smartphone apps to keep an eye on their children, locate the cheapest nearby gas station, learn the week’s weather forecast, or even simply listen to music—but before doing so, app makers generally require their users to agree to lengthy terms and conditions. And as a June 9 report from The […]
The latest Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill contains a pointed amendment within it—the government is making it much more difficult to monitor and track private aircraft travel. The new law passed last week will almost exclusively benefit the nation’s wealthiest flyers and obscure public attempts to hold them accountable for their disproportionate carbon emissions. As […]
A new investigation published today by Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology reveals the Department of Homeland Security has amassed 1.5 million people’s DNA in recent years thanks to a potentially unconstitutional and predatory legal amendment targeting marginalized communities—a 5,000-percent increase compared to its database’s previous two decades of existence. This genetic material is […]
The internet is filled with personal artifacts, much of which can linger online long after someone dies. But what if those relics are used to simulate dead loved ones? It’s already happening, and AI ethicists warn this reality is opening ourselves up to a new kind of “digital haunting” by “deadbots.” People have attempted to […]
Online romance scams netted con artists over $1.1 billion in 2023, with an average reported loss of around $2,000 per target. These victims who span age, gender, and demographics often aren’t only out of money—their time, emotions, and sometimes even physical safety can be on the line. And while the CEO of the largest online […]
It’s a bold pitch for homeowners: What if you let a small tech startup’s crowdfunded AI surveillance system dispense vigilante justice for you? A Slovenia-based company called OZ-IT recently announced PaintCam Eve, a line of autonomous property monitoring devices that will utilize motion detection and facial recognition to guard against supposed intruders. In the company’s […]
A completely free email service offering 1 GB of storage, integrated search capabilities, and automatic message threading? Too good to be true. At least, that’s what many people thought 20 years ago today, when Google announced Gmail’s debut. To be fair, it’s easy to see why some AP News readers wrote letters claiming the outlet’s […]
England’s court system has sentenced a “cyberflasher” to over a year in prison—a first for the country after its Online Safety Act went into effect on January 31. The 39-year-old culprit—already a registered sex offender—recently admitted in court to sending explicit photos of himself in February to both an adult woman and teenage girl via […]
YouTube is flooded with fake livestream accounts airing looped videos of “Elon Musk” supposedly promoting crypto schemes. Although not the first time to happen, the website’s layout, verification qualifications, and search results page continue to make it difficult to separate legitimate sources from the con artists attempting to leverage today’s Starship test launch—its most successful […]
Certain Airbnb hosts will need to make a few adjustments to their properties. On Monday, the short-term rental service announced it is finally prohibiting the use of all indoor security cameras, regardless of room location. For years, hosts could install video cameras in “common areas” such as living rooms, kitchens, and hallways, so long as […]
