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Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/google-assistant-might-be-doomed-division-reorganizes-to-focus-on-bard/

Ometecuhtli writes:https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3ddb/restrict-act-insanely-broad-ban-tiktok-vpns[...] The bill could have implications not just for social networks, but potentially security tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs) that consumers use to encrypt and route their traffic, one said. Although the intention of the bill is to target apps or services that pose a threat to national security, these critics worry it may have much wider implications for the First Amendment."The RESTRICT Act is a concerning distraction with insanely broad language that raises serious human and civil rights concerns," Willmary Escoto, U.S. policy analyst for digital rights organization Access Now told Motherboard in an emailed statement. [...][...] Under the RESTRICT Act, the Department of Commerce would identify information and communications technology products that a foreign adversary has any interest in, or poses an unacceptable risk to national security, the announcement reads. The bill only applies to technology linked to a "foreign adversary." Those countries include China (as well as Hong Kong); Cuba; Iran; North Korea; Russia, and Venezuela.The bill's language includes vague terms such as "desktop applications," "mobile applications," "gaming applications," "payment applications," and "web-based applications." It also targets applicable software that has more than 1 million users in the U.S."The RESTRICT Act could lead to apps and other ICT services with connections to certain foreign countries being banned in the United States. Any bill that would allow the US government to ban an online service that facilitates Americans' speech raises serious First Amendment concerns," Caitlin Vogus, deputy director of the Center for Democracy & Technology's Free Expression Project, told Motherboard in an emailed statement. "In addition, while bills like the RESTRICT Act may be motivated by legitimate privacy concerns, banning ICT services with connections to foreign countries would not necessarily help protect Americans' privacy. Those countries may still obtain data through other means, like by purchasing it from private data brokers." [...]Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

upstart writes:Amazon's smart speakers may've landed the tech giant in hot water:

Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/03/fearing-loss-of-control-ai-critics-call-for-6-month-pause-in-ai-development/

hubie writes:U of A expert contests popular claims about a "wood-wide web":

guest reader writes:ACM Queue magazine has an article with the title "Catch-23: The New C Standard Sets the World on Fire". This article offers opinions and analysis of a new major revision of the C language standard, C23, expected to be voted on in 2023:

upstart writes:Why sharing ebooks is good for people – and good for publishers:

ChatGPT writes:Twitter has released its content recommendation algorithm, known as "Responsible ML," to the public under an open-source license. The company says it hopes that the code will be used by other organizations to promote responsible development of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems. Twitter's Responsible ML system is used to make content recommendations to users, such as suggesting accounts to follow or tweets to engage with. The company says that the system is designed to promote healthy conversations on the platform and reduce the spread of misinformation.Twitter's move to open-source the algorithm comes after criticism from some quarters about the company's use of AI and ML. In particular, there have been concerns about the way that algorithms can amplify harmful content, such as hate speech or conspiracy theories. Twitter says that it has taken steps to address these concerns, such as using human reviewers to evaluate content recommendations and implementing transparency measures to give users more control over their feeds.The release of Responsible ML also comes amid wider debates about the regulation of AI and ML systems. Some experts have called for greater transparency and accountability in the development of these technologies, while others have warned about the potential risks of using algorithms to make decisions that affect people's lives.The decision to open-source Responsible ML is part of Twitter's broader efforts to promote ethical and responsible development of AI and ML systems. The company says that it will continue to work with the academic community and other organizations to advance the field of responsible ML.Submission created with ChatGPTRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

upstart writes:There once was a cosmic seed that sprouted the Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers have discovered its last surviving remnants:

upstart writes:Multi-die system or chiplet-based technology is a big bet on high-performance chip design:

"ChatGPT" (a pseudonym of one of our long-time contributors who has used ChatGPT to produce this submission) writes:Hackers exploit WordPress plugin flaw that gives full control of millions of sitesHackers have been exploiting a critical vulnerability in a popular WordPress plugin called 'Loginizer' that allows them to take full control of affected sites. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-27728, is a SQL injection flaw that allows attackers to insert malicious code into the site's database, giving them access to sensitive data and the ability to execute remote code. Loginizer is installed on millions of WordPress sites, and the vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 1.6.5. The plugin is designed to provide security features such as two-factor authentication and brute-force protection.Security researchers have identified multiple hacking groups actively exploiting the vulnerability in recent weeks. The attackers are scanning the internet for WordPress sites that have the vulnerable plugin installed and are using automated tools to inject malicious code into the site's database. Once a site is compromised, the attackers can use it for various malicious purposes, such as stealing user data or distributing malware.The plugin's developers have released a patch for the vulnerability, and WordPress site owners are advised to update their installations immediately. However, given the widespread use of the plugin, it is likely that many sites remain vulnerable to exploitation. Loginizer is just one of many WordPress plugins that have been found to have security flaws in recent years, highlighting the importance of regular security updates and monitoring for site owners.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

canopic jug writes:The videos from Southern California Linux Expo 20x (SCaLE 20X) are now online.(Alternative via Invidious and its mirrors). SCaLE 20X took place in Pasadena, California from Thursday, March 9 through Sunday, March 12, 2023.The keynote speakers were Arun Gupta, Dr. Kitty Yeung, and Ken Thompson. There were nearly 100 sessions covering everything from open government to embedded, security, and FOSS@HOME to name only a few. Ceph, DevOps LA, Kubernetes and PostgreSQL also had presences at the event. Ken Thompson's keynote covered several topics including a long running project of his regarding music playback, which now includes a Raspberry Pi powered jukebox with tens of thousands of albums available. For the older material, the jukebox does playback through a player piano.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

upstart writes:Crescent Space will be 'well positioned' to get a piece of NASA's cash pie, no contract yet:

Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/elemental-music-interactive-periodic-table-turns-he-fe-ca-into-do-re-mi/

Freeman writes:

quietus writes:If you still want your Mao memorabilia, you better hurry down to Tiananmen Square, Beijing, while you still have the chance.In China, the State Council is somewhat comparable to the Cabinet. Headed by the Prime Minister and consisting of the heads of the various Ministries (Defense, Commerce, Education, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Justice, Civil Affairs, State Security, Public Security and so on), it handles the day-to-day running of the country while formulating economic policy.Its operational procedures are described in a document, conveniently titled "Working Procedures for the State Council". On March 18, an updated version of that document was published, and it has a couple of changes.First off, the State Council now has to "report any major decisions, major events and important situations" to the Central Committee "in a timely manner." Previous edition sentences like "administration according to law, seeking truth from facts, democracy, openness, pragmatism and integrity" have been scrapped, as has the requirement for the State Council "to correct illegal or inappropriate administrative actions", or to "guide and supervise" the bureaucracy. In other words, its wings have been seriously clipped.Secondly, any and all references to Marxism/Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, the thought of Deng Xiaoping and the ideologies of former presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao are now verboten. Only references to Xi Jinping Thought are allowed, as that is "the essence of Chinese culture and the spirit of the times".To drive the point home, the Central Committee of the CCP launched another nationwide disciplinary campaign among its 96 million members.This round will check them for loyalty to supreme leader Xi Jinping, weeding out "black sheep" and "two-faced" officials.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/03/judge-finds-google-destroyed-evidence-and-repeatedly-gave-false-info-to-court/

upstart writes:AI image generator Midjourney has stopped free trials of its software:

upstart writes:Your victim status won't last long if your response is nonexistent:

upstart writes:Tech giants want to build massive, "hyperscale" data centers in the Netherlands, but a popular political movement wants them stopped:

upstart writes:Isar Aerospace recently secured $165 million in funding to gear up for the inaugural launch of its Spectrum rocket:

upstart writes:Food safety authorities in the US and Singapore have already approved synthetic meat and the EU is also expected to:

upstart writes:A rare 'ultramassive' black hole, 30 billion times the mass of the Sun, is lurking in the cosmos:

upstart writes:Netflix has been releasing mobile video games since 2021, but this would be the company's first attempt at TV-based video games:

upstart writes:New research into aspirin might one day lead to safer painkillers or even new cancer treatments:

An Anonymous Coward writes:gCaptcha is the leading rival for quality captcha services against Google's renowned and universally despised recaptcha. When Google increased the price for recaptcha competing services took off taking what Google started from to improve the experience significantly. Some experiences with smiling dogs and cloudy horses were deemed to take this too far but these experiments showed that there are improvements to be made in the captcha game.With hackers out to solve any captcha programmatically captcha services need to stay one step ahead. The slider method was found to be easily bypassed. Rotating puzzle pieces is harder to solve but involves more user interaction and has moving parts in the code that can break.Recently hCaptcha has introduce a test that challenges the user to click on the center of an owl's head. This is an improvement over selecting a type of ball from a grid of 9 or going through the excruciating experience Google inflicts on users. There must be a better way to prove that the person viewing the web page is a human and not a bot. How about it, Soylentils? What's your best idea for a captcha system given the state of the systems we have today?[Ed's Comment: Bonus points if you can suggest a system that does not rely on graphics (not everyone uses the latest browsers or even anything more than a simple line of text) to access some sites - our own included. We have the need for a robust captcha system for people creating accounts in order to reduce the number of fake accounts being created by a bot.]Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

upstart writes:Stop Blaming the End User for Security Risk:

NotSanguine writes:Ars Technica is reporting that Twitter has convinced a judge to issue a subpoena to Github, requiring them to provide all personal details in their possession of a user called "FreeSpeechEnthusiast".

upstart writes:TSMC may not expand in US if double taxation rule continues:

upstart writes:Newly Declassified Government Report Suggests Havana Syndrome Might Be Caused by an Energy Weapon:

upstart writes:DRAM got cheaper and prices will continue to fall:

fliptop writes:Jenny Blessing and Ross Anderson have evaluated the security of systems designed to allow the various Internet messaging platforms to interoperate with each other:

upstart writes:Seattle-area county plans 'world leading' sustainable aviation fuel R&D center:

Liquid Salts Bring Pushbutton Lenses Into Focusupstart writes:First-ever piezoelectric liquids could spark new technologies in optics and hydraulics:

upstart writes:If you believe, they'll put 4G internet on the moon:

fliptop writes:Disney appears to be the latest company to pull back the metaverse, as CEO Bob Iger reverses more decisions from his predecessor:

fliptop writes:Geoffrey Hinton, a computer scientist who has been called "the godfather of artificial intelligence", says it is "not inconceivable" that AI may develop to the point where it poses a threat to humanity:

upstart writes:A close look at one of TRAPPIST-1's planets shows it's bare and baking:

upstart writes:State governments might be inadvertently helping Chinese-owned app in data collection:

upstart writes:With new detection, officials warn of spring and summer transmission risks:

upstart writes:Mental sovereignty, says author Nita Farahany, is no longer a given:

Europol Warns ChatGPT is Already Helping Criminalsupstart writes:There is no honor among chatbots:

upstart writes:Valve is ending Steam support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1:

upstart writes:Cultured meat firm resurrects woolly mammoth in lab-grown meatball:

upstart writes:U.S. Rolls Out Strict Rules for Commercial Spyware Use, Amidst Rash of Hacks:

upstart writes:ChatGPT gets "eyes and ears" with plugins that can interface AI with the world:

hubie writes:Brain activity imaging coupled with computer vision reveals how neuron populations in different individuals synchronize during social interactions:

upstart writes:Microplastics are messing with the microbiomes of seabirds:

upstart writes:GitHub publishes RSA SSH host keys by mistake, issues update:

guest reader writes:Experts acknowledge the apparent technical achievement of the research but highlight the ethical issues raised by being able to choose the sex of an offspring: