Technology | The Guardian

The American professor of law talks about her new book on the fight for data privacy, the personal dossiers brokers build on us and how, post-Roe v Wade, women’s data in the US may be weaponisedDanielle Citron is a professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law, where she specialises in privacy and civil rights. Her new book, The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity and Love in Our Digital Age, outlines the 21st-century assault on privacy from “Spying Inc”, the companies, governments and individuals that seek to exploit and profit from our most sensitive data. She argues that intimate privacy should be enshrined as a civil right in the US.We hear a lot about companies collecting our data, yet your book still manages to shock when revealing the extent of these practices. You highlight, for example, that our internet search history is essentially in the public realm and could be purchased by any motivated party. Also that the dating app Grindr was sharing information about users’ HIV statuses to third party data brokers before it got caught.

The sounds of bonfires, waves and rainfall are helping us relax – and making millionsThere’s no tune, no lyrics and you can’t dance to it. Don’t let that put you off: white noise is the music industry’s next big thing. Streaming services have seen an explosion of tracks in the last year consisting entirely of hissing, humming, fizzing and other varieties of radio static, as well as recordings of rainfall, ocean waves and crackling bonfires.Some of the recordings have earned their creators millions of pounds. Record companies and tech firms have taken notice. Apple is including background noise as an option in its next Mac operating system, and TikTok influencers have been promoting pink noise and brown noise – sounds with lower frequencies that sound like wind or rustling leaves – as an aid to concentration for students at the start of the school year. Continue reading...

The coroner’s verdict was a world first in citing social media as a causal factor in a deathAs the inquest into the death of Molly Russell ground to its conclusion on Friday, what kept flashing like a faulty neon sign in one’s mind was a rhetorical question asked by Alexander Pope in 1735: “Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?” For Pope it was a reference to “breaking on the wheel”, a medieval form of torture in which victims had their long bones broken by an iron bar while tied to a Catherine wheel, named after St Catherine who was executed in this way.For those at the inquest, the metaphor’s significance must have been unmistakable, for they were listening to an account of how an innocent and depressed 14-year-old girl was broken by a remorseless, contemporary Catherine wheel – the AI-powered recommendation engines of two social media companies, Instagram and Pinterest.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

The online retail giant’s boss is on a mission to make employee inclusivity a ‘moral obligation’ and to help his company adapt to a difficult post-pandemic marketplaceWhen corporate executives start discussing their efforts to influence company culture, a healthy amount of scepticism is advisable. But Murray Lambell, the UK boss of US online retail giant eBay, can draw on personal experience of the importance of how a business cares for staff. For many years he hid his sexuality from colleagues in a culture that was “more stifled and stuffy internally”.“It was probably my own baggage,” he says. “I was not comfortable to be out at work … A lot of the leadership was white, middle-aged, from a very specific demographic and academic background, which didn’t all resonate with me. I didn’t feel comfortable to be a complete person at work and then that limits you.” Continue reading...

Teachers say they are powerless to deal with damaging elements of social media and are calling for more parental vigilanceVictoria Tully, co-headteacher at Fulham Cross girls’ school, a state secondary in west London, had no idea that her new first years had invited people from outside the school to join their WhatsApp group.She only found out when a “strange man” shared “horrible pictures” with the 11-year-olds and someone alerted a teacher. Continue reading...

Coroner finds harmful online content likely to have contributed to Molly’s death ‘in a more than minimal way’Molly Russell’s father has accused the world’s biggest social media firms of “monetising misery” after an inquest ruled that harmful online content contributed to the 14-year-old’s death.Ian Russell accused Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, of guiding his daughter on a “demented trail of life-sucking content”, after the landmark ruling raised the regulatory pressure on social media companies.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org. Continue reading...

Ian Russell’s campaigning after his daughter’s death has made case for online safety bill unavoidable, says peerThe online safety bill’s progress through parliament has been paused, but it is hard to see that delay lasting much longer after the conclusion of the Molly Russell inquest.The regulatory landscape for the online world is undergoing significant change in the UK and Molly Russell’s family have contributed to that shift after becoming prominent campaigners for improved internet safety. Continue reading...

London teenager died from an act of self-harm in 2017 after the darker side of online life overwhelmed herOn the evening of 20 November 2017 Molly Russell and her family had dinner together and then sat down to watch an episode of I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!.A family meal, then viewing a popular TV show: a scene typical of millions of families around the UK. As Molly’s mother, Janet, said to police: “Everybody’s behaviour was normal” at dinner time. Continue reading...

The Scribe’s goal is bigger than its predecessors: it aims to replace paper entirelyAmazon has unveiled the Kindle Scribe, a new E Ink Kindle that aims to be the e-reader’s first writing-friendly device.The Scribe is designed for use as a more general-purpose tablet than Amazon’s other E Ink Kindles. Where those intended to do away with traditional paper books, the Scribe’s goal is bigger: it aims to replace paper entirely. Continue reading...

Environmental damage of producing cryptocurrency averages 35% of its market value over past five yearsBitcoin is less “digital gold” and more “digital beef”, according to a study that suggests the cryptocurrency has a climate impact greater than that of gold mining and on the level of natural gas extraction or rearing cattle for meat.The research from the University of New Mexico, published in the journal Scientific Reports, assessed the climate cost of various commodities as a portion of their overall market cap. Continue reading...

In the 90s and 00s, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Guitar Hero were prime outlets for music discovery. In 2022, it’s League of Legends and Fifa that are shaping tasteI would love to tell you that I was first introduced to dance music in underground Berlin clubs, where mysterious resident DJs blew my teenage mind performing indescribable magic with beats and synth lines. But that would be a lie. My first introduction to dance music came in the form of a futuristic 90s racing game called WipEout. Playing obsessively at a friend’s house, I was introduced to the Chemical Brothers and Orbital, who both graced the soundtrack; not long after, the admirably chaotic sim Crazy Taxi introduced me to the Offspring, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater had me grinding around to Bad Religion. I first heard Garbage on the soundtrack of an obscure PlayStation 2 DJ game, 2003’s Amplitude, made by a Boston developer called Harmonix – the same developer that would later go on to create the insanely popular Guitar Hero series. Those games sold 25m copies, and I know I wasn’t the only student who unearthed a previously undiscovered love for cheesy dad-rock while tilting a plastic guitar to the heavens during Boston’s More Than a Feeling.Although I may be showing my age with these piping hot cultural references, video games are still a primary outlet for discovering music – especially among kids and teens, a full 90% of whom game regularly. In many ways, we’re in a golden era for gaming as a discovery tool. You might find a new favourite band in CHVRCHES after hearing their moody theme for expensive arthouse game Death Stranding, or discover Lil Nas X from his anthem for the League of Legends 2022 world championships. Continue reading...

Questions raised after TV weatherman Erick Adame’s firing, but remedies exist for revenge porn victims, say lawyersStories about employees who lose their jobs after sexual pictures of them come to light are tabloid favorites. In the last few weeks, we’ve heard about a tri-state area nurse and an Indiana schoolteacher who were fired by employers after their OnlyFans accounts came to light.It’s an even bigger story when it happens to a public personality, like Erick Adame, a New York City weatherman who was sacked last week by Spectrum News after an unknown viewer sent Adame’s secret adult livestream to his boss and his mom. Adame has apologized for what he called a “lapse in judgment”, but has also enjoyed an outpouring of support from fans, some of whom have supported a petition to reinstate Adame, arguing that no employer should punish employees for their private and consensual sex lives. Continue reading...

Wages and safety concerns are behind the push but the company is fighting fiercely to defeat the union drive, workers sayHeather Goodall, a 50-year-old Amazon worker, began pushing for a union at her Amazon warehouse just outside Albany, New York, largely because she was alarmed about safety problems – items often fell off the warehouse’s 27ft-high racks, she said.“We’ve had packers who had items fall on them. Several complained about concussions,” Goodall said. “You can see wires protruding out. It could cause lacerations. It might take someone’s eyes out.” Continue reading...

Move taken against background of China’s Covid lockdowns and geopolitical tensions between Beijing and WashingtonApple has begun making iPhone 14s in India, as it moves some production away from China for the first time against a backdrop of Chinese Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and geopolitical tensions between the US and the country’s communist government.A production line in Chennai has begun operation, assembling the iPhone 14 for the domestic Indian market. The move, which marks the first time the company has assembled iPhones outside of China in the same year they were released, is part of a plan to disentangle its manufacturing operations from the Chinese state. Continue reading...

PC, Xbox, PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch; EA Sports/EA

Optus CEO says federal police are ‘all over’ post with ultimatum demanding $1m within four days after massive data breach

Attorneys are expected to use the interview to try to show that Musk abandoned the deal due to falling financial marketsElon Musk is scheduled to spend the next few days with lawyers for Twitter, answering questions ahead of an October trial that will determine whether he must follow through on his $44bn agreement to acquire the social platform after attempting to back out of the deal.The deposition, planned for Monday, Tuesday and a possible extension on Wednesday, will not be public. As of Sunday evening, it was not clear whether Musk would appear in person or by video. Reuters reported the deposition did not happen Monday nor was a reason given for the delay, citing sources with knowledge of the situation. Continue reading...

Animated notch, always-on screen and camera upgrade make a similar design feel fresh, but at high costApple’s latest top smartphone model, the iPhone 14 Pro, features upgraded cameras, a new always-on display and some funky animations around a new smaller, floating notch design. It also features a substantial price rise as a result of currency shifts.Weak currency rates against the dollar mean the new phone is £150 (A$400) more expensive than its predecessor, coming in at £1,099 (A$1,749) despite costing the same $999 in the US. Continue reading...

Cybercrime attacks are increasing. That’s one good reason to keep track of employees who work from homeShould you be monitoring your work-from-home employees? Yes, but not for the reasons you might suspect.According to a recent report in the New York Times, eight of the 10 largest private US employers are using software and other technologies to track the productivity of their employees in the office and at home. Continue reading...

Yvonne Whalley remembers Alan Ayckbourn’s play in which a robot develops at least one human traitYour report (Scientists try to teach robot to laugh at the right time, 15 September) reminded me of Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s 1998 play Comic Potential. Except that in the play, the robot did not need to be taught to laugh.Set in the not too distant future, Comic Potential foresees TV soaps acted by AI robots. As the play opens, just such a TV programme – a hospital soap – is in progress. But in the studio where it is being recorded, the robots are malfunctioning and the action spirals into chaos. Continue reading...

PC; Drago Entertainment

Fred’s known for bailing out of nights out and not saying goodbye. Now he’s turned off his WhatsApp receipts. Is he too flaky? You decideFred bails out of plans or leaves without a goodbye – and now we can’t even tell if he’s read a message Continue reading...

Inquest hears teenager viewed multiple images of self-harm on Pinterest before she killed herselfA senior Pinterest executive has admitted the platform was “not safe” when Molly Russell used it, after apologising over the graphic material shown to the teenager before her death.An inquest into the 14-year-old’s death heard how Molly viewed multiple images on self-harm on the online pinboard website and was sent emails by the company recommending depression-related content. Continue reading...

Company says in documents that the automatic window reversal system may not react correctly after detecting an obstructionTesla is recalling nearly 1.1m vehicles in the US because the windows can pinch a person’s fingers when being rolled up.Tesla says in documents posted on Thursday by US safety regulators that the automatic window reversal system may not react correctly after detecting an obstruction. Continue reading...

Personal information of potentially millions of customers exposed, including names, dates of birth, addresses, and contact details

Ahead of the release of new chapter, the first in the franchise yields little – even the much-vaunted tech is old hatAs a curtain-raiser to the forthcoming sequel, unpromisingly subtitled The Way of Water – downwards? – James Cameron’s original Avatar from 2009 is being re-released. This was his folie de grandeur and vast, mystifying epic sci-fi fantasy that at the time was solemnly praised for its introduction of a new, improved immersive 3D technology. And for a while after Avatar was released, 3D ruled for all big-budget action movies. But then 3D was quietly dropped without anyone saying a word. Will the Avatar 2 be presented in 3D? Perhaps so, and perhaps that will make it the box office blockbuster that the exhibition sector is saying cinema badly needs. The advance word on its use of High Frame Rate is good.Well, it has to be said that Avatar 1 has aged uneasily in the years since 2009. This is the strange, contorted story of Planet Earth a hundred years into the future attempting to solve its energy security issues (as we have learned to say in 2022) by mining a vital new mineral called “unobtanium” from a distant planet, to be found in the centre of a lush tropical forest whose indigenous blue-faced inhabitants are called Na’vi – but look like Smurfs. Humanity has a plan to create remote-controlled Na’vi bodies, or “avatars”, which can be piloted into the jungle to entreat with the Na’vi peoples and ask what it might take to get them to withdraw voluntarily. Disabled, wheelchair-using war veteran Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington, is thrilled to be given the existentially liberating chance to inhabit one of these avatars: and winds up going native and falling in love with one of the Na’vi: Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana. Continue reading...

Advanced AI is moving from the lab into the mainstream – offering a glimpse of the dangers ahead. Plus, What3Words loses its direction

Jack Dorsey, the social media firms co-founder, was set to be deposed by lawyers from both sides on Tuesday morningTwitter will question Elon Musk under oath in Delaware next week as part of the litigation in the billionaire’s bid to walk away from his $44bn deal for the social media company.A Tuesday filing in Delaware’s court of chancery said Musk’s deposition is scheduled for 26-27 September and may stretch into 28 September if necessary. Continue reading...

A major data breach has given the world an early look at Grand Theft Auto 6. Why is this such bad news for the developer?In the early hours of 18 September, a poster on GTAForums going by the name teapotuberhacker posted about 90 videos, totalling 50 minutes of footage from an in-development version of forthcoming video game Grand Theft Auto 6, from Rockstar Games. The footage has since proliferated around social media and the wider internet. Shortly after the initial announcement, the hacker left a message on the forum claiming they wanted to “negotiate a deal” with Rockstar for the return of unreleased data – including the source code for Grand Theft Auto 5 and the in-development version of Grand Theft Auto 6. Continue reading...

PC, Nintendo Switch; Terrible Toybox/Devolver Digital

Seeing how much fun your peers are having is bad for your mental health, a study of students suggestsScrolling Twitter or refreshing Facebook definitely feels like it’s bad for you, as our attention spans rot and meaning is drained from our lives. Despite those strong feelings, we’re usually told the evidence isn’t yet there to prove social media damages our mental health. The evidence of surging mental ill health is strong, with 30% of 18- to 24-year-olds reporting a common mental disorder in 2018-19, up from 24% at the start of the millennium, so it’s hard not to worry that this debate echoes the mid-20th-century arguments that we hadn’t absolutely proved cigarettes cause cancer. Despite the strong correlation between smoking and dying, many doctors didn’t believe the link had been proved even by the 1960s.Reinforcing my prejudices is new research examining the staggered introduction of Facebook across US universities, launching in Harvard in 2004 and then spreading across the country. Using surveys of students, it shows the platform’s arrival saw them being more likely to report poor mental health with increases in depression and anxiety of 7% and 20% respectively. We’re talking about the negative impact of Facebook being around 22% of that of losing a job – this is big. The authors argue the impact is from increasing social comparisons. Seeing everyone else having a great time isn’t good if you’re not. The research shows that Facebook’s arrival increased students’ perceptions of how much other students were drinking – a fairly good proxy for how much fun you think others are having at that age – but had no effect on actual drinking levels. Continue reading...

Software upgrade, known as ‘the merge’, will change how transactions are managed on its blockchain• How does ethereum’s ‘merge’ make the cryptocurrency greener?Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, has completed a plan to reduce its carbon emissions by more than 99%.The software upgrade, known as “the merge”, will change how transactions are managed on the ethereum blockchain, a public and decentralised ledger that underpins the cryptocurrency and generates ether tokens, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency after bitcoin. Continue reading...

Konami; PC, PS4/5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Europe’s competition commission has imposed €8.25bn in antitrust fines on the companyGoogle has failed to overturn a fine of more than €4bn (£3.5bn), imposed by the EU, for using its Android mobile operating system to thwart rivals.Europe’s second-highest court largely upheld the ruling on Wednesday, but reduced the fine from €4.34bn to €4.125bn. The EU’s competition commission has now imposed a total of €8.25bn in antitrust fines on the search engine, in three investigations stretching back more than a decade. Continue reading...

Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl explains the dos and don’ts of photographing the moon

The Venice film festival section Venice Immersive is dedicated to ‘extended reality’, where visitors can explore new narrative worlds. Our intrepid correspondent gets lostI’m at the Venice film festival, in a hyper-real city square, surrounded by lapping blue water and tourists who move in mysterious ways. There is a ginger cat here called Dorian who walks on his hind legs and speaks with a French accent. Dorian is showing us how to walk and turn and jump and crouch. He’s concerned by the tourist who can’t get herself off the ground. Dorian explains that if we ever get lost we should press the “respawn” button which will put us right back where we began. He sighs heavily and says: “Sooner or later everybody gets lost.”It is the fear of getting lost – this terror of the unknown – that scares many punters away from Venice Immersive, which sits behind the big Mussolini-era casino that hosts the film festival proper. That and the boat ride, the headsets, the schedule, the stress. The movies on the main programme: they’re largely a known quantity. Whereas the “extended reality” exhibits out on VI island are almost too much to process; we lack even the grammar and the language to frame them. To misquote Bob Dylan, something is happening here – but no one, it seems, can definitively say what it is. Continue reading...

Whistleblower expected to give damning evidence of data and information security failingsTwitter’s former head of security, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, will appear in front of lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday. He is expected to give damning evidence of data and information security failings at the social media platform, having outlined a litany of concerns in a whistleblower complaint last month.The former hacker, widely respected in his field as an information security specialist, joined Twitter on 16 November 2020 and was fired on 19 January 2022. His complaint levels allegations of incompetence and fraud at Twitter, saying that he uncovered “extreme, egregious deficiencies by Twitter in every area of his mandate”, including weak controls of employee access to user data and interference by foreign governments. Continue reading...

Free software upgrades for iPhone and Watch that revamp the lockscreen, add new watchfaces, can unsend messages and more due for releaseApple plans to release software updates for its iPhone and smartwatch on Monday, adding new features and designs for compatible devices.Announced at the firm’s developer conference in June, iOS 16 and watchOS 9 totally change the lockscreen, attempt to destroy the much maligned password, revamp notifications, and add new watchfaces, new running statistics and more. Continue reading...

At high-end labs in the US and UK, anybody, anywhere, can conduct experiments by remote control cheaply and efficiently. Is the rise of the robot researcher now inevitable?It’s 1am on the west coast of America, but the Emerald Cloud Lab, just south of San Francisco, is still busy. Here, more than 100 items of high-end bioscience equipment whirr away on workbenches largely unmanned, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, performing experiments for researchers from around the world. I’m “visiting” via the camera on a chest-high telepresence robot, being driven round the 1,400 sq metre (15,000 sq ft) lab by Emerald’s CEO, Brian Frezza, who is also sitting at home. There are no actual scientists anywhere, just a few staff in blue coats quietly following instructions from screens on their trolleys, ensuring the instruments are loaded with reagents and samples.Cloud labs mean anybody, anywhere can conduct experiments by remote control, using nothing more than their web browser. Experiments are programmed through a subscription-based online interface – software then coordinates robots and automated scientific instruments to perform the experiment and process the data. Friday night is Emerald’s busiest time of the week, as scientists schedule experiments to run while they relax with their families over the weekend. Continue reading...

PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch; Two Point Studios/Sega

Nintendo Switch; Square Enix/Nintendo

The global ag-tech revolution has sped up in recent years, spurring a debate on how it will affect the workforceThe robots have arrived in California’s fields. This summer, a self-driving tractor was spotted working rows of vines in Napa valley. Described as resembling a “souped-up golf cart”, the tractor runs on an electric battery and can be operated remotely with an app.Farther south, strawberry harvesting robots have been picking fruit. Complete with wheels, clipper-tipped arms and a catchment tray, its maker claims the machine can pick almost as many berries as a human with 95% accuracy. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: The iconic Icelandic singer reveals all about her creative process in Björk: Sonic Symbolism. Plus: five of the best internet culture podcasts

Omri Goren Gorochovsky admitted contacting Black Shadow hacking collective linked to IranA housekeeper who worked for Israel’s defence minister has been jailed for offering to spy on his employer for an Iran-linked hacking group.Omri Goren Gorochovsky, a resident of the central city of Lod, was sentenced to three years in prison by an Israeli court on Tuesday after being found guilty of attempting to pass on information to an enemy entity. Initial espionage charges were dropped under a plea deal. Continue reading...

Injection of $1.3bn for former president’s media company looks set to be derailed because of lackluster investor supportDonald Trump’s beleaguered social media company is facing further financial turmoil after a long-awaited $1.3bn cash injection looks set to be derailed due to lackluster investor backing.Shareholders of the special purpose acquisitions firm, which last year brokered a deal to take the Trump Media and Technology Group public, have not backed a one-year extension to complete the transaction, which threatens to spoil the merger. Continue reading...

Streaming platform reportedly brings forward low-cost option initially planned for 2023 to get ahead of similar service with ads from Disney+Netflix will reportedly launch a cheaper ad-supported tier for its streaming platform at the start of November as the company tries to stem the loss of more than 1 million subscribers in 2022.The company was initially planning to start offering the service in 2023, but Variety reported last week it had been bumped to 1 November in order to get ahead of Disney+’s planned launch of an ad-supported tier in December. Continue reading...

New rules in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cover all notionally valuable digital assetsCrypto exchanges must report suspected sanctions breaches to UK authorities under new rules brought in amid concerns that bitcoin and other cryptoassets are being used to dodge restrictions imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Official guidance was updated on 30 August to explicitly include “cryptoassets” among those that must be frozen if sanctions are imposed on a person or company. As well as digital currencies, such as bitcoin, ether and tether, cryptoassets could include other notionally valuable digital assets such as non-fungible tokens. Continue reading...

From music to movies, technology to food, the world has fallen in love with everything South Korean. Ahead of a big London exhibition, Tim Adams visits Seoul in search of the origins of hallyu – the Korean wave

Video podcasts are booming, giving creators access to new audiences. But does this risk ruining what made the audio format so satisfying?“SECRET group of geniuses KILL for fun.” In a recent video podcast on his true crime YouTube channel MrBallen, John Allen tells the story of a mysterious poisoning involving Mensa that took place in rural Florida. The video of Allen, wearing his signature blue plaid shirt and backwards cap, speaking insistently into the camera, has garnered close to 4m views.MrBallen is an example of the blurring of the lines between podcasts and Youtube. His YouTube channel launched in 2020 and counts more than 6 million subscribers. The podcast – available on the likes of Spotify and Apple – followed in February, and is already attracting up to 7m monthly downloads. Continue reading...

British startup Maeving is in the vanguard of a growing market worldwide for clean two-wheeled travelThe motorcycle industry has problems: its petrolhead riders are ageing, customer numbers are shrinking and bans on fossil-fuel power are looming.Startup bike-maker Maeving thinks batteries are the answer to all three. Its RM1 motorbike swaps a noisy petrol engine for a near-silent electric motor and clean retro styling. During a test ride at the company’s factory near Coventry – by the Observer’s photographer – the experience is smooth, agile and gearless. Continue reading...