Flock
Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Using Flock to Stalk People
There have been more than a dozen cases around the country where police use Flock to obsessively and illegally stalk people.
The Abstract
Scientists Just Accidentally Discovered a Strange, Hidden Rule of Human Nature
Researchers report a "serendipitous" discovery while watching videos of crowds: an inexplicable bias toward counterclockwise turning that may be rooted in biology.
Podcast
Podcast: Google Employees Meme About How Bad Their AI Is
Memes at Google; Microsoft wants to make its new AI assistant addictive; and manipulating Reddit.
Flock
Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Using Flock to Stalk People
There have been more than a dozen cases around the country where police use Flock to obsessively and illegally stalk people.
Privacy
FCC Wants to Kill Burner Phones By Forcing Telecoms to Get All Customers’ IDs
The FCC wants to legally force telecoms to collect new and renewing customers’ government issued identity number and physical address, impacting everyone from the privacy-conscious to domestic abuse survivors. “We never thought that would happen here.”
AI
Judge Learns Lawyers on Both Sides of Case Used AI, Cancels Trial, Kicks Everyone Off the Case
When two AIs argue against each other, the legal system loses.
News
'Sloppenheimer:' Amazon Employees Mock the Company’s AI on Slack
Amazon employees have a Slack channel for memes where the mock and commiserate about the company’s faulty AI coding product.
Privacy
This Company Will Add Phone, AirPod, and Smartwatch Trackers to License Plate Readers
SignalTrace “links devices that regularly travel together, correlating them to license plate.” It is a surveillance product that will sweep up and add all sorts of Bluetooth and other data to license plate readers, linking specific devices—and people—to cars.
Cybersecurity
Microsoft Hacked to Deliver Malware to Claude and Gemini Users
Microsoft took the highly unusual step of shutting down more than 70 of its own GitHub repositories after hackers pushed malware that would steal credentials from AI coding agent users.
Podcast
It’s So Not Over for Hollywood (with Devindra Hardawar)
Emanuel talks to Devindra Hardawar about AI in Hollywood and the state of the movie industry.
Data centers
A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Massive Data Center Instead
In 1999, a farmer gave away 87 acres of land to a small Texas city to use as a park. The city sold to a data center developer for $10 million.
The Abstract
Scientists Discover Hidden Symmetry on Earth That Nobody Can Explain
The north-south albedo symmetry may be fading as both hemispheres get darker.
ICE
ICE’s Plan to Let Cops Around the Country Scan Faces to Verify Immigration Status
ICE plans to give potentially more than a thousand agencies access to a facial recognition app that verifies a person's immigration status.