Fed up with being sermonised over online security, China’s TikTok CEO blasts US firms for failing to safeguard Americans’ data
Media coverage United States governments’ policies and political pronouncements point to rising abuse of power, including attacks on democracy, civil liberties and use of mass surveillance. Tell Media and The Defender, Big Brother NewsWatch and NewsGuard bring the latest political and health coverage via excerpts from other news sources. The...
Facebook content moderators sue Meta for sacking 260 staff in a ‘union-busting operation’
A group of Facebook content moderators in Kenya is taking the platform’s parent company Meta and two outsourcing companies to court, a tech rights group said Monday. A total of 43 workers for outsourcing company Sama, who moderated Facebook content, are bringing the lawsuit for what they allege was unlawful...
New UN report warns greenhouse gases ‘spewed’ by food systems threaten life on Earth
Today, march 21, the UN’S Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is releasing what may become a pivotal document of human progress – or lack thereof, if we don’t heed its warnings. It’s a “synthesis” report, summarising the findings from the six previous IPCC reports that laid out the science of...
Evidence of volcanic activity on Venus is flipping scientists’ interest from Mars to ‘Earth’s true sibling’
Scientists have found some of the strongest evidence yet that there is volcanic activity on Venus. Because the planet is a close neighbour to Earth and originally had water on its surface, one big question has been why its landscape is hellish while Earth’s is habitable. Learning more about its...
Ethiopian journalist awarded in US for her push for press freedom in ethnically polarised nation
An Ethiopian journalist presented an award by the United States has sounded the alarm over media freedom in her country, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting visit. Meaza Mohammed, the founder of the online network Roha TV, was honoured at the White House on Wednesday on International Women’s...
WhatsApp fights bill that compels tech firms to use non-existent ‘accredited technology’ to rein in child abuse
The head of Meta’s WhatsApp messaging service is currently in the UK to whip up a row with the government about end-to-end encryption. Speaking to journalists in London on Thursday, Will Cathcart, did everything but compare the UK’s proposed new internet law to the erosion of online privacy in countries...
NASA announces discovery of second potentially habitable Earth-size exoplanet orbiting nearby star
A NASA mission has spotted an Earth-size exoplanet orbiting a small star about 100 light-years away, NASA announced on Tuesday in a statement. The planet, named TOI 700 e, is likely rocky and 95 per cent the size of our world. The celestial body is the fourth planet to be...
Companies constantly install invasive computer codes on your devices and mobile phones to keep an eye on you – Epstein
Robert Epstein, senior research psychologist for the American Institute of Behavioural Research and Technology, recommends taking the following steps to protect your privacy: Use a virtual private network (VPN) such as Nord, which is only about $3 per month and can be used on up to six devices. In my...
Big Tech: Social media collect data and your photos, which are used to train facial recognition software
The Google Nest security system has a hidden microphone built into it that isn’t featured in any of the schematics for the device. Voice data, and all the information delivered through your daily conversations, is tremendously valuable to Big Data, and add to their ever-expanding predictive modelling capabilities. You cannot...
The Internet is like an ancient city, its latest incarnation resting atop ruins of so many civilisations
We all do it. Make little snap judgments about everyday strangers as we go about our lives. Without giving it a second’s thought, we sketch minibiographies of the people we pass on the sidewalk, the guy seated across from us on the train, or the woman in line in front...
