Technology

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/24650125

There have been a lot of complaints about both the competency and the logic behind the latest Epstein archive release by the DoJ: from censoring the names of co-conspirators to censoring pictures of random women in a way that makes individuals look guiltier than they really are, forgetting to redact credentials that made it possible for all of Reddit to log into Epstein’s account and trample over all the evidence, and the complete ineptitude that resulted in most of the latest batch being corrupted thanks to incorrectly converted Quoted-Printable encoding artifacts, it’s safe to say that Pam Bondi’s DoJ did not put its best and brightest on this (admittedly gargantuan) undertaking. But the most damning evidence has all been thoroughly redacted… hasn’t it? Well, maybe not.

The authorities apparently got tired of asking and just went in themselves.

pi-vox is an AI-powered speech intelligence platform that converts audio recordings into accurate text, translations, and actionable insights. It supports multiple Indian and global languages, offers speaker identification, keyword search, and detailed reports—making it ideal for digital forensics, investigations, legal analysis, and intelligence workflows.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/58715225

The vice president attended the opening ceremony in Milan, where people also protested the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Winter Olympics.

Today, a coalition of 30+ organizations and AI experts released a new letter warning of the potential national security implications of the Pentagon’s use of Elon Musk’s Grok. The letter, signed by organizations including Public Citizen, Indivisible, the Consumer Federation of America, the Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP), UltraViolet and others, calls on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to decommission the unsafe and untested technology.

Razer’s account management interface includes a “Human Verification” feature that encourages users to verify their identity through World ID, an identity system operated by Tools for Humanity. The feature is presented as a way to obtain a “human badge” and receive promotional incentives, including Razer Silver rewards, during normal account usage.

Resist and Unsubscribe.

The new Microsoftslop copilot key always sends the following key-sequence when pressed:

An interesting article about brand fonts available on Google Fonts.

Although often tossed together into a singular ‘retro game’ aesthetic, the first game consoles that focused on 3D graphics like the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation featured very distinct visuals that make these different systems easy to distinguish. Yet whereas the N64 mostly suffered from a small texture buffer, the PS’s weak graphics hardware necessitated compromises that led to the highly defining jittery and wobbly PlayStation graphics. ...

Disney+ is currently streaming with degraded picture quality as Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and 3D have vanished. A patent case in Germany is possibly spreading across Europe.

Until quite recently, many Big Tech firms opposed the militarization of AI, but that now seems like ancient history as they move to sign partnerships with arms companies. The prospect of lavish Pentagon funding for AI is too tempting to refuse.

ICE has used Mobile Fortify to identify immigrants and citizens alike over 100,000 times, by one estimate. It wasn't built to work like that—and only got approved after DHS abandoned its own privacy rules.

The popular shadow library Anna's Archive has lost yet another domain name. The site's .pm domain was taken offline after international pressure on intermediaries continued to mount. That initially left the .li domain as the only option, but a Greenland-based backup was swiftly added.

The Commission's investigation preliminarily indicates that TikTok did not adequately assess how these addictive features could harm the physical and mental wellbeing of its users, including minors and vulnerable adults.

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Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20260206123527/https://signalcleveland.org/what-police-surveillance-technology-looks-like-in-cleveland/

Google's recent update to the manifest file for Chrome browser extensions, transitioning from manifest version 2 (MV2) to manifest version 3 (MV3), has raised concerns among users and ad blocker providers, who worry that the new restrictions, notably the shift from the powerful WebRequest API to the more restrictive DeclarativeNetRequest API, might reduce ad blocker effectiveness. Because ad blockers play a vital role for millions of users seeking a more private and ad-free browsing experience, this study empirically investigates how the MV3 update affects their ability to block ads and trackers. Through a browser-based experiment conducted across multiple samples of ad-supported websites, we compare the MV3 to MV2 instances of four widely used ad blockers. Our results reveal no statistically significant reduction in ad-blocking or anti-tracking effectiveness for MV3 ad blockers compared to their MV2 counterparts, and in some cases, MV3 instances even exhibit slight improvements in blocking trackers. These findings are reassuring for users, indicating that the MV3 instances of popular ad blockers continue to provide effective protection against intrusive ads and privacy-infringing trackers. While some uncertainties remain, ad blocker providers appear to have successfully navigated the MV3 update, finding solutions that maintain the core functionality of their extensions.

FBI controversial smartphone sting operation led to nearly 30 arrests in Estonia

A new tool searches your LinkedIn connections for people who are mentioned in the Epstein files, just in case you don’t, understandably, want anything to do with them on the already deranged social network.

Microsite Highlighting Evidence from the Landmark Social Media Addiction Trials.

We scroll. We react. We repeat. But what if social media is shaping us more than we realize? In this piece, I explore the controversial power of platforms like Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok—not just as tools for connection, but as systems that influence attention, identity, truth, and behavior. From algorithmic control to the performance of the self, this post asks a simple but uncomfortable question: Are we using social media—or is it using us? If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, distracted, or strangely empty after scrolling, this read is for you. Read, reflect, and let’s rethink how we connect.

Amazon reported fourth-quarter earnings slightly below Wall Street estimates even as sales surged and it reported the fastest growth in its prominent cloud computing business in 13 quarters.

The Federal Communications Commission seems eager to let SpaceX experiment with massive data centers in space. On Wednesday, Chairman Brendan Carr tweeted, "The FCC welcomes and now seeks comment on the SpaceX application for Orbital Data Centers."

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20260205123528/https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/02/03/how-ice-is-watching-you/

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is surveying the commercial advertising technology market for tools capable of supplying location data and large-scale analytics to federal investigators, according to a recent Request for Information (RFI).

Over the last few days hackers and trolls have targeted a slew of ICE spotting apps and their users in an apparent attempt to intimidate and stop them from reporting sightings of ICE. These hackers sent threatening text messages to users of StopICE, claiming their personal data has been sent to the authorities; attempted to wipe uploads on Eyes Up, which aims to document ICE abuses; and even sent push notifications to DEICER app users claiming their data has also been sent to various government agencies.

The FBI has been unable to access a Washington Post reporter’s seized iPhone because it was in Lockdown Mode, a sometimes overlooked feature that makes iPhones broadly more secure, according to recently filed court records.

The article title is click bait here is the full article:

The latest selloff was triggered by a new legal tool from Anthropic’s Claude large language model (LLM).

A researcher recently found that young adults who receive emotional support on social media are significantly more likely to report reduced anxiety symptoms, with a few specific personality traits reporting the most improved well-being.

The Estonian state is to analyze how viable it would be to reduce dependence on U.S. tech giants such as Microsoft, Google or Amazon for its software.

This report looks into the proliferation of surveillance cameras across the West Bank and how, amid a legal vacuum, they are posing a threat to people’s privacy. We show how the lack of regulatory legislation has led to social conflict, psychological pressure, economic losses, and fears that this technology could be used by the security services or for digital blackmail. Although the authorities have acknowledged that a draft law has been around since 2021, it remains shrouded in secrecy, while rights groups fear this law itself could come at the expense of people’s liberties.

Claude Opus 4.6, released today, continues a trajectory of meaningful improvements in AI models’ cybersecurity capabilities. Last fall, we wrote that we believed we were at an inflection point for AI's impact on cybersecurity—that progress could become quite fast, and now was the moment to accelerate defensive use of AI. The evidence since then has only reinforced that view. AI models can now find high-severity vulnerabilities at scale. Our view is this is a moment to move quickly—to empower defenders and secure as much code as possible while the window exists.

This looks pretty sweet

Credit where credit is due.

“Things are shrinking, so we’re shrinking around it,” Elias says. “Electronics are becoming embedded, consolidated, optimized, and batteries are the only part of that equation that’s being left behind.”

It’s not just you: ChatGPT is down for many users right now. Here’s the latest on OpenAI’s confirmed outage.