Posts Tagged: allowed

Bluesky allowed people to include the n-word in their usernames

Before this week, Bluesky, the up-and-coming decentralized Twitter alternative, did not have a system in place to automatically prevent people from registering usernames that featured the n-word as part of their handle. On Wednesday, the company received multiple reports of someone who had the slur in their username. And while Bluesky eventually dealt with the issue, many are upset by the fact the startup did not seem to apologize for the oversight. Instead, on early Saturday morning, days after the incident occurred, Bluesky appeared to frame the event as a one-off that was swiftly addressed.

“On Wednesday, users reported an account that had a slur as its handle. This handle was in violation of our community guidelines, and it was our mistake that allowed it to be created,” the company said. “40 minutes after it was reported, the account was taken down, and the code that allowed this to occur was patched.”

Bluesky went on to claim it had in recent months “made significant investments” in its Trust and Safety team, and that it would continue to invest in “moderation, feedback, and support systems” that would scale with the platform’s growing user base. Bluesky did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request. Days before issuing a statement on the situation, the company, as caught by Hacker News, quietly added the n-word, and nearly four dozen other ethnic and racial slurs, to a list of “reserved” words.

Bluesky’s statement, when it did come, appears to have been prompted by a viral LinkedIn post penned by Scott Hirleman, the host of the Data Mesh Radio podcast. Hirleman tagged the company’s executive team, including CEO Jay Graber, and accused Bluesky of failing to address an “incredibly bad anti-blackness problem” on its social network. “If you don’t want to run a social media platform, split the company in twain and go focus on the protocol and fund the platform with another team that cares,” Hirleman added. As of the writing of this article, the post has more than 700 reactions and about 50 comments.

No social media network is free from racists, but the fact that Bluesky didn’t already filter for something so basic as the n-word is surprising when you consider Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is one of the company’s backers. Under Dorsey’s leadership, Twitter was often ineffective with addressing white supremacy and could have frequently done more to protect Black people and other marginalized users.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bluesky-allowed-people-to-include-the-n-word-in-their-usernames-184049864.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

Apple and Google close loophole that allowed Russians to use Mir cards for mobile payments

Apple has closed a loophole that had allowed some Russians to continue using its mobile payments service despite the ongoing economic sanctions against Russia. According to Reuters, the company told the country's largest lender on Thursday it would no longer support Russia's homegrown Mir payments system through Apple Pay.

"Apple has informed NSPK it is suspending support for Mir cards in the Apple Pay payment service," the National Card Payment System said Friday. "Starting from March 24th, users cannot add new Mir cards to the service. Apple will stop all operations of previously added cards over the next few days."

Google took similar action last week as well. According to a separate report from The Wall Street Journal, the company paused a pilot that had allowed Russians to connect their Mir cards to Google Pay. "Google Pay is pausing payments-related services in Russia as a result of payment services disruption out of our control," a Google spokesperson told the outlet.

As The Verge notes, the Central Bank of Russia established Mir after the US and other countries imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its annexation of Crimea in 2014. According to statistics shared by the Central Bank, Mir cards are involved in more than 25 percent of all card transactions within the country. Previously, cards from major Russian financial institutions like VTB Group and Sovcombank stopped working with Apple Pay and Google Pay shortly after the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24th.

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

Apple reportedly tells workers they’re allowed to discuss conditions and pay

Apple might be eager to minimize future complaints about working conditions. NBC News said it obtained a newly released internal memo telling employees they're allowed to discuss conditions and pay outside the company. Staffers should be free to talk about issues in the way they "feel most comfortable," including with managers and the People (human resources) team.

We've asked Apple if it can confirm the memo and comment on the release. The statement would reinforce the rights private workers already have under the National Labor Relations Act, which lets workers both organize and discuss conditions, as well Apple's own conduct policy.

Provided the news is accurate, it could represent a bittersweet moment for critics of Apple's working culture. The memo supports their beliefs the company unfairly limited talk about labor issues by shutting down surveys and Slack channels. Employees like Ashley Gjøvik also accused Apple of punishing workers for speaking out for by putting them on leave or even firing them.

However, the statement is also coming too late to prevent significant damage. Apple now faces eight labor charges alleging issues like harassment and wrongful dismissal. Outspoken #AppleToo advocate Cher Scarlett (who settled with Apple) just left the company, too. While a memo like this might allow more discussion going forward, it can't change the past.

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

Grindr flaw allowed hijacking accounts with just an email address

A Grindr vulnerability allowed anyone who knows a user’s email address to easily reset their password and hijack their account. All a bad actor needed to do was type in a user’s email address in the password reset page and then pop open the dev tools…
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FAA’s new B4UFLY app makes it easier to know where drones are allowed

The FAA's free app that kept drone pilots aware of "no fly zones" performed a much-needed service — but had few fans. The federal agency teamed up with drone software maker Kittyhawk to create a new version of the B4UFLY app that is being released t…
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Huawei tentatively allowed to continue dealing with US companies again

Huawei has had a rough few months after being banned from working with US companies, but now it looks as if that turmoil is over. US President Trump announced in a news conference that Huawei would be allowed to continue dealing with US companies, including companies like Google that make critical parts of Huawei’s ecosystem. […]

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Amazon goofed, accidentally allowed one Echo user to listen to someone else’s recorded messages

Amazon has apparently made a pretty big mistake with their Echo devices by giving a user in Germany access to someone else’s recorded messages. The error wasn’t the Echo or Alexa’s fault in any way, so don’t freak out about your Echo Dot in the corner, but it’s still a fairly big mess up on […]

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No ads allowed: AdBlocker Plus arrives to protect iOS and Android devices from annoying ads

AdBlock Plus has launched the AdBlock Browser on iOS and Google Play earlier today. The app arrives a few weeks before Apple’s Safari content blocker becomes available on iOS 9. The browser will automatically block almost all adverts.

The post No ads allowed: AdBlocker Plus arrives to protect iOS and Android devices from annoying ads appeared first on Digital Trends.

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