Posts Tagged: Stop

Biden signs executive order to stop Russia and China from buying Americans’ personal data

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that aims to limit the mass-sale of Americans’ personal data to “countries of concern,” including Russia and China. The order specifically targets the bulk sale of geolocation, genomic, financial, biometric, health and other personally identifying information.

During a briefing with reporters, a senior administration official said that the sale of such data to these countries poses a national security risk. “Our current policies and laws leave open access to vast amounts of American sensitive personal data,” the official said. “Buying data through data brokers is currently legal in the United States, and that reflects a gap in our national security toolkit that we are working to fill with this program.”

Researchers and privacy advocates have long warned about the national security risks posed by the largely unregulated multibillion-dollar data broker industry. Last fall, researchers at Duke University reported that they were able to easily buy troves of personal and health data about US military personnel while posing as foreign agents.

Biden’s executive order attempts to address such scenarios. It bars data brokers and other companies from selling large troves of Americans’ personal information to countries or entities in Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela either directly or indirectly. There are likely to be additional restrictions on companies’ ability to sell data as part of cloud service contracts, investment agreements and employment agreements.

Though the White House described the step as “the most significant executive action any President has ever taken to protect Americans’ data security,” it’s unclear how exactly enforcement of the new policies will be handled within the Justice Department. A DoJ official said the executive order would require due diligence from data brokers to vet who they are dealing with, similar to the way companies are expected to adhere to US sanctions.

As the White House points out, there are currently few regulations for the multibillion-dollar data broker industry. The order will do nothing to slow the bulk sale of Americans’ data to countries or companies not deemed to be a security risk. “President Biden continues to urge Congress to do its part and pass comprehensive bipartisan privacy legislation, especially to protect the safety of our children,” a White House statement says.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/biden-signs-executive-order-to-stop-russia-and-china-from-buying-americans-personal-data-100029820.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

Stop putting your wet iPhone in rice — seriously

Experts have been warning users against the rice bag technique for over a decade. Now, Apple also advises against putting a wet iPhone in dry rice.
Digital Trends

Jail threats stop AI ‘robot lawyer’ from making its debut in court

Joshua Browder, the CEO of New York startup DoNotPay, recently announced that his company's AI will represent a defendant fighting a traffic ticket in the courtroom on February 22nd. "[H]istory will be made," Browder wrote in his tweet. "DoNotPay A.I will whisper in someone's ear exactly what to say. We will release the results and share more after it happens," he added. We may never know how the "robot lawyer" will fare in court, though, because a few days later, Browder announced that DoNotPay is postponing its court case after he received threats of jail time from state bar prosecutors if he goes through with his plan. 

The CEO told NPR that multiple state bar associations had threatened his company, and one even said he could be imprisoned for six months. He told the media organization: "Even if it wouldn't happen, the threat of criminal charges was enough to give it up. The letters have become so frequent that we thought it was just a distraction and that we should move on." While the State Bar of California refused to talk about DoNoPay's situation, it told NPR that it has a duty to investigate potential instances of unauthorized law practice. 

Browder originally created DoNoPay as a free AI-powered chatbot that can help you draft letters and fill out forms for various legal matters. The company's "robot lawyer" is powered by several AI text generators, including ChatGPT and DaVinci, re-trained to know the law. A defendant using the technology in court would have worn smart glasses to record the court proceedings, as well as a headset that would give the AI a way to tell them what to say. 

As CBS News said in a previous report, though, the tech isn't legal in most courtrooms. Also, in some states, all parties must consent to being recorded. That's why of the 300 cases DoNotPay looked at, only two were viable candidates. In the end, Browder decided to put off the company's court ambitions and to focus on using AI to help people with issues related to consumer rights, specifically lowering medical bills, cancelling subscriptions and disputing credit reports, among others.

NPR said, however, that the CEO is still hoping that artificial intelligence could eventually help people in the courtroom. "The truth is, most people can't afford lawyers. This could've shifted the balance and allowed people to use tools like ChatGPT in the courtroom that maybe could've helped them win cases," he told the organization.

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

Blizzard will stop selling ‘Overwatch’ loot boxes on August 30th

Blizzard will stop selling Overwatch loot boxes on August 30th, the studio announced in a blog post published on Tuesday. The date coincides with the end of the game’s recently launched Anniversary Remix Vol. 3 event. Blizzard notes players will still have the chance to earn free loot boxes after the 30th. Additionally, the game will automatically open any loot boxes in a player’s inventory before the launch of Overwatch 2 on October 4th. With the new game set to replace Overwatch at that point, that will ensure players don’t lose any skins and other cosmetics before the switch.

In June, Blizzard announced Overwatch 2would abandon loot boxes in favor of a seasonal battle pass and a “consistently updated” in-game store. The move came after the studio said it would not release Diablo Immortal in Belgium and the Netherlands due to laws in those countries against that kind of monetization.

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

Lawmakers ask Google to stop steering people seeking abortion to anti-abortion sites

A group of Democratic lawmakers led by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Elissa Slotkin is urging Google to "crack down on manipulative search results" that lead people seeking abortions to anti-abortion clinics. In a letter addressed to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, the lawmakers reference a study conducted by US nonprofit group Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The organization found that 1 in 10 Google search results for queries such as "abortion clinics near me" and "abortion pill" — specifically in states with trigger laws that would ban the procedure the moment Roe v. Wade is overturned — points to crisis pregnancy centers that oppose abortion instead.

"Directing women towards fake clinics that traffic in misinformation and don't provide comprehensive health services is dangerous to women's health and undermines the integrity of Google's search results," the lawmakers wrote. CCDH also found that 37 percent of results on Google Maps for the same search terms lead people to anti-abortion clinics. The lawmakers argue in the letter that Google should not be displaying those results for users searching for abortion and that if the company's search results must continue showing them, they should at least be properly labeled.

In addition, CCDH found that 28 percent of ads displayed at the top of Google search results are for crisis pregnancy centers. Google added a disclaimer for those ads, "albeit one that appears in small font and is easily missed," the lawmakers note, after getting flak for them a few years ago. "The prevalence of these misleading ads marks what appears to be a concerning reversal from Google’s pledge in 2014 to take down ads from crisis pregnancy centers that engage in overt deception of women seeking out abortion information online," the letter reads.

Warner, Slotkin and the letter's other signees are asking Google what it plans to do to limit the appearance of anti-abortion clinics when users are explicitly searching for abortion services. And, if Google chooses not to take action to prevent them from appearing in results, the group is asking whether Google would add user-friendly disclaimers clarifying whether the clinic is or isn't providing abortion services. You can read the whole letter below:

A Supreme Court draft obtained by Politico in May showed that SCOTUS justices have voted to reverse Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that protected the federal rights to abortion across the country. Senator Ron Wyden and 41 other Democratic lawmakers also previously asked Google to stop collecting and keeping users' location data. They said the information could be used against people who've had or are seeking abortions in states with trigger laws. 

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

[Guide] How to stop apps sharing data with Google on Android

Apps taking your data to push ads to you is a tale as old as time itself (or at least since the invention of the smartphone). However, with newer and more transparent pro-consumer policies as late, customers are now getting a say in reducing the ads pushed to them on their Android Smartphones. With this […]

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Samsung promises to stop throttling your apps with an upcoming update

We’ve seen manufacturers get caught out boosting performance on their phones for benchmarking apps but Samsung has taken a different path and been found to be throttling the performance of more than ten thousand apps on its phones, including the new Galaxy S22 series. Now that the cat is out of the bag, Samsung has […]

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Microsoft OneDrive app will stop syncing with Windows 7 and 8 on March 1st, 2022

Microsoft is trying to nudge more people toward newer Windows versions. As Thurottreports, Microsoft has warned that the OneDrive desktop app will stop syncing with personal Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 computers on March 1st, 2022. The software will no longer receive updates from January 1st onward. You can still use the web to manually transfer files, but that's clearly a hassle if you routinely access cloud files from an older PC.

Business customers won't have much of a reprieve, either. Microsoft is tying corporate OneDrive support to the Windows cycle for relevant machines. Windows 7 and 8.1 workplace users will have until January 10th, 2023 (the end of extended support for both platforms), while Windows 8 users are already out of luck.

The company wasn't shy about its reasoning. This will help "focus resources" on newer Windows platforms and technologies, according to OneDrive developers. In other words, Microsoft really wants you to upgrade to Windows 10 or Windows 11.

This isn't a completely unexpected move. Microsoft has long had trouble persuading some customers to upgrade to newer versions of Windows, to the point where companies and governments would rather pay for special support contracts than update. That hurts Microsoft's bottom line, of course, but it also poses security risks — WannaCry took advantage of organizations running outdated Windows versions. The new OneDrive policy may push some users to install newer Windows versions even if they're otherwise happy with an old operating system.

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

Amazon will stop supporting its Dash Wand shopping device on July 21st

Amazon is dropping support for yet another Alexa device in a matter of weeks. AFTVnews has learned that Amazon will no longer support the Dash Wand shopping helper as of July 21st, 2020. It didn’t explain why (we’ve asked Amazon for comment), but it…
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AT&T will stop advertising its 5G Evolution product but the 5GE icon is sticking around

When is 5G not 5G? When its AT&T’s 5G ‘Evolution’ that is actually just plain old LTE and was simply a mechanism to keep its subscribers from jumping ship to other carriers with an actual, if tiny, 5G network. AT&T’s 5G Evolution was displayed as the ever-so-slightly misleading 5GE icon, which eventually led to the […]

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Redbox will stop selling Disney movie codes as part of settlement

Disney's lawsuit against Redbox is over, and it's not great news for Redbox. The two sides have agreed to a settlement that will have Redbox stop the sale of movie download codes from Disney disc packs. Attorneys for Disney had accused Redbox of vi…
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China tells online stores to stop selling e-cigarettes

E-cigarette sales bans are quickly becoming an international phenomenon. China's tobacco regulators have asked online shopping companies to "temporarily" close online stores that sell e-cigarettes — effectively, it's banning e-cig sales on the inte…
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Sprint brings a lawsuit to stop AT&T’s fake 5GE branding

AT&T has managed to be the sleaziest company in early 2019 by rolling out “updates” to a couple of their phones that change the network indicators to show that they’re using the carrier’s brand new 5G network. The only problem is that those phones that received updates aren’t 5G compatible, and the network they’re connecting […]

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Chrome may stop websites from hijacking your browser’s back button

Surf the web for long enough and you'll invariably run into a site that refuses to acknowledge your browser's back button, usually because it wants to force ads down your throat. Google might soon put a stop to those shady redirects, though. Recently…
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Sony will stop making physical PS Vita games in 2019

The PS Vita might still attract new fans thanks to indie releases and JRPGs like Persona 4 Golden, but they're clearly not enough to prevent its impending death. According to Kotaku, Sony's American and European divisions are ending the production of…
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Uber adds new multiple stop feature

Uber announced a new feature they are adding to their service that will allow for multiple stops to be added to a ride. With this update, users can do things like stop to pick up friends or family from different locations who are all on their way to the same final destination. In the past […]

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FDA: Stop buying miracle cancer drugs on Instagram

The FDA has issued a warning to social media users not to be taken in by miracle cures hawked on the internet. The agency found 14 companies that made fraudulent, outrageous claims about the power of their medicines on platforms like Facebook and Ins…
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Stop using plastic water bottles and check out smart water cooler Bevi

Staying hydrated may be good for you, but if that hydration involves using thousands of plastic bottles, it may not be so good for the planet. Luckily, there’s a solution that will keep you healthy without destroying the planet – meet Bevi.

The post Stop using plastic water bottles and check out smart water cooler Bevi appeared first on Digital Trends.

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Stop nuclear devastation at the heart of a neverending Cold War

One of the most famous works of graffiti on the Berlin Wall is a depiction of former Soviet Union General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev kissing the ex-leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, full on the mouth. In the painting, called "My God, Help Me to…
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Your physical Google Wallet card is going to stop working soon

Google WalletOne of the unique features of Google Wallet was its ability to attach to a physical card in addition to the digital wallet. You had an account within Google Wallet that you could put money in, then use that physical card if somewhere didn’t accept NFC payments.

Hopefully you weren’t too invested in that physical card, as it looks like Google is going to phase it out sooner rather than later.

Some information inside of the APK for Wallet suggests that on June 30th, the Wallet card will no longer be supported. It makes sense from Google’s point of view, since the card was nothing more than a glorified prepaid account. It obviously didn’t make waves outside of early adopters, and now that Google’s focus is on Android Pay and contactless payments, it was hard to see that card lasting much longer.

Google Wallet as a service isn’t going away, so there’s no need to be worried about that. You can still send and receive money through the app, and you’ll be able to withdraw any money that’s currently stored in it. After the cutoff date, you just won’t be able to add any more money for storing or activate new cards.

Maybe they’ll be worth some money on eBay a few years down the line.

via: Android Police

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DJI rolls out new software to stop you flying your drone in restricted airspace

DJI has rolled out a more dynamic version of its geofencing software to prevent drone flights in restricted airspace. The system allows the authorities to update restrictions and for the first time offers drone owners live data on temporary no-fly zones.

The post DJI rolls out new software to stop you flying your drone in restricted airspace appeared first on Digital Trends.

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Stop wasting gas in the city with the app that knows when traffic lights will change

EnLighten taps into your city’s traffic control system to know when lights will change, advise your speed accordingly, and save you gas and aggravation.

The post Stop wasting gas in the city with the app that knows when traffic lights will change appeared first on Digital Trends.

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