Stanford Internet Observatory rejects media reports it is shutting down, but acknowledges funding challenges (cyber.fsi.stanford.edu)
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"Lack of transparency, state censorship, potential copyright infringement”: Leading geologist raises serious issues with Chinese-funded Large Language Model aimed at geoscientists (geoscientist.online)
GeoGPT, a big-data artificial intelligence project aimed at geoscientists and researchers particularly in the global south and built by the Chinese tech company Alibaba, aims at helping develop their understanding of earth sciences by drawing on swaths of data and research on billions of years of the planet’s history....
Canada blocks Chinese rare earths deal in Trudeau-led crackdown as part of wider push to block China from delving further into Canada’s critical minerals sector (www.bloomberg.com)
Vital Metals to sell materials stockpile to Saskatchewan group...
Facial recognition startup Clearview AI settles privacy suit in the U.S. by giving plaintiffs a share of the company’s potential value, rather than a traditional payout, over lack of liqudity (apnews.com)
Facial recognition startup Clearview AI reached a settlement Friday in an Illinois lawsuit alleging its massive photographic collection of faces violated the subjects’ privacy rights, a deal that attorneys estimate could be worth more than $50 million....
TikTok confirms it offered US government a 'kill switch' (www.bbc.com)
TikTok says it offered the US government the power to shut the platform down in an attempt to address lawmakers’ data protection and national security concerns....
Wild chimpanzees eat plants that have pain-relieving and anti-bacterial properties to heal themselves, according to scientists (www.bbc.com)
Scientists described their “detective work” in the forests of Uganda - observing animals that appeared injured or sick to work out whether they were self-medicating with plants....
Apple Decides to Block Open-Source Emulator App for iOS (news.itsfoss.com)
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Tuta Mail's Google Ranking Mysteriously Restored After Announcement to Take Legal Actions -- [Tuta blog] (tuta.com)
On March 7, 2024, Google inexplicably downranked the website of Tuta Mail in its search results. While Tuta Mail is a prominent provider of encrypted email services, focusing on security and privacy, our website was deranked for terms like “secure email” and “encrypted email” completely. The search results for our...
Top 10 Generative AI Models Mimic Russian Disinformation Claims A Third of the Time, Citing Moscow-Created Fake Local News Sites as Authoritative Sources (www.newsguardtech.com)
NewsGuard audit finds that 32% of the time, leading AI chatbots spread Russian disinformation narratives created by John Mark Dougan, an American fugitive now operating from Moscow, citing his fake local news sites and fabricated claims on YouTube as reliable sources....
Surgeons believe we are about to enter a new era where diseases can be treated before children are born (www.bbc.com)
Prenatal screening for neurological conditions has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past couple of decades. Technology including genetic analysis, neuroimaging, and high-resolution foetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are allowing doctors to peer into the nervous systems of developing foetuses and already diagnose them...
Elite researchers in China say they had ‘no choice’ but to commit misconduct (www.nature.com)
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The Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled: U.S. Republicans attacked the lab’s reports on misinformation and election integrity — and now the institution is pulling the plug (www.platformer.news)
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False promise of biometrics: Digital IDs in Africa failing to deliver promised democratic and development boost while making fortunes for tech vendors, investigations finds (www.lighthousereports.com)
Some of the world’s poorest countries have been investing heavily in digital ID systems which it is claimed will deliver democratic and development dividends. Africa has been at the forefront of this push supported by the World Bank, UN agencies and the international community. Some of Africa’s most fragile states have been...
Rare twin elephants born in Thailand 'miracle' have surprised even their mum (www.bbc.com)
An Asian elephant in central Thailand has given birth to a rare set of twins, in what caretakers have described as a miracle....
Canada Imposes New Sanctions on Russia Amid G7 Summit (epicnews.ca)
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6,000 years ago, men and women -and those migrated from other locations- had equal access to resources, research finds (www.sciencedaily.com)
Using isotope geochemistry, scientists have uncovered new information about the Barmaz necropolis in Valais (Switzerland): 14% of the people buried 6,000 years ago at this site were not locals. What’s more, the study suggests that this Middle Neolithic agropastoral society – one of the oldest known in the western part of...
US lawmakers grill Microsoft president over China ties, hacks (www.reuters.com)
Microsoft President Brad Smith fielded questions about the tech giant’s security practices and ties to China at a House homeland security panel on Thursday, a year after alleged China-linked hackers spied on federal emails by hacking the firm....
Microsoft "accepts responsibility" for issues raised in report on Chinese hacking against U.S. targets as officials start to lose trust in the company's ability to secure its service (www.axios.com)
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Microsoft Chose Profit Over Security and Left U.S. Government Vulnerable to Russian Hack, Whistleblower Says (www.propublica.org)
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A New Study Investigates 'The Failed Migration of Academic Twitter' To Mastodon (arxiv.org)
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Can alleged parliamentarian colluders face consequences? CSIS chief weighs in (globalnews.ca)
Canada’s spy chief says that political leaders could take steps to make sure parliamentarians accused of cooperating with foreign governments face consequences, even if they don’t face criminal prosecution....
China, India interfered in Conservative leadership races, report says (www.cbc.ca)
A report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) says there were two instance of alleged interference by China in Conservative Party of Canada leadership races....
Mysterious cyberattack took down more than 600,000 routers in the U.S. (thehackernews.com)
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Chinese man arrested for allegedly running ‘largest ever’ malware network (www.aljazeera.com)
US officials say army of 19 million infected computers enabled fraud, identity theft and child exploitation....
Elections in India: Fighting for votes in 'the world's biggest data mine' (www.bbc.com)
India’s combination of high smartphone take-up and lax regulations mean that most political parties have gathered “the data to do everything”...
