Technology

"nooo don't just use our services for their naturally intended purpose"

Gambling companies are covertly tracking visitors to their websites and sending their data to Facebook’s parent company without consent in an apparent breach of data protection laws.

The information is then being used by Facebook’s owner, Meta, to profile people as gamblers and flood them with ads for casinos and betting sites, the Observer can reveal. A hidden tracking tool embedded in dozens of UK gambling websites has been extracting visitors’ data – including details of the webpages they view and the buttons they click – and sharing it with the social media company.

By law, data should only be used and shared for marketing purposes, with explicit permission obtained from users on the websites in which the tools are embedded. But testing by the Observer of 150 gambling sites – including virtual casinos, sports betting sites and online bingo – found widespread breaches of the rules.

The PlayStation Network (PSN) is down, depriving online gamers around the world from accessing weekend events.

The outage began in the UK at about midnight on Friday.

About 71,000 gamers reported the outage to PlayStation’s website. Many users can no longer access online gaming lobbies, the PlayStation Store or their online accounts.

The PSN runs a model that costs £13.49 a month, £39.99 for three months or £119.99 for 12 months for its premium subscription. Many gamers have pointed to these costs when complaining to Sony.

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/22337526

WIP

cross-posted from: https://ponder.cat/post/1527018

• DeepSeek has recruited recent graduates and interns from China’s top universities.
• Facing visa hurdles and high living expenses, more of China’s AI researchers are choosing opportunities at home rather than abroad.
• U.S. chip restrictions have forced Chinese companies to accelerate innovation.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/54578863

https://omnihuman-lab.github.io/

Facial recognition of criminals are among applications for AI to be deployed by the new Belgian government after Vanessa Matz was sworn in on Monday as the first federal minister to be tasked with digitalisation, AI and privacy.

The former member of the centrist party Les Engagés in the French-speaking parliament in Belgium will have a broad portfolio which also includes oversight over public companies and the civil service.

The government plan specifically mentions use of AI tools by the law enforcement authorities and police.

See also https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20250128-00/?p=110815

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/54409950

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25011462

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Decoupling America’s Artificial Intelligence Capabilities from China Act of 2025’’.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS ON IMPORT AND EXPORT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OR GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGY OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

(a) PROHIBITION ON IMPORTATION.—On and after the date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the importation into the United States of artificial intelligence or generative artificial intelligence technology or intellectual property developed or produced in the People’s Republic of China is prohibited.

Currently, China has the best open source models in text, video and music generation.

This week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to cancel the visas of college students who protest in support of Palestine, opening the path to their deportation. A small company called Stellar Defense & Cyber Intelligence is ready to help by deploying AI technology to identify anonymous, masked pro-Palestinian protestors, through a campaign it refers to as “Operation Wrath of Zion.”

Stellar is the maker of NesherAI, a bespoke facial-recognition tool which it claims is capable of deanonymizing pro-Palestinian protestors. The name “Nesher” is Hebrew for “eagle,” the symbol for both NesherAI and the Terror Watch Agency, the brand under which it operates. Their slogan on social media is, “The Eagle listens, The Eagle watches, The Eagle knows.”

In December, The Times of Israel reported that Betar had worked with pro-Israel U.S. lawmakers including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Fetterman (D-PA) on plans to round up “suspects” in anticipation of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Ross Glick, the executive director of Betar US, told the paper the purpose of Betar’s use of facial recognition was to “give the Trump team a head start.” While Glick stressed that Betar supports free speech, he added that “if a foreign student is here on a visa, they don’t have the same rights as others to protest or promote anti-Zionist narratives.”

On Wednesday, Betar did just as Glick said. “Join us at the jihad rally as we assist @ICEgov in deportation efforts,” the U.S. branch of Betar posted on the social media platform X. Hawila’s Terror Watch Agency reposted Betar’s statement.

The bourgeoisie has class solidarity.

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/22023364

LOL

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/18210719

Archived

Facebook is banning posts that mention various Linux-related topics, sites, or groups. Some users may also see their accounts locked or limited when posting Linux topics. Major open-source operating system news, reviews, and discussion site DistroWatch is at the center of the controversy, as it seems to be the first to have noticed that Facebook's Community Standards had blackballed it.

[...]

DistroWatch says that the Facebook ban took effect on January 19. Readers have reported difficulty posting links to the site on this social media platform. Moreover, some have told DistroWatch that their Facebook accounts have been locked or limited after sharing posts mentioning Linux topics.

If you're wondering if there might be something specific to DistroWatch.com, something on the site that the owners/operators perhaps don't even know about, for example, then it seems pretty safe to rule out such a possibility. Reports show that "multiple groups associated with Linux and Linux discussions have either been shut down or had many of their posts removed." However, we tested a few other Facebook posts with mentions of Linux, and they didn't get blocked immediately.

[...]

Addition to include the DistroWatch link: https://distrowatch.com/weekly-mobile.php?issue=20250127#sitenews

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53880308

Summary

Trump plans to impose tariffs of up to 100% on semiconductors manufactured in Taiwan, aiming to push U.S. tech companies like Apple, Nvidia, and AMD to produce chips domestically.

The tariffs target Taiwan's TSMC, a key supplier, despite its partial U.S. production in Arizona.

Trump criticized Biden’s CHIPS Act for funding companies like Intel and proposed tariffs as an alternative incentive.

Experts warn the move could raise prices for electronics as most TSMC chips are assembled in Asia before export to the U.S.