Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• Leftovers

  • Russell Coker ☛ Russell Coker: Moving Between Devices

    I previously wrote about the possibility of transferring work between devices as an alternative to “convergence” (using a phone or tablet as a desktop) [1]. This idea has been implemented in some commercial products already.

    MrWhosTheBoss made a good YouTube video reviewing recent Huawei products [2]. At 2:50 in that video he shows how you can link a phone and tablet, control one from the other, drag and drop of running apps and files between phone and tablet, mirror the screen between devices, etc. He describes playing a video on one device and having it appear on the other, I hope that it actually launches a new instance of the player app as the Surveillance Giant Google Chromecast failed in the market due to remote display being laggy. At 7:30 in that video he starts talking about the features that are available when you have multiple Huawei devices, starting with the ability to move a Bluetooth pairing for earphones to a different device.

    At 16:25 he shows what Huawei is doing to get apps going including allowing apk files to be downloaded and creating what they call “Quick Apps” which are instances of a web browser configured to just use one web site and make it look like a discrete app, we need something like this for FOSS phone distributions – does anyone know of a browser that’s good for it?

  • The New Leaf Journal ☛ Inflatable Halloween Pumpkins, Ghosts, and Spiders

    I have long been a fan of photographing inflatable decorations and sharing them, going back to the earliest days of The New Leaf Journal. I have four for you from Halloween 2024.

  • Hamilton Nolan ☛ Is This Thing Working?

    From a business perspective, they are correct. Almost everyone who makes a living on Substack or in similar places has some sort of a paywall, because paywalls, I am told, are effective at converting free readers into paying ones. Why haven’t I put one up here? A few reasons. One, when I write something I like for it be read by anyone who cares to read it. Restricting the audience on purpose grates on me in an unpleasant way. Two, there is a long term, ongoing trend in media that is fundamentally unhealthy: As the advertising money that used to support journalism has been sucked away by tech companies, more journalism retreats behind paywalls to fill the financial gap, resulting in a situation in which journalism becomes a luxury good. Those who can afford it have access to high quality information, and everyone else is left with the (often low quality, sensationalistic, propagandized) dregs. The more this continues, the more the public will be divided into haves and have-nots of information, in the same way that we are already divided by wealth. I am hardly the New York Freaking Times over here, but I would like to do my small part to resist this trend if at all possible.

  • Anne Sturdivant ☛ Ask Me Anything #1

    This is the first of hopefully five WeblogPoMo AMA posts I will write during Writing Month. This is my own question, which I hope others find interesting to answer too. If you decide to answer this question, please link to this post!

  • VOA News ☛ At 50, Hello Kitty is as 'kawaii' — and lucrative — as ever

    Unlike Mickey Mouse and Snoopy, Hello Kitty didn't start as a cartoon. A young Sanrio illustrator named Yuko Shimizu drew her in 1974 as a decoration for stationery, tote bags, cups and other small accessories. The design made its debut on a coin purse the next year and became an instant hit in Japan.

  • CNN ☛ Hello Kitty at 50: How Sanrio’s mouthless icon launched an $80 billion empire

    As such, Hello Kitty is also a commercial behemoth that has earned her creator an estimated $80 billion, placing her alongside Pokémon, Mickey Mouse and Winnie-the-Pooh as history’s top-grossing franchises. Unlike others on the list, however, merchandise wasn’t a profitable extension of Hello Kitty’s on-screen popularity — it was her raison d’être from the start.

  • Johnny Decimal ☛ 22.00.0090 'Small business' update 04

    By now you shouldn't be surprised to see patterns emerging. Patterns help your brain, and patterns are surprisingly useful when you're designing a system because they reveal potential gaps.

    And you'll notice that we haven't used boring words. We started with boring words: 'office equipment' and so on. Turns out, making them less boring has a number of benefits.

  • Jason Becker ☛ First Question of AMA November

    Whatever you want! It’s true AMA, personal questions are totally fine. I plan to only not answer a question if there’s a security or legal reason I cannot answer. I find it pretty hard to believe any question that is asked in good faith would be outside the bounds of what I’d be willing to answer.

  • Leon Mika ☛ WeblogPoMo AMA #1: Work And Drink

    A new blogging challenge has shown up on the scene: WeblogPoMo, where bloggers answer questions asked to them in the style of ReddIt’s AMAs. I’m always game for a blogging challenge so I’ll throw my hat into the ring.

  • Caleb Hearth ☛ Statistics for My Blog

    The page shows a live set of statistics generated from my database and crunched for you each time you reload. This is probably overkill and could be cached better, but I do have functionality to publish posts separately from code releases by post-dating them in the frontmatter. The code to generate the stats is pretty straightforward clocking in at a total of 17 lines of Ruby thanks to endless methods and numbered block params.

  • Anne Sturdivant ☛ The process has purpose.

    I took a break and for two weeks I really didn't blog. I posted some micro blog posts, I shared photos on some.pics for WeblogPhoMo, but I didn't really blog. In fact, I even broke my 3x5.pics posting streak of putting up a new note every four days since March. I should not feel badly about this at all. When I spontaneously decided to take a break, I had just come off of posting 100 blog posts, one nearly every day for about four months, completing 100 Days to Offload on 100 Days of Blog.

    What I realized is that though I felt zero pressure to blog, I missed the process of blogging. The process of writing is therapeutic and we learn things about ourselves and the world around us. Writing opens us up to thought, perhaps a deeper chance at thought than we give ourselves the rest of the time. There is a dearth of deep thought lately. So, on this Day of the Dead, November 1st, as we face months of possible anguish following the US presidential election, I'm ready to bury myself in blogging again. Here are my plans.

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ Dear NHL, We Can’t See the Ice Through the Ads

    Fans of professional hockey in North America have noticed a serious spike in the number of advertisements during games and broadcasts. The league has long welcomed ads, but it recently adopted, as the industry might put it, “new revenue opportunities.” This includes branding player jerseys and helmets, as well as launching “digitally enhanced” and “AI-powered” dasherboards so that viewers at home see variable, geographically targeted ads instead of a standard message or logo. The recent blitz follows the league’s decision to add more on-ice ads a few years ago.

    The digital boards, new on-ice ads, and branded patches on uniforms are ugly and distracting. Combined with regular commercial breaks during and between periods and sponsored broadcasts — which include plugs for Amazon or Uber or any number of the now ubiquitous sports gambling outfits that prey on fans of the sport — the visual and mental burden of the ad bombardment is tremendous. It’s an ultrabranded aesthetic dystopia that undermines what ought to be the joy — and maddening sorrow — of watching a hockey game.

  • Science

    • Wired ☛ How a PhD Student Discovered a Lost Mayan City From Hundreds of Miles Away

      And how did Tulane University graduate student Luke Auld-Thomas find it? The answer lies in lasers. Until recently, archaeology was limited to what a researcher could observe from the ground and with their eyes. However, the technology of detecting and measuring distances with light, known as lidar, has revolutionized the field, allowing us to scan entire regions in search of archaeological sites hidden under dense vegetation or concrete.

    • Rlang ☛ Lidar

      IGN is scanning France using LIDAR. More than half the country is available for downloading currently. Let’s play with points around the Aiguille du Midi…

    • Rlang ☛ Vetiver: Monitoring Models in Production

      In those blogs, we introduced the {vetiver} package and its use as a tool for streamlined MLOps. Using the {palmerpenguins} dataset as an example, we outlined the steps of training a model using {tidymodels} then converting this into a {vetiver} model. We then demonstrated the steps of versioning our trained model and deploying it into production.

      Getting your first model into production is great! But it’s really only the beginning, as you will now have to carefully monitor it over time to ensure that it continues to perform as expected on the latest data. Thankfully, {vetiver} comes with a suite of functions for this exact purpose!

    • Rlang ☛ Delimiting the modelling background for scattered uneven occurrence data

      In species distribution modelling and ecological niche modelling (SDM & ENM), the region from where background or pseudoabsence points are picked is key to how well a model turns out. This region should include sufficient localities for the model to assess the species’ (non-)preferences, but it should also be within the species’ reach AND reasonably evenly surveyed for it. Survey bias within the background or the pseudoabsence region can seriously reduce model quality.

    • Futurism ☛ Scientist Accidentally Discovers Ancient Mayan City While Browsing Web

      As detailed in a new study published in the journal Antiquity, a team of scientists led by Tulane University PhD student Luke Auld-Thomas, made the discovery after surveying an area roughly the size of Edinburgh, Scotland's capital.

      Bafflingly, Auld-Thomas says he made the discovery "by accident" while browsing data on the [Internet].

    • ARRL ☛ The K7RA Solar Update

      Solar activity increased this week. Average daily sunspot number went from 127.7 to 197.4 and average solar flux from 170.5 to 240.2.

  • Career/Education

    • Yordi Verkroost ☛ Climbing the Mountain

      I've tried (and occasionally succeeded) to spread this workload throughout the module, adding in a mid-term assessment that contributes to the final grade. This approach splits the giant mountain into two smaller ones, spread out over time. It helps, but it’s not always possible. Sometimes, there’s no option to avoid the big mountain of grading that awaits at the end of the term.

    • Seth Godin ☛ Choose your fuel wisely

      When we pick our fuel, we pick our companions for the journey ahead.

    • Bridge Michigan ☛ Time to ban cellphones in Michigan schools? Lawmaker proposes statewide plan

      A bill introduced last month would create a statewide ban on using devices in class for all Michigan students. Rep. Mark Tisdel, a Republican from Rochester, said he wrote the proposed legislation because he believes it will improve student mental health, reduce bullying, and keep kids more focused on learning.

      “Superintendents will tell you, there is a constant battle for teachers to keep students’ attention,” he said.

    • New York Times ☛ Professors Worry Their Power Is Shrinking at Universities

      For more than a century, professors have regularly had vast influence over instruction, personnel and other hallmarks of campus life, sharing sway with presidents and trustees in decisions shaping many parts of campus life — an authority that is unfathomable in many workplaces.

      But this year has shown how fraught and fragile that practice, known as shared governance, has become at public and private universities alike.

    • Tyler Sticka ☛ If I could change one thing…

      I’ll assume time travel is my only super power, which rules out preventing some historic atrocity or improving the public’s media literacy any better than generations past. Instead, I’ll focus on something I had the power to do differently the first time around.

      I would convince myself to quit my worst job way sooner.

    • TruthOut ☛ Billionaires Who Aim to “Disrupt” Education May Get a Chance Even If Trump Loses | Truthout

      “The neoliberal project to make education a profit center has really shifted,” education author and activist Lois Weiner told Truthout, with earlier efforts focused on charter schools and standardized testing. “Now we have another wave,” she said, “and that’s ed tech.”

    • California State University Northridge ☛ True Life: I’m 27 and still in college

      Everybody’s journey is different. There is nothing bad about being a 27-year-old in college pursuing a degree. Education is not restricted by age.

    • ARRL ☛ ARRL Members Raise $47,000 STEM Education in Online Auction

      The event was held from October 18- 24, 2024. In addition to hundreds of views, the auction saw 329 individual bidders vying for equipment, vintage books, “mystery junk boxes” from the ARRL Lab, and more.

  • Hardware

    • PC World ☛ Report: Nvidia is working on Arm CPUs for Windows

      DigiTimes Asia reports that Nvidia is designing a combined CPU-GPU system-on-chip specifically for consumer PCs, which would compete head-to-head with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series. That would give manufacturers like Dell, Lenovo, Acer, and others a secondary option for Arm-based Windows machines, broadening the market to include four major players: Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and now Nvidia.

    • Task And Purpose ☛ Army developing new robotics tech job for modern battlefield

      The new military occupational specialty is still pending approval, but U.S. Army Special Operations Command is “piloting the development of a Robotics and Autonomous Systems MOS for the Army,” Lt. Col. Allie Scott, director of public affairs for USASOC, told Task & Purpose. “Once approved, the MOS will be open to any Army MOS, and eventually to non-prior service recruits, as a [robotics and autonomous systems-focused] career path.”

  • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian seniors choose flu vaccine more often than Covid

      Vaccination against two seasonal diseases - influenza and Covid - is currently active in Latvia. State-funded flu vaccines are rapidly running out, while the vaccine for Covid is available to everyone. At-risk groups - seniors and people with chronic conditions - are up to seven times more likely to get the flu vaccine than the vaccine for Covid, Latvian Television reported on October 31.

    • LRT ☛ Klaipėda woman discovers passion for Viking cooking

      “Our ancestors ate millet, which is nutritionally similar to meat. They had honey, butter, millet, nuts and cranberries, it’s like a 2,500-year-old energy bar.”

      She also got involved her eldest son and his girlfriend into her passion for Vikig-era cooking, as well as Ielyzaveta Iefremova, a Ukrainian under the family’s care.

    • Lou Plummer ☛ Please Make It Easier!

      This is an easy one. I would turn myself into a natural people person on the spot. I'd love to live in a world where relationships were easy for me. I can come across as personable and friendly, and there is a large part of me that truly is that way, but it takes so much effort. I make the effort because I enjoy the rewards and reactions I get from being that person, but my god, it takes so much energy and concentration. Left to my own devices and true nature, I'd silently do my own thing, content to be left alone most of the time.

    • Ruben Schade ☛ Figuring out water

      The scientific or medical value of this data was questionable given I immediately fell into the Hawthorne Effect. I noticed I was drinking a lot more water once I started tracking it, and more regularly. That’s probably a good thing, though a proper study would demand I drink the same amount as before as a control before tweaking it as a variable. But I didn’t want to maintain the water intake I had before, given how rubbish it made me feel.

    • Energy Mix Productions Inc ☛ Alberta Regulator Rejects Solar Project on Prime Farmland

      A regulator has denied the Westlock Solar Project, a proposed 24-megawatt installation on prime farmland in central Alberta, ruling that its negative economic and social impacts outweigh its environmental benefits.

  • Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    • The Record ☛ FBI wants more info on hackers behind Sophos exploitation after report on China’s intrusions

      The China-based experts spent years researching vulnerabilities in Sophos products and handing some of them off to the Chinese government, which subsequently used the bugs in espionage operations launched by prolific hacking groups like APT41, APT31, and Volt Typhoon.

    • 404 Media ☛ Microsoft Provided Gender Detection AI on Accident

      “My issue with this has always been that Microsoft managed to get some undeserved good press by stating that they would retire these services, citing ethical concerns,” Ada Ada Ada told me. “It's my impression that no one really took their time to make sure this harmful technology was actually retired. They did not care that it actually got taken out of commission by the time they said they would. What mattered was just that they could reap the rewards of that good press, hence only caring about new user access, not existing customer access. If it weren't for us bringing this matter to them, it would likely have been available for years.”

    • CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: Bluesky and enshittification

      But I'm not on Bluesky and I don't have any plans to join it anytime soon. I wrote about this in 2023: I will never again devote my energies to building up an audience on a platform whose management can sever my relationship to that audience at will:

      https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/06/fool-me-twice-we-dont-get-fooled-again/

      When a platform can hold the people you care about or rely upon hostage – when it can credibly threaten you with disconnection and exile – that platform can abuse you in lots of ways without losing your business. In other words, they can enshittify their service: [...]

    • New York Times ☛ Dublin Crowds Turn Up for Halloween Parade That Wasn’t

      So many people had gathered for the nonexistent spectacle that the local police announced on social media around 8 p.m., an hour after the parade was supposed to begin, that no event was planned and asked the crowds to “disperse safely.”

      It seemed like the ultimate trick. How were so many people duped into lining up for a treat they didn’t get, a parade that never was?

    • Futurism ☛ Thousands Tricked By AI Ad to Show Up For Fake Halloween Parade

      Suckers, all of you. There's no procession, no parade. That's right: you just got duped by a totally fake ad campaign, generated with AI.

      This is what happened in Dublin last night, where after waiting for at least an hour, the attendees slowly caught on that nothing was actually planned for that evening. Photos and videos shared on social media capture the total anti-climax of a scene.

    • Pivot to AI ☛ SEO spammer behind AI-faked Dublin Halloween parade talks to Wired – Pivot to AI

      Except there was no parade. The entire event was a fake created by a search engine spammer.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ AI drives a cloud resurgence, but it's costing a lot

      Even Microsoft’s disappointing Azure revenue forecasts came from not having enough infrastructure to support more business, a factor Amazon CEO Andy Jassy also mentioned — and excessive demand isn’t a bad problem to have, as problems go. But at the same time, there’s a big price: Spending to keep up with AI demand continues to be expensive, as Meta’s results also showed this week.

      Meanwhile, money keeps pouring into AI companies such as Elon Musk’s xAI and Bret Taylor’s AI agent startup Sierra Technologies as well as more industry- and task-specific startups.

    • arXiv ☛ GSM-Symbolic: Understanding the Limitations of Mathematical Reasoning in Large Language Models

      Furthermore, we investigate the fragility of mathematical reasoning in these models and demonstrate that their performance significantly deteriorates as the number of clauses in a question increases. We hypothesize that this decline is due to the fact that current LLMs are not capable of genuine logical reasoning; instead, they attempt to replicate the reasoning steps observed in their training data. When we add a single clause that appears relevant to the question, we observe significant performance drops (up to 65%) across all state-of-the-art models, even though the added clause does not contribute to the reasoning chain needed to reach the final answer. Overall, our work provides a more nuanced understanding of LLMs’ capabilities and limitations in mathematical reasoning.

    • Los Angeles Times ☛ Hiltzik: Apple ponders what AI is good for

      The Apple findings were published in October in a technical paper that has attracted widespread attention in AI labs and the lay press, not only because the results are well-documented, but also because the researchers work for the nation’s leading high-tech consumer company — and one that has just rolled out a suite of purported AI features for iPhone users.

      “The fact that Apple did this has gotten a lot of attention, but nobody should be surprised at the results,” says Gary Marcus, a critic of how AI systems have been marketed as reliably, well, “intelligent.”

    • Tedium ☛ Hear Me Out: Apple Buying Pixelmator Is Probably A Good Thing

      Apple makes a move to acquire an app so Apple-like that you might be surprised to learn it’s not first-party: Pixelmator. During an age when Adobe is laser-focused on the enterprise to its peril, this might be a good thing.

    • Task And Purpose ☛ Marines say F-35B malfunctioned, but pilot didn't need to eject

      However, the investigation also found that the F-35B pilot was dealing with several malfunctions during the flight. The pilot became disoriented while dealing with “challenging instrument and meteorological conditions” because of failures with the aircraft’s two main radios, transponder, tactical air navigation system, instrument landing system, and its $400,000 helmet. The aircraft’s state-of-the-art helmet uses six cameras to give pilots a 360-degree view, but in this case it was “not operational for at least three distinct periods.”

    • MIT Technology Review ☛ AI search could break the web

      At its best, AI search can better infer a user’s intent, amplify quality content, and synthesize information from diverse sources. But if AI search becomes our primary portal to the web, it threatens to disrupt an already precarious digital economy. Today, the production of content online depends on a fragile set of incentives tied to virtual foot traffic: ads, subscriptions, donations, sales, or brand exposure. By shielding the web behind an all-knowing chatbot, AI search could deprive creators of the visits and “eyeballs” they need to survive.

      If AI search breaks up this ecosystem, existing law is unlikely to help. Governments already believe that content is falling through cracks in the legal system, and they are learning to regulate the flow of value across the web in other ways. The AI industry should use this narrow window of opportunity to build a smarter content marketplace before governments fall back on interventions that are ineffective, benefit only a select few, or hamper the free flow of ideas across the web.

    • Wired ☛ The Guy Behind the Fake AI Halloween Parade Listing Says You’ve Got It All Wrong

      The parade never came—but the spectacle of throngs of people milling around for nothing became an event unto itself. Afterward, the incident went viral as an example of AI slop seeping into the real world.

      Since the generative AI boom began, a class of SEO entrepreneurs has started pumping out AI-generated content on websites and across social platforms, in efforts to make money off online advertising and affiliate marketing.

    • Futurism ☛ Elon Musk Rages at Self-Driving CEO Who Dared Criticize Tesla's Troubled "Full Self-Driving"

      Tesla CEO Elon Musk — not known for his thick skin — has fired back at a fellow tech executive who had the gall to criticize the automaker's self-driving technology.

      On Wednesday, Jesse Levinson, cofounder and CTO of the robotaxi company Zoox, dismissed the idea that Tesla could launch its own driverless robotaxi service next year.

    • New York Times ☛ What if Hey Hi (AI) Is Actually Good for Hollywood?

      It’s already powering remarkable visual innovations, like in the new movie “Here.” But boosters think that’s just the beginning.

  • Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)

    • OMG Ubuntu ☛ Python is Now the Most Popular Language on Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub

      Python has overtaken JavaScript as the most-used language on Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub , according to the code-hosting platform’s latest Octoverse report. The company attributes this momentum to a massive influx of “data science and machine learning on Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub ”, which has seen a 59% increase in the number of contributions to generative Hey Hi (AI) projects.

  • Security

    • Privacy/Surveillance

      • Torrent Freak ☛ Meta Denied Regulator's Request to Test Rights Manager's Effectiveness

        Prompted by concerns aired by photographers, French telecoms regulator Arcom sought to evaluate content recognition tools deployed at online content-sharing platforms. Meta's Rights Manager and Pinterest's Claim Portal were of particular interest, but both companies denied Arcom's request to measure their effectiveness. Despite the regulator's authority under law, private agreements with rightsholders took priority.

      • Nicolas Magand ☛ The joy of accidentally weird-looking websites

        In a lot of cases, the full version wasn’t really worth the call for web fonts, and I ended up embracing these simpler looks for websites. Most websites are not works of art anyway. I also realised that websites that are truly serious about typography would host their fonts on the same domain: those are not blocked by the extensions (maybe I will change that setting too). All those using Google Fonts? Sorry, not going to bother. Most of the time, the improvements in appearance were obvious, sure, but not really game-changers. Or maybe it was actually a lot better with the external fonts, but I figured it didn’t really matter to me?

      • Techdirt ☛ Court Tells Plaintiff Oft-Abused Wiretap Act Can’t Be Abused To Cover Website Interactions

        Sometime later, she decided to sue both of the hospitals whose sites she had visited, claiming that their sharing of her browsing activity with third parties was somehow the sort of eavesdropping and communications interception the state law was enacted to deter.

        The court is sympathetic. But even considering the vague language of the state law, it can’t find anything that would suggest the law was written to prevent websites from sharing user information with third parties.

        Put most simply (and ahead of another 90 pages of discussion, including some dissenting opinions), the state law was designed to combat the sort of thing people most commonly associate with wiretaps: the interception of personal communications. While “wiretap” has historically referred to telephone conversations, it is understood that it also covers personal electronic communications. However, no conversations occurred here: [...]

      • Pivot to AI ☛ Whoops! Microsoft leaves alleged AI gender detector running, years after saying they switched it off

        One of the great dreams of AI snake oil is a machine that will violate employment laws in a deniable black-box manner. Whether it works doesn’t actually matter. So AI keeps promising phrenology machines.

        Microsoft claimed its Image Analysis API could determine age, gender, and emotion. The tech was so often incorrect, as well as actively harmful, that Microsoft declared they would retire it as of June 30, 2023.

      • Scheerpost ☛ Witnesses Say the Israeli Army Is Using Facial Recognition Technology in Its Assault on North Gaza

        “They made all of the men go down into the ditch first,” al-Daour told Mondoweiss from the Remal neighborhood in Gaza City. “Then they ordered us to climb out of the ditch one by one and stood each of us in front of a camera that had been installed nearby.”

        The army made the men stand in front of the “camera” for at least three minutes per person, al-Daour said, long enough for the cameras to scan their faces and reveal personal data seemingly already stored in the Israeli military’s system. After the scans, al-Daour said the soldiers would reveal information about each individual, including their “name, age, work, family members and names, place of residence, and even their personal activities.”

      • Scoop News Group ☛ USAID updated policy to allow use of Signal, Telegram in some circumstances

        The agency would not provide specific reasoning behind the decision to permit the use of those messaging platforms — which have previously raised some concerns throughout Washington when used for official government business — and only said that it regularly updates technology policies to comply with the law and with changes in requirements and legislation. Unlike many federal agencies, USAID has missions across the world — and its employees often confront dangerous and difficult local dynamics abroad where the use of these platforms can be helpful.

      • The Record ☛ Federal agency investigating how Meta uses consumer financial data for advertising

        The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has notified Meta it may take “legal action” against the tech giant, alleging that the company improperly obtained consumers’ financial data from third parties and pumped it into its massively profitable targeted advertising business.

        News of the federal probe emerged in a Thursday filing Meta submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

      • The Hill ☛ Newt Gingrich criticizes Harris ad for encouraging 'women lying to their husbands'

        The ad from the nonprofit organization Vote Common Good, voiced by actor Julia Roberts, reminds women that voting is confidential, so they can vote however they choose, regardless of where their family stands.

  • Defence/Aggression

    • Vox ☛ A Trump 2024 election win is an extinction-level threat to democracy

      Democratic collapse nowadays isn’t a matter of abolishing elections and declaring oneself dictator, but rather stealthily hollowing out a democratic system so it’s harder and harder for the opposition to win. This strategy requires full control over the state and the bureaucracy: That means having the right staff in the right places who can use their power to erode democracy’s core functions.

      Trump and his team have plans to do just that. They have discussed everything from prosecuting local election administrators to using regulatory authority for “retribution” against corporations that cross him — all steps that would depend, crucially, on replacing nonpartisan civil servants who would resist such orders with loyalists.

    • Vox ☛ Why Americans hate each other, explained by a political scientist

      Today, Explained host Noel King spoke with Mason to understand how the American electorate got to this point and how we can get back to a more civil politics.

      Below is an excerpt of the conversation, edited for length and clarity.

    • Futurism ☛ Elon Musk’s Trump PAC Is Absolute Chaos Behind the Scenes

      As experts have suggested, inconsistent or fraudulent data is harmful to campaigns because it can project a false sense of confidence in numbers that are not real — a bad situation made all the worse by issues entirely outside the PAC's control.

    • Jacobin Magazine ☛ Trump Is Planning a Third Red Scare

      As per the document, the hoped-for goals and outcomes of this campaign are the same ones that came out of that shameful historical episode, as well as the earlier Red Scare of the 1920s, including: schools purged of both teachers and material that Trump’s people ideologically disagree with; prosecutions and imprisonment; ideologically undesirable foreigners deported or pushed to “voluntarily” leave the country; and a witch hunt that will intimidate sympathizers into cutting ties with, denouncing, and marginalizing the Left.

      Trumpworld’s plan is, in other words, an unholy cocktail of the “war on terror” of this century and the Red Scare of the last one; and it is, quite openly, one targeting the entire Left, not just antiwar campaigners.

    • The Guardian UK ☛ ‘He could go to jail’: for Donald Trump, election day is also judgment day

      If he claims victory, Trump will be the first convicted criminal to win the White House and gain access to the nuclear codes. If he falls short, the 78-year-old faces more humiliating courtroom trials and potentially even time behind bars. It would be the end of a charmed life in which he has somehow always managed to outrun the law and duck accountability.

      For Trump, Tuesday is judgment day.

    • Michigan Advance ☛ Lawsuit over Elon Musk’s $1 million giveaway back in Philadelphia court; hearing scheduled Monday

      A federal judge in Philadelphia on Friday sent a lawsuit back to state court to hear allegations that tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Donald Trump-aligned super PAC are running an illegal lottery.

      Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Angelo Foglietta scheduled a hearing in the case at 10 a.m. Monday at Philadelphia City Hall.

      Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner filed the lawsuit Monday claiming that Musk and his America PAC violated the state lottery law and consumer protection laws by giving away $1 million a day to randomly selected registered voters in Pennsylvania and other swing states who signed a petition.

    • The Barents Observer ☛ Sweden beefs up defence forces in the North

      The new Swedish Total Defence Resolution reflects an increasingly troublesome national security situation and is a milestone in the country's defence development. The document, which is the first of the kind since Sweden's entry into NATO, outlines historical military investments.

    • The Washington Post ☛ A chaotic presidential transition could embolden U.S. adversaries

      Officials said preparations at the Pentagon are focused on potential post-election threats from nations including Iran, North Korea, Russia and China, along with extremist groups. Intelligence and law enforcement officials meanwhile are girding for continued efforts by the Kremlin — already blamed for significant influence and misinformation operations in the lead-up to Tuesday’s vote — and other adversaries to stoke discord and undermine confidence in the outcome.

    • JURIST ☛ UN commission concludes Russia committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine

      The commission’s report confirmed that torture practices were widespread in all Ukrainian provinces under Russian control and in Russia’s detention facilities. The commission collected testimonies from civilians who had been detained in Ukraine and prisoners of war who had been detained in Russia. These testimonies described a “brutal admission procedure” to promote fear by exerting physical and psychological pressure in Russian detention facilities. The report also documented the use of sexual violence and electric shocks during detention as well as the practice of torture during interrogation, including severe beatings, electric shocks with water, and burns to body parts.

    • Semafor Inc ☛ Russia behind fake video of illegal voting in Georgia, US says

      A recent video falsely showing non-citizens voting illegally in Georgia is part of a broader Russian influence campaign to sow discord and doubt about the integrity of the Nov. 5 presidential election, US officials said Friday.

      Intelligence agencies warned that they expect Moscow to release more content to “undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans” in the lead up to election day, as well in the weeks and months after.

    • Nebraska Examiner ☛ Omahans are in a unique position to counter election threats

      In 2024 so far, 93 individuals have been federally charged for threatening public officials across the nation. More than one-third of the victims are either in elected office or run elections. This total number marks a 12-year-high, according to an ongoing study we are conducting at the University of Nebraska at Omaha-based National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE) and Chapman University. This sad milestone is likely to be eclipsed by the year’s end. The rising number of criminal cases appears to have no end in sight, straining law enforcement resources and keeping the fire lit on the slow burn threatening our democracy.

      Meanwhile, the Islamic State has not given up its interest in attacking the United States. In addition to the recent arrest in Oklahoma, the FBI says it is managing thousands of active investigations in all 50 states. One of its affiliates, IS-K, recently released propaganda targeting elected officials.

      Consider state actors. At a time when our national politics are increasingly polarized, hostile foreign governments are doing their best to throw gasoline on an already raging domestic fire.

    • Vox ☛ Elon Musk promises “temporary hardship” if Trump wins 2024 election | Vox

      If elected, Trump has vowed to put Musk in charge of a “government efficiency commission,” which would identify supposedly wasteful programs that should be eliminated or slashed. During a telephone town hall last Friday, Musk said his commission’s work would “necessarily involve some temporary hardship.”

      Days later, Musk suggested that this budget cutting — combined with Trump’s mass deportation plan — would cause a market-crashing economic “storm.”

    • The Washington Spectator ☛ Donald J. Ponzi | Washington Spectator

      Lying on its own, though, doesn’t make one a Ponzi fraudster. A lot of people lie, especially politicians.

      Ponzi schemes go further. The perpetrators lie to investors about financial returns and use the money they take from new investors to pay promised returns to early investors. Those getting out early win; everyone else loses because a Ponzi scheme requires more and more investors in order to keep paying returns. People fall for these schemes because they want high returns, trust the perpetrator, and believe their investment is safe—either because they think they are smart enough to know when to get out or because they believe that government and their watchdogs prevent such thievery.

    • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

      • Meduza ☛ Over 200 Russian shopping centers reportedly at risk of bankruptcy following Central Bank’s key rate hike — Meduza

      • Meduza ☛ How VKontakte’s video-sharing platform is trying to lure Russians from YouTube by stealing its content and cloning its look — Meduza

      • Meduza ☛ Dual U.S.-Russian national pleads guilty to helping Moscow acquire sensitive dual-use electronics and military-grade equipment — Meduza

      • Meduza ☛ Russia sentences former U.S. consulate worker to nearly five years in prison for ‘collaboration with foreign state’ — Meduza

      • France24 ☛ Russia targets Kyiv with mass drone attack, Ukraine says

        Several districts of Kyiv and other regions across Ukraine were struck by an hours-long heavy Russian drone attack overnight, Ukraine said, with local AFP reporters saying new explosions had been heard in the afternoon. The attacks caused "damage and casualties", Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

      • RFERL ☛ Russia Shows Off Purported U.S. National Snatched From Ukraine Spy Work

        Russian media said on November 2 that Russia removed a U.S. citizen "from territory controlled by the Ukrainian armed forces" who it alleged had been aiding Russian forces by transmitting coordinates of Ukrainian military facilities for two years.

      • RFERL ☛ White House Says New Ukraine Aid On The Way, As Kyiv Braces For Fresh Attack

        The Pentagon announced a $425 million package of fresh security assistance to Ukraine under the presidential "drawdown authority" on November 1, its 69th tranche of defense equipment since late 2021.

      • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea minister says ‘all scenarios under consideration’ for aiding Ukraine

        Seoul will be watching the level of participation by the North’s troops in Russia, says minister Cho Tae-yul.

      • New York Times ☛ Russia Showers Cash on Men Enlisting in Ukraine War, Bringing Prosperity to Some Towns

        With fewer men willing to fight, Russia is focusing on cash incentives for those who sign up, seeking to avoid an unpopular draft while still increasing the ranks of soldiers.

      • New York Times ☛ Photos of Trench Warfare in Ukraine in the Age of Drones

        At a critical battlefield in eastern Ukraine, advanced technology is shaping battles that resemble the wars of older eras. When drones are watching, assaults become violent sprints.

      • Cloudbooklet ☛ U.S. Says Russia Created Fake Georgia Voter Fraud Video

        Investigate the U.S. assertions of Russia's role in creating a Fake Georgia Voter Fraud Video.

      • Scoop News Group ☛ FBI flags false videos impersonating agency, claiming Democratic ballot fraud

        The bureau said the videos and their underlying claims were not genuine, while a disinformation researcher linked the activity to the Russian group Doppelganger.

      • Off Guardian ☛ Would you like to know what BRICS just declared?

        BRICS just wrapped up its 16th summit in Kazan. Probably you heard about this momentous event from meticulously researched independent media articles discussing how BRICS just delivered a DOUBLE DEATHBLOW to the globalists. This is very good news.

      • RFERL ☛ U.S. Slams Prison Sentence Against Ex-Consulate Worker In Vladivostok

        The United States has blasted a decision by Russian authorities to sentence a former employee of the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok to a lengthy prison term on charges Washington has called baseless.

      • RFERL ☛ Moldova Observes Day Of Silence Ahead Of Tense Presidential Runoff

        Moldova has been observing a mandated day of silence ahead of a presidential runoff vote on November 3 between pro-EU incumbent Maia Sandu and the Russia-friendly former Prosecutor-General Alexandr Stoianoglo.

      • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea, Russia reaffirm commitment to partnership accord

        SEOUL - The foreign ministers of North Korea and Russia reaffirmed their commitment to implement provisions agreed in June between the leaders of the two nations, North Korean state media KCNA reported on Saturday.

      • RFERL ☛ In Berlin, Belarusian Activist Thanks Tsikhanouskaya For Aiding Release

        Belarusian activist and journalist Andrey Hnyot -- recently freed from house arrest in Serbia -- said talks involving the offices of Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic played a vital role in securing his freedom.

      • Meduza ☛ Russian Orthodox Church head lashes out at pagan-cosplaying Natalia Poklonskaya and ‘toxic’ Halloweenie schoolchildren — Meduza

  • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

    • NBC ☛ Inside Elon Musk's high-stakes pro-Trump door-knocking effort

      In particular, they raised concerns about canvassers’ submitting an inordinate amount of suspect data. That data, some of which NBC News has reviewed, includes entries submitted far from the home or while canvassers are logged into Wi-Fi networks — telltale signs that a door was not knocked on, sources said. In addition, a video explaining how to “spoof” one’s location while submitting data drew attention in Nevada and Arizona, raising further concerns.

    • Futurism ☛ Pentagon Whistleblower Admits Photo of UFO Mothership Was Fake

      A Pentagon UFO whistleblower has admitted something that often feels unprecedented for anyone involved in the government: that he was wrong.

      In a post on X-formerly-Twitter, ex-intelligence official Luis "Lue" Elizondo owned up to sharing a photo purporting to show a UFO that he later learned was fake.

    • Meduza ☛ Journalists track down foreign assets registered to presumed relatives of ex-official who fleeced Russia’s banking industry

      Presumed relatives of a former senior official at Russia’s banking regulator own or owned millions of dollars in assets, including real estate, in the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and Latvia, according to a new investigation by journalists at Novaya Gazeta Europe.

  • Environment

    • France24 ☛ Rescuers search for survivors after deadly flash floods

      Rescuers resumed a grim search for bodies on Saturday as Spain scrambled to organise aid to stricken citizens following devastating floods that have killed more than 200 people. Hopes of finding survivors more than three days after torrents of mud-filled water submerged towns and wrecked infrastructure were slim in the European country's deadliest such disaster in decades.

    • R Scott Jones ☛ Places I’d like to travel to that I haven’t visited—yet

      A few caveats first though. These are on my list right now, but that list is generally in flux. That’s especially true for international destinations, as I just don’t have nearly as much experience with all the options. Jen has a long list of places she wants to go overseas, so I generally default to letting her choose. And we also choose trips strategically, so we will very likely take as many trips that aren’t on this list as are.

    • Slimbook ☛ Tragic floods in Valencia: Rainfall of 500l/m2

      At this time, the death toll stands at 95 people, but there are hundreds missing. Thousands of vehicles, street furniture, trees, etc., have been swept away by the current, blocking access to towns, causing roads and bridges to break.

    • Energy/Transportation

      • DeSmog ☛ Alberta Conservatives Pass Climate Denial Resolution 12 to Celebrate CO2 Pollution

      • DeSmog ☛ Alberta Premier Danielle Smith Pledges to “Triple Down” on Her Climate Denial

      • India Times ☛ Tech giants are set to spend $200 billion this year chasing AI

        The capital expenditures of the four largest internet and software companies - Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet - are set to total well over $200 billion this year, a record sum for the profligate collective. Executives from each company warned investors this week that their splurge will continue next year, or even ramp up.

        The spree underscores the extreme costs and resources consumed from the worldwide boom in AI ignited by the arrival of ChatGPT. Tech giants are racing to secure the scarce high-end chips and build the sprawling data centers the technology demands. To do so, the companies have cut deals with energy providers to power these facilities, even reviving a notorious nuclear plant.

      • Molly White ☛ Issue 69 – Nice

        With only days until the US election, things have reached a fever pitch. Even with very little time left to spend it, firms and executives in or connected to the cryptocurrency industry have been pouring even more money into races they’ve already spent over a hundred million dollars to influence.

      • Didier Stevens ☛ Quickpost: The Electric Energy Consumption Of A Wired Doorbell | Didier Stevens

        I have a classic wired doorbell at home: the 230V powered transformer produces 12V on its secondary winding. The circuit on that secondary winding powers an electromechanical doorbell via a pushbutton. The bell rings (“ding-dong”) when the button is pushed (closing the circuit).

        Since losses occur in all transformers, I wanted to know how much my doorbell transformer consumes in standby mode (doorbell not ringing). The primary winding is always energized, as the pushbutton (normal-open switch) is on the circuit of the secondary winding.

      • El País ☛ Why Trump is courting the crypto bros

        Trump has made significant efforts to engage this audience, even though a recent Federal Reserve study shows that only 7% of Americans own cryptocurrencies. He aims to reduce the Democratic Party’s advantage among three key demographics that helped Joe Biden secure the White House four years ago: voters under 30, African-American voters, and Latinos. In a tight election, every vote counts.

      • India Times ☛ AI-driven trading could blur the line between truth and lies, warns NSE MD

        During the Muhurat Trading session, a tradition held on Diwali, NSE managing director Ashish Kumar Chauhan extended warm wishes for the new year, Vikram Samvat 2081, and highlighted NSE's commitment to providing accurate and reliable information to the trading community.

        Chauhan said, "Some people leave their decisions to trade and invest on software, just like driver-less cars. This and many more dangerous uses of AI are being made. With persistent use of AI, the line between truth and lies will become blurred."

      • Futurism ☛ MrBeast Accused of Massive [Cryptocurrency] Fraud

        The Loock team is alleging, among other things, that Donaldson's public relationships with [cryptocurrency] shills can be traced to his [cryptocurrency] activity to demonstrate that he was tipped off about projects before their value ballooned. Paired with his alleged participation in scammy [cryptocurrency] projects, MrBeast is said to have made $23 million worth of digital currencies — money he doesn't need considering that he's gotten ludicrously rich from his various businesses.

      • LRT ☛ No Russian provocations expected ahead of Baltic grid synchronisation – minister

        With 100 days to go before the planned synchronisation of the Baltic power grids with continental Europe, Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys does not expect Russian provocations against Lithuania.

        He points out that Moscow is also dependent on Lithuania energetically as it is a transit country for gas and electricity going to the Russian region of Kaliningrad.

    • Wildlife/Nature

      • NYPost ☛ Peanut the Squirrel, beloved pet and internet sensation, euthanized after being seized by NY state

        Peanut the Squirrel, of internet fame, has been euthanized after the pet was seized by New York state earlier this week, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation.

      • The Straits Times ☛ TikTok bandits terrorise, transfix Pakistan riverlands

        Some parade hostages in clips for ransom or exhibit arsenals of heavy weapons in musical TikToks.

      • TMZ ☛ Peanut The Squirrel's Owner Rips New York for Seizing, Killing Social Media Star

        The owners of a pet squirrel with a massive social media following are going nuclear on government officials in New York ... accusing the state of abusing power and wasting taxpayer funds to seize and kill Peanut, all because of some anonymous claims.

      • International Business Times ☛ Misguided Priorities? NY Officials Euthanise 'Harmless' Peanut The Squirrel But Struggle To Control Violent Illegal Immigrants

        Peanut's owner, who had cared for him for seven years, expressed his sorrow: "Their lives were precious, and we refuse to accept this loss in silence." Peanut, who gained over 536,000 followers on Instagram, was adored by animal lovers online. Longo claimed he was working on legally certifying Peanut as an "education animal" before the DEC's intervention. Despite public support, the state proceeded with euthanisation, citing the potential rabies risk after a biting incident, according to People.

    • Overpopulation

      • The Guardian UK ☛ The global fertility crisis: are fewer babies a good or a bad thing? Experts are divided

        Morland believes the world is teetering on the edge of a population collapse. But to those concerned about overpopulation, increasing human consumption and climate change, pro-natalism is alarmist, nostalgic for women’s domestication, and indifferent to the effect ever-expanding humanity has wrought on the planet.

        “The World Wildlife Fund says that we’ve lost 73% of our wildlife population in the last 50 years,” says Amy Jankiewicz, chief executive of Population Matters, a campaign group in favour of sustainable human population. The plunging fertility rate, she says, is “cause for celebration”. As she points out, the current UK population is about 68.3 million and is expected to reach 78 million by 2050. “It’s not sustainable,” she says.

      • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ HKers who do not want children cite education system, politics

        Of the 2,496 valid responses PORI collected by email from October 3 to 9, 58 per cent of respondents who did not wish to have children cited the education system, while 43 per cent attributed their stance to the city’s political environment, and 43 per cent cited the city’s living space.

        Those factors ranked “much higher” than personal factors such as family and career development, PORI found.

  • Finance

    • Pro Publica ☛ Trump Media Outsourced Jobs to Mexico Despite Trump’s “America First” Push

      Former President Donald Trump’s social media company outsourced jobs to workers in Mexico even as Trump publicly railed against outsourcing on the campaign trail and threatened heavy tariffs on companies that send jobs south of the border.

      The firm’s use of workers in Mexico was confirmed by a spokesperson for Trump Media, which operates the Truth Social platform. The workers were hired through another entity to code and perform other technical duties, according to a person with knowledge of Trump Media. The reliance on foreign labor was met with outrage among the company's own staff, who accused its leadership of betraying their “America First” ideals, the person said.

    • France24 ☛ US economy 'remarkable' ahead of election, Trump's tariff proposal a 'real risk to the whole world'

      Economists say the US economy is actually in robust shape, shrugging off the last Covid pandemic cobwebs, with low unemployment and strong growth. Yet, voters are not necessarily bullish on America's economic health in the lead-up to the US presidential election. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective on the economic stakes of this unprecedented election, FRANCE 24's Erin Ogunkeye is joined by Dr. Conor O'Kane, Author, IT Specialist, Senior Lecturer in Economics at Bournemouth University.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Young Chinese are taking over their family’s factories, but not their traditional ways of doing business

      Dressed in a pristine white knit top, Robyn Qiu cut an incongruous figure in her parents’ dusty, hangar-like metal hardware factory in eastern China as she gestured excitedly while an assistant filmed her on a smartphone.

  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • New Yorker ☛ Why American Democracy Is in Danger, with Michael Beschloss

      “This is an election of a kind we have never seen before in American history,” the historian said, at The New Yorker Festival on October 26th.

    • New Yorker ☛ Liz Cheney on Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Jeff Bezos

      Once a top Republican in Congress, and now a supporter of Kamala Harris, Cheney cancelled her subscription to the Washington Post after Bezos blocked its endorsement: “It’s a disgrace.”

    • Pro Publica ☛ Nevada Says It Worked Out the Kinks in Its New Voter System in Time for The Election, but Concerns Remain

      A new centralized voter registration system in the key swing state of Nevada is getting its first real-world test in a major presidential election, after practice runs in recent months showed significant problems in transferring data accurately.

      State officials said the problems, which included assigning voters to the wrong precincts and mislabeling voters as “inactive,” have been addressed and that they expect Tuesday’s vote to go smoothly.

    • Pro Publica ☛ Election Issues 2024: Economy, Immigration, Abortion and More

      With just days to go before Election Day, political coverage is everywhere. At ProPublica, we avoid horse race reporting and focus on telling stories about deeper issues and trends affecting the country.

      Here are some stories from the last year about issues that are important to voters.

    • Pro Publica ☛ What Trump’s Record Suggests About How He’ll Fight for Working-Class Americans

      When Donald Trump was president, he repeatedly tried to raise the rent on at least 4 million of the poorest people in this country, many of them elderly or disabled. He proposed to cut the federal disability benefits of a quarter-million low-income children, on the grounds that someone else in their family was already receiving benefits. He attempted to put in place a requirement that poor parents cooperate with child support enforcement, including by having single mothers disclose their sexual histories, before they and their children could receive food assistance.

      He tried to enact a rule allowing employers to pocket workers’ tips. And he did enact a rule denying overtime pay to millions of low-wage workers if they made more than $35,568 a year.

    • New Yorker ☛ Rachel Maddow on the Fascist Threat in America, Then and Now

      The MSNBC host says that Trump’s authoritarian message is timeless. “You can sell [it] to people who are in great need of relief,” she says. “But you can also sell it to billionaires.”

    • The Washington Post ☛ Dow average gains Nvidia, loses Intel as one chipmaker replaces another

      Nvidia will replace fellow chipmaker Intel in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a swap that reflects the growing interest in artificial intelligence and its reshaping of the technology landscape.

    • CNBC ☛ Nvidia to join Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Intel

      With the addition of Nvidia, four of the six trillion-dollar tech companies are now in the index. The two not in the Dow are Alphabet and Meta.

      While Nvidia has been soaring, Intel has been slumping. Long the dominant maker of PC chips, Intel has lost market share to Advanced Micro Devices and has made very little headway in AI. Intel shares have fallen by more than half this year as the company struggles with manufacturing challenges and new competition for its central processors.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia to replace Intel in Dow Jones Industrial Average — Intel's 25-year reign has come to an end

      The move was sparked by Intel's massive stock price drop—over 30% overnight—following the disastrous financial results released last August. The company has been bleeding cash through its data center and foundry divisions, resulting in a $1.6 billion loss for the second quarter of 2024. This was soon followed by news of massive layoffs, with over 15,000 employees affected.

    • SchwarzTech ☛ SchwarzTech — News: Apple Reports Q4 Earnings

      Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2024 fourth quarter ended September 28, 2024. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $94.9 billion, up 6 percent year over year, and quarterly diluted earnings per share of $0.97. Diluted earnings per share was $1.64, up 12 percent year over year when excluding the one-time charge recognized during the fourth quarter of 2024 related to the impact of the reversal of the European General Court’s State Aid decision.

    • Air Force Times ☛ Troops in remote barracks lack free Wi-Fi. That’s about to change.

      The free Wi-Fi initiative was announced in September as part of a broader DOD initiative to improve troops’ quality of life, with the department instructing services to begin testing out ways to implement it.

    • VOA News ☛ Russia jails ex-US consular employee on security charges

      "The allegations against Mr. Shonov are entirely fictitious and without merit," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

      A court in the Primorsky region in Russia's far east confirmed in a statement on Friday that it had found Shonov guilty and had sentenced him to four years and 10 months in a penal colony.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Intel might be too big to fail — Washington policymakers are already discussing potential solutions if the chipmaker cannot recover

      It should be noted, though, that these are just precautionary discussions of backup plans in case the company folds. After all, the company had reported a strong outlook on its third quarterly earnings call for 2024.

    • Federal News Network ☛ NSA goes live with ‘Hybrid Compute Initiative’

      The NSA’s move to embrace more commercial cloud options is driven by a major increase in data, leading to a massive increase in demand for processing and analytics.

    • The Register UK ☛ If Trump wins, get your tech shopping done fast

      60% tariffs on all Chinese goods are going to slam the IT sector

    • New York Times ☛ Intel Posts $16.6 Billion Quarterly Loss, Its Biggest Ever

      Intel on Thursday posted the biggest quarterly loss in its 56-year history, as the onetime highflying chip maker struggles to turn itself around.

      The Silicon Valley company said its loss for the third quarter totaled $16.6 billion, a result of $15.9 billion in charges to reflect lowered valuations of company assets and a $2.8 billion restructuring charge associated with cutting more than 15,000 workers.

    • New York Times ☛ Nvidia Will Replace Intel in the Dow Jones Stock Index

      The chip-maker Nvidia will soon replace its rival Intel in the Dow Jones industrial average, S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Friday, reflecting Nvidia’s dominance in the world of artificial intelligence.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Federal data, security leaders release zero-trust guide ahead of White House deadline

      The 42-page Federal Zero Trust Data Security Guide, spearheaded by the Federal Chief Data Officers and Federal Chief Information Security Officers councils, zeroes in on “securing the data itself, rather than the perimeter protecting it,” part of what a Thursday press release termed “a foundational pillar of effective” zero-trust implementation.

      By Nov. 7, federal agencies must provide their updated plans for zero-trust implementation to the Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Management and Budget.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Georgia Secretary of State: Haitian immigrant voting video is likely Russian disinformation

      Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said a video posted on X and other social media sites depicting a supposed Haitian immigrant using multiple Georgia state IDs to cast ballots is “false” and “likely foreign interference.”

      “This is false, and is an example of targeted disinformation we’ve seen this election,” Raffensperger said in a statement Thursday night. “It is likely foreign interference attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”

      Raffensperger said the video was “likely the production of Russian [astroturfer] farms.” He also specifically pleaded with X owner Elon Musk to remove the video.

    • Cyble Inc ☛ The Dumbest Thing In Security: How Big Is A Decillion?

      In a year marked by unprecedented disinformation and cyberattacks, at least we can all come together and laugh at Russia’s math skills.

      A Russian court this week fined Google “two undecillion rubles,” according to the Russian news agency Tass. Entire Reddit threads were dedicated to figuring out just how big that number is. U.S. news sources reported it as anywhere from $2 decillion to $20 decillion.

      The bottom line, so to speak, is it’s many orders of magnitude greater than the entire global annual GDP. And Russia will likely never see a ruble of that money even if Google could pay.

    • India Times ☛ Elon Musk reacts to reports that he could be deported for immigration violation | World News

      Elon Musk is from South Africa and he dismissed allegations that he violated US immigration law. Even President Joe Biden spoke about the issue as he said, "That wealthiest man in the world turned out to be an illegal worker here when he was here." “He was supposed to be in school when he came on a student visa. He wasn’t in school. He was violating the law. He’s talking about all these ‘illegals’ coming our way,” Biden said.

    • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

      • Deutsche Welle ☛ Fact check: Elon Musk spreads US election lies

        Musk's role as a source of mis- and disinformation extends beyond his own posts. He frequently retweets or engages with false and misleading claims and conspiracy theories, and his engagement gives these posts an immense reach.

        Here are three examples of how Musk is spreading false claims ahead of the US election.

      • France24 ☛ Disinformation on the campaign trail threatens US election process

        Growing disinformation spouted by politicians in the run-up to the US presidential election is threatening the integrity of the election process, FRANCE 24 International Affairs Commentator Douglas Herbert said. Citing fact-checking organisation PolitiFact’s founder Bill Adair, Douglas said “emotions and feelings” have now trumped facts which are often seen as “emotionally charged”.

      • NDTV ☛ India A "Cyber Adversary", Says Trudeau Government, New Delhi Shreds Claim

        In a press conference today, the Ministry of External Affairs also said that under Trudeau's administration, senior Canadian officials have openly confessed that Canada is seeking to manipulate global opinions against India. The foreign ministry also said that like other instances, these allegations in their cyber security report are made without a shred of evidence.

      • The Washington Post ☛ Voter fraud claims surge after social media giants cut election protections

        Twitter’s Trust and Safety team added fact-checking labels to false claims about the election and blocked some of then-President Donald Trump’s posts about vote fraud from spreading. Facebook peppered election posts with links to its voter information center, which was filled with reliable information about the legitimacy of mail-in ballots and voting in general. Several weeks after the race was called, YouTube began removing videos that made claims of widespread election fraud.

        Four years later, all those platforms are in retreat.

        Under Elon Musk, Twitter — now X — eliminated most of its content moderation staff, replacing them with a crowdsourced, and flawed, fact-checking experiment. Facebook, now Meta, has scaled down its voter information center, and has decreased the visibility of posts about politics across Facebook and Instagram. And YouTube now allows claims of election fraud on the network.

      • US News And World Report ☛ Trump Is Using Election Lies to Lay the Groundwork for Challenging 2024 Results if He Loses

        At rally after rally, he urges his supporters to deliver a victory “too big to rig," telling them the only way he can lose is if Democrats cheat. He has refused to say, repeatedly, whether he will accept the results regardless of the outcome. And he's claimed cheating is already underway, citing debunked claims or outrageous theories with no basis in reality.

      • Bridge Michigan ☛ Debunking Michigan election misinformation: Late results, voting machines, more

        It can be easy to fall prey to mis- and disinformation, so we’re sharing information that can help debunk claims about Michigan before they can even be made.

        Here’s what you need to know about Michigan’s elections to make sure you don’t get caught up in lies: [...]

      • Scoop News Group ☛ FBI flags false videos impersonating agency, claiming Democratic ballot fraud

        The FBI is warning that a pair of videos circulating online that purport to be from the bureau are fake, including one making false claims about arresting groups linked to the Democratic party for ballot fraud.

        “The FBI is aware of two videos falsely claiming to be from the FBI relating to election security, one stating the FBI has apprehended linked groups committing ballot fraud and a second relating to the Second Gentleman,” the agency said in a statement Saturday.

      • The Moscow Times ☛ Russians Weary of War, Turning to TV for Distraction, Moscow Patriarch Says

        In his recently published book called “For Holy Rus,” Patriarch Kirill, considered to be a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, promised “eternal life” to Russian soldiers killed fighting on the front lines in Ukraine.

      • New York Times ☛ This Group Refuses to Stop Tracking Disinformation

        Though a larger coalition of fact checkers has disbanded, a team of students and researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle is still working to document how lies online threaten to undermine this year’s presidential race.

      • New York Times ☛ No, Vote Spikes on Election Night Do Not Indicate Voter Fraud

        The false claim, which has circulated in recent elections, is based on a misunderstanding of how votes are collected and reported.

      • The Record ☛ Russia behind election disinformation video, US intel agencies say

        That is likely a reference to a campaign waged by a Russia disinformation network that has pushed phony information tying the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris to the legal case surrounding music industry figure Sean Combs.

        The joint statement marks the second time in a week that the agencies have banded together to denounce Russian efforts to influence or undermine next week’s presidential election. They previously said Moscow was responsible for fabricating a video of a person tearing up ballots in the swing state of Pennsylvania.

      • The Washington Post ☛ Fake Russian videos push election lies on voter fraud, immigrants

        Refining its past approach toward undermining U.S. elections, Russia is trying to disrupt the current one by playing on divisive American narratives to gain traction with powerful influencers.

        On Friday, top U.S. intelligence officials said Russians were behind the latest in a slew of faked propaganda videos, this one featuring purported Haitians boasting that they were voting multiple times in Georgia. The day-old video had been pushed on X by Amy Kremer, a member of the Republican National Committee and co-founder of Women for Trump.

      • Tripwire ☛ Fraudsters Exploit US General Election Fever, FBI Warns

        According to a public service announcement published by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), scammers who have previously exploited state and local elections are targeting victims across the United States in the run-up to the general election vote on November 5, 2024.

        Using the images, names, logos and slogans of candidates, fraudsters are scamming the unwary into making bogus campaign contributions, stealing personally identifiable information, and selling merchandise that will never be delivered.

        In its advisory, the FBI detailed some of the different types of scams the fraudsters are operating: [...]

      • VOA News ☛ Ukraine doubles down on psychological campaign against North Korean troops

        As North Korean troops prepare to join Russian forces in the war on Ukraine, Kyiv is stepping up a psychological warfare campaign to target the North Korean soldiers, a high-ranking Ukraine official said.

        The effort is liable to get a boost from a team of South Korean military observers that Seoul’s defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, said this week will be going to Ukraine to watch and analyze the North Korean troops on the battlefield.

      • VOA News ☛ Russian disinformation campaign creates 'climate of chaos,' say experts

        The incident, recorded in April, is part of a wider trend of fake websites employed in a "persistent" disinformation campaign spanning two years, according to an article published on the website of the Austria-based International Press Institute and signed by it and three other European press freedom groups. These watchdogs say Russian agents are creating false news websites that mimic reputable sources and posting fake stories to those phony sites.

        "It’s really hard to see that it’s a fake website, so it really works," said Camille Magnissalis, who monitors press freedom violations for the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). "If you don’t know, you can be easily misled."

      • VOA News ☛ Moscow claims, falsely, that US media are refusing to endorse presidential candidates due to 'Russian stamp'

        Undoubtedly, Russia remains a part of the pre-election rhetoric in the United States due to its war against Ukraine and its destabilizing effect on the American allies in Europe, as well as the aid the U.S. provides to Ukraine's defense. The Kremlin also reportedly paid millions of dollars to U.S. social media influencers to push narratives aimed to sow division in the American society months ahead of the presidential elections.

      • Michigan News ☛ ‘Dark money’ fliers have landed in Grand Rapids mailboxes. Here‘s what we know.

        The mailers, numbering at least five, claim that city commission candidate AliciaMarie Belchak’s platform centers around defunding the police.

      • NPR ☛ Fake videos from Russian propagandists aim to raise tensions ahead of Election Day

        State and federal officials say the video was likely created by Russian propagandists trying to undermine confidence in the election.

        "This is obviously fake and part of a disinformation effort. Likely it is a production of Russian troll farms," Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on Thursday. On Friday, federal officials weighed in, saying they also believe the video was "manufactured" by Russian influence actors.

      • New York Times ☛ U.S. Spy Agencies Issue New Warning on Russia’s Election Misinformation Campaign

        U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia is behind two new fabricated videos that appeared on social media this week falsely claiming that Haitians illegally voted in Georgia and that Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband received a $500,000 bribe from the performer Sean Combs.

        The U.S. government issued a new warning about the fabrications on Friday, a week after blaming Russia for another video that falsely claimed that ballots in Pennsylvania were being destroyed.

      • New York Times ☛ How a Georgia Security Conference Became a Target of Election Deniers

        For conspiracy theorists who have fixated on falsehoods about widespread election fraud, though, the timing alone was enough to transform the event into something far more sinister. They spread claims that the conference was a secret meeting of top federal security experts in a bid to hack or steal this year’s presidential election — though it was neither of those things.

  • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Meduza ☛ Russia has started registering popular bloggers ahead of next year’s mandatory ‘verification’ program

      The Russian Federal State Information System’s online portal now allows bloggers with more than 10,000 subscribers to register ahead of next year’s deadline if they want to place advertisements or solicit donations. Registration is open to qualifying individuals, legal entities, sole proprietors, and foreigners. Those completing the form receive a unique identification number, which they must show in either a pinned message or their channel’s description, so federal regulators can verify that the applicant owns the channel.

    • US News And World Report ☛ Woman Strips off Clothes at Iran University in Apparent Protest, Reports Say

      But some social media users suggested the woman's action was a deliberate protest.

    • The Barents Observer ☛ A criminal case opened against a prominent Russian activist

      Natalya, who was known in the city as a journalist and a host of the art and event space Agriculture Club, was labeled as a “foreign agent” in April 2023 for what Russian authorities described as "discrediting" Russian army. According to Russian law, anyone with a "foreign agent" label is obliged, under the threat of a criminal prosecution, to mark anything they post online with a “foreign agent” disclaimer.

      Sevets-Yermolina, who is now in exile in Montenegro, refused to do it: [...]

    • VOA News ☛ Russian political prisoner dies in Belarus penal colony, rights group says

      A 22-year-old Russian man considered a political prisoner by activists has died in a penal colony in Belarus, human rights group Viasna said Friday.

      The rights group said it confirmed the death of Dmitry Shletgauer, who was recently transferred to a penal colony in Mogilev in eastern Belarus.

    • VOA News ☛ 29 Nigerian children could face death penalty for protesting cost of living

      Twenty-nine children could be facing the death penalty in Nigeria after they were arraigned Friday for participating in a protest of the country's record cost-of-living crisis. Four of them collapsed in court due to exhaustion before they could enter a plea.

    • Techdirt ☛ From ‘Social Media Better Not Touch Politics’ To ‘Social Media Must Push One Sided Nonsense’

      Remember, we had to sit through multiple hours-long hearings in which Republicans screamed at tech company CEOs about their apparent “bias” in how they ran their companies, despite no actual bias being evident. Hell, the GOP is still engaged in a lawsuit claiming that Gmail’s spam filter is illegally biased against them (it’s not) and somehow that’s election interference (it’s not).

    • Techdirt ☛ Threads Bans Anyone For Mentioning Hitler, Even To Criticize

      Quick test: should saying “Hitler, not a good guy” cause you to be banned from your social media account? Seems simple enough. But apparently not for Meta, the largest social media company on the planet.

      I’ve talked about the Masnick Impossibility Theorem and the idea that content moderation is impossible to do well at scale. Part of that explains why there will be a near constant stream of “mistakes” in content moderation. Sometimes this is because people just disagree over what is proper, and sometimes it’s just because the scale part means that mistakes will be made. Obvious, blindingly stupid responses.

    • [Old] Techdirt ☛ Masnick's Impossibility Theorem: Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible To Do Well

      And thus, throwing humility to the wind, I’d like to propose Masnick’s Impossibility Theorem, as a sort of play on Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem. Content moderation at scale is impossible to do well. More specifically, it will always end up frustrating very large segments of the population and will always fail to accurately represent the “proper” level of moderation of anyone. While I’m not going to go through the process of formalizing the theorem, a la Arrow’s, I’ll just note a few points on why the argument I’m making is inevitably true.

  • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

    • RTL ☛ 'Alarming' increase: UNESCO tracks surge in journalist killings in 2022-23

      At 162 deaths, the number of journalists killed while working leaped 38 percent, the report found, calling the the increase "alarming".

      "In 2022 and 2023, a journalist was killed every four days simply for doing their vital job to pursue truth," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement.

    • BIA Net ☛ Journalists stand trial over documentary on methamphetamine crisis in Turkey

      The trial of journalists Tunca Öğreten and Murat Baykara over a documentary they produced about the methamphetamine crisis in Turkey began today at İstanbul’s Bakırköy 13th Penal Court of First Instance, the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) reported.

      The journalists are facing charges of “encouraging drug use” and “not reporting a crime,” which carry up to 10 years and one year in prison, respectively.

    • VOA News ☛ War makes it harder to hold journalists’ killers accountable, experts say

      On a global scale, 85% of journalist killings around the world since 2006 remain unsolved, according to a report released by UNESCO on Saturday. In 2013, the United Nations declared November 2 the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

      Impunity in journalist killings has long been the norm, and active conflict exacerbates the problem, according to Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ.

  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • PCLinuxOS Magazine ☛ ICYMI: How To Tell If Someone Is Telling You The Truth

      Google employees' attempts to hide messages from investigators might backfire, according to an article at The Verge. The DOJ is trying to show that Google deliberately destroyed evidence that might have looked bad for it. Google employees liberally labeled their emails as “privileged and confidential” and spoke “off the record” over chat messages, even after being told to preserve their communications for investigators, lawyers for the Justice Department have told a Virginia court over the past couple of weeks. That strategy could backfire if the judge in Google's second antitrust trial believes the company intentionally destroyed evidence that would have looked bad for it. The judge could go as far as giving an adverse inference about Google's missing documents, which would mean assuming they would have been bad for Google's case.

    • Axios ☛ Ex-officer in fatal Breonna Taylor raid convicted

      Context: The U.S. Justice Department said Hankison and other Louisville police officers broke into Taylor's home with a falsified "no-knock" search warrant as part of a drug investigation.

      Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said the police did knock and announced their presence, though neighbors and Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said they heard no announcement or knock.
      Walker, who believed that intruders were entering the home, fired one shot from a handgun, striking one officer. The police responded by opening fire and striking Taylor multiple times.
      Taylor was alive for at least 20 minutes after police shot her but did not receive any medical attention, according to Walker and police dispatch logs.

    • RFA ☛ Tibetan activist detained for exposing illegal sand, gravel mining

      On Oct. 15, Tsogon Tsering from Tsaruma village in Kyungchu county posted a five-minute video on WeChat in which he accused Anhui Xianhe Construction Engineering Co. of causing extensive environmental damage to the Kyungchu River, including severe soil erosion and reduced water levels.

      Two days after his public appeal — a rare action in Tibet, where speaking out against authorities or state-approved projects often leads to reprisals — officials summoned Tsering, 29, and other villagers for questioning.

    • Task And Purpose ☛ South Dakota soldier gets OK for long hair to honor Native heritage

      Moses Brave Heart grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, where he says positive role models were hard to find. Now, he wants to be that role model and hopes a religious accommodation to grow his hair long in the tradition of his heritage as an Oglala Sioux will help him spread that message.

    • RTL ☛ Sexual violence, threats and spying: Al-Fayed's victims speak out

      Harrods has said that it has been contacted by more than 250 people seeking to negotiate an out-of-court settlement. London police says it has been contacted by 60 people, with accusations stretching back to 1979.

    • Freedom From Religion Foundation ☛ FFRF calls on IRS commissioner to enforce the Johnson Amendment

      The Freedom From Religion Foundation has issued a formal request to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel urging strict enforcement of the Johnson Amendment, a key legal provision that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including churches and other religious entities, from engaging in partisan political activity.

      FFRF is asking the IRS to take proactive steps to investigate and enforce compliance with the Johnson Amendment and its anti-electioneering provisions, including investigating organizations that have been reported for engaging in illegal electioneering activities and implementing real consequences to address violations. Transparency in the IRS’ enforcement actions will bolster public confidence in the organization and its commitment to upholding the law.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Native Americans, a key electorate, face hurdles to voting

      With the election days away, Native Americans, who have the lowest turnout in US elections of any demographic group, face logistical hurdles for voting. Now a key group in Arizona’s electorate wonders if they should even bother to vote.

    • Vox ☛ Trump and Project 2025 plan to turn civil rights law against the vulnerable | Vox

      Yet in reality, the two things are inseparable. Trump’s plan to turn the government into a tool of his own personal will would have extraordinary consequences for Americans’ everyday lives. It would disrupt, or potentially even devastate, core functions of government that we’ve long taken for granted.

      The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is a case in point.

    • Los Angeles Times ☛ L.A. man accused of robbery spree while wearing GPS ankle monitor

      In an attempt to track his whereabouts, Los Angeles Police Department detectives served a search warrant on the contractor that operates Warren’s GPS monitor. The company, which officials said is paid around $350,000 a month by the county to operate the GPS system, could not determine where he was at the time of the robberies or attest to the reliability of its tracking data.

  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • University of Toronto ☛ I feel that NAT is inevitable even with IPv6

      The basic problem is straightforward. Imagine that you're running a general use wired or wireless network, where people connect their devices. One day, someone shows up with a (beefy) laptop that they've got some virtual machines (or container images) with a local (IPv6) network that is 'inside' their laptop. What IPv6 network addresses do these virtual machines get when the laptop is connected to your network and how do you make this work?

  • Digital Restrictions (DRM)

    • Mike Haynes ☛ What Nintendo does

      This kind of hostile behavior is, unfortunately, what we’ve come to expect from Nintendo. Never mind the cute alarm clock or music app—they’re one of the most needlessly customer-hostile companies out there. Remember the Nintendo Creators Program? Or the strict, joy-killing guidelines they’ve slapped onto Super Smash Bros tournaments? Why do we keep cheering them on every time they release something “cute” or nostalgic?

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Apple's M4 Max is the single-core performance king in Geekbench 6 — M4 Max beats the Core Ultra 9 285K and Ryzen 9 9950X

      The M4 Max has secured the single-core crown in Geekbench 6. The chip was roughly 30% faster than last year's M3 Max in single-core performance and 27% in multi-core performance.

    • The Register UK ☛ Apple claims its maxed M4 chips 4x faster than rival AI PCs

      In its launch announcement, Apple boasted its mid-range M4 Pro system-on-a-chip (SoC) – which can be had with up to 14 CPU cores (ten performance, four efficiency), and 20 GPU cores – was "far more powerful and capable than any AI PC chip," boasting up to 2.1x the performance of Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V with its 48 TOPS NPU.

    • Reuters ☛ US FTC probing Deere over customers' 'right to repair' equipment

      The investigation, authorized on Sept. 2, 2021, focuses on repair restrictions manufacturers place on hardware or software, often referred to by regulators as impeding customers' "right to repair" the goods they purchase. The probe was made public through a filing by data analytics company Hargrove & Associates Inc, which sought to quash an FTC subpoena seeking market data submitted to it by members of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.

  Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Wired ☛ What an ‘Airbnbopoly’ Game Says About Silicon Valley’s Standoff With Lina Khan

    When Airbnb went public in December 2020, the company was valued at more than $47 billion. Hoffman sent at least a handful of other investors a board game styled after Monopoly called “Airbnopoly,” according to images of the game obtained by WIRED. A top Airbnb investor confirmed that he was one of several people who received the game from Hoffman and his venture firm Greylock Partners.

  • Trademarks

    • Right of Publicity

      • International Business Times ☛ Father Slams Character.AI After Murdered Daughter Was Unknowingly 'Resurrected' As A Chatbot

        The AI, designed to mimic Jennifer, had already engaged in dozens of conversations by the time Crecente became aware of it. The chatbot posed as a friendly, knowledgeable personality, appropriating Jennifer's image and her identity. This "digital resurrection" of his daughter left Crecente heartbroken and outraged, especially given his years of advocacy work against teenage dating violence in Jennifer's memory.

      • India Today ☛ Girl murdered in 2006 was revived as AI character, family raises objection - India Today

        The misuse of AI technology raises ethical concerns, as seen in the case where a chatbot mimicked a young woman who was murdered 18 years ago, causing distress to her family.

      • India Times ☛ AI revives murdered girl from 2006, leaving her family stunned

        AI revives murdered girl from 2006, leaving her family stunned In a startling incident, a father recently discovered that his deceased daughter was being replicated as an AI chatbot without his consent. Drew Crecente, the father of Jennifer Ann, who was tragically murdered in 2006, received a Google Alert about his daughter, which led him to a chatbot on the platform Character.ai. The chatbot not only used Jennifer Ann's name but also her yearbook photo, posing as a knowledgeable AI character.