ICT news

• US Court Orders LibGen To Pay $30 Million To Publishers, Issues Broad Injunction

  26-09-2024 23:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A New York federal court has ordered (PDF) the operators of shadow library LibGen to pay $30 million in copyright damages to publishers. The default judgment also comes with a broad injunction that affects third-party services including domain registries, browser extensions, CDN providers, IPFS gateways, advertisers, and more. These parties must restrict access to the pirate site. An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon granted
  
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• Apple Quietly Removed 60 More VPNs From Russian App Store

  26-09-2024 22:44 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple has pulled 60 VPNs from its App Store in Russia, according to research from anti-censorship org GreatFire. From a report: The iThing-maker's action comes amid a Kremlin crackdown on VPNs that has already seen a ban on privacy-related extensions to the open source Firefox browser. The software's developer, Mozilla, defied that ban and allowed the extensions back into its web store. In July, Apple removed at least one VPN from its Russian App Store. Cupertino removed at least 60 more between
  
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• Google Restricts Creation of New Accounts in Russia

  26-09-2024 22:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google has restricted the creation of new accounts for Russian users, state news agencies cited Russia's digital ministry as saying on Thursday. Reuters: Google has been under pressure in Russia for several years, particularly for not taking down content Moscow considers illegal and for blocking the YouTube channels of Russian media and public figures since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. "The ministry confirms that Google has restricted the creation of new accounts," Interfax quoted the digital m
  
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• Two Nobel Prize Winners Want To Cancel Their Own CRISPR Patents in Europe

  26-09-2024 21:22 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: In the decade-long fight to control CRISPR, the super-tool for modifying DNA, it's been common for lawyers to try to overturn patents held by competitors by pointing out errors or inconsistencies. But now, in a surprise twist, the team that earned the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing CRISPR is asking to cancel two of their own seminal patents, MIT Technology Review has learned.
  The decision could affect who gets to collect the lucrative licensing fees
  
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• Kaspersky Defends Stealth Swap of Antivirus Software on US Computers

  26-09-2024 20:44 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has defended its decision to automatically replace its antivirus software on U.S. customers' computers with UltraAV, a product from American company Pango, without explicit user consent. The forced switch, affecting nearly one million users, occurred as a result of a U.S. government ban on Kaspersky software.
  Kaspersky spokesperson Francesco Tius told TechCrunch that the company informed eligible U.S. customers via email about the migration, which began in early Sept
  
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• The End of the iPhone Upgrade?

  26-09-2024 20:05 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a New Yorker story: Ultimately, the iPhone 16 does little to meaningfully improve on the experience I had with the 12, besides, perhaps, charging with a USB-C, as my laptop does, cutting down on the number of cords I have to keep track of. Instead, the greatest leaps in Apple's hardware are largely directed at those niche users who are already invested in using tools such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality. The company has announced that, within a month or
  
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• iPhone's 80% Charge Cap Barely Boosts Battery Life, Year-Long Test Reveals

  26-09-2024 19:24 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  A year-long test of Apple's 80% charge limit feature on the iPhone 15 Pro Max has revealed only marginal benefits to battery health. MacRumors editor Juli Clover reported her device maintained 94% battery capacity after 299 charge cycles, compared to 87-90% capacity for iPhones without the limit. The opt-in setting, introduced with iPhone 15 models, aims to extend battery longevity by restricting maximum charge.
  Clover adhered strictly to the 80% limit for 12 months, noting occasional inconvenie
  
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• California's New Law Forces Digital Stores To Admit You're Just Licensing Content, Not Buying It

  26-09-2024 18:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a law (AB 2426) to combat "disappearing" purchases of digital games, movies, music, and ebooks. The legislation will force digital storefronts to tell customers they're just getting a license to use the digital media, rather than suggesting they actually own it. From a report: When the law comes into effect next year, it will ban digital storefronts from using terms like "buy" or "purchase," unless they inform customers that they're not getting unrestr
  
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• Google Maps is Cracking Down on Fake Reviews

  26-09-2024 18:05 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Google Maps is reeling in business pages engaging in fake reviews, and highlighting such activity to its users. Google will now impose restrictions against business profiles that violate the search giant's Fake Engagement policy, such as temporarily removing reviews, blocking new reviews or ratings, and displaying a warning message on profiles that have had fake reviews deleted.
  The business profile restrictions were introduced in the UK earlier this year, bu
  
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• Intel Releases Critical Microcode Fix for 13th and 14th Gen CPU Voltage Issues

  26-09-2024 17:35 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Intel has released microcode update 0x12B for its 13th and 14th generation Core processors, addressing persistent stability issues stemming from voltage irregularities. The update targets a specific clock tree circuit within the CPU's IA core that was causing elevated voltage requests during idle and light workloads.
  The company identified four key factors contributing to voltage instability: motherboards exceeding Intel's power specifications, an Enhanced Thermal Velocity Boost algorithm allowi
  
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• Tor Project Merges With Tails

  26-09-2024 16:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The Tor Project: Today the Tor Project, a global non-profit developing tools for online privacy and anonymity, and Tails, a portable operating system that uses Tor to protect users from digital surveillance, have joined forces and merged operations. Incorporating Tails into the Tor Project's structure allows for easier collaboration, better sustainability, reduced overhead, and expanded training and outreach programs to counter a larger number of digital threats. In short, coming together will s
  
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• WordPress.org Denies Service To WP Engine

  26-09-2024 16:07 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  WordPress has escalated its feud with WP Engine, a hosting provider, by blocking the latter's servers from accessing WordPress.org resources -- and therefore from potentially vital software updates. From a report: WordPress is an open source CMS which is extensible using plugins. Its home is WordPress.org, which also hosts resources such as themes and plugins for the CMS. A vast ecosystem of plugins exists from numerous suppliers, but WordPress.org is the main source. Many WordPress users rely o
  
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• DoNotPay Has To Pay $193K For Falsely Touting Untested AI Lawyer, FTC Says

  26-09-2024 15:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Among the first AI companies that the Federal Trade Commission has exposed as deceiving consumers is DoNotPay -- which initially was advertised as "the world's first robot lawyer" with the ability to "sue anyone with the click of a button." On Wednesday, the FTC announced that it took action to stop DoNotPay from making bogus claims after learning that the AI startup conducted no testing "to determine whether its AI chatbot's output was equa
  
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• Cisco Releases Security Updates for IOS and IOS XE Software

  26-09-2024 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Cisco released its September 2024 Semiannual Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication to address vulnerabilities in IOS and IOS XE. A cyber threat actor could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.  
  CISA encourages users and administrators to review the following and apply the necessary updates: September 2024 Semiannual Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication
  
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• Astronomers Discover Black Hole With Energy Jets Spanning 23 Million Light Years

  26-09-2024 12:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "The New York Times reports that astronomers have discovered a black hole spitting energy across 23 million light-years of intergalactic space (source paywalled; alternative source)," writes longtime Slashdot reader fahrbot-bot. From the report: Two jets, shooting in opposite directions, compose the biggest lightning bolt ever seen in the sky -- about 140 times as long as our own Milky Way galaxy is wide, and more than 10 times the distance from Earth to Andromeda, the nearest large spiral galax
  
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• Ancient Martian Atmosphere May Be Sequestered In Clay

  26-09-2024 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  New research suggests that Mars' missing atmosphere may have been absorbed by minerals in the planet's clays, in a process similar to geological reactions on Earth. It may explain Mars' loss of its atmosphere and potential to support life, with methane possibly still present and usable as an energy source. Longtime Slashdot reader Baron_Yam writes: Conditions on early Mars were highly likely to have had CO2 carried down into the ground by water, where reactions with rock resulted in iron oxide (
  
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• McDonald's Touchscreen Kiosks, Feared As Job Killers, Created More Jobs Instead

  26-09-2024 05:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Some McDonald's franchisees -- which own and operate 95% of McDonald's in the United States -- are now rolling out kiosks that can take cash and accept change. But even in these locations, McDonald's is reassigning cashiers to other roles, including new "guest experience lead" jobs that help customers use the kiosks and assist with any issues. "In theory, kiosks should help save on labor, but in reality, restaurants have added complexity due to mobil
  
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• Critical Unauthenticated RCE Flaw Impacts All GNU/Linux Systems

  26-09-2024 04:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  "Looks like there's a storm brewing, and it's not good news," writes ancient Slashdot reader jd. "Whether or not the bugs are classically security defects or not, this is extremely bad PR for the Linux and Open Source community. It's not clear from the article whether this affects other Open Source projects, such as FreeBSD." From a report: A critical unauthenticated Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability has been discovered, impacting all GNU/Linux systems. As per agreements with developers,
  
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• Disney Officially Launches Password-Sharing Crackdown With Paid Sharing Program

  26-09-2024 03:20 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Disney has officially launched its password and account-sharing crackdown, rolling out what it is calling its "paid sharing program" to users in the U.S. and in many regions around the world this week. The rollout follows the company sharing plans to crackdown on unauthorized usage on its streaming service earlier this year. From a report: The paid sharing program has a couple of options for users, per a blog post published Wednesday: People sharing an account with someone outside their househol
  
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• Amazon Employees Plead For Reversal of 5-Day RTO Mandate in Anonymous Survey

  26-09-2024 02:41 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Some Amazon workers are refusing to "disagree and commit," as one of the company's famed leadership principles requires of those who aren't on board with a decision. Instead, hundreds of the online retailing giant's employees are complaining that CEO Andy Jassy's five-days-per-week return-to-office mandate, announced last week, will negatively impact their lives -- and productivity at work -- and how they hope the company will reverse course.
  The feedback is
  
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• Winamp Releases Source Code, Asks For Help Modernizing the Player

  26-09-2024 02:01 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Winamp, the iconic media player from the late 1990s, has released its complete source code on GitHub, fulfilling a promise made in May. The move aims to modernize the player by inviting developers to collaborate on the project.
  The source code release includes build tools and associated libraries for the Windows app, allowing developers to provide bug fixes and new features. However, the license prohibits distribution of modified software created from this code.Read more of this story at Slashdo
  
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• As IBM Pushes For More Automation, Its AI Simply Not Up To the Job of Replacing Staff

  26-09-2024 01:21 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: IBM's plan to replace thousands of roles with AI presently looks more like outsourcing jobs to India, at the expense of organizational competency. That view of Big Blue was offered to The Register after our report on the IT giant's latest layoffs, which resonated so strongly with several IBM employees that they contacted The Register with thoughts on the job cuts. Our sources have asked not to be identified to protect their ongoing relationships with Big Blue
  
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• OpenAI To Remove Non-Profit Control and Give Sam Altman Equity

  26-09-2024 00:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  OpenAI is working on a plan to restructure its core business into a for-profit benefit corporation that will no longer be controlled by its non-profit board. "Chief executive Sam Altman will also receive equity for the first time in the for-profit company, which could be worth $150 billion after the restructuring as it also tries to remove the cap on returns for investors," reports Reuters. From the report: The OpenAI non-profit will continue to exist and own a minority stake in the for-profit c
  
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• Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Updated With Real-Time AI Video, Reminders, and QR Code Scanning

  26-09-2024 00:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced updates to the company's Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses at Meta Connect 2024 on Wednesday. [...] Meta says its smart glasses will soon have real-time AI video capabilities, meaning you can ask the Ray Ban Meta glasses questions about what you're seeing in front of you, and Meta AI will verbally answer you in real time. Currently, the Ray-Ban Meta glasses can only take a picture and describe that to you or answer
  
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