Tag Archives: Internet & Networking Technology

Bluesky blames DDoS attack for server outages

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Bluesky is once again having a wobble. The platform said some of its systems are down and that it’s “investigating an incident with service in one of our reginos” (that’s Bluesky’s typo, not mine). The issue appears to have started at 1:42AM ET and was still persisting as of 11AM when this story was originally published. Since then, the site has been experiencing intermitent interuptions, including at times to its status page where users should be able to monitor outages.

At 7:47PM ET, the platform explained that it’s been attempting to mitigate “a sophisticated Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack, which intensified throughout the day.” It said the attack had caused interruptions to users’ feeds, notifications, threads and search, all of which the Engadget team experienced first-hand at various points through the day. While DDoS attacks are frequently used as virtual smokescreens for hacks, Bluesky says it has “not seen any evidence of unauthorized access to private user data.” The social media service had another brief outage earlier this month.

In a later update on April 17, Bluesky noted that the DDoS attacks are “ongoing” but that the service has been stable since about 9PM PT last night. The company also reaffirmed that it hasn’t seen any evidence of access to user data. The next update is set to arrive by end of day Friday.

Update, April 17, 12:47PM ET: This story was updated with Bluesky’s latest outage update.

Update, April 16, 8PM ET: This story was updated after publish with an of the outage from Bluesky.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-blames-ddos-attack-for-server-outages-150515882.html?src=rss

Google Search tackles sites that try to stop you from leaving when you hit the back button

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Websites that act like a super-chatty colleague who just won't shut up and let you go when a conversation should be over are among the most annoying things on the internet. Google is now doing something about that scourge.

Picture the scene: you look up something on Google Search and — instead of relying on potentially hallucinating AI Overviews — you click through to an actual website for your information. But, when you try to leave the site by hitting the back button, your browser doesn’t immediately take you back to the previous webpage. Instead, the website first displays an "oh, while you're here..." page that suggests other content in which you may be interested in checking out or just a bunch of ads. 

This shady move that some traffic-hungry websites have adopted is called "back button hijacking." No one in their right mind likes it, and nor does Google.

Under a new policy that 9to5Google spotted, Google will treat back button hijacking as an "explicit violation of the 'malicious practices' of spam policies" alongside the likes of malware. As such, it may punish websites that engage in such practices by treating them as spam and downranking them in search results.

"Back button hijacking interferes with the browser's functionality, breaks the expected user journey and results in user frustration," Chris Nelson, from the Google Search Quality team, wrote in the announcement. "People report feeling manipulated and eventually less willing to visit unfamiliar sites. As we've stated before, inserting deceptive or manipulative pages into a user's browser history has always been against our Google Search Essentials."

Google says it has seen an increase in back button hijacking and it’s great that the company is taking steps to combat it. Developers and website operators have until June 15 to make sure they aren't interfering "with a user's ability to navigate their browser history" by engaging in the practice. Google will start enforcing this policy then. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/google-search-tackles-sites-that-try-to-stop-you-from-leaving-when-you-hit-the-back-button-143302862.html?src=rss

Meta warned by dozens of organizations that facial recognition on its smart glasses would empower predators

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Dozens of civil rights organizations have written a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to warn of the dangers in bringing facial recognition technology to the company's smart glasses. More than 70 groups have banded together to form a coalition to urge Zuckerberg to abandon plans to incorporate the tech, on the grounds that it would empower stalkers, sexual predators and other bad actors.

This coalition includes organizations like the ACLU, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Fight for the Future, Access Now and many others. The letter isn't asking for safeguards. These groups want the feature to be completely eliminated, stating the idea behind facial recognition of this type is so dangerous that it “cannot be resolved through product design changes, opt-out mechanisms or incremental safeguards." This tracks, as there would be no real way for bystanders to know or consent to being identified.

"People should be able to move through their daily lives without fear that stalkers, scammers, abusers, federal agents and activists across the political spectrum are silently and invisibly verifying their identities and potentially matching their names to a wealth of readily available data about their habits, hobbies, relationships, health and behaviors," the letter states.

The organizations have urged Meta to disclose any known instances of its wearables being used for stalking, harassment or domestic violence. They also want the company to disclose past or ongoing discussions with federal law enforcement agencies, including ICE, about the use of Meta smart glasses and other wearables, according to a report by Wired.

There is certainly some cause for worry here. According to the New York Times, Meta issued an internal memo last year that suggested it could roll out this technology "during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns." That's corporate speak for "we'll do it when nobody is watching." The coalition called this "vile behavior" that looks to take advantage of "rising authoritarianism."

The technology in question is apparently called Name Tag, for obvious reasons. It uses AI to pull up information about people in a field of view to smart glasses displays. That's about as dystopian as it gets.

The company has reportedly been working on two versions of the toolset. There's one that would only identify people that are currently connected to a Meta platform and another that would identify anyone with a public account on a service like Instagram. It doesn't look like there's any way, as of yet, to use this tech to identify strangers on the street who don't have a Meta account of any kind. In other words, the company should expect a wave of cancellations if this rolls out.

In an emailed statement, a Meta spokesperson told Engadget: "Our competitors offer this type of facial recognition product, we do not. If we were to release such a feature, we would take a very thoughtful approach before rolling anything out."

Public outcry has gotten Meta to back off from facial recognition in the past. The company ended Facebook's photo-tagging system in 2021 after pushback from civil liberties groups and years of costly litigation. Meta paid out billions of dollars to settle biometric privacy lawsuits in Illinois and Texas and another $5 billion to the FTC for a separate privacy case partially tied to facial recognition software.

Update, April 13 2026, 4:45PM ET: This story was updated after publish with comment from Meta.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-warned-by-dozens-of-organizations-that-facial-recognition-on-its-smart-glasses-would-empower-predators-185000998.html?src=rss

Rockstar Games has confirmed it was hit by third-party data breach

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An experienced hacking group has claimed to have infiltrated Rockstar Games' cloud servers, while the game publisher has confirmed that there was a "third-party data breach." ShinyHunters, a hacker group that's been linked to data breaches targeting Microsoft, Google, Ticketmaster and others, posted a message on its website with a final warning to Rockstar to "pay or leak." The hack was first spotted by Hackread and the Cybersec Guru.

ShinyHunters didn't detail what Rockstar data it gained access to, only adding that the company had until April 14 to reach out or that the group would leak the compromised info that would lead to "several annoying (digital) problems." Rockstar Games confirmed the breach to Kotaku, explaining that "a limited amount of non-material company information was accessed in connection with a third-party data breach," and that the incident had "no impact on our organization or our players.”

Previously, Rockstar had to deal with a major hack that led to a leak including plenty of gameplay footage and assets for Grand Theft Auto VI in 2022. Following the hack, one of the 18-year-old members of the Lapsus$ group responsible for the leak, was sentenced to an "indefinite hospitalization." 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/rockstar-games-has-confirmed-it-was-hit-by-third-party-data-breach-175112621.html?src=rss

Google has reportedly started to add Polymarket data to News results

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Google News has begun showing Polymarket bets and odds alongside actual stories, according to a report by Futurism. These look to appear as large blocks that include links to numerous ways for people to lose their money.

Bets tend to appear in the "For you" section of Google News, which is supposed to be tailored to a person's particular interests. Futurism notes that the platform actually placed a Polymarket bet as the top news result when inquiring about the price of Bitcoin.

The publication saw links to the prediction market all over Google News, including in searches. It popped up in queries regarding the Strait of Hormuz, which presents a link that lets people bet on the number of ships that would be allowed to pass through the critical passageway. The report even indicates that users were able to set the gambling platform as a source, which directs readers to an aggregate page of other Polymarket links.

There's a caveat here. I wasn't personally able to confirm most of these results. This could indicate that Google has quietly made some changes behind the scenes following Futurism's initial report.

Complaints from users on social media indicate that Google started doing this at the tail-end of March. However, one user noted all the way back in January that Polymarket results had started showing up in the news section of a traditional Google search. I was able to replicate that one.

Polymarket links on Google News.
Lawrence Bonk/Google News

Engadget has reached out to Google to see just what's going on here and if it plans to continue displaying Polymarket bets alongside actual news stories. The company did announce a partnership with both Polymarket and Kalshi back in November. This deal indicated the two gambling platforms would feed prediction data into Google's finance platform, but didn't say anything about News.

It's pretty easy to see why Polymarket would be attractive to Google's algorithms. The platform generates huge numbers on pages that are constantly updated. This could make these algorithms think the links are leading to valuable news stories and not, you know, a place to bet on human misery.

Prediction markets like Polymarket give users the ability to place bets on real world outcomes, which includes wars and other gruesome things. This has led to numerous scandals, which include an incident in which an unknown Polymarket user made more than $400,000 after "predicting" the capture of Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro just hours before US troops invaded the country and abducted him. 

Polymarket has hosted bets on the use of nuclear weapons in current global conflicts, which is pretty dang chilling when you consider the possibility of government employees tipping the scales in their favor. President Trump did, after all, recently threaten to end an entire civilization. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-has-reportedly-started-to-add-polymarket-data-to-news-results-161708462.html?src=rss

Instagram comments can now be edited (within 15 minutes)

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Meta is giving users the ability to edit Instagram comments they leave on posts, though only within a 15 minute window after they're posted. The setup is similar to how the social app handles editing messages, an option it first added in 2024, 11 years after direct messaging was introduced to Instagram in 2013.

You're only able to edit comments you left with your own account, and the process of actually doing so is easy. Just tap on the word "Edit" under your comment to pull up a text box where you can tweak, rework or embellish what you've written, and then press the blue check mark to save it. Meta says comments can be edited as many times as you want in that 15 minute window, so if you need to make more changes, you have that option.

Comments can show up in multiple ways across Instagram — including Stories, as of 2024 — so offering a way to edit them is a welcome addition. The new option is just the latest in a series of changes Meta has introduced to the social app in the last month. Earlier in March, the company announced that it was removing end-to-end encryption from Instagram DMs. At the end of the month, Meta also began testing Instagram Plus, a subscription service that unlocks new features for the app's Stories feature.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-comments-can-now-be-edited-within-15-minutes-195000640.html?src=rss

OpenAI ‘pauses’ its Stargate UK data center plan

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OpenAI is putting the brakes on Stargate UK, according to Politico and Bloomberg. That’s the company’s AI infrastructure project with NVIDIA that’s meant to help the UK build out its sovereign computing capabilities. The company announced Stargate UK back in September, but it launched a strategic partnership with the UK government months before that. Stargate UK would enable the government to run top AI models locally from data centers inside the region, “particularly for specialist use cases where jurisdiction matters.” But now OpenAI is pausing the project due to high cost of energy and regulatory issues.

In a statement provided to Bloomberg, the company said that it still sees a “huge potential for the UK‘s AI future.” It added that “AI compute is foundational to that goal” and that it continues “to explore Stargate UK and will move forward when the right conditions such as regulation and the cost of energy enable long-term infrastructure investment.”

Upon announcing Stargate UK, OpenAI said that it would offer the same deal to other countries that want to expand their sovereign AI capabilities. It’s unclear if those plans are affected, as well, but it’s worth noting that the initiative, OpenAI for Countries, is also working with Australia, Greece, the UAE, Slovakia, Kazakhstan and other regions.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-pauses-its-stargate-uk-data-center-plan-115626978.html?src=rss

UK Meta employee reportedly downloaded 30,000 private photos from Facebook users

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A former Meta employee in the UK is under investigation after allegations that he illicitly downloaded about 30,000 private photos from Facebook. According to The Guardian, the accused developed a software program to evade Facebook's internal security systems and access users' private images. Meta uncovered the breach more than a year ago and referred the case to law enforcement, where it is now being investigated by the London Metropolitan police's cybercrime unit.

"After discovering improper access by an employee over a year ago, we immediately terminated the individual, notified users, referred the matter to law enforcement and enhanced our security measures," a representative from Meta told the publication. "We are co-operating with the ongoing investigation."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/uk-meta-employee-reportedly-downloaded-30000-private-photos-from-facebook-users-181058081.html?src=rss

An Italian court ruled Netflix has to refund its customers for price hikes dating back to 2017

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Instead of raising prices again, Netflix may have to lower its subscription costs in Italy. A court in Rome recently ruled that Netflix owed its Italian users a refund for price hikes between 2017 and January 2024 and a reduction to previous subscription costs. On top of the refunds, Netflix Italia would have to inform its affected subscribers of their right to a refund.

The lawsuit was originally filed by Movimento Consumatori, a consumer rights organization based in Rome. The group's president, Alessandro Mostaccio, said in a press release that more than 25,000 Netflix users have complained to Movimento Consumatori that they're not satisfied with the price increases over the years. According to the lawyers representing the consumers, Premium subscribers are entitled to a refund of roughly 500 euros, while Standard tier customers should get back about 250 euros.

Mostaccio also said that if Netflix doesn't immediately reduce prices and refund its customers, the consumer rights organization would pursue a class action lawsuit to recover funds. A Netflix spokesperson told Reuters that it would appeal the Italian court's ruling, adding that the company takes "consumer rights very seriously and believe our terms have always ​complied with Italian laws and practice." On the other side of the world, Netflix again raised prices for its US customers, this time across all of its subscription tiers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/an-italian-court-ruled-netflix-has-to-refund-its-customers-for-price-hikes-dating-back-to-2017-190948417.html?src=rss

Proton adds a secure video conferencing service called Meet to its toolbox

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We’ve written about the Swiss company Proton’s moves to take on Google and Microsoft with an expanding variety of privacy-focused internet services, and the company is announcing yet another new tool today. Proton Meet, as the name suggests, is a video-calling service that sounds comparable to Zoom, Microsoft Teams and, naturally, Google Meet.

As with everything Proton does, Meet is end-to-end encrypted, but the company is taking extra steps towards security and anonymity here. You don’t need a Proton account to join a Meet call, which should help service gain traction — you can use Proton and not totally throw off everyone else who’s still using other systems. Proton says that Meet can be used anonymously and no logs are kept. The company even says that a Proton account isn’t needed to host a meeting. If you visit the Proton Meet site, you can start an anonymous call with up to four participants for free.

Proton says that anyone with an account (even a free one) can start Meet call with up to 50 participants for up to one hour, but it is also offering a dedicated Meet Professional plan for $8 a month with fewer restrictions (though we don’t have the specifics yet).

Meet joins the other core Proton tools including Mail, Calendar, VPN, Drive and a password manager. Drive in particular has gotten some notable upgrades recently — it offers collaborative documents and spreadsheets, just like Google. With the addition of Meet, Proton has most of the core services that Google offers covered. There’s even a little AI bot if that’s your thing.

Proton is using this launch as an opportunity to rebrand its services, gathering them all under the new Proton Workspace (another name pulled directly from Google’s offerings). In addition to the dedicated Meet Professional plan, Proton is offering Workplace Standard for $13 per month (billed annually) or $15 a month (billed monthly). That includes the aforementioned tools and 500GB of space by default. There’s also a Premium plan ($20/month annually or $25/month billed monthly) that adds more storage, access to the Lumo chatbot, expanded Meet participant limits and a few other tidbits.

The company says it’ll continue offering its other plans, including a Mail-only option that costs $36 a year as well as other bundles for an individual, two users or a whole family. But Proton is obviously looking to expand its business client base with Meet in addition to growing its user base (currently more than 100 million). Proton says it has about 100,000 enterprise customers, and adding a tool like Meet to its portfolio should make it easier to court companies as well as individuals.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/proton-adds-a-secure-video-conferencing-service-called-meet-to-its-toolbox-121729143.html?src=rss