Tag Archives: author_name|Mariella Moon

The FCC will crack down on ISPs to address ‘digital discrimination’ in poorer areas

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is keeping a close eye on internet providers to make sure they provide Americans with equal access to broadband services regardless of customers' "income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion or national origin." Two years after the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law became official, the FCC has adopted a final set of relevant rules to enforce. 

The Commission will have the power to investigate possible instances of "digital discrimination" under the new rules and could penalize providers for violating them. It could, for instance, look into a company's pricing, network upgrades and maintenance procedures to decide whether a provider is keeping an affluent area well maintained while failing to provide the same level of service to a low-income area. 

As The Wall Street Journal explains, it could even hold companies like AT&T and Comcast liable even if they weren't intentionally discriminatory, as long as their actions "differentially impact consumers' access to broadband." If the FCC does receive complaints against a particular provider, though, it will take into account any technical and economic challenges it may be facing that prevents it from providing equal access to its services. 

According to The Journal, the FCC approved the new rules in a 3-2 vote. Their critics — mainly internet providers and Republican members of the Congress — argued that the decision could affect investments and that the commission is taking things too far by penalizing unintentional discrimination. But FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel found the rules to be reasonable, especially since the agency will "accept genuine reasons of technical and economic feasibility as valid reasons." 

In addition to adopting a set of rules for digital discrimination, the FCC has also updated its protections against SIM swapping and port-out scams. It will now require wireless providers to notify customers immediately when a SIM change or a port-out is requested for their account and phone number. Further, providers are required to take additional steps to protect their subscribers from the schemes. The FCC has voted to begin a formal inquiry to look into the impact of artificial intelligence on robocalls, as well. It could, after all, be used to block unwanted voice and text messages, but it could also be used to more easily defraud people through calls and texts. 

Finally, the commission is now requiring mobile providers to split phone lines from family plans for victims of domestic violence when the abuser is on the account. Providers will also have to remove records of calls and texts to domestic violence hotlines from subscribers' logs, and they're expected to support survivors who can't afford lines of their own through the FCC Lifeline program.

Update, November 16, 2023, 8:50PM ET: This story has been updated to add information about the FCC's new rules supporting domestic violence survivors. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-fcc-will-crack-down-on-isps-to-improve-connectivity-in-poorer-areas-125041256.html?src=rss

Three in ten US adults still get their news from Facebook

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Even though Facebook has been moving away from providing its users with easy access to news over the past year, it apparently still remains a go-to source for current affairs in the US. According to Pew Research, three out of ten adults in the country still regularly get their news from Facebook, which has outpaced all the other social media websites in the center's study. YouTube comes next in the list, with 26 percent of US adults getting news from the video hosting website, while Instagram takes third place with 16 percent. While apparently not as popular as the first three when it comes to news, TikTok (14 percent), X (12 percent) and Reddit (8 percent) also serve as news sources for the US populace. 

When it was reported a year ago that Meta will no longer be paying publishers to run their content on Facebook's News Tab, a spokesperson said "[m]ost people do not come to Facebook for news, and as a business it doesn't make sense to over-invest in areas that don't align with user preferences." But according to the study, 43 percent of users still get their news regularly from the platform. That is, however, admittedly smaller than the 54 percent of users who used to go to the social network to keep themselves updated and read about the latest events back in 2020. Meanwhile, 43 percent of TikTok users say they're getting news from the app now, compared to 22 percent three years ago. Out of all the social networks in the study, though, X (formerly known as Twitter) has the highest percentage of users (53 percent) who go to the website for news. 

Based on the study's responders, men mostly rely on Reddit to keep them abreast of current events, followed by Twitter and YouTube. Meanwhile, women consume news from Nextdoor the most, followed by Facebook and Instagram. In addition, most of the people who get their news from social media are Democrats or lean Democratic, though "there is no significant partisan difference among news consumers on Facebook, X or Nextdoor." Bottom line is, a lot of people still look to social media websites to read about the latest happenings and new information as they come out. These companies will have to continue keeping a close eye on the spread of misinformation on their platforms, even if they do decide not to focus on news anymore. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/three-in-ten-us-adults-still-get-their-news-from-facebook-110526907.html?src=rss

Sega faces unfair labor practice complaint for planned mass layoff of union members

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Workers at Sega of America are accusing the video game company of "bad faith bargaining with workers" for its plan to lay off dozens of temporary workers. The publisher known for franchises that include Sonic the Hedgehog and Yakuza is now facing an unfair labor practice complaint filed by the Communications Workers of America (CWA). In April, 200 people in various departments across the company overwhelmingly voted in favor of unionization and formed the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA) under the CWA. Now, Sega allegedly intends to lay off 80 of those unionized workers.

In its complaint, the CWA explained that it's been in bargaining with Sega since September. On November 6, Sega apparently presented the organization with a proposal to phase out of all its temporary employees by taking their work offshore to the company's offices in Europe and Japan by February 2024. Those temporary employees make up 40 percent of the union's bargaining unit and mostly work in quality assurance and localization, which the group describes as "critical to Sega's success."

The afternoon after their meeting, the CWA said Sega presented its proposal to the affected employees through captive audience meetings. "We believe this is a clear case of bad faith bargaining," the CWA wrote in its complaint, since Sega dealt directly with the union members and "violated status quo" by telling them they're losing their jobs. 

"Sega will not be allowed to get away with this unlawful behavior," Elise Willacker, Senior QA Tester Temp, said in a statement. "We call on the company to make all temporary employees permanent and return to the bargaining table in good faith. There is no other just alternative." As Kotaku notes, the organization's complaint is now in the hands of the National Labor Relations Board, but it may take a while to resolve and may not prevent the layoffs from taking place. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sega-faces-unfair-labor-practice-complaint-for-planned-mass-layoff-of-union-members-073046095.html?src=rss

Google is giving teens around the world access to its Bard AI chatbot

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In September, Google opened its AI-powered search experience to teens in the US, giving them access to richer results with additional information and links. Now, the company has also given teens in most countries around the world access to its Bard AI chatbot, as long as their language is set to English and they meet the minimum age needed to be able to manage their own Google account. Take note that the minimum age requirement differs across countries, but it's anywhere from 13 to 16 years old.

Google says teens can ask Bard for writing tips, such as how to write a class president speech, for suggestions on what universities to apply to, as well as for help on coming up with science fair project ideas. In other words, questions kids their age are likely to Google. The company is also adding a math learning experience, so teen users can type in a math question or upload a photo of it, and the chatbot can show them its step-by-step solution. 

Similar to when it opened Search Generative Experience (SGE) to minors, Google says it put "appropriate safeguards" in place. The company trained Bard to recognize inappropriate content for younger users, so that it wouldn't return any illegal or age-gated responses.

In addition, Bard will automatically run its double-check response feature when a teen user asks their first fact-based question, because they might not be aware of a common phenomenon called "hallucination" in LLMs. When a generative AI chatbot is hallucinating, it means it's giving nonsensical and inaccurate responses. Google says it will soon run double-check, which means returning Google results for a question, for all new Bard users in the future. For teens, it will keep recommending the use of double-check even after their first question "to help them develop information literacy and critical thinking skills."

Finally, Google has designed an onboarding process especially for younger teens, including showing them the video embedded below.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-is-giving-teens-around-the-world-access-to-its-bard-ai-chatbot-061452172.html?src=rss

SpaceX prepares for Starship’s second test flight after securing FAA clearance

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SpaceX aims to send Starship to space for its second test flight on November 17, now that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given it the clearance to do so. The company completed its next-generation spacecraft's first fully integrated launch in April, but it wasn't able to meet all its objectives, including having its upper stage fly across our planet before re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down in the ocean near Hawaii. SpaceX had to intentionally blow up the vehicle in the sky after an onboard fire had prevented its two stages from separating. 

According to federal agencies, debris from the rocket explosion was found across 385 acres of land on SpaceX's facility and at Boca Chica State Park. It caused wildfire to break out on 3.5 acres of state park land and had led to a "plume cloud of pulverized concrete that deposited material up to 6.5 miles northwest of the pad site." The FAA grounded Starship until SpaceX took dozens of corrective actions, including a vehicle redesign to prevent leaks and fires. As Space notes, the agency finished its safety review in September, but it still had to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to finish an updated environmental review of the spacecraft. 

For now, the FAA has given SpaceX the license to fly Starship for one flight. The company will open the spacecraft's two-hour launch window at 8AM EST on November 17, and if all goes well, Starship will fly across the planet and splash down off a Hawaiian coast as planned. Starship, of course, has to keep acing test flights before it can go into service. The fully reusable spacecraft represents SpaceX's future, since the company plans to use it for missions to geosynchronous orbit, the moon and Mars. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spacex-prepares-for-starships-second-test-flight-after-securing-faa-clearance-035159364.html?src=rss

Microsoft rebrands its AI-powered Bing Chat as Copilot

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Microsoft is rebranding Bing Chat and is now simply calling it "Copilot," giving its generative AI assistant a consistent identity across its products. Similarly, Bing Chat Enterprise will also just be known as Copilot, and it will be generally available starting on December 1. It will still be free for specific Microsoft 365 licenses, which will include F3 accounts for frontline workers, though the $5-a-month standalone subscription will be available that day, as well. 

Copilot is based on OpenAI's latest models, GPT-4 and DALL-E 3, and the company says it will not save prompts and responses. Microsoft will not see interactions happening within Copilot at all, and it will not use customers' chats to further train the underlying models. In addition to announcing Bing Chat's rebranding, Microsoft has also revealed at its Ignite AI event that it's giving Copilot for Microsoft 365 more personalization options. Users will be able to set their preferred formatting, style and tone, starting with Word and PowerPoint, and then later on with other apps. 

In Teams, Copilot will gain the ability to take notes throughout the meeting starting sometime next year. Users will even be able to tell the assistant specific information to include — they can, for instance, ensure that a co-worker's remarks are in the meeting notes by asking Copilot to "Quote [the co-worker's name]." They can also have Copilot assist in a meeting to provide answers on the fly when needed without enabling transcription. The assistant can even list and visualize Teams discussions in a collaborative space in Whiteboard that all participants can access. In Teams channels, users will be able to use Copilot to synthesize long posts or review key happenings throughout the day. 

In Outlook, Copilot will be able to comb through invitation details, related emails and pertinent documents to build a summary of events that users can review quickly starting in spring next year. A feature that's "coming soon" to Word will allow users to be able to easily discern the latest changes to a document simply by asking Copilot a question, such as "How do I see what has changed in this document?" And in PowerPoint, users will be able to use corporate brand assets and easily reimagine them using AI-generated visuals. These are but a few of Microsoft's announcements at Ignite, which also include its two new in-house AI chips, the Azure Maia AI Accelerator and Azure Cobalt CPU.

Update, November 15 2023, 1:20PM ET: This story originally contained references to "Copilot Pro" as the new name for Bing Chat Enterprise, but Microsoft has since let us know that it's using Copilot to refer to all its offerings.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-rebrands-its-ai-powered-bing-chat-as-copilot-160027250.html?src=rss

Netflix’s stop-motion Pokémon show arrives on December 28

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Pokémon Concierge, a stop-motion animation show from Japan's Dwarf Studio, will be available for streaming on Netflix starting on December 28. The streaming service has announced the show's arrival nine months after revealing the project, which it says is the "first-ever collaborative production between Netflix and The Pokémon Company." Pokémon Concierge has a totally different feel from the games, the anime series and the movies that came after it. There are no battles in the new show, no trainers fighting for dominance and no monsters pulling off their special moves. 

Instead, we get Pokémon chilling in pools and living their best lives as they go on a vacation. The series follows a new concierge working at the Pokémon Resort named Haru, along with her companion Psyduck, as they learn how to serve and make their Pokémon guests happy. Based on the trailer shared by Netflix, viewers will also see a number of other popular monsters, including Pikachu, Eevee and Magikarp, as they visit the resort. 

Haru will be voiced by Karen Fukuhara (The Boy and the Heron) in the English language version of the show. The Pokémon company and Netflix also signed up Mariya Takeuchi to sing a warm and relaxing theme song for the series that goes perfectly with its vibe. Takeuchi, who rose to fame in the 80's for the City Pop genre, has enjoyed renewed popularity in recent years after her song Plastic Love went viral on YouTube. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflixs-stop-motion-pokemon-show-arrives-on-december-28-100743389.html?src=rss

Google, Meta and other social media companies will be forced to defend teen addiction lawsuits

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US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has ruled that the companies that own and run the most popular social networks today will have the face lawsuits blaming them for teenagers' social media addiction. According to Bloomberg Law, that means Google, which owns YouTube, Meta which runs Facebook and Instagram, ByteDance, which owns TikTok, and Snap can't get out of hundreds of federal lawsuits filed against them over the past couple of years. 

Rogers, who'll be overseeing the cases, disagreed with the companies' argument that they're not liable for personal injury claims under the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 protects publishers from what their users post on their platforms, but the judge said the lawsuits cover more than just third-party content. Further, she said the companies had failed to explain why they shouldn't be held responsible for other complaints against them, including defective parental controls, the failure to implement effective age verification systems and adding barriers to the account deactivation process. At the same time, the just dismissed some of the complaints, such as the ones suing the companies for failing to limit certain kinds of content. 

The lawsuits in questions were filed on behalf of minors across the country. In 2022, a mother from Connecticut sued Meta and Snap, accusing them of causing an addiction in her 11-year-old daughter who took her own life. In October this year, Meta was sued by 41 states as well as the District of Columbia, accusing the company of knowing that its "addictive" features were harmful to children and teens. Companies like Meta have been facing increased scrutiny over the past couple of years after former employee Frances Haugen revealed an internal Facebook research that found Instagram to be "harmful for a sizable percentage of teens." 

Google spokesperson José Castañeda told Bloomberg Law that protecting children has always been core to the company's work. "In collaboration with child development specialists, we have built age-appropriate experiences for kids and families on YouTube, and provide parents with robust controls," he added. "The allegations in these complaints are simply not true." A TikTok spokesperson gave Reuters a similar statement and said the app has "robust safety policies and parental controls."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-meta-and-other-social-media-companies-will-be-forced-to-defend-teen-addiction-lawsuits-081727526.html?src=rss

WhatsApp chats backed up to Google Drive will soon take up storage space

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You may want to check your Google account storage situation if you back up your WhatsApp conversations to Drive on Android. In 2018, WhatsApp and Google announced that you could save your WhatsApp chat history to Drive without it counting towards your storage quota. But starting in December 2023, backing up the messaging app to Drive will count towards your Google account cloud storage space if you're WhatsApp beta user. If you don't use the app's beta version, you won't be feeling the change in policy until next year when it "gradually" makes its way to all Android devices. 

Personal Google accounts come with 15GB of free cloud storage shared across Gmail, Drive and Photos. In its announcement, Google noted that that's "three times more than most mobile platforms." Apple's iCloud, for instance, only comes with 5GB of free space. Still, it's very much possible (and maybe even easy at this point) to hit or go beyond 15GB, depending on how many pictures and files you've backed up and uploaded.

Google has linked to its storage management tools in its post to make it easier to remove large files or photos you no longer need. You can also delete items from within WhatsApp, so they'll no longer be included in your next backup. Of course, you also have the option to purchase extra storage with Google One, which will set you back at least $2 a month for 100GB. The company promises to provide eligible users with "limited, one-time Google One promotions" soon, though, so it may be best to wait for those before getting a subscription. Take note that this change will only affect you if you back up your chat history using your personal account. If you have a Workspace account through your job or another organization, you don't have to worry about WhatsApp taking up a chunk of your cloud storage space. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/whatsapp-chats-backed-up-to-google-drive-will-soon-take-up-storage-space-055300237.html?src=rss

Zelle may refund your money if you were scammed

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Zelle recently made a huge change to its policy that would give victims of certain scams the chance to get their money back. The payment processor has confirmed to Engadget that it started reimbursing customers for impostor scams, such as those perpetrated by bad actors pretending to be banks, businesses and government agencies, as of June 30 this year. Its parent company Early Warning Services, LLC, said this "goes beyond legal requirements." 

As Reuters noted when it reported Zelle's policy change, federal laws can only compel banks to reimburse customers if payments were made without their authorization, but not when they made the transfer themselves. The payment processor, which is run by seven US banks that include Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo, explained that it defines scams as instances wherein a customer made payment but didn't get what they were promised. It had anti-fraud policy from the time it was launched in 2017, but it only started returning money to customers who were scammed, possibly due to increasing scrutiny and pressure from authorities. 

"As the operator of Zelle, we continuously review and update our operating rules and technology practices to improve the consumer experience and address the dynamic nature of fraud and scams," Early Warning Services, LLC, told Engadget. "As of June 30, 2023, our bank and credit union participants must reimburse consumers for qualifying imposter scams, like when a scammer impersonates a bank to trick a consumer into sending them money with Zelle. The change ensures consistency across our network and goes beyond legal requirements.

Zelle has driven down fraud and scam rates as a result of these prevention and mitigation efforts consistently from 2022 to 2023, with increasingly more than 99.9% of Zelle transactions are without any reported fraud or scams," it added.

A series of stories published by The New York Times in 2022 put a spotlight on the growing number of scams and fraud schemes on Zelle. The publication had interviewed customers who were tricked into sending money to scammers but were denied reimbursement, because they had authorized the transactions. Senator Elizabeth Warren also conducted an investigation last year and found that "fraud and scams [jumped] more than 250 percent from over $90 million in 2020 to a pace exceeding $255 million in 2022." In November 2022, The Times reported that the seven banks that own Zelle were gearing up for a policy change that will reimburse scam victims. 

In Zelle's "Report a Scam" information page, users can submit the scammer's details, including what they were claiming to be, their name, website and their phone number. They also have to provide the payment ID for the transfer, the date it was made and a description of what the transaction was supposed to be about. Zelle said it will report the information provided to the recipient’s bank or credit union to help prevent others from falling victim to their schemes, but it's unclear how Zelle determines whether a scam refund claim is legitimate or not. 

"Zelle's platform changes are long overdue,” Senator Warren told Reuters. "The CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) is standing with consumers, and I urge the agency to keep the pressure on Zelle to protect consumers from bad actors." 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/zelle-may-refund-your-money-if-you-were-scammed-062826335.html?src=rss