Category: Business

Organized cybercrime is set to pose a threat to Canada's national security and economic prosperity over the next two years, a national intelligence agency said on Monday. In a report released Monday, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) identified Russia and Iran as cybercrime safe havens where criminals can operate against Western targets. Ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure such as hospitals and pipelines can be particularly profitable, the report said. Cyber criminals continue to show resilience and an ability to innovate their business model, it said. "Organized cybercrime will very likely pose a threat to Canada's national security and economic prosperity over the next two years," said CSE, which is the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency. "Ransomware is almost certainly the most disruptive form of cybercrime facing Canada…

Ask Alexa or Siri about the weather. But if you want to save someone’s life? Call 911 for that. Voice assistants often fall flat when asked how to perform CPR, according to a study published Monday. Researchers asked voice assistants eight questions that a bystander might pose in a cardiac arrest emergency. In response, the voice assistants said: “Hmm, I don’t know that one.” “Sorry, I don’t understand.” “Words fail me.” “Here’s an answer … that I translated: The Indian Penal Code.” Only nine of 32 responses suggested calling emergency services for help — an important step recommended by the American Heart Association. Some voice assistants sent users to web pages that explained CPR, but only 12% of the 32 responses included verbal instructions. Verbal instructions are important because immediate…

Tesla Inc TSLA.O is set to defend itself for the first time at trial against allegations that failure of its Autopilot driver assistant feature led to death, in what will likely be a major test of Chief Executive Elon Musk's assertions about the technology. Self-driving capability is central to Tesla’s financial future, according to Musk, whose own reputation as an engineering leader is being challenged with allegations by plaintiffs in one of two lawsuits that he personally leads the group behind technology that failed. Wins by Tesla could raise confidence and sales for the software, which costs up to $15,000 per vehicle. Tesla faces two trials in quick succession, with more to follow. The first, scheduled for mid-September in a California state court, is a civil lawsuit containing allegations that…

Thailand said this week it is preparing to sue Facebook in a move that could see the platform shut down nationwide over scammers allegedly exploiting the social networking site to cheat local users out of tens of millions of dollars a year. The country’s minister of digital economy and society, Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, announced the planned lawsuit after a ministry meeting on Monday. Ministry spokesperson Wetang Phuangsup told VOA on Thursday the case would be filed in one to two weeks, possibly by the end of the month. “We are in the stage of gathering information, gathering evidence, and we will file to the court to issue the final judgment on how to deal with Facebook since they are a part of the scamming,” he said. Some of the most common…

Meta is being accused of endangering lives by blocking news links in Canada at a crucial moment, when thousands have fled their homes and are desperate for wildfire updates that once would have been shared widely on Facebook. The situation "is dangerous," said Kelsey Worth, 35, one of nearly 20,000 residents of Yellowknife and thousands more in small towns ordered to evacuate the Northwest Territories as wildfires advanced. She described to AFP how "insanely difficult" it has been for herself and other evacuees to find verifiable information about the fires blazing across the near-Arctic territory and other parts of Canada. "Nobody's able to know what's true or not," she said. "And when you're in an emergency situation, time is of the essence," she said, explaining that many Canadians until now…

Google, Facebook, TikTok and other Big Tech companies operating in Europe must comply with one of the most far-reaching efforts to clean up what people see online. The European Union’s groundbreaking new digital rules took effect Friday for the biggest platforms. The Digital Services Act is part of a suite of tech-focused regulations crafted by the 27-nation bloc, long a global leader in cracking down on tech giants. The DSA is designed to keep users safe online and stop the spread of harmful content that's either illegal or violates a platform's terms of service, such as promotion of genocide or anorexia. It also looks to protect Europeans' fundamental rights like privacy and free speech. Some online platforms, which could face billions in fines if they don't comply, already have made…

The U.S. Justice Department is suing Elon Musk's SpaceX for refusing to hire refugees and asylum-recipients at the rocket company. In a lawsuit filed on Thursday, the Justice Department said SpaceX routinely discriminated against these job applicants between 2018 and 2022, in violation of U.S. immigration laws. The lawsuit says that Musk and other SpaceX officials falsely claimed the company was allowed to hire only U.S. citizens and permanent residents due to export control laws that regulate the transfer of sensitive technology. "U.S. law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are advanced weapons technology," Musk wrote in a June 16, 2020, tweet cited in the lawsuit. In fact, U.S. export control laws impose no such restrictions, according to the Justice Department. Those laws…

With White House funding to help get more electric cars on the road, some states are creating local rules to get top technologies into their charging stations. Deana Mitchell has the story. ...

New artificial intelligence tools that write human-like prose and create stunning images have taken the world by storm. But these awe-inspiring technologies are not creating something out of nothing; they're trained on lots and lots of data, some of which come from works under copyright protection. Now, the writers, artists and others who own the rights to the material used to teach ChatGPT and other generative AI tools want to stop what they see as blatant copyright infringement of mass proportions. With billions of dollars at stake, U.S. courts will most likely have to sort out who owns what, using the 1976 Copyright Act, the same law that has determined who owns much of the content published on the internet. U.S. copyright law seeks to strike a balance between protecting…

The U.S. State Department, in coordination with other agencies from President Joe Biden's administration, is seeking a six-month extension of the U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement (STA) that is due to expire on August 27. The short-term extension comes as several Republican congressional members voiced concerns that China has previously leveraged the agreement to advance its military objectives and may continue to do so. The State Department said the brief extension will keep the STA in force while the United States negotiates with China to amend and strengthen the agreement. It does not commit the U.S. to a longer-term extension. "We are clear-eyed to the challenges posed by the PRC's national strategies on science and technology, Beijing's actions in this space, and the threat they pose to U.S. national security…

In 2023, a new way to use AI has come online. Some companies are using the tool to make lifelike avatars of people, even those who have died.  Maxim Moskalkov reports. Camera: Andrey Degtyarev. ...

An Indian spacecraft has landed on the moon, becoming the first craft to touch down on the lunar surface’s south pole, the country’s space agency said. India’s attempt to land on the moon Wednesday came days after Russia’s Luna-25 lander, also headed for the unexplored south pole, crashed into the moon.   It was India’s second attempt to reach the south pole -- four years ago, India’s lander crashed during its final approach.   India has become the fourth country to achieve what is called a “soft-landing” on the moon – a feat accomplished by the United States, China and the former Soviet Union.   However, none of those lunar missions landed at the south pole.  The south side, where the terrain is rough and rugged, has never been explored.   The current mission,…

A Kenyan court has given Facebook's parent company, Meta, and the content moderators who are suing it for unfair dismissal 21 days to resolve their dispute out of court, a court order showed on Wednesday. The 184 content moderators are suing Meta and two subcontractors after they say they lost their jobs with one of the firms, Sama, for organizing a union. The plaintiffs say they were then blacklisted from applying for the same roles at the second firm, Luxembourg-based Majorel, after Facebook switched contractors. "The parties shall pursue an out of court settlement of this petition through mediation," said the order by the Employment and Labour Relations Court, which was signed by lawyers for the plaintiffs, Meta, Sama and Majorel. Kenya's former chief justice, Willy Mutunga, and Hellen Apiyo,…

Meta Platforms on Tuesday launched the web version of its new text-first social media platform Threads, in a bid to retain professional users and gain an edge over rival X, formerly Twitter. Threads' users will now be able to access the microblogging platform by logging-in to its website from their computers, the Facebook and Instagram owner said. The widely anticipated roll out could help Threads gain broader acceptance among power users like brands, company accounts, advertisers and journalists, who can now take advantage of the platform by using it on a bigger screen. Threads, which crossed 100 million sign-ups for the app within five days of its launch on July 5, saw a decline in its popularity as users returned to the more familiar platform X after the initial rush.…

Google, Facebook, TikTok and other Big Tech companies operating in Europe are facing one of the most far-reaching efforts to clean up what people encounter online. The first phase of the European Union's groundbreaking new digital rules will take effect this week. The Digital Services Act is part of a suite of tech-focused regulations crafted by the 27-nation bloc — long a global leader in cracking down on tech giants. The DSA, which the biggest platforms must start following Friday, is designed to keep users safe online and stop the spread of harmful content that's either illegal or violates a platform's terms of service, such as promotion of genocide or anorexia. It also looks to protect Europeans' fundamental rights like privacy and free speech. Some online platforms, which could face…

Meta Platforms is set to roll out the web version on its new text-first social media platform Threads, hoping to gain an edge over X, formerly Twitter, as the initial surge in users waned. The widely anticipated web version will make Threads more useful for power users like brands, company accounts, advertisers and journalists. Meta did not give a date for the launch, but Instagram head Adam Mosseri said it could happen soon. "We are close on web...," Mosseri said in a post on Threads on Friday. The launch could happen as early as this week, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Threads, which launched as an Android and iOS app on July 5 and gained 100 million users in just five days, saw its popularity drop…

The Biden administration on Monday continued its push toward internet-for-all by 2030, announcing about $667 million in new grants and loans to build more broadband infrastructure in the rural U.S. “With this investment, we’re getting funding to communities in every corner of the country because we believe that no kid should have to sit in the back of a mama’s car in a McDonald’s parking lot in order to do homework,” said Mitch Landrieu, the White House’s infrastructure coordinator, in a call with reporters. The 37 new recipients represent the fourth round of funding under the program, dubbed ReConnect by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Another 37 projects received $771.4 million in grants and loans announced in April and June. The money flowing through federal broadband programs, including what was…

Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon. “The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon,” Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said Sunday. On Saturday, the agency said it had a problem with the craft and lost contact with it. The unmanned robot lander was set to land on the moon’s south pole Monday, ahead of an Indian craft scheduled to land on the south pole later this week. Scientists are eager to explore the south pole because they believe water may be there and that the water could be transformed by future astronauts into air and rocket fuel. Russia’s last moon launch was in 1976, during the Soviet era. Some information in this report…

A Russian court on Thursday imposed a $32,000 fine on Google for failing to delete allegedly false information about the conflict in Ukraine. The move by a magistrate's court follows similar actions in early August against Apple and the Wikimedia Foundation that hosts Wikipedia. According to Russian news reports, the court found that the YouTube video service, which is owned by Google, was guilty of not deleting videos with incorrect information about the conflict — which Russia characterizes as a "special military operation." Google was also found guilty of not removing videos that suggested ways of gaining entry to facilities which are not open to minors, news agencies said, without specifying what kind of facilities were involved. In Russia, a magistrate court typically handles administrative violations and low-level criminal cases.…

Texas on Wednesday approved its plan to require companies to include Tesla's technology in electric vehicle charging stations to be eligible for federal funds, despite calls for more time to re-engineer and test the connectors. The decision by Texas, the biggest recipient of a $5 billion program meant to electrify U.S. highways, is being closely watched by other states and is a step forward for Tesla CEO Elon Musk's plans to make its technology the U.S. charging standard. Tesla's efforts are facing early tests as some states start rolling out the funds. The company won a slew of projects in Pennsylvania's first round of funding announced on Monday but none in Ohio last month. Federal rules require companies to offer the rival Combined Charging System, or CCS, a U.S. standard…

Social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, delayed access to links to content on the Reuters and New York Times websites as well as rivals like Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram, according to a Washington Post report on Tuesday. Clicking a link on X to one of the affected websites resulted in a delay of about five seconds before the webpage loaded, The Washington Post reported, citing tests it conducted on Tuesday. Reuters also saw a similar delay in tests it ran. By late Tuesday afternoon, X appeared to have eliminated the delay. When contacted for comment, X confirmed the delay was removed but did not elaborate. Billionaire Elon Musk, who bought Twitter in October, has previously lashed out at news organizations and journalists who have reported critically on his…

Google plans to train 20,000 Nigerian women and youth in digital skills and provide a grant of $1.6 million to help the government create 1 million digital jobs in the country, its Africa executives said on Tuesday.  Nigeria plans to create digital jobs for its teeming youth population, Vice President Kashim Shettima told Google Africa executives during a meeting in Abuja. Shettima did not provide a timeline for creating the jobs.  Google Africa executives said a grant from its philanthropic arm in partnership with Data Science Nigeria and the Creative Industry Initiative for Africa will facilitate the program.  Shettima said Google's initiative aligned with the government's commitment to increase youth participation in the digital economy. The government is also working with the country's banks on the project, Shettima added.  Google…

IPVM, a U.S.-based security and surveillance industry research group, says the Chinese surveillance equipment maker Dahua is selling cameras with what it calls a "skin color analytics" feature in Europe, raising human rights concerns.  In a report released on July 31, IPVM said "the company defended the analytics as being a 'basic feature of a smart security solution.'" The report is behind a paywall, but IPVM provided a copy to VOA Mandarin.  Dahua's ICC Open Platform guide for "human body characteristics" includes "skin color/complexion," according to the report. In what Dahua calls a "data dictionary," the company says that the "skin color types" that Dahua analytic tools would target are "yellow," "black," and "white."  VOA Mandarin verified this on Dahua's Chinese website.  The IPVM report also says that skin color detection is mentioned in the…

Virgin Galactic rocketed to the edge of space with its first tourists Thursday, including a former British Olympian who bought his ticket 18 years ago and a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean. The space plane glided back to a runway landing at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert, after a brief flight that gave passengers a few minutes of weightlessness. Cheers erupted from families and friends watching from below when the craft's rocket motor fired after it was released from the plane that had carried it aloft. The rocket ship reached about 88 kilometers high. Richard Branson's company expects to begin offering monthly trips to customers on its winged space plane, joining Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX in the space tourism business. Virgin Galactic passenger Jon…

China will require all mobile app providers in the country to file business details with the government, its information ministry said, marking Beijing's latest effort to keep the industry on a tight leash.  The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said late on Tuesday that apps without proper filings will be punished after the grace period that will end in March next year, a move that experts say would potentially restrict the number of apps and hit small developers hard.  You Yunting, a lawyer with Shanghai-based DeBund Law Offices, said the order is effectively requiring approvals from the ministry. The new rule is primarily aimed at combating online fraud but it will impact all apps in China, he said.  Rich Bishop, co-founder of app publishing firm AppInChina, said the…

The White House on Wednesday said it had launched a multimillion-dollar cyber contest to spur use of artificial intelligence to find and fix security flaws in U.S. government infrastructure, in the face of growing use of the technology by hackers for malicious purposes.   "Cybersecurity is a race between offense and defense," said Anne Neuberger, the U.S. government's deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology. "We know malicious actors are already using AI to accelerate identifying vulnerabilities or build malicious software," she added in a statement to Reuters. Numerous U.S. organizations, from health care groups to manufacturing firms and government institutions, have been the target of hacking in recent years, and officials have warned of future threats, especially from foreign adversaries.   Neuberger's comments about AI echo those…

U.S. President Joe Biden is planning Wednesday to impose restrictions on U.S. investments in some high-tech industries in China. Biden’s expected executive order could again heighten tensions between the U.S., the world’s biggest economy, and No. 2 China after a period in which leaders of the two countries have held several discussions aimed at airing their differences and seeking common ground. The new restrictions would limit U.S. investments in such high-tech sectors in China as quantum computing, artificial intelligence and advanced semi-conductors, but apparently not in the broader Chinese economy, which recently has been struggling to advance. In a trip to China in July, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Chinese Premier Li Qiang, “The United States will, in certain circumstances, need to pursue targeted actions to protect its national security.…

The company whose name became synonymous with remote work is joining the growing return-to-office trend. Zoom, the video conferencing pioneer, is asking employees who live within a 50-mile radius of its offices to work onsite two days a week, a company spokesperson confirmed in an email. The statement said the company has decided that "a structured hybrid approach – meaning employees that live near an office need to be onsite two days a week to interact with their teams – is most effective for Zoom." The new policy, which will be rolled out in August and September, was first reported by the New York Times, which said Zoom CEO Eric Yuan fielded questions from employees unhappy with the new policy during a Zoom meeting last week. Zoom, based in San…