HACKERS UPDATES

  Microsoft AI boss Mustafa Suleyman incorrectly believes that the moment you publish anything on the open web, it becomes “freeware” that anyone can freely copy and use. When CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin asked him whether “AI companies have effectively stolen the world’s IP,” he said: I think that with respect to content that’s already on the open web, the social contract of that content since the ‘90s has been that it is fair use. Anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it. That has been “freeware,” if you like, that’s been the understanding. Microsoft is currently the target of multiple lawsuits alleging that it — and OpenAI — are stealing copyrighted online stories to train generative AI models, so it may not surprise you to hear a Microsoft exec defend it as perfectly legal. I just didn’t expect him to be so very publicly and obviously wrong! I am not a lawyer, but even...

  Remember Tesla Cybertruck's oversized windshield wiper? The one that appears too large to exist, at least not without malfunctioning in some way? Well, it turns out that it is. Tesla just issued a recall for over 11,000 Cybertrucks over a windshield wiper issue. The recall includes all model year 2024 Cybertruck vehicles manufactured from Nov. 13, 2023, to June 6, 2024, which is pretty much all of them given that the Cybertruck deliveries started in Nov. 2023. "On affected vehicles, the front windshield wiper motor controller may stop functioning due to electrical overstress to the gate driver component," the recall report says. "A non-functioning windshield wiper may reduce visibility in certain operating conditions, which may increase the risk of a collision." The report also said that Tesla is not aware of any collisions, injuries, or deaths relating to the issue. For Cybertruck owners...

  TeamViewer, the company that makes widely used remote access tools for companies, has confirmed an ongoing cyberattack on its corporate network.  In a statement Friday, the company attributed the compromise to government-backed hackers working for Russian intelligence, known as APT29 (and Midnight Blizzard). The Germany-based company said its investigation so far points to an initial intrusion on June 26 “tied to credentials of a standard employee account within our corporate IT environment.”  TeamViewer said that the cyberattack “was contained” to its corporate network and that the company keeps its internal network and customer systems separate. The company added that it has “no evidence that the threat actor gained access to our product environment or customer data.”  Martina Dier, a spokesperson for TeamViewer, declined to answer a series of questions from TechCrunch, including whether th...

  Temu—the Chinese shopping app that has rapidly grown so popular in the US that even Amazon is reportedly trying to copy it—is "dangerous malware" that's secretly monetizing a broad swath of unauthorized user data, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Griffin cited research and media reports exposing Temu's allegedly nefarious design, which "purposely" allows Temu to "gain unrestricted access to a user's phone operating system, including, but not limited to, a user's camera, specific location, contacts, text messages, documents, and other applications." "Temu is designed to make this expansive access undetected, even by sophisticated users," Griffin's complaint said. "Once installed, Temu can recompile itself and change properties, including overriding the data privacy settings users believe they have in place." ...

  Nobody asked for this AI search bullshit, Google. Not only are the AI generated responses demonstrably worse than normal, they’re infringing on intellectual property rights, killing traditional media, and—thanks to a new Jacobin report we now know—soaking up gobs of electricity in the process. Artificial intelligence-powered search engines are an all-around bad idea, and a stop should be put to the whole thing as quickly as humanly possible. Google’s AI Overviews feature has only been operational for two months, but it’s already done a lot of harm and will only continue to get worse. As it turns out, these AI search results require around ten times the energy to power them as a traditional Google search. According to research firm Digiconomist, adding AI-generated answers to all Google searches could approach the energy usage of the entire country of Ireland. Each search requires three watt-hours of...

  Elon Musk may have just won approval for a $56 billion pay package from his adoring supporters, but someone in Fort Lauderdale is clearly not a fan of the controversial CEO. Last week, dozens of Tesla Cybertrucks were defaced with the words “Fuck Elon” in black spray paint, according to  InsideEVs citing local news reports. Police say that 34 stainless steel trucks were tagged with the message, which was discovered on Friday. The Cybertrucks were being stored in the public parking lot, without any fencing or security, likely being held because of a previously reported problem with the windshield wiper. Tesla is also experiencing an inventory pileup as a result of cooling demand for its electric vehicles. Local news reports that the spray paint was easily removed, with a few trucks still showing some black smudges. But thanks to a few social media accounts, we can still exper...

  Catfishing is when a person uses false information and images to create a fake identity online with the intention to trick, harass, or scam another person. It is often on social media or dating apps and websites as a common tactic used to form online relationships under false pretenses, sometimes to lure people into financial scams. The person doing the pretending, or the “catfish” may also obtain intimate images from a victim and use them to extort or blackmail the person. This is known as sextortion, or they may use other personal information shared with them to commit identity theft. The term is believed to originate from the 2010 documentary “Catfish,” in which a young Nev Schulman starts an online relationship with teenager “Megan”, who turns out to be an older woman. In the final scene of the documentary, the woman’s husband shares an anecdote about how live cod used to be exported from Alaska alongside ca...