A U.S. investigation into ByteDance’s TikTok is really intended to smother a Chinese-owned app that’s become a sensation with Americans, founder Zhang Yiming told employees in China Tuesday. From a report: In his second missive to the troops in as many days, the billionaire entrepreneur said a government probe into the company’s 2017 purchase of Musical.ly, — TikTok’s progenitor — was…
Tag: Authority
Trump Fires TVA Chair, Cites Hiring of Foreign Workers
schwit1 writes: President Trump announced the removal of Tennessee Valley Authority’s chair James Thompson and board member Richard Howoth and called for the removal of their CEO Bill Johnson. This was in response to the company laying off employees and hiring H1-B visa holders. [TVA announced it would outsource 20% of its technology jobs to companies based in foreign countries, which…
Uber Drivers To Launch Legal Bid To Uncover App’s Algorithm
AmiMoJo shares a report from The Guardian: Minicab drivers will launch a legal bid to uncover secret computer algorithms used by Uber to manage their work in a test case that could increase transparency for millions of gig economy workers across Europe. Two UK drivers are demanding to see the huge amounts of data the ride-sharing company collects on them and…
America’s Border Patrol ‘Can Track Everyone’s Car’ By Buying License Plate-Reader Data
America’s border-protection agency “can track everyone’s cars all over the country thanks to massive troves of automated license plate scanner data, a new report reveals,” reports Ars Technica. And they didn’t need to request search warrants from the courts, the article explains, since “the agency did just what hundreds of other businesses and investigators do: straight-up purchase access to commercial databases.”
U.S….
Nishinoshima volcano belches ash and lava
A young volcanic island in the western Pacific Ocean has been going through a vigorous growth spurt since mid-June 2020. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/nishinoshima-volcano-belches-active-june-july-2020…
TikTok Pulls Out of Hong Kong
AmiMoJo quotes TechCrunch: TikTok announced that it would pull out of Hong Kong, which is facing an unprecedented wave of control from the Beijing government after the promulgation of the national security law. “In light of recent events, we’ve decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong,” said a TikTok spokesperson. The company declined further comment on the…
China Confirms Case of Bubonic Plague In Inner Mongolia
China has confirmed one case of bubonic plague in northern province Inner Mongolia, according to a statement on the local health authority’s website. From a report: The patient is now under treatment at a hospital and is in a stable condition, the Bayannur health commission said in a late Sunday night statement. It also issued a level-three alert, warning of the…
Ask Slashdot: Could We Not Use DNS For a Certificate Revocation Mechanism?
Long-time Slashdot reader dhammabum writes: As reported in the recent slashdot story, starting in September we system admins will be forced into annually updating TLS certificates because of a decision by Apple, abetted by Google and Mozilla. Supposedly this measure somewhat rectifies the current ineffective certificate revocation list system by limiting the use of compromised certificates to one year… But in…
US Senate Amends EARN IT Act — To Let States Restrict Encryption
Long-time Slashdot reader stikves reminded us that a committee in the U.S. Senate passed an amended version of the “EARN IT” act on Thursday. And this new version could do more than just end personal end-to-end encryption, warns Engadget: The other major concern opponents of the EARN IT Act raise has to do with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act,…
The US Constitution: Facts about the country’s founding document
Written over 200 years ago, the Constitution is a legal document of Articles and Amendments that form the foundation of the federal government, state authority and citizen rights. Source: https://www.livescience.com/US-Constitution.html