DHS Is Looking Into Backdoors In Smart TVs By China’s TCL

chicksdaddy shares a report from The Security Ledger: The acting head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the agency was assessing the cyber risk of smart TVs sold by the Chinese electronics giant TCL, following reports last month in The Security Ledger and elsewhere that the devices may give the company “back door” access to deployed sets, The Security…

Key People Are Leaving Facebook and Torching the Company In Departure Notes

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed News: On Wednesday, a Facebook data scientist departed the social networking company after a two-year stint, leaving a farewell note for their colleagues to ponder. As part of a team focused on “Violence and Incitement,” they had dealt with some of the worst content on Facebook, and they were proud of their work…

How Powerful Forces Collaborated to Peddle Misinformation about the Origins of the Coronavirus

There’s “an overwhelming body of evidence” for scientists’ belief that the coronavirus originated in an animal before making the leap to humans, reports the New York Times. (Alternate URL here.) They add that U.S. intelligence agencies also “have not found any proof” for a fringe theory it somehow leaked from a lab. Yet as recently as September, a Hong Kong researcher…

MSNBC: Parler Does Censor, Removes Users, and Really Hates Trolling

For seekers of a right-leaning free-speech utopia, “Parler may turn out to be, in the end, a false refuge,” warns Marc Ambinder at MSNBC: First — sorry, folks — Parler does censor. It removes users, regularly. It does not actually seem to tolerate hate speech, and because it’s a much smaller platform, it might even be more efficient in finding and…

Will Parler Spread Misinformation – or Just Segregate It Onto a Single App?

“The rising popularity of alternative social media app Parler is raising concerns over the spread of misinformation and potential for radicalizing users on a platform that’s taken a hands-off approach to regulating content,” reports The Hill’s reporter on technology policy: The app has been boosted by conservatives, surging since Election Day, as Republicans amp up allegations of anti-conservative bias from social…

Trump Eyes Digital Media Empire To Take on Fox News

Mike Allen, reporting for Axios: President Trump has told friends he wants to start a digital media company to clobber Fox News and undermine the conservative-friendly network, sources tell Axios. The state of play: Some Trump advisers think Fox News made a mistake with an early call (seconded by AP) of President-elect Biden’s win in Arizona. […] Here’s Trump’s plan, according…

Steve Bannon Caught Running a Network of Misinformation Pages On Facebook

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Steve Bannon has been outed for his involvement in running a network of misinformation pages on Facebook. Who could have possibly seen this coming. Facebook has talked a big game about monitoring election misinformation, and yet the independent activist network Avaaz said it had to alert the company to the pages before it…

A Biden Victory Positions America For a 180-Degree Turn On Climate Change

“Joe Biden, the projected winner of the U.S. presidency, will move to restore dozens of environmental safeguards President Donald Trump abolished,” reports the Washington Post, “and launch the boldest climate change plan of any president in history.” destinyland shares their report: While some of Biden’s most sweeping programs will encounter stiff resistance from Senate Republicans and conservative attorneys general, the United…

Google AI Tech Will Be Used For Virtual Border Wall, CBP Contract Shows

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Intercept: After years of backlash over controversial government work, Google technology will be used to aid the Trump administration’s efforts to fortify the U.S.-Mexico border, according to documents related to a federal contract. In August, Customs and Border Protection accepted a proposal to use Google Cloud technology to facilitate the use of artificial…

FCC Will Move To Regulate Social Media After Censorship Outcry

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: On Thursday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said that the agency will seek to regulate social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter at the behest of the Trump administration’s executive order signed earlier this year. “Members of all three branches of the federal government have expressed serious concerns about the prevailing…