Twitter Struggles To Label Misleading COVID-19 Tweets

Automated technology that Twitter began using this month to label tweets containing coronavirus misinformation is making mistakes, raising concerns about the company’s reliance on artificial intelligence to review content. From a report: On May 11, Twitter started labeling tweets that spread a conspiracy theory about 5G causing the coronavirus. Authorities believe the false theory prompted some people to set fires to…

Cell-Tower Attacks By Idiots Who Claim 5G Spreads COVID-19 Reportedly Hit US

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly issuing alerts to wireless telecom providers and law enforcement agencies about potential attacks on cell towers and telecommunications workers by 5G/coronavirus conspiracy theorists. The DHS warned that there have already been “arson and physical attacks against cell towers in several U.S. states.” The preposterous claim…

Conspiracy Theories Provoke 30 Arson Attacks and Vandalism Against UK Cellphone Towers

Conspiracy theorists have committed more than 30 acts of arson and vandalism against U.K. wireless towers and other telecom gear, reports the New York Times, citing police reports and a telecom trade group. But what’s stirring them up? For starters, over two million people watched a 5G conspiracy video on YouTube last month, the Times notes, adding that the misinformation is…

Melting Glaciers: Effects on the Environment, Humans, and Biodiversity

Recently, the temperature in the Arctic appears to have hit a new continental high, close to 70 degrees. That’s leading to continued melting of glaciers in the Arctic and around the world. But how will that impact the world’s ecosystems? Dr. David Hik is an Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science as well as […]
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An Investigation Into the Smartphone Tracking Industry

Every minute of every day, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies — largely unregulated, little scrutinized — are logging the movements of tens of millions of people with mobile phones and storing the information in gigantic data files. The Times Privacy Project obtained one such file, by far the largest and most sensitive ever to be reviewed by journalists. It…

‘The Next Nuclear Plants Will Be Small, Svelte, and Safer’

“A new generation of reactors will start producing power in the next few years,” writes Wired, addingi that “They’re comparatively tiny — and may be key to hitting our climate goals.” For the last 20 years, the future of nuclear power has stood in a high bay laboratory tucked away on the Oregon State University campus in the western part of…

The iPhone 11 Pro’s Location Data Puzzler

Brian Krebs: One of the more curious behaviors of Apple’s new iPhone 11 Pro is that it intermittently seeks the user’s location information even when all applications and system services on the phone are individually set to never request this data. Apple says this is by design, but that response seems at odds with the company’s own privacy policy. The privacy…