Everyone hated Friend’s AI necklace, so it came back at double the price
Everyone hated Friend’s AI necklace, so it came back at double the price

The AI necklace that a chunk of New York wanted gone is back, and this time it talks. Friend, the pendant that listens to your day and pipes up with commentary, has re-launched with a speaker so it can reply out loud. It also costs twice as much. The o…

Most Smart Fitness Devices Lack Essential Data Protection, EFF Warns

Health trackers collect some of our most private information, but data security is spotty among leading smartwatches, smart rings and other devices.

FTC sues Hims & Hers for allegedly sharing patients’ medical data with advertisers Meta and Snap

The U.S. federal consumer watchdog said Hims & Hers, which prescribes for sexual wellness and mental health conditions, used website trackers to share customers’ information with advertisers.

Your next privacy breach might not leak any data at all
Your next privacy breach might not leak any data at all

For decades, protecting privacy has meant one thing: stop personal data from leaking out. Gartner thinks that idea is about to break. By 2029, most privacy incidents will come not from leaked personal data but from what AI infers about people, the rese…

xAI says the First Amendment protects the right to build ‘nudify’ tools
xAI says the First Amendment protects the right to build ‘nudify’ tools

xAI has a novel argument for why it should get to keep building tools that digitally undress people. The First Amendment. Elon Musk’s AI company, now owned by SpaceX, sued Minnesota’s attorney general on Monday, CBS News first reported. It wants a fede…

Shein’s app runs on the tricks the FTC calls ‘dark patterns.’ Now the FTC is investigating.
Shein’s app runs on the tricks the FTC calls ‘dark patterns.’ Now the FTC is investigating.

Shein wanted its Hong Kong listing to be about growth. Instead, the filing meant to sell that story revealed a US regulator is investigating the company, and Shein will not say why. The disclosure sits in the draft prospectus for Shein’s planned IPO, R…

eBay sent them a bloody pig mask. Now it owes $56m, and no NDA.
eBay sent them a bloody pig mask. Now it owes $56m, and no NDA.

The most disturbing corporate harassment campaign in recent tech history has a price. eBay and three of its former executives will pay nearly $56m to the couple they set out to destroy for writing a critical newsletter. David and Ina Steiner of Natick,…

The EU is banning nudify apps. The tools sit upstream on Hugging Face.
The EU is banning nudify apps. The tools sit upstream on Hugging Face.

Europe is close to banning apps that digitally undress people. A new report argues the ban will miss the point. The tools that do the undressing do not need to be apps at all. They are sitting on Hugging Face. The European nonprofit AI Forensics tested…

The AI that took their jobs is now renting their faces, for $15
The AI that took their jobs is now renting their faces, for $15

In China, the AI boom that put actors and models out of work has found a new use for them. It is renting their faces. A growing set of platforms now pays people $15 to $700 to license their likeness for AI-generated content, Rest of World reported. Pro…

Is it illegal to trick the US government into wiping your phone during a questionably legal search?
Is it illegal to trick the US government into wiping your phone during a questionably legal search?

A Georgia man was charged with a felony for allegedly wiping his phone while being questioned by Customs and Border Protection. Samuel Tunick had something in common with others who have had their devices searched at airports: He was an activist. Unlike others who have had their phones seized with no explanation, Tunick was told […]