Category: Technology
Mr. Softee’s America
On the eve of 2026’s snowmageddon last weekend, reaction crossed every segment of society. By Saturday, churches were closing. You…
TikTok finalizes deal, creates US venture
TikTok said Thursday that it has established a new U.S. venture as part of an agreement to allow the popular social media platform to continue operating in the U.S. The deal brings to a close a lengthy saga for the app, which faced a ban if it failed to divest from its Chinese parent company…
Paris Hilton goes to Washington: Advocacy the ‘most meaningful work of my life’
Paris Hilton says her advocacy efforts at the Capitol have been the “most meaningful work” of her life, but she is remaining tight-lipped on whether she’d jump into the political ring herself. “Coming here to the Capitol, to D.C., and doing my advocacy work — it’s truly been the most meaningful work of my life….
Witness to the Great Unsettling
The poet Marianne Moore is credited with describing what poets do as “the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads in them.” Perhaps that is why it has taken a poet, Paul Kingsnorth, an Englishman who now lives in Ireland, to craft a compelling portrait not of a toad in an imaginary garden, but of the relentless march of the machine in the human world. In Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity, Kingsnorth offers a fresh take on an old question: How can we know when the technologies we have built to serve us instead end up enslaving us? Or, what happens when the toad destroys the garden?
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Starlink says it will provide service to people of Venezuela through Feb. 3
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Starlink, the company’s satellite internet provider, will provide the service free of charge to the people of Venezuela for the next month. Musk reposted a statement from Starlink’s account on the social platform X, which Musk owns, announcing the policy shift. “Starlink is providing free broadband service to the people…
Virginia’s ‘data center alley’ gives glimpse into America’s AI future
{beacon} Technology Technology The Big Story Virginia’s ‘data center alley’ gives glimpse into America’s AI future As data centers hurtle to the forefront of the national debate over AI and energy costs, northern Virginia offers a preview of the political fights that will play out in communities across the country seeking to cash in on…
FCC blacklists foreign-made drones over security, spying concerns
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned new foreign-made drones from being sold in the U.S. on Monday, citing national security concerns. In a notice, the FCC said it was adding uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and their critical components made in foreign countries to its covered list. Such a distinction bars such products from being sold…
Kids have already found a way around Australia’s new social media ban: Making faces
The liberal-dominated Australian parliament passed an amendment to its online safety legislation last year, imposing age restrictions for certain social media platforms.
As of Dec. 10, minors in the former penal colony are prohibited from using various platforms, including Facebook, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, X, and YouTube — platforms that face potential fines exceeding $32 million should they fail to prevent kids from creating new accounts or from maintaining old accounts.
Australian kids were quick, however, to find a workaround: distorting their faces to appear older.
‘They know how important it is to give kids more time to just be kids.’
Numerous minors revealed to the Telegraph that within minutes of the ban going into effect, they were able to get past their country’s new age-verification technology by frowning at the camera.
Noah Jones, a 15-year-old boy from Sydney, indicated that he used his brother’s ID card to rejoin Instagram after the app flagged him as looking too young.
Jones, whose mother supported his rebellion and characterized the law as “poor legislation,” indicated that when Snapchat similarly prompted him to verify his age, “I just looked at [the camera], frowned a little bit, and it said I was over 16.”
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP via Getty Images.
Jones suggested to the Telegraph that some teens may alternatively seek out social media platforms the Australian government can’t regulate or touch.
“Where do you think everyone’s going to?” said Jones. “Straight to worse social media platforms — they’re less regulated, and they’re more dangerous.”
Zarla Macdonald, a 14-year-old in Queensland, reportedly contemplated joining one such less-regulated app, Coverstar. However, she has so far managed to stay on TikTok and Snapchat because the age-verification software mistakenly concluded she was 20.
“You have to show your face, turn it to the side, open your mouth, like just show movement in your face,” said Macdonald. “But it doesn’t really work.”
Besides fake IDs and frowning, some teens are apparently using stock images, makeup, masks, and fake mustaches to fool the age-verification tech. Others are alternatively using VPNs and their parents’ accounts to get on social media.
The social media ban went into effect months after a government-commissioned study determined on the basis of a nationally representative survey of 2,629 kids ages 10 to 15 that:
- 71% had encountered content online associated with harm;
- 52% had been cyberbullied;
- 25% had experienced online “hate”;
- 24% had experienced online sexual harassment;
- 23% had experienced non-consensual tracking, monitoring, or harassment;
- 14% had experienced online grooming-type behavior; and
- 8% experienced image-based abuse.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement on Wednesday, “Parents, teachers, and students are backing in our social media ban for under-16s. Because they know how important it is to give kids more time to just be kids — without algorithms, endless feeds and online harm. This is about giving children a safer childhood and parents more peace of mind.”
The picture accompanying his statement featured a girl who in that moment expressed opposition to the ban.
The student in Albanese’s poorly chosen photo is hardly the only opponent to the law.
Reddit filed a lawsuit on Friday in Australia’s High Court seeking to overturn the ban. The U.S.-based company argued that the ban should be invalidated because it interfered with free political speech implied by Australia’s constitution, reported Reuters.
Australian Health Minister Mark Butler suggested Reddit was not suing to protect young Aussies’ right to political speech but rather to protect profits.
“It is action we saw time and time again by Big Tobacco against tobacco control, and we are seeing it now by some social media or Big Tech giant,” said Butler.
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Trump signs order to fight state AI laws
{beacon} Technology Technology The Big Story Trump signs order to counter state AI laws President Trump signed an executive order Thursday night to impose a national AI standard, a move that would limit states’ efforts to enact their own AI laws. © Evan Vucci, Associated Press “We have to be unified. China is unified because they have…
Breaking down the tech provisions in (and out) of the NDAA
{beacon} Technology Technology The Big Story Breaking down the tech provisions in (and out) of the NDAA Two key AI provisions were left out of the final text of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after failing to overcome Republican divisions, while a pair of measures restricting investments and contracts with China made it into the must-pass defense bill. …
