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☆ The creepy secret behind online therapy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Tanmoy Goswami | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Crisis Text Line, now in its 10th year of operations, uses artificial intelligence to respond to people experiencing emotional abuse, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. 'The vast majority of mental-health apps are exceptionally creepy'BetterHelp, a poster child of online therapy founded in 2013, calls itself "the world's largest therapy platform" and says it has over 2 million users. One of the first popular mental-health apps, PTSD Coach, was launched by the US Department of Veteran Affairs in 2011. But for mental-health companies these practices can undermine the very foundations of mental-health care: dignity, trust, and psychological safety. As Crisis Text Line wrote on its website extolling its deal with Loris: "Why sell T-shirts when you can sell what your organization does best?"

☆ US senators defend push to give Biden new tools to ban TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The White House and 26 senators support the Restrict Act that would apply to foreign technologies from China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. Critics say the bill is overbroad and hurts civil liberties of Americans including the more than 150 million U.S. TikTok users. The senators denied targeting individual users or people using a virtual private network to access TikTok. Last week, Republican Senator Rand Paul blocked a bid to fast-track a separate bill to ban TikTok introduced by Senator Josh Hawley, who said the Restrict Act "doesn’t ban TikTok. Then President Donald Trump's attempts in 2020 to ban TikTok were blocked by U.S. courts.

☆ Starbucks union is using billboards, a brass band and a butter sculpture to pressure board members from Nike, Land O'Lakes and Lego
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Starbucks union organizers are stepping up pressure on individual members of the company's board. Leaders at Nike, Lego, and Land O' Lakes were targeted using billboards, a movie trailer, a brass band, and even a butter sculpture. The push comes a week after shareholders voted in favor of an investigation into Starbucks' labor practices. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles and online, a Lego Movie-styled trailer premiered with the aim of enlisting Lego President Jorgen Vig Knudstorp to join the side of Starbucks workers. And now, those tensions are spilling over to other companies as the union targets Starbucks' board of directors.

☆ Rwanda is releasing dissident Paul Rusesabagina from prison, the government says. The hero whose story inspired 'Hotel Rwanda' saved over 1,000 people from being massacred in the 1990s.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rwanda announced Friday that it is commuting the 25-year sentence of dissident Paul Rusesabagina. Rusesabagina, whose story inspired the Hollywood movie "Hotel Rwanda," saved over 1,000 people from being killed during the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s. Paul Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana at an event in West Hollywood in 2005. The Hotel des Mille Collines, known as "Hotel Rwanda," where Rusesabagina sheltered Tutsis. Paul Rusesabagina (left) and actor Don Cheadle (right) at a 2005 press conference for "Hotel Rwanda."

[1/2] Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends an Arab summit with U.S. President Joe Biden (not seen), in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 16, 2022. If the resolution passes, the administration must submit the report within 30 days, or all security assistance to the country automatically stops. After the report is received, the act stipulates that Congress may adopt a joint resolution terminating, restricting or continuing security assistance to that country. Aides said it was too soon to assess how the resolution would be received, but they hoped it would trigger a broader conversation about human rights. Murphy, long a vocal critic of the conflict in Yemen and Riyadh's record on human rights, praised Biden for being willing to reassess ties.

WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - Forty of the 100 U.S. senators co-sponsored a resolution on Wednesday urging a strong U.S. government response to any Chinese efforts to clamp down on dissent in Hong Kong, including the use of sanctions and other tools. The resolution is non-binding, but is intended to convey a strong sense that lawmakers are closely watching events in China and will respond. China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 outlawing acts including subversion with up to life in prison. The law has been criticized by some Western governments as a tool to crush dissent, but the Chinese and Hong Kong governments say it has restored stability to the city after protracted pro-democracy protests in 2019. Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ US Senators Menendez, Warren urge regulators to support new gun sale code
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Ross Kerber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Senators Bob Menendez and Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday called on federal regulators to issue guidance to speed the adoption of a new merchant category code (MCC) by payment networks to identify firearms sellers. The Republicans say the codes could be used to improperly track gun purchases. The letter noted reports that mass shooters had used credit or debit cards to buy the guns and ammunition they used. There are more than 40,000 U.S. gun deaths per year, and regulations around guns are again emerging as a major political issue. On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order that reinforced background checks for gun buyers.

March 14 (Reuters) - U.S. senators reintroduced a bipartisan bill on Tuesday that would allow nationwide sales of gasoline with a higher blend of ethanol year-round, as a second heavy-weight oil trade group appeared ready to back the idea. Year-round sales of E15 have been long sought by the biofuel industry and corn farmers, who would benefit from the increased market. The American Petroleum Institute (API), one of the largest U.S. oil trade groups, has supported the bill since it was introduced last autumn. On Tuesday, another top U.S. oil group, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), signaled it could support a national standard. In response to their request, the EPA in early March proposed to allow year-round E15 sales in those states.

☆ Kroger's new payroll system resulted in workers receiving less pay than owed or no paycheck at all according to 4 lawsuits filed agains the grocery chain
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kroger employees say they were underpaid, or not paid at all, according to class-action lawsuits. A new payroll system known as "MyTime" or "MyInfo" is to blame, HR Dive reported. At least four class-action lawsuits claim that the system, implemented last year, resulted in workers receiving less pay than they were owed or no paycheck at all, industry publications HR Dive and Grocery Dive reported. "For example, Kroger employees have been forced to work second jobs, or take on high-interest and risky payday loans in order to meet daily expenses," according to the complaint. Kroger is one of the major retailers that have promoted their efforts to pay workers more in recent weeks.

☆ Elon Musk thought it was unfair to jail the 'QAnon Shaman' who broke into the Capitol, but the DOJ says none of the footage was withheld and Tucker Carlson only showed 4 minutes of it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A Proud Boy wants to dismiss his seditious-conspiracy case based on Tucker Carlson's Jan. 6 footage. The DOJ responded on Sunday that all of the footage was already provided during discovery. Elon Musk previously suggested there was a miscarriage of justice by jailing the "QAnon Shaman." Chansley's former attorney, Albert Watkins, also said that he had not seen the footage aired on Carlson's show, The Washington Post reported. "In the weeks prior to the plea repeated requests were made to make sure we had all the video footage," Watkins wrote in an email.

☆ US senators blast Treasury's 'lack of progress' on climate risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In a letter to Yellen viewed by Reuters, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse and Edward Markey criticized the work done by John Morton, Yellen's first climate counselor. "Treasury has been central to delivering on the Biden Administration’s climate agenda," she said, when asked about the senators' letter. In their letter, the senators also faulted Treasury's leadership of climate work by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which identified climate change as an "emerging and increasing threat to U.S. financial stability" in October 2021. The second Treasury official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said the independent agencies grouped under FSOC were taking action, but those steps followed prescribed processes. No Treasury climate counselor could speed up that work since the agencies were independent, the official said.

☆ US senators blast Treasury's failure to move faster on climate risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - Three U.S. senators blasted the Treasury Department on Thursday for its failure to act more swiftly to counter climate risks, and urged Secretary Janet Yellen to appoint a new climate counselor to lead the effort. In a letter to Yellen viewed by Reuters, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse and Edward Markey criticized the work done by John Morton, Yellen's first climate counselor. The second Treasury official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said the independent agencies grouped under FSOC were taking action, but those steps followed prescribed processes. No Treasury climate counselor could speed up that work since the agencies were independent, the official said. They asked Yellen to respond to over a dozen questions on Treasury's efforts to mitigate risks to the U.S. economy posed by accelerating climate change.

☆ Daylight-saving time is literally killing us — it's time to end this switch
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Phones and other devices will automatically tick forward one hour, and we'll lose an hour of sleep. But every year on the Monday after the switch, hospitals report a 24% spike in heart-attack visits around the US. "That's how fragile and susceptible your body is to even just one hour of lost sleep," sleep expert Matthew Walker, author of "How We Sleep," previously told Insider. iStock; InsiderThe reason that springing the clocks forward can kill us comes down to interrupted sleep schedules. Walker said daylight-saving time, or DST, is a kind of "global experiment" we perform twice a year.

☆ Premarket stocks: The return of the Reddit investor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

What’s happening: Retail investors are pouring a record $1.5 billion per day into the stock market, according to data from Vanda Research. Brunswick has conducted its annual survey on the digital habits of institutional investors for over a decade. This year, it polled 257 institutional investors across North America, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Retail investors amass funds, and power: Retail investors now account for half of all wealth globally, according to a recent report by Bain & Company. Fed officials have expressed concern that a tight labor market could keep upward pressure on wages and, in turn, inflation.

☆ The Biden administration is shifting its approach to TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Jeremy Diamond | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The White House’s endorsement of a bill that would give the Biden administration new powers to restrict or ban TikTok in the United States marks a significant shift in the White House’s approach to the Chinese-owned social media app. It’s also a move that the White House has been actively mulling for several weeks while working with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to draft the legislation, Democratic and Republican aides said. The bill does not target TikTok specifically for a ban. The bill was drafted in close consultation with the White House’s National Security Council as well as the Commerce, Treasury and Justice Departments, according to aides familiar with the process. “A U.S. ban on TikTok is a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide.”– CNN’s Brian Fung contributed to this report.

☆ US senators reintroduce bill to pressure OPEC oil producer group
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Timothy Gardner | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - A group of bipartisan U.S. senators on Wednesday said they have reintroduced legislation to pressure the OPEC oil production group to stop making output cuts. The so-called No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels, or NOPEC, bill was reintroduced by senators Chuck Grassley, a Republican, and Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, and others on the Judiciary Committee. The bill passed the committee 17-4 last year after the OPEC+ producer group, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed to cut output by 2 million barrels per day. OPEC has continued with the 2 million bpd cut, setting a floor on global oil prices, with the Brent international benchmark trading around $82.60 per barrel on Wednesday. Reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington Editing by Mark Porter and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Senators warn Big Tech on Section 230: ‘Reform is coming’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Washington CNN —US senators said Wednesday that bipartisan support is growing for revising a federal immunity law for tech platforms and websites known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a warning aimed squarely at large social media platforms. “Here’s a message to Big Tech: Reform is coming,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who chaired a technology subcommittee hearing to consider changes to the law. “I can’t predict it’ll be in the next couple of weeks, or the next couple of months,” Blumenthal said. The case could have major repercussions for how social media sites rank, present and promote content online. Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, a vocal tech industry critic, acknowledged that the effort to revise Section 230 has been “very slow.”“As a Republican, I would love to blame that on my Democrat colleagues,” Hawley said.

☆ Snap stock surges as Congress renews efforts to ban TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner is expected to unveil bipartisan legislation Tuesday afternoon that expands President Joe Biden’s authority to ban TikTok and other suspected information technology risks from the United States, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. Angelo Zino, senior equity analyst CFRA Research, wrote in a note Monday that the “biggest beneficiaries of a TikTok ban” would be Snapchat, Facebook-parent Meta, and YouTube. “TikTok’s emphasis on short-form videos has increased engagement/time spent by consumers and has upended the entire industry, creating a headwind for META/SNAP,” Zino wrote. Shares of YouTube’s parent company Alphabet were essentially flat on Tuesday. A TikTok ban, or the possibility of it, may just be one more positive for Meta’s stock this year.

☆ US senators unveil bipartisan bill empowering Biden to ban TikTok and other services
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Washington CNN —A dozen US senators unveiled bipartisan legislation Tuesday expanding President Joe Biden’s legal authority to ban TikTok nationwide, marking the latest in a string of congressional proposals threatening the social media platform’s future in the United States. The legislation, called the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act, does not target TikTok specifically for a ban. In the case of TikTok, lawmakers have said China’s national security laws could force TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, to provide access to TikTok’s US user data. The bill specifically directs the Secretary of Commerce to “identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate, or otherwise mitigate” national security risks associated with technology linked to those countries. But those have expanded to include makers of surveillance cameras and, more recently, apps and software makers such as TikTok.

Senators have asked giant cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its U.S. partner Binance.US for information about their regulatory compliance and finances, citing a series of investigations by Reuters and some other media reports, according to a letter released on Wednesday. The collapse of rival crypto exchange FTX, whose founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been charged with fraud, “underscored the need for real transparency and accountability in the crypto industry," the senators wrote. Binance has previously disputed Reuters’ articles, calling the illicit-fund calculations inaccurate and the descriptions of its compliance controls "outdated." In the letter, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the senators requested Binance and Binance.US provide documents and answers to their questions by March 16. The senators are seeking information about the companies’ balance sheets, U.S.-based users, anti-money laundering policies.

☆ US senators reintroduce bill to make daylight saving time permanent
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of 12 U.S. senators on Thursday reintroduced legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent, nearly a year after the Senate voted unanimously to end clock switching. But the bill failed to get a vote last year in the U.S. House of Representatives because lawmakers could not agree on whether to keep standard time or permanent daylight saving time, said Representative Frank Pallone. Some sleep experts say daylight savings time makes it harder to be alert in the morning. Daylight saving time has been in place in nearly all of the United States since the 1960s after being first tried in 1918. The bill would allow Arizona and Hawaii, which do not observe daylight saving time, to remain on standard time.

☆ Binance is a 'hotbed of illegal financial activity' and is hiding basic info from customers, US senators say in scathing letter to the world's biggest crypto exchange
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

US senators accused the world's largest crypto exchange of being "a hotbed of illegal financial activity." In a scathing letter to Binance, lawmakers requested copies of the company's balance sheets since 2017. A Binance spokesperson said the exchange will help lawmakers understand why it remains "the most trusted platform with users across the globe." The senators asked for a response by March 16 and sought more information about the relationship between Binance.com and Binance.US. Binance also has reportedly faced a slew of legal and regulatory probes from the SEC and the US Justice Department.

☆ A growing group of lawmakers think TikTok is 'digital fentanyl' and want to ban it. Many others remain skeptical.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Some members of Congress have begun pushing to ban TikTok in the US. "I'm a little less enthusiastic about an all-out ban of it," said Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. "I'm an incrementalist on a lot of things, and I would be on this as well," said Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on social media and the internet's impact on children. Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, another committee member, said she's most concerned about how social media platforms are impacting kids.

☆ Elderly senators have mixed feelings about Nikki Haley's call for 'mandatory mental competency tests' for politicians over 75
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Nikki Haley is calling for "mandatory mental competency tests" for politicians over the age of 75. Over a sixth of the US Senate is age 75 or older. "We'll have term limits for Congress, and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old." "I think she should test her own mental competency," said Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, who recently turned 75. Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho said he'd take a mental competency test Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesSome aging lawmakers expressed general openness to taking the test.

☆ US senators seek answers from Meta on whether user data was accessed by China, Russia and others
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

In a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, Sens. The findings are “especially remarkable given that Facebook has never been permitted to operate in [China],” they added. “These documents are an artifact from a different product at a different time,” said Meta spokesman Andy Stone. Hostile governments could seek to use Americans’ personal information to spread disinformation or identify intelligence targets, US officials have said. But the lawmakers’ letter highlights how worries about data access by foreign adversaries extends beyond TikTok and encompasses some of the largest social media platforms.

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