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☆ House Republicans voted to gut the House Ethics Committee, and George Santos said it was 'fantastic'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

House Republicans voted on Monday to hobble the Office of Congressional Ethics. George Santos, facing multiple investigations and ethics complaints, called the changes "fantastic." The Office of Congressional Ethics, first established in 2008, is a quasi-independent body tasked with investigating allegations of misconduct against members of Congress. It then makes a determination as to whether those allegations are worth investigating further, at which point it makes a referral to the House Ethics Committee, which is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. In 2017, House Republicans voted in conference to subsume the office under the House Ethics Committee, effectively neutering it.

☆ It's still not clear what the Senate Ethics Committee is doing with a 2-year-old January 6 probe into Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Democrats lodged an ethics complaint against Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz nearly two years ago. No one's heard anything since from the Senate Ethics Committee, which one advocate calls a "black hole." Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island led the complaint against Cruz and Hawley. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the chairman and vice-chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee. Little has emerged in the last two years to suggest that Cruz and Hawley were intimately involved in the assault on the Capitol.

☆ 9 tech predictions for 2023 from seed investor in Uber, Pinterest, and other top companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Scott Belsky | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

2022 was a pivotal year for:Collaborative web apps disrupting every function of the enterprise. Internet browsers will shift from generalized to specializedAs web apps, communal browsing, and decentralized technology continue to grow, browsers have become too generalized and antiquated for the future of web apps. Web apps offer virality and infinite possibilities for product-led growth, and are finally powerful enough for sophisticated apps like Photoshop. Browsers will be reimagined for collaboration and higher performance web apps — like Arc from The Browser Company. Content creators will own their audience and some will become "platform-less"Content creators with mass audiences are seeking novel ways to own the relationship.

☆ California deputy killed by driver with violent history who was later killed in a shootout
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

JURUPA VALLEY, Calif. — A Southern California sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed Thursday by a man with a violent criminal history during a traffic stop and the suspect later died in a shootout on a freeway, authorities said. As he approached the vehicle, the driver pulled a gun and shot him, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said at an evening news conference. TV news showed dozens of Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol cars chasing the truck. Cordero was a motorcycle officer assigned to Jurupa Valley, a city about 45 miles east of downtown Los Angeles that contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for policing services. Cordero “learned from his mother the value of serving and helping others” and his goal at the department was always to become a motor deputy, Bianco said.

☆ AG charges former officer in Floyd protest beating
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Attorney General Keith Ellison charged a former Minneapolis police officer Wednesday with beating a man during protests over George Floyd’s death. Justin Stetson, 34, faces one felony count of third-degree assault in connection with the May 30, 2020, beating of Jaleel Stallings. According to the criminal complaint, Stetson was among a group of officers enforcing a city-wide curfew that night when his group spotted four people in a parking lot. The city of Minneapolis paid Stallings $1.5 million this past May to settle his federal lawsuit. He alleged Stetson and other officers violated his constitutional rights.

The presence of police in schools actively jeopardizes the safety of Black students compared to their counterparts of other races, according to a report published this month. Black students were subjected to more than 80% of the incidents of police violence accounted for in the survey, which analyzed more than 285 incidents over a decade. The report also cited 24 cases of sexual assault on students and five student deaths as a result of police force in schools. Whittenberg said: “In general, Black students are often viewed as the problem and as needing some sort of disciplinary treatment in order to act correctly. Whittenberg said he hopes the report creates change in the conversation surrounding removing police from schools.

☆ Should AI be used to classify humans? An AI researcher at USC says it's reductive and ethically dubious
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Kate Crawford, author of "Atlas of AI" discussed the ethics of categorizing humans using AI. In an email interview with Insider, Kate Crawford, AI researcher at USC Annenberg and author of "Atlas of AI," expanded on the risks of relying on AI to help classify humans. Where did the idea of using AI to classify humans come from and why are companies interested in using this technology? Is there any safe or ethical way in which AI technology can be used to classify humans? Why is the AI industry so adamant about using data and data collection methods that have been proven to exacerbate inequality?

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama's Fiji First has not conceded defeat, while a coalition of three parties say they have a combined majority and have agreed on People's Alliance leader Sitiveni Rabuka as prime minister. In a statement on Facebook, Bainimarama said the military "has been deployed to complement the Police in maintaining law and order". Bainimarama has been prime minister for 16 years, taking power in a coup, and later winning two democratic elections in 2014 and 2018. New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said New Zealand was "aware of the statement from Fiji's Police Commissioner". The prime minister must be voted in by more than 50% of lawmakers on the parliament floor.

☆ Girl Scout mom kicked out of Radio City and barred from seeing Rockettes after facial recognition tech identified her
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Julianne Mcshane | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

“I was just a mom taking my daughter to see a Christmas show,” she told NBC New York. It’s un-American to do this.”The Rockettes perform at Radio City Music Hall in New York in 2019. The spokesperson added that a sign outside Radio City Music Hall informs visitors that facial recognition technology is among the security measures it has in place. The company spokesperson called its policy “straightforward” and said attorneys at firms pursuing litigation against it are welcome at its venues once the litigation is resolved. New York court records show that there are more than 20 active lawsuits pending against MSG Entertainment and its properties in the state.

☆ 8 people share how they use Facebook groups to score freebies and market their businesses
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Sonah Lee-Lassiter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Users turn to these groups for career advice, upcycling belongings, parenting tips, and even to market their small businesses. Learning new thingsCassier Weiner is in more than 50 mostly hobby-based Facebook groups. Sarah Dahan, an online community strategist, said the root of a thriving community online and offline is maintaining a consistent value system. Facebook doing its partJonathan Twombly runs a real-estate business through his Facebook group "Multifamily Investment Community," which has about 12,000 members. "Facebook groups are very underutilized by people my age," Kim said.

☆ The Biggest Debates and Opinions in 2022 - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +30 min

Opinion The 22 Debates That Made Us Rage, Roll Our Eyes, and Change Our Minds in 2022Debating is what we do here at Times Opinion. To many, she was an icon: She ruled for 70 years, presided over the transition from empire to commonwealth and served as a living link to the generation that won World War II. (Though Ben Bernanke, a former Fed chairman himself, wrote in The Times that that wasn’t going to happen.) The United States and its European allies poured weapons and aid into Ukraine, but how was this going to end? As 2022 draws to a close, the fighting continues and peace talks look as distant as ever — which probably means that the debates will continue.

It will pay a record penalty of $275 million for violating a children's privacy law and adopt strong default privacy settings for young people. Epic Games will also pay $245 million to refund consumers duped by so-called "dark patterns" into making purchases they did not intend to make, the FTC said. "Epic used privacy-invasive default settings and deceptive interfaces that tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children," said FTC Chair Lina Khan in a statement. The Epic Games logo, maker of the popular video game "Fortnite", is pictured on a screen in this picture illustration August 14, 2020. Children's privacy advocates were pleased with the settlement, with Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy saying that "kids should also have their data privacy rights better respected through this enforcement of the federal kids data privacy law (COPPA)."

☆ "Fortnite" maker Epic Games to settle alleged privacy violation for $520 mln
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 19 (Reuters) - "Fortnite" creator Epic Games will pay $520 million to settle allegations that it illegally collected children's personal information and tricked people into making purchases, the Federal Trade Commission and the company said on Monday. It will pay a record penalty of $275 million for violating the children's privacy law and adopt strong default privacy settings for young people. Epic Games will also pay $245 million to refund consumers duped by so-called "dark patterns" into making purchases they did not intend to make, the FTC said. "Epic used privacy-invasive default settings and deceptive interfaces that tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children," said FTC Chair Lina Khan in a statement. The FTC said that Epic employees had expressed concern about the company's default settings in place for children, saying that people should be required to opt in for voice chat.

How Bots Pushing Adult Content Drowned Out Chinese Protest TweetsTwitter and its new owner, Elon Musk, have recently vowed to crack down on bots. When contacted, two businesses that appeared in spam tweets said that they had purchased the tweets using advertising services. The bots posting content during the protest did not focus on related hashtags; instead they included broader terms like the names of Chinese cities alongside adult content. BOT n BOT BOT BOT Searching for “北京” A search on Twitter for “Beijing” in simplified Chinese brought up tweet after tweet of spam ... BOT BOT BOT BOT Searching for “Beijing” ... but searching for “Beijing” in English showed no bot or spam activity among the top tweets. Bot advertising on Twitter A company listed on some spam tweets confirmed it ran an advertising business using bots.

☆ Roughly 1 in 3 workers is worried about a layoff—here's where anxiety is highest
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Layoffs are getting loud, and workers are stressing out. Roughly 1 in 3 U.S. workers, 31%, say they're concerned their company is planning budget cuts or layoffs, according to a recent LinkedIn Workforce Confidence survey, which includes data from 21,000-plus professionals from September to December. Other lines of work, like business admin, policing, social work and accounting, are also necessary to keep daily life running. Anders notes that these workers can be considered society's problem solvers: "Think of them as a recession's essential workers." As workers lose confidence in their job security, we could see fewer people quitting in droves each month, economists say.

☆ Twitter's real problem is that the constant string of Elon Musk scandals is making it boring
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

InsiderThe only thing anyone talks about on Twitter these days is Elon Musk. Since Elon Musk acquired the company in October, there's been a new scandal every week. But as many have already pointed out, Twitter only has one main character now, and that's Elon Musk. The 51-year-old Tesla CEO is firmly centered at the heart of the platform's discourse, day after day. Twitter users who built their brand on the so-called #Resistance against President Donald Trump's administration have pivoted with glee to railing against Musk.

☆ Elon Musk's team seeks new funding for Twitter - investor
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Hyunjoo Jin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 16 (Reuters) - Elon Musk’s team has reached out to investors to raise new funds for his struggling social media platform Twitter, one of the investors said. Jared Birchall, the managing director of Elon Musk's family office reached out to potential investors this week, news platform Semafor reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the fundraising effort. Twitter and Musk did not respond to Reuters requests for comments. Musk sold another $3.6 billion worth of shares in Tesla earlier this week, making it nearly $40 billion worth of shares in the electric-vehicle company sold this year. Tesla shares on Friday posted their worst weekly loss since March 2020, with investors increasingly concerned about Musk being distracted by Twitter and the slowing global economy.

☆ Elon Musk's team seeks new investors for Twitter - Semafor
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 16 (Reuters) - The managing director of Elon Musk's family office is seeking new equity investors for Twitter, news platform Semafor reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the fundraising effort. Musk's money manager, Jared Birchall, reached out to potential investors this week, offering shares of Twitter at the same price, $54.20, that Musk paid to take the company private in October, according to the report. Twitter and Musk did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comments. Musk sold another $3.6 billion worth of shares in Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) earlier this week, making it nearly $40 billion worth of shares in the electric-vehicle company sold this year. Ross Gerber, a Tesla investor who said he put less than $1 million in Musk's original takeover of Twitter, confirmed that he was contacted Thursday evening about another funding round, Semafor reported.

☆ No British fans arrested at World Cup - report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 15 (Reuters) - British soccer fans at the World Cup in Qatar behaved impeccably and none were arrested at the global tournament, the UK's football policing lead said. During the 2018 World Cup in Russia, three arrests were made. But Wales joining England in the tournament this time doubled the number of group-stage games played by British teams including a derby match, in which England beat Wales 3-0. "Traditionally we do have few arrests of our fans at World Cups, but to have zero isn't something we have seen before." Many were quick to point to the difficulty of acquiring alcohol, which is tightly controlled in the Muslim nation, as the reason British fans avoided trips to Qatari jails.

Banks still have to mark the loan to its market value on their books and set aside funds for losses that are reported in quarterly results. The deliberations of how some of these banks are thinking about accounting for these losses have not been previously reported. Three banking industry sources said the remaining $3 billion, which is unsecured, could lead to steeper losses for the seven Twitter banks. Some market participants expect the losses from the debt to be significant unless market conditions improve. Some $35 billion to $40 billion of such loans are stuck on banks' books, according to two fixed income bankers.

☆ Twitter hasn't decided if Ye's exile from the platform is permanent, new safety chief says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter's new safety chief told The Wall Street Journal that Ye's return to the platform is uncertain. Since Elon Musk's takeover, it's been unclear how content moderation decisions are made at Twitter. At the time, Musk said that he decided to kick Ye off the site and shared text messages in which he told Ye, "you have gone too far. The notion of policing speech on the platform has vexed Musk, who at one point indicated plans to enlist a "content moderation council" to advise on decisions. Despite that proclamation, Musk brought back former President Donald Trump onto the platform after conducting a Twitter poll, rather than consulting such a council.

☆ Former officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back gets 3.5-year prison term
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back while another officer kneeled on the Black man’s neck was sentenced Friday to 3 1/2 years in prison. Kueng is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, and the state and federal sentence will be served at the same time. Kueng, who is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, appeared at his sentencing hearing via video from a federal prison in Ohio. If Thao is convicted, the murder count — which carries a presumptive sentence of 12 1/2 years in prison — will be dropped. Lane, who is white, is serving his 2 1/2-year federal sentence at a facility in Colorado.

☆ FDA needs to do better at policing online tobacco retailers, new report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The US Food and Drug Administration is falling down on the job of policing online tobacco retailers, according to a highly critical new report from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. “It is unclear to what extent FDA conducted additional oversight of these online tobacco retailers at later dates and found subsequent violations that could result in FDA taking enforcement actions,” the report says. While it can be difficult to police online retailers due to the sheer volume and the internet’s “wild West” nature, as one FDA official described it in the report, it says the FDA could do better by collaborating more closely with ATF on the oversight of these online retailers. The report recommends that the FDA finish making rules about online sales, as it was supposed to do years ago, and collect data about its oversight of online retailers. What stood out to Sward in the report was the FDA’s lack of follow-up beyond warning letters to online retailers.

☆ Harry and Meghan renew clash with British royals, media in Netflix doc
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Henry Austin | Henry Austin Is A London-Based Editor For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

Prince Harry with Meghan Markle appeared in public together for the first time at the Invictus Games in Toronto. Aside from showing the story of their courtship, the six episodes of “Harry & Meghan” also look set to highlight long-running grievances that have roiled Britain's royal family for years. The British tabloids have intensely scrutinized Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, publishing stories about her estranged family following her engagement and marriage to Harry in May 2018. In addition, Harry is challenging in court a decision by the British government to deny him police protection while in Britain. “In the Netflix trailer it’s implied the photographers, including me, were trying to get a shot of the royal couple — but that’s nonsense,” he told the tabloid.

☆ San Francisco votes to pause policy that would allow police to use deadly robots
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco supervisors voted Tuesday to put the brakes on a controversial policy that would have let police use robots for deadly force, reversing course just days after their approval of the plan generated fierce pushback and warnings about the militarization and automation of policing. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to explicitly ban the use of robots in such a fashion for now. So far, only San Francisco and Oakland have discussed lethal robots as part of that law. Some San Francisco officials wanted to proceed with allowing robots to use deadly force in certain cases, arguing nothing substantive had changed to warrant a reversal. But the vote to advance the broader police equipment policy — including the ban on lethal robots — passed unanimously.

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