Amazon to Appeal Record $886 Million Fine Over Advertising Practices

Amazon says it intends to challenge a record $886 million fine imposed by a European Union privacy regulator over what the company says are perceived privacy violations related to its advertising technology. Read more...
Tags: Amazon, Science, Human Rights, Privacy, Articles, European Union, Social Issues, Data Protection, Wall Street Journal, Data Security, Digital Rights, General Data Protection Regulation, Privacy Law, Business Finance, Right To Privacy, Information Privacy

Corporate America Is Building Its Own Surveillance State. Will the FTC Stop It?

Americans are used to hearing about what a great country they live in—how lucky they are to have been born in, or to have immigrated to, the United States. “American exceptionalism”—a phrase, funnily enough, coined by Joseph Stalin—is an idea that, on the whole, is still embedded in the country’s collective identity.…Read more...
Tags: Amazon, Politics, Science, Human Rights, Privacy, Identity Management, Articles, America, United States, Social Issues, Mlb, Joseph Stalin, Digital Rights, Equifax, Rohit Chopra, Internet Privacy

25 Countries With the Best Covid-19 Vaccination Rates in the World

The world’s covid-19 vaccination rate stands at just 13.4%, a stubbornly low number that needs to improve before we can declare the coronavirus pandemic behind us. But some countries have done exceedingly well at getting their populations protected.Read more...
Tags: Health, Science, Articles, Medical Research, Social Issues, Vaccination, Astrazeneca, Biotechnology, Covid 19 Vaccine, Covid 19 Pandemic, Health Medical Pharma, Oxfordastrazeneca Covid 19 Vaccine, Covid 19 Vaccination In Sweden, Covid 19 Vaccination In Mexico

Senators Put Section 230 in the Crosshairs in Battle Over Covid-19 Misinformation

For the past few years, we’ve seen companies like Facebook either endlessly shrug off the misinformation problems on their platforms or issue half-assed fixes meant to keep them in check. Now, they might have a little more motivation. On Thursday, two lawmakers introduced meant to strip back these…Read more...
Tags: Facebook, Twitter, Science, Social Media, Software, Social Issues, Computing, Amy Klobuchar, Donald Trump, Operating Systems, Misinformation, Deception, Section 230, Ben Ray, Universal Windows Platform Apps, Technology Internet

Here’s Who Can Ask for Your Vaccination Status

Majorie Taylor Greene isn’t really known for being reserved. The far-right Georgia rep hasn’t been afraid to fearlessly support Nancy Pelosi’s theoretical execution, blame California’s wildfires on Jewish Space Lasers, or ask whether a school shooting was actually an elaborately staged inside job. No topic is too …Read more...
Tags: Science, Human Rights, Privacy, Identity Management, Labor, California, Articles, Georgia, Social Issues, Nancy Pelosi, Digital Rights, Confidentiality, Internet Privacy, Medical Privacy, Privacy Law, Kirk Nahra

U.S. Life Expectancy Has Biggest Fall Since WWII Amid Covid-19 and Drug Overdoses

As expected, the first year of the covid-19 pandemic has lowered the collective life expectancy of Americans. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week that life expectancy at birth dropped 1.5 years from 2019 to 2020, with most of the decline attributed to the pandemic. The…Read more...
Tags: Science, Articles, Social Issues, Population, Life Expectancy, Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Senescence, Pandemic, Demography, Academic Disciplines, Hispanic Americans, Actuarial Science

Poor Neighborhoods Are Up to 7 Degrees Hotter Than Rich Ones

New research finds that not all Americans are equally bear the burden of extreme heat. Poorer communities are at disproportionate risk of searing temperatures, according to a study published in Earth’s Future, the American Geophysical Union’s interdisciplinary journal, on Tuesday.Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, Articles, Social Issues, Gentrification, Urbanization, Climatology, Human Migration, American Geophysical Union, Heat Wave, Urban Heat Island, Climate Forcing, Physical Geography, US Separate, Jeremy Hoffman

Read the Unhinged Complaints to the FCC Over SNL Being Mean to Trump and White People

White people didn’t pay their hard-earned tax dollars over the past four years so that public servant Michael Che can get away with calling the president a ding-dong. Thankfully, many patriots have told the FCC all about it.
Tags: Science, Fcc, Vladimir Putin, Comcast, Social Issues, White People, Saturday Night Live, Alec Baldwin, Dave Chappelle, Trump, The Secret Service, Lorne Michaels, Michael Che, Television Shows, Weekend Update, dave Chappell

Anti-Vaxxer Tucker Carlson Says He's Not Against Vaccines

Tucker Carlson, the most popular TV host on Fox News, insisted on his program Monday night that he’s not against vaccines. In fact, Carlson said he’s never attacked vaccines on his program. The only problem, of course, is that Carlson is a very vocal anti-vaxxer and there’s hours of tape from his show during the past…Read more...
Tags: Politics, Science, Medicine, Social Issues, Fox News, Vaccine, International Relations, Tucker Carlson, George Wallace, Carlson, Adam Kinzinger, American People Of German Descent, Right Wing Populism In The United States, Covid 19 Vaccine, American Writers, Health Medical Pharma

AI Tracks Lawmakers Using Their Phones on the Job so We Can Properly Mock Them

Politicians are hereby busted for using their cell phones during sessions, thanks to software written by Belgium artist Dries Depoorter. His artificial intelligence program “The Flemish Scrollers” reviews YouTube live streams of Flemish government meetings and identifies who’s on their phone along with their face and…Read more...
Tags: Amazon, Science, Learning, Articles, Surveillance, Artificial Intelligence, Social Issues, Ted Cruz, Belgium, Biden, American Civil Liberties Union, Klobuchar, Facial Recognition Software, Matt Gaetz, Depoorter, Amazon Rekognition

Bird to Offer Accessible Vehicles for People With Disabilities in New York City Pilot

Bird, the scooter and bike sharing company, is launching a pilot focused on offering accessible mobility vehicles for people with disabilities to rent in New York City this summer. Read more...
Tags: Science, New York City, Social Issues, Transport, Bird, Wheelchair, Pilot, Scooter, Micromobility, Bicycle Sharing, Scooter Sharing, Human Activities, Land Transport, Kick Scooters, Shared Transport, Scooter Sharing System

The Worst Site on the Web Gets DDoS'd After Being Connected to Prominent Developer’s Suicide

Kiwi Farms—an online forum best known for harboring stalkers, white supremacists, and overall being one of the worst cesspits the internet has to offer—was knocked offline temporarily on Tuesday in what the site’s operators called a paid-for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The alleged attack comes after…Read more...
Tags: Google, Science, Birds, Social Issues, Cloudflare, Internet Culture, Kiwi, Martin, Doxing, Internet Trolling, Terryberry, Kiwi Farms, Alt Tech, Ratites, Internet Ethics, Julie Terryberry

State Prisons Fueled Covid-19 Spread in Their Areas Last Spring, Study Suggests

New research out Tuesday supports fears that at least some prisons in the U.S. have been a breeding ground for the pandemic. The study found a link between increased cases of covid-19 during the first wave last year and counties where state prisons were located. Most of these cases were likely the result of the…Read more...
Tags: Science, Prison, United States, Social Issues, Criminology, Criminal Law, Law Enforcement In The United States, Incarceration In The United States, Kaitlyn Sims, Impact Of The Covid 19 Pandemic On Prisons, Infectious Diseases Within American Prisons

El Salvador to Give Every Citizen $30 in Bitcoin for Downloading Govt Crypto App

El Salvador will give every adult citizen $30 in bitcoin, provided they download and register the government’s cryptocurrency app, known as Chivo, according to President Nayib Bukele.Read more...
Tags: Science, Money, Labor, Cryptography, Bitcoin, Social Issues, El Salvador, Cryptocurrencies, Digital Currencies, Dollar Bank, Chivo, NAYIB BUKELE, Payment Systems, Economics Of Bitcoin, Draftbitcoin Beach, Bitcoin Law

Canada to Make Online Hate Speech a Crime Punishable by $16,000 Fine

Canada’s ruling Liberal government announced on Wednesday that it plans to make online hate speech a crime punishable by as much as $20,000 (roughly $16,250 US) for the first offense and $50,000 ($40,600 US) for the second. The proposal would punish social media users who broke the law but exempt social media…Read more...
Tags: Science, Bullying, Censorship, US, Articles, Racism, Canada, Social Issues, Human Behavior, Liberal, Homophobia, Hate Crime, Hate Speech, Aggression, Justin Trudeau, Hatred

PornHub's Parent Company MindGeek Faces Lawsuit for Allegedly Hosting Nonconsensual Sex Videos

Dozens of women are suing PornHub’s parent company, MindGeek, for allegedly running a “classic criminal enterprise” that knowingly profits from videos depicting rape, child sexual abuse, revenge porn, and other nonconsensual sex acts, according to filed on Thursday.Read more...
Tags: Science, Articles, Social Issues, Websites, Pornography, Pornhub, Mastercard, Child Pornography, Human Sexuality, YouPorn, MindGeek, Michael Bowe, RedTube, Internet Pornography, Law Crime, Brown Rudnick Llp

Lots of People Don't Want Kids and Are Happy About It, Survey Finds

A substantial number of U.S. adults don’t want children and are plenty happy about it, new research out Wednesday suggests. The survey found that more than one-fourth of respondents identified as intentionally child-free and that there were no major differences in personality or life satisfaction between them and…Read more...
Tags: Science, Articles, Social Issues, Adoption, Yougov, Child, Childfree, National Alliance for Optional Parenthood, People Don, Zachary P Neal, Voluntary Childlessness, Antinatalism, Non Sexuality, Childlessness, Jennifer Neal, Jennifer Watling Neal

It's a Good Week for Drugs

Californians, your state senators (who are not your mom), see that you trip balls and/or go on spiritual journeys, which is just fine. On Tuesday, the state senate voted to pass a bill that would legalize the possession and ingestion of psilocybin and psilocin, ketamine, LSD, MDMA, DMT, mescaline, and ibogaine. Ya…Read more...
Tags: Amazon, Science, Drugs, Social Issues, Hallucinations, Mdma, state Senate, Abbot, Dave Clark, Psilocybin, Hallucinogen, Psilocybin Mushroom, Branches Of Biology, Psychoactive Drugs, Psychedelic Drug, Entheogens

You Can Now Ditch Uber for a Driver-Owned Rideshare App in New York City

The thank-you banners are down, but New York City residents have a real opportunity to show their appreciation for a population of low-paid, primarily immigrant frontline workers. New York City residents can help now by ditching Uber and Lyft for a competing driver-owned alternative app called “Co-op Ride,” created by…
Tags: Lyft, Uber, Science, California, New York City, Social Issues, Transport, Waze, Doordash, Business Models, Erik Forman, States Of The United States, Location Based Software, Legality Of Ridesharing Companies By Jurisdiction, Lyft And Uber Drivers Strikes, Michael Ugwu

When to Call CPS on Another Parent—and When Not To

Making the decision to call Child Protective Services (CPS) on another parent is not a decision most of us would ever arrive at lightly. We may be afraid of retaliation—or we may be fearful that we’re wrong and about to make someone’s life unnecessarily scary or stressful. But there are times when it is our obligation…Read more...
Tags: Abuse, Social Issues, Welfare, Child protection, Child Abuse, Lifehacks, Social work, Cps, Child Protective Services, Child Welfare, Child and Family Services, Social programs, Ellen Smith, Child Protective Services CPS, Law Crime, Law Enforcement In The United States

India Surpasses 300,000 Deaths from Covid-19, Third Highest in the World After U.S. and Brazil

India has reported over 300,000 deaths from covid-19, the third worst death toll in the world behind the United States and Brazil, according to the latest figures from India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday. Officially, the death toll in India stands at 303,720, though public health experts fear the…Read more...
Tags: Health, Science, India, Time, United States, Social Issues, Republic Of Ireland, Brazil, The Hindustan Times, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Contemporary history, Covid 19 Pandemic In The Republic Of Ireland, Responses To The Covid 19 Pandemic In June

Bipartisan Privacy Bill Promising Easier Opt-Outs and Tech Transparency Actually Has a Chance of Passing

A bipartisan group of senators is pushing forward a privacy bill meant to offer some much-needed transparency on the data being hoovered by our digital devices. And for once, a bill like this actually has a chance of passing.Read more...
Tags: Google, Politics, Science, Privacy, Identity Management, Articles, Social Issues, Amy Klobuchar, Privacy Policy, Digital Rights, Terms Of Service, John Kennedy, Richard Burr, Joe Manchin, General Data Protection Regulation, Internet Privacy

Amazon Is Being Sued by Five More Women Alleging Race and Gender Discrimination

Five women who have worked at Amazon filed suit against the company in various U.S. district courts on Wednesday, each with distinct allegations of discrimination and retaliation they say they experienced during their time at the company.Read more...
Tags: Amazon, Science, Labor, Articles, Social Issues, Sexual Harassment, Workplace Bullying, Douglas Wigdor, Human Sexuality, Labour Law, Jeanne M Christensen, Wigdor LLP, 3d Publishing, Law Crime, Charlotte Newman, Diana Cuervo

HIPAA Doesn't Mean You Can't Ask People Why They Aren't Vaccinated

The law known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, is hugely misunderstood. (For one thing, it’s spelled HIPAA and not HIPPA.) The latest people to misunderstand it are those who claim it’s illegal to ask them whether they’re vaccinated. Sorry, that’s not how the law works. That’s not…Read more...
Tags: Privacy, Labor, Social Issues, Lifehacks, Data Security, Electronic Health Records, HIPAA, Privacy Law, Information Privacy, Health Medical Pharma, Medical Record, Data Erasure

How to Keep Health Insurance After Losing Your Job

One of the worst problems of losing your job is having to deal with finding healthcare coverage. Fortunately, you have some options, although there are trade-offs with quality and price. Here’s a look at what you can do. Read more...
Tags: Health, Labor, Social Issues, Health Insurance, Lifehacks, Medicaid, Internal Revenue Service, CGI Group, Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, Healthcare Reform In The United States, Health In The United States, United States Federal Legislation, Healthcaregov, Health Medical Pharma, Health Insurance In The United States

How to Turn Off Edge Chromium’s Shopping Notifications

You might not begrudge your Edge Chromium browser for trying to help you save money, but it can be annoying when prompt after prompt pops up about cash-back programs and coupon savings. Sometimes the deals are great; other times they’re more of an annoyance than useful.Read more...
Tags: Google Chrome, Amazon, Pinterest, Microsoft, Web Browsers, Software, Social Issues, Windows 10, Lifehacks, Freeware, Chromium, Microsoft Edge, Human Interest, Cloud Clients, Portable Software

Timing Your Kid's COVID Vaccine Just Got Easier

Just two days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in children ages 12 and up, parents of adolescents got more good news: It can be given at the same time (or close to the same time) as any other vaccines they may be due to receive.Read more...
Tags: Medicine, Social Issues, Food And Drug Administration, Vaccination, Pfizer, Vaccine, Lifehacks, Vaccines, Hpv Vaccine, Clinical Trials, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Medical Specialties, Health Medical Pharma, Covid 19 Vaccines, Pfizerbiontech Covid 19 Vaccine, Dpt Vaccine

You Have One Week Left to Claim Your Forgotten 2017 Tax Refund

The IRS says that over $1.3 billion in 2017 tax refunds is still up for grabs—money that belongs to an estimated 1.3 million people who have yet to file their tax returns for that year. However, if you’re owed money, you’ll have to move fast—there’s only one week left to claim it, as the IRS will stop holding on to…Read more...
Tags: Tax, Social Issues, Lifehacks, Tax Return, Irs, Form, Internal Revenue Service, Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, HR Block, Back Taxes, Tax Refund, Refund Anticipation Loan, Taxation In The United States, Income Tax In The United States

Dark Horse's The Shadows Uses Gorgeously Grim Imagery to Tell a Refugee's Story

Previously available only in French, graphic novel The Shadows—from creators Zabus and Hippolyte—is getting an English release courtesy of Dark Horse and translator Matt Madden. It’s a fictional but timely tale of refugees searching for asylum, rendered in gorgeously grim, spooky drawings. We’ve got a sneak peek to…Read more...
Tags: Science, Social Issues, Hippolyte, Matt Madden, Zabus

Melinda Gates Called Divorce Lawyers in 2019 After NYTimes Revealed Bill's Ties to Jeffrey Epstein: WSJ

Melinda Gates started talking with divorce lawyers in October of 2019 after the New York Times first revealed Bill Gates had met with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein on multiple occasions, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. The report sheds new light on the timeline of the wealthy couple’s …Read more...
Tags: Science, United States, Social Issues, New York Times, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Melinda Gates, Wall Street Journal, WSJ, Arnold, Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, Jeffrey Epstein, Epstein, Brian Epstein, Businesspeople, Bridgitt Arnold