Wednesday Newsbytes: Facebook: Full of AI Junk & Fooling Older Users; Google Chrome Changes Will Reshape the Internet; 70 Million ATT User Accounts Leaked; If You’ve Watched Certain YouTube Videos, Beware… and more
Every day we scan the tech world for interesting news in the world of technology and sometimes from outside the world of technology. Every Wednesday, we feature news articles that grabbed our attention over the past week. We hope you find this week’s ‘Wednesday Newsbytes’ informative and interesting!
Facebook Is Filled With AI-Generated Garbage—and Older Adults Are Being Tricked
Experts say it won’t be long until we’re all vulnerable.
As AI-generated content proliferates online and clutters social media feeds, you may have noticed more images cropping up that invoke the uncanny valley effect—relatively normal scenes that also carry surreal details like excess fingers or gibberish words.
Among these misleading posts, young users have spotted some obviously faux images (for example, skiing dogs and toddlers, baffling “hand-carved” ice sculptures and massive crocheted cats). But AI-made art isn’t evident to everyone: It seems that older users—generally those in Generation X and above—are falling for these visuals en masse on social media. It’s not just evidenced by TikTok videos and a cursory glance at your mom’s Facebook activity either—there’s data behind it.
This platform has become increasingly popular with seniors to find entertainment and companionship as younger users have departed for flashier apps like TikTok and Instagram. Recently, Facebook’s algorithm seems to be pushing wacky AI images on users’ feeds to sell products and amass followings, according to a preprint paper announced on March 18 from researchers at Stanford University and Georgetown University.
Take a look at the comment section of any of these AI-generated photos and you’ll find them filled with older users commenting that they’re “beautiful” or “amazing,” often adorning these posts with heart and prayer emojis…
Massive changes coming to Google Chrome threaten to reshape the modern internet
Later this year Google (GOOG, GOOGL), through its Chrome browser, will end the use of third-party cookies, technology that can track people across websites to target them with personalized advertising. The transition won’t come without pain.
While Google’s initiative is meant to shield the privacy of users, many of the sites they rely upon and cherish could hang in the balance as a result. The move represents a profound remaking of the advertising world and user experience on the internet.
“The open web is going to suffer,” said Anthony Katsur, chief executive of the IAB Tech Lab, a trade group for the digital ad industry. “The long tail of the web, the mid-sized and smaller publishers, are going to be very impacted.”
Later this year Google (GOOG, GOOGL), through its Chrome browser, will end the use of third-party cookies, technology that can track people across websites to target them with personalized advertising. The transition won’t come without pain.
While Google’s initiative is meant to shield the privacy of users, many of the sites they rely upon and cherish could hang in the balance as a result. The move represents a profound remaking of the advertising world and user experience on the internet.
“The open web is going to suffer,” said Anthony Katsur, chief executive of the IAB Tech Lab, a trade group for the digital ad industry. “The long tail of the web, the mid-sized and smaller publishers, are going to be very impacted.”
Many people are hyper-aware that the internet they experience is based on what various providers think they want to see. For marketers and businesses, that ability to infer what a user might want generates value. As targeting gets more precise, advertising can become more relevant to the audience.
Without the third-party cookie, however, businesses have less of an idea of who their audience is. That can degrade their ability to make money from advertising, making it harder to publish content for free without forcing users to hand over their emails or phone numbers.
Chrome, which commands 60% of global internet traffic…
70 Million AT&T Accounts Leaked Online – How to Check Yours
A treasure trove of AT&T data, including social security numbers, has been leaked online for everyone to see.
A huge cache of AT&T customer data has been made available online, with as many as 70 million individuals affected.
The files, believed to be from a breach sometime in 2021 or earlier, didn’t come from a direct breach, says AT&T, but regardless, they’re out there, and include names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and social security numbers…
AT&T Customer Data for Sale
The details of 70 million AT&T Customer accounts, including names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and social security numbers, have been leaked online.
Details of the leaked data first appeared online in August 2021, when a known threat actor, ShinyHunters, offered up the records for sale on a hacking forum, with a ‘buy it now’ price of one million dollars…
If you watched certain YouTube videos, investigators demanded your data from Google
Shared YouTube data prompts civil liberty worries.
If you’ve ever jokingly wondered if your search or viewing history is going to “put you on some kind of list,” your concern may be more than warranted.
In now unsealed court documents reviewed by Forbes, Google was ordered to hand over the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and user activity of Youtube accounts and IP addresses that watched select YouTube videos, part of a larger criminal investigation by federal investigators.
The videos were sent by undercover police to a suspected cryptocurrency launderer under the username “elonmuskwhm.” In conversations with the bitcoin trader, investigators sent links to public YouTube tutorials on mapping via drones and augmented reality software, Forbes details. The videos were watched more than 30,000 times, presumably by thousands of users unrelated to the case.
YouTube’s parent company Google was ordered by federal investigators to quietly hand over all such viewer data for the period of Jan. 1 to Jan. 8, 2023, but Forbes couldn’t confirm if Google had complied…
Growing risk of once-in-a-century solar superstorm that could knock out internet, study says
Have you ever heard of a solar superstorm? If you haven’t, then you should know that scientists are predicting one sooner than we think. If this happens, it could knock out the internet and power for millions of people around the world for a very long time. Here’s what the scientists are saying.
What Is A Solar Superstorm?
No, it’s not like a thunderstorm in space. A solar superstorm is when the sun shoots a giant magnetized wave of energy toward the Earth. The thing is, while our sun may look peaceful from our vantage point, it is really a big star, aka a burning ball of gas. It is chaotic with massive amounts of energy that create magnetic fields. In between these fields is where solar weather occurs.
“There is a solar cycle that waxes and wanes over a period of about 11 years,” said Howard Singer, chief scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center.. “At the start is the solar minimum, and then activity increases and you reach solar maximum before things settle down again.”
Essentially, the sun has been building energy and is set to release a large enough wave of energy to have catastrophic effects on Earth…
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Thanks for reading this week’s Wednesday Newbytes. We hope these articles were informative, interesting, fun, and helpful. Darcy & TC
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