Policy

Aurich Lawson President Donald Trump threw efforts to renew a controversial Patriot Act provision into turmoil on Tuesday evening with a tweet calling on Republican members of the House to reject spying legislation that is due for a vote this week. It's the latest setback for a bill that has been embroiled in controversy for…

As Facebook scrambles to deal with its most problematic groups in the wake of January's assault on the US Capitol, a new report finds that leaders inside the company knew as long ago as August that 70 percent of its top "civic" groups had too much hate speech, misinformation, violent rhetoric, or other toxic behavior…

[Update, 7:10 pm ET: IPValue's Vice President of Business Development George Park told Ars that "IPValue is not permitted to comment about the agreement with MediaTek." Park alleged that "Realtek’s complaint is full of misleading statements, and IPValue looks forward to vigorously defending itself." According to Park, "Realtek was one of several companies against whom…

Enlarge / The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on January 23, 2020. Today, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists released a statement that the group's Science and Security Board had moved the hands…

Dozens of California police agencies are still sharing automated license plate reader (ALPR) data with out-of-state authorities without a warrant, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has revealed. This is occurring despite guidance issued by State Attorney General Rob Bonta last year. Clarifying a state law that limits state public agencies to sharing ALPR data only with…

Enlarge / A Verizon logo at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2019 on February 26, 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. Verizon Wireless gave a female victim's address and phone logs to an alleged stalker who pretended to be a police officer, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI special agent. The man, Robert Michael Glauner, was…

Enlarge / Starlink satellite dish seen on September 25, 2022 in Izyum, Kharkiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Getty Images | Yasuyoshi Chiba The Pentagon has reportedly held talks with SpaceX about funding Starlink in Ukraine, though SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in a tweet yesterday that "SpaceX has already withdrawn its request for…

After explicit, fake AI images of Taylor Swift began spreading on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter has attempted to block all searches for the pop star. "This is a temporary action and done with an abundance of caution as we prioritize safety on this issue," Joe Benarroch, X's head of business operations, said…

Enlarge / A "Black Fin" uncrewed submersible vehicle and two weaponized radio-controlled cars, produced from off-the-shelf hardware by the Portuguese navy's Unmanned Vehicle Experimentation Cell. You don't have to have a huge budget like the US Department of Defense to harness emerging technology for mayhem. During NATO's Recognized Environmental Picture Maritime Unmanned Systems (REPMUS) event…

Enlarge / Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) in March 2020.Bill Pugliano/Getty Images When longshot presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard sued Google last year alleging a violation of her First Amendment rights, legal experts were scathing in their responses. The lawsuit "has so many problems it's hard to know where to begin," tweeted attorney Gabriel Malor. Santa Clara…