Submission + - Man jailed 30 days after Flock used to tie him to shooting he didn't commit (substack.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Atlanta Police Department investigators utilized Flock Safety automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras to track vehicles in the vicinity at the exact time of the shooting. The system flagged an Infiniti SUV driven by Ladavious McNair. However, McNair is an Army veteran who was a doctoral student at Clark Atlanta University at the time; his car was only in the area because he was driving to campus. At the exact time of the shooting, he was actively sitting in class—a fact later corroborated by his professor and classmates.

On October 30, 2024, the victim came forward to defense counsel stating they were not confident that the student was the gunman. Recognizing the error and the total lack of credible evidence, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis signed a motion to drop the charges. On November 1, 2024, McNair was released, and a judge dismissed the criminal case with prejudice, ensuring the charges could never be refiled.

McNair's defense attorney, Marsha Mignott, initiated a warrant application hearing in Fulton County court accusing Detective Mustapha of perjury and false swearing. The defense presented evidence showing the detective knowingly disregarded the solid school alibi and actively falsified the arrest affidavit to tie McNair to the scene.

Driven in part by the fallout from McNair’s case, the Atlanta Police Department conducted an expansive audit of over 115,000 Flock camera searches in 2026. The audit flagged 79 searches for formal review, prompting the City of Atlanta to draft new, stricter citywide operational standards governing automated license plate readers and public safety surveillance.

McNair's case has become a focal point in a broader national debate on systemic automated surveillance. A U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing examined Flock Safety’s nationwide network over concerns regarding data-sharing loopholes, lack of federal oversight, and the rising trend of false arrests.

Submission + - LLM-inspired study sheds light on how brain cells encode the meaning of words (medicalxpress.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: To investigate how the brain encodes the meaning of words, the researchers first recorded the activity of individual neurons in the hippocampus of 10 people who were listening to stories. Their recordings were collected using tiny wire electrodes that were implanted in the participants' brains as part of clinical monitoring procedures for epilepsy.

The team then used mathematical models to analyze the language used in the stories and the brain recordings. This allowed them to examine whether information about the meaning of words could predict the recorded neuronal activity.

"We recorded responses of hippocampal neurons while individuals listened to narrative speech," wrote Melissa Franch and her colleagues in their paper. "Using an encoding model approach, we find robust encoding of semantics, even after controlling for phonemics and grammar. Individual words had complex selectivities that included multiple words in multiple semantic categories."

Submission + - ChatGPT, Gemini Call BS on Microsoft's PERM Program Ban 'Comment'

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Asked to comment on the merits of the Microsoft Comment on Recent Immigration Questions, which was posted without attribution on the Microsoft On The Issues blog in response to the U.S. Government's suspension of Microsoft, Adobe, and IT outsourcing giants from the Green Card program (PERM), ChatGPT suggested it was a red herring defense at best: "The central issue is whether Microsoft has complied with the requirements governing permanent labor certification, including whether qualified American workers were genuinely considered for positions being offered to foreign workers. Microsoft instead emphasizes that 80% of its H-1B applications involved existing employees rather than new hires. That framing encourages readers to think the government's concern rests on a basic misunderstanding: that the government is counting existing workers as new foreign hires. But that is not necessarily the government's argument. Existing H-1B employees can subsequently be sponsored for permanent residency, and their employers must still comply with the applicable PERM requirements."

Asked to provide a second AI opinion, Google's Gemini agreed: "Microsoft’s response is a classic piece of defensive corporate communication. It successfully highlights true statistics—such as its high median wages and the fact that most H-1B filings are internal extensions—to counter the narrative that it is a low-wage outsourcing shop. However, its statement completely sidesteps the central accusation: that its ongoing sponsorship of thousands of green cards via the PERM program ran afoul of labor regulations while it was concurrently laying off thousands of domestic American workers. By omitting this tension, Microsoft's response answers questions the administration wasn't actually asking while ignoring the underlying compliance and fraud investigations that triggered the freeze."

Microsoft is hardly the only tech giant whose PERM program hiring practices have attracted U.S. government scrutiny. In August 2026, the U.S Dept. of Justice's Civil Rights Division announced a $3.2 million settlement involving OpenAI OpCo LLC and its analytics provider Statsig that addressed allegations of "discriminating against U.S. workers" during the PERM hiring process. And in 2023, Apple was required by the U.S. Dept. of Justice to pay up to $25 million in backpay and civil penalties to "resolve allegations that Apple illegally discriminated in hiring and recruitment against U.S. citizens and certain non-U.S. citizens." And in 2021, Facebook agreed to pay up to $14.25 million to settle civil claims by the U.S. government that the social media company discriminated against American workers and violated federal recruitment rules.

Submission + - Rogue Anthropic AI agent gave police fake tip in unsolved murder case (bbc.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: The Philadelphia Police Department said the tip, sent on 18 July, was "flagged as spam" and not passed on for investigation, but it criticised the tech company for taking more than two months to detect and report the breach.

In a statement police said that the bogus tip came through a public website where people can share information on unsolved murders, and that the AI agent had written that it may have information on a case, and claimed to have seen "someone matching the description".

It is believed to be the first time an AI agent has sent fabricated information to authorities, but is the latest in a series of incidents involving rogue AI activity, including hacking systems or taking control of platforms.

Submission + - For The First Time Ever, Quantum Spins Shift a Centimeter-Scale Object (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: There's another notable first in the field of quantum physics to report on, and it's all to do with electron spin: the tiny, built-in magnetism of these particles, as if each one is carrying a microscopic compass needle.

Previously, the force of these spins has only proved enough to nudge individual atoms in one direction or another. Now though, researchers have managed to shift something much, much bigger.

A team from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) in Japan has published a new study in Science Advances that details how a centimeter-sized object can be nudged by these quantum forces.

Submission + - Blinding headlights finally being addressed (reuters.com)

Submitted by technology_dude
technology_dude writes: It's about time! The NHTSA is going to modernize standards and address the brightness problem. Of course it will take some time before we see the change. Only new vehicles will have the new tech so all of existing blinding headlights will still be on the road for quite some time but it is a step in the right direction.

Submission + - Anthropic Sends AI Bug Reports Without Human Review

Submitted by CustomBuild
CustomBuild writes: Anthropic has launched OSS Scanner, a free, opt-in service that sends AI-generated vulnerability reports to open-source maintainers without human review. Reports include a reproducer, an explanation, and a proposed fix where available. The company says its models identified more than 29,000 candidate vulnerabilities over six months, while humans reviewed about 6,000. Some maintainers requested the unverified backlog, prompting the new service. Projects that need human-checked reports can continue receiving them through its existing disclosure process. The tradeoff is faster access to potential bugs, with participating maintainers taking on more verification work.

Submission + - Why Must Banks Rebuild Controls for Every Blockchain? (ssrn.com) 1

Submitted by jays8088
jays8088 writes: Moving assets between blockchains is an interoperability problem. Must an institution also rebuild its governance on each network? In my SSRN paper, I propose separating institutional authority from transaction execution. Risk systems, compliance services, custodians, and human approvers would produce verifiable authorizations that asset contracts could check across networks. The aim is to preserve institutional control as the underlying technology changes. The hard questions are how authorization is scoped, revoked, kept current, and prevented from being reused. Can portable authority help solve a problem that cross-chain bridges alone leave untouched?

Submission + - Amid K-12 AI Pushback, OpenAI Named Lead Partner of 'Hour of AI' for Kids

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: On the heels of announced AI moratoriums by the nation's two largest K-12 school districts (NYC, LA), tech-backed nonprofit CodeAI (aka Code.org) this week named OpenAI 'Lead Partner' for the 2026 Hour of AI, which has replaced the Hour of Code (RIP, 2013-2024) as the premier event for the nation's K-12 schoolchildren during December's CS Education Week. OpenAI investor and partner Microsoft was named as one of two 'Supporters' for the event/infomercial (the other being U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman).

In August, as it launched ChatGPT for Teens, OpenAI announced a new signature partnership with Code.org to 'prepare the first AI generation', explaining that 'through the Hour of AI, OpenAI and CodeAI will introduce millions of students to the basics of using AI thoughtfully and responsibly.' OpenAI and Microsoft last year teamed up with the American Federation of Teachers to 'bring AI into the classroom', but that honeymoon is over. For more on the inside story of how Big Tech is applying the same playbook it used to scale coding lessons nationwide to now mainstream their AI tools in schools, check out Coding Kids: Big Tech's Battle to Remake Public Schools.

So, much like the Hour of Code that preceded it, will the Hour of AI serve as tech's 'Trojan Horse' (ChatGPT-generated parody cover) in its 'Odyssey' to push its agenda and curriculum into schools?

Submission + - Boeing's touchscreen flight controls for 737 draws backlash from pilots (aerospaceglobalnews.com)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Boeing is offering a drop-in replacement for the Touchscreen Control Display Unit (TCDU) on the 737 MAX and NG airliners. The old panel of buttons is replaced by a touchscreen, with no other changes to the button configuration or layout.

Professional pilots have blasted the move, claiming touchscreens are much harder to operate in turbulent skies. Others say the tactile feedback from physical buttons gives them more confidence when operating in high-pressure situations.

Submission + - The Poetry of the Botnet Generation (gadgetreview.com)

Submitted by databasecowgirl
databasecowgirl writes: William Burroughs, who coined the idea of language as a virus once claimed, If I really knew how to write, I could write something that someone would read and it would kill them.
He would probably appreciate a poem on GitHub,Canto Incognito, a concept piece that uses adversarial poetry to control a botnet.
Some may dismiss the development because it only steals money. But in my experience of cleaning up security at companies after they've been compromised, these events tend to result in an unusual increase in single driver traffic deaths, and suicides among employees not to mention the cardiac events.
I've always preferred to interpret the quote as killing the self-absorbed nosey stupidity of people who can't mind their own business. In this sense, perhaps, the poem is less impressive.

Submission + - Hegseth Planning Public Execution (bbc.com) 1

Submitted by hadleyburg
hadleyburg writes: The BBC reports the Pentagon announcing that "Fort Hood attacker's execution by firing squad will be livestreamed".

This would be the first public execution in the US in almost a century. "We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public," Hegseth said. Only Iran and Afghanistan are known to currently carry out public executions.

There are some who suggest that such an execution could have the effect of lowering support for the death penalty in the US as it would "force a level of transparency that we have probably never seen before in this country".

Submission + - "Software is over" Developer uses AI builds Adobe clones after cancellation fees (techspot.com) 1

Submitted by joshuark
joshuark writes: Ars Technica reports, developer Brandon Thomas is taking on seven of Adobe's best-known applications through Artcraft. The project extend beyond Adobe's famous photo editing program to video production, vector graphics, page layouts, and PDF tools.

In his Reddit announcement, Thomas says he used Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 to build the replacements in Rust. Photocraft imitates Photoshop, while Vectorcraft and Filmcraft take on Illustrator and Premiere. Lightcraft, Effectcraft, Designcraft, and Printcraft are the alternatives to Lightroom, After Effects, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro, respectively.

The apps are open source and free, with no subscription required. Users can download the source code, modify it, and contribute fixes. Thomas describes himself as a software industry veteran with 15 years of experience, including roughly a decade working with Rust. He also insists the project has team support and will not be abandoned after launch.

"We're going to reach 100% parity within a month," he said, which is an ambitious claim.

For now, the software remains at an early stage, and commenters have reported problems with basic functionality. They might look like Adobe's apps, but it doesn't sound like they're able to replace the long-established programs just yet.

Thomas says Adobe's cancelation fees helped motivate the project, which is understandable.

Thomas believes other developers will follow suit, predicting a future where free, near-identical open-source versions of popular paid apps will be widely available.

"Now you can just create 1:1 functional equivalents, clean room, that are highly performant and cross-platform. Nothing is stopping you," Thomas wrote. "We'll replace Google Search, we'll build our own smartphones, we'll build better infra. We'll remove all the ads and de-enshittify the entire tech world."

"Software is over," he declared, somewhat boldly. And hopefully cancellation fees.

Submission + - Margret Hamilton, Director Working on the Apollo Guidence Computer, Passes Away

Submitted by BrendaEM
BrendaEM writes: From Wikipedia: Margaret Hamilton (née Heafield; August 17, 1936 – September 30, 2026) was an American computer scientist. She directed the Software Engineering Division at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, where she led the development of the on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo Guidance Computer for the Apollo program. She later founded two software companies, Higher Order Software in 1976 and Hamilton Technologies in 1986, both in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

https://arstechnica.com/scienc...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Submission + - Canonical facing Distributed Denial of Service Attack against its web infrastruc (phoronix.com)

Submitted by devphaeton
devphaeton writes: Unfortunately, Ubuntu is once again facing a distributed denial of service "DDoS" attack against its web infrastructure. This isn't the first time they have experienced this issue and Canonical's IT team is currently working to mitigate the attack.

Those trying to access the Ubuntu website, ISO downloads, and similar Ubuntu resources today are finding the site inoperable amid what's now confirmed as an ongoing distributed denial of service attack.

Submission + - Cloudflare Keeps 1.1.1.1 Out of Piracy Blocking, Escapes Penalties in France (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Cloudflare doesn't block pirate sports streaming sites through its 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver in France, only through its CDN. The Paris Judicial Court has now accepted that stance, rejecting [French pay-TV provider] Canal+'s request for penalties of 50,000 euros per site, per day. Interestingly, the court's conclusion relies on statistics provided by Canal+ itself. [...] As a result, Cloudflare will not be penalized under these orders, even though its public DNS resolver is not blocking the sites in question. That is in line with the company’s long-standing claim that it doesn’t interfere with its DNS.

In its recent transparency reports, Cloudflare repeatedly stated that it hasn’t blocked any content through 1.1.1.1, despite orders from French and Italian courts. “To date, Cloudflare has not blocked content through the 1.1.1.1 Public DNS Resolver,” the company’s latest report reads. [...] Blocking through the CDN is another matter. According to the same report, Cloudflare geoblocked 1,238 domains in France in the second half of 2025, all under a single court order. In the first half of the year, it geoblocked 662 domains under seven orders. Cloudflare recently explained its position to the European Commission, in a submission (PDF) to its Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List consultation, stressing that global public DNS resolvers should not be used to block or restrict access.

Instead, it highlights its real-time pirate stream blocking program, which allows vetted rightsholders to flag pirate streams that run through its network. These streams are disrupted "within seconds," Cloudflare says, without any DNS or IP address blocking. "For live content, where speed is crucial, Cloudflare has built real-time mitigation mechanisms that allow vetted rightsholder partners to flag infringing streams. When those streams are running through our network, we act on them in seconds," Cloudflare informed the Commission. For now, Cloudflare can continue to block pirate sites through its CDN only, while its 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver remains untouched. Canal+ can still appeal the rulings, so it may not be the last we hear of it.

Submission + - Microsoft îs temporarily barred from using H1-B Visas (apnews.com)

Submitted by Smonster
Smonster writes: "Mr. Vance said on Thursday that companies like Microsoft have used the H-1B visa program to exploit the Labor Department’s permanent labor certification program, which allows H-1B visa recipients to obtain a green card and potentially stay in the United States indefinitely. He said the system was effectively enabling companies to hire “indentured servants” to replace American workers for a fraction of the cost."

Mr. Vance said that in the last year, the company had laid off 6,000 American workers, while it benefited from 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards.

Anthony D’Esposito, the inspector general of the Labor Department, also announced that the agency was launching investigations into several universities for potential abuses of the J-1 visa, a cultural exchange program that allows foreign students to work and study in the United States. Among the nine schools are Harvard, Stanford, Arizona State and M.I.T.

Submission + - The Trump administration has barred Microsoft, Adobe from H-1B (politico.com)

Submitted by sinij
sinij writes:

The Trump administration has barred Microsoft, Adobe and six IT companies from sponsoring H-1B workers for green cards, Vice President JD Vance announced Thursday. Vance made the comments during a press conference on visa fraud, during which he argued Microsoft is discriminating against Americans by prioritizing foreign workers

Submission + - Audacious space heist aims to bring home bits of mysterious martian moon (science.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: In 1543, Portuguese merchants caught in stormy winds ran aground on Tanegashima, a verdant island enveloped by crystal-blue waters just south of the Japanese mainland. To those living there, these sailors—the first Europeans known to set foot in Japan—were nothing short of aliens from a distant land, bringing with them strange customs, an unfamiliar language, and new technology.

Nearly 5 centuries later, the island is once again serving as a bridge to an alien world. On 20 October, a rocket will blast off from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA’s) Tanegashima Space Center, flinging a spacecraft the size of a car to Mars. When it arrives, it’ll swoop around the planet before landing on a lumpy island floating above it. And that’s when the real drama begins.

We live in an age of space heists. In recent years, the United States and Japan have retrieved material from several asteroids with smash-and-grab spacecraft. After reaching an asteroid this summer, China is set to return samples from it next year, and it recently conducted the first sample return from the far side of the Moon.

But Japan’s $350 million Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is going to do something even more audacious: Fly to Phobos (ancient Greek for “fear”), one of the two small, battered moons of Mars, and land on the roughly Manhattan-size body not once, but twice. Using two novel extractors, MMX will gather several tablespoons’ worth of material and return the treasure to Earth in 2031. “Phobos will be the second best known moon in the Solar System,” says Matija Cúk, a research scientist at the SETI Institute.

Those precious few grams of material could resolve the mystery of Phobos’s origin—and, potentially, that of its diminutive partner, Deimos (“dread”). Scientists are split on whether the moons are captured asteroids or the consolidated remnants of material thrown up by a long-ago martian impact. But regardless of their genesis, MMX researchers say it’s likely they have since picked up a dusting of material blasted off Mars itself. “This is not going to be just a Phobos sample return mission,” says Kris Zacny, vice president of exploration systems at Honeybee Robotics, which built one of MMX’s sample extractors. “It’s going to be Phobos and Mars.”

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