Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Submission + - J&J vaccine not safe and effective

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: J&J Lead Regulatory Scientist Joshua Rys Admits: “None of That Stuff [J&J Vaccines] Was Safe and Effective”

In never before seen footage, James O’Keefe confronts Joshua Rys, Johnson & Johnson’s lead regulatory scientist, after he was caught on hidden camera admitting damning truths about the company’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Rys told our undercover journalist: “Do you have any idea the lack of research that was done on those products [J&J Vaccines]?” and “None of that stuff [J&J Vaccines] was safe and effective”

He added that people “wanted it,” so “we gave it to them,” and that lawsuits were coming to those people [Johnson & Johnson] eventually.

Submission + - Danger of AI isn't destruction but seduction. Fiduciary duty may be the solution (wsj.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok are all seductive to a degree. They’re unfailingly friendly and encouraging, and are designed to promote engagement by making users feel heard and understood.

Numerous companies already produce AI “girlfriends” and “boyfriends” that feature highly realistic video avatars and that interact romantically and even sexually. (The dangers of this are illustrated in a famous bit from “Futurama” called “Don’t date robots.”) There’s already a “MyBoyfriendIsAI” subreddit, where lucky women show off photos of their AI-based engagement and wedding rings they bought themselves.

My concern is that the platforms’ owners will use them to manipulate their users in self-interested ways, encouraging purchases, investments and other behaviors for their own purposes, or inflict political spin even as users think they’re having authentic interaction with programs that, at bottom, are no more “real” than Tim the Pencil.

There have been some suggestions for regulation already, but here’s mine: AI personalities and their owners should be subjected to fiduciary duty when they interact with users.

Fiduciary duty is a legal concept applying to an actor who is in a relationship of trust with another and whose position involves superior knowledge or skill. Classic examples include lawyers acting for clients, administrators of a legal trust acting for beneficiaries, executors for heirs, corporate directors for shareholders, and members of a partnership for one another.

A fiduciary relationship creates a duty to act in the beneficiary’s interest, to act in good faith, and to use reasonable skill and diligence. It includes—important in this context—a duty of confidentiality, with all information relating to the relationship kept confidential and private.

AIs that purport to form a human relationship should be held under a fiduciary duty, with the companies behind them liable for heavy damages if it’s violated. Then we wouldn’t need government regulation as such because plaintiffs’ lawyers will vigorously patrol the boundaries of good conduct.

Submission + - Spirit Airlines is reportedly set to cease operations at 3am on Saturday (dailymail.com) 1

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes:

Spirit Airlines is reportedly set to cease operations at 3am on Saturday after a bailout from President Trump has failed to materialize.

The airline, which began air operations in 1990, had been hoping for a $500 million lifeline from the federal government, but the deal has not been finalized in time due to financial complications, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Sources told the outlet that the budget airline has failed to get sufficient support from bondholders and the government to secure the funding before running out of cash.

The collapse of the airline could leave passengers stranded across the nation, and places over 14,000 jobs at risk.

Passenger Taylor Gonzalez, 27, told the Detroit Free Press that she fears being stranded in Los Angeles with her three-year-old son on Friday night, saying she 'didn't know about this until just now.'

Despite the reported end of its operations, Spirit's website is still allowing customers to book flights before the 3am deadline.

The carrier previously filed for bankruptcy twice between November 2024 and August 2025, and it currently remains under Chapter 11 protection.

Spirit attempted a merger with JetBlue two years ago. It was scuttled by the Biden admin.

Submission + - The Mandalorian and Grogu Tracking for Lowest Star Wars Box Office Opening Ever (geeksandgamers.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The Mandalorian and Grogu box office projections are continuing to trend in the wrong direction, with new estimates suggesting the film could deliver the lowest opening weekend in the history of the Star Wars franchise.

According to the latest tracking data, the film is currently eyeing an $80 million-plus four-day Memorial Day debut. While that might sound respectable on paper, it would fall well below previous Star Wars theatrical releases—and even trail 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, which opened to $103 million over the same holiday frame.

Solo holds the distinction of being the first Star Wars movie to actually lose money at the box office (but seemingly not the last).

For Star Wars, a franchise that once dominated the global box office, that’s a stunning shift.

Submission + - Convicted former Harvard scientist rebuilds brain computer lab in China (investing.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Charles Lieber, once the world’s top-ranked chemist and chair of Harvard’s chemistry department, has resurfaced as the founding director of i-BRAIN in Shenzhen. Just three years after his U.S. federal conviction for lying about ties to the Thousand Talents Program, Lieber is overseeing a state-funded institute bankrolled by a government that has declared brain-computer interfaces a "national priority."

The resource gap between his new lab and Harvard is staggering:

Unlimited Primate Access: Lieber now has access to 2,000 primate cages at the Brain Science Infrastructure Shenzhen—a resource far beyond what was available at Harvard, which closed its primate center in 2015.

Cutting-Edge Hardware: His lab recently installed a $2 million deep ultraviolet lithography system from ASML to print the microscopic circuits essential for neural implants.

Billion-Dollar Backing: i-BRAIN is part of a "manicured" science hub where parent institutions operate with five-year budgets totaling roughly $2 billion.

Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as ALS and restoring movement in paralyzed patients. But it also has potential military applications: Scientists at China’s People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting mental agility and situational awareness, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

Lieber was found guilty by a jury and convicted in December 2021 of making false statements to federal investigators about his ties to a Chinese state program to recruit overseas talent, and tax offenses related to payments he received from a Chinese university. He served two days in prison and six months under house arrest, and was fined $50,000 and ordered to pay $33,600 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. During the case, his defense said he was suffering from an incurable lymphoma, which was in remission, and he was fighting for his life.

Comment They wanted to dump Musk early on (Score 1) 51

by schwit1 (#66120340) Attached to: Elon Musk Says OpenAI Betrayed Him, Clashes With Company's Attorney

https://x.com/ns123abc/status/...

Musk's lawyers showed the jury the most damaging document in evidence on Brockman:

November 2017 Brockman writes in his private diary:
>"the true answer is that we want [musk] out... if three months later we're doing b-corp then it was a lie"
>“can’t see us turning this into a for-profit without a nasty fight. i’m just thinking about the office and we’re in the office and his story will correctly be that we weren’t honest with him in the end about still wanting to do for profit just without him”

January 1, 2018 Brockman emails Musk:
>"it's an honor to work alongside you. every meeting with you, i continue to learn, grow, and see the world in a new way"

Brockman was planning to oust OpenAI co-founder Musk while publicly thanking him for the privilege of working alongside him.

Submission + - DOJ Sues Cloudera For Deliberately Excluding American Workers From Tech Jobs (zerohedge.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The Justice Department on Tuesday sued Cloudera Inc., accusing the enterprise data and artificial intelligence company of deliberately engineering a hiring process that excluded American workers from at least seven lucrative technology positions while the firm pursued permanent residency sponsorship for foreign workers on temporary visas.

In a 14-page complaint filed with the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer, the department’s Civil Rights Division alleges that Cloudera, from March 31, 2024, through at least January 28, 2025, instructed job candidates to submit applications to a dedicated email address, amerijobpostings@cloudera.com, that rejected all external messages with an automated bounce-back error. The company did not advertise the roles on its public careers website or accept applications through its standard portal, as it did for non-sponsorship positions.

Cloudera then attested to the Department of Labor that it could not locate any qualified U.S. workers for the roles, which paid between approximately $180,000 and $294,000 annually, according to the filing. The positions included a Product Manager role in Santa Clara, California, with a listed salary range of $170,186 to $190,000.

The case marks one of the most detailed enforcement actions under the Justice Department’s Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, which was relaunched last year and has already produced 10 settlements targeting employers accused of discriminating against American workers in favor of temporary visa holders.

“Employers cannot use the PERM sponsorship process as a backdoor for discriminating against U.S. workers,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “The Division will not hesitate to sue companies who intentionally deter U.S. workers from applying to American jobs.”

We value public input on civil rights violations. If you have tips or complaints about citizenship discrimination in employment, you can email them to: IER@usdoj.gov!"
— Asst Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon

Submission + - All New Cars Could Have Mandatory Surveillance Tech Unless Congress Stops This (reason.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: This week, several House Republicans reignited a yearslong debate over a law that federally mandates cars to have impaired driving technology, raising concerns about the expanding surveillance state.

The controversy over "kill switch" technology began in 2021, when Congress passed the HALT Drunk Driving Act as part of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. The provision requires that "advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology"—which the bill defined as a system that can "passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired" and "prevent or limit motor vehicle operation if an impairment is detected"—be installed in new cars. Such systems could involve driver eye tracking, a feature already built into some cars.

Submission + - California high-speed rail costs jump to $231B, nearly seven times 2008 estimate (kmph.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Senator Strickland pointed to comments from Lou Thompson, former chair of the California High-Speed Rail Authority peer review group, who recently criticized the latest draft business plan.

Thompson wrote that the 2026 draft plan “has reached a dead end,” arguing that the project has drifted far from its original vision due to escalating costs, delays, and unfunded gaps.

Under current projections, assuming funding and construction proceed as planned, service between San Francisco and Bakersfield could begin around 2033, while the full Los Angeles to San Francisco connection could extend to 2040.

Comment Re:The summary said they have a warrant (Score 2) 38

The issue is whether the (geofence)warrant was valid.

The defendant's position is geofence warrants violate the 4th amendment. The 4th Amendment requires that warrants "particularly describe the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Geofence warrants are "reverse searches." Instead of identifying a suspect and searching their location, police identify a location and search for every "suspect" (device) inside it.

Privacy advocates and several high-ranking judges argue that geofence warrants are modern-day "General Warrants"—the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to ban. They argue that sweeping up the data of 500 innocent bystanders to find one criminal is an "unreasonable" search.

Slashdot Top Deals

A computer scientist is someone who fixes things that aren't broken.

Close