Technology

Sources:

• Twitter.
• Telegram.

California uses algorithms to predict whether incarcerated people will commit crimes again. It has used predictive technology to deny 600,000 people unemployment benefits. Nonetheless, state administrators have concluded that not a single agency uses high-risk forms of automated decisionmaking technology.

That’s according to a report the California Department of Technology provided to CalMatters after surveying nearly 200 state entities. The agencies are required by legislation signed into law in 2023 to report annually if they use high-risk automated systems that can make decisions about people’s lives. “High-risk” means any system that can assist or replace human decisionmakers when it comes to encounters with the criminal justice system or whether people get access to housing, education, employment, credit and health care.

The California Department of Technology doesn’t know which algorithms state agencies use today and only reported what agencies told them, state Chief Technology Officer Jonathan Porat told CalMatters. When asked if the employment or corrections department algorithms qualify, Porat said it’s up to agencies to interpret the law.

“I only know what they report back up to us, because even if they have the contract… we don’t know how or if they’re using it, so we rely on those departments to accurately report that information up,” he said.

Cory Doctorow wears many hats: digital activist, science-fiction author, journalist, and more. He has also written many books, both fiction and non-fiction, runs the Pluralistic blog, is a visiting professor, and is an advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); his Chokepoint Capitalism co-author, Rebecca Giblin, gave a 2023 keynote in Australia that we covered. Doctorow gave a rousing keynote on the state of the "enshitternet"—today's internet—to kick off the recently held PyCon US 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

He began by noting that he is known for coining the term "enshittification" about the decay of tech platforms, so attendees were probably expecting to hear about that; instead, he wanted to start by talking about nursing. A recent study described how nurses are increasingly getting work through one of three main apps that "bill themselves out as 'Uber for nursing'". The nurses never know what they will be paid per hour prior to accepting a shift and the three companies act as a cartel in order to "play all kinds of games with the way that labor is priced".

In particular, the companies purchase financial information from a data broker before offering a nurse a shift; if the nurse is carrying a lot of credit-card debt, especially if some of that is delinquent, the amount offered is reduced. "Because, the more desperate you are, the less you'll accept to come into work and do that grunt work of caring for the sick, the elderly, and the dying." That is horrific on many levels, he said, but "it is emblematic of 'enshittification'", which is one of the reasons he highlighted it.

Apple today announced the addition of iPad to Self Service Repair, providing iPad owners with access to repair manuals, genuine Apple parts, Apple Diagnostics troubleshooting sessions, tools, and rental toolkits. Beginning tomorrow, with support for iPad Air (M2 and later), iPad Pro (M4), iPad mini (A17 Pro), and iPad (A16), the launch features components including displays, batteries, cameras, and external charging ports. Today’s announcement joins the expansion of other Apple repair services that further enable customers and independent repair providers to complete out-of-warranty repairs, including new details about the Genuine Parts Distributor program.

• Migrant workers in Taiwan are usually represented by a broker who arranges everything from dormitories to job placements.
• Brokers are profiting from the massive influx of Filipino labor in the Taiwanese chip sector.
• Migrant groups are accusing brokers of siphoning salaries and silencing grievances.

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The results were striking: Once generative AI (GenAI) entered the market, the total number of images for sale skyrocketed, while the number of human-generated images fell dramatically. On the flip side, consumers showed a taste for the influx of AI-generated images, choosing GenAI images over human-generated ones.

• Big Tech: New grads now account for just 7% of hires, with new hires down 25% from 2023 and over 50% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
• Startups: New grads make up under 6% of hires, with new hires down 11% from 2023 and over 30% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

• Nick Clegg, former Meta executive and UK Deputy Prime Minister, has reiterated a familiar line when it comes to AI and artist consent.
• He said that any push for consent would “basically kill” the AI industry.
• Clegg added that the sheer volume of data that AI is trained on makes it “implausible” to ask for consent.

The DSA aims to ensure a safer environment online for minors, in this context, the Commission has opened formal proceedings against Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos for suspected breaches of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

In parallel, Member States, coming together in the European Board for Digital Services, are taking a coordinated action against smaller pornographic platforms. These actions will reinforce the Commission's effort to protect minors from harmful content online, both as regards very large adult platforms supervised by the Commission and smaller ones that fall under the supervision of the Digital Services Coordinators.

One morning in January, Byju Raveendran sat in the back seat of his shiny black Cadillac as it sped through Dubai. Just three years prior, the schoolteachers’ son had appeared on the Forbes list of richest Indians as founder and CEO of Byju’s, then one of the world’s most valuable education technology companies. He was dressed casually in a T-shirt and jeans, while his driver, Hashim, was more formally attired in a collared shirt. Raveendran, square-jawed and muscular at 45, told me he typically rides beside Hashim in the passenger seat, seeming intent on underscoring his down-to-earthness. “I always sit there, no, Hashim?” he asked, with a boyish laugh. Hashim nodded.

Former Byju’s employees had told me about Raveendran’s love for staying at the world’s finest hotels, and the upscale properties and luxury cars his family owned when he was based in Bengaluru. I’d heard his wife and co-founder, Divya Gokulnath, described as a jet-setter who networked with Silicon Valley elites.

But beyond the Cadillac, Raveendran didn’t seem keen for me to get a glimpse of his wealth. He was facing accusations of defrauding U.S. lenders for hundreds of millions of dollars, while tens of thousands of his employees had been laid off. I’d hoped to be invited to his home — one source told me it was a mansion in a gated community of Dubai. Instead, he showed up at my hotel on short notice to take me to a South Indian restaurant for a simple breakfast of idli, vada, and sambar — his staple meal during a modest upbringing in a village in Kerala.

Raveendran wanted to show he hadn’t let success get to his head, and wouldn’t let his company’s staggering problems, either. He was defiant that his entrepreneurial journey wasn’t over yet. “Why I am confident of a comeback is that the most valuable thing I had is still with me,” he said, referring to himself.

How many chargers do you own? We’re surrounded by rechargeable electronic devices – mobile phones, laptops, smart watches, headphones, e-bikes and more.

You might have a phone charger plugged in next to your bed without ever bothering to switch it off at the wall or unplugging it when not in use. The same might go for a laptop charger by your desk.

But is that risky to do? And are there hidden costs associated with leaving chargers plugged in all the time?

To the dismay of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, the law currently prevents Big Tech companies from opening banks. But if Congress passes the GENIUS Act, tech firms may start issuing private currencies and forcing us to use them.