The UK secretly relocated thousands of Afghans to the UK after their personal details were disclosed in one of the country's worst ever data breaches, putting them at risk of Taliban retaliation. The operation cost around $2.7 billion and remained under a court-imposed superinjunction until recently lifted. Reuters reports: The leak by the Ministry of Defence in early 2022, which led to data being published on Facebook the following year, and the secret relocation program, were subject to a so-called superinjunction preventing the media reporting what happened, which was lifted on Tuesday by a court. British defence minister John Healey apologised for the leak, which included details about members of parliament and senior military officers who supported applications to help Afghan soldiers who worked with the British military and their families relocate to the UK. "This serious data incident should never have happened," Healey told lawmakers in the House of Commons. It may have occurred three years ago under the previous government, but to all whose data was compromised I offer a sincere apology."

The incident ranks among the worst security breaches in modern British history because of the cost and risk posed to the lives of thousands of Afghans, some of whom fought alongside British forces until their chaotic withdrawal in 2021. Healey said about 4,500 Afghans and their family members have been relocated or were on their way to Britain under the previously secret scheme. But he added that no-one else from Afghanistan would be offered asylum because of the data leak, citing a government review which found little evidence of intent from the Taliban to seek retribution against former officials.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/0127216/thousands-of-afghans-secretly-moved-to-britain-after-data-leak?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Bruce66423 shares a report from The Guardian: They went viral, amassing more than 1m streams on Spotify in a matter of weeks, but it later emerged that hot new band the Velvet Sundown were AI-generated -- right down to their music, promotional images and backstory. The episode has triggered a debate about authenticity, with music industry insiders saying streaming sites should be legally obliged to tag music created by AI-generated acts so consumers can make informed decisions about what they are listening to. [...]

Several figures told the Guardian that the present situation, where streaming sites, including Spotify, are under no legal obligation to identify AI-generated music, left consumers unaware of the origins of the songs they're listening to. Roberto Neri, the chief executive of the Ivors Academy, said: "AI-generated bands like Velvet Sundown that are reaching big audiences without involving human creators raise serious concerns around transparency, authorship and consent." Neri added that if "used ethically," AI has the potential to enhance songwriting, but said at present his organization was concerned with what he called "deeply troubling issues" with the use of AI in music.

Sophie Jones, the chief strategy officer at the music trade body the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), backed calls for clear labelling. "We believe that AI should be used to serve human creativity, not supplant it," said Jones. "That's why we're calling on the UK government to protect copyright and introduce new transparency obligations for AI companies so that music rights can be licensed and enforced, as well as calling for the clear labelling of content solely generated by AI."

Liz Pelly, the author of Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, said independent artists could be exploited by people behind AI bands who might create tracks that are trained using their music. She referred to the 2023 case of a song that was uploaded to TikTok, Spotify and YouTube, which used AI-generated vocals claiming to be the Weeknd and Drake. Universal Music Group said the song was "infringing content created with generative AI" and it was removed shortly after it was uploaded.

Aurelien Herault, the chief innovation officer at the music streaming service Deezer, said the company uses detection software that identifies AI-generated tracks and tags them. He said: "For the moment, I think platforms need to be transparent and try to inform users. For a period of time, what I call the "naturalization of AI', we need to inform users when it's used or not." Herault did not rule out removing tagging in future if AI-generated music becomes more popular and musicians begin to use it like an "instrument." At present, Spotify does not label music as AI-generated and has previously been criticized for populating some playlists with music by "ghost artists" -- fake acts that create stock music. Bruce66423 comments: "Artists demand 'a warning' on such material. Why? If it is what the people want..."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/008254/music-insiders-call-for-warning-labels-after-ai-generated-band-gets-1-million-plays-on-spotify?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Компания Oracle опубликовала корректирующий релиз системы виртуализации VirtualBox 7.1.12, в котором предложено 11 изменений и устранено 7 уязвимостей. Трём наиболее серьёзным проблемам присвоен уровень опасности 8.2 из 10.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63582

Компания Oracle опубликовала плановый выпуск обновлений своих продуктов (Critical Patch Update), нацеленный на устранение критических проблем и уязвимостей. В июльском обновлении устранено 309 уязвимостей.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63583

Представлен релиз легковесного музыкального проигрывателя Audacious 4.5, ответвившегося в своё время от проекта Beep Media Player (BMP), являющегося форком классического плеера XMMS. Выпуск поставляется с двумя интерфейсами пользователя: на основе GTK и Qt. Готовые сборки в ближайшее время будут подготовлены для различных дистрибутивов Linux (snap, flatpak, PPA) и для Windows.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63585

Состоялся выпуск долгосрочной версии Blender 4.5 (LTS). Проект развивается с 1994 года и распространяется по лицензии GPL-2.0.

Главные изменения и новшества

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Стабильный backend Vulkan. Впервые объявлен «production ready» и практически полностью догнал OpenGL по функциональности (OpenXR, Subdivision, USD/Hydra и др.). Для Linux‑систем нужен драйвер NVIDIA ≥ 550 или Mesa ≥ 25.3 для AMD‑GPU. По умолчанию остаётся OpenGL из‑за ряда ещё не закрытых ограничений Vulkan (VR‑производительность, работа с очень крупными мешами и т. д.)

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Wayland/X11 и HiDPI. Добавлены крупные курсоры 24×24 и 32×32, а также поддержка дополнительного модификатора «Hyper», что упрощает назначение горячих клавиш под Unix‑системами.

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Ускорение работы

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Dependency Graph собирается до 18 % быстрее при большом числе объектов.

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Ускорена загрузка текстур и запуск программы; компиляция шейдеров теперь многопоточная.

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Производительность симуляции жидкостей выросла в 1,25‑1,5 раза.

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Расширения интерфейса. Поддержка наклона пера графических планшетов, горизонтальная прокрутка, подсветка границ областей при перетягивании, встроенный снимок экрана для превью ассетов и др.

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Новые ноды и возможности композитинга/шейдинга. Появились Vector Math/Rotate/Mix, Value Mix, Clamp, Float Curve, Blackbody, Image Info, Image Coordinates и др.; улучшена адаптивная Subdivision; добавлена возможность удаления артефактов self‑shadowing «shadow terminator» и др.

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Grease Pencil, Sequencer и анимация. Новый render‑pass для Grease Pencil, SSAA‑метод, HDR‑предпросмотр, Snap‑to‑Frame‑Range, операторы Duplicate Shape Key и Update from Objects, улучшенный SVG‑экспорт с возможностью выгрузки анимаций.

Это LTS‑выпуск: исправления и обновления будут выходить в течение двух лет, до июля 2027 года.

https://www.linux.org.ru/news/opensource/18028919

America's largest corporations are increasingly listing AI among the major risks they must disclose in formal financial filings, despite bullish statements in public about the potential business opportunities it offers. The Register: According to a report from research firm The Autonomy Institute, three-quarters of companies listed in the S&P 500 stock market index have updated their official risk disclosures to detail or expand upon mentions of AI-related risk factors during the past year.

The organization drew its findings from an analysis of Form 10-K filings that the top 500 companies submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in which they are required to outline any material risks that could negatively affect their business and its financial health.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/0340239/ai-creeps-into-the-risk-register-for-americas-biggest-firms?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Девин Лин (Devin Lin) объявил о продолжении разработки проекта Plasma Bigscreen, развивающего пользовательский интерфейс на основе технологий KDE, рассчитанный на использование на мультимедийных устройствах, подключаемых к телевизорам и проекторам. Окружение оптимизировано для работы с большими экранами и управления без клавиатуры c использованием пультов дистанционного управления или голосового помощника.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63586

Daniel Stenberg, creator of the curl utility, is considering ending its bug bounty program due to a surge in low-quality, AI-generated reports that are overwhelming the small volunteer team. Despite attempts to discourage AI-assisted submissions, these reports now make up about 20% of all entries in 2025, while genuine vulnerabilities have dropped to just 5%. The Register reports: "The general trend so far in 2025 has been way more AI slop than ever before (about 20 percent of all submissions) as we have averaged about two security report submissions per week," he wrote in a blog post on Monday. "In early July, about 5 percent of the submissions in 2025 had turned out to be genuine vulnerabilities. The valid-rate has decreased significantly compared to previous years."

The situation has prompted Stenberg to reevaluate whether to continue curl's bug bounty program, which he says has paid out more than $90,000 for 81 awards since its inception in 2019. He said he expects to spend the rest of the year mulling possible responses to the rising tide of AI refuse. Presently, the curl bug bounty program -- outsourced to HackerOne - requires the bug reporter to disclose the use of generative AI. It does not entirely ban AI-assisted submissions, but does discourage them. "You should check and double-check all facts and claims any AI told you before you pass on such reports to us," the program's policy explains. "You are normally much better off avoiding AI."

Two bug submissions per week on average may not seem like a lot, but the curl security team consists of only seven members. As Stenberg explains, three or four reviewers review each submission, a process that takes anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours. "I personally spend an insane amount of time on curl already, wasting three hours still leaves time for other things," Stenberg lamented. "My fellows however are not full time on curl. They might only have three hours per week for curl. Not to mention the emotional toll it takes to deal with these mind-numbing stupidities." [...]

Stenberg says it's not clear what HackerOne should do to reduce reckless use of AI, but insists something needs to be done. His post ponders charging a fee to submit a report or dropping the bug bounty award, while also expressing reservations about both potential remedies. "As a lot of these reporters seem to genuinely think they help out, apparently blatantly tricked by the marketing of the AI hype-machines, it is not certain that removing the money from the table is going to completely stop the flood," he concludes.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/0618255/curl-creator-mulls-nixing-bug-bounty-awards-to-stop-ai-slop?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Chinese firms have begun rushing to order Nvidia's H20 AI chips as the company plans to resume sales to mainland China, Reuters reports. The chip giant expects to receive US government licenses soon so that it can restart shipments of the restricted processors just days after CEO Jensen Huang met with President Donald Trump, potentially generating $15 billion to $20 billion in additional revenue this year. Nvidia said in a statement that it is filing applications with the US government to resume H20 sales and that "the US government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon." [...]

The H20 chips represent Nvidia's most capable AI processors legally available in China, though they contain less computing power than versions sold elsewhere due to export restrictions imposed in 2022. Nvidia is currently banned from selling its most powerful GPUs in China. Despite these limitations, Chinese tech giants, including ByteDance and Tencent, are reportedly scrambling to place orders for the lesser chip through what sources describe as an approved list managed by Nvidia. "The Chinese market is massive, dynamic, and highly innovative, and it's also home to many AI researchers," Reuters reports Huang telling Chinese state broadcaster CCTV during his visit to Beijing, where he is scheduled to speak at a supply chain expo on Wednesday. "Therefore, it is indeed crucial for American companies to establish roots in the Chinese market."

The resumption of H20 sales marks a shift in US-China technology relations after the chips were effectively banned in April with an onerous export license requirement, forcing Nvidia to take a $4.5 billion write-off for excess inventory and purchase obligations. According to Reuters, Chinese sales generated $17 billion in revenue for Nvidia in the fiscal year ending January 26, representing 13 percent of total sales. Nvidia also announced it will introduce a new "RTX Pro" chip model specifically tailored to meet regulatory rules in the Chinese market, though the company provided no details about its specifications or capabilities.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/0624242/chinese-firms-rush-for-nvidia-chips-as-us-prepares-to-lift-ban?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Airbus's Silicon Valley innovation center Acubed and Google spinout SandboxAQ have successfully tested a quantum-sensing navigation device as an alternative to GPS during 150 hours of flights across the continental United States. The toaster-sized MagNav device uses quantum physics to measure unique magnetic signatures in Earth's crust [non-paywalled, syndicated link], with an AI algorithm matching those signatures to exact locations.

The technology achieved Federal Aviation Administration requirements by pinpointing aircraft location within two nautical miles 100% of the time and within 550 meters 64% of the time. SandboxAQ CEO Jack Hidary called it "the first novel absolute navigation system to our knowledge in the last 50 years." The analog system cannot be jammed or spoofed like GPS, which faces increasing tampering in the Middle East and around Ukraine and Russia.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/1348259/the-secret-to-better-airplane-navigation-could-be-inside-the-earths-crust?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Seagate has released its first heat-assisted magnetic recording hard drives for individual buyers, marking the commercial debut of technology the company has developed for more than two decades. The 30TB IronWolf Pro and Exos M drives cost $600, while 28TB models are priced at $570.

The drives use HAMR technology, which uses tiny lasers to heat and expand drive platter sections within nanoseconds to write data at higher densities. Seagate announced delivery of HAMR drives up to 36TB to datacenter customers in late 2024. The consumer models use conventional magnetic recording technology and are built on Seagate's Mosaic 3+ platform, achieving areal densities of 3TB per disk.

Western Digital plans to release its first HAMR drives in 2027, though it has reached 32TB capacity using shingled magnetic recording. Toshiba will sample HAMR drives for testing in 2025 but has not announced public availability dates.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/140233/seagates-30tb-hamr-drives-hit-market-for-600?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Компания Mozilla приняла решение активировать в Firefox поддержку API WebGPU и языка шейдеров WGSL (WebGPU Shading Language). Для платформы Windows поддержка WebGPU будет включена по умолчанию в выпуске Firefox 141, намеченном на 22 июля. Затем в течение нескольких месяцев поддержку WebGPU планируют активировать в сборках для Linux и macOS, а через некоторое время и в версии для платформы Android. Для ручного включения WebGPU можно использовать параметры "dom.webgpu.enabled" и "gfx.webrender.all" на странице about:config.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63592

Digital tokens designed to track popular stocks have suffered extreme price deviations since launching two weeks ago, with an Amazon-tracking token briefly spiking to more than 100 times the underlying stock's closing price. The token AMZNX hit $23,781.22 on crypto trading platform Jupiter on July 3, while Amazon shares had closed the previous day around $200.

A similar Apple-tracking token jumped to $236.72 on July 3, representing a 12% premium to the actual stock price. Companies including Robinhood, Kraken, Gemini and Bybit launched these blockchain-based versions of U.S. stocks in late June for non-U.S. customers. Robinhood is facing scrutiny from Lithuania's central bank after launching tokens tied to OpenAI and SpaceX without permission from either company, prompting OpenAI to disavow the tokens on social media.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/1428240/stock-tracking-tokens-debut-with-price-chaos-amazon-token-spikes-100x?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

WeTransfer has reversed controversial terms of service changes after users protested language suggesting uploaded files could be used to "improve machine learning models."

The file-sharing service, popular among creative professionals and used by 80 million users across 190 countries, clarified that user content had never been used to train AI models and removed all references to machine learning from its updated terms. Creative users including voice actors, filmmakers, and journalists had threatened to cancel subscriptions over the changes.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/165222/wetransfer-backtracks-on-terms-suggesting-user-files-could-train-ai-models-after-backlash?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Amazon.com marked its 30th anniversary Wednesday, three decades after Jeff Bezos launched the company as an online bookstore promising "one million titles" from Seattle. The e-commerce giant began in 1995 with Bezos, his then-wife MacKenzie Scott, and seven employees.

The company now employs 1.5 million people and carries a market capitalization exceeding $2 trillion. Amazon has expanded from books into groceries through its $13.7 billion Whole Foods acquisition, cloud computing via Amazon Web Services, and entertainment with Prime Video.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/1634255/amazon-turns-30?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Google will now let everyone in the US call local businesses using AI. The feature, which is now available in Search, allows you to use AI for pricing or availability information without having to talk on the phone.

Google first started testing this feature in January, and it's still only available for certain kinds of businesses, like pet groomers, dry cleaners, and auto shops. When you search for one of these services, like a pet groomer, Google will display a new "have AI check pricing" prompt beneath the business listing.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/1732222/googles-ai-can-now-make-phone-calls?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

BrianFagioli writes: Meta has partnered with Amrize and the University of Illinois to develop an "AI-optimized" concrete mix that cuts carbon by 35% for its new data center.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/1813221/meta-uses-open-source-ai-to-design-greener-concrete-for-its-next-data-center?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

VMware has notified partners that its current channel program will end, replacing it with an invitation-only system that significantly reduces the number of authorized partners. Partners not invited to the new VMware Cloud Service Provider program would have received non-renewal notices on July 15, 2025, and can continue transactions only until October 31, 2025, after which they may service existing contracts through their current terms.

The company is also ending its White Label program on October 31, 2025. The changes mark the second major partner program overhaul in 18 months, following Broadcom's January 2024 decision to terminate partners operating VMware-powered clouds with fewer than 3,500 processor cores.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/1850252/vmware-reboots-its-partner-program-again?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

The abstract of a paper featured on NBER: Most U.S. innovation output originates from firms that operate R&D facilities across multiple local markets. We study how this geographic structure influences aggregate innovation and growth, and whether it is socially optimal. First, we develop an endogenous growth model featuring multi-market innovative firms that generate knowledge spillovers to geographically proximate firms. In equilibrium, firms may operate in too few or too many local markets, depending on how sensitive are the local spillovers they generate to their local size. Second, to quantify these effects, we link the model to data on firms' R&D locations, patents, and citation networks. Using an event-study design, we show that firms' spatial expansion increases spillovers to other firms and estimate how these spillovers depend on a firm's local footprint. Our estimates imply that U.S. innovative firms operate in too few markets relative to the social optimum. Third, using quantitative counterfactuals, we find that policies promoting broader spatial scope yield larger welfare gains than standard R&D subsidies. Moreover, unlike R&D subsidies, such policies can also reduce regional inequality.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/194217/the-geography-of-innovative-firms?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Доступен композитный сервер Hyprland 0.50, использующий протокол Wayland. Проект ориентирован на мозаичную (tiling) компоновку окон, но поддерживает и классическое произвольное размещение окон, группировку окон в форме вкладок, псевдомозаичный режим и полноэкранное раскрытие окон. Код написан на языке С++ и распространяется под лицензией BSD.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63594

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Android Authority: Italian YouTuber Once Were Nerd covers a variety of retro gaming topics, but his reviews of ANBERNIC devices appear to be the straw that broke the camel's back. According to the video [here], customs enforcement officers from the Guardia di Finanza showed up at his home and office on April 15 with a search warrant to investigate promotion of pirated copyrighted materials. They seized a variety of ANBERNIC, Powkiddy, and TrimUI gaming handhelds from his collection. In total, more than 30 consoles were taken. The creator, assuming he didn't do anything wrong, complied with demands, providing full transcripts of his conversations and chats with gaming handheld manufacturers. The officers also took his phone, promising to return it in a few days. It was returned two months later, on June 15.

According to the video, officials are not required to disclose what exactly the charges are or who has brought them until the initial investigation is complete under Italian law. At that point, the case is either dismissed or goes to trial. The complaint specifically mentions reproduction of copyrighted material from Nintendo and Sony, but the case may originate from the agency itself. However, in the meantime officials have the option to shut down his channel, even before proving any wrongdoing. This is a scary prospect for any creator who has spent years building a channel, and unlike YouTube copyright strikes, there's likely no remedy.

Currently, officials contest that his reviews of ANBERNIC devices like the RG Slide, which often, but not always, ship with microSD cards filled with copyrighted ROMs, are punishable under Article 171 ter of the Italian Copyright Law. This law, which was originally written in 1941, allows for a maximum punishment of 15,000 euros (or 30 million Italian Lira, since the law pre-dates the Euro) and three years of jail time.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2021243/a-retro-gaming-youtuber-faces-possible-jail-time-for-reviewing-gaming-handhelds?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

OpenAI has added Google Cloud as a provider for ChatGPT and its API, expanding beyond Microsoft to address growing demand for computing power. CNBC reports: OpenAI has added Google to a list of suppliers, specifying that ChatGPT and its application programming interface will use the Google Cloud Platform, as well as Microsoft, CoreWeave and Oracle. The announcement amounts to a win for Google, whose cloud unit is younger and smaller than Amazon's and Microsoft's. Google also has cloud business with Anthropic, which was established by former OpenAI executives. The Google infrastructure will run in the U.S., Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2030234/openai-says-it-will-use-googles-cloud-for-chatgpt?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Steam has begun banning games that violate the payment rules of banks and card networks, targeting adult content in particular -- especially titles with extreme or controversial themes. Engadget reports: The new clause states that "content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam's payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers" is not allowed and could result in removal from the platform. In other words, if credit card companies get mad about something, they could actually have the power to ban a game. The clause goes on to say that this will affect "certain kinds of adult-only content."

This has likely already resulted in many games being pulled off the platform. SteamDB doesn't give a reason for these removals, but the timing does match up.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2034212/steam-now-bans-games-that-violate-the-rules-and-standards-of-payment-processors?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Security researchers say Chinese authorities are using a new type of malware to extract data from seized phones, allowing them to obtain text messages -- including from chat apps such as Signal -- images, location histories, audio recordings, contacts, and more. In a report shared exclusively with TechCrunch, mobile cybersecurity company Lookout detailed the hacking tool called Massistant, which the company said was developed by Chinese tech giant Xiamen Meiya Pico.

Massistant, according to Lookout, is Android software used for the forensic extraction of data from mobile phones, meaning the authorities using it need to have physical access to those devices. While Lookout doesn't know for sure which Chinese police agencies are using the tool, its use is assumed widespread, which means Chinese residents, as well as travelers to China, should be aware of the tool's existence and the risks it poses. [...]

The good news ... is that Massistant leaves evidence of its compromise on the seized device, meaning users can potentially identify and delete the malware, either because the hacking tool appears as an app, or can be found and deleted using more sophisticated tools such as the Android Debug Bridge, a command line tool that lets a user connect to a device through their computer. The bad news is that at the time of installing Massistant, the damage is done, and authorities already have the person's data. "It's a big concern. I think anybody who's traveling in the region needs to be aware that the device that they bring into the country could very well be confiscated and anything that's on it could be collected," said Kristina Balaam, a researcher at Lookout who analyzed the malware. "I think it's something everybody should be aware of if they're traveling in the region."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2042245/chinese-authorities-are-using-a-new-tool-to-hack-seized-phones-and-extract-data?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Longtime Slashdot reader bobdevine shares a report from OSTechNix: For the first time, Linux has officially broken the 5% desktop market share barrier in the United States of America! It's a huge milestone for open-source and our fantastic Linux community. While many might think of Linux as a niche choice, this new data shows a significant shift is happening.

According to the latest StatCounter Global Stats for June 2025, Linux now holds 5.03% of the desktop operating system market share in the United United States of America. This is fantastic news! [...] One truly satisfying detail for me? Linux has finally surpassed the "Unknown" category in the USA! It shows that our growth is clear and recognized. "It took eight years to go from 1% to 2% (by April 2021), then just 2.2 years to reach 3% (June 2023), and a mere 0.7 years to hit 4% (February 2024)," notes the report. "Now, here we are, at over 5% in the USA! This exponential growth suggests that we're on a promising upward trend."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2048246/linux-reaches-5-on-desktop?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Scale AI is laying off 14% of its workforce and 500 contractors as part of a major restructuring just weeks after Meta bought a 49% stake and absorbed its CEO into a new superintelligence lab. The Verge reports: Jason Droege, CEO of Scale AI, sent an email to all Scale employees today, which was viewed by The Verge. Droege said he plans to restructure several parts of Scale's generative AI business and organize it from 16 pods to "the five most impactful": code, languages, experts, experimental, and audio. The company will also reorganize its go-to-market team into a single "demand generation" team that will have four pods, each covering a specific set of customers.

"The reasons for these changes are straightforward: we ramped up our GenAI capacity too quickly over the past year," Droege wrote. "While that felt like the right decision at the time, it's clear this approach created inefficiencies and redundancies. We created too many layers, excessive bureaucracy, and unhelpful confusion about the team's mission. Shifts in market demand also required us to re-examine our plans and refine our approach."

Droege said that he believes the changes to the company will make it more able to adapt to market shifts, serve existing customers, and win back customers that have "slowed down" work with Scale. He also said that the company would deprioritize generative AI projects with less growth potential. "We remain a well-resourced, well-funded company," he wrote. Scale's generative AI business unit will have an all-hands meeting tomorrow, followed by a company-wide meeting on July 18th.

Osborne said that Scale plans to increase investment and hire hundreds of new employees in areas like enterprise, public sector, and international public sector, in the second half of 2025 and that severance has been paid out to impacted roles. "We're streamlining our data business to help us move faster and deliver even better data solutions to our GenAI customers," he said.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2058240/scale-ai-lays-off-200-employees-we-ramped-up-our-genai-capacity-too-quickly?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Intel is laying off more than 5,000 employees across four states, according to updated Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filings. From a report: Most of the cuts are happening in California and Oregon. Intel more than doubled its layoff estimates for Santa Clara and Folsom to a total of 1,935 affected employees, according to California WARN filings. The cuts began taking place in Folsom on July 11, and in Santa Clara on July 15.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2246205/intel-layoffs-exceed-5000-across-us?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Longtime Slashdot reader Qbertino writes: Heise, a German IT news publisher, reports (English version via Google Translate) that the German state of Brandenburg is getting the world's tallest wind turbine, with an overall height of 300 meters (approximately 365 meters including rotor blades), designed to capture so-called third-level winds at higher altitudes. The article also includes a short 3D animation illustrating the construction and its size relative to standard modern wind turbines. The wind turbine uses a dual-framework base instead of a traditional closed tower to access stronger high-altitude winds, aiming to match offshore energy output while keeping onshore operating costs.

According to Heise, the prototype could lead to the installation of up to 1,000 units across Germany -- fitting seamlessly between existing wind farms without needing extra land.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2120247/germany-is-building-the-worlds-tallest-wind-turbine?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: For some years now, detractors of battery electric vehicles have held up hydrogen as a clean fuel panacea. That sometimes refers to hydrogen combustion engines, but more often, it's hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, or FCEVs. Both promise motoring with only water emitted from the vehicles' exhausts. It's just that hydrogen actually kinda sucks as a fuel, and automaker Stellantis announced today that it is ending the development of its light-, medium- and heavy-duty FCEVs, which were meant to go into production later this year.

Hydrogen's main selling point is that it's faster to fill a tank with the stuff than it is to recharge a lithium-ion battery. So it's a seductive alternative that suggests a driver can keep all the convenience of their gasoline engine with none of the climate change-causing side effects. But in reality, that's pretty far from true. [...] Between the high development costs and the fact that FCEVs only sell with strong incentives, the decision was made to cancel the production of hydrogen vans in France and Poland. Stellantis says there will be no job losses at its factories and that R&D staff will be put to work on other projects. "In a context where the Company is mobilizing to respond to demanding CO2 regulations in Europe, Stellantis has decided to discontinue its hydrogen fuel cell technology development program," said Jean-Philippe Imparato, chief operating officer for Enlarged Europe. "The hydrogen market remains a niche segment, with no prospects of mid-term economic sustainability. We must make clear and responsible choices to ensure our competitiveness and meet the expectations of our customers with our electric and hybrid passenger and light commercial vehicles offensive."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2112231/stellantis-abandons-hydrogen-fuel-cell-development?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Разработчики репозитория Python-пакетов PyPI (Python Package Index) сообщили о введении блокировки использования почтовых адресов @inbox.ru при регистрации новых проектов и прикрепления дополнительных email к существующим проектам. Причиной названа волна спама, в ходе которой было заведено более 250 учётных записей и создано более 1500 проектов, вводящих пользователей в заблуждение и потенциально представляющих угрозу безопасности.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63596

По данным сервиса StatCounter, осуществляющего мониторинг общемировой статистики использования web-браузеров, доля дистрибутивов Linux в США (5.03%) и Германии (5.47%) впервые превысила отметку в 5%. Статистика собрана на основании счётчика, размещённого на 1.5 млн сайтов.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63597

alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: Monitoring changes in water temperature and pressure at the seafloor can improve understanding of ocean circulation, climate, and natural hazards such as tsunamis. In recent years, scientists have begun gathering submarine measurements via an existing infrastructure network that spans millions of kilometers around the planet: the undersea fiber-optic telecommunications cables that provide us with amenities like Internet and phone service. Without interfering with their original purpose, the cables can be used as sensors to measure small variations in the light signals that run through them so that scientists can learn more about the sea. Meichen Liu and colleagues recently developed a new instrument, consisting of a receiver and a microwave intensity modulator placed at a shore station, that facilitates the approach. Their work is published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Transcontinental fiber-optic cables are divided into subsections by repeaters, instruments positioned every 50 to 100 kilometers that boost information-carrying light signals so that they remain strong on the journey to their destination. At each repeater, an instrument called a fiber Bragg grating reflects a small amount of light back to the previous repeater to monitor the integrity of the cable. By observing and timing these reflections, the new instrument measures the changes in the time it takes for the light to travel between repeaters. These changes convey information about how the surrounding water changes the shape of the cable, and the researchers used that information to infer properties such as daily and weekly water temperature and tide patterns.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2246201/transatlantic-communications-cable-doubles-as-ocean-sensor?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Опубликован выпуск проекта OpenMoHAA 0.82.0, воссоздающего движок для игры "Medal of Honor: Allied Assault", используя в качестве основы открытый движок ioquake3, использующий для вывода графики бэкенд на базе библиотеки SDL2 и аудио-бекенды на базе OpenAL или SDL. Код проекта написан на C/C++ и распространяется под лицензией GPLv2. Готовые сборки сформированы для платформ Linux и Windows.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63595

Доступен выпуск свободной PaaS-платформы Cozystack 0.33, построенной на базе Kubernetes. Проект нацелен на предоставление готовой платформы для хостинг-провайдеров и фреймворка для построения частных и публичных облаков. Платформа устанавливается напрямую на серверы и охватывает все аспекты подготовки инфраструктуры для предоставления управляемых сервисов. Cozystack позволяет запускать и предоставлять кластеры Kubernetes, базы данных и виртуальные машины. Код платформы доступен на GitHub и распространяется под лицензией Apache-2.0.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63589

Perplexity has partnered with Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel to provide its premium Pro service to 360 million customers for free for an entire year, representing the largest distribution deal of its kind globally.

The service normally costs $200 annually and provides access to advanced models including GPT-4.1 and Claude Sonnet and Opus 4. India is already ChatGPT's largest market by mobile usage.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/07/17/0742246/360-million-indians-just-got-premium-ai-chatbots-for-free-for-a-year?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

VMware is overhauling its partner program again under Broadcom's direction, drastically reducing the number of authorized partners -- especially small and mid-size ones -- while ending the white label program by October 31, 2025. The Register reports: Australian IT service provider Interactive outlined the changes on Wednesday in a post that explained the changes with the following five points:

- Partner Reduction: The new program significantly reduces the number of authorized partners, being a by-invitation-only program. As a result on July 15, 2025 VCSP partners who are not invited to participate in the new Program for VCSP partners will be sent a notice of non-renewal.
- Transition Period Until 31 October, 2025: Non-invited partners can continue to transact until 31 October 2025. After that date, they may only service existing VCSP commitment contracts for the remainder of the current term. No new commitment contracts or renewals will be accepted for those partners.
- White Label Program Ending: Broadcom is also sunsetting the White Label model on 31 October 2025. The same transitional commercial conditions apply to White Label contracts as stated above.
- Immediate Impact: Departing partners are encouraged to work with authorized VCSP partners to ensure a smooth transition for customers who seek to renew a service at the end of their current term.
- Shift Toward Hyperscale Private Compute: Broadcom is reshaping its vision for private compute, whereby VMware Cloud Foundation 9 underpins a small number [of] hyperscale private cloud platforms in each region. A future where customers buy managed infrastructure from partners like Interactive to support their compute requirements.

Interactive also warned that customers whose partners are no longer part of the partner program could expect the change to effect:
- Your ability to renew licenses through your existing partner
- The support and service quality you've come to expect
- Potential delays or confusion during upcoming renewals or service requests
- Potential cost increases as partner consolidation may led additional costs for migration and re-onboarding, and reduced bundling options that previously allowed for greater cost efficiencies VMware also told The Register that "Non-renewing partners can continue to support their existing customers until the end of their current commit contract term including co-termed capacity orders. Non-renewing partners are encouraged to work with authorized VCSP partners to ensure a smooth transition for customers who seek to renew a service at the end of their current term."

Making matters worse: VMware on Tuesday divulged three critical flaws in eights of its products rated 9.3/10.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/236216/vmware-reboots-its-partner-program-again-with-new-invite-only-program?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

16 июля 2025 года состоялся релиз Hyprland 0.50.0, динамического тайлового Wayland-композитора, написанного на C++. Проект распространяется по лицензии BSD-3.

( [ читать дальше... ]( https://www.linux.org.ru/news/opensource/18029896#cut ) )

Организация Blender Foundation опубликовала выпуск свободного пакета 3D-моделирования Blender 4.5, подходящего для решения различных задач, связанных с 3D-моделированием, 3D-графикой, разработкой компьютерных игр, симуляцией, рендерингом, композитингом, трекингом движений, скульптурным моделированием, созданием анимации и монтажом видео. Код распространяется под лицензией GPL. Готовые сборки сформированы для Linux, Windows и macOS. Выпуск получил статус релиза с расширенным сроком поддержки (LTS) и будет поддерживаться до июля 2027 года. Также продолжает поддерживаться LTS-ветка Blender 4.2, обновления для которой будут формироваться до июля 2026 года. Поддержка LTS-ветки Blender 3.6 прекращена.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63593

Major US theater chains including Cinemark, Regal and Marcus have held preliminary talks about jointly marketing their big-screen theaters to compete with Imax, according to Bloomberg. The discussions have focused on setting shared standards for the chains' "premium large-format" theaters, with options including uniting around a new brand name or adding an industrywide designation that would serve as a stamp of approval for their locations.

The chains are motivated by Imax's growing influence in the industry, as the company consistently generates more than 10% of the box office for blockbusters despite operating only 372 US locations. AMC Entertainment, the largest chain and biggest operator of Imax screens in the US, is not participating in the deliberations, the report added.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2325227/cinemas-weigh-launching-new-large-screen-brand-to-challenge-imax?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Uber said Thursday it will partner with electric vehicle maker Lucid Group and autonomous driving startup Nuro to deploy robotaxis using Lucid Gravity SUVs equipped with Nuro Driver technology on its ride-sharing network. The companies plan to launch the first vehicles in late 2026 in an unidentified major US city and deploy at least 20,000 robotaxis over six years.

Uber will make multi-hundred-million dollar investments in both partners, including $300 million for Lucid to upgrade its assembly line for integrating Nuro hardware into Gravity vehicles.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/17/145222/uber-plans-20000-robotaxis-in-six-year-rollout-with-lucid-and-nuro?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Cancer death rates in the U.S. have fallen by approximately one-third since the 1990s when adjusted for age, according to data cited in a new analysis of global cancer trends. The decline represents a steady, year-over-year reduction that began in the early 1990s and continues across developed countries.

Prevention efforts have contributed substantially to the decline. Reduced smoking rates in wealthy nations prevented more than 3 million cancer deaths since 1975 in America alone. Britain's HPV vaccination program, launched in 2008 for teenage girls, produced a 90% reduction in cervical cancer rates among women in their 20s within 15 years. Treatment advances have transformed outcomes for specific cancers. Childhood leukemia, once virtually fatal, now has a five-year survival rate above 90%.

Researchers have identified inexpensive drugs with cancer-prevention properties, including aspirin, which cuts bowel cancer risk in half for patients with Lynch syndrome. Future progress faces obstacles, however, including high treatment costs and planned cuts to the National Cancer Institute under the Trump administration. China overtook America as the primary source of cancer research in 2025.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/07/17/1455213/cancer-death-rates-fall-one-third-in-us-since-1990s-as-prevention-efforts-take-hold?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

A California federal judge has ruled that three authors suing Anthropic for copyright infringement can represent writers nationwide whose books the AI startup allegedly pirated to train its Claude chatbot.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup said the authors can bring a class action on behalf of all U.S. writers whose works Anthropic allegedly downloaded from pirate libraries LibGen and PiLiMi to create a repository of millions of books in 2021 and 2022.

Alsup said Anthropic may have illegally downloaded as many as 7 million books from the pirate websites, which could make it liable for billions of dollars in damages if the authors' case succeeds.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/07/17/1548245/judge-allows-nationwide-class-action-against-anthropic-over-alleged-piracy-of-7-million-books-for-ai-training?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Sony removed the tiltable screen from its new RX1R III full-frame compact camera to maintain similar dimensions to the previous model, despite adding numerous new features and charging $5,100 for the device, The Verge reports.

The company increased the camera's size by only 2.5mm in height and 15.5mm in depth while incorporating the high-resolution sensor from the A7R V, Sony's latest autofocus tracking system, a longer-lasting battery, and a proper electronic viewfinder. Sony integrated the top dials and hot shoe into the body for a sleeker appearance. The camera's compact design prevents the inclusion of lens or sensor-based image stabilization. The Verge points out that Leica also added a tilt screen to its Q3 model after users requested the feature, despite the design compromise required.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/07/17/1635202/sony-is-still-stubborn-about-the-size-of-its-cameras?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

OpenAI launched ChatGPT agent Thursday, an AI tool that can complete multi-step tasks including online shopping, creating PowerPoint presentations, and generating spreadsheets. The agent combines capabilities from two existing OpenAI services: Operator, which can browse and interact with websites like a human, and Deep Research, which handles complex online research tasks.

The tool runs on a new AI model developed specifically for agent capabilities and can perform tasks such as planning meals and ordering ingredients online, booking restaurant reservations, and creating slide decks based on competitor analysis. In demonstrations, the agent successfully browsed Etsy for vintage lamps under $200 with free shipping and automatically added items to a shopping cart.

ChatGPT agent is immediately available to Pro, Plus, and Team subscribers, with Enterprise and Education users gaining access later this summer. The tool requires user permission before making purchases or performing "irreversible" actions like sending emails. The startup, however, has cautioned that the agent "is far from perfect" and can take several minutes to complete tasks.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/07/17/1726216/openai-debuts-ai-agent-that-controls-browsers-to-automate-shopping-presentations?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

British universities face mounting financial pressures with four in ten institutions running deficits, according to the Office for Students regulator. Half have closed courses to save money, while Durham and Newcastle each shed 200 staff members. Lancaster's cost-saving plan could eliminate one in five academic positions. The crisis, writes Economist, stems from frozen tuition fees for English students, which will rise by only a few percent in August for the first time in eight years.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/07/17/188217/britains-bankrupt-universities-are-hunting-for-cheaper-models?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Mozilla will ship WebGPU support in Firefox 141 when the browser launches July 22, bringing graphics processing capabilities that Chrome users have had since 2023. The initial release supports Windows only, with Mac, Linux, and Android planned for the coming months.

WebGPU provides web content direct access to graphics processors for high-performance computation and rendering in games and complex 3D applications. Chrome gained WebGPU support with version 113 in 2023, while Safari 26 is expected to add the feature this fall. Firefox's implementation uses the WGPU Rust crate, which translates web requests into native commands for Direct3D 12, Metal, or Vulkan.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/07/17/1829201/mozilla-ships-webgpu-in-firefox-141-catching-up-to-chromes-2023-launch?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has said that the majority of his company's new code is written by AI, with "close to 100%" of engineers using AI code editors. Speaking on the 20VC podcast, Tenev estimated around 50% of new code at the trading platform is AI-generated.

Tenev said the 50% figure is imprecise due to advanced "agentic" code editors that have made it difficult to distinguish human-written from AI-generated code. The company has progressed from GitHub Copilot to Cursor and now Windsurf, where "nearly all of the code is written by AI," he said. Tenev estimated only a "minority" of new code at Robinhood is written by humans.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/07/17/1918220/robinhood-ceo-says-majority-of-companys-new-code-written-by-ai?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: Mark Zuckerberg and current and former directors and officers of Meta Platforms agreed on Thursday to settle claims seeking $8 billion for the damage they allegedly caused the company by allowing repeated violations of Facebook users' privacy, a lawyer for the shareholders told a Delaware judge on Thursday. The parties did not disclose details of the settlement and defense lawyers did not address the judge, Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery. McCormick adjourned the trial just as it was to enter its second day and she congratulated the parties. The plaintiffs' lawyer, Sam Closic, said the agreement just came together quickly.

Billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who is a defendant in the trial and a Meta director, was scheduled to testify on Thursday. Shareholders of Meta sued Zuckerberg, Andreessen and other former company officials including former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg in hopes of holding them liable for billions of dollars in fines and legal costs the company paid in recent years. The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion in 2019 after finding that it failed to comply with a 2012 agreement with the regulator to protect users' data. The shareholders wanted the 11 defendants to use their personal wealth to reimburse the company. The defendants denied the allegations, which they called "extreme claims." "This settlement may bring relief to the parties involved, but it's a missed opportunity for public accountability," said Jason Kint, the head of Digital Content Next, a trade group for content providers.

"Facebook has successfully remade the 'Cambridge Analytica' scandal about a few bad actors rather than an unraveling of its entire business model of surveillance capitalism and the reciprocal, unbridled sharing of personal data. That reckoning is now left unresolved."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/07/17/2017244/meta-investors-mark-zuckerberg-reach-settlement-to-end-8-billion-trial-over-facebook-privacy-litigation?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

The Verge's Emma Roth reports: The News/Media Alliance, a trade association behind major news publishers, announced that it has "successfully secured" the removal of 12ft.io, a website that helped users bypass paywalls online. The trade association says 12ft.io's webhost took down the site on July 14th "following the News/Media Alliance's efforts." 12ft.io -- or 12 Foot Ladder -- also allowed users to view webpages without ads, trackers, or pop-ups by disguising a user's browser as a web crawler, giving them unfettered access to a webpage's contents. Software engineer Thomas Millar says he created the site when he realized "8 of the top 10 links on Google were paywalled" when doing research during the pandemic. [...]

In its announcement, News/Media Alliance says 12ft.io "offered illegal circumvention technology" that allowed users to access copyrighted content without paying for it. The organization adds that it will take "similar actions" against other sites that let users get around paywalls. The News Media Alliance recently called Google's AI Mode "theft." (Like many chatbots, Google's AI Mode eliminates the need to visit a website, starving publishers of the pageviews they need to be compensated for their work.) "Publishers commit significant resources to creating the best and most informative content for consumers, and illegal tools like 12ft.io undermine their ability to financially support that work through subscriptions and ad revenue," News/Media Alliance president and CEO Danielle Coffey said in the press release. "Taking down paywall bypassers is an essential part of ensuring we have a healthy and sustainable information ecosystem."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/07/17/2029207/news-publishers-take-paywall-blocker-12ftio-offline?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.