Third ransomware pro pleads guilty to cybercrime U-turn : Plus: Court papers reveal nonprofit paid a ransom worth nearly $26.8 million

Yet another ex-ransomware negotiator admits turning rogue after payoff from crimelords - www.theregister.com/2026/04/21/y... "Plus: Court papers reveal nonprofit paid a ransom worth nearly $26.8 million"

How unique are hallucinated citations offered by generative Artificial Intelligence models? This paper investigates how generative AI produces and propagates hallucinated academic references, focusing on the recurring non-existent citation 'Education Governance and Datafication' attributed t...

How unique are hallucinated citations offered by generative Artificial Intelligence models? This is greatly useful by Dirk Spenneman on "the structure, recurrence, and onward citation" of "phantom references", using a paper I didn't write as an extended example arxiv.org/abs/2604.16407

Challenge over Met Police's use of live facial recognition lost The claim was brought over concerns the technology can be used in an arbitrary or discriminatory way.

BBC News - Court challenge over Met Police's use of live facial recognition lost
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

‘Prophecy’ Review: Clairvoyance and Control Prophecy is often about power. Those who are believed to be able to see the future are granted more control in the present.

Grateful for this review of #PROPHECY in the @wsj.com! “Its insights, provocations and vivid examples are presented with both passion and clarity of thought. Whether or not it changes how you think about prediction, I cannot say, but I am left convinced that it should.” www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Exclusive: Meta to start capturing employee mouse movements, keystrokes for AI training data Meta is installing new tracking software on U.S.-based employees’ computers to capture mouse movements, clicks and ​keystrokes for use in training its artificial intelligence models, part of a broad i...

www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

UK weighs break clause in Palantir NHS deal : £330M deal leaves service with no ownership of software built to connect trusts to the platform

www.theregister.com/2026/04/20/p...

Iran claims US used backdoors in networking equipment : And China is loving it

www.theregister.com/2026/04/21/i...

Anonymous perps behind 86 million files scraped from Spotify hit with $322 million court judgement — Anna's Archive case presents intriguing precedent for AI training Damages of $2,500 per file establish a template applicable to any platform scraped from behind authentication.

www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...

The dark side of posting about your children online A new book offers an exposé of the “kidfluencing” business

The dark side of posting about your children online
www.economist.com/culture/2026...
From The Economist

AI training is unlocking obscure languages — a step in the right direction The race to dominate global languages is taking a sharp turn as AI models start mastering low-resource speech faster than experts expected

www.techradar.com/pro/a-transf...

Palantir posts mini-manifesto denouncing inclusivity and ‘regressive’ cultures | TechCrunch Palantir's ideological bent has come under more scrutiny as it's worked with ICE and positioned itself as a defender of "the West."

techcrunch.com/2026/04/19/p...

Why China’s government worries about AI Its concerns include jobs, security and beating America

Why China’s government worries about AI
www.economist.com/china/2026/0...
From The Economist

Kenyan firm sacks more than 1,000 workers after losing Meta contract Meta paused work with Sama last month after allegations about staff viewing private scenes filmed by smart glasses

I’m sure this is unrelated to the fact that last month data workers revealed they were asked by Meta to review video from Meta Ray Bans of user’s intimate moments like having sex or using the bathroom.

Could a digital twin make you into a 'superworker'? Firms say digital twins make staff more productive, but are they a potential legal minefield?

BBC News - Could a digital twin make you into a 'superworker'? - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Here’s how AI is accelerating materials discovery From batteries to semiconductors, AI simulations are speeding discovery without fully replacing human expertise.

interestingengineering.com/innovation/h... @atoosakz.bsky.social

The emotional battlefield: Inside the tactics manipulating us online Social media isn’t just distracting us, it’s changing our emotional instincts, and experts warn that the threat to our democracy is rising.

Quoted here:

The emotional battlefield: Inside the tactics manipulating us online

The Scotsman
Tom Mitchell-Sadler

Social media isn’t just distracting us, it’s changing our emotional instincts, and experts warn that the threat to our democracy is rising.

www.scotsman.com/news/scotlan...

US tech firms successfully lobbied EU to keep datacentre emissions secret Legally questionable confidentiality clause adopted almost word for word from demands of Microsoft and trade groups

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Now you can break up with big tech at a bar: ‘cybersecurity disguised as a party’ These digital security organizers bring the fight for online privacy to dance parties, bars and reading groups

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

A Discussion on Freedom of Expression and Censorship, Cambridge Disinformation Summit 2026 YouTube video by Cambridge Disinformation Summit

Cambridge Disinformation Summit panel on Freedom of Expression and Censorship

@emma-briant.co.uk
@attorneynora.bsky.social
@jameeljaffer.bsky.social
@jemimahsteinfeld.bsky.social

Recorded at the Cambridge Union, 10 April 2026.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoCX...

Commission proposes measures to Google on sharing search engine data with third parties under Digital Markets Act The European Commission has sent preliminary findings to Google outlining proposed measures to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Bukele cede a la IA de Google la gestión médica en El Salvador: “Estamos creando el mejor sistema del mundo” El programa se sustenta en Gemini y podrá crear desde un expediente clínico hasta dar seguimiento al tratamiento de pacientes con enfermedades crónicas. “En algún momento estaremos tratando el cáncer”...

Bukele cede a la IA de Google la gestión médica en El Salvador: “Estamos creando el mejor sistema del mundo”
elpais.com/america/2026...

Silicon Valley Is Spending Millions to Stop One of Its Own Alex Bores, a former Palantir employee, helped pass one of the country’s toughest AI laws. Now Silicon Valley’s biggest names are trying to stop his rise to Congress.

www.wired.com/story/the-bi...

The Subprime AI Crisis Is Here Hi! If you like this piece and want to support my independent reporting and analysis, why not subscribe to my premium newsletter? It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newslet...

www.wheresyoured.at/the-subprime...

Life inside Iran’s internet blackout The regime has cut off online access since the US and Israel attacked in February

Life inside Iran’s internet blackout - www.ft.com/content/9a2e... via @financialtimes.com

🏆 Celebrating the power of data: We're awarding prizes for Best Dataset as part of the CDCS Digital Research Prizes. Join us to learn about the datasets that are changing the landscape of research. #EdCDCS
🔗 Register here: https://edin.ac/4toC8r8

CDS Seminar Series: Sophie Bishop - Edinburgh Futures Institute Join this book talk on ‘Influencer Creep: How Optimization, Authenticity and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture’

Next up in our Critical Data Studies speakers series @edfuturesinstitute.bsky.social

April 29th 3-5pm

efi.ed.ac.uk/event/cds-se...

this is a great special issue and a very ominous little video

Scam Inc has a new weapon For the first time, investigators have traced spyware to its physical origin—revealing new types of duplicity

Scam Inc has a new weapon
www.economist.com/interactive/...
From The Economist

data.london.gov.uk/dataset/misi...

To teach in the time of ChatGPT is to know pain LLM use is the most demoralizing problem I’ve faced as a college instructor.

arstechnica.com/science/2026...