Ring, the Amazon-owned smart home company, canceled its partnership with Flock Safety, a controversial law-enforcement technology company, following public pressure and a questionable Super Bowl ad, according to The Verge. This decision comes amidst growing concerns about surveillance and the use of technology by law enforcement.
The Verge reported that Ring's decision to end the partnership was a direct response to mounting pressure. The specifics of the Super Bowl ad that contributed to the backlash were not detailed in the source.
In other news, according to reports from Stat News and The Wall Street Journal, a Trump administration official overruled FDA scientists to reject Moderna's mRNA flu vaccine. Vinay Prasad, the top vaccine regulator at the Food and Drug Administration during the Trump administration, made the decision to refuse to review the vaccine, overriding agency scientists. A team of career scientists at the agency was reportedly ready to review the vaccine, and David Kaslow, a top career official who reviews vaccines, even wrote a memo objecting to Prasad's rejection, according to Stat News. The memo reportedly included a detailed explanation of why the review should proceed.
Meanwhile, a wave of unexplained bot traffic is sweeping the web, according to Wired. Alejandro Quintero, a Bogotá-based data analyst, saw a sudden surge in traffic to his website, which publishes articles about paranormal activities. The traffic, originating from China and Singapore, accounted for more than half of the total visits to his site over the past 12 months. Quintero initially thought he had found a new audience, but the nature of the traffic remains unclear.
In the realm of cybersecurity, AI is already making online crimes easier, according to MIT Technology Review. Anton Cherepanov discovered a new strain of ransomware that employed AI. The file contained ransomware, a nasty strain of malware that encrypts the files it comes across on a victims system, rendering them unusable until a ransom is paid to the attackers behind it.
Finally, Asimov (YC W26) is hiring individuals to collect egocentric video data for humanoid robot training, according to Hacker News. The role involves wearing a phone mounted on a lightweight headband while performing everyday tasks. The company offers a 20hr base pay, with raises up to 25hr after the first five hours of data collection, along with bonus incentives. The position is fully remote and requires no technical experience.
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