25 Jul 2026
Slashdot
Instagram Is Now Banning Pickup Artists, Pranksters Who Use Meta Glasses
Instagram is banning videos filmed with Meta smart glasses that harass strangers in public, including prank videos targeting service workers and pickup-artist clips of women who may not realize they are being recorded. "If you're posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kind of videos that we've heard of and seen, then we're going to take the content down," said Instagram head Adam Mosseri in response to a question on his Instagram stories last week. "We don't want people to be surreptitiously taking videos of other people and harassing them and then posting them on our platform. So we're trying to fight that every way we can." Business Insider reports: It's unclear how many videos have been removed under this new policy. Business Insider found that two large accounts of pickup artists who filmed themselves approaching women in public while wearing the glasses had been deactivated. (Both previously had more than a million followers.) A Meta spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider that these accounts were booted for violating the policy about posting harassing content that had been filmed with the glasses. Meta did not directly respond to questions about how this new policy is being enforced or what exactly constitutes a violation.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
25 Jul 2026 1:00am GMT
24 Jul 2026
Linuxiac
Debian Developers Debate Ban on AI-Assisted Contributions

Debian developers are discussing whether to prohibit LLM-assisted contributions or allow them under a new set of accountability and disclosure rules.
24 Jul 2026 11:28pm GMT
Hacker News
Sperm Whales blow bubbles to achieve restful, vertical sleep
24 Jul 2026 11:13pm GMT
Slashdot
Paramount Agrees to Postpone Warner Bros. Merger Until June 2027
Paramount Skydance has agreed to postpone its $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger until five days after an antitrust trial or June 1, 2027, whichever comes first. The agreement with a 12-state coalition led by California effectively shelves the deal for months while states argue it would reduce competition in cable and theatrical markets. Variety reports: Paramount had been keen to close the deal before Sept. 30, when it will begin to incur a $7-million-a-day "ticking fee" to be paid to Warner Bros. investors. The agreement is a tacit acknowledgement that that will not happen, barring a settlement with the states. Paramount previously sought a three-day hearing on the injunction motion in late August, hoping to win the judge's blessing to close the deal sometime in early September. But the states resisted that idea, saying they would need more time to take discovery and prepare for a full trial on the merits. The states were due to file their injunction motion on Thursday night, but held off as the two sides held discussions on a path forward. In a statement, the company said the agreement is a "significant win." "Today's agreement is a significant win because the result is exactly what we have sought from the outset: a direct path to a trial based on the evidence," a Paramount spokesperson said. "This is the fastest and clearest way to prove that this transaction is good for competition, good for consumers, and good for creators, a conclusion dozens of competition authorities around the world have already reached. Plaintiffs' market definitions bear no relationship to the realities of today's marketplace and cannot withstand scrutiny. We look forward to proving our case at trial." A hearing was scheduled for Aug. 3 in federal court in Oakland, at which point the two sides were expected to argue over the injunction motion. The two sides agreed to cancel that hearing. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin approved the joint stipulation on Friday afternoon, about an hour after it was entered. The Writers Guild of America filed its own motion for an injunction earlier this week, which was also set to be heard on Aug. 3. That motion has been withdrawn, as Paramount has effectively conceded that it will not close the deal until a determination of the merits of the antitrust claims. The parties also agreed to submit a joint stipulation by July 31 on their respective positions on trial scheduling. The states previously proposed to hold the trial in April 2027.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
24 Jul 2026 11:00pm GMT
Hacker News
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 livestream [video]
24 Jul 2026 10:44pm GMT
Ars Technica
Wildfire forces evacuation of NASA's Deep Space Network complex in Spain
"Any potential damage will be assessed when it is safe to do so."
24 Jul 2026 10:28pm GMT
Hacker News
AIs don't do what you want. This is bad
24 Jul 2026 10:24pm GMT
Slashdot
US Accuses American of Allegedly Wiping His Phone Using a 'Duress' Password During Border Search
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The U.S. Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border authorities with a passcode that wiped the contents of his phone, according to an indictment and media reports. This is thought to be the first known case in the United States where federal prosecutors have charged someone for the alleged destruction of data using a so-called "duress" password built into a phone's software. According to The Guardian, which covered the story earlier this week following the court's first hearing on Monday, Atlanta resident Samuel Tunick is fighting the charges. Tunick's attorneys said that it was unlawful for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to seize his phone as he arrived back in the U.S. last year, and that any evidence -- including the alleged wiping of his phone -- should be thrown out. The case centers on a feature included in GrapheneOS, a custom Android operating system that runs in place of the software on most modern Google Pixel devices. Tunick's attorneys confirmed GrapheneOS was running on his phone. The software feature allows the device owner to set a passcode that deliberately wipes the contents of that device if entered instead of the user's unlock passcode. Tunick's case also raises ongoing questions about what constitutional rights can be invoked at the border, which the U.S. government has long asserted is not U.S. soil until a person is authorized to enter. Bill Budington, a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Runa Sandvik, a digital security expert who works to protect at-risk people as the founder of security consultancy firm Granitt, told TechCrunch that they had not seen similar cases involving the use of duress passwords. "I have not seen this before, though I've discussed the potential scenario with activists and journalists over the years," said Sandvik. "I think this case serves as a reminder that authorities may argue you knowingly destroyed data, so it's better to not have that data on you when you cross certain borders." "With a little planning ahead of time, you can always download the data you need once you get to where you're going," said Sandvik.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
24 Jul 2026 10:00pm GMT
Ars Technica
Paramount/WBD merger delayed for months as states' lawsuit moves toward trial
"Halting this merger while our case proceeds is a critical victory," NY AG said.
24 Jul 2026 9:56pm GMT
Linuxiac
Wine 11.14 Brings New WoW64 Mode to FreeBSD

Wine 11.14 is now available with DirectSound 7.1 format conversions, a new WoW64 mode for FreeBSD, Start Menu icons, and 21 bug fixes.
24 Jul 2026 9:43pm GMT
Ars Technica
Canadian legislator reads out apparent LLM response in floor speech
"Here's a more natural, flowing version of that section..."
24 Jul 2026 9:25pm GMT
Linuxiac
Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.0 Released with Browser Upgrade and Printing Support

Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.0 updates Morph Browser to Chromium 134 and introduces printing, screenshot editing, and display notch support.
24 Jul 2026 3:53pm GMT