The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is appealing a recent decision by the Federal Court, which sided with Facebook in a case tied to the Cambridge Analytica affair. A judge in April dismissed the federal privacy watchdog’s bid for a declaration that the social media giant, now known as Meta, broke the law […]

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Election officials in Virginia have announced plans to withdraw the state from a bipartisan effort designed to ensure accurate voter lists and combat fraud — but that also has been caught up in conspiracy theories spread since the 2020 presidential election. When Virginia formally withdraws later this year, it will become […]

SEATTLE (AP) — The city of Seattle will pay $2.3 million to settle a lawsuit brought by employees who helped reveal that thousands of then-Mayor Jenny Durkan’s text messages had been deleted in 2020 amid protests over George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. The terms of the city’s settlement with Stacy Irwin […]

OTTAWA — Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos was warned that pharmaceutical companies had steadfastly refused to engage on drug-price reforms before he urged an independent federal agency to pause those reforms in favour of more consultation, a 2021 memo shows. The NDP, which obtained the memo through access-to-information law and shared it with The Canadian Press, […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an effort to deter threats aimed at IRS employees, the agency said Thursday it will start limiting workers’ personal identifying information on communications with taxpayers. The change begins next month. The Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration said in a report this week that it was “concerned that taxpayers and […]

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — In a nearly unanimous vote, Minnesota Senate lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would criminalize people who non-consensually share deepfake sexual images of others, and people who share deepfakes to hurt a political candidate or influence an election. Deepfakes are videos and images that have been digitally created or altered […]

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Three companies accused of falsifying millions of public comments to support the contentious 2017 federal repeal of net neutrality rules have agreed to pay $615,000 in penalties to New York and other states, New York’s attorney general said Wednesday. The penalties come after an investigation by the New York state Office […]

No sooner did ChatGPT get unleashed than hackers started “jailbreaking” the artificial intelligence chatbot — trying to override its safeguards so it could blurt out something unhinged or obscene. But now its maker, OpenAI, and other major AI providers such as Google and Microsoft, are coordinating with the Biden administration to let thousands of hackers […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the National Archives was confirmed Wednesday by the Senate after a months-long partisan battle over the agency’s role in the investigation into sensitive documents seized at Donald Trump’s Florida home. Colleen Shogan, a political scientist, was confirmed as archivist of the United States in a 52-45 […]

TORONTO — When Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg changed his company’s name to Meta less than two years ago, he placed a multi-billion-dollar bet on a virtual but interactive realm where he believed people would work and play for generations to come. Zuckerberg’s ultimate vision is still far from reality. The Quest headsets the company […]

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s main charitable organization, Caritas Internationalis, is hoping to open a new chapter this week after Pope Francis fired top managers over bullying complaints. But the recently ousted head is fighting back, claiming the Vatican engaged in a “brutal power grab” fueled by a “colonialist” attitude. The drama is playing […]

American fishing boats catching threatened Canadian salmon was flagged as a top concern for federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray before meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Canada in March. Briefing notes, which Canada’s National Observer obtained through an access-to-information request, identify the issue as a key point for Murray to raise with U.S. Ambassador David […]