Scientists raise concerns as the US stops sharing air quality data from embassies worldwide
The U.S. government’s decision to stop sharing air quality data from embassies and consulates worldwide is worrying some local scientists and experts who say the data was vital for people to be aware of air quality and monitor their government's progress in improving public health. Historical data will remain on an Environmental Protection Agency site, but live data will stay down unless funding is restored. Scientists said the data were reliable, allowed for air quality monitoring and helped prompt governments to clean up the air. The fiscal cut is one of many under President Donald Trump, whose administration has been deprioritizing environmental and climate initiatives.
AP investigates Tesla's aggressive legal strategy in China
Tesla has sued its own customers and journalists in China for defamation – and won just about every time. Elon Musk’s company has pioneered an aggressive legal strategy in China and leveraged the patronage of political leaders to silence critics, reap financial rewards and limit its accountability. That’s led some car owners to take drastic action. As concerns mount about eroding checks and balances in the U.S., Tesla’s record in China shows how Musk has thrived in a system in which regulators, the media and the courts are by design intertwined.
DOJ says TikTok collected US user views on abortion, gun control
In a fresh broadside against one of the world’s most popular technology companies, the Justice Department has accused TikTok of harnessing the capability to gather bulk information on users based on views on divisive social issues like gun control, abortion and religion. Government lawyers say in a brief filed in federal court late Friday that TikTok and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance used an internal web-suite system called Lark to enable TikTok employees to speak directly with ByteDance engineers in China. One of Lark’s internal search tools, the filing states, permits ByteDance and TikTok employees in the U.S. and China to gather bulk user information based on content.
Chinese hacking documents offer glimpse into state surveillance
Chinese police are investigating an unauthorized and highly unusual online dump of documents from a private security contractor linked to China’s top policing agency and other parts of its government. It's a trove that reveals and catalogs apparent hacking activity and tools to spy on both Chinese and foreigners. Among the apparent targets of tools provided by the impacted company, I-Soon, are ethnicities and dissidents in parts of China that have seen significant anti-government protests like Hong Kong or Xinjiang. The dump of scores of documents late last week and subsequent investigation were confirmed by two employees of I-Soon, which has ties to the powerful Ministry of Public Security.
Chinese national charged with stealing AI secrets from Google
The Justice Department says a former software engineer at Google has been charged with stealing artificial intelligence technology from the company while secretly working with two companies based in China. Linwei Ding was arrested in Newark, California, on four counts of federal trade secret theft. The case against Ding was announced at an American Bar Association Conference in San Francisco by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who along with other law enforcement leaders has repeatedly warned about the threat of Chinese economic espionage and about the national security concerns posed by advancements in artificial intelligence. It was not immediately clear whether Ding has a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
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