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Facebook deliberately broke privacy and competition law and should urgently be subject to statutory regulation, according to a devastating parliamentary report denouncing the company and its executives as “digital gangsters”. The final report of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee’s 18-month investigation into disinformation and fake news accused Facebook of purposefully obstructing its inquiry and failing to tackle attempts by Russia to manipulate elections. “Democracy is at risk from the malicious and relentless targeting of citizens with disinformation and personalized ‘dark adverts’ from unidentifiable sources, delivered through the major social media platforms we use every day,” warned the committee’s chairman, Damian Collins. Labour moved quickly to endorse the committee’s findings, with the party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, announcing: “Labour agrees with the committee’s ultimate conclusion – the era of self-regulation for tech companies must end immediately. “We need new independent regulation with tough powers and sanctions regime to curb the worst excesses of surveillance capitalism and the forces trying to use technology to subvert our democracy.” The culture secretary, Jeremy Wright, who is to meet Zuckerberg this week to discuss harms resulting from social media, will likely come under pressure to raise the committee’s concerns with the Facebook chief executive directly. Launched in 2017 as concern grew about the influence of false information and its ability to spread unscrutinized on social media, the inquiry was turbocharged in March the following year, with the Cambridge Analytica data-harvesting scandal. There's more posted on OUR FORUM.

New York resident Jay Brodsky has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the company forces users into a two-factor authentication (2FA) straitjacket that they can’t shrug off, that it takes up to five minutes each time users have to enter a 2FA code, and that the time suck is causing “economic losses” to him and other Apple customers. The lawsuit, filed on Friday in Newport Beach, California, is accusing Apple of “trespass,” based on Apple’s “locking [Brodsky] out” of his devices by requiring 2FA that allegedly can’t be disabled after two weeks. The reference to two weeks comes from support email that Apple sometimes sends out to Apple ID owners after it enables 2FA. That email contains what the lawsuit claims, with italicized emphasis, is an unobtrusive last line that says that owners have two weeks to opt out of 2FA and go back to their previous security settings. The suit claims that around September 2015, Brodsky’s Apple devices – including an iPhone and two MacBooks – were updated to have 2FA turned on, “without [his] knowledge or consent,” thus “[locking] up access” to Brodsky’s own devices and making them “inaccessible for intermittent periods of time.” Apple is causing injury to class members by “intermeddling” with the use of their devices and not letting them choose their own security level or “freely enjoy and use” their gadgets, the suit claims. Also, by “injecting itself in the process by requiring extra logging steps,” Apple is allegedly violating California’s Invasion of Privacy Act – Section 637.2 of the California Penal Code. A third count is allegedly violating California Penal Code section 502: California’s Computer Crime Law (CCL). A fourth count is that Apple allegedly violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) by accessing people’s devices without authorization. Follow this on OUR FORUM.

It’s time to step up your boom, Agents! Crackdown 3 is now available with Xbox Game Pass on both Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. In the latest entry in the Crackdown franchise, longtime fans will feel right at home in the quest to take back New Providence from the cruel and corrupt TerraNova Corporation. Crackdown 3 is all about over-the-top fun, tons of explosions, and punching the baddies right in the face. You’ll need to deploy everything in your arsenal, whether it’s collecting those iconic green agility orbs to run faster and jump higher, knocking some heads together to increase strength, or causing an endless amount of mayhem and destruction against your enemies with unique and bombastic weapons at your disposal to build your firearm skill. Did we mention Oblivion? Just a fun little gadget that shoots a black hole at enemies. No big deal. Crackdown has always been about freedom and this holds especially true in Crackdown 3. Right from the start, you choose how you want to free the city. There are 21 playable Agents to select from – including the man, the myth the legend, the one, and only Terry Crews as Commander Isaiah Jaxon. If you feel lucky, you can take on final boss Elizabeth Niemand right from the start or soften up her defenses by eliminating her lieutenants. That sense of freedom applies to choose your Agent as well. Each Agent has specific attributes that boost skills faster. Want to quickly unlock all of the Agency Vehicle forms? Pick an Agent who specializes in Driving and sideswipe your foes off the road. And with Agent saves separate from world saves, you can switch out your Agent based on the challenge at hand. Agents can take on TerraNova alone or jump in with a friend in two-player co-op via Xbox Live for double the trouble! There is more posted on OUR FORUM.