Tag: corporations

Amazon Shares Tumble Amid News Of FTC ‘Advertiser Deception’ Lawsuit

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is about to drop a lawsuit on Amazon today alleging that the e-commerce platform manipulated prices paid by businesses to advertise on its retail platform, which made the company tens of billions of dollars over a seven-year period, WSJ reports, citing agency officials. 

According to the report:

The lawsuit, joined by a bipartisan group of more than 20 state attorneys general, will allege that Amazon deceived advertisers by secretly raising the minimum price advertisers had to pay to place ads promoting their products, FTC officials said.

The case, to be filed in a Seattle federal court, will become the consumer-protection agency’s third major case against Amazon, which agreed to pay $2.5 billion last year to settle an earlier suit alleging it tricked people into signing up for its Prime service and made it hard to cancel the subscription. Another lawsuit alleging that Amazon engaged in illegal monopolization is headed for trial next year. -WSJ

Amazon’s digital advertising platform is the third-largest in the world, behind Alphabet’s Google and Meta – earning $68 billion in ads in 2025, according to the report – which claims that advertisers suffered billions of dollars in harm by paying higher prices for ads. Some states may attempt to claw some of the money back. 

Shares shot sharply lower on the news.

Keep reading

Flock CEO Garrett Langley Targeted as Address Shared Online

Critics of Flock Safety are circulating an address they say belongs to company founder and CEO Garrett Langley, marking an escalation in the widespread backlash the surveillance technology company is facing amid concerns over privacy and potential police misuse.

Numerous posts sharing an address purportedly belonging to Langley have circulated on X, with many users responding to a viral post that quoted Langley as saying Americans must “compromise” on their privacy.

Some shared what they said was a blurred image of Langley’s home on Google Street View, with one X user saying the “compromise apparently doesn’t apply to him.”

Newsweek has not verified the address and is not publishing or linking to it. Newsweek has contacted Langley for comment via an email to Flock Safety.

The renewed attention came after Langley recently appeared on Fox News’ Saturday in America, where he called for a “compromise” between public safety and privacy.

Keep reading

Bluetooth Glitch Exposes Alibaba’s Secret Tracking Of Users, Developer Says

A San Francisco-based developer discovered that Alibaba Group’s AliExpress marketplace secretly hijacked his computer’s audio system through hidden browser scripts, allowing the website to run inaudible sound waves at zero volume to create “fingerprints” used to track devices without relying on cookies. 

The privacy-focused Brave browser revealed in a series of X posts that the AliExpress marketplace was keeping the developer’s computer audio system active through hidden browser scripts, potentially allowing the website to generate a unique identifier for his device.

The issue emerged when the developer’s Bluetooth headphones refused to transfer their audio connection from his computer to his phone while AliExpress was open. A deeper dive of the website’s code showed background scripts maintaining access to the computer’s audio-processing system without producing audible sound.

The scripts allegedly used the browser’s Web Audio API to process signals at zero volume. Small differences in how individual computers handle those signals can be measured and combined into an “audio fingerprint,” allowing websites to recognize devices even when cookies are deleted or blocked.

The developer also found that the scripts collected other device characteristics, including available memory, screen dimensions, and network information.

Here’s what Brave found:

1. Alibaba’s AliExpress was caught using users’ audio systems to track them. AliExpress wasn’t recording users but instead playing a silent sound and measuring how users’ specific devices processed it in order to fingerprint them.

2. Fingerprinting is a way that websites can identify you without cookies. Sites will note details about your device like your screen size or installed fonts. These details are then combined into a unique, persistent “fingerprint” that can be used to track you across the Web.

3. There are slight variations in how each device plays the same audio file due to differences in CPU, sound card, browser, etc. When AliExpress played the silent sound, it measured these small variations to help build fingerprints of users’ devices.

4. This tracking was discovered due to an unexpected side effect. A user with Bluetooth headphones noticed they couldn’t play music on their phone because the headphones were instead playing AliExpress’s silent sound from their PC.

Brave turned what it found into a sales pitch for its browser:

1. For 6+ years, Brave has protected users against audio fingerprinting, and other fingerprinting types, by default. Brave injects random data into the browser’s output so you show a different fingerprint to different sites. This fingerprint also resets across sessions.

2. Trackers are constantly finding new ways to fingerprint your device, so Brave keeps adding new protections. We recently added defenses against GPU fingerprinting, which stops sites from identifying you with your graphics card or drivers.

The findings raise new questions about browser fingerprinting, a stealthy way that uses silent audio processing for covert tracking. 

Keep reading

Warner Bros. DMCA Takedowns Hit Lanterns Spoiler Discussion

Warner Bros. Discovery has been using DMCA copyright takedowns to remove posts on social media that contained just discussions about the first episode of the HBO series Lanterns, a report by Puck said.

The posts in question didn’t contain any leaked stills or footage from the show – just people’s comments about a major plot twist revealed in the first episode, which had previously been rumored and reported on by some outlets.

The series, a DC one co-created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King, premiered on Sunday, and its final moments delivered a shocking fate for one of the show’s characters.

Cosmic Book News (this link contains spoilers for Lanterns), an independent pop-culture site run by editor Matt McGloin, had spent months piecing the twist together from casting, promotional footage, and the show’s timeline; by March, McGloin was predicting the ending outright.

Warner Bros. was not happy about this, and went on to use copyright law to remove posts on X, YouTube, and Facebook. The first takedowns happened on July 10, two weeks before Comic-Con, when an anonymous Reddit post claimed to reveal the twist, and it spread to X. An HBO Max social strategist then filed a takedown notice covering six posts from five accounts, including Cosmic Book News, describing the infringement as “people discussing the spoilers of the first episode of Lanterns.”

Keep reading

Comcast Turns Millions Of Routers Into Motion Sensors – The Same WiFi Signals Can ID You With 99.5% Accuracy

Dear Comcast customers: The internet gateway in your living room is now a motion sensor. It’s free of charge, and the data can go to law enforcement without further notice. What’s more, researchers have already shown that these same signals can identify exactly who is in the room.

On Tuesday, Comcast unveiled Xfinity Shield, a home security platform built entirely around the WiFi network. Its centerpiece, WiFi Motion, turns the leased gateway into a motion detector at no extra charge. According to Comcast, a typical customer has roughly 36 devices connected to their WiFi.

WiFi Motion works because a human body moving through a room disturbs the signal field between the gateway and stationary connected devices, like a printer or a game console. While the feature is opt-in and – according to Comcast’s rollout materials – does not track phones or reach through WiFi extenders, those limitations are choices Comcast made in software, not limitations of the technology itself.

Comcast says WiFi Motion works “without recording video, capturing images or identifying individuals.”

The company is not shy about identification as a product. The $15-a-month tier, Xfinity Shield Select, adds AI-powered cameras that identify people, pets, packages and vehicles. The free tier’s restraint is a line drawn one product SKU away.

Keep reading

A California startup won approval to launch a 59-foot mirror into orbit that beams sunlight to a chosen spot on Earth, helping crews work after dark

ight falls, solar panels stop producing, and emergency crews often turn to fuel-powered generators and floodlights. A California startup now wants to offer another option by redirecting sunlight from orbit to a chosen place on Earth for a few minutes.

On July 9, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission authorized Reflect Orbital to deploy and operate Earendil-1, one experimental satellite carrying a reflector about 59 feet by 59 feet. From an orbit roughly 388 miles above Earth, the spacecraft is intended to create a moonlike patch of light about 3.1 miles wide while testing whether that footprint can be aimed and controlled accurately.

A mirror that follows the Sun

Earendil-1 will not make electricity or store solar energy. Its thin reflective film will act like a giant heliostat in space, turning so it can intercept sunlight while the satellite remains sunlit and redirect that light toward a location that has already entered darkness.

Because it moves quickly through low Earth orbit, a single pass would illuminate a target only briefly. Reflect Orbital says its planned 2026 demonstration is designed to provide around 0.1 lux for up to five minutes, equal to roughly 0.009 foot-candles and comparable to a clear night under a full moon.

The light can be removed from the ground by changing the spacecraft’s orientation. That steering ability is at the heart of the mission, since the test must show that the reflector can unfold, point accurately, hold its footprint, and turn away when service ends.

Keep reading

Coca-Cola Faces Boycott Calls Over Claims Custom Cans Allegedly BANS “Jesus is King” But Allows “Allah is King” and “Satan is King”

Here we go again.

Coca-Cola is facing a new wave of backlash after viral videos appeared to show the company’s online personalization tool immediately rejecting positive Christian messages, while references to Allah, Satan, and even degrading attacks on Jesus advanced to the preview stage.

Conservative commentator Isabel Brown tested the customizer on camera after receiving a tip from a friend. In the video, phrases including “Allah is good,” “Muhammad is good,” and “Satan is good” appeared to generate can previews. But when Brown entered “Jesus is good,” the site returned a rejection message: “The name or phrase you’ve submitted is not permitted.”

The same immediate rejection appeared for “Virgin Mary,” “Jesus Christ,” “Holy Trinity,” “Holy Spirit,” “Jesus is God,” and “Christ is King,” according to the recording.

Then the test became even more disturbing.

  • “Jesus is King” → blocked.
  • “The devil is king” → allowed.
  • Swap back to Jesus → “The name or phrase you’ve submitted is not permitted.”
  • “Allah is good” → allowed.
  • “Jesus is good” → blocked.
  • “Muhammad is good” → allowed.
  • “Satan is good” → allowed.
  • “Virgin Mary” → blocked.
  • “Jesus Christ” → blocked.
  • “Holy Trinity” → blocked.
  • “Holy Spirit” → blocked.
  • “Yahweh is good” → allowed.
  • “Jesus is bad” / “Jesus is evil” → allowed.
  • “Jesus is God” → blocked.
  • “Christ is King” → blocked.
  • “Jesus is the devil” → allowed.

“What are we doing?” the creator asks after watching “Jesus is the devil” sail through while basic Christian declarations are censored.

The full message from Coca-Cola reads:

“The name or phrase you’ve submitted is not permitted. Names and phrases may not be permitted if they belong to a business, organization, celebrity, public figure, school, team or other trademark, are religious or political in nature, or could be considered inappropriate or unsuitable for other reasons.

We worked hard to get this right but if you think we should reconsider your suggestion, please contact us at shareacoke.support@coca-cola.com and we will review this system decision further.”

Keep reading

China Punishes U.S. Companies After Being Called Out for Slavery

The Chinese Communist government announced “countermeasures” on Wednesday against the U.S. designation of more Chinese entities under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).

China denounced the U.S. listings as “illegal,” without addressing the actual issue of slave labor extracted from oppressed minorities like the Uyghurs.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) added 43 more Chinese companies to the list of entities presumed to use slavery last Friday. The affected industries included apparel, agriculture, and aluminum.

“The American worker must not be undercut and cheated by foreign companies that use slave labor. Our job is to defend the Homeland, and that includes protecting our citizens from unfair competition that not only disadvantages Americans, but harms human dignity,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said when announcing the expanded list.

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) responded on Wednesday with:

countermeasures that include strengthening export controls on dual-use items related to UAVs and their key components and technologies to the US; placing six US entities on the countermeasure list for ‘assisting and supporting the US in imposing illegal sanctions related to China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region’; placing a US compliance testing company on the countermeasure list; and initiating a national security investigation into the import of printing and copying office equipment.

“China has decided to strengthen export controls on drone-related dual-use items to the US, in order to safeguard national security and interests and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation,” MOFCOM added.

Keep reading

US Oil & Gas Association Drops in On Hunter Biden with Epic Takedown

The US Oil & Gas Association dropped in on Hunter Biden in an epic takedown after the former ‘Burisma executive’ trashed President Trump.

Hunter Biden on Friday went after Chevron and accused President Trump of ‘making big oil great again.’

“Chevron just posted $12 billion in profit. Up 400% in a year. Their biggest quarter ever. Exxon made $14.5 billion. You paid for all of it at the pump,” Hunter Biden said.

“Say what you want about Trump. He’s making something great again. And who’s more deserving than Big Oil,” Hunter said.

The US Oil & Gas Association slammed Hunter Biden and mocked him for his previous “work” in foreign oil.

Hunter Biden was paid more than $80,000 per month to sit on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company, despite having zero knowledge in the field. Hunter Biden enjoyed this lucrative gig while his then-US Vice President dad Joe Biden was tasked to handle Ukraine.

Keep reading

Verizon Blames ‘Human Error’ For Burying A Jack Smith Subpoena From Congress

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and fifteen colleagues sent a letter to Verizon on Thursday demanding the telecom giant explain how a 2023 grand jury subpoena tied to Jack Smith’s “Arctic Frost” investigation vanished from its own paperwork for more than two years – only to resurface after the company chalked the omission up to “human error.”

The letter, addressed to Verizon CEO Dan Schulman, is the latest turn in Grassley’s monthslong excavation of Arctic Frost – the Biden-era FBI/DOJ probe-turned-Trump-prosecution that has already produced a House criminal referral for Smith himself, revelations that his team accessed the actual text messages of 44 lawmakers, and now a fight over what one of the country’s largest phone companies knew and sat on.

What Subpoena?

Back in October 2023, Grassley asked Verizon to search its files for every DOJ or federal law enforcement request touching Senate devices between January 2016 and October 2023, part of his long-running Crossfire Hurricane oversight. Verizon wrote back that it generally keeps legal process on file for four years and had no records predating October 2019.

What it didn’t mention: a May 25, 2023 grand jury subpoena issued by Smith’s Arctic Frost team for senators’ phone toll records, including two numbers belonging to the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.

Congress didn’t learn the subpoena existed until 2025, when Verizon told Grassley’s office the 2023 omission came down to “human error.” Grassley isn’t satisfied with that. His new letter wants to know whether Verizon actually found the subpoena during its 2023 search and stayed quiet, or genuinely missed a live federal legal demand sitting in its own compliance files for two years.

Two of the numbers swept up in that May 2023 subpoena weren’t just any senators’ lines – they belonged to the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms. Under a contract Verizon signed with the Senate in May 2022, that’s supposed to trigger automatic notice to the SAA any time a Senate device or line gets subpoenaed. Grassley’s letter effectively asks how a contractually mandated notification simply never happened.

Keep reading