Tag: internet

China’s New Internet ID Prompts Fears of Total Digital Surveillance and Control

Starting July 15, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will launch a sweeping new Internet ID system, raising concerns that the initiative could usher in a new era of surveillance and control over the digital lives of more than a billion people.

The new program, introduced by six major government departments including the CCP’s Ministry of Public Security and China’s top internet regulator, will require users to register with their real names and obtain a state-issued “internet number” and “internet certificate.” These digital IDs will be used to access any online platform that requires real-name authentication, potentially including everything from social media to health records, education portals, and government services.

While the Chinese regime insists that participation is voluntary, critics warn that the system is designed for gradual enforcement as the regime seeks to centralize control and surveillance of internet users in China.

“This is clearly a staged rollout of a comprehensive surveillance apparatus,” Cao Lei, an independent Chinese internet data analyst, told The Epoch Times.

The CCP’s state-run media announced the new system in May and promoted the Internet ID as a means to “safeguard personal information” and streamline government regulation and verification. To apply for an Internet ID, users must submit official ID documents such as a Chinese Resident Identity Card, a passport, or a Mainland Residence Permit for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan residents. Facial recognition and mobile phone verification are also required in the process. Even minors are encouraged to register, with their guardians providing identification on their behalf.

At the moment, the system is already integrated into more than 400 apps, spanning e-commerce, health care, tourism, education, and public services.

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South Dakota Follows Texas with Broader Online Digital ID Law

The Supreme Court’s endorsement of Texas’ age verification law for adult websites has paved the way for a surge of similar online digital ID measures across the country.

South Dakota is the first to follow, as its new statute requiring age verification or estimation for sites distributing adult content takes effect today.

However the South Dakota law is much broader and applies to a wider range of websites, not just those that have a large percentage of adult content.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

The law applies broadly to any platform that regularly deals in explicit material, without setting a specific threshold for how much of the site’s content qualifies.

This contrasts with Texas’ approach, where the rule kicks in if at least one-third of a site’s material is deemed pornographic.

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Cloudflare offers to make AI pay to crawl websites

Cloudflare will block AI bots from crawling websites by default for new customers, and broker pay-per-crawl deals between its customers and bot operators.

Cloudflare will block AI crawlers from accessing new customers’ websites without permission starting July 1 and is testing a way to make AI pay for the data it gathers.

Furthermore, website owners can now decide who crawls their sites, and for what purpose, and AI companies can reveal via Cloudflare whether the data they gather will be used for training, inference, or search, to help owners decide whether to allow the crawl.

The company began enabling its customers to choose to block AI crawlers in July 2024. Since then, it said, over one million customers have opted in.

“For decades, the Internet has operated on a simple exchange: search engines index content and direct users back to original websites, generating traffic and ad revenue for websites of all sizes. This cycle rewards creators that produce quality content with money and a following, while helping users discover new and interesting information,” Cloudflare said in its announcement. “That model is now broken. AI crawlers collect content like text, articles, and images to generate answers, without sending visitors to the original source — depriving content creators of revenue, and the satisfaction of knowing someone is reading their content. If the incentive to create original, quality content disappears, society ends up losing, and the future of the Internet is at risk.”

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Social Media Especially Harms Girls’ Sleep & Mental Health

June 30 was World Social Media Day.

In a survey conducted between September and October 2025, 50 percent of 13- to 17-year-old girls said that social media has hurt their sleep, versus 40 percent of boys the same age.

As Statista’ Anna Fleck reports, teenage girls are more likely than boys to report negative impacts from social media on their sleep, self confidence, levels of productivity and mental health, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center.

You will find more infographics at Statista

A similar gap occurs for the issue of mental health (25 percent of girls, 14 percent of boys).

However, the biggest share of respondents said social media sites neither helped nor hurt their mental health.

Around one in five of both sexes said that social media had negative impacts on school grades.

Teens were more positive when it came to the question of friendships.

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Skynet is coming: the malware that attacks Artificial Intelligence!

An unusual example of malicious code has been discovered in a real computing environment, which for the first time recorded an attempt to attack not classical defense mechanisms, but directly artificial intelligence systems. We are talking about the prompt injection technique, i.e. the introduction of hidden instructions capable of compromising the functioning of language models, which are increasingly used for the automatic analysis of suspicious files. This case is the first concrete confirmation that malware authors are starting to perceive neural networks as an additional vulnerable target.

The file was uploaded to the VirusTotal platform in early June 2025. It was sent anonymously by a Dutch user via a standard web interface. Upon examining its contents, researchers discovered that an unusual string of text was encrypted within the program, an attempt to interfere with the operation of artificial intelligence tools used for reverse engineering and automatic code verification.

The authors of the malware called it Skynet, a reference to the well-known botnet based on the Zeus Trojan, which has been actively used since 2012 for DDoS attacks and covert cryptocurrency mining. However, the new Skynet, in its functionality, resembles more an experimental assembly or an empty object than a tool ready for mass use.

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North Korean IT workers infiltrated Fortune 500 companies in massive fraud scheme

Federal authorities have unraveled several schemes by the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRK) that were used to fund its regime through remote information technology (IT) work for U.S. companies, resulting in two indictments, tech and financial seizures and an arrest.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Monday that North Korean actors were helped by individuals in the U.S., China, the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan to obtain employment with over 100 U.S. companies, including Fortune 500 companies.

In one scheme, U.S.-based individuals created front companies and fraudulent websites to promote the legitimacy of remote workers, while hosting laptop farms where remote North Korean IT workers could remotely access company-provided laptop computers.

In another scheme, IT workers in North Korea used false identities to gain employment with a blockchain research and development company in Atlanta, Georgia, and steal virtual currency worth over $900,000.

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Denmark Plans Sweeping Ban on Online Deepfakes to Combat “Misinformation”

Denmark is preparing legislation that would outlaw the sharing of deepfake content online, a move that could open the door to unprecedented restrictions on digital expression.

Deepfakes, which can involve photos, videos, or audio recordings manipulated by artificial intelligence, are designed to convincingly fabricate actions or statements that never occurred.

While governments cite misinformation concerns, broad bans risk stifling creativity, political commentary, and legitimate speech.

The Danish Ministry of Culture announced Thursday that lawmakers from many parties are backing the effort to clamp down on the distribution of AI-generated imitations of people’s appearances or voices.

The forthcoming proposal, according to officials, aims to block the spread of deepfakes by making it illegal to share such material. Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt argued that “it was high time that we now create a safeguard against the spread of misinformation and at the same time send a clear signal to the tech giants.”

But these assurances do little to address the chilling effect such measures could have on free expression.

Authorities describe the planned rules as among the most comprehensive attempts yet to confront deepfakes and their potential to mislead the public.

The United States last year introduced legislation criminalizing the non-consensual sharing of intimate deepfakes, while South Korea has imposed tougher punishments for similar offenses and tightened regulations on social media platforms.

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Marsha Blackburn Proposes Bipartisan Bill to Rein In Big Tech as ‘Unaccountable Gatekeepers’ over Apps

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and a group of bipartisan lawmakers this week introduced legislation that would prevent big tech from operating as “unaccountable gatekeepers” for the mobile app economy.

Sens. Blackburn, Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mike Lee (R-UT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Open App Markets Act, a bill aimed at setting clear and enforceable rules of consumer protections within the app market.

“Big Tech giants have operated as unaccountable gatekeepers of the mobile app economy, forcing American consumers to use their app stores at the expense of innovative startups that threaten their bottom line,” Blackburn said in a statement.

“Our bipartisan Open App Markets Act would ensure a freer and fairer marketplace for consumers and small businesses by promoting competition in the app marketplace and opening the door to more choices and innovation,” she added.

With the advent of the smartphone, mobile devices have become a central aspect of the American consumers’ economic, social, and civic lives. The bipartisan group of lawmakers asserted that their legislation would break Apple and Google’s predominant “grip on the app economy.”

Blackburn’s press release about the legislation noted that consumers spent $92 billion on the Apple App Store and roughly $35.7 billion on the Google Play Store.

Apple has actively worked to prevent users from using third-party app stores on Apple devices, requiring app users and developers to use their Apple payment system.

The lawmakers stated that startups often face serious challenges because big tech can prioritize their own app to the disadvantage of smaller competitors.

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Supreme Court Greenlights Online Digital ID Checks

With a landmark ruling that could shape online content regulation for years to come, the US Supreme Court has upheld Texas’s digital ID age-verification law for adult websites and platforms, asserting that the measure lawfully balances the state’s interest in protecting minors with the free speech rights of adults.

The 6-3 decision, issued on June 27, 2025, affirms the constitutionality of House Bill 1181, a statute that requires adult websites to verify the age of users before granting access to sexually explicit material.

Laws like House Bill 1181, framed as necessary safeguards for children, are quietly eroding the rights of adults to access lawful content or speak freely online without fear of surveillance or exposure.

Under such laws, anyone seeking to view legal adult material online (and eventually even those who want to access social media platforms because may contain content “harmful” to minors) is forced to provide official identification, often a government-issued digital ID or even biometric data, to prove their age.

Supporters claim this is a small price to pay to shield minors from harmful content. Yet these measures create permanent records linking individuals to their browsing choices, exposing them to unprecedented risks.

We obtained a copy of the opinion for you here.

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COPPA 2.0: The Age Check Trap That Means Surveillance for Everyone

A new Senate bill designed to strengthen online privacy protections for minors could bring about major changes in how age is verified across the internet, prompting platforms to implement broader surveillance measures in an attempt to comply with ambiguous legal standards.

The Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (S.836) (COPPA 2.0), now under review by the Senate Commerce Committee, proposes raising the protected age group from under 13 to under 17. It also introduces a new provision allowing teens aged 13 to 16 to consent to data collection on their own.

The bill has drawn praise from lawmakers across party lines and received backing from several major tech companies.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

Supporters frame the bill as a long-overdue update to existing digital privacy laws. But others argue that a subtle change in how platforms are expected to identify underage users may produce outcomes that are more intrusive and far-reaching than anticipated.

Under the current law, platforms must act when they have “actual knowledge” that a user is a child.

The proposed bill replaces that threshold with a broader and less defined expectation: “knowledge fairly implied on the basis of objective circumstances.” This language introduces uncertainty about what constitutes sufficient awareness, making companies more vulnerable to legal challenges if they fail to identify underage users.

Instead of having to respond only when given explicit information about a user’s age, platforms would be required to interpret behavioral cues, usage patterns, or contextual data. This effectively introduces a negligence standard, compelling platforms to act preemptively to avoid accusations of noncompliance.

As a result, many websites may respond by implementing age verification systems for all users, regardless of whether they cater to minors. These systems would likely require more detailed personal information, including government-issued identification or biometric scans, to confirm users’ ages.

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