Tag: technology

UNPRECEDENTED: EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola Pushing Controversial Scanning of Online Content, Ignoring That EMPs Have Already Rejected the Idea Multiple Times

Another EU tyrant on the move.

Leave it to the EU to have a dizzying number of ‘chiefs’, signaling a bloated bureaucracy that has become more of a problem than a solution for the issues that European nations face.

Fasten up for the list: the European Commissioner (currently Ursula von der Leyen/VDL): a ‘member of the European Commission’s College responsible for overseeing one specific policy area (portfolio), such as trade, climate, or digital affairs.’

The President of the European Council (currently Antonio Costa): ‘Chairs summits of EU heads of state and government, drives consensus on the EU’s overall political direction and priorities, and ensures the EU’s external representation at that level’.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (currently Kaja Kallas): ‘Leads and coordinates the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), chairs the Foreign Affairs Council, represents the EU on the world stage as its chief diplomat, and serves as a Vice-President of the European Commission’.

Hold on, that’s not all. President of the European Parliament (currently Roberta Metsola): ‘Chairs plenary sessions and key internal bodies, oversees the Parliament’s work and rules, signs adopted legislation, and represents the Parliament to other EU institutions and externally’.

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Maryland Protests Data Center Costs

A group of 80 Maryland state lawmakers are backing a complaint at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over the PJM Interconnection’s cost allocation for transmission lines that support data centers.

Driven by the way PJM spreads transmission costs, Maryland ratepayers will pay $1.6 billion over the next decade for transmission projects that were approved in the grid operator’s last three regional transmission expansion plans that are designed to mainly serve out-of-state data centers, Maryland’s ratepayer advocate — the Office of People’s Counsel — said in its May 7 complaint.

“While PJM’s rules are unfair for many PJM states, they impact Maryland disproportionately simply because Maryland sits next to Data Center Alley in Virginia,” the Maryland lawmakers said in a Wednesday filing at FERC. “Given the projections of massive data center growth — more than 80,000 megawatts over the next 20 years — PJM is likely to bill Maryland customers billions more for future data center-driven transmission costs.”

The complaint at FERC comes amid an intense focus across the United States on how data centers can affect the electric bills of existing ratepayers through increased generation and transmission costs. The complaint centers on the transmission side of the equation. It contends that FERC is barred from approving transmission cost allocation methodologies that assign costs to ratepayers that won’t gain “roughly commensurate” benefits.

PJM’s cost allocation methodology assigns half of certain regional transmission projects based on a load-ratio share across its footprint, which assumes that all transmission built will benefit the entire grid, according to the ratepayer advocate’s complaint. The other half of transmission costs are assigned via a “solution-based distribution factor analysis,” which fails to capture certain reliability issues caused by data centers, the ratepayer advocate said.

Spreading data center-driven transmission costs across PJM’s footprint could lead to overbuilding, according to the complaint.

“By socializing data center-driven transmission costs to all ratepayers, it insulates states and utilities that attract speculative load growth from overbuilding and stranded asset risk while shifting those risks to neighboring states’ ratepayers,” the ratepayer advocate said.

Further, state-level large-load tariffs fail to address, and may make worse, the misallocation of transmission costs caused by PJM’s transmission cost allocation methodology, according to the complaint. 

Also, recent FERC-approved utility “transmission security agreements” between utilities and data centers are “often confidential, highly variable, and fail to protect existing customers,” the ratepayer advocate said.

The agreements leave ratepayers exposed to transmission costs caused by data centers, according to the ratepayer advocate. “Moreover, they carry potential legal consequences that may prove difficult to unravel,” the ratepayer advocate said. The ratepayer advocate said FERC should order PJM to revise its cost allocation methodology so that data centers pay for the transmission projects that they cause.

As a start, PJM should be required to assign the costs of transmission projects that are designed to serve data centers and other large loads to the grid operator’s zones where the data centers are located, according to the complaint. That would allow state-level large load tariffs to address those transmission costs, the ratepayer advocate said.

“The upstream leakage of a substantial portion of data center driven costs at the regional level to other zones through the current operation of the PJM tariff creates an unjust subsidy for that data center load,” the ratepayer advocate said.

The complaint calls on FERC to order PJM to re-study the baseline reliability projects approved in its last three regional transmission expansion plans to determine the costs caused by forecast load growth from data centers. 

FERC has extended the comment deadline on the complaint to July 27.

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AMD silently removes memory encryption from consumer Ryzen CPUs

According to a report by Ars Technica, AMD has quietly stripped a critical security feature from its lower-end CPUs, leaving unaware users potentially vulnerable to physical attacks. Following a months-long investigation tracked on GitHub, Ben Kilpatrick confirmed that the Transparent Secure Memory Encryption (TSME) feature — which protects CPUs against physical exploits that siphon data from connected memory chips — was suddenly no longer available on AMD CPUs outside the company’s Pro lineup.

As the exhaustive inquiry, which involved conversations with AMD engineers, board vendors, and other CPU users, was coming to a head, an AMD engineer abruptly cut discussions short, stating, “My apologies, but I don’t have any more information to share on this topic.” As of this report, AMD has neither officially acknowledged nor explained the disappearance of the security feature.

TSME is a protection feature that encrypts the data stored in memory, making it unusable to physical attackers. AMD initially added this feature to its high-end CPUs, then later extended it to lower-end CPUs. Eventually, the feature became a given, leaving lower-end chip users assured in its availability as part of the chip package. However, without prior notice, AMD appears to have scrapped the security feature in these processors.

According to the Ars report, the company’s only official reaction to the matter — not counting the GitHub discussions — is an email response stating that TSME “is a security feature only applied to PRO CPUs as part of AMD PRO Technologies,” notably the first time the company has publicly stated such a restriction, despite the feature having worked on consumer chips for years. However, it remains unclear whether the disappearance is an intentional policy decision by AMD to reserve TSME for Pro chips or an unintentional regression that was introduced in AGESA 1.2.7.0, a newer firmware release.

Another concerning aspect of the removal is that the feature’s disappearance is completely undetectable on Windows machines and requires significant technical work to identify on Linux. That means the security feature was removed, leaving users unaware that anything had changed.

Kilpatrick, a self-described “privacy-conscious Linux hobbyist” who first reported the change, was installing a new operating system on his machine running a Ryzen 7 9700X from the Zen 5 architecture. To confirm that all his security protections were enabled, he ran Host Security ID (HSI), an auditing feature that evaluates a system’s firmware and hardware security configurations. To his surprise, HSI reported that TSME was no longer supported — even though he had enabled it in his BIOS settings all along. The contradiction sent him searching for answers.

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CEO of eCommerce Giant Warns Robots Will Replace Humans in Food Delivery, Other Gig Economy Jobs

The founder of one of China’s largest ecommerce companies has issued a stark warning that its entire delivery workforce of 700,000 people will ultimately be displaced by robotic automation. This replacement of the gig economy with robots, if successful, will spread around the world.

The Financial Times reports that Richard Liu, founder and chairman of JD.com, delivered the warning at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO forum in Shenzhen on Sunday, saying that gig economy jobs will eventually become obsolete as robot delivery systems mature. His comments highlight mounting anxiety among Chinese policymakers about how swiftly advancing automation technologies could destabilize employment for the country’s most economically vulnerable workers.

Liu disclosed that JD.com has already established training partnerships with approximately 120 educational institutions to prepare its army of 700,000 delivery workers for alternative careers, particularly in robot repair and maintenance. He emphasized that mechanical systems inevitably develop faults, creating ongoing demand for technicians capable of servicing automated equipment.

At the forum, Liu stated: “In the future, when robots are delivering parcels, sooner or later, there will be a day when couriers are basically no longer needed.” He added: “It will definitely be robots delivering parcels. But I really do not want our 700,000 brothers to go without meals, without jobs.”

The JD.com founder declined to specify when widespread robot delivery might become reality in China. Nevertheless, various experimental initiatives are already progressing across the country and around the world.

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Tesla Auto-Pilot VP Says Driver Who Crashed into Home at 73 MPH Killing Elderly Woman Overrode Self-Driving Mode – Elon Musk Says Driver’s Claim “Makes No Sense”

Tesla has responded to the high-speed crash at a Texas family’s home, which killed an elderly woman, while the car was in self-driving mode, the driver claims. 

Tesla leadership, including CEO Elon Musk, has denied that the car was driving itself.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported on the incident, where the driver claimed the Tesla Model 3 was in self-driving mode before flying through the front yard and plowing into the home.

76-year-old Martha Avila Mantilla, a grandmother, was killed in the crash.

Additional video from another residence shows the Tesla flying through the neighborhood before the collision.

Initial reporting suggested that law enforcement was investigating the driver’s claim that he was in autopilot mode at the time of the crash. The driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, did not initially face charges.

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Automakers Race Into Humanoid Robots As Timeline For Blue-Collar Job Disruption Emerges

Bernstein analyst Eunice Lee is out with a fascinating note explaining why automakers are making a mad dash into the world of humanoid robotics, arguing that their manufacturing scale, supply-chain depth, and years of investment in autonomous driving give them a structural lead in the emerging physical-AI market.

Lee writes that automakers are also seeking new revenue streams beyond the core vehicle business, with humanoids poised to move from factory floors into the physical world across retail, security, public service, and eventually homes.

From Tesla and Hyundai to XPeng, Xiaomi, BYD, Geely, and Chery, automakers are quickly moving beyond EVs and into humanoids through in-house development, acquisitions, minority stakes, and strategic partnerships. Lee said this trend became visible in China, where multiple OEM-linked robots were showcased at the 2026 Beijing Auto Show.

“OEMs are entering humanoid robotics to boost productivity and unlock new revenue streams,” Lee wrote in the note.

She noted, “Automakers have several advantages across hardware, software, and scale. There is significant overlap between vehicle and humanoid components—motors, reducers, sensors —as well as manufacturing.”

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California Residents Sue Gas Stations Alleging AI Price Fixing

Three California residents are suing a fuel pricing company and several gas station operators, alleging that they use artificial intelligence-based pricing systems to raise gasoline prices in an uncompetitive manner.

“Californians are being forced to pay surcharges that cannot be explained by crude oil costs, refining costs, environmental regulation, or taxes,” said the June 22 class action lawsuit, filed at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division.

“Part of the cause of California’s astronomical fuel prices is an illegal algorithmic price-fixing scheme orchestrated by the algorithmic pricing company Kalibrate and some of the state’s largest fuel retailers.”

The company’s Kalibrate Fuel Pricing software, an algorithmic, AI-based pricing system, “connects directly to gas stations’ pumps and signs. Instead of lowering prices to attract drivers, Kalibrate Fuel Pricing relies on the data of competing gas stations to coordinate high prices and wring more money from the pockets of consumers throughout the state,” the lawsuit states.

This is contradictory to historical trends where gas stations have competed to secure customers by “aggressively undercutting” retail prices, the lawsuit said.

The “artificial surcharge” from the algorithmic pricing scheme inflicts a “severe, daily financial toll” on millions of Californians, the lawsuit said. For people whose livelihoods are tied to road transport, such as truck drivers, the higher gas prices eat into their incomes.

According to data from the American Automobile Association, a gallon of regular gasoline costs $5.56 on average in California as of June 23, the highest in the country.

A month ago, prices were at $6.11 per gallon amid US-Iran war tensions. A year ago, prices were still close to $5 at $4.66 per gallon.

California’s current gasoline price of $5.56 per gallon is more than $1.6 higher than the $3.92 national average.

In their lawsuit, the defendants said that Kalibrate Fuel Pricing even has a feature that enables almost all gas stations in a market to raise gasoline prices simultaneously.

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MP Materials’ Lawsuit Against USA Rare Earth Highlights Battle For America’s Future In Minerals

USA Rare Earth has dismissed a lawsuit filed by MP Materials, calling the claims “completely without merit” and arguing the case is an attempt to slow its growth. The company said it will deny all allegations that it improperly obtained confidential information from a former MP employee, according to Bloomberg.

The dispute underscores intensifying competition in the U.S. rare-earth sector, where both companies are racing to build domestic mining, processing, and magnet-production capabilities. USA Rare Earth said MP is trying to impede its progress as it develops the Round Top deposit in Texas and a magnet facility in Oklahoma.

Bloomberg writes that MP sued last month, alleging a coordinated effort by USA Rare Earth to recruit MP employees and misuse proprietary information. The lawsuit also questioned the viability of USA Rare Earth’s projects. MP declined to comment on the latest filing.

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Invasion of the Killer Data Centers

Who controls what data?

Wikipedia tells us that a data center is “a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. Data centers are critical infrastructure for the storage and processing of information, and they support the global financial system….and artificial intelligence.”

Data centers are being constructed now on a scale never seen before. These big, beautiful data centers have been described as “foundational to how modern society functions.” And, like so many other nefarious things, they are said to be vital to national security. This would be the same society that is so concerned about national security they left the southern border completely open for decades, and are now hot and heavy to merge our military together with that of another nation. In January, 2025, our beloved former President Biden signed an executive order on Advancing United States Leadership in Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure, with a decided emphasis on AI’s central role in shaping the economy and our national defense. This order triggered the development of “domestic AI infrastructure,” visibly represented by large-scale data centers. We have to “ensure U.S. economic competitiveness,” after all. It’s not like building factories and reviving domestic industry would do that.

So who is paying for all these data centers? That’s a bit unclear, as you might expect. We do know that Google invested $40 billion just in Texas for AI and new data centers. One report said Microsoft was planning to spend $80 billion on the same thing in 2025. Something called Digital Realty operates more than 300 data centers worldwide. All we know is that it’s a “real estate investment trust.” A company owned by a Dubai billionaire friend of Donald Trump is kicking in $20 billion. The U.S. worked out some kind of “investment agreement” with Saudi Arabia that amounts to $600 billion. Taxpayers are kept in the dark about lucrative data center subsidies, and one source claims we are paying about $1 million for every data center job created. In Israel, Larry Ellison’s Oracle is building a new data center that takes up nine stories. Underground. For “security” reasons. “Experts” warn that “anti-Israel protesters” are among those objecting to all these new data centers.

As always, the Zionist connection is prominent. In a remarkably revealing recent speech, “AI researcher” Dr. Maya Ackerman told the American Jewish Committee, “instead of trying to control the whole world, and trying to somehow manage what’s happening in this big blob of Wikipedia and social media, we can go directly to the companies with clear technical and advocacy solutions. For the first time, there is a path to correcting the digital world.” I’m certainly no “AI researcher,” but I think the lovely Zionist is confessing to an Israeli desire to control the world here. Just imagine if an Iranian “AI researcher” said this. Or a Russian. Bari Weiss would be up in arms. Jerry Seinfeld might cheer a little less loudly at the next Knicks game. Clearly, there is a powerful consortium pushing for these data centers, and an expansion of AI. In my state of Virginia, over 600 new data centers have been, or are being built. Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger is ecstatic about that. But so are Trumpenstein and his cult.

I worked in Information Systems for nearly thirty years, in three different data centers. So my knowledge of data centers is limited to what they historically were. Companies, or government agencies, would utilize a data center to store the data specific to their company or agency. So these sudden super data centers baffle me. One in Utah is said to be envisioned as twice the size of Manhattan. What? How many servers would that require? And what data in Utah is being stored? No particular company built it. No special government agency did. So what is its purpose? What is the purpose of the over 600 data centers springing up in Virginia? Was that much of the state really offline, to require 600 new data centers? Shouldn’t someone be asking these questions? What else could they be used for, other than nefarious AI monitoring? If they’re not for surveillance, explain what they are for. Whose data are they storing, and why is there so much of it? Where was all this data before?

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Crypto’s next billion-dollar hacker may move at superhuman speed

Anthropic’s new Claude Fable 5 puts powerful cyber tools behind safety filters. DeFi, already hit by more than $840 million in hacks this year, is one of the industries with the most to lose if the filters fail.

The newest AI model from Anthropic, which gives users access to stronger, faster reasoning and coding capabilities, lands in a crypto market beset by security problems and could well exacerbate them.

The company released Claude Fable 5 on Tuesday, the first public model in the Mythos class and, Anthropic says, its most powerful yet. So powerful, in fact, the company released two versions: one for widespread use and the other for more restricted distribution.

The public version sports stronger reasoning and coding ability while blocking the most dangerous uses. A less-hamstrung counterpart, Claude Mythos 5, is available only to vetted users in cybersecurity and critical infrastructure.

Experts say Mythos can find and chain zero-day vulnerabilities, or previously unknown software flaws, and help turn a bug into a working attack. Anthropic says the software tries to intercept possible attack vectors by detecting high-risk requests. Once identified, they are routed to a weaker model, Claude Opus 4.8.

The company says this specific fallback triggers in fewer than 5% of sessions. It also said in a blog post that specialized cybersecurity teams and more than 1,000 hours of external bug-bounty work found no universal way of breaking the system.

Still, Anthropic recognizes that the system is unlikely to be foolproof and says it expects determined, well-funded attackers to keep trying because the capability is valuable.

“The uplift from Mythos-level capabilities is valuable to many adversaries—for instance, those who could financially gain from cyberattacks—and we therefore expect them to be motivated to try to circumvent our safety measures,” the firm said in the post.

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