Meet the norovirus, which causes the winter vomiting bug but might be a thing of the past thanks to a new mRNA vaccine. CC-licensed photo by NIAID on Flickr.
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A selection of 9 links for you. Holding it in. I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. Observations and links welcome.
Inside the US government-bought tool that can track phones at abortion clinics • 404 Media
Joseph Cox:
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On a computer screen a map shows the movements of smartphones around the globe. Zooming into an abortion clinic in the south of the United States, the online tool shows more than 700 red dots over the clinic itself, each representing a phone, and by extension, a person.
The tool, called Locate X and made by a company called Babel Street, then narrows down to the movements of a specific device which had visited the clinic. This phone started at a residence in Alabama in mid-June. It then went by a Lowe’s Home Improvement store, traveled along a highway, went past a gas station, visited a church, crossed over into Florida, and then stopped at the abortion clinic for approximately two hours. They had only been to the clinic once, according to the data.
The device then headed back, and crossed back over into Alabama. The tool also showed their potential home, based on the high frequency at which the device stopped there. The tool clearly shows this home address on its map interface.
In other words, someone had traveled from Alabama, where abortion is illegal after the June 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, to an abortion clinic in Florida, where abortion is limited but still available early in a pregnancy. Based on the data alone, it is unclear who exactly this person is or what they were doing, whether they were receiving an abortion themselves, assisting someone seeking one, or going to the clinic for another reason. But it would be trivial for US authorities, some of which already have access to this tool, to go one step further and unmask this or other abortion clinic visitors.
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There’s going to be a terrific business in burner featurephones if Trump wins the election. It’ll be like a female casting of The Wire.
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Hacker plants false memories in ChatGPT to steal user data in perpetuity • Ars Technica
Dan Goodin:
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When security researcher Johann Rehberger recently reported a vulnerability in ChatGPT that allowed attackers to store false information and malicious instructions in a user’s long-term memory settings, OpenAI summarily closed the inquiry, labeling the flaw a safety issue, not, technically speaking, a security concern.
So Rehberger did what all good researchers do: He created a proof-of-concept exploit that used the vulnerability to exfiltrate all user input in perpetuity. OpenAI engineers took notice and issued a partial fix earlier this month.
The vulnerability abused long-term conversation memory, a feature OpenAI began testing in February and made more broadly available in September. Memory with ChatGPT stores information from previous conversations and uses it as context in all future conversations. That way, the LLM can be aware of details such as a user’s age, gender, philosophical beliefs, and pretty much anything else, so those details don’t have to be inputted during each conversation.
Within three months of the rollout, Rehberger found that memories could be created and permanently stored through indirect prompt injection, an AI exploit that causes an LLM to follow instructions from untrusted content such as emails, blog posts, or documents. The researcher demonstrated how he could trick ChatGPT into believing a targeted user was 102 years old, lived in the Matrix, and insisted Earth was flat and the LLM would incorporate that information to steer all future conversations. These false memories could be planted by storing files in Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive, uploading images, or browsing a site like Bing—all of which could be created by a malicious attacker.
Rehberger privately reported the finding to OpenAI in May. That same month, the company closed the report ticket.
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Myanmar’s severe internet blackouts spur use of free VPNs, Starlink • Rest of World
Nu Nu Lusan:
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In Myanmar’s northern Kachin state, Seng had struggled with internet shutdowns and low bandwidth since the military coup of 2021. Then came the blocks on social media platforms including Facebook. But it was the recent ban on virtual private networks (VPNs) that really hurt her online clothing business.
“When they banned Facebook, I hired someone to use a VPN and post on our Facebook page from an area where the internet was still accessible,” Seng, who asked to go by a single name to protect her identity, told Rest of World. “After they banned VPNs, I have to go to Yangon from time to time to try and upload photos and videos with any VPN that still works. Sometimes, I cannot do it.”
There have been more than 300 internet shutdowns across the country since February 1, 2021, according to the Myanmar Internet Project, an advocacy group. Residents have also faced partial shutdowns of internet and mobile networks, bandwidth limitations, and social media blocks. Those in Sagaing region, and the states of Kachin and Shan, which have seen fierce fighting with resistance forces, are particularly affected.
The junta has banned encrypted messaging apps such as Signal and WhatsApp, and restricted social media apps including Facebook, Instagram, and X. Only Telegram and TikTok — which the junta uses for propaganda and to dox activists — are accessible. The junta has also launched its version of YouTube, called MTube, and MySpace (not to be confused with the now largely defunct U.S. platform of the same name.)
…In areas with frequent communications blackouts, satellite-based internet has become the only option. Starlink, which is not yet licensed in Myanmar, is in high demand. Anti-junta forces have set up Starlink systems in dozens of areas in the Sagaing and Magway regions, and in Karenni and Kachin states. There may be more than 3,000 Starlink dishes in use in the country, the Myanmar Internet Project estimates.
“It’s the only viable solution for end users,” the spokesperson said. “Others are not end user-oriented, and are also expensive, and need a lot of technical expertise.”
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Myanmar had zero internet in 2010. Then too much in 2016. Now, not enough.
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Nicole Shanahan’s journey from tech royalty to pro-Trump wellness guru • The Washington Post
Elizabeth Dwoskin, Ashley Parker, Meryl Kornfield and Aaron Schaffer:
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[Nicole] Shanahan described Trump as “a former enemy” turned “partner in a time of need,” who she thinks can bring her main concerns about technology, health and the environment to the White House.
Shanahan’s transformation has alarmed former associates in Silicon Valley, a number of whom are Democrats, startled by her newfound political prominence. Interviews with 34 people familiar with her rise, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive matters, along with court documents, photographs, text messages and screenshots paint a portrait of a chameleon who rose from a violent, hardscrabble childhood to join one of the most elite circles of the tech industry — doggedly pursuing influence.
Her tumultuous marriage to Brin — the world’s 10th-richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — is central to that rise. The marriage offered Shanahan entree to tech’s inner sanctum, but generated previously unreported personal drama that drove a wedge between Brin and Google co-founder Larry Page, as well as their friends and families, according to three people who know both men. When the divorce was finalized last year, Shanahan won what is likely one of the largest divorce settlements in U.S. history — as much as $1bn, according to Forbes — and the means to pursue her political ambitions.
Within a year, she had bankrolled Kennedy’s quixotic presidential campaign. Now, those in the elite Silicon Valley circles she once ran in say they fear she will use her piece of the Google fortune to tip the razor-thin race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, or push unverified medical views to a broad audience.
…Shanahan became aware of reporting for this article when she and [would-be presidential hopeless Robert] Kennedy were still campaigning. In June, she texted an associate who had been contacted by The Post to suggest a deal: Shanahan said she would “pay your friend” — The Post reporter — “half a million dollars to be a whistleblower” to expose people Shanahan claimed were spreading false information about her.
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Apparently the $500k was offered to Elizabeth Dwoskin, who describes it as “one of my stranger experiences in journalism”, which makes me wonder about other strange experiences she’s had that can compare to that.
Anyhow, billionaires considered harmful.
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Manchester Arena bomb survivors win conspiracy harassment case • BBC News
Tom Mullen, Ewan Gawne and Marianna Spring:
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Two survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing have won a High Court harassment case against a former television producer who claimed the attack was staged.
Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve sued Richard Hall for harassment and data protection in what was the first such case launched against a conspiracy theorist in the UK.
Mr Hibbert was left with a spinal cord injury and Ms Hibbert suffered severe brain damage as a result of the attack at the venue on 22 May 2017.
Mr Hall had told the court his actions, which included filming Eve outside her home, were in the public interest as a journalist and claimed “millions of people” had “bought a lie” about the attack.
Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds more injured when Salman Abedi detonated a homemade rucksack-bomb in the foyer of the venue as thousands of people left an Ariana Grande concert.
The court was told the Hibberts were among those standing nearest to the bomber at the time of the blast. Across several videos and a book, Mr Hall claimed several of those who died were living abroad or were dead before the attack and told the court he believed that no-one was “genuinely injured” in the bombing.
In a 63-page judgment, Mrs Justice Steyn said the Hibberts had won their harassment claim, but said she would not decide the data protection claim at this stage.
The judge said she found Hall to be “unreflective and insensitive to the level of distress likely to be caused by his persistent attempts to discredit what those who have suffered so tragically in the Attack say about it”.
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Good to know that conspiracy theorists can get jugged on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Doctors trial world’s first mRNA vaccine against vomiting bug norovirus • The Guardian
Nicola Davis:
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Doctors have begun trialling the world’s first mRNA vaccine against the vomiting bug norovirus in the hope the jab could bring huge health and economic benefits.
Norovirus causes sickness and diarrhoea and can spread very rapidly between people who are in close contact, with outbreaks often occurring in hospitals, care homes, schools and nurseries.
While most people recover within two to three days, the virus can be serious, particularly for the very young, elderly or people with a weakened immune system.
Dr Patrick Moore, a GP and national chief investigator for the trial in the UK, said that at present there were no approved vaccines for norovirus in the world, while people who become very ill were simply given intravenous fluids.
Moore added that the burden of the bug was huge, with about 685m cases and 200,000 deaths globally each year. In the UK it is thought there are about 4m norovirus cases annually, with 12,000 hospitalisations a year in England alone.
“In the UK, norovirus is estimated to cost about £100m annually to the NHS [and] if you take into account lost earnings, that’s about £300m,” Moore said.
Called Nova 301, the phase 3 clinical trial is to run for two years, and will enrol 25,000 adults – with a focus on those over the age of 60 – from countries including Japan, Canada and Australia.
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The first mRNA vaccine trials were in 2001, but things have really accelerated since then – particularly with Covid.
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Energy storage is a solved problem • PV magazine International
The International Solar Energy Society wants you to know:
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As fossil fuel power stations close due to old age and competition from low-cost solar and wind, the gap must be filled by large-scale storage. When the amount of solar and wind energy is less than about 50%, batteries with a storage capacity of a few hours are preferred. Eventually, large energy storage is required, to cover overnight and several days of cloudy weather. This is the role of PHES [pumped hydro energy storage – dams, in common parlance].
Hybrid storage systems that combine batteries and PHES are superior to either technology alone. Batteries are relatively inexpensive for storage power ($/GW) but are expensive for energy storage ($/GWh). PHES is more expensive than batteries for storage power ($/GW) but much cheaper for energy storage ($/GWh). A hybrid system has both cheap energy (GWh) and cheap power (GW).
In a hybrid system, storage can charge storage. A large PHES reservoir can trickle charge batteries 24/7 for a week during a calm and cloudy period. For example, a PHES system with 350 GWh of energy storage and 2 GW of generation power can trickle charge twelve 4-hour batteries (48 GWh) every day for a week. Such a hybrid system effectively has energy storage of 370 GWh and storage power of 12 GW. A battery-only system would run out of energy after the first day, while a PHES-only system would be underpowered.
An additional advantage is that the batteries can harvest negative prices for four hours around noon with a power of 12 GW, and trickle charge a large but low-power PHES system for the next 20 hours – and do this every day for a week before the PHES system is full. In other words, the hybrid system harvests peak power prices at 12 GW and is recharged at negative prices.
The Global Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Atlas lists 820,000 sites with combined energy storage of 86 million GWh. This is equivalent to the effective storage in about 2,000 billion electric vehicles, which is far more storage than the world will ever need.
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Ex NYT Editor Bill Keller on how to repair public trust in media • Bloomberg (free link)
Bill Keller:
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Trust in the media did not evaporate; it fractured. A YouGov survey in May found that for the most part, Americans profess some confidence in the news sources they personally consume, much as voters who regard Congress with contempt nonetheless keep reelecting their incumbent lawmakers. Democrats are more likely to trust what we have come to refer to as “mainstream media” — the major daily newspapers, the TV networks, CNN and NPR, et al. — while Republicans, with Donald Trump serving as their cheerleader, scorn those outlets as “fake news” and rely mostly on the smug right-wingers of Fox and Newsmax. Young readers are more likely than older readers to get their news from social media, and more likely to trust it.
What’s missing in this atomized world is a common pool of information. Another survey, this one by the Pew Research Center in 2019, found Americans so divided that they “not only disagree over plans and policies, but also cannot agree on the basic facts.”
The mistrust feeds — and feeds on — the extreme polarization of our politics.
Lee Rainie, a Pew veteran and director of the Imagining the Digital Future Center at Elon University in North Carolina, says many Americans fear a collapse of what he calls the “civic information ecosystem” — the shared understanding and values that enable a functioning democracy. Writing in the journal Daedalus, Rainie said: “Alarmingly, 73% of Americans now believe that political partisans do not operate in a shared reality, and a similar proportion of adults believe the party partisans do not occupy a shared moral universe.”
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It’s certainly brave of Keller to think that there’s a way back, but I do tend to feel that once the Disinformer-in-Chief passes out of the public eye, things have a chance to reset. But only a chance.
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Intuit asked us to delete part of this Decoder episode. We didn’t • The Verge
Nilay Patel:
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I couldn’t have the CEO of Intuit on [The Verge’s podcast, Decoder] without asking about tax reform in the United States. Individual income taxes are more complicated in the US than in almost any other developed economy, and Intuit has been lobbying hard since the late 1990s to keep it that way to protect TurboTax, spending nearly $3.8m in lobbying in 2023 alone. There’s been extensive reporting about it. This lobbying has had mixed results: truly free online direct filing with the IRS began as a pilot program this year and is expanding to be available for more than half the US population in 2025.
It’s also not just lobbying: in 2022, a coalition of attorneys general from all 50 states got Intuit to agree to a $141m settlement that required Intuit to refund low-income Americans who were eligible for free filing but were redirected to paid products. In 2023, the FTC found that TurboTax’s “free” marketing was willfully deceptive, and after the agency won an appeal early this year, Intuit was ordered to stop doing it.
I asked about that, and Sasan disagreed with me, and we went back and forth for a few minutes on it. It’s Decoder; we have exchanges like this all the time, and I didn’t think anything of it.
But then I got a note from Rick Heineman, the chief communications officer at Intuit, who called the line of questioning and my tone “inappropriate,” “egregious,” and “disappointing” and demanded that we delete that entire section of the recording. I mean, literally — he wrote a long email that ended with “at the very least the end portion of your interview should be deleted.”
We don’t do that here at The Verge.
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Absolute idiocy on the part of Intuit, which obviously laid itself open to being roasted. Job done!
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| • Why do social networks drive us a little mad? • Why does angry content seem to dominate what we see? • How much of a role do algorithms play in affecting what we see and do online? • What can we do about it? • Did Facebook have any inkling of what was coming in Myanmar in 2016? Read Social Warming, my latest book, and find answers – and more. |
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The Overspill: when there's more that I want to say 