OpenAI’s new ChatGPT app for iOS couldn’t have arrived soon enough. Its absence left open a void in Google Play and Apple’s App Store, which have been quietly filling with scam apps that sucker users into paying for weekly or monthly subscriptions, according to research from security firm Sophos. The official ChatGPT app, meanwhile, is free, and an Android version is arriving soon.
But just because something is free doesn’t make it good. Telly TV is offering 55-inch televisions for $0 to the first 500,000 people who join its reservation list. Of course, “free” comes with a catch: The company reserves the right to collect heaps of data about your viewing habits, and the TV includes a built-in camera that can track your movements. Oh, and it has a second screen primarily for bombarding you with ads. But hey, nothing beats free, right?
Elsewhere in the world of tech that has people freaked out, Montana this week became the first state in the US to ban TikTok. The ban, which goes into effect in 2024, is already facing legal challenges on the grounds that it violates TikTok users’ First Amendment rights. Even if the ban remains, getting around it is trivial—just use a VPN.
The families of four people killed in a racism-fueled mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, are suing a slew of companies the plaintiffs say bear some responsibility for the massacre. The companies include Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Snap, Reddit, and 4chan. Also on the list of defendants is Good Smile, a Japanese toy company that in 2015 purchased a 30 percent stake in 4chan, where the gunman sought advice on how to carry out his attack.
The United States Postal Service doesn’t just deliver mail—it also carries out warrantless mass surveillance. A bipartisan group of US senators this week launched an effort to curb the use of so-called mail covers, which USPS investigators use to gather the information on the outside of letters and packages. The senators say the practice, which does not require a court order, “threatens both our privacy and First Amendment rights.”
In the UK, the government is working to expand a controversial surveillance program that collects web histories and other “internet connection records” on millions of people. The program began after the 2016 passage of the Investigatory Powers Act, often called the Snooper’s Charter by privacy advocates and other critics. Records show that the program appears to be moving out of its trial phase and may be rolled out nationally.
Meanwhile, researchers at security firm Kaspersky released new details about a mysterious hacker group that has carried out operations in Ukraine for far longer than people realized. Dubbed Red Stinger by researchers at Malwarebytes, the group has targeted both pro-Ukraine and pro-Russian figures as part of apparent espionage operations. Initially linked to hacks dating back to 2020, researchers now believe Red Stinger has been active for at least 15 years.