🥸 The swagged-out pope is an AI fake

Plus: Biden Acts to Restrict U.S. Government Use of Spyware. Tech companies are ruining their apps, websites, internet. And more…

Today’s pick

The swagged-out pope is an AI fake - and an early glimpse of a new reality. AI-generated images have gone viral before, but none have spread so far and wide as a picture of the pope wearing what can only be described as a swagged-out puffy jacket. Call him the Supreme pontiff. The Balenciaga bishop. The vicar of drip. The… (James Vincent / The Verge)

James Vincent @jjvincent

here's my take on the swagged-out AI pope — on the Supreme pontiff, the Balenciaga bishop, the vicar of driply. the image went viral for some very specific reasons, but they show which way the hyperreal winds are blowing... theverge.com/2023/3/27/2365…

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Biden Acts to Restrict U.S. Government Use of Spyware. WASHINGTON — President Biden on Monday signed an executive order restricting American government use of a class of powerful surveillance tools that have been abused by both autocracies and democracies around the world to spy on political… (Mark Mazzetti / The New York Times)

The New York Times @nytimes

President Biden on Monday signed an executive order restricting American government use of a class of powerful surveillance tools that have been abused by both autocracies around the world to spy on dissidents, journalists and human rights activists.

nyti.msBiden Acts to Restrict U.S. Government Use of SpywareThe president signed an executive order seeking to limit deployment of a tool that has been abused by autocracies — and some democracies — to spy on dissidents, human rights activists and journalists.

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Tech companies are ruining their apps, websites, internet. In recent years, Google users have developed one very specific complaint about the ubiquitous search engine: They can't find any answers. A simple search for 'best pc for gaming' leads to a page dominated by sponsored links rather than helpful… (Ed Zitron / Insider)

Ed Zitron @edzitron

I’m on @BusinessInsider talking about how companies like Google, Amazon, and Meta are deliberately making their core products worse in the search for eternal revenue growth, and how this rot economy is ruining products you love to make the rich richer.

businessinsider.comGoogle, Amazon, and Meta are making their core products worse — on purposeGoogle, Amazon, Meta, and other big tech companies are making their core products worse and ruining everything from apps to the internet.

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Opinion | How U.S. Regulators Are Choking Crypto. Some financial regulators appear to have seized on a series of high-profile meltdowns to go around Congress and try to freeze an entire industry out of banking services. I spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor on some of the worst… (Katie Haun / Wall Street Journal)

Kathryn Haun @katie_haun

Whatever one believes about crypto (many don't yet see the potential/need) major US policy decisions should be made by legislatures and regulatory process, not unelected officials. Process exists in part to avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater

wsj.comOpinion | How U.S. Regulators Are Choking CryptoThe effort would stifle American innovation and competition—and that seems to be the objective.

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Android app from China executed 0-day exploit on millions of devices. Android apps digitally signed by China's third-biggest e-commerce company exploited a zero-day vulnerability that allowed them to surreptitiously take control of millions of end-user devices to steal personal data and install malicious apps… (Dan Goodin / Ars Technica)

Ars Technica @arstechnica

Android apps digitally signed by the fast-growing e-commerce company Pinduoduo exploited a zero-day vulnerability, allowing them to surreptitiously take control of millions of end-user devices to steal personal data and install malicious apps.

trib.alAndroid app from China executed 0-day exploit on millions of devicesFast-growing e-commerce app Pinduoduo had an EvilParcel stow-away.

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