The Internet Archive made it easier to search for '90s-era GIFs. GifCities contains millions of animations from the decade of flannel shirts and Soup Nazis. The GIFs were pulled from old GeoCities webpages, which (mostly) bit the dust in 2009.

The new version of GifCities is much easier to search. You can now search semantically, based on the animation's content. In other words, it's much more likely to bring up the topic or scene you're looking for by describing it. In GifCities' old version, you could only search by file name. (If you're feeling masochistic, you can still access that version under a "Special search" tab.)

The updated GifCities also now uses pagination. That's a good thing, as the old version's infinite scrolling could make for slow browsing. You can also create and share "GifGrams." As the name suggests, these are custom e-greetings made from those ancient GIFs.

Internet Archive

The Internet Archive launched GifCities in 2016 to celebrate its 20th anniversary. If you're too young to know, GeoCities was the quintessential early internet web-hosting service. A precursor to social media, it was full of embarrassing fan pages, personal photo albums and "Under construction" GIFs. (You'll find plenty of the latter in this search engine.) Yahoo pulled the plug on most of GeoCities in 2009. (Disclosure: That's Engadget's parent company.) However, the Japanese version survived for another decade.

If you're of a certain age, you'll likely enjoy browsing the archive. (Or, learn what passed for internet humor before you were born!) Just note that many results are NSFW. I made the mistake of searching for "Mr. T," and I will now leave you to douse my eyes with bleach.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/the-internet-archive-modernizes-its-geocities-gif-search-engine-192315963.html?src=rss

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Google’s AI Overviews do not save me time. For one, I work for a tech blog and am therefore professionally curious as to whether or not the generated answers are correct, so I spend a few ticks figuring that out. (Answer: Sometimes, but not always!)

Then things get existential as I contemplate how long a self-cannibalizing system can sustain itself — if the AI gives answers pulled from websites that survive on visits from readers, what happens when no one visits those sites because AI cribbed the answer? Will I still get to write for websites if websites die from traffic starvation? It’s a lot to think about when all I want is TSA’s latest lithium-ion battery regulations.

Curiously (and unhelpfully) the first result when you Google “How to turn off AI Overviews in Chrome” doesn’t actually answer the question. The entry, from Google Support, discusses turning the feature off back when AI Overviews were experimental and handled through Google Labs. Navigate a little further down that page and you’ll see:

Note: Turning off “AI Overviews and more” in Search Labs will not disable all AI Overviews in Search. AI Overviews are part of Google Search like other features, such as knowledge panels, and can’t be turned off.

Thankfully, I work with intelligent people and one of them supplied me with a simple method of ensuring each search performed in a Chrome browser bypasses the AI Overview and uses results from the Web tab only. Here’s how you too can avoid wasted time (and energy) so you can search like it's 2024.

How to turn off AI Overviews in Chrome on desktop

1. Click the three dots in the upper right corner of your Chrome browser

2. Go to Settings > Search engine > Manage search engines and search

3. Under Site search, click the Add button

4. Enter Name: Google/Web

5. Enter Shortcut: https://www.google.com/

6. Enter URL: {google:baseURL}search?udm=14&q=%s

7. Click Add

Google / Engadget

Then, (hat tip to Tom’s Hardware for helping me figure this bit out) set the search type to default by clicking the three dots next to the shortcut you just created and clicking Make default.

Now, go Google “the best laptop power banks” and click on the Engadget entry (usually one to four results down) and spend a few moments looking at the ads (and the picture of my desk) before you move on so I can still have a job in 2026.

Other methods for turning off AI Overviews in Google Chrome

In that same Tom’s Hardware article, Avram Piltch links to the extension he built, which is a super easy way to hide the AI Overviews from sight. It’ll still generate the response, you just won’t see it. I prefer the Web method above, to avoid any unnecessary machine processing on my behalf, but the extension is easier and keeps you on the familiar “All” search results tab with knowledge panels, video results and the like.

To turn off the AI Overview for Chrome on your phone, I’ll direct you to the fine folks at tenbluelinks. Just open the link in your phone’s browser and follow the steps for Android or iOS.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/how-to-turn-off-googles-ai-overviews-in-web-searches-170009873.html?src=rss

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While it didn’t quite make the cut in our guide to the best virtual private networks (VPNs), NordVPN remains one of the more popular providers out there for a reason, and right now you can save up to 76 percent on its two-year plans, with an Amazon gift card thrown in as a sweetener. With Prime Day due to take place at some point in July, that deal looks even better.

Right now, if you take out a 24-month Plus plan at $4.39 per month, you’ll pay $105.36 for the whole period, which is a 70 percent discount on Nord’s regular price. The plan includes the full suite of Nord’s VPN features and Threat Protection Pro anti-malware, plus you’ll get a $20 Amazon voucher thrown in.

If you’d rather opt for a NordVPN Complete plan, which includes 1TB of encrypted cloud storage, you’ll pay $5.39 per month or $129.36 over two years. This option comes with a $40 Amazon gift card.

The US-only NordVPN Prime plan comes with all of Nord’s features from the cheaper tiers, plus the NordProtect identity theft protection service, which gives you up to $1 million in cyber insurance, as well as credit and SSN monitoring. That plan currently costs $7.39 per month or $177.36 over two years, and includes a $50 Amazon gift card. All plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Using a VPN is the best way of bypassing geo-restricted content and adding another layer of privacy when browsing the web over public Wi-Fi. Our current number one pick is ProtonVPN, based on its combination of security, usability and privacy features. Its open-source framework is also a plus. You can browse its current pricing plans here.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/get-a-free-amazon-gift-card-when-you-sign-up-for-a-discounted-nordvpn-plan-155835142.html?src=rss

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Meta has finalized its $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, which now values the startup that provides other companies with data labeling and model evaluation services for AI training at $29 billion. As part of the deal, Scale AI's founder and CEO Alexandr Wang will be joining Meta. According to The New York Times, Wang will lead Meta's fledgling "Superintelligence lab." A few days ago, several reports came out that Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has been personally overseeing the recruitment for a team he's assembling to achieve AI superintelligence. 

Zuckerberg, who was reportedly frustrated by the quality of Meta's Llama 4 LLM, has been inviting potential recruits to his home and offering them compensation packages worth seven to nine figures. Wang said in his note to Scale employees that he's taking a few other people from the startup with him to Meta to work on artificial intelligence. Meta has yet to formally announce the team and to reveal what their role will be, but their ultimate goal based on the name "Superintelligence lab" is to develop AI with intellectual powers far beyond any human's.

This investment is Meta's second largest after its $19 billion Whatsapp acquisition. With its $14.3 billion investment, Meta will have a 49 percent stake on Scale but will have little control over its operations. The Times said the companies decided on that structure to avoid being scrutinized by regulators. Both Amazon's $4 billion investment in Anthropic and Microsoft's close ties to OpenAI were probed by regulators, after all. Meta itself is still battling the FTC in an antitrust case over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. 

In his note to employees, Wang wrote that "opportunities of this magnitude," pertaining to Meta's investment, "come at a cost." That cost, he said, was his departure. Wang will still serve on Scale's Board of Directors, but his position as CEO will be taken over by Jason Droege, the startup's current Chief Strategy Officer. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-invests-148-billion-in-scale-ai-and-recruits-its-ceo-130029612.html?src=rss

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Walmart just announced a major expansion of its drone delivery service to five new cities. These areas include Atlanta, Tampa, Orlando, Charlotte and Houston. This makes it the first retailer to offer drone-based deliveries across five states, as the service has already been operating in Arkansas.

This isn't a small beta test, like some of Amazon's pilot programs. Walmart says the service is launching at 100 stores. This is thanks to a partnership with Wing, which operates its drones within FAA guidelines.

“This is real drone delivery at scale,” said Adam Woodworth, CEO of Wing. “People all around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex have made drone delivery part of their normal shopping habits over the past year. Now we’re excited to share this ultra-fast delivery experience with millions more people across many more US cities.”

Walmart

These drones can deliver up to six miles from the retail location. Walmart says it's building out the service right now, but it could take up to a year to reach every store. Customers are encouraged to sign up for notifications as to when drone deliveries open up in their area. The company notes that it has made over 150,000 drone deliveries so far, with an average fulfillment time of 19 minutes. There is a weight limit, however, and Wing drones will only deliver certain items. 

Rival Amazon recently experienced a hiccup with its in-house drone delivery program. There were two crashes, which forced the company to put the project on hold for a bit. It's back now, and can now deliver new items like smartphones and video doorbells.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/walmart-expands-drone-deliveries-to-five-new-cities-including-atlanta-200030301.html?src=rss

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Chinese propaganda and social engineering operations have been using ChatGPT to create posts, comments and drive engagement at home and abroad. OpenAI said it has recently disrupted four Chinese covert influence operations that were using its tool to generate social media posts and replies on platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Reddit and X.

The comments generated revolved around several topics from US politics to a Taiwanese video game where players fight the Chinese Communist Party. ChatGPT was used to create social media posts that both supported and decried different hot button issues to stir up misleading political discourse.

Ben Nimmo, principal investigator at OpenAI told NPR, "what we're seeing from China is a growing range of covert operations using a growing range of tactics." While OpenAI claimed it also disrupted a handful of operations it believes originated in Russia, Iran and North Korea, Nimmo elaborated on the Chinese operations saying they "targeted many different countries and topics [...] some of them combined elements of influence operations, social engineering, surveillance."

This is far from the first time this has occurred. In 2023, researchers from cybersecurity firm Mandiant found that AI-generated content has been used in politically motivated online influence campaigns in numerous instances since 2019.

In 2024, OpenAI published a blog post outlining its efforts to disrupt five state-affiliated operations across China, Iran and North Korea that were using OpenAI models for malicious intent. These applications included debugging code, generating scripts and creating content for use in phishing campaigns.

That same year, OpenAI said it disrupted an Iranian operation that was using ChatGPT to create longform political articles about US elections that were then posted on fake news sites posing as both conservative and progressive outlets. The operation was also creating comments to post on X and Instagram through fake accounts, again espousing opposing points of view.

"We didn't generally see these operations getting more engagement because of their use of AI," Nimmo told NPR. "For these operations, better tools don't necessarily mean better outcomes."

This offers little comfort. As generative AI gets cheaper and smarter, it stands to reason that its ability to generate content en masse will make influence campaigns like these easier and more affordable to build, even if their efficacy remains unchanged.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/foreign-propagandists-continue-using-chatgpt-in-influence-campaigns-161509862.html?src=rss

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The complex and consequential antitrust trial against Google and its search engine practices recently heard its closing arguments, and the tech giant is already planning to appeal. In a post made on X, Google confirmed it would file an appeal, explaining that the proposed solutions went too far and "would harm consumers."

“We will wait for the Court’s opinion,” Google wrote. “And we still strongly believe the Court’s original decision was wrong, and look forward to our eventual appeal.”

To challenge Google's dominance of the search engine market, the Department of Justice took on the tech giant by filing a lawsuit back in 2020. The monumental antitrust case has steadily evolved over the years, with the DOJ proposing remedies like Google opening up its search engine tech to licensing, prohibiting agreements with device makers like Apple and Samsung to ensure Google was the default search engine and forcing the sale of the Chrome browser and the open-source Chromium project. 

According to Google, the Department of Justice's proposed actions would open consumers up to "very real privacy issues," leave the government in charge of user data and help "well-funded competitors." Instead, Google offered to loosen its agreements to allow other search engines on devices and create an oversight committee to monitor the company's activities.

Since then, the federal judge presiding over the case, Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled in August 2024 that Google had an illegal monopoly of the search engine market. The judge agreed with the DOJ that Google owning the Chrome browser gives it an unfair advantage since it could use its search engine advantage to drive more traffic and generate more revenue for the company. 

The end result of this antitrust trial could have serious implications for the future of AI, which is closely tied to the search engine market. According to Google, this ruling could allow other companies with AI chatbots to step in and dominate the search engine market instead. During the trial, Nick Turley, an OpenAI executive, testified that the company would be interested in buying Chrome if Google was forced to sell it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-plans-to-appeal-the-antitrust-ruling-against-its-search-engine-dominance-171748836.html?src=rss

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According to a report from NPR, Meta plans to shift the task of assessing its products' potential harms away from human reviewers, instead leaning more heavily on AI to speed up the process. Internal documents seen by the publication note that Meta is aiming to have up to 90 percent of risk assessments fall on AI, NPR reports, and is considering using AI reviews even in areas such as youth risk and "integrity," which covers violent content, misinformation and more. Unnamed current and former Meta employees who spoke with NPR warned AI may overlook serious risks that a human team would have been able to identify.

Updates and new features for Meta's platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp, have long been subjected to human reviews before they hit the public, but Meta has reportedly doubled down on the use of AI over the last two months. Now, according to NPR, product teams have to fill out a questionnaire about their product and submit this for review by the AI system, which generally provides an "instant decision" that includes the risk areas it's identified. They'll then have to address whatever requirements it laid out to resolve the issues before the product can be released.

A former Meta executive told NPR that reducing scrutiny "means you're creating higher risks. Negative externalities of product changes are less likely to be prevented before they start causing problems in the world." In a statement to NPR, Meta said it would still tap "human expertise" to evaluate "novel and complex issues," and leave the "low-risk decisions" to AI. Read the full report over at NPR.

It comes a few days after Meta released its latest quarterly integrity reports — the first since changing its policies on content moderation and fact-checking earlier this year. The amount of content taken down has unsurprisingly decreased in the wake of the changes, per the report. But there was a small rise in bullying and harassment, as well as violent and graphic content.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-will-reportedly-soon-use-ai-for-most-product-risk-assessments-instead-of-human-reviewers-205416849.html?src=rss

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Mozilla's Firefox has joined Chrome, Edge and other browsers in offering AI-powered overviews, but this time with a twist. The latest version lets you use a keyboard shortcut to open a pop-up that previews a link's contents when you hover over it from any web page. It's a new way that AI is being integrated into browsers that may help users but hurt publishers. 

To try the new feature you need the latest Firefox release channel version 139.0. Within the settings under "Firefox Labs," simply turn on Link Previews. "After enabling, use the Alt+Shift keyboard shortcut when hovering over a link to see the previews in action," Mozilla writes. 

Once turned on, you can hover your mouse over a link on any webpage and a vertical window will pop up showing an image on top, the publisher's link and a quick summary. Below that are AI-generated "key points" that provide further information. Mozilla previously said that it uses the SmolLM2-360M language model from Hugging Face, on-device with Reader's View content to ensure privacy. 

Link Previews first came along last month in beta but is now widely available in some regions. Like Google's AI previews, it could risk harming publishers by reducing traffic (which is likely why neither of those features are available in France where I live). It's also not clear if Firefox is paying publishers to use their information in AI-powered summaries. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-war-on-links-escalates-with-firefoxs-experimental-ai-previews-123059735.html?src=rss

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© SOPA Images via Getty Images

Bluesky is ramping up its verification program, even though it's still not exactly clear how it plans to determine which accounts are "authentic and notable" enough for a blue checkmark. One month after the company said it would start giving checkmarks to select accounts, the company is now allowing people to apply for verification.

Currently, the application consists of a multi-page Google Form that asks users to share details about their account and why they want to be verified. However, it's not exactly clear what criteria Bluesky will be taking into account or how it will be reviewing what will almost certainly be a flood of applications.

The company notes that it will only verify accounts that are "active and secure, authentic, and notable." Bluesky also recommends some obvious steps, like having a complete bio and using two-factor authentication. The linked form also asks users about what "category" they may fall into, such as an elected official, brand, athlete, journalist, academic or "other."

But it sounds like Blueksy is very much still figuring out verification as it goes. "Our criteria for verification is evolving based on user feedback," the form states. "We will continue to expand the scope of accounts that are eligible for verification over time. This is an initial version of the form that will change as we finalize the requirements for verification." It also notes that "meeting the basic criteria does not guarantee verification."

That could complicate things for Bluesky, which resisted the idea of having an in-house verification system until recently, despite repeated issues with impersonation. The service has more than 36 million sign-ups, and if even a small percentage of them request a badge, it could quickly overwhelm the company's small team.

Notably, the platform is also expanding its "trusted verifiers," which are third-party entities that can verify users (who get a slightly different-shaped checkmark) and vouch for their legitimacy. Organizations that want to verify on behalf of others can also sign up via the same form.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/you-can-now-apply-for-verification-on-bluesky-222802057.html?src=rss

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Today's report by security expert Jeremiah Fowler of a massive unsecured database full of usernames and passwords shouldn't necessarily frighten you, but it should spur you to action. If you have any weak passwords protecting accounts with sensitive information, or if you've reused the same password — however strong — on multiple accounts, now would be an excellent time to change them and set up two-factor authentication.

Fowler reported on Website Planet that the database, which he found unlocked and without any encryption on an anonymously registered server, contained a little over 184 million records. These included usernames, emails, passwords, and direct links to the URLs for logging into the relevant accounts. While Fowler was able to get the hosting provider to lock the server, he couldn't find any hard evidence about who compiled the database, nor whether they had used or shared the information.

There are a couple of reasons not to panic here. 184 million records exposed doesn't mean 184 million people exposed — it's just the number of rows in the database. If the info was gathered through malware, as Fowler believes, it's likely to have gathered multiple records from every infected device. That's obviously still bad, but fewer people have been affected than it may seem from the number alone.

The database also contained no information that could be used for two-factor authentication, so anyone with a second factor set up has much less reason to worry. Don't forget, though, that one weakly secured account is a liability to the others. For example, a hacker could gain access to your email, then use that access to break through 2FA on your bank account.

The potential consequences of having your password stolen are severe enough that it's worth taking common-sense steps. Since the database wasn't leaked on any of the usual dark web sources, its data likely won't show up on breach checkers like HaveIBeenPwned. However, Fowler did share with Wired reporters that he tested a sample of 10,000 fields in the database, and found passwords to the following platforms:

• Facebook

• Google

• Instagram

• Roblox

• Discord

• Microsoft

• Netflix

• PayPal

• Amazon

• Apple

• Nintendo

• Snapchat

• Spotify

• Twitter

• WordPress

• Yahoo

• Online banks

• Online wallets

• Healthcare web apps

• Government employee accounts

If you have an account on any of those platforms without two-factor authentication, we recommend changing your password and setting up 2FA as soon as possible. Pay special attention to platforms like Roblox and Nintendo where your kids might have set up their own accounts and not bothered with 2FA. As Fowler points out in his blog post, even seemingly innocuous accounts might have personal information lying around.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/a-huge-unsecured-credential-database-discovery-is-a-great-reminder-to-change-your-passwords-210537400.html?src=rss

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The News/Media Alliance took aim at Google today after the tech company's announcement at its I/O showcase that AI Mode will be rolling out to all US search users. This feature more closely integrates an AI chatbot into Google search. Ostensibly, AI Mode can help people get better answers to their queries, but it also serves to keep users on a Google property rather than clicking through to get information from other publications.

"Links were the last redeeming quality of search that gave publishers traffic and revenue. Now Google just takes content by force and uses it with no return, the definition of theft," said News/Media Alliance President and CEO Danielle Coffey. "The DOJ remedies must address this to prevent continued domination of the internet by one company."

This isn't the first time the organization has fired shots at Google; it filed an amicus brief earlier this month looking for remedy in the antitrust case about Google's monopoly control over search. The group argued that publishers should be able to opt out of letting search engines use their content for retrieval augmented generation.

Google has also taken an aggressive stance toward publishers as it develops more AI-driven services. The company's recent attitude can be seen in Bloomberg's discovery of an internal document showing that the company decided not to give publishers a choice to opt out of AI training if they wanted their material to appear in search results.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/newsmedia-alliance-calls-googles-ai-mode-theft-223128521.html?src=rss

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The FCC has announced its approval of the merger between communications giants Verizon and Frontier, after a deal was made last year. Verizon will acquire Frontier Communications for $9.6 billion in cash, in addition to absorbing $10 billion of debt.

Key to earning approval from the FCC was Verizon's commitment to ending all DEI-related practices, in line with the Trump administration’s aim to dismantle all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from both public organizations and private companies.

The statement from the FCC said the approval "ensures that discriminatory DEI policies end," and that Verizon "has reaffirmed the merged entity’s commitment to equal opportunity and nondiscrimination."

"By approving this deal, the FCC ensures that Americans will benefit from a series of good and commonsense wins. The transaction will unleash billions of dollars in new infrastructure builds in communities across the country—including rural America. This investment will accelerate the transition away from old, copper line networks to modern, high-speed ones. And it delivers for America’s tower and telecom crews who do the hard, often gritty work needed to build high-speed networks," said Brendan Carr, FCC chairman.

Verizon plans to upgrade and expand Frontier's existing network across 25 states and expects to deploy fiber to more than one million American homes annually.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/fcc-approves-verizons-20-billion-merger-with-frontier-181434890.html?src=rss

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The European Commission (EC) has been firing on all cylinders in holding big tech to account through various fines and enforcement actions, attempting to create a more competitive landscape in a space that has become increasingly monopolized.

Microsoft has been in a years-long dispute with the EC, which opened an antitrust probe in 2023 after Slack filed a complaint in 2020 alleging that Microsoft’s bundling of Teams and Microsoft 365 was anticompetitive.

The company unbundled the two products in the EU shortly thereafter in a bid to avoid antitrust fines, but it wasn’t enough to appease the EC. In 2024, the Commission found that Microsoft did not go far enough and was still in violation of antitrust laws, risking massive fines.

This week, Microsoft responded with a more robust set of commitments. Its productivity software suites will continue to be offered without Teams in the European Economic Area (EEA) for at least seven years. Minimum price deltas will be set between versions of the suites that include Teams and those which do not.

Microsoft has also offered to align these options and pricing structures for its suites and Teams globally should the EC accept its proposal. Interoperability enhancements that make it easier to use third-party competitors to Teams were also included in the proposal.

"The proposed commitments are the result of constructive, good-faith discussions with the European Commission over several months. We believe that they represent a clear and complete resolution to the concerns raised by our competitors and will provide European customers with more choices," said Nanna-Louise Linde, Microsoft's VP of European Government Affairs.

The EC has begun an open feedback period, seeking comments from competitors and citizens on whether the proposed commitments by Microsoft are adequate and place the company back within the bounds of the EU's antitrust regulations.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/microsoft-attemps-to-avoid-eu-fines-by-further-decoupling-teams-and-office-170519085.html?src=rss

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The Belgian Court of Appeal ruled today that the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) currently used as the foundation for most online advertising is illegal in the EU. This decision upholds the findings of the Belgian Data Protection Authority from 2022 that the technology underpinning online ads violates several principles of the General Data Protection Regulations, an EU digital privacy law that took effect in 2018.

Engadget's Daniel Cooper wrote a thorough explainer of the different systems that support the current online advertising ecosystem, which is valuable reading for anybody spending time online. The very simplified version is that advertisers participate in real-time bidding (RTB) to show their content online. Currently, those bids are based on information gathered from tracking individuals' activities online with cookies. The TCF was created by the Interactive Advertising Bureau as a way to standardize how websites ask users for permission to be tracked. The original 2022 decision determined that both the consent collected by the TCF and the data collected in the RTB process were illegal under the GDPR.

"Today's court's decision shows that the consent system used by Google, Amazon, X, Microsoft, deceives hundreds of millions of Europeans," said Dr Johnny Ryan, director of Enforce at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, who has been leading the legal charge against the current approach to ad tech. "The tech industry has sought to hide its vast data breach behind sham consent popups. Tech companies turned the GDPR into a daily nuisance rather than a shield for people."

The reaction from IAB Europe, which filed the appeal, seems to mostly be relief that it hasn't been found responsible for the data collected by TCF. "The Market Court has rejected the APD’s view that IAB Europe is a joint controller together with TCF participants for their own respective processing of personal data, for instance for the purpose of digital advertising," the organization's statement says. IAB Europe notes that it has already suggested changes to the TCF that better reflect the "limited controllership" and submitted them to the Belgian Data Protection Authority. The group faced fines and was ordered to rebuild its current ad-tech framework as a result of the original decision.

We've also reached out to some of the major advertisers that use the RTB technology for comment on the ruling.

While this does seem like a big win for privacy advocates and internet users in the EU, it's unclear exactly what the next steps will be for advertisers and for ad tech systems. Most likely, regulators will oversee changes the IAB Europe makes to the TCF, so consent pop-ups may not yet be a thing of the past.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/appeals-court-confirms-that-tracking-based-online-advertising-is-illegal-in-europe-223714124.html?src=rss

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Those keen on trying out a VPN to protect their online activity can get a great deal on ProtonVPN thanks to an Engadget-exclusive offer. Two-year plans are on sale for $81 right now, which represents a whopping $158.40 discount and comes out to $3.39 per month. If you'd prefer to try out ProtonVPN for a shorter amount of time first, you can get a one-year plan for just $48, or about $4 per month.

Proton topped our list of the best VPN services, and with good reason. It's incredibly powerful and easy to use, which is a boon for those new to the space. The end-to-end encryption is solid and everything's based on an open-source framework. This lets the company offer an official vulnerability disclosure program.

A subscription includes an IP-masker, so websites can't track you online, and a built-in ad blocker. We found in our tests that browsing the web and watching streaming content were both speedy while using this VPN, which isn't always the case with this type of service.

The only caveat? The company will automatically bill you at the normal price when the discounted subscription runs out. Be sure to cancel before that if you aren't vibing with the platform.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/protonvpn-deal-get-66-percent-off-two-year-subscriptions-191045133.html?src=rss

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OpenAI has launched a new web page called the safety evaluations hub to publicly share information related to things like the hallucination rates of its models. The hub will also highlight if a model produces harmful content, how well it behaves as instructed and attempted jailbreaks. 

The tech company claims this new page will provide additional transparency on OpenAI, a company that, for context, has faced multiple lawsuits alleging it illegally used copyrighted material to train its AI models. Oh, yeah, and it's worth mentioning that The New York Times claims the tech company accidentally deleted evidence in the newspaper's plagiarism case against it.

The safety evaluations hub is meant to expand on OpenAI's system cards. They only outline a development's safety measures at launch, whereas the hub should provide ongoing updates. 

"As the science of AI evaluation evolves, we aim to share our progress on developing more scalable ways to measure model capability and safety," OpenAI states in its announcement. "By sharing a subset of our safety evaluation results here, we hope this will not only make it easier to understand the safety performance of OpenAI systems over time, but also support community efforts⁠ to increase transparency across the field." OpenAI adds that its working to have more proactive communication in this area throughout the company. 

Interested parties can look at each of the hub's sections and see information on relevant models, such as GPT-4.1 through 4.5. OpenAI notes that the information provided in this hub is only a "snapshot" and that interested parties should look at its system cards. assessments and other releases for further details. 

One of the big buts to the entire safety evaluation hub is that OpenAI is the entity doing these tests and choosing what information to share publicly. As a result, there isn't any way to guarantee that the company will share all its issues or concerns with the public.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-promises-greater-transparency-on-model-hallucinations-and-harmful-content-184545691.html?src=rss

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The Wikimedia Foundation, hosts of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, is challenging an aspect of the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act (OSA). The law aims to protect users from harmful online content by imposing restrictions and fines on large internet platforms such as social media companies. While the law was originally passed in 2023, enforcement and categorization of companies subject to the law are only taking shape now.

The law sorts online platforms into categories that are then met with varying levels of restrictions and enforcement. Wikimedia is specifically challenging the “categorisation regulations” under the law, arguing that Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, is using a flawed and vague system of metrics to judge what category a platform falls into.

Under the current definition, metrics like number of UK users and the ability to forward or share content make it more likely that Wikipedia would be considered a higher-risk “Category 1” platform. This would put Wikipedia in the same bucket as Facebook, X, YouTube and other enormous social platforms. 

The Wikimedia Foundation’s lead counsel Phil Bradley-Schmieg shared in a blog post that the foundation had been working with UK regulators for years in an attempt to clarify the rules in a manner the foundation felt would be more fair.

Platforms that are recognized as Category 1 are held to more stringent requirements governing how quickly they remove harmful content, ensuring proper age verification, preventing cyberbullying and more. The Wikimedia Foundation is arguing that Wikipedia should not be lumped into Category 1, as it is a nonprofit, ad-free and mostly volunteer-operated service.

In another blog post, the Wikimedia Foundation lays out its concerns, saying that these restrictions “would be a substantial challenge to our resources to meet the strict reporting and compliance obligations,” and that the fines threatened by Category 1 classification could lead to “disempowering users who wish to keep their identity private.”

The foundation made clear that they ultimately support regulations that could improve online safety. “Given that the OSA intends to make the UK a safer place to be online,"Bradley-Schmieg wrote "it is particularly unfortunate that we must now defend the privacy and safety of Wikipedia’s volunteer editors from flawed legislation.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/wikipedias-owner-challenges-categorization-rules-under-uks-online-safety-act-175128560.html?src=rss

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In a development that can only be seen as positive, non-consensual deepfake porn site Mr. Deepfakes has shut down for good, reports 404 Media. This news comes due to the site losing one of its service providers. 

"A critical service provider has terminated service permanently. Data loss has made it impossible to continue operation," a notice on the site reads. "We will not be relaunching. Any website claiming this is fake. This domain will eventually expire and we are not responsible for future use. This message will be removed around one week." 

As sites continued to crack down on non-consenual deepfake porn, Mr. Deepfakes became an open space for it. Users could upload videos and connect with creators to commission videos. People also used it as a way to collaborate on new techniques, share their methods and provide datasets. All of it was with the goal of creating this non-consensual media, sometimes with a strong likeness to real people. 

The creator of Mr. Deepfakes is still technically anonymous. However, German newspaper Der Spiegel reportedly tracked down one of the individuals behind it, a 36-year-old in Toronto. 

Governments across the world have been taking steps to make sexually explicit deepfakes illegal. Last week, the US Congress passed a bill criminalizing the "publication of non-consensual, sexually exploitative images," including deepfakes. The UK has made multiple attempts in recent years to make it illegal to create sexually explicit deepfakes. Currently, it's illegal to share this content, but not to produce it. In early 2024, the European Commission proposed new rules to criminalize sharing non-consensual intimate images, including deepfakes. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/leading-deepfake-porn-site-is-shut-down-for-good-120018413.html?src=rss

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Nintendo is going after the company that showed off unauthorized mockups of the not-yet-announced Switch 2 at CES 2025. In a lawsuit filed on Friday, Nintendo accuses accessory maker Genki of trademark infringement, unfair competition and false advertising, arguing that Genki “embarked upon a strategic campaign intended to capitalize on the public interest surrounding Nintendo’s next-generation console.” According to Nintendo, Genki promoted accessories it claimed are compatible with the Switch 2 despite not having official access to the console, and used the Switch logo to do so.

Following the initial reports in January that Genki brought Switch 2 mockups to CES and published a video said to show a 3D render of the console, Nintendo released a statement to say that neither the hardware nor imagery were official, per IGN. While Genki reportedly claimed it had access to a Switch 2 at first, the company later wrote on X that it does “not own or possess a black market console,” and told Game*Spark (translated by Automaton) that its mockups were based solely on leaked information. In the lawsuit, Nintendo says Genki’s “statements were contradictory and inconsistent,” yet the company “maintained its representation to consumers that its accessories will be compatible with the Nintendo Switch 2 upon the console’s release.”

Nintendo officially announced the Switch 2 on January 16, a little over a week after the mockups made their CES appearance. Even in the months since, Nintendo alleges, Genki “continues to exploit the attention of the media and fan base and usurp and threaten sales of Nintendo’s own accessories,” through means including piggybacking on Nintendo Direct with its own “Genki Direct” event immediately after. In a statement shared on X following the filing, Genki said it is “taking [the lawsuit] seriously and working with legal counsel to respond thoughtfully.”

“What we can say is this: Genki has always been an independent company focused on building innovative gaming accessories for the community we love,” Genki’s post continued. “We’re proud of the work we’ve done, and we stand by the quality and originality of our products. While we can’t comment in detail, we’re continuing preparations to fulfill orders and showcase our newest products at PAX East this week.”

The Nintendo Switch 2 arrives after years of rumors and speculation. In the lawsuit, Nintendo notes that it began planning the next-gen console shortly after the release of the first. Pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 opened in April, and the console will be available on June 5.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-is-suing-the-accessory-brand-that-flaunted-switch-2-mockups-ahead-of-its-reveal-210341646.html?src=rss

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