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The stench of Cambridge Analytica is still hovering over Facebook, as parent Meta just agreed to pay 311,000 Australian users AUD $50 million ($31.7 million) over the scandal. The settlement with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) comes after a four-year dispute with Meta and follows a $725 million award in the US, along with payouts in the UK and elsewhere. "It represents a substantive resolution of privacy concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica matter; gives potentially affected Australians an opportunity to seek redress through Metas payment program; and brings to an end a lengthy court process," said Australian information commissioner, Elizabeth Tydd. Cambridge Analytica, now defunct, accessed the personal data Australian users by an app (This is Your Digital Life) and used the information gathered to target individuals with personally tailored messages. The scandal was exposed by The New York Times and The Guardian in 2018, thanks in large part to whistleblower Christopher Wylie. Though the app was only downloaded by a small number of users, it also accessed the data of their friends, affecting 311,127 people overall. Meta will be required to set up a payment system run by a third-party administrator starting in early 2025. Lesser payments will be issued to people who've experienced "generalized concern or embarrassment," with higher sums meted out to those who can demonstrate that they suffered loss or damage. Anyone affected should be able to apply in Q2 2025. In a statement, Meta displayed no contrition and said the settlement was more or less a business decision. "We settled as it is in the best interest of our community and shareholders that we close this chapter on allegations that relate to past practices no longer relevant to how Metas products or systems work today," a spokesperson told The Guardian. The case took four years to resolve largely because Meta claimed it wasn't technically doing business in Australia, but that argument was finally slapped aside by the nation's highest court. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/cambridge-analytica-scandal-still-lingering-on-as-meta-settles-with-australian-users-130016215.html?src=rss
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The holidays havent even kicked off, but were already looking to next year when, almost immediately, some of the Engadget team will head to Las Vegas for techs biggest annual conference. The pitches from companies, both legit and unhinged, are already filling our inboxes and spam tabs, so what are we excited about? Getty Images Excited might not be the word, but we expect AI to become even more pervasive in good and overhyped ways. There will also be the usual slew of new processors and subsequent laptops. We expect NVIDIA to debut its long-awaited RTX 5000 video cards at CES, while AMD CEO Lisa Su has confirmed well see next-generation RDNA 4 GPUs early next year. While 2024 was a year of endless AI PC hype, 2025 might be a year of reckoning. Microsofts long-delayed Recall feature is slowly trickling out to more users, for example, but is still facing struggles. PC makers in 2025 will have to actually prove their new AI-laced devices can live up to their claims. There are also audio products, EVs, flying EVs (!) and more. Check out the full CES 2024 preview. Mat Smith The biggest tech stories you missed Googles new AI tool Whisk uses images as prompts Ankers Prime Power Bank with charging base is back at a record-low price Meta is rolling out live AI and Shazam integration to its smart glasses Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! Metas Threads has grown to 300 million users More than 100 million people use the site every day. Cementing its status as the fastest growing social network ever (with a heavy nepo-baby lift from Instagram), Threads has hit 300 million users, with over 100 million people using the site every day. We could see some big changes for Threads as Meta capitalizes on that growth. The company reportedly has plans to experiment with the first ads for threads in early 2025, according to a recent report in The Information. While its still a ways off, Zuckerberg has repeatedly speculated that Threads has a good chance of becoming the companys next billion-user app. Continue reading. TikTok asks the Supreme Court to delay upcoming ban The social media app is just a few weeks away from a potential ban. Its a tale of two social media networks today. After a federal court last week denied TikToks request to delay a law that could ban the app in the United States, the company is now turning to the Supreme Court to buy time. The social media company has asked the court to temporarily block the law. The company, which argues the law is unconstitutional, lost its initial legal challenge earlier this month. The company then requested a delay of the laws implementation, saying President-elect Donald Trump had said he would save TikTok. That request was denied on Friday. TikTok is now hoping the Supreme Court will intervene to suspend the law, otherwise, app stores and internet service providers will begin blocking TikTok next month. Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121528225.html?src=rss
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Waymo will deploy its driverless cars in Japan and will test its technology in another country for the first time. According to CNBC, the company will begin testing its Jaguar I-PACE vehicles in Tokyo in early 2025 and expects to remain in the country for an "extended period." During the vehicles' experimental phase, which will last for several quarters, human drivers from the Japanese taxi company Nihon Kotsu will operate Waymo's cars so that its technology can map the city. Particularly, they're driving Waymo's Jaguar I-PACEs through the streets of Shinjuku, Shibuya and Tokyo's other key areas. The data gathered from those tests will then be used to train the company's self-driving system. Waymo will also be recreating Tokyo's driving conditions in a closed course in the US, where it will put more of its robotaxis to the test, and will be using data collected from that effort for training. The company has yet to announce when it will open rides to the public, but it has already formed a partnership with Japan's "GO" taxi app, which will presumably offer driverless rides to users in the future. As CNBC notes, Japan is keen to introduce driverless rides as a transportation option despite its efficient train system due to its aging population. Last year, it amended its laws to allow level 4 autonomous driving on its roads. In the US, Waymo operates its driverless cars in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It announced several plans to introduce its vehicles to more locations over the past months, however, and raised $5.6 billion to fund its expansion to Austin and Atlanta next year. Waymo will also be deploying its Jaguar I-PACE vehicles in Miami in early 2025 and will offer rides to the public in the city sometime in 2026. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymo-will-start-testing-its-driverless-cars-in-tokyo-next-year-051729407.html?src=rss
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