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Its a tough time to be an adult online in the U.K. right now. Last week’s passage of the Online Safety Act, a law aimed at shielding children from inappropriate (read: adult) content, has brought about a version of the internet that feels more like being back in school. You now essentially need a hall pass, in the form of official ID or a live selfie, to go almost anywhere. The U.K. government clearly aimed the Online Safety Act at restricting access to porn websites. But the laws broad requirementsespecially around age verification and content moderationare sweeping up other parts of the web, too. Because of this, its a great time to be a VPN provider. Usage of these services, which route traffic through other countries to disguise a users location and prevent tracking, has jumped more than 1,000% in the days following the acts passage. Its no wonder VPN downloads soared in the U.K. over the weekend, says Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology. Privacy and free expression are human rights, and governments should protect them by passing laws to enhance peoples privacy and free expression rights, not endanger them. Theres growing concern that the new rules are causing more harm than they prevent. In trying to keep children away from harmful content, the government may have inadvertently pushed tensor even hundredsof thousands of people toward tools that make lawful tracking and oversight far more difficult. Critics argue the implementation has been more performative than effective, with little meaningful enforcement behind the measures. Even those who represent VPN providers are surprised by the sudden surge in interest. The surge in VPN usage weve observed across the U.K. is a direct response to the Online Safety Acts extensive controls and age verification requirements, says Alexey Kozliuk, chair of the VPN Guild, an industry group. VPNs remain legal in the U.K., but their sudden rise in popularity appears to have taken the government by surprise. Officials are reportedly considering restrictions on advertising the services. While VPNs can offer a layer of privacy, not all are trustworthyespecially free options, which may come with risks like data tracking, harvesting, or malware. Users should look for transparent privacy policies, a strict no-logs policy, robust encryption, and a proven track record, Kozliuk says. Cybersecurity experts share that concern. The purported benefit of protecting private data by avoiding submission to a third-party age verifier is compromised if instead they entrust another third party with their browsing data, says George Loukas, professor of cybersecurity at the University of Greenwich. Of course, there is a variety of more and less reputable VPNs with and without no-logs policies, but I insist that VPNs should be used as cybersecurity tools, not for circumvention of restrictions, he adds. Graeme Stewart, head of public sector at Check Point Software, notes that the U.K.s rush to VPNsand the governments potential pushbackputs the country in dubious company alongside China, Russia, and Iran. That should tell you everything, he says. People are turning to VPNs because they dont trust the system, and who can blame them?
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E-Commerce
This summer’s best evening light show is taking place tonight, so don’t forget to go outside and look up. Although the Perseid meteor shower doesn’t peak until next month, tonight is forecast to be the best time to view stars shoot across the night sky. Here’s why, and what to know about the upcoming meteor showers. What is a meteor shower? Meteor showers, or shooting stars, occur as Earth passes through the trail of dusty debris left by a comet, according to NASA. Meteor showers are usually named after a star or constellation close to where the meteors first appear. What’s happening tonight? Late each summer, the Perseids, and the lesser-known Delta Aquariids, meteor showers appear. This year, they’re forecast to run steadily from late July through early August. The first of the showers, the Southern Delta Aquariid and the Alpha Capricornids, are set to peak tonight, Tuesday, July 29, into tomorrow morning, Wednesday, July 30, according to the Associated Press. Visibility should be good because the moon is only about a quarter full, and sky-watchers could see some 20 to 30 meteors per hour, astronomer Nick Moskovitz of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona told National Public Radio. Perseid meteor shower set to peak in early August Meanwhile, the Perseid meteor shower is forecast to peak on Tuesday, August 12, into Wednesday, August 13, right after a full moon, meaning bright moonlight will likely obscure the view at its peak. NASA viewing tips for meteor showers Our friends at NASA offer these general tips for watching meteor showers: Find a viewing spot away from city or street lights. Lie flat on your back with your feet facing east. You may want to bring a blanket or a lounge chair. Look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible. After about 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors. Be patient. The show could last awhile, so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse.
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E-Commerce
Ancestry has acquired the home-movies-and-photos digitizer service iMemories, a bet by the genealogy company that subscribers who spend their money on DNA kits and pour their time into building family trees will be further enticed by visual storytelling that weaves all those details together. The transaction will combine Ancestry, which has more than 3.7 million subscribers and generates over $1 billion in subscription revenue annually, with iMemories, the Netflix of old family memories that has more than 100,000 paying subscribers and has digitized over 100 million memories from VHS videotapes, photo prints, DVDs, and other video formats. IMemories was also featured on the 2023 list of Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies. The goal is to bring all family storytelling together into one spot, says Howard Hochhauser, Ancestrys president and CEO, in an interview with Fast Company. Terms of the transaction werent disclosed, although Hochhauser says it is Ancestrys largest acquisition in terms of revenue. Blending records with memories By integrating iMemories’ content into Ancestrys platform, the combined company will build on a strategy spearheaded by Hochhauser to connect 10,000 terabytes of Ancestry data detailing birth records, marriages, deaths, military service, and immigration with archival family photos and videos. Over time, Ancestry says it will utilize artificial intelligence to weave together visuals from iMemories and Ancestrys own bank of user-uploaded content, as well as AI-created images, to produce short films that can tell family lore stories. When a consumer sees a photo versus say, a U.S. census, they retain better, higher engagement, higher retention, says Hochhauser, who first joined Ancestry in 2009 as chief financial officer and has served as an executive at the company for an initial public offering in 2009, a going-private transaction in 2012, and the 2020 sale to asset manager Blackstone. Turning dusty records into audio This week, and separate from the iMemories transaction, Ancestry is launching a beta AI-enabled pilot to around 500 users that can create audio files from the documents found on Ancestry. Hochhauser says these assets can be especially compelling for younger consumers. He shares an anecdote of how his own 18-year-old son showed little interest in an ancestors written tale of fighting in World War II. But when the text was converted into audio, Hochhauser says his son was on the edge of his seat when learning about a great uncles experience in battle, including throwing grenades and eventually earning a Purple Heart. Thats pretty powerful, Hochhauser says. And so thats the direction we are taking the company. Hochhauser says prior to the iMemories deal, Ancestry conducted research that found that 40% of its users said they wanted to have a digitization and storage service offered by the company. It also polled non-Ancestry users and found that a third of them shared the same sentiment. AI is speeding up history Ancestry is also leaning on AI to speed up the process of digitizing census data. Thirteen years ago, in 2012, when the U.S. Census Bureau released records for every living person in the country for the year 1940, it took the company nine months and millions of dollars to digitize all of that information. But when the 1950 files were released in 2022, technology had advanced to the point where Ancestry could use computer vision and AI to transcribe the files within nine days, without any manual labor. The company is using AI in a similar manner to comb through records from France, Belgium, and other foreign markets. Privacy concerns loom large The Ancestry-iMemories transaction does come at a heightened moment of consumer anxiety concerning the data protection of personal DNA information held by genomics companies. The 2023 data breach of rival 23andMe, which later fell into bankruptcy, inflamed fears about who would gain control of genetic information when one of these genealogy companies falters. People’s confidence has been shaken, in Big Tech overall, and also in consumer genomics, says Dr. Brandon Colby, the founder and CEO of Sequencing.com, a biotech company that performs whole genome sequencing. The need to be extra obvious about transparency is really important. There’s no room for people to go and assume that we’re trying to do something shady. Sequencing stresses the companys Privacy Forever commitment to consumers, which details that it sells no data to pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, or other outside parties, which is how some genomics companies generate revenue. Colby says Sequencing generates revenue from monthly subscriptions and by selling reports it produces based on genome sequencing that can show consumers details about their reaction to medications or offer tips on better sleep or nutrition strategies. Hochhauser echoes a similar refrain at Ancestry. Users control their own biological samples and DNA data, and have the freedom to delete that information from the service if theyd like. The same approach will be taken with the AI-related content that may be generated from iMemories data. It is up to users how they want to share it, he says. We are a family history company, Hochhauser says. Consumers own their data, control their data, and we have multifactor authentication, as an example, and lots of different security protocols in place to protect and preserve data.
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E-Commerce
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