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Social media platforms must restrict the use of personal data for targeted advertising, to comply with the bloc's regulatory law, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on Friday. The ruling comes as a blow to social media giant Meta.

Meta collects digital data of users of its social media platform Facebook when they visit other websites and use third-party apps, which allows Meta to personalize advertising.

But under theEU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), companies are obliged to adhere to the principle of "data minimization," restricting the amount and duration of data used for advertising purposes...

Drew Crecente last spoke to his daughter Jennifer Ann Crecente on February 14, 2006. A day later, Jennifer, a senior in high school who was in an abusive relationship, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, who was later convicted and is serving time in prison. That year, Crescente started a nonprofit in her name to prevent teen dating violence and now routinely monitors any piece of media coverage related to her.

But he was appalled when he received a Google Alert notification at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday that somebody had created a chatbot on popular AI platform Character AI using his daughter’s yearbook photo and name.

“A grieving father should not have to find out that his dead daughter is being used to try and make money as a chatbot on some website,” he told Forbes. “It shocks the conscience, and it’s unacceptable behavior”...

Google's latest flagship smartphone raises concerns about user privacy and security. It frequently transmits private user data to the tech giant before any app is installed. Moreover, the Cybernews research team has discovered that it potentially has remote management capabilities without user awareness or approval.

Cybernews researchers analyzed the new Pixel 9 Pro XL smartphone’s web traffic, focusing on what a new smartphone sends to Google.

“Every 15 minutes, Google Pixel 9 Pro XL sends a data packet to Google. The device shares location, email address, phone number, network status, and other telemetry. Even more concerning, the phone periodically attempts to download and run new code, potentially opening up security risks,” said Aras Nazarovas, a security researcher at Cybernews...

... “The amount of data transmitted and the potential for remote management casts doubt on who truly owns the device. Users may have paid for it, but the deep integration of surveillance systems in the ecosystem may leave users vulnerable to privacy violations,” Nazarovas said...

Wildfires are burning through the carbon budget that humans have allocated themselves to limit global heating, a study shows.

The authors said this accelerating trend was approaching – and may have already breached – a “critical temperature threshold” after which fires cause significant shifts in tree cover and carbon storage.

“Alarmingly, the latest temperature at which, globally, these impacts become pronounced is 1.34C – close to current levels of warming [above preindustrial levels],” said the UK Met Office, which led the research...

... Climatologists say the already dire situation will deteriorate until humankind, particularly in the wealthy global north, stops burning fossil fuels.

"A warming world combined with deforestation has made for a dire drought situation in Brazil. Latin America's largest country is enduring its most intense and widespread drought in history.

What's happening?

Brazil's worst drought on record has helped fuel wildfires in the Amazon rainforest. The Pantanal, a region that encompasses the world's largest tropical wetland area, in August experienced a 3,901% increase in its fires compared to August 2023, Greenpeace noted, based on reporting by the country's National Institute for Space Research.

Smoke from wildfires made Sāo Paulo, one of the world's most populous cities with over 11 million residents and a metro area of 21 million, one of the top 10 most polluted major cities in the world in early September. According to Igarapé Institute authorities, over 50,000 wildfires were active in early September, per ABC News.

One of the factors behind Brazil's crisis is an overheating planet that just had its 15th straight month of record-breaking global temperatures. Deforestation in the Cerrado region, an expansive tropical and subtropical biome that covers over 20% of the country, is making matters worse. Trees help hold moisture in forest soil. A study published in Nature showed a direct link between deforestation and droughts.

Brazil relies on cascading moisture recycling for rainfall. CMR "describes moisture transport between two locations on the continent that involves re-evaporation cycles along the way," according to a paper published by the European Geosciences Union. This hydrological cycle is breaking down because of deforestation.

"You can put this in capital letters," said Luciana Gatti, a climate researcher at the space research facility, per The Washington Post. "It will get worse and worse. We are heading toward an apocalyptical situation, and unfortunately we only wake up at the last minute"...

Two environmental activists who glued themselves to a J.M.W. Turner painting at Manchester Art Gallery in July 2022 were acquitted today in a Manchester court. The pair affixed themselves to the frame of Tomson’s Aeolian Harp (1809) by Turner and sprayed “No New Oil” and the Just Stop Oil logo on the floor with chalk...

... “The district judge found that the action was proportionate in view of the climate crisis,” a Just Stop Oil statement says. "By contrast Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland received sentences of 24 months and 20 months respectively from Judge Hehir at Southwark Crown Court last week for throwing cans of soup on the glass cover of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in 2022.”

Lake Superior is known for its pristine waters, but a combination of nutrient additions from increasing human activity (including farming and development), warming temperatures and stormy conditions have resulted in more frequent blooms of potentially harmful algae...

Two Harvard students have created an eerie demo of how smart glasses can use facial recognition tech to instantly dox people’s identities, phone numbers, and addresses. The most unsettling part is the demo uses current, widely available technology like the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and public databases.

AnhPhu Nguyen, one of the two students, posted a video showcasing the tech in action that was then picked up by 404 Media. Dubbed I-XRAY, the tech works by using the Meta smart glasses’ ability to livestream video to Instagram. A computer program then monitors that stream and uses AI to identify faces. Those photos are then fed into public databases to find names, addresses, phone numbers, and even relatives. That information is then fed back through a phone app.

In the demo, you can see Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio, the other student behind the project, use the glasses to identify several classmates, their addresses, and names of relatives in real time. Perhaps more chilling, Nguyen and Ardayfio are also shown chatting up complete strangers on public transit, pretending as if they know them based on information gleaned from the tech...

A research group at the Finnish Museum of Natural History is investigating the adaptive potential of plant species amid a warming climate. Their recent study investigates the Siberian primrose, a plant species that occurs on the coasts of the Bothnian Bay and Arctic Ocean. Climate change is threatening the viability of the species...

The latest season of Doctor Who was very much a mixed bag, but we can all agree that the episode "73 Yards" was one of the finest installments. The episode stepped away from science fiction to tell a chilling British folk horror story.

Set in rural Wales, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) is left alone after the Doctor vanishes. But exactly 73 yards away at all times, a mysterious lady follows her. The distant lady may not be an immediate threat, but she creepily lingers at the same distance. After folk in an inn put fear into her that she's disturbed an old fairy circle, Ruby learns that she must've let loose an ancient curse. Whoever Ruby speaks to about the lady either becomes incredibly hostile or flees in terror.

The episode was a high point for the series. It's currently the highest-rated episode of the new season on IMDb with a rating of 8.2/10. The secrets within its plot remain a mystery; even months after it premiered, fans are still trying to uncover elements of the story...

I do not wish to dwell overly long on the incredible stop motion sheep in the trailer for folk horror game Daemonologie, because it’s got so much else going for it - from the gorgeously haunting vocal and string melodies to the extremely dark character interactions that offer your witch finder the choice between 'talk' and 'torture'. And yet, living in Wales for the last decade must have rubbed off. The sweet sheep, they sing to me. The relative rarity of stop motion and other practical effects in horror media is surely one of the greater tragedies of our age, although not too surprising given the incredible amount of work it takes. Flock toward the trailer below, and I’ll see you on the other side of the pasture, hopefully as deeply altered by the experience as I was.

"Daemonologie is a short folk horror story influenced by the Scottish witch trials of the late 1600s," bleats the Steam page. It didn’t actually bleat, to be fair, but bleating is all I can hear now. It’s a short one, apparently clocking in between 30 to 60 minutes for a single playthrough, but with secrets and other mysteries you’ll have to dig for. It’s from Katanalevy, who also made well-loved violin-em-up Symphony of Seven Souls. This one also started as an Itch project, though it looks to have come a long way in the intervening four years...

Available October 4th on VOD, Digital and on Film Movement Plus, we have an exclusive preview of The Wait, a new folk horror film from F. Javier Guttierez:

"Deep in the Andalusian countryside, Eladio (Victor Clavijo) has been hired to watch over the hunting grounds of Don Francisco’s estate, somewhere in rural Spain. The estate is divided into ten hunting stands, spaced far enough apart to avoid incidents. After three years of service, Don Carlos — Don Francisco’s second in command — offers him a bribe to add an additional three stands to the property. Eladio initially hesitates, but his wife eventually convinces him to take the money. Eladio’s greed has unfortunate consequences that drag his entire family to perdition, and plunges him into the depths of guilt, hatred, and revenge."