Google

• Google will pay $93M to settle a privacy lawsuit in California for violating consumer protection laws.
• The company was found to have engaged in deceptive practices related to collecting Android users' location data without proper consent.
• Users believed disabling "Location History" would stop tracking, but another setting, "Web & App Activity," remained enabled.
• As part of the settlement, Google will improve user-friendly account controls and be more transparent about data collection practices.
• This follows similar lawsuits and fines against Google for privacy violations in other jurisdictions.

Its available on the web now. So you can start using without Gboard

Source: https://twitter.com/cr_c2cv/status/1699062881780969947

Original source: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2308.16321.pdf

• Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison found that Chrome browser extensions can still steal passwords, despite compliance with Chrome's latest security standard, Manifest V3.
• A proof of concept extension successfully passed the Chrome Web Store review process, demonstrating the vulnerability.
• The core issue lies in the extensions' full access to the Document Object Model (DOM) of web pages, allowing them to interact with text input fields like passwords.
• Analysis of existing extensions showed that 12.5% had the permissions to exploit this vulnerability, identifying 190 extensions that directly access password fields.
• Researchers propose two fixes: a JavaScript library for websites to block unwanted access to password fields, and a browser-level alert system for password field interactions.

Google has released new wallpapers for Pixel phones, featuring warm and sunny images in categories like Cityscapes, Textures, and Life. These wallpapers are exclusive to Pixel devices for now, but it's possible they will be available for all Android phones in the future. Google often releases new wallpapers to commemorate occasions, and Android users have a variety of options to choose from in the Wallpapers app.

A Waymo autonomous taxi in San Francisco on Aug. 10. , Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- California regulators voted in favor of robotaxi operators expanding their paid driverless services in the city of San Francisco, a major milestone toward commercializing the technology.

The state's Public Utilities Commission voted 3 to 1 to allow General Motors Co.'s Cruise LLC and Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo to increase the areas of the city where they can operate a car without a safety driver, and charge riders a fare for it.

The commission, meeting in San Francisco on Thursday, heard hours of public testimony arguing for and against the expansion of Waymo and Cruise's turf. Robotaxis have increasingly become a normal sight on the Northern California city's roads, with Waymo running a fleet of about 200 cars. Such services are currently limited in where they can drive, and the companies typically can't charge passengers. Cruise has 300 cars across three cities

San Francisco, Austin and Phoenix

averaging 1,000 trips a day. Both services have thousands of individuals on waiting lists to try them out.

"This is a huge milestone that enables us to expand Waymo One in SF and continue to serve you," the company said in an emailed statement. Cruise said it will help revamp an "unsafe" transport system. It "will continue to work closely with our regulators, first responders, and other key stakeholders as we expand our service to more people," a Cruise representative said in a statement.

Read More: Waymo, Cruise Robotaxis Are All Over San Francisco: Tech Daily 

Multiple people at the hearing expressed the view that expanding the services of driverless taxis would better serve those with disabilities. Human-driven ride-share vehicles often neglect the needs of picking up individuals with physical challenges, such as stopping abruptly at a curb, some said. Others said autonomous taxis would eliminate discrimination from the process of hailing a ride. 

"I experienced rideshare drivers who have left me on the street and refused to open their vehicles. Drivers can discriminate against vulnerable populations, including queer, black, and trans folks, far more than any computer," city resident Sean Durkin told commissioners at the meeting.

Others who testified argued that expanding autonomous vehicles would make the city's streets safer. 

"I never have to guess if Cruise is going to decide to follow traffic rules today," said San Francisco resident Jason Stafford. "I'm tired of seeing my family put in danger when we have a solution to the danger that human drivers cause."

Read more: Cathie Wood Keeps Up Tesla Robotaxi Hopes After Six-Year Letdown

On the opposing end, many of the individuals who testified against the expansion of autonomous vehicles said it would put jobs at risk, including drivers for traditional ride-share apps like Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc.

both based in San Francisco

as well as workers for delivery services. Others focused on concerns about the safety and accountability of vehicles that companies like Waymo and Cruise allow to navigate the city. 

"I encourage you to think about the 3.5 million truck drivers in the United States, and to think that Cruise is currently rolling out delivery vehicles that they call driverless delivery with the express intent of replacing delivery drivers, long-haul truckers, and affecting the livelihood of millions of American families and working people, " city resident Graham Isom said during the testimony. 

The verdict expands how Waymo and Cruise vehicles can operate. Prior to Thursdays decision, Cruise could only charge a fare in a limited section of the city, while offering a free service covering almost all of the peninsula. Waymo did not charge a fare in San Francisco and its public service excluded the city's northeast.

The resolutions permit the autonomous vehicles to operate without a human safety driver during the day or at night, throughout the entire city of San Francisco. Previously, autonomous vehicles were limited to operating during certain hours, in specific weather conditions or with a safety driver present. Both companies are permitted to collect payment for rides. 

cross-posted from !aistuff@lemdro.id

Aug 8 (Reuters) - Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google and Universal Music (UMG.AS) are in talks to license artists' voices and melodies for artificial intelligence-generated songs, Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing four people familiar with the matter.

The music industry is grappling with "deepfake" songs, made using generative AI, that mimic artists' voices, often without their consent.

The goal behind the talks is to develop a tool for fans to create tracks legitimately and pay the owners of the copyrights for them, the report said, adding the artists would have a choice to opt in the process.

Discussions between Google and Universal Music are at an early stage and no product launch is imminent, while Warner Music (WMG.O) is also in talks with Google about a product, the report added.

The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/7009755

The difference between the two security features is that Safe Browsing will compare a visited site to a locally stored list of domains, compared to Enhanced Safe Browser, which will check if a site is malicious in real-time against Google's cloud services.

While it may seem like Enhanced Safe Browsing is the better way to go, there is a slight trade-off in privacy, as Chrome and Gmail will share URLs with Google to check if they are malicious and temporarily associate this information with your signed-in Google account.

It happens every once in a while when a story on your Google Discover news feed will mysteriously take you to Google's 404 (Not Found) page—despite the story being very much live at the time.

BleepingComputer has been observing this behavior over the past few weeks at random on Android devices, and we are able to identify the cause of the problem.

Here's how you can still read your favorite stories, and even workaround the bug that has occasionally bothered some users in the past.

YouTube today announced a number of new Shorts features, but the most promising one for Creators is a recomposition tool to convert regular videos into vertical content.

The Search Generative Experience (SGE) that Google is testing out with some users shows an interesting future for the world’s most popular search engine, but one that also wasn’t really showing its source links very clearly at first. Now, though, Google seems to be testing more prominent links in SGE.

Since its launch in May, the Search Generative Experience (SGE) in Google Search has been able to use generative AI to enhance search results with summaries related to your search. In a hands-on overview, our Abner Li called the experience “scarily sufficient,” commenting on how SGE makes it easy to ignore source links and just take Google’s answers at face value, even if they aren’t fully accurate.