Google’s surveillance-based business model has attracted another prominent opponent.

After surviving attacks from employees , human rights groups , Harvard professors , and rival firms , the company now faces a more powerful foe: a quartet of US attorneys general.

The bipartisan group of AGs sued Google on Monday for allegedly deceiving users to profit from their location data.

“Google falsely led consumers to believe that changing their account and device settings would allow customers to protect their privacy and control what personal data the company could access,” said Karl Racine, the Washington DC AG who is leading the campaign.

“The truth is that contrary to Google’s representations it continues to systematically surveil customers and profit from customer data.”

The accusations shine the spotlight on the mysterious use of “dark patterns.”

The accusations against Google

Racine and his colleagues from Indiana, Texas, and Washington accuse Google of manipulating users to access location data.

This data is then used to build detailed user-profiles and sell highly targeted advertising.

The AGs argue that the search giant makes it “nearly impossible” for users to stop their location from being tracked.

Their three-year investigation follows a 2018 report by the Associated Press , which revealed that Google “records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to.”

Google claims that changing device and account settings can protect your data. However, the AGs maintain that the company systematically surveils users no matter what settings they choose.

They say this snooping is applied to both Android smartphones and other devices running services including Google Search , Google Maps, and Google Photos.

Dark patterns

A central complaint is that Google relies on “dark patterns” to undermine consumers’ informed choices.

This involves using d eceptive design choices that alter people’s decision-making in ways that harm the user and benefit Google.

These tactics include repeatedly prompting users to enable location in certain apps, and claiming products won’t function properly without enabling location.

The AGs also accuse Google of the following:

Making it impossible for users to opt-out of having their location tracked

Deceiving users about their ability to protect their privacy through account settings

Misleading Android users about their ability to protect their privacy through their device settings

In a statement, Google spokesperson José Castañeda said the accusations are based on “inaccurate claims and outdated assertions” about the company’s settings:

Google’s location tracking future

The new lawsuits follow similar causes in Australia and Arizona .

The complaints note that location data is very sensitive for users. Just a small amount can expose a person’s identity and routines. It can also be used to infer personal details.

The new lawsuits seek to fine Google and end the company’s “deceptive and unlawful practices.”

Racine, the AG leading the campaign, ultimately wants to shift control over data use from Google to consumers.

He’ll have a fight on his hands: location data is a key part of Google’s digital advertising business, which generated nearly $150 billion in revenue in 2020 alone.

China’s planning a mile-long spaceship and Space Force doesn’t seem so silly now

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China’s researchers are looking into the problem of building a giant spaceship to advance the nation’s scientific, military, and economic endeavors.

And by giant, we’re talking GIANT. According to Live Science , the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC) is proposing a craft that would be nearly a mile long.

Up front: This project is at the inception stage. The NNSFC has proposed a feasibility study. If granted, it would receive a little over $2 million and have five years to determine whether such an idea is even plausible.

And, by today’s technological standards, it isn’t. As Live Science’s Edd Gent painstakingly points out, it would be ridiculously expensive.

In fact, the problems with such a concept are myriad and range from energy problems (how do you keep such a giant structure in low orbit?) to life support issues (how do humans survive the radiation if it’s in high orbit?).

But the purpose of a feasibility study is to identify all those little problems and see what could be done in the near future to solve them.

Background: This might be a bigger problem for our grandkids than our current military, but every major threat to global security has to start somewhere.

Typically this kind of pie-in-the-sky stuff wouldn’t raise much in the way of existential fears – it’s unlikely anyone’s taking the idea of a mile-long spaceship seriously right now.

But, China doesn’t have to build a mile-long space ship. It can build a half-mile long one, or a quarter-mile long one. Or whichever will work best for what it wants to accomplish.

And if we try to imagine just how big of a spaceship China could build and what its purpose might be, there’s plenty of reason to take this news seriously.

A quantum advantage: China’s quantum communications research is arguably second-to-none. Researchers in Shanghai were conducting breakthrough quantum-based communications from space to Earth as far back as five years ago .

When you start thinking about the requirements for housing a quantum computer (you need a lot of space, a lot of power, and you need to be able to make it very, very cold) the idea of a giant spaceship hovering out in high orbit starts to make sense.

You wouldn’t need people on board a spaceship that’s essentially a mile-long quantum supercomputer operated by algorithms. And you could probably offset the cost a bit by slapping a few hundred thousand crypto-mining rigs on it.

TL;DR: I still maintain that Space Force is a dumb idea based upon the fact that we already had a space force, it was the Air Force. The uniforms, designations, and logos may have changed, but Space Force fundamentally does the exact same thing it’s always done.

[Related: It’s a dumb idea to make Trump’s Space Force its own military branch ]

But… I can also see that placing an increased emphasis on military matters related to space has been a net benefit for the US. If only because the greasy, disgusting, wheels of government move faster when the general public is behind an endeavor.

In this case, beefing up the US ability to deal with space threats is a good thing. China appears fully-committed to being a primary global aggressor in the digital war space. It brazenly steals technical secrets from US corporations and government systems and has been labeled responsible for numerous hacks and computer-based attacks against the same.

When you combine China’s aggressive technology stance with what we know about its research into quantum communications, the idea of a such a potentially hostile government operating a giant spaceship above our planet and the thousands of artificial satellites orbiting it sounds pretty scary.

Quick take: It feels cynical to imagine something like a giant spaceship as a military endeavor rather than a miracle that could advance humankind’s scientific knowledge.

What if we put a collider on it? What if it was a telescope? What if it was a globally-shared massive quantum supercomputer that could be put to the task of eliminating cancer or solving the climate crisis?

But as long as several countries, including China and the US, still have nuclear missiles aimed at one another to ensure the mutually assured destruction paradigm remains in place, it’s imperative for the safety and survival of the global population that we never let just one government have tactical control of the area surrounding our planet.

Kanye West chatbot gives stunning update on DONDA release date

Kanye West has many talents, but punctuality is not among them. He was late for registration ; he was late for orchestration . He even wrote a song about his tardiness, the aptly titled “Late.”

The most irritating instances of Ye’s procrastination are undoubtedly the delays to his album releases.

Fans have become particularly infuriated by the endless postponements to the launch of his latest record, DONDA.

I asked the man himself for an update — and got some concerning answers:

Before you get alarmed about Yeezus’ welfare, I should let you in on a shocking secret: I wasn’t talking to the real Kanye.

These messages were, in fact, sent by an imposter: an AI chatbot called TalkToKanye .

The bot was created by Wesam Jawich, a software engineer. He told TNW that the idea emerged during conversations with a friend about the future of AI:

Building the Yebot

Yeezus Christ! I hope an AI ASAP Rocky doesn’t see TalkToKanye’s messages, because the chatbot beef could get ugly.

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