Category: Technology

The United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act took effect on July 25th. Among other provisions, the new law makes websites responsible for protecting UK children from content deemed harmful, like pornography or the promotion of eating disorders. This has resulted in many of the most-used websites, including Pornhub, X and Reddit, either putting up or planning to put up age verification barriers to restrict access by minors.

Age-restricting laws put broadly popular websites in a difficult position. Sites like Reddit that rely on user-generated content have no good way of making sure nobody under 18 ever sees restricted material anywhere on the platform, so it’s usually simpler to just ban minors altogether. But this creates a knock-on problem: underage users relying on unvetted free virtual private networks (VPNs) to get back on their favorite platforms.

UK residents are using VPNs to change their apparent locations to other countries and circumvent the Online Safety Act. In the few days since the law went into force, five of the 10 most-downloaded free apps in the UK have been VPNs. We like two of the five, Proton VPN and NordVPN, but NordVPN does not have a free plan — just a seven-day free trial, after which you have to pay. The other three are unvetted, untested and suspiciously generic (VPN Super Unlimited Proxy, FreeVPN.org and Unlimited VPN Proxy).

When you use a VPN, all your web traffic goes through one of the VPN’s servers before moving on to its ultimate destination. Every time you connect, you’re trusting the VPN not to abuse its access to your information, and some VPNs unfortunately abuse that trust. A free VPN is generally safe if it’s supported by paid subscriptions, like Proton is. If there is no paid tier, or the free tier comes with no restrictions, you have to ask yourself where the money is coming from. 

The saying that “if the product is free, then the real product is you” holds true here. For example, Hola VPN admits in its terms of service that its sister company Bright Data can sell free users’ residential IPs as proxy servers, and Hotspot Shield was the subject of an FTC complaint in 2017 that charged it with providing personally identifiable information to advertisers. And one of the services on the UK’s top 10 list, FreeVPN.org, has no address on its website and a frighteningly sparse privacy policy.

Malware is the other significant risk. A 2016 study analyzed 283 Android apps with VPN capability, and found malware in 38% of them. Nor has the threat diminished in the 10 years since — just this year, threat analysts at CYFIRMA reported on a free VPN shared on GitHub being used as a malware vector. 

In the end, a fully free VPN has no real reason to protect you or your rights, and every incentive to milk you for profit. Whatever you choose to do with a VPN, make sure you’re picking one that will keep you save without exploiting you. Green flags include a clear pricing structure, audits from independent firms in the last three years, a specific physical location on the VPN’s website and a thorough privacy policy. Some trustworthy free VPNs include the aforementioned Proton VPN, plus hide.me, TunnelBear and Windscribe.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/vpns-are-booming-in-the-uk-after-age-restriction-laws-but-free-options-carry-big-risks-060036636.html?src=rss 

Last week, social network Tea experienced a data breach that exposed personal information for its users. The dating safety app for women said at the time that “there is no evidence to suggest that current or additional user data was affected.” However, 404 Media reports that the problem is bigger than originally stated. The site credits independent security researcher Kasra Rahjerdi, who found that content from the platform as recent as last week has been exposed.

Additionally, this source claims that the compromised information could allow hackers to view messages between Tea users. DMs might include other sensitive information, such as personal phone numbers, discussions of cheating and experience obtaining abortions. 404 Media claims this is a second leak of personal information at Tea, separate from the database posted on 4chan last week. 

Tea’s security issues come during a surge in popularity. The app allows women to anonymously share personal stories about their dating experience, with the intended goal of letting others know if the men they are meeting might be a risk to their personal safety, were engaged in catfishing, or were already in a relationship.

We’ve reached out to Tea for confirmation of whether this is a second breach or a part of the previously reported leaked data.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/data-breach-at-tea-reportedly-contains-images-and-dms-from-last-week-224823984.html?src=rss 

Anthropic has introduced new weekly rate limits on its Claude Code tool for AI assistance with coding tasks. The move comes shortly after the AI company quietly began implementing rate limits on the Claude Code service, which is an agentic side of the AI chatbot that is capable of reading code, editing files, performing tests and pushing GitHub commits.

According to a series of posts from Anthropic on X, these changes are in response to some users who have been running Claude Code “continuously in the background, 24/7.” Not only does that add up to a hefty environmental toll, the instances of non-stop use are also financially expensive for Anthropic. The company additionally questioned whether some users were violating terms of service by sharing or reselling accounts.

Claude Code is only available on Anthropic’s Pro and Max plans, the most expensive of which is $200 a month. Those subscriptions which will start seeing the weekly rate limits beginning in August. “We estimate they’ll apply to less than 5% of subscribers based on current usage,” the company said. For those people who do run up against the limits on the Max plan, there will be an option to purchase extra usage at standard API rates.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-is-rate-limiting-claude-code-blaming-some-users-for-never-turning-it-off-211134730.html?src=rss 

Whistle, a subsidiary of Mars that makes pet trackers, has announced that it’s being acquired by Tractive. As part of the acquisition, Whistle trackers will stop working, but Tractive is offering to replace those trackers for free for a limited time.

The official shutdown date for Whistle’s pet trackers is August 31, 2025. Users will be able to request a replacement tracker until September 30, 2025 by providing their tracker’s serial number and then choosing a new Tractive tracker. Tractive will also credit pre-paid Whistle subscriptions to new Tractive accounts, and give anyone with a Whistle tracker without an active subscription two months of a Tractive subscription for free.

Whistle’s devices, like the Whistle Go Explore or Whistle Fit, focused on using GPS, Wi-Fi, and AT&T’s network to keep tabs on the whereabouts of your dogs and cats. Tractive goes further by offering similar tracking features alongside wearable-style health monitoring. If you pay for the company’s subscription — a Basic plan gets you all the most important features for $108 per year — you’ll be able to see your dog’s heart rate, respiratory rate and track if it’s barking more than usual.

If you’re willing to pay even more, Tractive offers a Premium plan for $120 per year that unlocks things like “worldwide coverage” for its trackers and the ability export the GPS data your tracker collects. It’s annoying to have to claim a new tracker and transfer accounts, but as far as acquisitions go, this seems like a best-case scenario.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/whistle-pet-trackers-are-shutting-down-next-month-212828325.html?src=rss 

Microsoft has debuted a Copilot Mode for its Edge web browser. When enabled, this experimental feature can search across multiple open browser tabs and analyze the information on each page. An example posted on X by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shows Copilot Mode examining several papers published by the company’s researchers and assessing if they make any similar points.

This feature will also support natural voice navigation and adds a dynamic pane for Copilot to be available wherever you’re browsing. The company is working on more advanced options as well. For instance, if you grant it permission to access your web history and credentials, Copilot Mode will “soon” be able to execute actions such as booking a reservation or suggesting whatever the chatbot deems as relevant information to a query. Copilot Mode will be available for a limited time for users with Edge on Windows or Mac machines to try out. If those people prefer, they can also turn Copilot Mode off in their browser settings.

Many tech companies have set their sights winning the race to have an AI-equipped browser. Perplexity, OpenAI, Opera, and The Browser Company have been pushing to get their products in front of users. Although Microsoft has been putting Copilot in both hardware and software, the business may have a ways to go to become a frontrunner in adoption of its AI tools.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-trials-copilot-mode-in-edge-201851903.html?src=rss 

Microsoft is implementing an age verification system on Xbox accounts to comply with the UK’s Online Safety Act, and in a new blog post announcing the move, the company suggests it’ll come to other countries, too. 

Players in the UK who indicate on their account that they’re 18 years or older will now “begin seeing notifications encouraging them to verify their age,” Microsoft says. The process is optional for now, and players will be able to enjoy playing Xbox games until “early 2026,” when verification will become mandatory to “retain full access to social features on Xbox, such as voice or text communication and game invites.” If you don’t verify, you’ll still be able to make purchases, play games and earn achievements, but social features will be limited to your friends.

Microsoft says its hopes to learn from its UK program, and “roll out age verification processes to more regions in the future.” The company cautions that the version it introduces in other regions might look different than the “proof of government-issued ID, age estimation, mobile provider check and credit card check” options it’s offering in the UK, but age verification will be the norm.

The UK’s Online Safety Act was signed in to law in 2023 to ban nonconsensual deepfake porn and create rules preventing children from being exposed to adult content. As regulators have defined ways companies can comply with the law, implementing an age verification system has become the solution most platforms that host adult content have settled on. That’s why Microsoft, Bluesky, Reddit, Discord and others have announced age-verification programs in the last few months.

The problem is, no age verification system is foolproof, and in some cases all they take is a photo to circumvent. The Verge reports you can fool Reddit’s age gate with the photo mode in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, for example. Using a VPN has also proven to be a way to get around age verification tools. If companies take Microsoft’s approach and introduce age verification in more regions, it might get harder to avoid, but widespread adoption has privacy and security implications of its own.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/microsoft-plans-to-bring-xbox-age-verification-to-countries-outside-of-the-uk-201953614.html?src=rss 

Earlier this summer Engadget covered the news that Warner Bros. Discovery would split into two giant media companies. Today the conglomerate announced the names for the restructured entities.

The company retaining Warner Bros. film, television and game studios, along with New Line Cinema, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max, will be called Warner Bros. Meanwhile, the other entity, which holds the original company’s full portfolio of live cable channels, including CNN, HGTV, Cartoon Network, Discovery and TLC, will be called Discovery Global.

These companies have a storied history of creative naming schemes, such as when WarnerMedia merged with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery. It was also this parent company that brought us the saga of HBO Go being renamed HBO Max, which was then renamed Max, only to revert back to HBO Max this year.

The announcement also confirmed that David Zaslav, the current president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, will serve as president and CEO of the newly formed Warner Bros. Meanwhile, current Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels will serve as president and CEO of Discovery Global.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/the-new-warner-bros-and-discovery-global-would-like-you-to-forget-warner-bros-discovery-183951865.html?src=rss 

Earlier this month, Block CEO and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey unveiled a peer-to-peer, Bluetooth-based messaging app he put together. Now, anyone with a compatible iPhone, Mac or iPad (or even Apple Vision Pro) can try Bitchat as it’s available on the App Store.

Dorsey created Bitchat under the auspices of “and Other Stuff,” an open-source development collective he has backed financially. Per the free app’s description, it allows users to chat with others who are physically close to them without needing to have their email address or phone number, which could make Bitchat handy for in-person events. Messages are private and encrypted, while the Panic Mode function allows you to delete all your Bitchat data with a triple tap.

Dorsey said he built Bitchat as an experiment in “Bluetooth mesh networks, relays and store and forward models, message encryption models and a few other things.” The app doesn’t need internet access to function, making it a useful option in situations in which authorities block mobile data and Wi-Fi connectivity. Other apps that offer Bluetooth mesh messaging first started appearing over a decade ago.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/jack-dorseys-bluetooth-messaging-app-is-now-on-the-app-store-185000786.html?src=rss