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The constant pressure to treat TikTok as a national security threat appears to be working, albeit only on some people. A Pew Research Center survey indicates that 59 percent of American adults see TikTok as a danger, but that this perception varies based on whether or not someone uses the service. Only nine percent of TikTok users see the social network as a major threat, while 36 percent of non-users feel the same. In all, 42 percent of users see the service as any kind of risk where 65 percent of outsiders are worried.

It won’t surprise you to hear that age plays a significant role in the perception of TikTok. Only 49 percent of users under 30 see TikTok as any threat (just 13 percent as a major threat), but those figures climb higher with older demographics. About 65 percent of those over 65 are nervous about TikTok, and 46 percent of that group sees it as a critical threat. Politics are also a factor. A whopping 76 percent of conservatives are concerned where 49 percent of liberals share that sentiment.

Roughly 64 percent of American adults are at least somewhat worried about TikTok’s data handling practices, Pew adds. Again, the figures change based on age. Only 54 percent of people under 30 feel that way, while 75 percent of those over 65 are concerned.

The study was taken just as Montana enacted a law banning TikTok in the state, and long after politicians from both major US parties called for national bans. The platform is already banned on most federal devices. The reasoning is frequently similar. Officials are concerned that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, might feed American users’ data to the Chinese government or influence algorithms to spread pro-China propaganda.

TikTok has repeatedly denied Chinese government influence, and has taken a number of steps to reassure US politicians. It’s storing US data domestically, offering transparency into its code and firing staff that improperly access sensitive data. However, those measures haven’t done much to assuage government representatives — and the Pew data suggests the public is similarly wary.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/people-who-dont-use-tiktok-think-its-a-national-security-threat-203921153.html?src=rss 

Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI. On Friday, the comedian and author, alongside novelists Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey, filed a pair of complaints against OpenAI and Meta (via Gizmodo). The group alleges the firms trained their large language models on copyrighted materials, including works they published, without obtaining consent.

The complaints center around the datasets OpenAI and Meta allegedly used to train ChatGPT and LLaMA. In the case of OpenAI, while it’s “Books1” dataset conforms approximately to the size of Project Gutenberg — a well known copyright-free book repository — lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that the “Books2” datasets is too large to have derived from anywhere other than so-called “shadow libraries” of illegally available copyrighted material, such as Library Genesis and Sci-Hub. Everyday pirates can access these materials through direct downloads, but perhaps more usefully for those generating large language models, many shadow libraries also make written material available in bulk torrent packages. One exhibit from Silverman’s lawsuit involves an exchange between the comedian’s lawyers and ChatGPT. Silverman’s legal team asked the chatbot to summarize The Bedwetter, a memoir she published in 2010. The chatbot was not only able to outline entire parts of the book, but some passages it relayed appear to have been reproduced verbatim.

Silverman, Golden and Kadrey aren’t the first authors to sue OpenAI over copyright infringement. In fact, the firm faces a host of legal challenges over how it went about training ChatGPT. In June alone, the company was served with two separate complaints. One is a sweeping class action suit that alleges OpenAI violated federal and state privacy laws by scraping data to train the large language models behind ChatGPT and DALL-E.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sarah-silverman-sues-openai-and-meta-over-copyright-infringement-175322447.html?src=rss 

Animation is big business for Hulu, as the streamer’s roster of cartoons regularly rank in the top ten for hours watched on the platform, thanks to shows like Bob’s Burgers, Futurama, King of the Hill and many more. Seeking to capitalize on the popularity of adult animation, Hulu’s launching a sub-brand to house all of its animated and anime-based content, as originally reported by Variety. Animayhem is now the home for legacy content like the above titles and original content like Solar Opposites and Koala Man.

All told, the hub/sub-brand allows access to 2,600 episodes of traditional animated programming, spread across 46 series, and a whopping 18,400 episodes of anime, spread across 435 series. That’s over 20,000 episodes of cartoon goodness, for those keeping count. As such, Hulu is advertising the platform as the streamer’s “Animation Destination.”

The surprise-launch of Animayhem comes just two weeks before the latest Futurama reboot, and that’s just the start of the streamer’s plans for animation domination. Hulu’s ordered new episodes of Mike Judge’s King of the Hill and it plans on having a heavy presence at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, promising an immersive experience called “Hulu Animayhem: Into the Second Dimension.”

In the meantime, the hub’s already available as part of the standard Hulu subscription, so go ahead and binge Archer, Family Guy and all the hundreds upon hundreds of available anime series like One Piece and Naruto.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hulu-debuts-hub-for-adult-animation-and-anime-182929897.html?src=rss 

The Massachusetts state legislature is considering a bill that would ban the sale of users’ phone location data. If passed, the Location Shield Act would be the first such law in the nation as Congress stalls on comprehensive user privacy solutions on a national scale. The state’s proposed legislation would also require a warrant for law enforcement to access user location data from data brokers.

Today, The Wall Street Journalpublished a report with numerous details on the proposed legislation, following earlier discussions at the state house (as reported byThe Athol Daily News). Of course, the bill wouldn’t prevent Massachusetts residents from using their phone’s location services for things that directly benefit them — like Google Maps navigation, DoorDash deliveries or hailing an Uber. However, it would bar tech companies and data vendors from selling that data to third parties — a practice without any clear consumer benefit.

The Location Shield Act is backed by the ACLU and various progressive and pro-choice groups, who see a greater urgency to block the dissemination of user location in a post-Dobbs world. As red states increasingly criminalize abortion, concerns have grown over the transfer of user data to catch women traveling out of state to undergo the procedure or access medication. In addition, the bill’s backers raise concerns about national security and digital-stalking implications.

Opposing the legislation is the State Privacy & Security Coalition, a trade association representing the tech industry. “The definition of sale is extremely broad,” said Andrew Kingman, an association lawyer. He says the group supports heightened protections but would prefer giving consumers “the ability to opt-out of sale,” as other state laws have done, rather than imposing an outright ban. Of course, making it optional rather than a complete ban would likely be much better for data brokers’ bottom lines.

Requiring law enforcement to provide a warrant to access user location data could also help curtail the rising trend of law enforcement buying that information commercially. A 2022 ACLU investigation found that the Department of Homeland Security bought over 336,000 data points to essentially bypass the Fourth Amendment requirement for a search warrant. Although the US Supreme Court has said a warrant is usually needed for agencies to access location data from carriers, purchasing the data from private companies has served as a loophole.

The Massachusetts legislative session runs through next year, and the bill’s backers show optimism that it will pass. “I have every reason to be optimistic that something will be happening in this session,” MA Senate Majority Leader Cindy Creem (D), the bill’s sponsor, told the WSJ.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/massachusetts-weighs-outright-ban-on-selling-user-location-data-191637974.html?src=rss 

Workers at Sega of America have voted to unionize. In a union representation election with the National Labor Relations Board, the workers voted 91-26 in favor of their unit, which is called the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA). Nineteen ballots were challenged, while three were void. As a result, the group has now officially organized with the Communication Workers of America. 

The unit comprises more than 200 workers in various departments across the company, including the brand marketing, games as a service, localization, marketing services, product development, sales and quality assurance teams. While it’s hardlythe first games union in North America, the workers say it’s “the largest multi-department union of organized workers in the entire gaming industry.” However, ZeniMax Workers United/CWA includes around 300 quality assurance workers at ZeniMax Studios.

AEGIS-CWA plans to push for improved base pay and benefits, more staff to “eliminate overwork patterns” and more balanced workloads. The workers are also seeking remote work options, clearly defined responsibilities for each role and more.

Sega declined to voluntarily recognize the union. Management decided to “instead engage with known union-busters in an attempt to spread misinformation, fear and division,” Winry Ramsey, a QA tester and AEGIS-CWA member previously said. Sega will now have to agree on a union contract with AEGIS-CWA.

“We are overjoyed to celebrate our union election win as members of AEGIS-CWA. From the start of this campaign, it has been clear that we all care deeply about our work at Sega,” Sega translator and AEGIS-CWA member Ángel Gómez said in a statement. “Now, through our union, we’ll be able to protect the parts of our jobs we love, and strengthen the benefits, pay, and job stability available to all workers. Together we can build an even better Sega. We hope our victory today is an inspiration to other workers across the gaming industry. Together, we can raise standards for all workers across the industry.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sega-of-america-workers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-unionize-192839100.html?src=rss