Proposed Bill Would Make Social Media Companies Responsible for Disinformation

A bill sponsored by state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) aims to hold social media companies accountable for disinformation.

The legislation adds a section to the state’s penal code, adding a new cause of action for public nuisance allowing the state Attorney General, city corporation counsels or private citizens to bring lawsuits after companies or individuals for “knowingly or recklessly” contributing to things like promoting self-harm or vaccine disinformation.

New York Launches its COVID-19 Contact Tracing App

COVID Alert NY is the official app of New York State that will hook into Apple’s exposure notification system you can find in Settings > Exposure Notifications. It alerts you if a sick person spends 10 minutes or more within six feet of you, and will do the same for others if you test positive. Using the app you can also contact a health advisor to request a conversation. The app’s source code is open source and has been vetted by privacy and security experts. The only personal information it collects is your phone number, but that’s only if you explicitly share it if you want a health advisor to call you back.

A $10 Million New York Lab Tries to Brute Force iOS Devices

Inside a lab in New York worth US$10 million, specialists are trying to brute force their way into iPhones and iPads.

What’s going on in the isolation room is important, if silent, forensic work. All of the phones are hooked up to two powerful computers that generate random numbers in an attempt to guess the passcode that locked each device. At night, technicians can enlist other computers in the office, harnessing their unused processing power to create a local supercomputer network.

Private Press Briefings Suggest New Apple Products This Week

Writing for 9to5Mac, Zac Hall says that Apple could be holding private press briefings this week. If this is the case then we could see new Apple product announcements as early as the middle of the week.

This week appears to be one of those occasions based both on what 9to5Mac is hearing privately and suggestions by multiple public disclosures. If Apple is holding private press meetings at the start of this week, that suggests we could see the subject of those meetings announced publicly by the middle of the week.

I’m looking forward to the release of Apple’s ‘Tag’ Bluetooth beacons.

Free Video Streaming in New York Public Library Going Away

Two years ago the New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library partnered with free video streaming service Kanopy to give free access to patrons. But they are ending the partnerships on July 1.

Ultimately, this came down to a decision by the libraries, and where to focus their strategic priorities right now. We have witnessed incredible growth in user demand at these libraries over the past couple years and worked with the NYPL, BPL, and QPL to devise innovative new models that give them certainty and supports their budgetary needs.