All posts tagged: protections

Video game voice actors go on strike over AI protections

Video game voice actors go on strike over AI protections

Published by skeptic

Video game voice and motion capture performers have gone on strike for the second time in a decade. After a year and a half of negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and major video game companies like Activision, Electronic Arts, and Take-Two Interactive, the portion of the union’s membership that works on video games has initiated a work stoppage that went into effect on Friday morning. In a statement on its website, SAG-AFTRA said, with no uncertainty, that artificial intelligence protections are the “sticking point.” “We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse A.I. to the detriment of our members,” union president Fran Drescher said in the statement. “Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate.” SEE ALSO: Bethesda becomes first Microsoft game studio to unionize In a statement to Polygon, a spokesperson for the gaming companies’ side Audrey Cooling claimed the AI terms that SAG-AFTRA did not agree to are “among the …

Millions in US face extreme-heat threat as experts urge better protections | US weather

Millions in US face extreme-heat threat as experts urge better protections | US weather

Published by skeptic

US map colored in swaths of yellow/oranges/reds to indicate temperature abnormalities. The reddest region is in the south west. Millions of Americans face the threat of dangerous heatwaves in the coming weeks with another summer of record-breaking temperatures forecast to hit the US. Most of New Mexico and Utah – alongside parts of Arizona, Texas and Colorado – have the highest chance (60% to 70%) of seeing hotter-than-average summer temperatures, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). In addition, the entire north-east – from Maine down to Pennsylvania and New Jersey – as well as a large stretch from Louisiana to Arizona, Washington and Idaho, have a 40% to 50% chance of experiencing above-average temperatures from June through August. Only south-west Alaska is expected to have below-normal temperatures. “We can expect another dangerous hot summer season, with daily records already being broken in parts of Texas and Florida,” said Kristy Dahl, principal climate scientist for the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “As we warm the planet, we are …

Why removing protections on social media – in the name of free speech – is bad for peacebuilding

Why removing protections on social media – in the name of free speech – is bad for peacebuilding

Published by skeptic

On May 16 the world will mark the UN International Day of Living Together in Peace. It is a rallying call for people to listen respectfully to others and promote tolerance and understanding. Perhaps someone should tell tech entrepreneurs Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. The online platforms they head up – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X – have become synonymous with fake news, hate speech, misinformation and other online harms. Social media has been widely blamed for destabilising democracies and fomenting civil unrest in Europe and North America. In July 2023, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, proposed restricting access to online platforms in order to quell rioting. This is a far cry from 2009, when Facebook proudly claimed it had created “friendships” between seemingly irredeemably rival groups: Sunni and Shia Muslims, Muslims and Jews, Pakistanis and Indians, Greeks and Turks, conservatives and liberals. “Peace on Facebook” was a classic example of what social scientist Nicholas John refers to as “social media bullshit”. Such PR blurb is designed to convince the public these tech companies are a force …

Republican-Led States Sue to Block Biden Protections for Transgender Students

Republican-Led States Sue to Block Biden Protections for Transgender Students

Published by skeptic

(Reuters) -Nine Republican-led states and several conservative groups on Monday filed lawsuits challenging new Biden administration regulations that bar schools and colleges that receive federal funding from discriminating against students based on their gender identity. The states and advocacy groups filed the lawsuits in federal courts in Alabama, Louisiana and Texas challenging new U.S. Department of Education regulations that extend sex discrimination protections in federal civil rights law to LGBTQ students. The department said the regulations issued on April 19 clarified that the prohibition against sex-based discrimination in schools and colleges that receive federal funding contained in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 also includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The department cited a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that a ban against sex discrimination in the workplace contained in a different law, Title VII, covered gay and transgender workers. Courts often rely on interpretations of Title VII when analyzing Title IX as both laws bar discrimination on the basis of sex. The regulations also change how schools subject …

UK consumer protections against cyber attacks come into force

UK consumer protections against cyber attacks come into force

Published by skeptic

From today, new laws enforcing consumer protections against hacking and cyber attacks will take effect in the UK. The new laws will enforce consumer protections, mandating that internet-connected smart devices meet minimum security standards by law. Under the new regime, manufacturers will be banned from having weak, easily guessable default passwords like ‘admin’ or ‘12345’. If there is a common password, the new law will have manufacturers prompt the user to change it on start-up. The laws are coming into force as part of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure regime, designed to ensure cyber attacks do not impact the UK and the global economy. Data and Digital Infrastructure Minister, Julia Lopez, said: “Today marks a new era where consumers can have greater confidence that their smart devices, such as phones and broadband routers, are shielded from cyber threats, and the integrity of personal privacy, data and finances better protected.” Mitigating harmful cyber attacks This measure aims to mitigate risks such as the harmful Mirai attack in 2016, during which 300,000 smart devices were compromised …

DOT cracks down on airline junk fees with passenger protections

DOT cracks down on airline junk fees with passenger protections

Published by skeptic

Travelers and their luggage in a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport in August 2023. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Mario Tama/Getty Images Travelers and their luggage in a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport in August 2023. Mario Tama/Getty Images WASHINGTON — In an effort to crack down on airlines that charge passengers steep fees to check bags and change flights, the U.S. Department of Transportation has announced new regulations aimed at expanding consumer protections. One of the final rules announced Wednesday requires airlines to show the full price of travel before passengers pay for their tickets. The other will force airlines to provide prompt cash refunds when flights are canceled or significantly changed. “Passengers deserve to know upfront what costs they are facing and should get their money back when an airline owes them – without having to ask,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a statement announcing the new rules. Surprise junk fees have become a large and growing source of revenue for airlines in recent years, according to the …

Title IX changes add LGBTQ, assault victim protections

Title IX changes add LGBTQ, assault victim protections

Published by skeptic

“Our nation’s educational institutions should be places where we not only accept differences, but celebrate them,” U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, seen in the East Room of the White House in August 2023, said of the new Title IX regulation. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images “Our nation’s educational institutions should be places where we not only accept differences, but celebrate them,” U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, seen in the East Room of the White House in August 2023, said of the new Title IX regulation. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images The Biden administration released rules Friday that protect the rights of LGBTQ students and change the way schools can respond to allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. It’s a long-awaited answer to campaign promises made by President Biden to reverse Trump-era regulations he said were silencing survivors. The Education Department’s updates to Title IX, the 1972 law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded school programs, are expected to go into effect Aug. 1. Under the new …

“Already the law:” Federal agency clarifies that abortion leave is covered by workplace protections

“Already the law:” Federal agency clarifies that abortion leave is covered by workplace protections

Published by skeptic

This week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finalized its Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations, after being criticized by conservative lawmakers and religious organizations. Part of the update included a clarification that accommodations, like a leave of absence, under the law apply to abortion care.  The EEOC said it received approximately 54,000 comments — “most of which were form or slightly altered form comments from individuals,” the agency said — urging them to exclude abortion from the definition of “pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.” But abortion-related protections are consistent with Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the EEOC said. “In the final regulation, the Commission includes abortion in its definition of ‘pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,’ as proposed in the NPRM and consistent with the Commission’s and courts’ longstanding interpretation of the same phrase in Title VII,” the final rules concluded. The law applies to all industries and employers with more than 15 employees. While the law passed in December 2022 and went into effect in the summer of 2023, it …

U.S. Lays Out Protections for Assange if He Is Extradited

U.S. Lays Out Protections for Assange if He Is Extradited

Published by Sam

The possibility that Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, could be extradited to the United States seemed to edge closer on Tuesday, after American officials sent assurances to British authorities that he would not face the death penalty or be persecuted for his nationality, and that he could seek First Amendment protections. The assurances were the latest turn in a prolonged legal battle over the extradition of Mr. Assange, who has been indicted by the United States for violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified documents. They came after a remark from President Biden last week that the administration was considering a request from Mr. Assange’s home country of Australia that he be allowed to return there, prompting speculation that the U.S. could be rethinking the case. But the filing of the commitments, requested by a British court last month as part of Mr. Assange’s five-year battle against extradition to the United States, suggested that American authorities may still be pursuing his removal. Mr. Assange, 52, was the head of WikiLeaks in 2010 when it published …

Coal miners have long faced risk of black lung disease. Now they’re getting new protections

Coal miners have long faced risk of black lung disease. Now they’re getting new protections

Published by skeptic

WASHINGTON (AP) — Coal miners will be better protected from poisonous silica dust that has contributed to the premature deaths of thousands of mine workers from a respiratory ailment commonly known as black lung disease, the Labor Department said Tuesday as it issued a new federal rule on miners’ safety. The final rule, announced by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, cuts by half the permissible exposure limit for crystalline silica for an eight-hour shift. Mine workers, community advocates and elected officials from Appalachian states have pushed for the stricter rule, noting that health problems have grown in recent years as miners dig through more layers of rock to gain access to coal seams when deposits closer to the surface have long been tapped. The increased drilling generates deadly silica dust and has caused severe forms of pneumoconiosis, better known as black lung disease, even among younger miners, some in their 30s and 40s. “It is unconscionable that our nation’s miners have worked without adequate protection from silica dust despite it being a known health hazard …