Tech Digest daily roundup: Cyberflashing to become criminal offence
Cyberflashing is to become a criminal offence, with those found guilty facing up to two years in prison. The practice involves the sending of unsolicited sexual images to victims through social media, dating apps or using data sharing services including Bluetooth and Airdrop. In some cases a preview of the image appears on the person’s device even if they reject the transfer request. It’s thought almost half of young women have been targeted. Among teenagers, the figure is even higher. A new law to ban it will be included in the government’s Online Safety Bill. Sky News
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Apple has made an estimated £5billion by no longer providing chargers and earphones with its new iPhones. The tech giant said the move, announced two years ago, was intended to cut waste and drew praise from environmentalists when it claimed it would reduce annual carbon emissions by two million tons, the equivalent of taking 500,000 cars off the road. But critics say customers have been hit in the pocket because the withdrawal of the adapters and earphones was not accompanied by a reduction in price. Daily Mail
A Norwegian computer expert has created a website enabling anyone to send an email about the war in Ukraine to up to 150 Russian email addresses at a time, so that Russian people have a chance to hear the truth their government is hiding. All over Russia email inboxes are pinging. Millions of messages are being received with the same intriguing subject Ya vam ne vrag – I am not your enemy. The message appears in Russian with an English translation and it begins: “Dear friend, I am writing to you to express my concern for the secure future of our children on this planet. Most of the world has condemned Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.” BBC
Instagram users in Russia have been notified that the service will cease from midnight on Sunday after its owner Meta Platforms (FB.O) said last week it would allow social media users in Ukraine to post messages such as “Death to the Russian invaders”. An email message from the state communications regulator told people to move their photos and videos from Instagram before it was shut down, and encouraged them to switch to Russia’s own “competitive internet platforms.”Meta, which also owns Facebook, said on Friday that the temporary change in its hate speech policy applied only to Ukraine, in the wake of Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.” Reuters
Russia has appeared to threaten to leave an American astronaut on board the International Space Station (ISS) as revenge for US sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. A video shared on Twitter shows two Russian cosmonauts appearing to wave goodbye to American astronaut Mark Vande Hei as Russia’s segment of the space station detaches from the rest. The video, which is accompanied by upbeat music, was shared on the Nasa Watch Twitter account, which said the video had been made by Roscosmos, the Russian space programme, whose head is Dmitry Rogozin, and posted on Telegram. Yahoo! News
Companies critical to U.S. national interests will now have to report when they’re hacked or they pay ransomware, according to new rules approved by Congress. The rules are part of a broader effort by the Biden administration and Congress to shore up the nation’s cyberdefenses after a series of high-profile digital espionage campaigns and disruptive ransomware attacks. The reporting will give the federal government much greater visibility into hacking efforts that target private companies, which often have skipped going to the FBI or other agencies for help. AP News
