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Dr Spin writes:

I have been playing YouTube videos, despite the obvious risk to my mental health.

I am using Firefox on Linux and tend to have the "volume control" on my desktop because I use an external sound card to record or drive headphones.

I notice that each time an ad comes on, the volume setting jumps up. Its not that the ad sound level is higher (although it IS).

The actual volume setting is bumped up and remains so after I have skipped the advert.

Is this not illegal interference with my computer? An offence against some law?

[Editor's Comment: Has anyone else witnessed this? I watch Youtube but rarely see any ads in the video's that I watch. As for 'legal advice' - if it is happening we have probably signed our lives away somewhere that permits it. ]

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/mad-honey-deli-bal-turkey-black-sea

In the little wooden hut perched high on metal-wrapped stilts, the drone is high, loud and insistent.

With his beekeeping suit on, but hands uncovered, Hasan Kutluata squeezes the bellows on his pine-filled bee smoker. Pale wreaths swirl in the air, mirroring the mist that drifts over the slopes of the densely forested Kaçkar mountains outside.

The smoke is to calm the bees, masking the pheromone they release when they sense danger and which warns other bees to attack.

When Kutluata lifts the lid off the round lindenwood hives, the hum rises to a crescendo — but these bees aren't angry, it's just their honey that's mad.

We're here to harvest deli bal — bal means "honey" and deli means "crazy" or "mad" — and Turkey's Black Sea region is one of only two places in the world to produce it, the other being Nepal's Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain range.

"In our untouched forests, the purple rhododendron blooms in spring," Kutluata tells CNN. "The bees collect nectar from those flowers, and that's how we get the mad honey."

The nectar contains a naturally occurring toxin called grayanotoxin. The amount that makes it into the honey varies per season and what other flowers the bees have been feasting on, but a spoonful can pack enough buzz to deliver a gently soporific high — while a jar would land you in a hospital.

For millennia, deli bal has been used as folk medicine, a spoonful taken daily to lower blood pressure or used as a sexual stimulant. Today, this potentially dangerous delicacy sells at a premium price.

upstart writes:

AI resistance: Who says no to AI and why? – Digital Society Blog:

A poisoned dataset. A writers' strike that froze Hollywood for 148 days. Street protests against data centres. Behind each of these acts lies a growing global pushback against artificial intelligence. Drawing on the recent report, "From Rejection to Regulation: Mapping the Landscape of AI Resistance," by Can Simsek and Ayse Gizem Yasar, this article examines how artists, workers, activists, and scholars challenge the design, deployment, and governance of AI systems. It explores the drivers behind AI resistance and outlines a research agenda that treats these acts not as obstacles, but as vital contributions to democratic AI governance.

Artificial intelligence is catalysing a radical sociotechnical transformation, reshaping not only our technological infrastructures but also the institutions that organise society. In the midst of this shift, crucial questions arise: Who determines the direction of this change and the future we want to build? Who remains unheard in the conversation? Are we passive observers of increasingly deployed powerful algorithms, or do we have the agency and responsibility to challenge and reshape them?

Acts of pushback are already unfolding across diverse domains and geographies. While heterogeneous in form and motivation, these interventions share a critical orientation towards the pace, purpose, and underlying power structures of contemporary AI development. Rather than isolated incidents, they constitute elements of a broader landscape of AI resistance that demands closer attention.

To see today's pushback against AI in context, it helps to remember that resistance to new technology is nothing new. Technological paradigm shifts have consistently triggered societal concern and resistance, from the 19th century Luddites who opposed textile machinery due to labor displacement, to current debates on digital surveillance and algorithmic bias. As artificial intelligence emerges as a major transformative force, public reactions continue to alternate between optimism and concern. On the one hand, governments and private firms are committing unprecedented levels of investment in AI development; on the other, a growing amount of "AI resistance" raises fundamental objections to how these technologies are being designed, produced, deployed, and governed. But what exactly is AI resistance?

The concept of "resistance" in the context of AI encompasses a wide spectrum of actions and discourses that may be overt or subtle, organised or diffuse, individual or collective, oppositional or reformist. Drawing on insights from critical theory and science and technology studies, resistance to artificial intelligence can be understood as a form of agency exercised within existing systems of power. In this framing, the object of resistance is not technology per se, but the sociotechnical arrangements and asymmetries that both shape and are shaped by the development and application of AI.

upstart writes:

A new scheme will help to share the benefits of solar power in the daytime:

Australian households will be able to access free electricity for three hours every day, in an effort to encourage energy use when excess solar power is being fed into the grid.

The federal government scheme will require retailers to offer free electricity to households for at least three hours in the middle of the day, when there is often more electricity generated than is being used, leading to very cheap or even negative wholesale prices.

The Solar Sharer scheme will initially be introduced to consumers in default market offer regions like NSW, south-east Queensland and South Australia from July next year, with consultation to extend the scheme to other jurisdictions by 2027.

Households with smart meters will be able to run washers and dryers, air conditioning or any other appliances for free within the three-hour window.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said the scheme would share around the benefits of solar panels, including to those without panels or who rented their homes.

"There is so much power in the middle of the day now that often the prices are very cheap or negative and this should be something, by our analysis, that energy companies can incorporate and offer," Mr Bowen told the ABC.

"It's not a silver bullet, and it is part of a suite of measures, but it's a good one. No one would claim that one particular policy solves all the challenges in the energy market."

Mr Bowen added that modern technology had made it easier for people to schedule appliances to start in the middle of the day, when electricity would be free.

"We want to see the benefits of renewable energy flow to all, even those without solar panels or batteries," he said.

But retailers have reacted with surprise to the announcement, saying it had not been raised in consultations on reforms to the network.

"This lack of consultation risks damaging industry confidence, as well as creating the potential for unintended consequences," the Australian Energy Council's chief executive Louisa Kinnear said in a statement.

[...] The government said the shift in demand was expected to lower costs for everyone by reducing peak demand in the evening, which would also minimise the need for "costly" network upgrades to ensure grid stability.

The federal government has been under pressure to address power price concerns, as state and federal rebates come off, and with a recent uptick in inflation as a consequence.

Moving From Windows To FreeBSD As The Linux Chaos Alternative

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://hackaday.com/2025/11/11/moving-from-windows-to-freebsd-as-the-linux-chaos-alternative/

Back in the innocent days of Windows 98 SE, I nearly switched to Linux on account of how satisfied I was with my Windows experience. This started with the Year of the Linux Desktop in 1999 that started with me purchasing a boxed copy of SuSE Linux and ended with me switching to Windows 2000. After this I continued tinkering with non-Windows OSes including QNX, BeOS, various BSDs, as well as Linux distributions that promised a 'Windows-like' desktop experience, such as Lindows.

Now that Windows 2000's proud legacy has seen itself reduced to a rusting wreck resting on cinderblocks on Microsoft's dying front lawn, the quiet discomfort that many Windows users have felt since Windows 7 was forcefully End-Of-Life-d has only increased. With it comes the uncomfortable notion that Windows as a viable desktop OS may be nearing its demise. Yet where to from here?

Although the recommendations from the peanut gallery seem to coalesce around Linux or Apple's MacOS (formerly OS X), there are a few dissenting voices extolling the virtues of FreeBSD over both. There are definitely compelling reasons to pick FreeBSD over Linux, in addition to it being effectively MacOS's cousin. Best of all is not having to deal with the Chaos Vortex that spawns whenever you dare to utter the question of 'which Linux distro?'. Within the world of FreeBSD there is just FreeBSD, which makes for a remarkably coherent experience.

[...] In case you're more into the 'just add water' level of a desktop OS installation process, the GhostBSD project provides the ready to go option for a zero fuss installation like you would see with Linux Mint, Manjaro Linux and kin. Although I have done the hard mode path previously with FreeBSD virtual machines, to save myself the time and bother I opted for the GhostBSD experience here.

[...] Since any open source software of note that runs on Linux tends to have a native FreeBSD build, the experience here is rather same-ish. Where things can get interesting is with things related to the GPU, especially gaming. These days that of course means getting Steam and ideally the GoG Galaxy client running, which cracks open a pretty big can of proprietary worms.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/lego-star-trek-uss-enterprise-d-b2861107.html

The set will be available in Lego stores and online November 28

Lego is releasing its first-ever Star Trek -inspired model — with an incredible recreation of the signature ship from the '80s TV series.

Made from 3,600 pieces, the Lego set is of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D, the spaceship that serves as the main setting of Star Trek: The Next Generation series, which ran for seven seasons, as well as the 1994 film, Star Trek Generations.

"[It] allows builders to craft a detailed replica of the iconic starship, complete with a detachable command saucer, secondary hull, and warp nacelles with distinctive red and blue detailing," according to a press release from Lego. "The model also features an opening shuttlebay and two mini shuttlepods, perfect for recreating classic scenes."

The set comes with nine mini-figures of Star Trek: The Next Generation characters, including Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William Riker, Lieutenant Worf, Lieutenant Commander Data, Dr. Beverly Crusher, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, Counsellor Deanna Troi, Bartender Guinan, and Wesley Crusher.

Figurines also have some themed accessories, like an engineering case, phaser, or portable tractor beam generator.

Once the spaceship has been built, it can be placed on an angled display stand complete with an information plaque that is included in the kit. There is also a display tile, with Star Trek: The Next Generation branding, for the mini-figures.

However, fans should not expect to get their hands on the set before Black Friday, which falls this year on November 28. The set will be sold on Lego's website and in stores for $399.99.

In addition, customers who get the new Star Trek set will receive a special gift while supplies last: The Lego Icons Star Trek: Type-15 Shuttlepod. The set includes everything needed to make a mini-figure-scale model of the Type-15 Shuttlepod, a small two-person craft from the franchise.

Actor Jonathan Frakes, who starred in Star Trek: The Next Generation, celebrated the new U.S.S. Enterprise set from Lego in a statement.

"As Commander Riker, I spent a lot of time on the bridge of the Enterprise, and now fans can take the helm themselves... in LEGO brick form!" he said. "This set is a fantastic way to relive the adventures of the crew, piece by piece. Look out for a cameo in the livestream with an offer to win a signed Enterprise set!"

This isn't the first time that Lego has brought the setting of a beloved franchise to life. In September, the company launched the two-foot-tall Lego Star Wars Death Star, made up of a whopping 9,023 pieces. It also features the most mini-figures ever in a Lego set.

Priced at $999.99, the model recreates a busy cross-section of the Galactic Empire's infamous moon-sized planet destroyer from Star Wars.

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/11/new-project-brings-strong-linux-compatibility-to-more-classic-windows-games/

For years now, Valve has been slowly improving the capabilities of the Proton compatibility layer that lets thousands of Windows games work seamlessly on the Linux-based SteamOS. But Valve's Windows-to-Linux compatibility layer generally only extends back to games written for Direct3D 8, the proprietary Windows graphics API Microsoft released in late 2000.

Now, a new open source project is seeking to extend Linux interoperability further back into PC gaming history. The d7vk project describes itself as "a Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D 7 [D3D7], which allows running 3D applications on Linux using Wine."
[...]
Wine's own built-in WineD3D compatibility layer has supported D3D7 in some form or another for at least two decades now. But the new d7vk project instead branches off the existing dxvk compatibility layer, which is already used by Valve's Proton for SteamOS and which reportedly offers better performance than WineD3D on many games.
[...]
The D3D7 games list predictably includes a lot of licensed shovelware, but there are also well-remembered games like Escape from Monkey Island, Arx Fatalis, and the original Hitman: Codename 47. WinterSnowfall writes that the project was inspired by a desire to play games like Sacrifice and Disciples II on top of the existing dxvk framework.
[...]
Don't expect this project to expand to include support for even older DirectX APIs, either, WinterSnowfall warns. "D3D7 is enough of a challenge and a mess as it is," the author writes. "The further we stray from D3D9, the further we stray from the divine."

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

How conspiracy theories led to the hacking of NASA servers and ruined a sysadmin's life: Gary McKinnon's story

He was looking for aliens - and became the No. 1 enemy of the state for the United States and started a diplomatic war between the United States and the United Kingdom

It's a good article with photos. Unlike most of the older articles covering Gary, this article was published 14.05.2025.

Imagine an IT guy who wanted to find traces of UFOs and instead found himself at the centre of the most high-profile hacking case of the 2000s. In 2002, Gary McKinnon, an ordinary sysadmin from Scotland, broke into NASA and the Pentagon computers under the nickname Solo. The United States immediately called it "the largest military hack of all time" and squeezed the most out of this formula - media, diplomatically, legally.

Ten years of trials, extradition requests, an autism diagnosis, an activist mother, hysteria around human rights, conspiracies, spaceships - all this is not a Netflix scriptwriter's invention, but a real story of a British man who just wanted to know if the US government was really hiding information about aliens.

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Draft proposals obtained by POLITICO show EU is breaking sacred privacy regime to placate industry:

European Union officials are ready to sacrifice some of their most prized privacy rules for the sake of AI, as they seek to turbocharge business in Europe by slashing red tape.

The European Commission will unveil a "digital omnibus" package later this month to simplify many of its tech laws. The executive has insisted that it is only trimming excess fat through "targeted" amendments, but draft documents obtained by POLITICO [paywalled] show that officials are planning far-reaching changes to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to the benefit of artificial intelligence developers.

The proposed overhaul will come as a boon to businesses working with AI, as Europe scrambles to stay economically competitive on the world stage.

But touching the flagship privacy law — seen as the "third rail" of EU tech policy — is expected to trigger a massive political and lobbying storm in Brussels.

"Is this the end of data protection and privacy as we have signed it into the EU treaty and fundamental rights charter?" said German politician Jan Philipp Albrecht, who as a former European Parliament member was one of the chief architects of the GDPR. "The Commission should be fully aware that this is undermining European standards dramatically."

Brussels' shift on privacy comes as it frets over Europe's waning economic power. Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi namechecked the General Data Protection Regulation as holding back European innovation on artificial intelligence in his landmark competitiveness report last year.

[...] In past months, Commission officials have sought to preempt worries [41:53 --JE] that it was overhauling the privacy rulebook. It insisted that its simplification proposals wouldn't touch the underlying principles of the GDPR.

Now that draft plans are out, civil society campaigners have begun sounding the alarm.

The Commission is "secretly trying to overrun everyone else in Brussels," said Max Schrems, founder of Austrian privacy group Noyb — and Europe's infamous privacy campaigner who was behind court cases that brought down major data transfer deals with the United States in the past. "This disregards every rule on good lawmaking, with terrible results," he said.

One line of attack from privacy groups is to poke holes in what they say is a rushed omnibus process. While the GDPR took years to negotiate, public consultation on the digital omnibus only ended in October. The Commission has not prepared impact assessments to accompany its proposals, as it says the changes are only targeted and technical.

The Commission's tunnel vision on the AI race has resulted in a "poorly drafted 'quick shot' in a highly complex and sensitive area," said Schrems.

[...] Draft changes would create new exceptions for AI companies that would allow them to legally process special categories of data (like a person's religious or political beliefs, ethnicity or health data) to train and operate their tech. The Commission is also planning to reframe the definition of such special category data, which are afforded extra protections under the privacy rules.

Officials also want to redefine what constitutes as personal data, saying that pseudonymized data (where personal details have been obscured so a person can't be identified) might not always be subject to the GDPR's protections, a change that reflects a recent ruling from the EU's top court.

Finally, it wants to reform Europe's pesky cookie banner rules by inserting a provision into the GDPR that would give website and app owners more legal grounds to justify tracking users beyond simply obtaining their consent.

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/what-i-do-to-clean-up-a-clean-install-of-windows-11-23h2-and-edge/

It's that time of year again—temperatures are dropping, leaves are changing color, and Microsoft is gradually rolling out another major yearly update to Windows 11.

The Windows 11 25H2 update is relatively minor compared to last year's 24H2 update
[...]
The 24H2 update came with some major under-the-hood overhauls of core Windows components and significant performance improvements for the Arm version; 25H2 is largely 24H2, but with a rolled-over version number to keep it in line with Microsoft's timeline for security updates and tech support.
[...]
To keep things current, we've combed through our Windows cleanup guide, updating it for the current build of Windows 11 25H2 (26200.7019) to help anyone who needs a fresh Windows install or who is finally updating from Windows 10 now that Microsoft is winding down support for it.
[...]
As before, this is not a guide about creating an extremely stripped-down, telemetry-free version of Windows; we stick to the things that Microsoft officially supports turning off and removing. There are plenty of experimental hacks and scripts that take it a few steps farther, and/or automate some of the steps we outline here—NTDev's Tiny11 project is one—but removing built-in Windows components can cause unexpected compatibility and security problems, and Tiny11 has historically had issues with basic table-stakes stuff like "installing security updates."
[...]
The most contentious part of Windows 11's setup process relative to earlier Windows versions is that it mandates a Microsoft account sign-in, with none of the readily apparent "limited account" fallbacks that existed in Windows 10. As of Windows 11 22H2, that's true of both the Home and Pro editions.
[...]
During Windows 11 Setup, after selecting a language and keyboard layout but before connecting to a network, hit Shift+F10 to open the command prompt (depending on your keyboard, you may also need to hit the Fn key before pressing F10). Type OOBE\BYPASSNRO, hit Enter, and wait for the PC to reboot.

When it comes back, click "I don't have Internet" on the network setup screen, and you'll have recovered the option to use "limited setup" (aka a local account) again, like older versions of Windows 10 and 11 offered.

This option has been removed from some Windows 11 testing builds, but it still works as of this writing in 25H2. We may see this option removed in a future update to Windows.
[...]
Rather than tell you what I remove, I'll tell you everything that can be removed from the Installed Apps section of the Settings app (also quickly accessible by right-clicking the Start button in the taskbar). You can make your own decisions here; I generally leave the in-box versions of classic Windows apps like Sound Recorder and Calculator while removing things I don't use, like To Do or Clipchamp.
[...]
Microsoft has been on a yearslong crusade against unused space in the Start menu and taskbar, which means there's plenty here to turn off.
[...]

hubie writes:

What Do We Do If SETI Is Successful?

The Search For Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is evolving. We've moved on from the limited thinking of monitoring radio waves to checking for interstellar pushing lasers or even budding Dyson swarms around stars. To match our increased understanding of the ways we might find intelligence elsewhere in the galaxy, the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is working through an update to its protocols for what researchers should do after a confirmed detection of intelligence outside of Earth. Their new suggestions are available in a pre-print paper on arXiv, but were also voted on at the 2025 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney, with potential full adoption early next year.

This updated protocol marks the largest change in the 36 years there has been a protocol. THe IAA first created a "Declaration of Principles" in 1989 that was intended to suggest how humanity should react to a confirmed signal from an alien world. This protocol was updated in 2010, but those changes were largely just streamlining with little substantive differences.

The update being put forth now, though, is significantly different in a number of important ways. It is intended to reflect the growing complexity of dealing with highly sensitive topics in the modern world, especially when dealing with social media. A big part of its intent is to protect the researchers who announce the discovery from online harassment, or worse.

But perhaps the most important single change is the suggestion of whether humanity should respond to a direct message. Previous versions of the protocol have suggested that yes, we should, and put few restrictions on doing so. The updated one suggests that the researchers should absolutely not send any reply until after the issue is discussed at the United Nations, which makes sense, though getting the UN itself to agree to anything at this point seems like a hard ask.

[...] If the signal happens to be electromagnetic, which is what started the SETI search in the first place, the paper suggests petitioning the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the governing body of the world's wireless channel distribution, to free up the bandwidth it was detected on. That would lessen any interference, intentional or otherwise, from manmade sources - or at least give legal recourse to stopping the interference.

Overall the message from the update is that the world has gotten much more complex in the last fifteen years - ranging from the political and social environment on Earth to our understanding of what a SETI discovery might look like. While no organization claims to have all the answers to what to do should we find a signal indicating alien intelligence, the way the IAA has been handling this update process, which has been ongoing with multiple rounds of revisions over the last two years, has been exemplary. The final step in its ratification, assuming it passed the simple majority vote in Sydney, is to have the IAA's board ratify it, allowing the sub-committee that developed it to continue its underappreciated, but one day potentially vital, work.

arXiv paper: SETI Post-Detection Protocols: Progress Towards a New Version

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Google confirms AI search will have ads, but they may look different:

Google Ads are not going anywhere. Eventually, AI Search results on Google and likely other properties will have ads.

Google recently reported $56.57 billion in revenue from ads on Search and YouTube. You obviously can't expect ads to disappear from its search business.

Right now, Google has two AI features.

The first is AI Overviews, which appears at the top of the search results with answers scraped from publishers that Google does not want to pay.

The second and more powerful feature is AI Mode, which offers a ChatGPT-like personalized experience.

Google has already confirmed it plans to integrate services like Gmail and Drive into Google AI Mode to create a new personalized experience where AI knows everything about you.

In a podcast [28:12 --JE], Google's Robby Stein argued that the Google Ads business is not going anywhere, but it will evolve to support the new landscape.

Robby Stein says Google does not see them [ads] going away, but the experience could change.

"...you could take a picture of your shoes and say, 'Hey, these are my shoes. What are other cool shoes like this?' And we could answer that now or help provide you context with that. Or you could ask about this really cool restaurant question. It can be five sentences about all your allergies, issues with this. I have this big group. I want to make sure it's got light. What can I book in advance? And you can put that into Google now too," Robby argues while explaining where ads could fit into the AI experience.

"I think that's an opportunity for the future to be even more helpful for you, particularly in an advertising context. And so we started some experiments on ads within AI Mode and within Google AI experiences," he added.

At this point, it looks like Google wants you to use AI Mode for personal questions, and based on those questions, it could show personalized ads.

Google is already testing ads in AI Search in a limited form, and we'll likely learn more about its plans next year.

Related: Google's Gemini Deep Research Can Now Read Your Gmail and Rummage Through Google Drive

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/russian-hackers-abuse-hyper-v-to-hide-malware-in-linux-vms/

The Russian hacker group Curly COMrades is abusing Microsoft Hyper-V in Windows to bypass endpoint detection and response solutions by creating a hidden Alpine Linux-based virtual machine to run malware.

Inside the virtual environment, the threat actor hosted its custom tools, the CurlyShell reverse shell and the CurlCat reverse proxy, which enabled operational stealth and communication.

Curly COMrades is a cyber-espionage threat group believed to be active since mid-2024. Its activities are closely aligned with Russian geopolitical interests.

[...] The researchers found that in early July, after gaining remote access to two machines, Curly COMrades executed commands to enable Hyper-V and disable its management interface.

Microsoft includes the Hyper-V native hypervisor technology that provides hardware virtualization capabilities in Windows (Pro and Enterprise) and Windows Server operating systems, allowing users to run virtual machines (VMs).

"The attackers enabled the Hyper-V role on selected victim systems to deploy a minimalistic, Alpine Linux-based virtual machine. This hidden environment, with its lightweight footprint (only 120MB disk space and 256MB memory), hosted their custom reverse shell, CurlyShell, and a reverse proxy, CurlCat," Bitdefender explains in a report shared with BleepingComputer.

By keeping the malware and its execution inside a virtual machine (VM), the hackers were able to bypass traditional host-based EDR detections, which lacked network inspection capabilities that could detect the threat actor's command and control (C2) traffic from the VM.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.makeuseof.com/worn-out-keyboard-keys-reveal-more-than-you-think/

If you've been using the same keyboard for a while, you must have noticed some patterns coming up. That faded E key on your keyboard isn't just wear and tear, it's your fingerprint in plastic.

Deep cleaning your keyboard may be worth the effort, but it doesn't hide the massive amount of information your keyboard can give away. The worn-out keys on your keyboard know more about you than you think, and they can easily reveal that information.

What most people don't realize is that your keyboard doesn't deteriorate randomly. It's a direct reflection of how you use it and, by extension, of your digital life. If you're a writer cranking out articles for hours on end, your vowels are going to take the most beating. The letter E, the most frequently used letter in English, gets hammered so relentlessly that it is often the first casualty.

[...] Researchers have known for decades that typing patterns can reveal identities. Even all the way back in the 1860s, experienced telegraph operators realized they could recognize each other by everyone's unique tapping rhythm. The same concept applies to modern-day keyboards.

[...] Over time, the repeated friction of millions of keystrokes literally wears away the paint, leaving behind shiny, faded letters that give your keyboard that worn-out look. But it gets more interesting when you start looking at which keys wear out for different people.

For example, a programmer's keyboard will look entirely different from the one used by a writer. Their most used keys might be backspace, brackets, colons, and semicolons—the unglamorous tools of code. Meanwhile, the gamer's keyboard will show a disproportionate amount of wear on the WASD keys. These four keys are the most commonly used control keys for most games, and if you look at a keyboard a gamer has used for a while, you'll easily be able to tell the difference.

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/bombshell-report-exposes-how-meta-relied-on-scam-ad-profits-to-fund-ai/

Internal documents have revealed that Meta has projected it earns billions from ignoring scam ads that its platforms then targeted to users most likely to click on them.

In a lengthy report, Reuters exposed five years of Meta practices and failures that allowed scammers to take advantage of users of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
[...]
Instead of promptly removing bad actors, Meta allowed "high value accounts" to "accrue more than 500 strikes without Meta shutting them down," Reuters reported. The more strikes a bad actor accrued, the more Meta could charge to run ads, as Meta's documents showed the company "penalized" scammers by charging higher ad rates. Meanwhile, Meta acknowledged in documents that its systems helped scammers target users most likely to click on their ads.
[...]
Internally, Meta estimates that users across its apps in total encounter 15 billion "high risk" scam ads a day. That's on top of 22 billion organic scam attempts that Meta users are exposed to daily, a 2024 document showed. Last year, the company projected that about $16 billion, which represents about 10 percent of its revenue, would come from scam ads.
[...]
"Hey it's me," one scam advertisement using Elon Musk's photo read. "I have a gift for you text me." Another using Donald Trump's photo claimed the US president was offering $710 to every American as "tariff relief." Perhaps most depressingly, a third posed as a real law firm, offering advice on how to avoid falling victim to online scams.

Meta removed these particular ads after Reuters flagged them, but in 2024, Meta earned about $7 billion from "high risk" ads like these alone, Reuters reported.
[...]
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told Reuters that its collection of documents—which were created between 2021 and 2025 by Meta's finance, lobbying, engineering, and safety divisions—"present a selective view that distorts Meta's approach to fraud and scams."
[...]
"We aggressively fight fraud and scams because people on our platforms don't want this content, legitimate advertisers don't want it, and we don't want it either," Stone said.

Despite those efforts, this spring, Meta's safety team "estimated that the company's platforms were involved in a third of all successful scams in the US," Reuters reported.
[...]
Eventually, Meta "substantially expanded" its teams that track scam ads, Stone told Reuters. But Meta also took steps to ensure they didn't take too hard a hit while needing vast resources—$72 billion—to invest in AI, Reuters reported.