Mike M. – Page 51

Judge orders Trump admin. to restore CDC and FDA webpages by midnight

CDC, contraceptives, datasets, Doctors for America, executive order, fda, gender, health, HIV, Policy, Teens, Trump, websites, Youth / Mike M. / February 11, 2025

“Irrational removal”

In his opinion, Bates cited the declarations from Stephanie Liou, a physician who works with low-income immigrant families and an underserved high school in Chicago, and Reshma Ramachandran, a primary care provider who relies on CDC guidance on contraceptives and sexually transmitted diseases in her practice. Both are board members of Doctors for America.

Liou testified that the removal of resources from the CDC’s website hindered her response to a chlamydia outbreak at the high school where she worked. Ramachandran, meanwhile, testified that she was left scrambling to find alternative resources for patients during time-limited appointments. Doctors for America also provided declarations from other doctors (who were not members of Doctors for America) who spoke of being “severely impacted” by the sudden loss of CDC and FDA public resources.

With those examples, Bates agreed that the removal of the information caused the doctors “irreparable harm,” in legal terms.

“As these groups attest, the lost materials are more than ‘academic references’—they are vital for real-time clinical decision-making in hospitals, clinics and emergency departments across the country,” Bates wrote. “Without them, health care providers and researchers are left ‘without up-to-date recommendations on managing infectious diseases, public health threats, essential preventive care and chronic conditions.’ … Finally, it bears emphasizing who ultimately bears the harm of defendants’ actions: everyday Americans, and most acutely, underprivileged Americans, seeking healthcare.”

Bates further noted that it would be of “minimal burden” for the Trump administration to restore the data and information, much of which has been publicly available for many years.

In a press statement after the ruling, Doctors for America and Public Citizen celebrated the restoration.

“The judge’s order today is an important victory for doctors, patients, and the public health of the whole country,” Zach Shelley, a Public Citizen Litigation Group attorney and lead counsel on the case, said in the release. “This order puts a stop, at least temporarily, to the irrational removal of vital health information from public access.”

Judge orders Trump admin. to restore CDC and FDA webpages by midnight Read More »

Perfecting Honda’s 2026 F1 powertrain is “not so easy,” says racing boss

Cars, F1, honda, IMSA, racing / Mike M. / February 11, 2025

The new rules have been extremely attractive to carmakers. In addition to causing Honda to reconsider its exit, Ford is also coming back (developing the hybrid system for Red Bull Powertrains), and both Audi and Cadillac are also entering the sport, although the American brand won’t have its own engines ready until 2028.

Audi and Cadillac will both count as new engine suppliers, so they are allowed some extra development resources. However, Honda is counted as an existing manufacturer and doesn’t get any special treatment.

When I asked Watanabe how the work was progressing, he said, “Not so easy. We are struggling. Now we are trying our best to show the result next year,” he said. “Everything is new. [The] motor is new, [developing] 350 kW—it’s a very compact one that we need. And also the lightweight battery is not so easy to develop. Also the small engine with big power. So everything is very difficult, but we try our best.”

Getting it right will be vital—although Aston Martin now has the advantage of legendary designer Adrian Newey among its staff. Newey is on record saying that the 2026 rules have a “big chance” of being an engine formula, where each car’s aerodynamics are far less important, unlike today’s situation.

Trickle-down

OEMs go racing to raise their profile and sell more cars, but they also do it as a way to learn how to make their products better. Honda and HRC are no exception to that. But concrete examples of technology transfer from track to road are rare these days—it’s more about cross-pollination between engineers.

“There is a group within Honda that shares technical information yearly. It’s not just the racing; it’s all across Honda, so I think there’s been some interest in the technology and software we’ve developed,” Fu said. “Whether it trickles down to road cars… it’s a big jump from a race car to road cars, but I think some of the fundamental technical ideas can propagate down there.”

“From the F1 project, we can learn how to improve the hybrid system itself, and of course, we can learn how to create high-efficiency batteries and motors for the future. That’s why we decided to reparticipate in Formula 1,” Watanabe said.

Perfecting Honda’s 2026 F1 powertrain is “not so easy,” says racing boss Read More »

Sam Altman: OpenAI is not for sale, even for Elon Musk’s $97 billion offer

AI, machine learning, openai / Mike M. / February 11, 2025

A brief history of Musk vs. Altman

The beef between Musk and Altman goes back to 2015, when the pair partnered (with others) to co-found OpenAI as a nonprofit. Musk cut ties with the company in 2018 but watched from the sidelines as OpenAI became a media darling in 2022 and 2023 following the launch of ChatGPT and then GPT-4.

In July 2023, Musk created his own OpenAI competitor, xAI (maker of Grok). Since then, Musk has become a frequent legal thorn in Altman and OpenAI’s side, at times suing both OpenAI and Altman personally, claiming that OpenAI has strayed from its original open source mission—especially after reports emerged about Altman’s plans to transition portions of OpenAI into a for-profit company, something Musk has fiercely criticized.

Musk initially sued the company and Altman in March 2024, claiming that OpenAI’s alliance with Microsoft had broken its agreement to make a major breakthrough in AI “freely available to the public.” Musk withdrew the suit in June 2024, then revived it in August 2024 under similar complaints.

Musk and Altman have been publicly trading barbs frequently on X and in the press over the past few years, most recently when Musk criticized Altman’s $500B “Stargate” AI infrastructure project announced last month.

This morning, when asked on Bloomberg Television if Musk’s move comes from personal insecurity about xAI, Altman replied, “Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity.”

“I don’t think he’s a happy guy. I feel for him,” he added.

Sam Altman: OpenAI is not for sale, even for Elon Musk’s $97 billion offer Read More »

OpenAI’s secret weapon against Nvidia dependence takes shape

AI, AI chips, Biz & IT, Broadcom, chatgpt, chatgtp, china, GPUs, machine learning, NVIDIA, openai, Reuters, Richard Ho, sam altman, Taiwan, TSMC, US government / Mike M. / February 10, 2025

OpenAI is entering the final stages of designing its long-rumored AI processor with the aim of decreasing the company’s dependence on Nvidia hardware, according to a Reuters report released Monday. The ChatGPT creator plans to send its chip designs to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) for fabrication within the next few months, but the chip has not yet been formally announced.

The OpenAI chip’s full capabilities, technical details, and exact timeline are still unknown, but the company reportedly intends to iterate on the design and improve it over time, giving it leverage in negotiations with chip suppliers—and potentially granting the company future independence with a chip design it controls outright.

In the past, we’ve seen other tech companies, such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta, create their own AI acceleration chips for reasons that range from cost reduction to relieving shortages of AI chips supplied by Nvidia, which enjoys a near-market monopoly on high-powered GPUs (such as the Blackwell series) for data center use.

In October 2023, we covered a report about OpenAI’s intention to create its own AI accelerator chips for similar reasons, so OpenAI’s custom chip project has been in the works for some time. In early 2024, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also began spending considerable time traveling around the world trying to raise up to a reported $7 trillion to increase world chip fabrication capacity.

OpenAI’s secret weapon against Nvidia dependence takes shape Read More »

What you need to know about the T-Mobile Starlink mobile service

Policy, t-mobile starlink, Tech / Mike M. / February 10, 2025

Starlink for your smartphone

Details on beta registration, prices, compatible phones, and technical limits.

T-Mobile marketing image for its Starlink texting service. Credit: T-Mobile

T-Mobile yesterday announced more details of its new service powered by Starlink and said Verizon and AT&T customers can use the satellite offering, too. The standard price will be $15 a month as an add-on for T-Mobile customers, and $20 a month for people who don’t have T-Mobile as their primary carrier.

While we’ve written numerous articles about the Starlink/T-Mobile collaboration over the past two and a half years, the service’s beta test and a Super Bowl commercial are raising awareness that it exists. In this article we’ll answer some questions you might have about T-Mobile Starlink (yes, T-Mobile Starlink is the official name of the service).

What is this thing anyway?

Over the past 13 months, SpaceX’s Starlink division has launched about 450 Direct to Cell satellites that can provide service to mobile phones in areas where there are no cell towers. Starlink is partnering with cellular carriers in multiple countries, and T-Mobile is its primary commercial partner in the US.

T-Mobile says the goal is to provide telecom service in dead zones, the 500,000 square miles of the US that aren’t reached by any terrestrial cell tower. When a user crosses into a dead zone, their phone is supposed to automatically connect to Starlink satellites. T-Mobile Starlink only supports texting for now, but T-Mobile says voice calls and data service will be available eventually.

Who can use it

T-Mobile Starlink is obviously available to T-Mobile customers, but the carrier said that Verizon and AT&T customers can also use it on their existing phones without switching entirely to T-Mobile. Verizon and AT&T customers will need an unlocked phone with eSIM technology, which lets users activate a cellular plan without a physical SIM card.

A Verizon or AT&T customer can use T-Mobile Starlink by activating a second eSIM on their device. “They will technically be assigned a T-Mobile number, but that’s just to provision the device to access the constellation. And then the second eSIM can connect whenever the user loses coverage,” a T-Mobile spokesperson told Mobile World Live.

T-Mobile suggested that international roaming will be available with other carriers that also partner with Starlink. T-Mobile said a “growing alliance” of telcos “aims to provide reciprocal roaming for all participating carriers.” Participating carriers so far include ones in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Chile, Peru, Canada, and Ukraine.

How to sign up

To use T-Mobile Starlink now, you need to register for a beta trial and hope you get in quickly. “The beta test is free and open to anyone—on any carrier—until July,” T-Mobile said.

There is a short registration form in which you’ll provide your name, email address, and mobile phone number, and agree that T-Mobile can contact you with marketing offers by email or phone. “We’ll admit people on a rolling first-come, first-served basis, so we encourage everyone to sign up as soon as possible,” T-Mobile said.

T-Mobile said it is enrolling users “on an ongoing basis to help test the system and provide feedback before launching in July.” Beta registration began in December. Early reports from beta testers suggest the service usually does what T-Mobile claims—enabling texting in areas with no cellular access—but that users still can’t get connections in some areas.

What it costs

When the free beta trial ends, T-Mobile customers will be able to add Starlink service to their plan for an extra charge of $15 per month for each line. If you sign up for the beta during February or if you signed up before then, T-Mobile says you’ll get a $5 discount for early adopters once the service transitions from a free beta to a paid add-on. T-Mobile users with the early adopter discount will pay $10 a month starting in July 2025, the company said.

Go5G Next, T-Mobile’s priciest plan at $100 a month for a single line, will include Starlink access at no extra cost. “The beta is free until July at which point T-Mobile Starlink will be included at no extra cost on Go5G Next (including variations like Go5G Next 55+), T-Mobile’s best plan,” the company said. “Business customers will also get T-Mobile Starlink at no extra cost on Go5G Business Next, first responder agencies on T-Priority plans and other select premium rate plans. T-Mobile customers on any other plan can add the service for $15/month per line.”

After the beta trial ends, Verizon and AT&T customers can purchase T-Mobile Starlink for $20 per month for each line. There was no mention of an early adopter discount for customers who don’t use T-Mobile as their primary carrier.

Users who aren’t subscribers of any of the big three carriers can also take advantage of the $20 offer. We asked T-Mobile if it would be available to people on other carriers, such as regional wireless providers or resellers. “Yes, any wireless user with an unlocked eSIM phone can sign up for service, regardless of provider,” T-Mobile told us.

Which phones it works on

T-Mobile Starlink works on recent iPhones and certain phones made by Google, Motorola, Samsung, and a T-Mobile brand called REVVL. T-Mobile said more phones will be added over time, and the current list of supported devices is as follows:

- Apple iPhone 14 and later (including Plus, Pro & Pro Max)
- Google Pixel 9 (including Pro, Pro Fold, & Pro XL)
- Motorola 2024 and later (including razr, razr+, edge and g series)
- Samsung Galaxy A14, A15, A16, A35, A53, A54
- Samsung Galaxy S21 and later (including Plus, Ultra and Fan Edition)
- Samsung Galaxy X Cover6 Pro
- Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 and later
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 and later
- REVVL 7 (including Pro)

Going beyond text

Moving from text messages to voice and data requires more bandwidth, and SpaceX needs another government approval to use the full capabilities of its satellites. To that end, SpaceX is seeking a waiver of Federal Communications Commission rules regarding out-of-band emission limits.

Verizon and AT&T urged the FCC to deny the waiver request, alleging that Starlink’s plan would interfere with services provided over networks using adjacent spectrum bands. SpaceX has described the waiver as being crucial to its future plans, telling the FCC that the “out-of-band emission restriction will be most detrimental for real-time communications such as voice and video, rendering such communications unreliable both in critical and in common circumstances, increasing risk in emergency situations.”

The FCC approved Starlink’s plan for cellular phone service in November but deferred making a decision on the waiver request.

Verizon and AT&T plan similar service

AT&T and Verizon both intend to offer similar service through deals with satellite operator AST SpaceMobile. But AST SpaceMobile isn’t as far along as SpaceX’s Starlink, which is why AT&T was rebuked by an advertising industry self-regulatory board in August for claiming that it already offered cellular coverage from space.

AST SpaceMobile launched its first five commercial satellites in September 2024. In late January, AST SpaceMobile said it obtained FCC approval to test the service “with unmodified smartphones in AT&T and Verizon premium low-band wireless spectrum supporting voice, full data, and video applications.” The company also announced plans to launch up to 60 more satellites in 2025 and 2026.

Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry.

What you need to know about the T-Mobile Starlink mobile service Read More »

Handful of users claim new Nvidia GPUs are melting power cables again

Blackwell, gaming, GeForce, geforce 5090, NVIDIA, Tech / Mike M. / February 10, 2025

The 12VHPWR and 12V-2×6 connectors are both designed to solve a real problem: delivering hundreds of watts of power to high-end GPUs over a single cable rather than trying to fit multiple 8-pin power connectors onto these GPUs. In theory, swapping two to four 8-pin connectors for a single 12V-2×6 or 12VHPWR connector cuts down on the amount of board space OEMs must reserve for these connectors in their designs and the number of cables that users have to snake through the inside of their gaming PCs.

But while Nvidia, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Arm, and other companies are all PCI-SIG members and all had a hand in the design of the new standards, Nvidia is the only GPU company to use the 12VHPWR and 12V-2×6 connectors in most of its GPUs. AMD and Intel have continued to use the 8-pin power connector, and even some of Nvidia’s partners have stuck with 8-pin connectors for lower-end, lower-power cards like the RTX 4060 and 4070 series.

Both of the reported 5090 incidents involved third-party cables, one from custom PC part manufacturer MODDIY and one included with an FSP power supply, rather than the first-party 8-pin adapter that Nvidia supplies with GeForce GPUs. It’s much too early to say whether these cables (or Nvidia, or the design of the connector, or the affected users) caused the problem or whether this was just a coincidence.

We’ve contacted Nvidia to see whether it’s aware of and investigating the reports and will update this piece if we receive a response.

Handful of users claim new Nvidia GPUs are melting power cables again Read More »

Tesla turns to Texas to test its autonomous “Cybercab”

Cars, robotaxis, Tesla / Mike M. / February 10, 2025

If you live or drive in Austin, Texas, you might start seeing some new-looking Teslas on your roads later this summer. Tesla says it wants to start offering rides for money in the two-seater “Cybercab” that the company revealed last year at a Hollywood backlot. California might be the place with enough glitz to unleash that particular stock-bumping news to the world, but the Golden State is evidently far too restrictive for a company like Tesla to truck with. Instead, the easygoing authorities in Texas provide a far more attractive environment when it comes to putting driverless rubber on the road.

During the early days of its autonomous vehicle (AV) ambitions, Tesla did its testing in California, like most of the rest of the industry. California was early to lay down laws and regulations for the nascent AV industry, a move that some criticized as premature and unnecessarily restrictive. Among the requirements has been the need to report test mileage and disengagements, reports that revealed that Tesla’s testing has in fact been extremely limited within that state’s borders since 2016.

Other states, mostly ones blessed with good weather, have become a refuge for AV testing away from California’s strictures, especially car-centric cities like Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas. Texas amended its transportation code in 2017 to allow autonomous vehicles to operate on its roads, and it took away any ability for local governments to restrict testing or deployment. By contrast, companies like Waymo and the now-shuttered Cruise were given much more narrow permission to deploy only in limited parts of California.

Texan highways started seeing autonomous semi trucks by 2021, the same year the Texas House passed legislation that filled in some missing gaps. But Tesla won’t be the first to start trying to offer robotaxis in Austin—Waymo has been doing that since late 2023. Even Volkswagen has been driving driverless Buzzes around Austin in conjuction with MobilEye; ironically, Tesla was a MobilEye customer until it was fired by the supplier back in 2016 for taking too lax an approach to safety with its vision-based advanced driver assistance system.

Tesla turns to Texas to test its autonomous “Cybercab” Read More »

Dragonsweeper is my favorite game of 2025 (so far)

gaming / Mike M. / February 10, 2025

While writing a wide-ranging history of Windows Minesweeper for Boss Fight Books in 2023, I ended up playing many variations of Microsoft’s beloved original game. Those include versions with hexagonal tiles, versions with weird board shapes, and versions that extend Minesweeper into four dimensions or more, to name just a few.

Almost all these variants messed a little too much with the careful balance of simplicity, readability, reasoning, and luck that made the original Minesweeper so addictive. None of them became games I return to day after day.

But then I stumbled onto Dragonsweeper, a free browser-based game that indie developer Daniel Benmergui released unceremoniously on itch.io last month. In the weeks since I discovered it, the game has become my latest puzzle obsession, filling in a worrying proportion of my spare moments with its addictive, simple RPG-tinged take on the Minesweeper formula.

Exploresweeper

Like Minesweeper before it, Dragonsweeper is a game about deducing hidden information based on the limited information you can already see on the grid. But the numbers you reveal in Dragonsweeper don’t simply tell you the number of threats on adjacent squares. Instead, the “numbers are sum of monster power,” as the game’s cryptic “Monsternomicon” explains. So a revealed square with a “14” could suggest two 7-power devils nearby or two 5-power slimes and a 4-power ogre, or even seven 2-power bats in a particularly weird randomized arrangement.

Destroying those monsters means eating into your avatar Jorge’s health total, which is prominently displayed in the bottom-left corner. Jorge’s health can safely go down to zero hearts without dying—which feels a bit counter-intuitive at first—and can be restored by using discovered health potions or by leveling up with gold accumulated from downed monsters and items. If you can level up enough without dying, you’ll have the health necessary to defeat the titular dragon sitting in the middle of the board and win the game.

Dragonsweeper is my favorite game of 2025 (so far) Read More »

Report: iPhone SE could shed its 10-year-old design “as early as next week”

Apple, Tech / Mike M. / February 8, 2025

Gurman suggests that Apple could raise the $429 starting price of the new iPhone SE to reflect the updated design. He also says that Apple’s supplies of the $599 iPhone 14 are running low at Apple’s stores—the 14 has already been discontinued in some countries over its lack of USB-C port, and it’s possible Apple could be planning to replace both the iPhone 14 and the old SE with the new SE.

Apple’s third-generation iPhone SE is nearly three years old, but its design (including its dimensions, screen size, Home button, and Lightning port) hearkens all the way back to 2014’s iPhone 6. Put 2017’s iPhone 8 and 2022’s iPhone SE on a table next to each other, and almost no one could tell the difference. These days, it feels like a thoroughly second-class iPhone experience, and a newer design is overdue.

Other Apple products allegedly due for an early 2025 release include the M4 MacBook Airs and a next-generation Apple TV, which, like the iPhone SE, was also last refreshed in 2022. Gurman has also said that a low-end iPad and a new iPad Air will arrive “during the first half of 2025” and updated Mac Pro and Mac Studio models are to arrive sometime this year as well. Apple is also said to be making progress on its own smart display, expanding its smart speaker efforts beyond the aging HomePod and HomePod mini.

Report: iPhone SE could shed its 10-year-old design “as early as next week” Read More »

National Institutes of Health radically cuts support to universities

grants, NIH, research funding, Science / Mike M. / February 7, 2025

Grants paid by the federal government have two components. One covers the direct costs of performing the research, paying for salaries, equipment, and consumables like chemicals or enzymes. But the government also pays what are called indirect costs. These go to the universities and research institutes, covering the costs of providing and maintaining the lab space, heat and electricity, administrative and HR functions, and more.

These indirect costs are negotiated with each research institution and average close to 30 percent of the amount awarded for the research. Some institutions see indirect rates as high as half the value of the grant.

On Friday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that negotiated rates were ending. Every existing grant, and all those funded in the future, will see the indirect cost rate set to just 15 percent. With no warning and no time to adjust to the change in policy, this will prove catastrophic for the budget of nearly every biomedical research institution.

Cut in half or more

The new policy is described in a supplemental guidance document that modifies the 2024 grant policy statement. The document cites federal regulations that allow the NIH to use a different indirect cost rate from that negotiated with research institutions for “either a class of Federal awards or a single Federal award,” but it has to justify the decision. So, much of the document describes the indirect costs paid by charitable foundations, which tend to be much lower than the rate paid by the NIH.

The new rate of indirect cost reimbursement will be applied to any newly funded grants and retroactively to all existing grants starting with the issuance of this notice. The retroactive nature of this decision may end up being challenged due to the wording of the regulations cited earlier, which also state that “The Federal agency must include, in the notice of funding opportunity, the policies relating to indirect cost rate.” However, even going forward, this will likely severely curtail biomedical research in the US.

National Institutes of Health radically cuts support to universities Read More »

UK demands Apple break encryption to allow gov’t spying worldwide, reports say

Apple, Policy / Mike M. / February 7, 2025

The United Kingdom issued a secret order requiring Apple to create a backdoor for government security officials to access encrypted data, The Washington Post reported today, citing people familiar with the matter.

UK security officials “demanded that Apple create a backdoor allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud,” the report said. “The British government’s undisclosed order, issued last month, requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account, and has no known precedent in major democracies.”

Apple and many privacy advocates have repeatedly criticized government demands for backdoors to encrypted systems, saying they would harm security and privacy for all users. Backdoors developed for government use would inevitably be exploited by criminal hackers and other governments, security experts have said.

The UK is reportedly seeking access to data secured by end-to-end encryption with Apple’s Advanced Data Protection, which prevents even Apple from seeing user data. Advanced Data Protection is an optional setting that users can enable for iCloud backups, photos, notes, and other data.

“Rather than break the security promises it made to its users everywhere, Apple is likely to stop offering encrypted storage in the UK,” The Washington Post paraphrased its sources as saying. “Yet that concession would not fulfill the UK demand for backdoor access to the service in other countries, including the United States.”

Apple opposes UK snooping powers

The Technical Capability Notice was reportedly issued by the UK Home Office under the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA). The 2016 law is nicknamed the Snoopers’ Charter and forbids unauthorized disclosure of the existence or contents of a warrant issued under the act.

“Apple can appeal the UK capability notice to a secret technical panel, which would consider arguments about the expense of the requirement, and to a judge who would weigh whether the request was in proportion to the government’s needs. But the law does not permit Apple to delay complying during an appeal,” the Post wrote.

UK demands Apple break encryption to allow gov’t spying worldwide, reports say Read More »

”Torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn’t feel right”: Meta emails unsealed

AI training, Anna's archive, copyright, facebook, libgen, Meta, Policy, shadow libraries, Torrent, Z-Library / Mike M. / February 6, 2025

Emails discussing torrenting prove that Meta knew it was “illegal,” authors alleged. And Bashlykov’s warnings seemingly landed on deaf ears, with authors alleging that evidence showed Meta chose to instead hide its torrenting as best it could while downloading and seeding terabytes of data from multiple shadow libraries as recently as April 2024.

Meta allegedly concealed seeding

Supposedly, Meta tried to conceal the seeding by not using Facebook servers while downloading the dataset to “avoid” the “risk” of anyone “tracing back the seeder/downloader” from Facebook servers, an internal message from Meta researcher Frank Zhang said, while describing the work as in “stealth mode.” Meta also allegedly modified settings “so that the smallest amount of seeding possible could occur,” a Meta executive in charge of project management, Michael Clark, said in a deposition.

Now that new information has come to light, authors claim that Meta staff involved in the decision to torrent LibGen must be deposed again, because allegedly the new facts “contradict prior deposition testimony.”

Mark Zuckerberg, for example, claimed to have no involvement in decisions to use LibGen to train AI models. But unredacted messages show the “decision to use LibGen occurred” after “a prior escalation to MZ,” authors alleged.

Meta did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment and has maintained throughout the litigation that AI training on LibGen was “fair use.”

However, Meta has previously addressed its torrenting in a motion to dismiss filed last month, telling the court that “plaintiffs do not plead a single instance in which any part of any book was, in fact, downloaded by a third party from Meta via torrent, much less that Plaintiffs’ books were somehow distributed by Meta.”

While Meta may be confident in its legal strategy despite the new torrenting wrinkle, the social media company has seemingly complicated its case by allowing authors to expand the distribution theory that’s key to winning a direct copyright infringement claim beyond just claiming that Meta’s AI outputs unlawfully distributed their works.

As limited discovery on Meta’s seeding now proceeds, Meta is not fighting the seeding aspect of the direct copyright infringement claim at this time, telling the court that it plans to “set… the record straight and debunk… this meritless allegation on summary judgment.”

”Torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn’t feel right”: Meta emails unsealed Read More »

Author name: Mike M.