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When Brett Gaylor posted his honeymoon photos on a popular picture sharing website 15 years ago, he never imagined they&#8217;d be used to train <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7937654/rcmp-clearview-ai-facial-recognition-canada/" target="_blank">facial recognition software illegally used in Canada by the RCMP</a>.
They were. And when the shocked documentary filmmaker based in Victoria, B.C., found out, he set about making a film about how it happened and what it means for Canadians&#8217; privacy rights.
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&#8220;I wanted to sort of trace the supply chain of facial recognition. Because facial recognition is a type of artificial intelligence, so it needs millions of images to be able to learn to recognize faces.&#8221;
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://www.flyingeze.com/news/facial-recognition-canada-rights" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Who &#8216;owns&#8217; our faces and how will facial recognition be used?" target="_blank">
				Who &#8216;owns&#8217; our faces and how will facial recognition be used?			</a>
		
	
&#8220;So they used these photos they found online as a way to make these artificial intelligence systems better.&#8221;
Through his research, Gaylor learned the photos which he&#8217;d uploaded to the website Flickr, had been downloaded and incorporated into massive datasets, including a popular one called MegaFace, created by the University of Washington.
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There, along with the photos of millions of other people, they were used to train artificial intelligence on facial recognition for companies including U.S.-based <a href="https://www.flyingeze.com/tag/clearview-ai" target="_blank">Clearview AI</a>, along with the Chinese government, he said.
&#8220;So in some small way this photo of me on my honeymoon became involved in this system that was used all over the world, ostensibly to be able to recognize criminals, but in ways that really violate a lot of our civil liberties,&#8221; he said.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7429905/cadillac-fairview-facial-recognition-investgation-findings/" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Cadillac Fairview covertly collected images of 5M shoppers across Canada: privacy commissioners" target="_blank">
				Cadillac Fairview covertly collected images of 5M shoppers across Canada: privacy commissioners			</a>
		
	
On Wednesday, Canada&#8217;s privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien said the RCMP had broken the law by using information from Clearview AI without ensuring compliance with the Privacy Act.
“The use of [facial recognition technology] by the RCMP to search through massive repositories of Canadians who are innocent of any suspicion of crime presents a serious violation of privacy,” Therrien said in his report.
“A government institution cannot collect personal information from a third party agent if that third party agent collected the information unlawfully.”
The company would stop offering its facial-recognition services in Canada in response to the privacy investigation, he announced last year.
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Gaylor has now produced an interactive short film called Discriminator about facial recognition and what he learned as he unraveled the thread of how his photos had contributed to the development of the technology.
The film allows viewers to see how the technology works by activating the webcams on their devices, to help the audience see AI and facial recognition as something tangible, rather than theoretical.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7151848/ban-federal-use-facial-recognition-tools-groups-urge-trudeau-government/" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Group urges feds to ban facial recognition tools citing a violation of Canadian rights" target="_blank">
				Group urges feds to ban facial recognition tools citing a violation of Canadian rights			</a>
		
	
The film also raised questions about privacy and the need to regulate these new technologies as they develop, Gaylor said.
&#8220;You can&#8217;t give consent to something you don&#8217;t know is going to happen. It&#8217;s impossible. Instead what we need to do is create legal frameworks that will make certain uses off-limits,&#8221; Gaylor said.
With files from Kylie Stanton and John Hua

Brett Gaylor’s photos were scraped from a picture-sharing website and incorporated into huge databases used by companies like Clearview AI, as well as the Chinese government.

Tech

Artificial Intelligence

Clearview Ai

Facial Recognition

Facial Recognition Software

Privacy

Privacy Rights

How a B.C. filmmaker’s honeymoon photos helped train controversial facial recognition tech

Flying Eze

As LL Cool J once said: &#8220;<a href="https://www.flyingeze.com/tag/watch target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">don&#8217;t call it a comeback.&#8221;</a>
Wikipedia&#8217;s strong internet presence for two decades is hard to dismiss. Yet, many people choose to keep the fact that they use it a secret.
And it may have something to do with the fact that you were probably told it was unreliable, and that you should never, ever, cite it in your research papers.
&#8220;It&#8217;s instantly available, and that&#8217;s very seductive,&#8221; said <a href="https://aml.ca/team/carol-arcus/#:~:text=Carol%20Arcus%2C%20B.,in%20Ontario%20for%2020%20years." target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Carol Arcus</a>, a director with the Association for Media Literacy. &#8220;Because (Wikipedia) involves different groups and different people constantly changing it, and shifting it, and adding to, and taking away from the information — I think people interpret that to be unreliable.”
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://www.flyingeze.com/news/fake-news-media-literacy" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="How do you spot and debunk misinformation? Experts chime in" target="_blank">
				How do you spot and debunk misinformation? Experts chime in			</a>
		
	
But Arcus says the changing nature of the site isn&#8217;t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, depending on the topic, it could mean the information is more up-to-date — like the evolution of COVID-19 health advice.
&#8220;With the nature of things these days — we&#8217;re acknowledging that information is changing, and we&#8217;re learning a bit more, and we have to be able to reflect that,&#8221; said <a href="https://www.1mwis.com/profiles/Celia-Du" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Celia Du</a>, a science communications specialist.
&#8220;Wikipedia, because of its open-source nature, allows for information to be updated really, really quickly.&#8221;
<a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/wikimedia/animations/wivivi/wivivi.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">According to the encyclopedia</a>, Canadians accessed Wikipedia 387 million times per month in 2018. Some 88 per cent of Canada&#8217;s 37 million people can connect to the site.
So if the public truly believed Wikipedia was unreliable, why is it <a href="https://www.alexa.com/topsites" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">the 13th most popular site in the world</a>?
&#8220;In my work over the years, I have used Wikipedia continuously,&#8220; said <a href="https://aml.ca/team/neil-anderson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Neil Andersen</a>, president of the Association for Media Literacy. &#8220;It&#8217;s now 20 years old, and we have to take into account that it has evolved over that time.&#8221;
&#8220;One of the evolutions that have definitely occurred is references at the end of each entry. And so if somebody is concerned about the bias, they’re welcome to look at the reference list.”
Du says those references are exactly why Wikipedia is a great place to begin your research. You can examine the cited sources and analyze them individually.
&#8220;Every entry has an editor that oversees it. You will see warnings if something is weak in its evidence. If it&#8217;s not cited properly, if there is no citation, it tells you that the evidence is weak,&#8221; she said.
Arcus and Andersen say this can be a great way of training yourself to become media literate, since you have to determine which of those cited sources is legitimate, false, or biased.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7415476/fighting-fake-news/" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="How comics can teach media literacy and help identify fake news" target="_blank">
				How comics can teach media literacy and help identify fake news			</a>
		
	
Despite the website&#8217;s perks, all the experts say the free encyclopedia isn&#8217;t free of fault.
Wikipedia has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">more than 41 million registered contributors</a>, all of which are anonymous volunteers.
&#8220;It&#8217;s hard to tell who is writing it, if they have the expertise to write it,&#8221; Du said.
However, a <a href="https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2017/Q4/results-of-wikipedia-study-may-surprise.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">10-year Purdue University study</a> found that most of Wikipedia&#8217;s content is actually just written by only one per cent of its contributors, and a hierarchy has formed within them.
In an email to Global News, University of Guelph Professor <a href="https://www.uoguelph.ca/arts/sets/people/mark-lipton" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Mark Lipton</a> said: &#8220;Wikipedia may still reinforce older systems of prejudice and systemic racism. But, like Encyclopedia Britannica, it is the first stop for most search inquiries.&#8221;
Wikipedia also says it covers fewer women-related issues and biographies because of a gender gap &#8212; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_bias_on_Wikipedia#:~:text=In%20a%202018%20survey%20covering,female%20and%201.7%25%20as%20other." target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank"> 90 per cent of its contributors are male</a>. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_not_a_reliable_source" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">encyclopedia also admits</a>, &#8220;there are many errors that remain unnoticed for hours, days, weeks, months, or even years. Therefore, Wikipedia should not be considered a definitive source in and of itself.&#8221;
But Arcus and Andersen say you should have been skeptical about all of your sources anyway.
Instead of taking things from a single source as an absolute fact, both say you can <a href="https://mediaandinformationliteracycom.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/attribution-and-data-triangulation-how-the-triangulation-of-data-strengthens-your-research/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">triangulate your research </a>— or look for different perspectives to give a full picture of the topic — and to see if any claims intersect between all the sources.
&#8220;Everything is suspect. Everything needs to be checked,&#8221; Andersen said.
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Should you really be skipping Wikipedia on your hunt for sources? Experts chime in.

Features

Association For Media Literacy

Celia Du

Digital Literacy

Encyclopedia Brittanica

Fact Checking

Fact Or Fiction

Media Literacy

Media Literacy Training

Misinformation

Noor Ibrahim

Is Wikipedia as ‘unreliable’ as you’ve been told? Experts suggest the opposite may be true

A massive internet outage left multiple websites, including Amazon, Reddit and the New York Times, temporarily offline Tuesday morning, after services from U.S.-based cloud computing services provider Fastly went down.
<a href="https://status.fastly.com/" target="_blank">Fastly said the disruption issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented. </a>
Most of Fastly&#8217;s coverage areas were facing &#8220;Degraded Performance,&#8221; the website showed.
Several of the websites that had been down, such as Reddit, The Guardian, The New York Times and the BBC, are up and running again.
Websites operated by news outlets including CNN are still experiencing outages.
Amazon.com Inc&#8217;s retail website also seemed to be down, but is running again.
Nearly 21,000 Reddit users reported issues with the social media platform, while more than 2,000 users reported problems with Amazon, according to outage monitoring website Downdetector.com.
Amazon&#8217;s Twitch was also experiencing an outage, according to Downdetector&#8217;s website.
&#8212; With files from Reuters

A massive internet outage left multiple websites temporarily offline Tuesday morning, after services from U.S.-based cloud computing services provider Fastly Inc. went down.

World

Amazon Down

Fastly

Fastly Down

Global Internet Outage

Internet Outage

Multple Websites Down

Reddit

Reddit Down

Reddit Outage

Massive internet outage hits websites including Reddit and Amazon

On May 25, residents of the Municipal District of Pincher Creek submitted a letter of opposition to a proposed wind power facility at a council meeting, which they said could have a variety of negative impacts.
It garnered around 400 signatures.
&#8220;Only a few people didn&#8217;t sign the letter of objection because they wanted more information,&#8221; said Pat MacInnis, who has lived in the M.D. since 2006.
The Castle Meridian Wind Power Project by Clem Geo-Energy Corp. would be located near Highway 507 on 320 acres of privately owned land, a few kilometres west of the town of Pincher Creek.
According to the developer, the wind farm is designed to generate up to 22.4 megawatts of power through four turbines.
MacInnis told Global News many share her concerns over the potential impact of the project on those in the area, as evidenced by the number of signatures garnered by the letter.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4836204/wind-farms-southern-alberta-gusts/" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Despite violent southern Alberta gusts, wind farm turbines hold fast" target="_blank">
				Despite violent southern Alberta gusts, wind farm turbines hold fast			</a>
		
	
She said it would likely bring more unwanted noise and light, and impact land value and tourism.
&#8220;I have a company that (comes here), and they sit in my front room, and they say, &#8216;You have a million-dollar view,'&#8221; she said. &#8220;Well, I won&#8217;t have that anymore, will I?
<blockquote>&#8220;There are so many other places that windmills can go. They don&#8217;t have to go right there.&#8221;</blockquote>
Justin Toews, another resident in close proximity to the proposed site, said his family bought their property with the view in mind and wasn&#8217;t aware more development was able to happen in that area.
&#8220;These windmills will stand between us and our view of (Castle, Victoria and Corner) Mountain,&#8221; he said in an email to Global News.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://www.flyingeze.com/news/alberta-renewable-energy-wind-solar" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Renewable energy: Inside Alberta&#8217;s wind and solar boom" target="_blank">
				Renewable energy: Inside Alberta&#8217;s wind and solar boom			</a>
		
	
&#8220;We gave serious consideration to the fact that we were buying next to the little windmills to the north, understanding that they are nearing end of life. Realtors have said that close proximity to windmills is detrimental to the sale of a home.&#8221;
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Clem Geo provided Global News with a statement that explained its communication with the community.
&#8220;Clem Geo has been working with private landowners and the M.D. of Pincher Creek No. 9 for several years on the project, conducting feasibility studies and environmental assessments,&#8221; the statement read.
&#8220;Clem Geo will continue to engage stakeholders in the project zones and surrounding area in accordance with the (Alberta Utilities Commission) rules and regulations.&#8221;
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7466530/southern-alberta-witnessing-unprecedented-surge-in-renewable-energy-projects/" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Southern Alberta witnessing &#8216;unprecedented&#8217; surge in renewable energy projects" target="_blank">
				Southern Alberta witnessing &#8216;unprecedented&#8217; surge in renewable energy projects			</a>
		
	
Roland Milligan, the director of development and community services with the M.D., said the project is currently at a standstill as they await communication from Clem Geo regarding land use.
&#8220;The M.D. has not received any application at this point for either the required land use redesignation or any development permit applications,&#8221; he explained.
Despite the project still being in very early stages, MacInnis said concerned landowners and residents wanted to be &#8220;as proactive as possible.&#8221;
According to a recent project update from Clem Geo, the earliest the turbines could start would be in the second quarter of 2023.

“There are so many other places that windmills can go. They don’t have to go right there.”

Economy

Alberta Renewable Energy

Alberta Wind

Alberta Wind Farm

Castle Meridian Wind Power Project

Pincher Creek

Pincher Creek Wind

Pincher Creek Wind Opposition

Proposed Wind Power Facility

Renewable Energy

Turbines

Southern Albertans voice opposition to proposed wind power project

The federal Liberals sparked an uproar over a bid Friday morning to shut down committee study on its controversial <a href="http://globalnews.ca/tag/bill-c-10" target="_blank">Bill C-10</a>, as experts continue to express concern about the impact the legislation could have on free speech online.
The Liberals moved a time allocation motion for the bill on Friday morning, a procedural move that crunches the time allotted to discussing a bill and is normally used to limit hours of debate in the House of Commons &#8212; not at committees. The bill has been stalled before committee and as the government faces down the ticking clock towards the end of the parliamentary session on June 23.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7873366/bill-c-10-free-speech-social-media-broadcasting-act/" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Justice minister defends finding that Bill C-10 doesn&#8217;t pose free speech concern" target="_blank">
				Justice minister defends finding that Bill C-10 doesn&#8217;t pose free speech concern			</a>
		
	
The motion briefly sparked vocal criticism from opposition parties in the House of Commons Friday before the assistant deputy speaker moved on to let MPs give their regularly scheduled statements ahead of question period.
But it&#8217;s set to be back up for discussion later in the day and should the motion pass, the committee will be restricted to just five more hours of discussion of the bill &#8212; then they&#8217;ll have to move it along.
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Broadly, the bill aims to modernize the Broadcasting Act — which saw its last major reform in 1991 before the internet was widely available — to reflect the fact that Canadians consume things like music, movies and news differently nowadays, often using streaming services or social media.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://www.flyingeze.com/news/bill-c-10-social-media-free-speech-broadcasting-act" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Could Bill C-10 regulate your social media algorithm? Minister responsible won&#8217;t say" target="_blank">
				Could Bill C-10 regulate your social media algorithm? Minister responsible won&#8217;t say			</a>
		
	
The proposed law hopes to extend Canadian content requirements to these online platforms, ensuring the companies pay into cultural funds and display a certain amount of Canadian content.
Bill C-10 became a source of parliamentary discord after the Liberals removed a section of the bill that protected user-generated content and exempted it from regulation. That meant Canadians’ Facebook and Instagram posts could be forced to abide by certain CRTC rules.
And while it’ll be up to the CRTC to draft exactly what those regulations might look like, experts have warned this could allow the CRTC to regulate anything they’d like on social media.
“Social media companies (would be) legally responsible for all these videos that users post as though they’re somehow broadcasting programs,” Emily Laidlaw, Canada Research Chair in cybersecurity law at the University of Calgary, said in an interview with Global News in early May.
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A former CRTC vice-chair echoed her concerns shortly after Section 4.1 was dropped from the bill.
“It’s your Facebook post. It’s your tweet. It’s your cat videos. It’s your pictures of your children and grandchildren and that sort of stuff,” said Peter Menzies, who is also a past newspaper publisher.
“What it means is that somebody will be watching that, from the government, or a government regulator, and will be able to order it to be taken down if they find that it doesn’t suit whatever purposes they have.”
The concerns prompted opposition MPs to request that the justice department took a second look at the charter statement for the bill. The result of that analysis, which was signed off on by Justice Minister David Lametti himself, found the proposed legislation doesn’t unduly tread on Canadians’ charter-affirmed rights.
“It is our position that the bill as tabled and these proposed amendments are consistent with the charter,” said Lametti, speaking to the Canadian heritage committee at the time.
&#8212; With files from Global News&#8217; Amanda Connolly

The proposed law hopes to extend Canadian content requirements to online platforms, ensuring the companies pay into cultural funds and display a certain amount of Canadian content.

Canada

Politics

Bill C-10

Bill C-10 Debate Shut Down

Bill C-10 Free Speech

Broadcasting Act Amendment

Did Bill C-10 Pass

Liberals Shut Down Bill C-10 Debate

Social Media Bill C-10

What Is Bill C-10

Liberals push to end Bill C-10 study amid social media free speech concerns

<a href="http://globalnews.ca/tag/Facebook">Facebook</a> plans to end a contentious policy championed by CEO <a href="http://globalnews.ca/tag/Mark-Zuckerberg">Mark Zuckerberg</a> that exempted politicians from certain moderation rules on its site, according to several news reports.
The company&#8217;s rationale for that policy held that the speech of political leaders is inherently newsworthy and in the public interest even if it is offensive, bullying or otherwise controversial. The social media giant is currently mulling over what to do with the account of former U.S. President Donald Trump, which it &#8220;indefinitely&#8221; suspended on Jan. 6, leaving it in Facebook limbo with its owners unable to post.
The change in policy was first reported by the tech site <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/3/22474738/facebook-ending-political-figure-exemption-moderation-policy">The Verge</a> and later confirmed by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/technology/facebook-politicians-posts.html">the New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/03/trump-facebook-oversight-board/">the Washington Post.</a>
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7835452/facebook-oversight-board-to-give-verdict-on-trumps-social-media-ban/" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Facebook oversight board upholds Trump&#8217;s ban on platform">
				Facebook oversight board upholds Trump&#8217;s ban on platform			</a>
		
	
Facebook has had a general &#8220;newsworthiness exemption&#8221; since 2016. But it garnered attention in 2019 when Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs and communications, announced that speech from politicians will be treated as &#8220;newsworthy content that should, as a general rule, be seen and heard.&#8221;
The newsworthiness exemption, he explained in a blog post at the time, meant that if &#8220;someone makes a statement or shares a post which breaks our community standards we will still allow it on our platform if we believe the public interest in seeing it outweighs the risk of harm.&#8221;
This hasn&#8217;t given politicians unlimited license, however. When Facebook suspended Trump in January, it cited &#8220;the risk of further incitement of violence&#8221; following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as the reason. The company says it has never used the newsworthiness exemption for any of Trump&#8217;s posts.
Facebook declined to comment.
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The company’s policy held that the speech of political leaders is inherently newsworthy and in the public interest even if it is offensive, bullying or otherwise controversial.

Facebook to end policy that allows politicians to break content rules: reports

Here comes the boom.
<a href="https://globalnews.ca/tag/united-airlines" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">United Airlines</a> has announced plans to buy a small fleet of <a href="https://globalnews.ca/tag/supersonic" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">supersonic</a> passenger jets, which will be capable of making long-distance flights in half the regular time.
United says it will buy 15 brand-new Overture aircraft from a company called Boom Supersonic, with an option to buy 35 more at a later date. The jets have not yet been built or certified, although Boom hopes they will be ready for commercial use by 2029.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7913922/canadarm2-damaged-international-space-station-junk/" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Canadarm2 damaged by &#8216;lucky strike&#8217; from space junk in orbit" target="_blank">
				Canadarm2 damaged by &#8216;lucky strike&#8217; from space junk in orbit			</a>
		
	
The aircraft is expected to travel at speeds of Mach 1.7, which would allow it to fly from New York City to London in roughly 3.5 hours.
Boom says the jets will be net-zero carbon aircraft, and that they will fly on sustainable aviation fuel that is derived from organic matter.
“Boom’s vision for the future of commercial aviation, combined with the industry’s most robust network in the world, will give business and leisure travelers access to a stellar flight experience,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a news release.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We&#39;re the first U.S. airline to sign an agreement for <a href="https://twitter.com/boomaero?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">@boomaero</a>&#39;s ‘Overture’ airliners which are expected to be net-zero carbon and connect 500+ cities in nearly half the time. Taking off in 2029: <a href="https://t.co/aTeMBwXa10" target="_blank">https://t.co/aTeMBwXa10</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BoomSupersonic?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">#BoomSupersonic</a> <a href="https://t.co/GOeag9c1HF" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/GOeag9c1HF</a>
&mdash; United Airlines (@united) <a href="https://twitter.com/united/status/1400407090192125952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">June 3, 2021</a></blockquote>

“The world’s first purchase agreement for net-zero carbon supersonic aircraft marks a significant step toward our mission to create a more accessible world,” said Blake Scholl, CEO of the Colorado-based jet builder.
United did not reveal the price tag of the new planes, although an executive did tell the Associated Press that the airline put down a deposit.
The deal would make United the first airline to run supersonic flights since the days of the Concorde, which flew for a quarter of a century until it was retired in 2003.
British Airways and Air France each ran seven Concorde aircraft, but the flights struggled with high ticket and maintenance costs, and low demand, as well as safety concerns.
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Sentiment soured on the Concorde in 2000, when an Air France jet crashed into a hotel during takeoff after it ran over debris on the runway. The crash killed everyone on the flight and four people on the ground, and critically injured several others.
Aviation companies have been trying to find greener and more cost-efficient ways to build supersonic jets in recent years, with the goal of reviving supersonic flight for the modern era.
United plans to use the aircraft for ocean-crossing flights out of hubs in New Jersey and San Francisco to start. It&#8217;s unlikely that the aircraft would ever be used for domestic flights, as many urban areas have banned supersonic flyovers because of the booming sound they make.
Boom&#8217;s CEO says the Overture will not be as loud as the Concorde because it will only make sonic booms over water, &#8220;when there&#8217;s no one to hear it.&#8221;
Mike Leskinen, United’s vice president of corporate development and a former aerospace analyst, said the Boom jet will be 75 per cent cheaper to operate than the Concorde thanks to advancements in engines and lighter fuselages.
Those savings, he said, could make it possible for United to offer both premium and economy seating, but he said no final decisions have been made on cabin layout or ticket prices.
“We are really confident in the future,” Leskinen said. “Aerospace takes a long time to innovate. And so if you don’t start setting these opportunities out now, you will have missed them.”
		
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Travel analyst Henry Harteveldt says ticket prices were part of the reason the Concorde never really caught on, as the cost was typically one-third higher than conventional jets. He told the Associated Press that the time savings for a supersonic flight might be hard to justify for some customers, particularly when it comes to business travel.
“Corporate travel managers are going to say, ‘This is really cool, but my (chief financial officer) is screaming at me to put people on Basic Economy fares, not find ways to get them where they’re going faster,’” Harteveldt said.
The Overture is expected to travel at speeds of about 2,100 kilometres per hour while flying at an altitude of 60,000 feet. That would make it much faster than conventional flights, which cruise at 800 km/h, but slower than the Concorde, which flew at 2,180 km/h.
Boom had originally planned to run its first prototype test flight of the supersonic jet in early 2020, but it <a href="https://www.airlineratings.com/news/boom-remains-upbeat-delayed-supersonic-airliner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">missed</a> that date and is now targeting late this year or early 2022.
— With files from the Associated Press

United Airlines hopes to launch a new era of supersonic commercial air travel that is not only faster, but carbon neutral.

Consumer

Air Travel

Airline

Boom Supersonic

Concorde

Concorde Speed

Overture

Overture Speed

Sonic Boom

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Supersonic Flight

United Airlines to buy new line of Concorde-like supersonic jets

The world&#8217;s largest meat processing company is getting back online after production around the world was disrupted by a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/tag/cyberattack/">cyberattack</a> just weeks after a similar incident shut down a U.S. oil pipeline.
Brazil&#8217;s JBS SA said late Tuesday that it had made &#8220;significant progress&#8221; in dealing with the cyberattack and expected the &#8220;vast majority&#8221; of its plants to be operating on Wednesday.
&#8220;Our systems are coming back online and we are not sparing any resources to fight this threat,&#8221; Andre Nogueira, CEO of JBS USA, said in a statement.
Earlier, the White House said JBS had notified the U.S. of a ransom demand from a criminal organization likely based in Russia. White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House and the Department of Agriculture have been in touch with the company several times this week.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7912907/jbs-ransomware-attack/" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Ransomware attack on world&#8217;s largest meat producer disrupts global production">
				Ransomware attack on world&#8217;s largest meat producer disrupts global production			</a>
		
	
JBS is the second-largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the U.S. If it were to shut down for even one day, the U.S. would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows, according to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University.
The closures reflect the reality that modern meat processing plants are heavily automated, for both food- and worker-safety reasons. Computers collect data at multiple stages of the production process, and orders, billing, shipping and other functions are all electronic.
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JBS, which has not stated publicly that the attack was ransomware, said the cyberattack affected servers supporting its operations in North America and Australia. Backup servers weren&#8217;t affected and it said it was not aware of any customer, supplier or employee data being compromised.
JBS plants in Australia resumed limited operations as of Wednesday in New South Wales and Victoria states, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said. The company hoped to resume work in Queensland state on Thursday, he said.
JBS is the largest meat and food processing company in Australia, with 47 facilities including abattoirs, feedlots and meat processing sites.
Littleproud said his department and Australian law enforcement officials were due to meet with their counterparts in the U.S. on Wednesday.
Even before the attack, U.S. meat prices were rising due to coronavirus shutdowns, bad weather and high plant absenteeism. Malone said the disruption could further raise meat prices ahead of summer barbecues. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates beef prices will climb one per cent-two per cent this year, poultry as much as 1.5 per cent and pork two per cent -three per cent.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7890427/canada-cyberattack-us-pipeline/" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Canada prone to cyberattack similar to U.S. pipeline hack, expert says">
				Canada prone to cyberattack similar to U.S. pipeline hack, expert says			</a>
		
	
JBS, which is a majority shareholder of Pilgrim&#8217;s Pride, didn&#8217;t say which of its 84 U.S. facilities were closed Monday and Tuesday because of the attack. It said JBS USA and Pilgrim&#8217;s were able to ship meat from nearly all of its facilities Tuesday. The company also said it was making progress toward resuming plant operations in the U.S. and Australia. Several of the company&#8217;s pork, poultry and prepared foods plants were operational Tuesday and its Canada beef facility resumed production, it said.
Earlier Tuesday, a union official confirmed that two shifts at the company&#8217;s largest U.S. beef plant, in Greeley, Colorado, were canceled. Some plant shifts in Canada were also canceled Monday and Tuesday, according to JBS Facebook posts.
Jean-Pierre said the White House &#8220;is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals.&#8221; The FBI is investigating the incident, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is offering technical support to JBS.
In addition, USDA has spoken to several major meat processors in the U.S. to alert them to the situation, and the White House is assessing any potential impact on the nation&#8217;s meat supply.
JBS has more than 150,000 employees worldwide.
It&#8217;s not the first time a ransomware attack has targeted a food company. Last November, Milan-based Campari Group said it was the victim of a ransomware attack that caused a temporary technology outage and compromised some business and personal data.
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In March, Molson Coors announced a cyber attack that affected its production and shipping. Molson Coors said it was able to get some of its breweries running after 24 hours; others took several days.
Ransomware expert Brett Callow, a threat analyst at the security firm Emsisoft, said companies like JBS make ideal targets.
&#8220;They play a critical role in the food supply chain and threat actors likely believe this increases their chances of getting a speedy payout,&#8221; Callow said.
Mark Jordan, who follows the meat industry as the executive director of Leap Market Analytics, said the disruption would be minimal if JBS recovers in the next few days. Meat processers are accustomed to delays because of various factors including industrial accidents and power outages. They make up for lost production with extra shifts, he said.
&#8220;Several plants owned by a major meatpacker going offline for a couple of days is a major headache, but it is manageable assuming it doesn&#8217;t extend much beyond that,&#8221; he said.
U.S. meat demand generally eases for a few weeks between Memorial Day and the July 4 Independence Day holiday.
But such attacks can wreak havoc. Last month, a gang of hackers shut down operation of the Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. fuel pipeline, for nearly a week. The closure sparked long lines and panic buying at gas stations across the Southeast. Colonial Pipeline confirmed it paid $4.4 million to the hackers.
Jason Crabtree, the co-founder of QOMPLX, a Virginia-based artificial intelligence and machine learning company, said Marriott, FedEx and others have also been targeted by ransomware attacks. He said companies need to do a better job of rapidly detecting bad actors in their systems.
&#8220;A lot of organizations aren&#8217;t able to find and fix different vulnerabilities faster than the adversaries that they&#8217;re fighting,&#8221; Crabtree said.
Crabtree said the government also plays a critical role, and said President Joe Biden&#8217;s recent executive order on cybersecurity _ which requires all federal agencies to use basic security measures, like multi-factor authentication _ is a good start.
___
Durbin reported from Detroit. AP Writer Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, and Alexandra Jaffe in Washington contributed.

Brazil’s JBS SA said late Tuesday it had made “significant progress” in dealing with the cyberattack and expected the “vast majority” of its plants to be operating on Wednesday.

World’s largest meat producer set to reopen most plants after cyberattack

Social media influencers in France with hundreds of thousands of followers say a mysterious advertising agency offered to pay them if they agreed to smear <a href="http://globalnews.ca/tag/covid-19" target="_blank">Pfizer&#8217;s COVID-19 vaccine</a> with negative fake stories.
French YouTuber Leo Grasset was among those contacted. He said Tuesday that he was offered a potentially lucrative but also hush-hush deal to make bogus claims that <a href="http://globalnews.ca/tag/vaccine" target="_blank">Pfizer&#8217;s vaccine</a> poses a deadly risk and that regulators and mainstream media are covering up the supposed dangers.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7894547/facebook-misinformation-foreign-influence-online-united-states/" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Facebook and fake news: U.S. tops list of targets of foreign influence operations" target="_blank">
				Facebook and fake news: U.S. tops list of targets of foreign influence operations			</a>
		
	
Grasset, who has 1.1 million subscribers on YouTube, says he refused. Other France-based influencers with sizable audiences on Twitter, Instagram and other platforms also said they were contacted with similar offers of payment for posts.
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The person who contacted Grasset identified himself as Anton and said his agency has a &#8220;quite considerable&#8221; budget for what he described as an &#8220;information campaign&#8221; about &#8220;COVID-19 and the vaccines offered to the European population, notably AstraZeneca and Pfizer.&#8221;
Specifically, Anton asked for a 45- to 60-second video on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube to say that &#8220;the mortality rate of the Pfizer vaccine is 3 times greater than the AstraZeneca&#8221; and querying why the European Union is buying it.
&#8220;This is a monopoly and is causing harm to public health,&#8221; Anton claimed of EU&#8217;s purchases.
He refused in a follow-up email to divulge who is financing the disinformation campaign, saying: &#8220;The client prefers to remain incognito.&#8221;
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://www.flyingeze.com/news/covid-19-misinformation-social-media-facebook-instagram" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Fake news on Facebook: 18 million posts containing COVID-19 misinformation removed" target="_blank">
				Fake news on Facebook: 18 million posts containing COVID-19 misinformation removed			</a>
		
	
Grasset shared the email exchanges with The Associated Press.
The smear effort drew a withering response from French Health Minister Olivier Veran.
&#8220;It&#8217;s pathetic, it&#8217;s dangerous, it&#8217;s irresponsible and it doesn&#8217;t work,&#8221; he said.
The person who contacted Grasset said he works for an advertising agency called Fazze. A website for Fazze used to give a London address but that had been scrubbed from the site on Tuesday. Companies House, where British firms are registered, has no record of Fazze.
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The AP sent emails requesting comment to a contact address listed on the website and to the email address used by Anton. Neither elicited an immediate response.
Anton&#8217;s emails included a password-protected link to a set of instructions in error-strewn English for the would-be campaign.
It said influencers who agreed to take part shouldn&#8217;t say that they were being sponsored and should instead &#8220;present the material as your own independent view.&#8221;
		
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				Online conspiracies can spark offline violence — and it could happen here			</a>
		
	
Other instructions were that influencers should say &#8220;that mainstream media ignores this theme&#8221; and should ask why governments are purchasing Pfizer.
A trainee doctor in southern France with tens of thousands of followers who was also approached for the smear effort told French broadcaster BFMTV that he was offered more than 2,000 euros ($3,000) for a 30-second video post.
Grasset said that given the large size of his YouTube following, he possibly might have earned tens of thousands of euros (dollars) had he agreed to take part.
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Instead, he wrote back that &#8220;I can&#8217;t work for a client that won&#8217;t give its name and who asks me to hide the partnership.&#8221;
&#8220;Too many red flags,&#8221; Grasset said in an interview with AP. &#8220;I decided not to do it.&#8221;
&#8220;They wanted me to talk about the Pfizer vaccine in a way that would be detrimental to the Pfizer vaccine reputation,&#8221; he said.
He said the disinformation effort drives home the need for people &#8220;to be super, super cautious&#8221; about what they see online.
&#8220;We creators on YouTube, on internet, Instagram, et cetera, we are at the center of something going on like an information war,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We, as creators, need to set our standards really high because it&#8217;s, I think, just the beginning.&#8221;

The email asked influencers who agreed to take part to hide they were being sponsored and instead “present the material as your own independent view.”

Health

Coronavirus

Covid-19

Covid-19 Influencer Misinformation

Covid-19 Misinformation

Influencers Fake News Covid

Influencers Paid Covid-19

Social Media Covid-19

Social Media Covid-19 Misinformation

Influencers say they got offered thousands to spread fake news on Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

<a href="http://globalnews.ca/tag/Facebook" target="_blank">Facebook</a> unveiled a plan Tuesday to pay some Canadian publishers for news stories on its platform, but experts say the move diverts attention from forthcoming regulation efforts.
The California-based tech giant said it will pay 14 publishers, including the National Observer, FP Newspapers, Le Devoir, the Tyee and the publisher of Le Soleil undisclosed amounts to link to their articles on its COVID-19 and climate science pages or in other unspecified use cases.
Deals made under the news innovation test program were also reached with the Coast, the Narwhal, Village Media, the SaltWire Network, the Sprawl, Discourse Media, Narcity, BlogTO and Daily Hive.
Facebook would not disclose the value or structure of the deals, and would not say if other publishers were approached for the project. It says the program will be multi-year in scope and does not include payments for news links already posted on Facebook by publishers.
		
			Read more: <a class="c-readmore__link" href="https://www.flyingeze.com/news/facebook-canada-news-posts" data-track-region="content-read-more" title="Head of Facebook Canada warns news posts could be blocked as last resort" target="_blank">
				Head of Facebook Canada warns news posts could be blocked as last resort			</a>
		
	
Industry watchers say the deal brings cash to media companies hurting for advertising, but believe the arrangement should be viewed as Facebook&#8217;s way of getting ahead of potential regulation in Canada without tackling much of the criticism it faces over issues such as privacy concerns and the prevalence of misinformation on its platform.
&#8220;There are some fundamental problems with Facebook and this glosses over all of that and makes it much, much less likely that Canadian officials will actually consider the possibility of regulating them in ways that will affect these much deeper seated issues,&#8221; said Blayne Haggart, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and an associate professor of political science at Brock University.
Those issues, he said, include &#8220;pervasive&#8221; surveillance practices, data collection strategies, non-co-operation with authorities and a history of hosting misinformation and hateful content.
They have cropped up as Canadian media companies have watched their revenues slip away and put much of the blame on big tech.
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A 2018 report from the Canadian Media Concentration Project revealed Google had half the country&#8217;s internet advertising market share in 2018, with Facebook trailing at 27.3 per cent and Bell, Torstar, Twitter and Postmedia sitting at under two per cent each.
That equates to $3.8 billion in advertising revenue for Google, up from $2.8 billion in 2016.
Facebook made $2.1 billion in advertising in 2018, while Bell made $146 million, Torstar earned $120 million, Twitter got $117.5 million and Postmedia made $116.4 million.
Meanwhile, the federal government is in the process of considering legislation that could force tech companies to pay for news on their platforms and dole out penalties when problematic content is not removed quickly.
Other countries are dealing with similar considerations. Australia, for example, unveiled plans earlier this year to make social media companies negotiate payments to publishers there.
Facebook responded by quickly blocking Australian users from posting or seeing links to local or international news websites, only to reverse course days later.
		
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				Australia passes legislation requiring Facebook, Google to pay for news content			</a>
		
	
In Canada, Facebook has promised to spend at least $8 million over the next three years on journalism initiatives, including funding reporter fellowships at The Canadian Press and grants for media organizations run by people that are Black, Indigenous or of colour.
Facebook on Tuesday declined an interview to discuss its latest media efforts, but the company&#8217;s global director and head of public policy said in a statement that the program supports journalism and will allow the company &#8220;to partner even more closely with publishers to help them build sustainable business models.&#8221;
&#8220;Only through communication and collaboration can we make progress, and we look forward to continuing our work to promote a healthy news industry in Canada,&#8221; said Kevin Chan in an email.
Haggart, however, believes the efforts announced continue to embed Facebook in the media ecosystem and build publishers&#8217; dependency on a &#8220;single, foreign and capricious platform.&#8221;
Facebook said that in January 2021 alone, the platform and Google generated 24 million page views for Village Media for free, which the publisher calculates is worth about $480,000.
&#8220;What&#8217;s good for Facebook becomes what&#8217;s good for Le Devoir, or Village Media or BlogTO or whoever and that&#8217;s what creates a challenge and distracts from the fundamental issues,&#8221; said Haggart.
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Instead of these voluntary deals Facebook offers media, he thinks the company needs to be much more heavily regulated than it is now and authorities should be taking a greater interest in ensuring the news the platform shares is of quality.
Daniel Bernhard, the executive director of media watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said he would like to see Facebook forced to make fair deals with publishers and if they can&#8217;t reach agreeable terms, head to binding arbitration.
That proposal is reminiscent of what&#8217;s underway in Australia and stops Facebook from unilaterally deciding how much to pay or offering publishers a &#8220;take it or leave it&#8221; deal, said Bernhard.
He said the latest Facebook initiative is happening because governments have been slow to regulate technology firms.
&#8220;I hope that regulators will be able to see the obvious self-interest in this move, which is clearly an attempt to try to pre-empt regulation and say, &#8216;Don&#8217;t worry, nothing to see here,&#8221;&#8217; said Bernhard.
&#8220;But I think they&#8217;ve actually proved even more strongly &#8230; that publishers need to receive a fair price for use of their content from these trillion-dollar American companies.&#8221;

Experts say the move diverts attention from forthcoming regulation efforts in Canada without tackling criticism over privacy concerns and the prevalence of misinformation.

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