Tag: blocks
India blocks YouTube videos and Twitter posts on BBC Modi documentary
The Indian government has ordered YouTube and Twitter to take down videos and tweets about a BBC documentary that is critical of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued the directions “for blocking multiple YouTube videos” and “over 50 tweets” linked to the videos of the first episode of the […]
India blocks YouTube videos and Twitter posts on BBC Modi documentary by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch
Proxy Bay operator hits back after copyright notice from PIPCU blocks GitHub subdomain
UK government blocks Scotland’s gender reform bill in constitutional first
Congress blocks purchase of more Microsoft combat goggles
The US government has reportedly passed on buying more HoloLens-based AR combat goggles from Microsoft after discovering the current version has some kinks to work out, according to Bloomberg. So instead of ordering more of the current model, the government approved $40 million for Microsoft to develop a new version.
The updated combat goggles will address test results from last year when 70 soldiers wore the current version during three 72-hour scenarios simulating combat conditions. The results showed that the soldiers suffered “headaches, eyestrain and nausea” and that the system had too many “failures of essential functions.” In addition, more than 80 percent of soldiers who reported discomfort began experiencing it less than three hours into the 72 hours test.
The Army had initially requested $400 million to buy up to 6,900 pairs of the goggles as part of the $1.75 trillion government funding bill. Instead, Congress approved $40 million from that sum to develop the new version. The Army has already given Microsoft $125 million to create a revised model, and it still plans to spend up to $21.9 billion over the next decade for as many as 121,000 devices.
The Department of Defense contract has significantly boosted Microsoft’s ability to profit from its AR device. Before working with the DoD, the company had marketed the headset for enterprise manufacturing, training and other industrial purposes. Although Microsoft has hinted at an eventual consumer version of HoloLens, the company hasn’t yet announced any specifics — and its plans are hazier after the company has reportedly struggled to form a coherent strategy for its headset.
NYC court blocks pay raise for Uber and Lyft drivers
A court has blocked a rate hike that would have increased pay for New York City Uber and Lyft drivers. Uber sued the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) in December, claiming it used a flawed methodology to determine the per-minute and per-mile rate increases. Manhattan state court Justice Arthur Engoron agreed. “It’s just not enough to say there’s inflation and 100 drivers said gas prices shot up,” Engoron, a former taxi driver in his college days, said, according to Bloomberg.
In November, the TLC unanimously approved the city’s first metered fare increases in a decade, including for ridesharing trips. Per-minute rates were slated to go up by 7.4 percent and per-mile rates by 24 percent. Under those planned hikes, a trip of 7.5 miles that took 30 minutes would have earned a ridesharing driver at least $27.15, an increase of more than $2.50 compared with current rates.
Uber argued that the rate increases would result in higher fares for customers while harming its reputation. A judge granted a temporary restraining order to pause the rate hikes a few days after Uber filed suit and before they came into effect on December 19th.
“Drivers do critical work and deserve to be paid fairly, but rates should be calculated in a way that is transparent, consistent and predictable,” Uber spokesperson Josh Gold told Bloomberg. “Existing TLC rules continue to provide for an annual review tied to the rate of inflation, which will take place in March.”
The company said implementing the pay raise would cost it between $21 million and $23 million per month. For the July to September quarter, Uber reported a net loss of $1.2 billion.
“We call on the Taxi and Limousine Commission to immediately redo the rules so drivers do not have to wait one day longer for their raise. A few missing words in a Statement of Basis and Purpose does not justify denying a raise meant to help thousands of drivers pay their rent and put food on the table for their families,” Bhairavi Desai, executive director of The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, told Engadget in a statement. “Shame on Uber for spending millions on this heartless lawsuit only to deny drivers an increase of $1.66 more on an average trip. Uber woke a sleeping giant. This raise belongs to the drivers and we will not rest until it’s back in our hands.”
Elon Musk’s Twitter blocks links to Mastodon, Instagram, and other social platforms
UPDATE: Dec. 19, 2022, 11:18 a.m. AEDT Mere hours after announcing a policy blocking links to a handful of Twitter competitors, Elon Musk has already walked it back in response to an outcry across the site (and across the political spectrum of users). Tweeting in reply to Twitter Blue user @TheQuartering, Musk said: “Policy will be adjusted to suspending accounts only when that account’s *primary* purpose is promotion of competitors, which essentially falls under the no spam rule”.
He also tweeted: “Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won’t happen again.”
Original story remains below.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has decided it won’t allow for free promotion on the platform, which basically amounts to posting the handle of an account on a different social media site. The platform announced the strange new policy on Sunday in a series of tweets.
“We recognize that many of our users are active on other social media platforms. However, we will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter,” posted the Twitter support account. “Specifically, we will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames for the following platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post.”
Other social sites like Onlyfans, Patreon, Reddit, Substack, Tiktok, and Tumblr were not listed by Twitter and it is presumed that users can still link their accounts to those platforms.
So basically, you can’t promote Twitter’s apparent competitors. The exact limits of the policy are still somewhat unclear but it seems that a user cannot even post the handle of an account on one of those sites. In other words, you can’t post “follow me at @username on Instagram.”
“We still allow cross-posting content from any social media platform,” the Twitter Support account posted. “Posting links or usernames to social media platforms not listed above are also not in violation of this policy.”
Twitter followed up by posting the details of the policy, saying that linking out to those sites will be barred at both the tweet and account levels. It also clarified that using a link aggregator such as linktr.ee and lnk.bio would be banned as well.
Twitter also said it would ban posting usernames even if you don’t actually link out but still direct users to other social media accounts.
“Additionally, any attempts to bypass restrictions on external links to the above prohibited social media platforms through technical or non-technical means (e.g. URL cloaking, plaintext obfuscation) is in violation of this policy,” Twitter wrote. “This includes, but is not limited to, spelling out ‘dot’ for social media platforms that use ‘.’ in the names to avoid URL creation, or sharing screenshots of your handle on a prohibited social media platform.”
It is truly a wild new policy, especially because Musk claims to be a free speech absolutist. Twitter is apparently so concerned about losing users that it won’t even allow users to acknowledge their existence.
The punishment for violating the policy is pretty strong.
“We may take a number of actions ranging from requiring deletion of one or more Tweets to temporarily locking account(s),” Twitter wrote. “Any subsequent offenses will result in permanent suspension.” The same goes for posting these accounts in your bio.
Things have been strange on Twitter. Musk, for instance, just suspended a bunch of journalists who cover him. Now, he’s banning posting that you exist on other social sites.
Twitter blocks users from sharing Mastodon links
Irish competition watchdog blocks Uniphar’s acquisition of Navi
The CCPC found that Uniphar acquiring Navi would ‘substantially lessen competition’ in Ireland.
Read more: Irish competition watchdog blocks Uniphar’s acquisition of Navi
Google Docs Now Has Code Blocks, but Not for Everyone
Google Docs is one of the most popular ways to create and share text documents, but up until now, sharing code samples has been a bit cumbersome. That’s finally changing.