Tag: introduced
RIP PS5 PlayStation Plus Collection, which introduced me to one of my favourite games
“So there’s this stat in Bloodborne called Insight,” I’d tell anyone that would listen. “It governs the amount of inhuman knowledge you’ve gleaned from the world as you slaughter unnatural abominations.” So far, so videogame-y; you kill something, or use an item, and numbers go up. So what? “But Insight isn’t just used to summon other players and stuff – it changes the world. It’s maddening. Frightening.” By this point, the strangers at the bar I’m in have wandered off, circling their fingers next to their temples to indicate I’m nuts to their giggling friends. And maybe they’re right – Bloodborne really got in my head.
But that Insight stat… I’ve never come across anything quite like it. Every major boss you’d kill would confer a little more Insight to you, and if you went out of your way to explore the game and break the loop a little away from the expected path, you could very quickly gain a significant amount of knowledge about Bloodborne’s dying, fucked-up world.
It manifests passively – maybe certain enemies become more powerful as you begin to understand their real function in this world. Maybe certain NPCs start mumbling apparently innocent nonsense. Maybe you start to see the creatures that are really in charge of the world, clinging to the belfries of cathedrals or skulking about in the shadows. Maybe otherworldly abominations start singing, wretchedly off-key, whenever you’re nearby – cooing bastardised hymns to the terrors beyond all that we can actually see.
The EARN IT Act will be introduced to Congress for the third time
The controversial EARN IT Act, first introduced in 2020, is returning to Congress after failing twice to land on the president’s desk. The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act, (EARN IT) Act is intended to minimize the proliferation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) throughout the web, but detractors say it goes too far and risks further eroding online privacy protections.
Here’s how it would work, according to the language of the bill’s reintroduction last year. Upon passing, EARN IT would create a national commission composed of politically-appointed law enforcement specialists. This body would be tasked with making a list of best practices to ostensibly curb the digital distribution of CSAM. If online service providers do not abide by these best practices, they would potentially lose blanket immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, opening them up to all kinds of legal hurdles — including civil lawsuits and criminal charges.
Detractors say EARN IT places a whole lot of power to regulate the internet in the hands of the commission the bill would create as well as state legislatures. Additionally, language in last year’s bill suggests that these guidelines would likely extend to encrypted information, so if an encrypted transmission runs afoul of any guidelines, the platform is on the hook. This will force providers to monitor encrypted communications, which goes against the whole point of encryption in the first place. Additionally, end-to-end encryption is designed so that not even the platform can read the contents. In other words, providers might not be able to offer those protections.
“This was a dangerous bill two years ago, and because it’s doubled down on its anti-encryption stance, it’s even more dangerous now,” The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School wrote in a blog post last year, a stance also mirrored by the Center for Democracy and Technology. The American Civil Liberties Union, pushing back on a prior version of the bill, said that it “threatens our online speech and privacy rights in ways that will disproportionately harm LGBTQ people, sex workers and others who use the internet to privately communicate and share information and resources.”
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) has come out in defense of the bill, saying that it will “incentivize technology companies to proactively search for and remove” CSAM materials. “Tech companies have the technology to detect, remove, and stop the distribution of child sexual abuse material. However, there is no incentive to do so because they are subject to no consequences for their inaction,” wrote Erin Earp, RAINN’s interim vice president for public policy.
The bipartisan Senate bills have consistently been introduced by Republican Senator Lindsay Graham and Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal, and their companion bills in the House likewise have been sponsored by Republican Representative Ann Wagner and Democrat Representative Sylvia Garcia. The full text of H.R.2732 is not publicly available yet, so it’s unclear if anything has changed since last year’s attempt, though when reintroduced last year it was more of the same. (We’ve reached out to the offices of Reps. Wagner and Garcia for a copy of the bill’s text.) A member of Senator Graham’s office confirmed to Engadget that the companion bill will be introduced within the next week. It also remains to be seen if and when this will come up for a vote. Both prior versions of EARN IT died in committee before ever coming to a vote.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-earn-it-act-will-be-introduced-to-congress-for-the-third-time-192619083.html?src=rss
Prince William says he feels glad his mum introduced him to the cause of homelessness when he was a boy
PRINCE William says he feels glad that his mum introduced him to the cause of homelessness when he was a boy.
But Wills, 40, said he thought Diana, Princess of Wales, would be disappointed that more progress had not been made in tackling the problem.
He made the comments in a Red Nose Day video appeal in which he meets people helped by charities backed by Comic Relief.
The Prince of Wales spoke to Miles and Nawshin at Groundswell, a group for the homeless.
Explaining the root of his interest in the subject, he says: “My mother introduced me to the cause of homelessness from quite a young age.
“I’m really glad she did.
“I think she’d be disappointed we’re still no further on in terms of tackling homelessness and preventing it than when she was interested and involved in it.”
Miles tells him: “People who experience homelessness have solutions if you just ask them — they know what needs changing.”
The video will air during BBC One’s Red Nose Day coverage on Friday.
Porn website age checks introduced in Louisiana
The 7 best productivity improvements Apple introduced in 2022
Here are seven of the most useful productivity improvements Apple introduced in 2022. (It’s a partial list, so if you have a personal favorite to add, let me know here.)
Lockdown Mode
Some might see Lockdown Mode on Apple products as the most resonant update the company introduced this year. It’s an improvement no one wants to need, but it’s also one that everybody might sometimes require.