New Oriental Education and Technology Group fired tens of thousands of employees, the biggest layoffs disclosed since China embarked on a wide-ranging crackdown on private enterprises more than a year ago. From a report: Yu Minhong, founder and chairman of the Chinese tutoring giant, revealed in a WeChat post over the weekend that the company dismissed 60,000 workers in 2021 and saw revenue fall 80% after ending all K-9 tutoring services following Beijing's overhaul of the the $100 billion after-school education sector last July. Even after the cuts, the company still has about 50,000 employees and teachers, Yu said in a separate post Monday. The revelation underscores the widespread disruption wrought by Beijing's unprecedented decision last summer to outlaw profits in swathes of the after-school education industry -- upending a market estimated at $100 billion at its peak. The three biggest operators in the space -- including New Oriental and TAL Education Group -- together once employed more than 170,000 but total numbers are estimated in the millions given the hundreds of private firms that vied for students in a fragmented and under-regulated arena.

Libreboot.org is publicizing an event this Tuesday of "global importance to Free Software projects, and the movement as a whole... If you live in New Hampshire or in one of the neighbouring states, especially Massachusetts, please listen up!

"If you are further away and unable to reach New Hampshire all that easily, please spread the following news anyway. It's important." An important bill is being proposed in New Hampshire, which would enshrine much of what we know as Free Software into law... [H]ere is a paraphrasing of what it proposes:


- Specifically bans state-run websites from serving non-free javaScript to clients

- Creates a commission to provide oversight, watching the use of Free Software by state agencies

- Bans state agencies from using proprietary software — maybe this could include schools, in the future!

- If a person is tried in a criminal case, they have the right to audit the source code of any proprietary software that collects evidence against them

- Encourages data portability (able to transfer data from one program to another)

- Bans certain non-compete clauses and NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) pertaining to Free Software projects

- Bans state/local law enforcement from assisting with the enforcement of copyright claims against Free Software projects

- Bans state agencies from purchasing non-free software if free software exists, for a given task....


At first glance, it may not seem that the bill affects individuals, but don't be fooled; this is a hugely positive step forward for everyone! If the state is using Free Software, that most likely means it'll be used in education as well. Although perhaps not immediately and readily apparent, this is a stake in the heart of proprietary software's current dominance, because it would remove one key element of its attack against us; its abuse of education services. If education services are using Free Software, that means they'll probably have children (the ones being educated) using it too. This is a huge step, and it will result in more Free Software developers in the future. Free Software will become more and more mainstream to the masses, which can surely only be a good thing...!

[I]magine if more states like what they see and start to copy the new legislation. Now imagine that countries besides the U.S. start doing it, inspired by the US's success (and I think it will be a resounding success). Imagine a world where Free Software, free as in freedom, is the default everywhere. Imagine a world where Free Software licensing is required reading material in schools. Imagine a world where any five year old can install a free operating system such as GNU+Linux, and Computer Science is mandatory in schools from a young age. Imagine filing your tax returns with Free Software, exclusively. Imagine not even thinking about that, because it became the norm.

Imagine a world where proprietary software doesn't exist, because it is obsolete; entire generations of people are taught to value freedom, and to staunchly defend it, helping each other learn and grow (and produce better software in the process, with less bugs, because people are now free to do that, without relying on some evil company)...

Free Software is a revolution that we in the Free Software movement have rigorously upheld and fought for, over many years, but we still face an uphill battle because children are not taught in schools about free computing, nor are they encouraged to learn; they are taught to view computers as products to throw away every 1-2 years, that they can run a few apps on but otherwise are not allowed to do anything with. The concept of a general purpose, fully reprogrammable computer is heavily suppressed in mainstream culture. Most people in the world do not run a free operating system; the idea of a computer being a mere appliance is normalized (as opposed to the idea of it being a highly liberating tool for development and the expansion of human knowledge)....

Something is happening in New Hampshire, which could redefine our movement and give free software real power instead.
The post links to a state representative's tweet describing how supporters can testify in person to support the bill. "If this bill is passed in New Hampshire, more states will likely follow," argues Libreboot.org. "It will lead to a massively renewed drive to liberate all computer users, and U.S. laws tend to be copied/pasted around the world too. This bill, if passed, will have a hugely positive impact on Free Software at a global level...

"The proprietary software companies like Microsoft and Apple will also be there, trying to argue the case against the use of Free Software."

All 2021 and 2022 LG smart TVs will be equipped with a health education and telehealth app from the senior-focused health platform Independa, the company announced today. The platform will allow users to set up and have telehealth appointments through their TV. From a report: While telehealth visits via apps on smartphones and computers have become normal for many patients during the pandemic, using a TV-sized screen to see a doctor can be helpful for people with eyesight issues, says Kian Saneii, Independa's founder and CEO. It also makes it easier for doctors to ask people to stand up or show more of their body during the visit. "You can't hold your phone out far enough to show the right thing," he says. "Versus on the TV, you can walk around, you can bend your arm -- the actual engagement becomes more effective." Users have to set up separate accounts with the on-demand doctor and dentist services on the Independa platform, and they're prompted to do so through a QR code. Some people might be able to have their visit covered by insurance, but right now, most patients will pay a flat fee -- $75 for a dentist's call and around $55 for a doctor, Saneii says. That could be a barrier to some users. On-demand telehealth programs also often don't connect back to patients' medical records, which could make it difficult to pass information from those visits back to their regular doctors. Further reading: Samsung is Putting NFTs in Its Smart TVs.

theodp writes: A job posting for a US Senior Manager, Amazon Future Engineer reveals Amazon's ambitious expansion plans for K-12 CS education in the U.S. and beyond: "We believe computer science can unleash creativity and unlock human potential. Amazon Future Engineer is a global, childhood-to-career, education program designed to increase access to computer science education to young people from underserved and underrepresented communities. [...] We are looking for a leader to increase our reach and impact in the United States among students in our primary target population: students attending, graduating from, or living in neighborhoods served by Title I public schools. In the U.S., we currently reach more than 6,000 Title I schools and have awarded 300 college scholarships. We seek to continue scaling our reach and impact in Title I schools, but more importantly to grow our impact on the students we serve. [...] This leader will also work closely with the Amazon Future Engineer global product team as a Voice of the Customer conduit for students and teachers in the HQ regions and U.S. more broadly. In addition, this leader will serve as a colleague to other Product Managers leading local implementation of AFE programs in other countries (including among others, the UK, France, and Canada). [...] Amazon Future Engineer is a pillar program of Amazon in the Community. While the day-to-day work of AFE focuses on CS education, this role requires a systems-thinker who understands that educational needs intersect with other needs addressed by other AITC pillar programs (e.g., hunger, housing equity). This role will collaborate and coordinate with other Amazon community impact initiatives."

Interestingly, Code.org's GitHub documentation and code suggests that the tech-backed nonprofit has been helping Amazon achieve its Title I reach-and-impact ambitions. In the code, NCES data from the U.S. Dept. of Education is used with Amazon-specified cutoffs to qualify certain teachers and schools for participation in the $50M Amazon Future Engineer program, as well as their eligibility for other "Free stuff from Amazon". Comments in routine afe_high_needs explain how the code "determines if [a] school meets Amazon Future Engineer criteria" and is deemed "eligible if the school is any of the following: a) title I school, b) more than 40% URM [underrepresented minority] students, or c) more than 40% of students eligible for free and reduced meals." National School Lunch Program eligibility data is often used as a proxy for the number of students living in poverty (in 2015, a majority of public school students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch).

In a second job posting for a Sr. Product Manager, Amazon Future Engineer, Amazon reveals its plans for K-12 CS education also go beyond software: "We're looking for leader for a new initiative that combines hands-on STEM learning for K12 students with pathways into careers in hardware design engineering. You will envision and launch a new 'maker challenge' to ignite student's natural creativity to solve problems that matter to them through technology. Additionally, you will work backward from diverse hardware engineers working today to create an experimental early career scholar-internship cohort that allows students to gain a foothold as technology professionals. You will be adept at partnership with schools and nonprofits that serve underserved communities, business units that excel in hardware engineering, and Amazon Future Engineer's broader team. You will be instrumental in delivering a hands-on and hardware centric nucleus at the center of our company-wide goal to reach 1.6 million underrepresented students globally with equitable computer science learning."

It's hard to imagine home life without the internet, particularly amid the coronavirus pandemic. Now a law going into effect in Washington state is acknowledging that. CNET News: Starting in the new year, home sellers in Washington will be required to share their internet provider on signed disclosure forms that include information about plumbing, insulation and structural defects. "Does the property currently have internet service?" the disclosure form will now ask, along with a space to say who the provider is. The law doesn't require sellers to detail access speeds, quality or alternative providers. The new disclosure is the latest in an array of efforts by lawmakers across the country to respond to our increasing reliance on home internet connectivity for work, education and entertainment. That internet connection has become even more critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has upended the lives of billions of people, forcing quarantines and lockdowns as people adjust to a new normal of daily life.

Amazon has updated its Alexa voice assistant after it "challenged" a 10-year-old girl to touch a coin to the prongs of a half-inserted plug. From a report: The suggestion came after the girl asked Alexa for a "challenge to do". "Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs," the smart speaker said. Amazon said it fixed the error as soon as the company became aware of it. The girl's mother, Kristin Livdahl, described the incident on Twitter. She said: "We were doing some physical challenges, like laying down and rolling over holding a shoe on your foot, from a [physical education] teacher on YouTube earlier. Bad weather outside. She just wanted another one." That's when the Echo speaker suggested partaking in the challenge that it had "found on the web". The dangerous activity, known as "the penny challenge", began circulating on TikTok and other social media websites about a year ago.

For a sector historically known for its fast-forward pace of innovation, consumer technology sure did a lot of backpedaling this year. From a report: The Nasdaq CTA Internet Index is in the red this year compared with a return of more than 27% for the S&P 500. Cathie Wood's famed ARK Innovation ETF, more than 30% of which was invested in information technology as of Sept. 30, has seen its net asset value decline 21% this year, underperforming the S&P by nearly 49 percentage points. She isn't alone. If you invested in enough tech stocks this year, you probably got burned by a few of them.

Select lowlights include fitness-equipment company Peloton Interactive, down nearly 75% this year; social-commerce company Poshmark, down almost 82%; and education-tech company Chegg, down 66%. At certain points, the number of names blowing up simultaneously was dizzying: Chegg, Peloton, Zillow Group and Vimeo all took nosedives around their most-recent earnings reports, collectively erasing some $26.3 billion in market value in a single week last month. A big part of the problem was the huge run logged in stay-at-home stocks in the latter half of last year. Many of tech's 2020 darlings became duds simply by virtue of the fact that they appreciated too much too quickly. In the end, the numbers couldn't keep pace.

Ms. Wood, at least, is sticking with the strategy that failed her this year. She said in a Bloomberg interview earlier this month that she expects it to yield "a compound annual rate of return of roughly 40% over the next five years," emphasizing, "That's a quadrupling." But investors shouldn't expect all of this year's dips to lead to easy dunks next year. Zillow, for example, is down over 50% in the year to date, and while its future without iBuying looks to be a much more steadily profitable business, the online real-estate company is still worth more than twice as much today as it was in early 2019, when it went big into the automated home-flipping business. If the tech sector has to earn its gains next year, many of its stocks still face an uphill battle.

Some American colleges and universities are cutting entire departments. But the Baffler magazine wonders if something else is going on: The ostensible reason provided for these cuts and terminations is "prioritization," a term used by university administrators to rank which programs deserve funding and attention. One such "prioritization" committee at St. Joseph's College in New York described it as a ranking of "centrality and essentiality," "demand and opportunity," and "productivity, revenue, and resources." If the terms sound like university administrator gobbledygook, that's because they are, cleverly disguising administrative judgments as some sort of due process. Around the country it is terms just like these that have been thrown at social science and liberal arts departments. Suddenly, faculty in these departments are expected to justify why they exist and why anyone would need a degree in English.

The two examples from Indiana, from Marian University and Purdue, also reveal how terms like "prioritization" are being used to disguise politically motivated excisions. Prioritization routinely argues that engineering departments need to be the ones getting more money and resources from the administration. Unlike English or political science, which are seen as useless and pointless majors, engineering and computer science carry an implicit promise of a job. Who needs to have read Shakespeare or know about how our political system works when you can rush off to be one among the armies of coders who make our digiverse possible?

That is the dream. In reality, "prioritization" debates, particularly in deep red states, are excellent cover for changing the political demographics of American colleges and universities. The Marian University case is instructive in this sense; the ostensible championing of STEM fields maps neatly onto the project of eliminating the most left-leaning professor, inevitably in departments that teach English or history or political science. If you have a right-leaning board of trustees in a red state like Indiana, professors like Johnny Goldfinger are unwanted, even threatening to those who would like student voters to know less rather than more about the processes of democracy. In a country where everything is riven and divided around political lines, this could well be a covert attack against the otherwise enduring liberal-ness of the college campus....

Despite what current debates about liberal arts would have you believe, not all employers are looking for software developers. A long-range perspective proscribes a rounded education, geared not just for the moment we are in. It is very likely that coding and other functions that administrators believe are the ones that deserve the most priority will be carried out via artificial intelligence processes that can do the painstaking work with far greater accuracy and speed than a human ever can. A liberal arts education is essential to surviving in our polarized world. In educating students in how to respect differences and create dialogue over disagreement, a liberal arts education provides skills essential to maintaining a healthy and functioning democracy.

Creating arbitrary epistemological rankings, where one kind of knowledge is given precedence over others, is failing to attend to the needs of the whole student capable of earning a wage but also of leading a good life....

It only makes sense if the actual purpose of slicing off departments and professors is part of a larger political project that has nothing at all to do with providing the best education.

FFP stands for "filtering face piece." It is a European standard for mask efficiency, ranging from one, the lowest grade, to three, the highest. The Economist adds: FFP2 masks filter at least 94% of all aerosols, including airborne viruses such as covid-19. America's N95 and China's KN95 masks provide similar levels of protection. These disposable masks have several layers of different fabrics, including a polypropylene filter, made by "melt-blowing" polymer to create miniscule, irregular fibre patterns that can trap the smallest airborne particles. A study published in December by the Max Planck Institute, a German research organisation, found well-fitting FFP2 masks reduced the risk of infection with covid-19 to 0.1%. Cloth or medical masks, on the other hand, merely disrupt the airflow of the speaker and trap the largest aerosol particles in their woven material. Their efficacy varies wildly depending on the design and fabric used: tight-fitting, multi-layered masks made from dense materials are much more effective than single-layer linen masks. One study in the Journal of Education and Health Promotion found surgical masks were three times more effective at preventing inhalation of aerosols than homemade cloth ones. Another study, in JAMA Internal Medicine, a journal, compared different cloth masks and found that their efficacy at containing viral particles ranged from 26% to 79%.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Record: Many apps used by schools contain features that can lead to the "unregulated and out of control" sharing of student data to advertising companies and other security issues, according to a report published Monday by the nonprofit Me2B Alliance. The report follows up on research published by the group in May, which audited 73 apps used by 38 schools to find that 60% of them were sending student data to a variety of third parties. Roughly half of them were sending student data to Google, while 14% were sending data to Facebook.

In the update, Me2B specifically looked at the use of a common feature called "WebView," which allows developers to integrate web pages into apps. Although the feature allows schools to include dynamic details -- like calendars and results of sporting events -- in apps without having to update the app itself, it can lead to the siphoning of student data and, in particularly bad cases, students and parents being targeted by scams. For example, on several occasions the researchers observed the hijacking of web pages linked to by school apps, leading users to malicious sites. An app used by Maryland's largest school district accidentally directed users to a compromised site that once was used for the district's sports teams. The Quinlan, Texas school district had a sports domain integrated into its app that was purchased by an unknown actor for $30 before anyone took action -- a security threat that's sometimes called a "dangling domain." Some of the recommendations to mitigate security risks include "training for app administrators, creating processes at schools for keeping track of expiring URLs, requiring schools to report lost or dangling domains within a specific time, and launching a 'privacy bounty program' at the US Department of Education to audit school apps," reports The Record. "But perhaps the fastest way to reduce these risks is to alter the way the apps work."

"Apple and Google can change rules for in-app WebView links to ensure app developers can't overrule a local device browser preference," said Zach Edwards, who is in charge of data integrity testing for the Me2B Alliance.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: School districts across the United States are cancelling classes on Friday, December 17th due to reports of threats that are supposedly being made on TikTok. Districts in California, Texas, Minnesota, and Missouri have said they plan to close down Friday in response, according to the districts and local media reports. Elsewhere, districts have said they plan to have heightened police presence or have emailed parents to say they've been investigating the allegations. But so far, there's little evidence that the threats are credible -- or even exist. The districts and local police departments largely say they've heard about a trend referencing the possibility of shootings or bombings on December 17th, but it's not clear how many have seen a specific threat or a threat against their schools in particular.

A number of districts and law enforcement divisions say they've looked into it and don't view the threats as credible or even real. "Law enforcement agencies have investigated this threat and determined that it originated in Arizona and is not credible," Baltimore County Public Schools wrote on Twitter. "Currently, there have been no threats to any of the schools in Mexico, [Missouri]," wrote a Missouri school district. "There have been no local, credible threats," Ohio's Milford Exempted Village School District wrote to parents. In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy tweeted, "there are no known specific threats against New Jersey schools."

The reports of threats on TikTok may be self-perpetuating. Videos being posted to TikTok warn others that they should skip school on December 17th due to supposed threats of shootings or bombings, which seem to have prompted others to create similar videos. And now that schools are canceling classes in response to those supposed threats, a new wave of videos have popped up with additional warnings based on both the supposed claims and the actual, factual cancellations of some school classes. TikTok says it has not identified any videos making specific threats. "We have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok," the company wrote in a tweet Thursday afternoon. TikTok said it is working with law enforcement to look into the warnings with "utmost seriousness," nonetheless.

The world's second most populous nation uses sterilization, contraceptives to reach fertility milestone. From a report: Back in the 1960s, India faced an exploding population, with a fertility rate of nearly six children per woman. When famine struck, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson initially refused to deliver food aid, citing the country's high birth rate. In response, India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dramatically expanded the first national family planning program in a major developing country, offering cash incentives for both men and women to be sterilized. The city of Madras, now called Chennai, paid men $6 a snip. For the next 60 years, India continued to focus on sterilization as well as contraceptives and education for girls. Now, Indian health officials say the task of defusing their population bomb is finally done. Late last month, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), a periodic investigation of half a million households, announced a milestone: The country's fertility rate had for the first time fallen below the widely accepted "replacement level" of 2.1 children per woman. (The U.S. rate is 1.8.) "Women are seeing the wisdom in having fewer children," says Poonam Muttreja, director of the nonprofit Population Foundation of India.

India's population growth is not over yet, however. Thanks to past high fertility rates, two-thirds of the population is under 35 years old, and a large cohort of people is now entering childbearing age. Even at replacement fertility rates, the children of these young people will continue to push up numbers, and India may exceed China as the world's most populous nation as early as next year. Still, India's population is set to decline in about 3 decades, putting the country on the same track as a growing number of developing nations, such as its neighbor Bangladesh and Indonesia. India remains well behind China in falling fertility. In China, where the population may be at its peak, official figures put the fertility rate at 1.7 children per woman. State-sponsored family planning remains "the single most important driver" of India's drop in fertility, says Srinivas Goli, a demographer at Jawaharlal Nehru University. More than 55% of couples use modern contraceptives, the latest NFHS survey found. Of these, one-fifth use condoms and one-tenth the pill. But sterilization of women, generally in government-run clinics, accounts for two-thirds of all contraception. Sterilization has a checkered past in India. During the mid-1970s, Gandhi allowed states to operate compulsory sterilization camps. An estimated 19 million people were sterilized, three-quarters of them men. The program's unpopularity helped bring down Gandhi's government in 1977, says Monica Das Gupta of the Maryland Population Research Center.

Thelasko shares a report from the BBC: Considering a career in brain surgery or rocket science? It might well be within reach. Members of both professions aren't necessarily more clever than the general public, according to a study. Researchers asked 329 aerospace engineers and 72 neurosurgeons to complete a series of tasks to test their cognition. The results, published in the British Medical Journal, show few differences with members of the British public.

Professionals from both groups were assessed online in six cognitive domains, using a 'Great British Intelligence Test' originally devised at Imperial College, London. The test looked at areas like working memory, attention and emotion processing, and respondents were asked about their age, sex and industry experience. The results were then compared between both groups, and data previously gathered from 18,000 members of the British public. It found that neurosurgeons scored significantly higher than rocket scientists in semantic problem solving, like defining rare words. Aerospace engineers, meanwhile, performed better than their rivals when it came to attention, and to mental manipulation tasks like rotating images of objects in one's head. When compared with public scores, however, rocket scientists didn't show significant differences in any domains.

Neuroscientists, on the other hand, scored differently in only two areas: their problem solving speed was quicker, but their memory recall was slower. Researchers suggested this may be due to the "fast-paced nature of neurosurgery... or it could be, albeit less likely, a product of training for rapid decision-making in time-critical situations." "It is possible that both neurosurgeons and aerospace engineers are unnecessarily placed on a pedestal," the study reflected. "Other specialties might deserve to be on that pedestal, and future work should aim to determine the most deserving profession."

A media lobbying group wants to see tech platforms reigned in with stronger antitrust laws. But the group's president tells the New York Times the biggest force supporting the status quo is hyperpartisanship.

The Times reports: The lack of regulation of technology companies is not because elected officials don't understand the internet. That used to be the case, and it helps explain why they have been so slow with oversight measures. Now, though, new questions about technology get mapped onto increasingly intractable political divides. Without the distractions of bizarre questions, what's left is the naked reality that the parties are deeply at odds over how to protect consumers and encourage businesses. Dozens of bills to strengthen privacy, encourage competition and quell misinformation have stalled because of a basic disagreement over the hand of government on businesses.

"Congress has again shown it's all bark and no bite when it comes to regulating Big Tech," said Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, adding: "We've made no progress for decades."

The cost of the government's long education on tech is that regulation is increasingly out of reach. In April 2018, 14 years after founding thefacebook.com and more than five years after Facebook surpassed 1 billion users, Mark Zuckerberg appeared for the first time before Congress... [D]espite bipartisan agreement that tech companies have run roughshod and deserve more oversight, none of the bills discussed in those hearings four years ago have been passed. Turns out, holding a hearing that humbles the most powerful business executives in the world is much easier than legislating. Very bright lines of partisan disagreements appear when writing rules that restrict how much data can be collected by platforms, whether consumers can sue sites for defamation, and whether regulators can slow the march of dominance of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook.
The Times points out that, just for example, when it came to the possibility of regulating cryptocurrency, "the divides on regulation broke down along party lines" Wednesday after six crypto executives testified before a House committee. Democrats warned that the fast-growing industry needed clearer oversight. "Currently, cryptocurrency markets have no overarching or centralized regulatory framework, leaving investments in the digital assets space vulnerable to fraud, manipulation and abuse," said Representative Maxine Waters, the Democrat of California who chairs the committee. Other Democrats expressed similar caution....

Republicans hewed to their free-market stripes at the crypto hearing. Representative Pete Sessions, Republican of Texas, told the crypto executives that he was in favor of their work and that regulations the industry has embraced may go too far. Representative Ted Budd, Republican of North Carolina, worried that lawmakers could push innovation in financial technology out of the United States.

"Russian hackers have stolen and published the personal data of tens of thousands of employees..." reports the Australian Financial Review.

Government officials have confirmed the breach — part of a ransomware attack — and say the stolen data may even include info on the country's premier, according to an Australian public broadcaster: The government said the records of at least 38,000 employees, but potentially up to 80,000 workers, have been accessed in a cyber-attack on external payroll software provider Frontier Software. The data includes names, dates of birth, tax file numbers, home addresses, bank account details, remuneration and superannuation contributions... Treasurer Rob Lucas said politicians, including Premier Steven Marshall, could be among those affected.
The treasurer added the breach potentially impacted "The highest of the high to the lowest of the low and all of the rest of us in between." Except for schoolteachers, and the Department of Education, who did not use Frontier's software.

The website publishing the 3.75 gigabytes of data claimed it was just 10% of the total amount, according to the Australian Financial Review, which "understands Russian organised crime group Conti, which claimed credit for launching the cyberattack on Queensland's energy network CS Energy, published the information." Australian Payroll Association chief executive Tracy Angwin said the hack was a wake-up call to employers using remotely accessed payroll systems to ensure they were secure...

Frontier Software said the hacker responsible for the incident was known to employ a "double extortion" strategy, which included encrypting systems and stealing the data.
In another report, Bleeping Computer describes Conti as "a long-lived Ransomware as a Service operation" that "still manages to evade prosecution even after high-profile incidents against vital national resources such as Ireland's Department of Health." The gang is believed to be behind the recent revival of the notorious Emotet botnet, which could lead to a massive new wave of ransomware infections. This week, Conti took responsibility for the attack against Nordic Choice Hotels, a Scandinavian hotel chain with 200 properties.
Thanks to Macfox (Slashdot reader #50,100) for tipping us off to the news.

theodp writes: The Chicago Public Schools kicked off CSEdWeek by issuing a press release announcing a Google partnership: "Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is partnering with Google in an annual call to action during CSEd Week (Dec. 6 -12) to inspire students to learn computer science, advocate for equity in computer science education, and celebrate the contributions of students, teachers, and partners such as CafeCS that support this important field of study." A flyer with a joint CPS and Google letterhead invited parents of CPS schoolchildren to attend the first of an unspecified number of Parent Panels exploring career opportunities in computer science. Google in late 2020 lamented that "students are generally unconvinced that computer science is important for them to learn," adding that "Interventions from parents, educators, community leaders, policymakers, nonprofits and the technology industry are needed." Back in Dec. 2017, Google kicked off CSEdWeek by announcing that Google.org was donating $1.5 million to bring CS to students in Chicago and has been a long-time friend of the CPS CS4LL initiative, including making its Chicago HQ available for a CPS 'soiree' just hours before the CPS made CS a HS graduation requirement in 2016 and a 2017 video shoot in which the CPS lamented schools failure to address tech's need for coders.

Coincidentally, Google's CSEdWeek partnership with CPS comes as the leaders of the Computer Science Teachers Association (the organizer of CSEdWeek) and Code.org (the organizer of the Hour of Code, CSEdWeek's flagship event) took to Twitter to urge the nonprofits' 1+ million followers to sign a petition asking CPS CEO Pedro Martinez to overturn Code.org's ban from Chicago classrooms for failing to meet what Code.org termed "onerous requirements unrelated to student privacy that make it prohibitive for organizations like Code.org to agree to" (which didn't stop Google from getting its free Google CS First offering on the CPS Approved for Use list). Ironically, back in 2013, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS CEO Barbara Byrd Bennett kicked off CSEdWeek and the first Hour of Code with a press release announcing a CPS partnership with Code.org under which CPS would receive free CS curriculum and ongoing professional development and stipends for teachers. "Partnering with Chicago Public Schools is a giant step forward towards Code.org's vision of bringing computer science to every student in every school," said Code.org founder Hadi Partovi at the time. Google, by the way, is a Platinum Supporter ($3+ million) of tech-backed Code.org.

Concerned about America's cybersecurity preparedness, the White House "is accelerating efforts to fill nearly 600,000 vacant cybersecurity positions in the public and private sectors bogging down efforts to protect digital infrastructure," reports Axios: Following a deluge of ransomware attacks targeting critical government and corporate infrastructure this year, clogs in the talent pipeline are leaving federal, cash-strapped local governments and Big Business even more susceptible to hacking. The issue has emerged repeatedly in Senate and House hearings but received little public attention until recently...

Microsoft...has pitched in by providing free cybersecurity curriculum to every public community college. A nonprofit, Public Infrastructure Security Cyber Education Systems, provides university students hands-on experience: monitoring real-time data on local government networks...

A job-tracking database funded by the Commerce Department shows there are nearly 600,000 U.S. cyber job openings nationwide.

The Department of Homeland Security recently launched a federal recruiting tool aimed at courting young, diverse talent. DHS currently has about 1,500 cybersecurity-related vacancies, affecting the agency's efforts to protect the homeland. A Senate audit found key agencies across the federal government continue to fail to meet basic cybersecurity standards, with eight of them earning a C- in the report.

Historically, local and federal government entities have struggled to compete with private sector companies, where bidding wars for talent are commonplace.

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris' office released a new framework for US space policy, detailing how the Biden administration plans to approach commercial, civil, and military space activity moving forward. From a report: Called the United States Space Priorities Framework, the document keeps many of the same space priorities from the previous administration but adds a new emphasis on using space to help combat climate change and investing in STEM education. The new framework comes ahead of today's National Space Council meeting, the first one to be held under the Biden administration. Harris, who chairs the National Space Council, will convene the policy advisory group at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, at 1:30PM ET today.

[...] When it comes to space, the Biden administration is carrying forward many of the priorities set by the Trump administration. Notably, NASA's ambitious Artemis program, which was solidified under Trump, is still a major focus under Biden. And plenty of the topics discussed under Pence's Space Council are included in the new framework released by Harris. A few of the key points include maintaining US leadership in space by sending humans back to the Moon and exploring the Solar System with robotic spacecraft, fostering a competitive, regulatory environment for space companies, and defending against security threats in space while strengthening our space assets. In the biggest break from the previous administration, there looks to be a renewed focus on using space in the fight against climate change. In the new framework, the administration pledges to invest in satellites that can observe Earth from space, helping scientists better understand our changing climate. "Open dissemination of Earth observation data will support both domestic and international efforts to address the climate crisis," the document states. To further drive home this new emphasis on climate research from space, President Biden plans to sign a new Executive Order today that will add five new members to the National Space Council, including the Secretaries of Education, Labor, Agriculture, and the Interior, but also notably the National Climate Advisor.

This week a Microsoft blog post announced they're opening two new data centers in Cheyenne, "built with sustainable design and operations in mind, contributing to Microsoft's commitment to being carbon negative." Our current and new datacenters will use adiabatic cooling, which uses outside air instead of water for cooling when temperatures are below 85 degrees Fahrenheit. This process uses less electricity and up to 90 percent less water than other water-based cooling systems. We've already invested over $500K in sustainability grants to local organizations that help preserve Wyoming's natural environment including Crow Creek Revival that aims to promote, enhance, restore, and revitalize the region's key watershed.
Building the data centers will also create 700 jobs "during peak construction," Microsoft adds. And they're also "investing in new water, sewer, and road infrastructure to create easier access to Bison Business Park, which will also support the growth of new businesses in Wyoming."

Long-time Slashdot reader theodp shares more details: "I appreciate Microsoft's commitment to Wyoming and thank them for the benefits they have brought to multiple sectors of our economy," said Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon. "The incentives that set this train in motion are working."

Sergio Loureiro, VP of Core Operations for Microsoft's Datacenters, suggested that Wyoming's children are also benefiting from the incentives and data center tax exemptions: "We've partnered with the Wyoming Department of Education to host ongoing computer science training for more than 30 school districts across the state," Loureiro explained, "impacting more than 60,000 K-12 students.

"We're also collaborating with [Microsoft-backed] Code.org and the University of Wyoming to build the capacity of hundreds of K12 teachers to offer computer science education to thousands of students across the state. Microsoft's TEALS high school computer science program has also partnered with six Wyoming high schools to build high-quality computer science education for approximately 500 students in Laramie, Gillette, Douglas, Casper, and Buffalo."
Microsoft also says they're investing over $350,000 to launch free WiFi at key community locations "helping more than 100,000 visitors and residents annually stay connected" — plus over a million dollars to launch three adult upskilling programs.

There's a polluted 343-square-mile lake known as "the Salton Sea," about 150 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times calls it California's "largest and most troubled lake," after a recent visit with biogeochemist Timothy Lyons.

But is it about to experience a change of fortune? "The big problem at the Salton Sea is intermingled with that organic brown layer on top — and to be honest, it's scary," said Lyons, 63. "It's loaded with pesticides and heavy metals — molybdenum, cadmium and selenium — that linger in greatest concentrations in deeper water... That should worry people, because the Salton Sea is shrinking and exposing more and more of this stuff to scouring winds that carry them far and wide," he added. "Our goals include mapping where these hazardous materials are located, and determining where they came from and what may become of them if trends continue."

For Lyons' research team, filling blanks in existing data is an obsession, and it could have significant implications at a time when the air practically crackles with a volatile mix of environmental danger and economic opportunities promised by ongoing efforts to tap immense reserves of lithium, a key ingredient of rechargeable batteries.... Clouds of salty, alkaline toxic dust containing heavy metals, agricultural chemicals and powdery-fine particulates linked to asthma, respiratory diseases and cancer are rolling off newly exposed playa, threatening the health of thousands of nearby residents. Delays and costs are mounting for many projects that were designed to be showcases of restoration and dust mitigation. Scientists say it's because the projects were developed without consideration for heat waves, severe droughts and water cutbacks due to climate change, or for the constantly evolving underlying geology at the hyper-saline landlocked lake at the southern end of the San Andreas Fault, where shifting tectonic plates bring molten material and hot geothermal brine closer to Earth's surface.

Now, large corporations investing in proposals to suck lithium out of the brine produced by local geothermal operations have revived hopes of jobs and revenue from land leases, with lithium recovery projects potentially supporting internships, education programs and environmental restoration projects for years to come.
The Times got an interesting quote from Frank Ruiz, a program director at the nonprofit environmental group Audubon California — a man who is also a member of the Lithium Valley Commission (lawmakers and community leaders trying to help guide decisions).

"If done correctly, it will elevate the region by creating jobs, benefit the state and the nation by making geothermal energy more affordable, and lay the groundwork for negotiations aimed at ensuring that some of the royalties from lithium production and related land leases are used to support dust reduction and environmental restoration projects."

Ruiz also says that one way or another, "The lithium rush at the Salton Sea cannot be stopped."