An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The Iranian government abused well-known vulnerabilities in the global telecoms infrastructure to locate U.S. military personnel in the build-up to the Iran War, as well as in the early days of the conflict, according to Financial Times. The Iranian government exploited Signaling System 7, or SS7, a set of protocols for 2G and 3G networks that has long been the backbone of how cellular networks connect to each other to route subscribers' calls and texts around the world, the newspaper reported, citing research by the Mobile Surveillance Monitor, as well as anonymous government officials with knowledge of the spy campaign.

Intelligence agencies have long abused SS7 to track cellphones abroad, which is what happened in this campaign. Using this technique, Iran was reportedly able to locate U.S. military forces stationed in military bases as well as hotels in Iraq, Bahrain, and other countries in the Middle East, which allowed the regime to strike them. These attacks resulted in several injuries. Apart from SS7, Iran also abused advertising technology used to serve tailored ads to cellphone users, another well-known surveillance technique that relies on everyday technology.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wie in een psychotische toestand een misdrijf pleegt, kan tbs krijgen. Wanneer is iemand ontoerekeningsvatbaar?
De rechter moet dat beoordelen, zegt de Hoge Raad. Maar wat is de rol van de psychiater?

Wat gebeurt er als artsen ongeoorloofd euthanasie verlenen vanwege psychisch lijden? Over de onomkeerbare dood van een depressieve vrouw, gereconstrueerd op basis van twee tuchtzaken. „Er was niks meer. Alleen de buren die haar eten brachten.”

Al jarenlang is er kritiek op de Nederlandse genderzorg voor jonge mensen. Het leidde tot een onderzoek door de Gezondheidsraad, die nu oordeelt dat er geen sprake is van…

Van Prometheus tot zomerbarbecue –  vuur is al eeuwenlang verbonden met het menselijk verlangen naar macht, vooruitgang en overleving. Hendrik Spiering kijkt terug naar het…

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has delivered a landmark speech outlining the nation’s AI policy, which will require datacenter builders to contribute more energy than they consume and mean AI companies must reach agreements with local artists and media before using their content. “Let me make this crystal clear – not everything produced in Australia is up for grabs,” Albanese said, a reference to both content and the nation’s energy and water resources. The PM said Australia will therefore legislate to require builders of large new datacenters to become net generators of energy, rather than consumers, by funding electricity generation projects to meet their needs and pay for associated work to bolster energy grids. The policy also requires datacenter operators to pay for water infrastructure and make minimal environmental impacts. The PM expects Australia’s states and territories to sign up to his plan so the nation can offer expedited approval processes for datacenter builds and consistent operating standards that apply across the country. Nationwide laws, Albanese argued, will make Australia a more attractive destination for inbound investment by making it easier for AI companies to plan new datacenters – and perhaps offset other elements of the policy that are more onerous than laws in other countries. “Australian writers, musicians, artists and journalists, must retain ownership and control of their work,” Albanese said. “Anything less is theft.” He said Australia’s approach “will ensure Australian writers, artists and journalists retain ownership over their work, meaning no company should use Australian creative works to train AI without the artist’s control.” The PM added his view that no country has given artists and rights-holders sufficient control of how AI companies use their works. Albanese didn’t say how he plans to enforce that control, but his speech framed the effort to do so as getting ahead of AI before big players get too much power. Albanese asked his audience to imagine how much better off Australia would be if it had regulated social media a decade before the 2024 introduction of a ban on children aged under 16 accessing such services. He also compared the AI plan to past landmark reforms won by the global labor movement, such as winning a minimum wage and fixed working week. The PM also said that without regulations of this sort, Australia will effectively outsource its security to big tech companies. “If we are always dependent on someone else, somewhere else, we will be vulnerable,” he said. The AI policy aims to instead make Australia stronger. Albanese argued that Australians should not see AI as a threat to jobs, but that strong policy can make the technology a means to create new ones – beyond employment created by a short-term datacenter construction boom. The PM wrapped his speech by suggesting AI can stand for “Australia’s Interest” as well as “artificial intelligence.” ®

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Today's New York Times features an article (non-paywalled gift link) about a phenomenon called "terminal lucidity." Someone who's been lost to advanced dementia for years suddenly snaps back into focus. They recognize family, bring up old memories, hold a real conversation. Or so the stories go.

Reports go back to antiquity, but it was all anecdotal until a researcher at the University of Wisconsin persuaded a hospice to let her put cameras in its memory care unit. She caught it four times with one patient, a retired middle school teacher named Mary. The tapes are not what you'd expect from the old stories. Nobody sits up and sings hymns. Mostly it's a few clear words that the people in the room don't notice at the time. Neuroscientist Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston has a good piece on whether any of this is real, and what it would mean for dementia research if it is. Neurosurgeon and devout Catholic Dr. Michael Egnor (writing before the U. of Wisconsin research came out) thinks that terminal lucidity is evidence for the existence of the immortal soul.