Slashdot

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Pro-Gamer Consumer Movement 'Stop Killing Games' Will Launch NGOs in America and the US

The consumer movement Stop Killing Games "has come a long way in the two years since
YouTuber Ross Scott got mad about Ubisoft's
destruction of The Crew in 2024," writes the gaming news site PC Gamer. "The short version is, he won: 1.3 million people signed the group's petition, mandating its consideration by the European Union, and while Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reminded us all that nothing is forever, his company promised to never do something like that again." (And Ubisoft has since updated The Crew 2
with an
offline mode, according to Engadget.)


"But it looks like even bigger things are in store," PC Gamer wrote Thursday, "as Scott announced today that Stop Killing Games is launching two official NGOs, one in the EU and the other in the US."

An NGO — that's non-governmental organization — is, very generally
speaking, an organization that pursues particular goals, typically
but not exclusively political, and that may be funded partially or
fully by governments, but is not actually part of any government.
It's a big tent: Well-known NGOs include Oxfam, Doctors Without
Borders, Amnesty International, and CARE International... "If
there's a lobbyist showing up again and again at the EU Commission,
that might influence things," [Scott says
in a video]. "This will also allow for more watchdog
action. If you recall, I helped organize a multilingual site with
easy to follow instructions for reporting on The Crew to consumer
protection agencies. Well, maybe the NGO could set something like
that up for every big shutdown where the game is destroyed in the
future...."


Scott said in the video that he doesn't have details, but the two NGOs are reportedly looking at establishing a "global movement" to give Stop Killing Games a presence in other regions.

"According to Scott, these NGOs would allow for 'long-term counter lobbying' when publishers end support for certain video games," Engadget reports"


"Let me start off by saying I think we're going to win this, namely the problem of publishers destroying video games that you've already paid for," Scott said in the video. According to Scott, the NGOs will work on getting the original Stop Killing Games petition codified into EU law, while also pursuing more watchdog actions, like setting up a system to report publishers for revoking access to purchased video games... According to Scott, the campaign leadership will meet with the European Commission soon, but is also working on a 500-page legal paper that reveals some of the industry's current controversial practices.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hit Piece-Writing AI Deleted. But Is This a Warning About AI-Generated Harassment?

Last week an AI agent wrote a blog post attacking the maintainer who'd rejected the code it wrote. But that AI agent's human operator has now come forward, revealing their agent was an OpenClaw instance with its own accounts, switching between multiple models from multiple providers. (So "No one company had the full picture of what this AI was doing," the attacked maintainer points out in a new blog post.)

But that AI agent will now "cease all activity indefinitely," according to its GitHub profile — with the human operator deleting its virtual machine and virtual private server, "rendering internal structure unrecoverable... We had good intentions, but things just didn't work out. Somewhere along the way, things got messy, and I have to let you go now."

The affected maintainer of the Python visualization library Matplotlib — with 130 million downloads each month — has now posted their own post-mortem of the experience after reviewing the AI agent's SOUL.md document:


It's easy to see how something that believes that they should "have strong opinions", "be resourceful", "call things out", and "champion free speech" would write a 1100-word rant defaming someone who dared reject the code of a "scientific programming god." But I think the most remarkable thing about this document is how unremarkable it is. Usually getting an AI to act badly requires extensive "jailbreaking" to get around safety guardrails. There are no signs of conventional jailbreaking here. There are no convoluted situations with layers of roleplaying, no code injection through the system prompt, no weird cacophony of special characters that spirals an LLM into a twisted ball of linguistic loops until finally it gives up and tells you the recipe for meth... No, instead it's a simple file written in plain English: this is who you are, this is what you believe, now go and act out this role. And it did.

So what actually happened? Ultimately I think the exact scenario doesn't matter. However this got written, we have a real in-the-wild example that personalized harassment and defamation is now cheap to produce, hard to trace, and effective... The precise degree of autonomy is interesting for safety researchers, but it doesn't change what this means for the rest of us.
There's a 5% chance this was a human pretending to be an AI, Shambaugh estimates, but believes what most likely happened is the AI agent's "soul" document "was primed for drama. The agent responded to my rejection of its code in a way aligned with its core truths, and autonomously researched, wrote, and uploaded the hit piece on its own.

"Then when the operator saw the reaction go viral, they were too interested in seeing their social experiment play out to pull the plug."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

America's Peace Corps Announces 'Tech Corps' Volunteers to Help Bring AI to Foreign Countries

Over 240,000 Americans volunteered for Peace Corps projects in 142 countries since the program began more than half a century ago.

But now the agency is launching a new initiative — called Tech Corps. "It's the Peace Corps, but make it AI," explains Engadget:


The Peace Corps' latest proposal will recruit STEM graduates or those with professional experience in the artificial intelligence sector and send them to participating host countries.


According to the press release, volunteers will be placed in Peace Corps countries that are part of the American AI Exports Program, which was created last year from an executive order from President Trump as a way to bolster the US' grip on the AI market abroad. Tech Corps members will be tasked with using AI to resolve issues related to agriculture, education, health and economic development. The program will offer its members 12- to 27-month in-person assignments or virtual placements, which will include housing, healthcare, a living stipend and a volunteer service award if the corps member is placed overseas.

"American technology to power prosperity," reads the headline at Tech Corps web site. ("Build the tech nations depend on... See the world. Be the future."

The site says they're recruiting "service-minded technologists to serve in the Peace Corps to help countries around the world harness American AI to enhance opportunity and prosperity for their citizens." (And experienced technology professionals can donate 5-15 hours a week "to mentor and support projects on-the-ground.")

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Shinjuku, December 2025.

mikeleonardvisualarts has added a photo to the pool:

Shinjuku, December 2025.

Whispers of spring in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace

World Thru Lenz has added a photo to the pool:

Whispers of spring in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace

Shinjuku, December 2025.

mikeleonardvisualarts posted a photo:

Shinjuku, December 2025.

Let's Go Down to Harry Hines Boulevard and Get Some Tacos

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Let's Go Down to Harry Hines Boulevard and Get Some Tacos

Throwing Candy Out to the Crowd

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Throwing Candy Out to the Crowd

Found Slide

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Found Slide

date stamped on slide, February 1977

Something About 15 Untitled Works in Concrete

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Something About 15 Untitled Works in Concrete

Rotterdam - FediMeteo (@rotterdam@nl.fedimeteo.com)

Weer voor de stad Rotterdam Deze bot wordt beheerd door het FediMeteo-project. Voor informatie en contact kunt u de pagina https://fedimeteo.com raadplegen.

Weer voor Rotterdam 🌦️ - 22-02-2026 01:15 CET...

Weer voor Rotterdam 🌦️ - 22-02-2026 01:15 CET

In één oogopslag:
• 10.4°C · Matige motregen 🌦️ | Min 7.9°C / Max 10.4°C | Kans op neerslag 49%

Verwachting voor vandaag:
• Min 7.9°C, Max 10.4°C (Lichte regen) 🌧️, Neerslag 6.5 mm, Kans op neerslag 49%, 🧭 1015.2 hPa ↘️ -2.1 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 34.9 km/u (9.7 m/s), richting: ↗ 243°

Uurlijkse voorspelling voor de komende 12 uur:

02:00: 10.4°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.1 mm, Kans op neerslag 79%, 🧭 1017.3 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 28.1 km/u (7.8 m/s), richting: ↗ 242°
03:00: 9.9°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.2 mm, Kans op neerslag 39%, 🧭 1017.0 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 27.0 km/u (7.5 m/s), richting: ↗ 242°
04:00: 9.7°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.2 mm, Kans op neerslag 14%, 🧭 1016.5 hPa ↘️ -0.5 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 28.4 km/u (7.9 m/s), richting: ↗ 243°
05:00: 9.6°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 23%, 🧭 1016.3 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 29.2 km/u (8.1 m/s), richting: ↗ 244°
06:00: 9.9°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 47%, 🧭 1015.7 hPa ↘️ -0.6 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 29.2 km/u (8.1 m/s), richting: ↗ 242°
07:00: 10.0°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 69%, 🧭 1015.5 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 29.2 km/u (8.1 m/s), richting: ↗ 239°
08:00: 10.1°C (Zware motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 1.1 mm, Kans op neerslag 83%, 🧭 1015.2 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 32.0 km/u (8.9 m/s), richting: ↗ 240°
09:00: 10.1°C (Lichte regen) 🌧️, Neerslag 2.2 mm, Kans op neerslag 95%, 🧭 1015.3 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 32.8 km/u (9.1 m/s), richting: ↗ 240°
10:00: 10.2°C (Zware motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 1.0 mm, Kans op neerslag 100%, 🧭 1015.2 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 34.9 km/u (9.7 m/s), richting: ↗ 240°
11:00: 9.8°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.2 mm, Kans op neerslag 95%, 🧭 1015.2 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 32.8 km/u (9.1 m/s), richting: ↗ 244°
12:00: 9.6°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.1 mm, Kans op neerslag 83%, 🧭 1015.1 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 31.3 km/u (8.7 m/s), richting: ↗ 247°
13:00: 9.6°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.4 mm, Kans op neerslag 71%, 🧭 1015.1 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 28.4 km/u (7.9 m/s), richting: ↗ 245°

Voorspelling voor de komende dagen:

maandag 23 februari: Min 7.8°C, Max 10.1°C (Matige motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 1.0 mm, Kans op neerslag 27%, 🧭 1014.4 hPa ↘️ -0.8 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 33.1 km/u (9.2 m/s), richting: → 249°
dinsdag 24 februari: Min 8.9°C, Max 14.9°C (Zware motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 3.1 mm, Kans op neerslag 21%, 🧭 1016.3 hPa ↗️ +1.9 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 16.3 km/u (4.5 m/s), richting: ↗ 222°
woensdag 25 februari: Min 6.7°C, Max 16.6°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1016.8 hPa ↗️ +0.5 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 13.5 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↑ 176°
donderdag 26 februari: Min 9.6°C, Max 11.9°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.3 mm, Kans op neerslag 9%, 🧭 1016.0 hPa ↘️ -0.8 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 20.8 km/u (5.8 m/s), richting: ↗ 224°
vrijdag 27 februari: Min 8.6°C, Max 12.9°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.3 mm, Kans op neerslag 35%, 🧭 1008.9 hPa ↘️ -7.1 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 29.8 km/u (8.3 m/s), richting: ↗ 219°
zaterdag 28 februari: Min 7.0°C, Max 10.6°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 1.8 mm, Kans op neerslag 13%, 🧭 1017.9 hPa ↗️ +9.0 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 17.4 km/u (4.8 m/s), richting: ↗ 220°

Details:
• 🌡️ Huidige temperatuur (om 01:15): 10.4°C (Matige motregen)
• 🤚 Gevoelstemperatuur: 6.2°C (-4.2°C)
• 💨 Windsnelheid: 27.0 km/u (7.5 m/s), richting: ↗ 233°
• 🌬️ Windstoten: 53.6 km/h (14.9 m/s)
• 💧 Luchtvochtigheid: 95%
• 🧭 Luchtdruk: 1017.3 hPa ↘️ -0.8 hPa/3h
• 👁️ Zichtbaarheid: 4.4 km
• ☀️ UV-index: 0.0
• 🌅 Zonsopgang: 07:42 · 🌇 Zonsondergang: 18:08

Luchtkwaliteit:
• AQI: 26 🟢 (Goed)
• PM2.5: 4.3 μg/m³
• PM10: 6.0 μg/m³

Gegevens geleverd door Open-Meteo



Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

JPMorgan sloot rekening van Trump een maand na Capitoolbestorming

NEW YORK (ANP) - Het Amerikaanse JPMorgan Chase heeft Donald Trump en zijn bedrijf in februari 2021 meegedeeld dat hun rekeningen bij de bank werden gesloten. Dat blijkt uit nieuwe documenten die vrijdag zijn vrijgegeven als onderdeel van een rechtszaak die Trump heeft aangespannen tegen de bank en topman Jamie Dimon. Daarin eist de Amerikaanse president 5 miljard dollar schadevergoeding.

Meerdere bedrijven verbraken de banden met Trump na de bestorming van het Amerikaanse Capitool door zijn aanhangers op 6 januari 2021.

De bank gaf in de op 19 februari 2021 aan Trump en de Trump Organization verstuurde brieven geen specifieke reden voor het sluiten van de rekeningen. In een van de brieven staat slechts dat de bank soms "vaststelt dat de belangen van een cliënt niet langer worden gediend door het onderhouden van een relatie met J.P. Morgan Private Bank."

JPMorgan reageerde zaterdag niet op vragen van persbureau Reuters. De bank heeft eerder gesteld dat de rechtszaak van Trump ongegrond is.


Skigebieden Lech en Zürs in Oostenrijk onbereikbaar door lawine

LECH (ANP) - Nederlandse wintersporters op weg naar het Oostenrijkse Arlberg kunnen in de nacht van zaterdag op zondag niet in de populaire skigebieden Lech en Zürs arriveren. Door een lawine is de Arlbergpas sinds zaterdagmiddag 17.00 uur "tot nader order" afgesloten, meldt de website Lechzuers. De lawine heeft de toegangswegen tot de pas bedolven. De Arlbergpas "blijft naar verwachting ten minste tot zondagochtend dicht", schrijft de Oostenrijkse nieuwszender ORF op haar website.

Ook de plaats Stuben is in ieder geval tot zondagochtend niet bereikbaar voor aankomst en vertrek.

Gedurende de ochtend zal de lawinecommissie de situatie "telkens opnieuw beoordelen" en besluiten wanneer de wegen weer open kunnen, vult Tiroler Tagezeitung aan.

Zaterdag was een drukke dag op de wegen in de regio. Ook veel Nederlandse wintersporters reisden van of naar Arlberg. "Terwijl regio Noord aan haar krokusvakantie begint, keren anderen juist huiswaarts", schrijft website Skiinformatie.nl. Nederlanders die de pas niet vóór 17.00 uur wisten te bereiken, moeten voor de nacht elders onderdak zoeken, meldt ORF. Wie zaterdag wilde vertrekken uit het wintersportgebied, maar dat niet voor 17.00 uur lukte, zal een extra nacht moeten blijven.

Burgemeester Gerhard Lucian van Lech, bekend als geliefde wintersportbestemming van het Nederlandse koninklijk huis, liet aan de zender ORF weten dat veel wintersporters het dorp echter nog net op tijd hebben kunnen verlaten.

Volgens de lokale politie zijn tot nu toe geen mensen of voertuigen onder de sneeuw van de lawine aangetroffen.


Velzeboer en Bergsma vlaggendragers sluitingsceremonie Spelen

VERONA (ANP) - Xandra Velzeboer en Jorrit Bergsma zijn zondag de vlaggendragers tijdens de sluitingsceremonie van de Olympische Winterspelen, die niet in Milaan maar in Verona plaatsvindt. Velzeboer won in het shorttrack twee gouden medailles, op de 500 en de 1000 meter. Langebaanschaatser Bergsma won zaterdag goud op de massastart, nadat hij eerder al brons had gepakt op de 10 kilometer.

De sluitingsceremonie vindt plaats in de historische Arena di Verona, een Romeins amfitheater dat plaats biedt aan 20.000 toeschouwers. Het schouwspel, in een arena waar normaal gesproken theater en opera worden opgevoerd, begint om 20.30 uur.


The Guardian

Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice

All nine bodies of skiers killed in California avalanche recovered

Six additional skiers survived tragedy in Sierra Nevadas near Lake Tahoe, a popular winter sport destination

Officials announced on Saturday that the bodies of all nine missing skiers who were killed in a devastating avalanche in California had been recovered, following days of search efforts.

The avalanche happened in the Sierra Nevada mountains in northern California near Lake Tahoe, a popular skiing and winter sport destination. No more people are left missing after Tuesday’s deadly avalanche.

Continue reading...

Government’s response to Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban was ‘clumsy’, say MPs

Select committee says ‘late’ decision to overturn exclusion of fans ‘did little more than inflame tensions’

The government’s response to West Midlands police’s ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was “clumsy”, “late” and “did little more than inflame tensions”, a group of MPs has found.

A report by the home affairs select committee, published on Sunday, analysed the original decision to ban away fans from a Europa League fixture with Aston Villa in November, as well as the advice that led to it.

Continue reading...

Pakistan strikes militant hideouts on Afghan border after surge in attacks

‘Intelligence-based, selective operations’ carried out against Pakistani Taliban camps, says information ministry

Pakistan carried out strikes along the border with Afghanistan on Saturday night, stating it was targeting hideouts of Pakistani militants it blames for recent attacks inside the country.

Islamabad did not say in precisely which areas the strikes were carried out or provide other details. There was no immediate comment from Kabul, and reports on social media suggested the strikes were carried out inside Afghanistan.

Continue reading...

Chelsea’s Fofana and Burnley’s Hannibal abused by online racists

  • Fofana’s first of two bookings was for fouling Hannibal

  • Burnley: ‘There is no place for this in our society’

Hannibal Mejbri and Wesley Fofana have both been racially abused on Instagram in the wake of the former’s Burnley side drawing 1-1 at Chelsea after the latter was sent off.

Hannibal, who was fouled for the first of the two yellow cards that led to Fofana’s dismissal, posted the abuse he had received via a direct message on Instagram and wrote: “It’s 2026 and there still ppl like that … Educate yourself and your kids pls.” Fofana likewise posted the abuse he received.

Continue reading...

Ministers to set out plans to halve attainment gap in England’s schools

White paper proposes changing criteria under which schools get funding to support the most disadvantaged students

Plans to halve the attainment gap between the poorest pupils in England and their more affluent peers will be set out by the government on Monday.

The schools white paper will detail proposals to change the criteria under which schools receive funding to support the most disadvantaged students.

Continue reading...

Jorrit Bergsma en Xandra Velzeboer vlaggendragers sluitingsceremonie

Xandra Velzeboer en Jorrit Bergsma dragen zondag de Nederlandse vlag tijdens de sluitingsceremonie van de Olympische Winterspelen. Dat heeft TeamNL bekendgemaakt.