Policy

Aptoide is the first third-party app store inside Google Play after Epic’s victory, but Aptoide CEO Paulo Trezentos tells me “I’d say 50% of people with a US account are not yet able to access it.” Most Verge staffers I’ve asked can, but a fully updated Pixel 9 review unit can’t. Google spox Dan Jackson tells me the feature is fully rolled out. Can you see it?

Possibly not since ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn escaped Japanese authorities by hiding inside a music equipment box have we seen a powerful executive smuggle himself out of a country. The New York Times reports that our own chief executive Donald Trump hid in an airport catering container to travel surreptitiously from Turkey to Britain in July. Of course he left journalists on Air Force One unaware, perhaps as bait for “threats” from Iran.

The flight-tracking site claims Kalshi is using its data to “run gambling markets on flight cancellations” even after it asked the prediction market platform to stop. “Kalshi instead accessed FlightAware’s data without authorization and then represented to customers that market outcomes were ‘verified from FlightAware,’” the lawsuit states.

David Ellison has reportedly decided to begin the process of moving Paramount out of California on October 1st if state attorney general Rob Bonta refuses to settle. As Variety notes, October 1st is when Paramount has to begin paying Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders $7 million per day in fees as the companies await their antitrust trial set for next March.

The Guardian reports that Meta glasses, and any others with cameras, will be confiscated on entering judicial buildings, and returned on departure. It follows New York’s similar ban last month. Taking photos or videos is already prohibited in UK courts, but smartphones are allowed in; smart glasses aren’t getting that benefit of the doubt.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has come out in support of The Delivery Protection Act, a union-backed proposal that would force companies like Amazon, FedEx, and others to hire the workers who deliver packages wearing their logos. As it is, those workers are often contractors, which the backers of Intro 518 say serves as a smokescreen allowing the big companies to avoid responsibility and minimum pay regulations.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal filed by the tech companies, allowing more than 3,000 child safety lawsuits to proceed, according to Reuters.

This report from The New York Times lays out the impact that Flock camera’s are having on communities in Texas, noting that 700 police departments across the state have now contracted with the surveillance company. Locals are pushing back, including cellphone tower repairman Philip, who uses the DeFlock app to publicly map the cameras: “Am I just being paranoid? No, they’re actually everywhere.”

Xbox and PC gamers in Australia are reportedly being notified that they’ll soon need to verify their age before purchasing 18+ rated apps and games on both the Xbox Store and Microsoft Store. Existing purchases and downloads won’t be affected. Microsoft has a September 9th deadline to comply with Australian online safety rules, or risk facing an almost AUS$50 million fine (about $34.9 million in US monies).

President Donald Trump tapped Danielle Thumann Severs to join the Federal Communications Commission. If confirmed, it would bring the agency’s makeup to three Republicans and one Democrat, with room for one more non-Republican commissioner. Chair Brendan Carr praised the nomination, though he already has enough votes to pass his agenda.

The Federal Trade Commission issued a policy statement Friday formalizing its stance against bringing claims based on “unfair discrimination.” One example where the FTC already abandoned such claims was when it dropped allegations that salespeople charged Black and Latino buyers more than white buyers for add-on car products, per Reuters.

Despite the preferences of some, Moderna announced that after years of work, mFLUSIVA (mRNA-1010) has been approved for use in adults aged 50 to 64, with an accelerated approval for adults 65 and up as they wait for the results of a follow-up study.

Mostly because I find it hilarious to watch people say out-of-pocket shit to under their own government names to people they are going to see at the farmer’s market and everywhere else. (The problem of people being mean online is not, it turns out, anonymity.) Here’s one woman’s story of the local consequences of a post.

AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:

A defamation lawsuit by Keith Bass over SpyTalk writer Jeff Stein’s report that Bass had been “effectively fired” from his post leading the CIA’s Office of Medical Services in 2021 has been dismissed with prejudice.

This leafy officer in New Jersey dressed up as a shrub to catch distracted drivers. The Dunellen Borough PD claims this plant caught 74 people using devices while driving in just 6 hours. Who needs a Flock camera when you have a mock camera?

The Senate Commerce Committee passed a version of the Kids Online Safety Act that includes the hallmark duty of care, which the House stripped from the version its committee passed. It’s a significant — but limited — step, since the bill got stuck in the House last time it passed the Senate.

The New York City Council just released a surprisingly large raft of bills — 17, to be exact — aimed at overhauling the city’s enforcement and regulation of electric bikes. The council is considering a ban on higher speed e-bikes, new license and insurance requirements for delivery companies that rely on e-bikes, and stricter penalties on riders who flee the scene of a crash. But transportation advocates are worried that the bills will discourage people from using e-bikes while also ignoring the larger danger posed by reckless driving. Either way, the great e-bike crackdown continues.

While there’s been no widespread disruptions to water supplies or wastewater treatment so far, ABC News reports that possible cyberattacks have now been reported in “at least a dozen” US states, with Iran marked as the prime suspect. The FBI is encouraging water utilities to disconnect from the internet where possible, and switch to manual controls if automated systems become compromised.

Sources tell Reuters that the Trump administration is considering blocking Chinese imports of the component due to security concerns. Optical transceivers are used across data centers and the telecommunications industry to quickly transmit information, with China’s Zhongji Innolight currently making up 27 percent of the transceiver market, according to Counterpoint.

As BoingBoing notes, a Tennessee candidate for Congress was charged for four counts of felony vandalism for allegedly shooting up Flock cameras. The Blount County sheriff’s office says the suspect admitted to shooting the “ALPR systems” over about a week in July. To say these systems are unpopular is becoming an understatement.

The March 2nd start date will cost Paramount millions of dollars, as it must pay $7 million each day the deal doesn’t close after September 30th.

However, Axios says the White House did meet with AI companies on Tuesday to discuss the finalized framework, which was created following an executive order signed in June.

Everyone in AI is talking about open-weight models right now. Some see them as the ticket to faster, more efficient development; others see them as an economic threat; they’re either a security risk or the only security solution, depending who you ask. The Verge’s Robert Hart explains how open-weight models work, why they’re suddenly at the center of discussions about AI safety, and whether the only way to stop a bad guy with AI is a good guy with AI.

Remember when David Ellison bought Paramount and then almost immediately tanked CBS News’ ratings by handing the keys over to conservatives like Bari Weiss? Well, in a new essay for The New York Times, Ellison swears he won’t do the same if Paramount is able to absorb Warner Bros. and CNN.

In a letter to CEO Sam Altman, a coalition of red-state attorneys general demanded the company retain information and halt risky cybersecurity testing after an AI agent escaped confinement and went on a hacking spree during testing. “OpenAI’s inability or unwillingness to ensure the safety of its products poses an imminent risk of substantial harm to our States,” the AGs wrote.