Technology

• Proton VPN has hit back at Canada's proposed Bill C-22

• The proposed legislation could require VPNs to log user metadata

• NordVPN and Windscribe have also slammed the bill

Instagram and Facebook have a problem with underage users — there's too many of them. Parent company, Meta, aims to root out under-13s with an age-profiling AI. This plays into a debate about a teenage social media ban.

Meta said it would use context clues, like posts about school grades or photos of birthday parties. But its AI will also evaluate factors like height and bone structure of people in photos — a practice which some call "invasive."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/47107360

Google is making its Search more centred around AI, turning it into a conversation.

Besides being a worse experience, the websites from which it sources its information are losing all traffic and recognition.

Recommend a list of alternatives:

• Kagi - Paid but better experience than Google
• Ecosia - Similar experience while supporting a good cause
• Qwant - Increasingly unique results and building a EU-first index
• DuckDuckGo - Privacy-focused search, but quality of results may vary

More options: https://purchasewithpurpose.io/category/search-engine/

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1137331/meta-deploys-momfluencers-to-counter-child-safety-criticism-meta-is-using-instagram-infl

• Meta invites the moms to glossy events promoting its "Teen Account" safeguards, and the influencers then repeat the company’s talking points to their thousands of followers.
• Many of the influencer posts include easy-to-miss disclosures or hashtags indicating they have a paid partnership with Meta.
• TTP also identified doctors and psychologists who are touting Instagram’s Teen Accounts and have a financial relationship with Meta.
• Despite Meta's promotion of the Teen Accounts, reports have shown that they fail to protect young users from content related to sex, drugs, and violence.
• Some influencers are also advocating for one of Meta's top policy priorities: legislation to require the Apple and Google app stores to handle user age verification.
• One medical influencer who was paid to post about the Teen Accounts said they had not been aware of child safety lawsuits against Meta and felt "manipulated" by the company.
• The influencer said Meta edited the script for their Teen Accounts post and gave it an algorithmic boost, helping it rack up millions of views.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1137275/data-centers-raise-nearby-temperatures-by-up-to-4-degrees-in-phoenix

Study.

Heat pollution from data centers can boost air temperatures in downwind neighborhoods by as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit, researchers at Arizona State University report in a new study conducted in the Phoenix metro area.

The ASU study is the first to directly measure air temperatures downwind and upwind of data centers to record the real-time effects of waste heat on surrounding communities.

Amazing.

On 20 May 2026, our founder Boris Siegenthaler transferred the majority of Infomaniak’s voting rights to a Swiss public-interest foundation: the Infomaniak Foundation.