After farmers filed suit, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has agreed to restore climate information to webpages it took down soon after President Donald Trump took office this year.The US Department of Justice filed a letter late last night on behalf of the USDA that says the agency “will restore the climate-change-related web content that was removed post-inauguration, including all USDA webpages and interactive tools” that were named in the plaintiffs’ complaint. It says the work is already “underway” and should be mostly done in about two weeks. If the Trump administration fulfills that commitment, it’ll be a significant victory for farmers and other Americans who rely on scientific data that has disappeared from federal websites since January.“We’re ecstatic.”“I’ll be real frank, it feels good to win one, right? Farmers have been so put upon by the actions of this administration that, you know, it feels good to be able to say, we have something for you. This is back. You can rely on these resources,” says Marcie Craig, executive director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York. “We’re ecstatic.”The group filed suit in February alongside two environmental organizations, alleging that the USDA threatened organic farmers’ livelihoods by removing information they relied on to help them make decisions about planting crops and managing their land — key resources as climate change leads to more unpredictable and extreme weather. One of the resources removed by the USDA is an online tool called the “Climate Risk Viewer” that showed the impacts of climate change on rivers and water sheds, and how that might affect water supplies in the future.“We’re really glad that USDA recognized that this blatantly unlawful purge is harming farmers and researchers and advocates all across the country, and we’re ready to ensure that USDA follows through on this promise,” Jeffrey Stein, an associate attorney with the nonprofit legal organization Earthjustice that represented the plaintiffs, tells The Verge. The initial complaint accused the USDA of violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that gives the public the right to access key records from any federal agency, the Paperwork Reduction Act that stipulates adequate notice before changing access to information, and the Administrative Procedure Act that governs the way federal agencies develop regulations. President Trump’s backing of the fossil fuel industry has also stripped farmers of federal funding through climate-related programs. The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York has lost nearly half of its budget this year due to funding freezes, which it has been trying to make up for through donations, according to Craig. “This has been one of so many cuts. You know, pain by a thousand cuts,” Craig says. “This [legal victory] was good … then, of course, after the initial feeling, you sit back, you take a breath, and you say, ‘and we still have a whole lot of work to do.’”See More: Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/666150/farmers-organic-lawsuit-trump-usda-website-climate-change-data #farmers #win #legal #fight #bring #climate #resources #back #federal #websites

Marks and Spencer (M&S) has confirmed that customer data was stolen during the Easter DragonForce ransomware attack on its server infrastructure and will be prompting all online customers to reset their account passwords as a precautionary move. The attack unfolded three weeks ago and is thought to have been the work of a white-label affiliate of DragonForce – possibly the notorious Scattered Spider operation, which uses social engineering tactics to conduct its intrusions. The stolen tranche of data is understood to include contact details email addresses, postal addresses and phone numbers; personal information including names and dates of birth; and data on customer interactions with the chain, including online order histories, household information, and ‘masked’ payment card details. M&S added that customer reference numbers, but not payment information, belonging to holders of M&S credit cards or Sparks Pay cards – including former cardholders – may also have been taken. “We have written to customers today to let them know that unfortunately, some personal customer information has been taken,” said M&S chief exec Stuart Machin. “Importantly there is no evidence that the information has been shared and it does not include useable card or payment details, or account passwords, so there is no need for customers to take any action.” Machin added: “To give customers peace of mind, they will be prompted to reset their password the next time they visit or log on to their M&S account and we have shared information on  how to stay safe online. “Everyone at M&S is working around the clock to get things back to normal for our customers as quickly as possible, and we are very sorry for any inconvenience they have experienced. Our stores remain open as they have throughout.” The letter to customers from customer service operations director Jayne Wall – which can be reviewed here – also includes additional standard guidance on how to stay safe online. NordVPN chief technology officer, Marijus Briedis, described M&S’ assertion that the attackers have not yet leaked or shared the stolen data was “overly optimistic” under the circumstances and warned that even if passwords or credit card details were not exposed, the data that was taken was still very useful to cyber criminals. “This type of data can be used in phishing campaigns or combined with other leaked information to commit identity theft,” explained Briedis. “Consumers often underestimate how damaging ‘harmless’ data like order history or email addresses can be in the wrong hands. These M&S hackers could use this data to build highly personalised phishing emails, designed to look identical to what the retailer would send, and these are much harder to spot. “This breach highlights how companies must not only secure financial data, but also treat seemingly less sensitive information – like customer profiles and purchase records – as  critical assets that require protection.” Max Vetter, vice president of cyber at Immersive and a former money laundering investigator with London’s Metropolitan Police, also had harsh words for M&S. “M&S saying that customers could change their passwords “for extra peace of mind” does little to reassure those worried about who has access to their personal information,” he said. “As the fallout from this attack continues, customers want clear assurances about their personal data and what M&S is doing to keep it safe from being published online. “M&S want to appear in control and telling people to be more vigilant, however, telling customers there’s no need to act risks does potentially the wrong message. We recommend all customers reset their password. Zetter reaffirmed the stolen data would be prime material for downstream social engineering and phishing attacks, especially if it is indeed in the hands of Scattered Spider who, he said, “often play a long game”. Meanwhile, disruption from the parallel DragonForce attack on Co-op continues, with the BBC today reporting that stores in the Channel Islands are experiencing particularly acute shortages and are now working with local suppliers to maintain some supplies. In other remote parts of the UK, including the Hebrides in Scotland, residents are similarly contending with disruption to deliveries. On many islands, such as whisky-making hub Islay, where Co-op stores is the only large food retailer operating, these shortages are now extending to supplier of fresh fruit and vegetables. Co-op has also confirmed that data has been stolen, including names, dates of birth and contact information, but not passwords, financial details, or any information on members’ shopping habits or other interactions with the organisation. Timeline: UK retail cyber attacks 22 April 2025: A cyber attack at M&S has caused significant disruption to customers, leaving them unable to make contactless payments or use click-and-collect services. 24 April: M&S is still unable to provide contactless payment or click-and-collect services amid a cyber attack that it says has forced it to move a number of processes offline to safeguard its customers, staff and business. 25 April: M&S shuts down online sales as it works to contain and mitigate a severe cyber attack on its systems. 29 April: The infamous Scattered Spider hacking collective may have been behind the ongoing cyber attack on M&S that has crippled systems at the retailer and left its ecommerce operation in disarray. 30 April: A developing cyber incident at Co-op has forced the retailer to pull the plug on some of its IT systems as it works to contain the attack. 1 May: Co-op tells staff to stop using their VPNs and be wary that their communications channels may be being monitored, as a cyber attack on the organisation continues to develop. 1 May: Harrods confirms it is the latest UK retailer to experience a cyber attack, shutting off a number of systems in an attempt to lessen the impact. 2 May: The National Cyber Security Centre confirms it is providing assistance to M&S, Co-op and Harrods as concerns grow among UK retailers. 7 May: No end is yet in sight for UK retailers subjected to apparent ransomware attacks. Source: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366623565/MS-forces-customer-password-resets-after-data-breach #mampamps #forces #customer #password #resets #after #data #breach

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. A US court just put ownership of CRISPR back in play The CRISPR patents are back in play. Yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said scientists Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier will get another chance to show they ought to own the key patents on what many consider the defining biotechnology invention of the 21st century. The pair shared a 2020 Nobel Prize for developing the gene-editing system, which is already being used to treat various disorders.But when US patent rights were granted in 2014 to Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the decision set off a bitter dispute in which hundreds of millions of dollars—as well as scientific bragging rights—are at stake. Read the full story. —Antonio Regalado To read more about CRISPR, why not take a look at:+ Charpentier and Doudna announced they wanted to cancel their own CRISPR patents in Europe last year. Read the full story.+ How CRISPR will help the world cope with climate change. Read the full story. + The US has approved CRISPR pigs for food. Pigs whose DNA makes them resistant to a virus could be the first big consumer product using gene editing. Read the full story.+ CRISPR will get easier and easier to administer. What does that mean for the future of our species? Police tech can sidestep facial recognition bans now —James O’Donnell Six months ago I attended the largest gathering of chiefs of police in the US to see how they’re using AI. I found some big developments, like officers getting AI to write their reports. Now, I’ve published a new story that shows just how far AI for police has developed since then.It’s about a new method police are using to track people: an AI tool that uses attributes like body size, gender, hair color and style, clothing, and accessories instead of faces. It offers a way around laws curbing the use of facial recognition, which are on the rise. Here’s what this tells us about the development of police tech and what rules, if any, these departments are subject to in the age of AI. Read the full story. This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Two Trump officials were denied access to the US Copyright Office Their visit came days after the administration fired the office’s head. (Wired $)+ Shira Perlmutter oversaw a report raising concerns about training AI with copyrighted materials. (WP $) 2 Google knew it couldn’t monitor how Israel might use its cloud technologyBut it went ahead with Project Nimbus anyway. (The Intercept) 3 Spain still doesn’t know what caused its massive power blackoutInvestigators are examining generators’ cyber defences for weaknesses. (FT $)+ Could solar power be to blame? (MIT Technology Review) 4 Apple is considering hiking the price of iPhonesThe company doesn’t want to blame tariffs, though. (WSJ $)+ Apple boss Tim Cook had a call with Trump following the tariff rollback news. (CNBC)+ It’s reportedly developing an AI tool to extend phones’ battery life. (Bloomberg $) 5 Venture capitalists aren’t 100% sure what an AI agent isThat isn’t stopping companies from sinking millions into them. (TechCrunch)+ Google is working on its own agent ahead of its I/O conference. (The Information $)+ What AI assistants can—and can’t—do. (Vox)+ Check out our AI agent explainer. (MIT Technology Review) 6 Scammers are stealing the identities of death row inmatesAnd prisoners are unlikely to see correspondence alerting them to the fraud. (NBC News) 7 Weight-loss drugs aren’t always enoughYou need long-term changes in health, not just weight. (The Atlantic $)+ How is Trump planning to lower drug costs, exactly? (NY Mag $)+ Drugs like Ozempic now make up 5% of prescriptions in the US. (MIT Technology Review) 8 China’s e-commerce giants are racing to deliver goods within an hourAs competition has intensified, companies are fighting to be the quickest. (Reuters) 9 This spacecraft will police satellites’ orbits And hunt them down where necessary. (IEEE Spectrum)+ The world’s biggest space-based radar will measure Earth’s forests from orbit. (MIT Technology Review) 10 Is your beard trimmer broken? Simply 3D-print a new part.Philips is experimenting with letting its customers create their own replacements. (The Verge) Quote of the day “We usually set it up so that our team doesn’t get to creep in.” —Angie Saltman, founder and president of tech company Saltmedia, explains how her company helps store Indigenous data securely away from the Trump administration, the Verge reports. One more thing Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraine’s drone defenseDrones have come to define the brutal conflict in Ukraine that has now dragged on for more than three years. And most rely on radio communications—a technology that Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov has obsessed over since childhood.While Flash is now a civilian, the former officer has still taken it upon himself to inform his country’s defense in all matters related to radio. Once a month, he studies the skies for Russian radio transmissions and tries to learn about the problems facing troops in the fields and in the trenches.In this race for survival—as each side constantly tries to best the other, only to start all over again when the other inevitably catches up—Ukrainian soldiers need to develop creative solutions, and fast. As Ukraine’s wartime radio guru, Flash may just be one of their best hopes for doing that. Read the full story. —Charlie Metcalfe We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.) + Tune in at any time to the Coral City Camera, an underwater camera streaming live from an urban coral reef in Miami + Inhuman Resources, which mixes gaming, reading, and listening, sounds nuts.+ This compilation of 331 film clips to recreate Eminem’s Lose Yourself is spectacular.+ Questions I never thought I’d ask: what if Bigfoot were British? Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/13/1116357/the-download-crispr-in-court-and-the-polices-ban-skirting-ai/ #the #download #crispr #court #and #polices #banskirting

A buggy Sonos mystery Product design requires considering lots of different things. How things look; how they work; how people will understand how to use them. Here's one probably not on a lot of designers' lists, though: the insect enticement factor. Maybe that needs to change, because as The Verge's Will Poor discovered, the way your gadgets are designed and made could have serious implications for what might decide to live inside them. On this episode of The Vergecast, Will tells us about his post-vacation Sonos discovery, how he discovered he's not the only person on the internet trying to get the ants out of his speakers, and what he ultimately learned about insects and electronics. Some of the wild conspiracy theories are just that - but some might be for real. Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Pocket Casts | More After that, The Verge's Andru Marino joins the show to talk about the boom in AI-generated podcasts. Andru has spent weeks listening to the jovial NotebookLM bot-hosts talk about everything from news to recipes to esoteric gadget instructions, and has learned a lot about why this medium works so well for people. And what it takes for a human to make a good podcast. … Read the full story at The Verge. المصدر: https://www.theverge.com/the-vergecast/665626/sonos-speaker-ants-ai-podcasts-vergecast

This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. A US court just put ownership of CRISPR back in play The CRISPR patents are back in play. Yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said scientists Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier will get another chance to show they ought to own the key patents on what many consider the defining biotechnology invention of the 21st century. The pair shared a 2020 Nobel Prize for developing the gene-editing system, which is already being used to treat various disorders. But when US patent rights were granted in 2014 to Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the decision set off a bitter dispute in which hundreds of millions of dollars—as well as scientific bragging rights—are at stake. Read the full story.—Antonio Regalado To read more about CRISPR, why not take a look at: + Charpentier and Doudna announced they wanted to cancel their own CRISPR patents in Europe last year. Read the full story.+ How CRISPR will help the world cope with climate change. Read the full story.+ The US has approved CRISPR pigs for food. Pigs whose DNA makes them resistant to a virus could be the first big consumer product using gene editing. Read the full story. + CRISPR will get easier and easier to administer. What does that mean for the future of our species?Police tech can sidestep facial recognition bans now —James O'Donnell Six months ago I attended the largest gathering of chiefs of police in the US to see how they’re using AI. I found some big developments, like officers getting AI to write their reports. Now, I’ve published a new story that shows just how far AI for police has developed since then. It’s about a new method police are using to track people: an AI tool that uses attributes like body size, gender, hair color and style, clothing, and accessories instead of faces. It offers a way around laws curbing the use of facial recognition, which are on the rise.Here’s what this tells us about the development of police tech and what rules, if any, these departments are subject to in the age of AI. Read the full story. This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Two Trump officials were denied access to the US Copyright Office  Their visit came days after the administration fired the office’s head. (Wired $)+ Shira Perlmutter oversaw a report raising concerns about training AI with copyrighted materials. (WP $) 2 Google knew it couldn’t monitor how Israel might use its cloud technology But it went ahead with Project Nimbus anyway. (The Intercept)3 Spain still doesn’t know what caused its massive power blackout Investigators are examining generators’ cyber defences for weaknesses. (FT $)+ Could solar power be to blame? (MIT Technology Review)4 Apple is considering hiking the price of iPhones The company doesn’t want to blame tariffs, though. (WSJ $)+ Apple boss Tim Cook had a call with Trump following the tariff rollback news. (CNBC)+ It’s reportedly developing an AI tool to extend phones’ battery life. (Bloomberg $)5 Venture capitalists aren’t 100% sure what an AI agent isThat isn’t stopping companies from sinking millions into them. (TechCrunch) + Google is working on its own agent ahead of its I/O conference. (The Information $)+ What AI assistants can—and can’t—do. (Vox)+ Check out our AI agent explainer. (MIT Technology Review) 6 Scammers are stealing the identities of death row inmates And prisoners are unlikely to see correspondence alerting them to the fraud. (NBC News)7 Weight-loss drugs aren’t always enoughYou need long-term changes in health, not just weight. (The Atlantic $) + How is Trump planning to lower drug costs, exactly? (NY Mag $)+ Drugs like Ozempic now make up 5% of prescriptions in the US. (MIT Technology Review) 8 China’s e-commerce giants are racing to deliver goods within an hourAs competition has intensified, companies are fighting to be the quickest. (Reuters) 9 This spacecraft will police satellites’ orbits 🛰️ And hunt them down where necessary. (IEEE Spectrum)+ The world’s biggest space-based radar will measure Earth’s forests from orbit. (MIT Technology Review) 10 Is your beard trimmer broken? Simply 3D-print a new part. Philips is experimenting with letting its customers create their own replacements. (The Verge)Quote of the day “We usually set it up so that our team doesn’t get to creep in.” —Angie Saltman, founder and president of tech company Saltmedia, explains how her company helps store Indigenous data securely away from the Trump administration, the Verge reports. One more thing Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraine’s drone defenseDrones have come to define the brutal conflict in Ukraine that has now dragged on for more than three years. And most rely on radio communications—a technology that Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov has obsessed over since childhood. While Flash is now a civilian, the former officer has still taken it upon himself to inform his country’s defense in all matters related to radio. Once a month, he studies the skies for Russian radio transmissions and tries to learn about the problems facing troops in the fields and in the trenches.In this race for survival—as each side constantly tries to best the other, only to start all over again when the other inevitably catches up—Ukrainian soldiers need to develop creative solutions, and fast. As Ukraine’s wartime radio guru, Flash may just be one of their best hopes for doing that. Read the full story. —Charlie Metcalfe We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + Tune in at any time to the Coral City Camera, an underwater camera streaming live from an urban coral reef in Miami 🐠+ Inhuman Resources, which mixes gaming, reading, and listening, sounds nuts.+ This compilation of 331 film clips to recreate Eminem’s Lose Yourself is spectacular.+ Questions I never thought I’d ask: what if Bigfoot were British? Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/13/1116357/the-download-crispr-in-court-and-the-polices-ban-skirting-ai/ #download #crispr #court #polices #banskirting

This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. A US court just put ownership of CRISPR back in play The CRISPR patents are back in play. Yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said scientists Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier will get another chance to show they ought to own the key patents on what many consider the defining biotechnology invention of the 21st century. The pair shared a 2020 Nobel Prize for developing the gene-editing system, which is already being used to treat various disorders. But when US patent rights were granted in 2014 to Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the decision set off a bitter dispute in which hundreds of millions of dollars—as well as scientific bragging rights—are at stake. Read the full story.—Antonio Regalado To read more about CRISPR, why not take a look at: + Charpentier and Doudna announced they wanted to cancel their own CRISPR patents in Europe last year. Read the full story.+ How CRISPR will help the world cope with climate change. Read the full story.+ The US has approved CRISPR pigs for food. Pigs whose DNA makes them resistant to a virus could be the first big consumer product using gene editing. Read the full story. + CRISPR will get easier and easier to administer. What does that mean for the future of our species?Police tech can sidestep facial recognition bans now —James O'Donnell Six months ago I attended the largest gathering of chiefs of police in the US to see how they’re using AI. I found some big developments, like officers getting AI to write their reports. Now, I’ve published a new story that shows just how far AI for police has developed since then. It’s about a new method police are using to track people: an AI tool that uses attributes like body size, gender, hair color and style, clothing, and accessories instead of faces. It offers a way around laws curbing the use of facial recognition, which are on the rise.Here’s what this tells us about the development of police tech and what rules, if any, these departments are subject to in the age of AI. Read the full story. This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Two Trump officials were denied access to the US Copyright Office  Their visit came days after the administration fired the office’s head. (Wired $)+ Shira Perlmutter oversaw a report raising concerns about training AI with copyrighted materials. (WP $) 2 Google knew it couldn’t monitor how Israel might use its cloud technology But it went ahead with Project Nimbus anyway. (The Intercept)3 Spain still doesn’t know what caused its massive power blackout Investigators are examining generators’ cyber defences for weaknesses. (FT $)+ Could solar power be to blame? (MIT Technology Review)4 Apple is considering hiking the price of iPhones The company doesn’t want to blame tariffs, though. (WSJ $)+ Apple boss Tim Cook had a call with Trump following the tariff rollback news. (CNBC)+ It’s reportedly developing an AI tool to extend phones’ battery life. (Bloomberg $)5 Venture capitalists aren’t 100% sure what an AI agent isThat isn’t stopping companies from sinking millions into them. (TechCrunch) + Google is working on its own agent ahead of its I/O conference. (The Information $)+ What AI assistants can—and can’t—do. (Vox)+ Check out our AI agent explainer. (MIT Technology Review) 6 Scammers are stealing the identities of death row inmates And prisoners are unlikely to see correspondence alerting them to the fraud. (NBC News)7 Weight-loss drugs aren’t always enoughYou need long-term changes in health, not just weight. (The Atlantic $) + How is Trump planning to lower drug costs, exactly? (NY Mag $)+ Drugs like Ozempic now make up 5% of prescriptions in the US. (MIT Technology Review) 8 China’s e-commerce giants are racing to deliver goods within an hourAs competition has intensified, companies are fighting to be the quickest. (Reuters) 9 This spacecraft will police satellites’ orbits 🛰️ And hunt them down where necessary. (IEEE Spectrum)+ The world’s biggest space-based radar will measure Earth’s forests from orbit. (MIT Technology Review) 10 Is your beard trimmer broken? Simply 3D-print a new part. Philips is experimenting with letting its customers create their own replacements. (The Verge)Quote of the day “We usually set it up so that our team doesn’t get to creep in.” —Angie Saltman, founder and president of tech company Saltmedia, explains how her company helps store Indigenous data securely away from the Trump administration, the Verge reports. One more thing Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraine’s drone defenseDrones have come to define the brutal conflict in Ukraine that has now dragged on for more than three years. And most rely on radio communications—a technology that Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov has obsessed over since childhood. While Flash is now a civilian, the former officer has still taken it upon himself to inform his country’s defense in all matters related to radio. Once a month, he studies the skies for Russian radio transmissions and tries to learn about the problems facing troops in the fields and in the trenches.In this race for survival—as each side constantly tries to best the other, only to start all over again when the other inevitably catches up—Ukrainian soldiers need to develop creative solutions, and fast. As Ukraine’s wartime radio guru, Flash may just be one of their best hopes for doing that. Read the full story. —Charlie Metcalfe We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + Tune in at any time to the Coral City Camera, an underwater camera streaming live from an urban coral reef in Miami 🐠+ Inhuman Resources, which mixes gaming, reading, and listening, sounds nuts.+ This compilation of 331 film clips to recreate Eminem’s Lose Yourself is spectacular.+ Questions I never thought I’d ask: what if Bigfoot were British? Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/13/1116357/the-download-crispr-in-court-and-the-polices-ban-skirting-ai/ #the #download #crispr #court #and #polices #banskirting