Good morning everyone, and welcome to another great week in 2021!
0:05- 533 million and counting
Over the weekend, more than 533M Facebook users had their personal data leaked online. The total included residents of more than 106 countries, with the US topping the list with over 32M records, and the UK in second with 11M. Among the information leaked from each user were their phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, every location they’ve checked in or uploaded photos from, birthdates, and email addresses. This data had previously been accessed by hackers and sold online back in January, but now it’s been completely leaked and is free to access.
0:30- Diagonal driving?
Hummer recently unveiled their new electric SUV that will go into production in 2023, providing a cheaper electric option than the pickup option that they announced earlier this year. The SUV will go into production in early 2023, with the base model (250mi range) becoming available for $80k, and the most expensive option (300mi range) coming in at $105k. The new electric SUV will feature a variety of new features including the option to drive diagonally to navigate tricky terrain.
0:52- Congress asks advertising auctioneers
In a letter sent by a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Friday to a variety of digital ad auctioneers, congress asked for detailed information about the inner workings of the auction process to determine whether the user-targeting capabilities could ultimately pose a risk to the safety of the nation. The recipients of the letter included AT&T, Google, Verizon, Twitter, and various other data warehouses. Right now the biggest concern of lawmakers is the vetting process done by the sellers to determine if the data being sold to foreign sources is actually being bought for advertising and not simply for data harvesting.
1:18- Sorry, no whistling here
More than 1700 days after a whistleblower for Hyundai informed US officials that the company was failing to address motor issues that could cause the car to burst in flames, a whistleblower program has yet to be set up by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration despite being mandated by Congress in 2015. This means that there is currently no protection for employees who want to help protect citizens by disclosing information to government watchdogs.
Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!
-The 90 Second News Team
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