The Obtain: China’s livestreaming crackdown, and an enormous police knowledge hack

That is as we speak’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what’s occurring on the planet of expertise.

China needs to regulate how its well-known livestreamers act, converse, and even costume

For Zeng, a younger Chinese language girl, an hour scrolling Douyin, the home model of TikTok, has develop into a day by day ritual. Livestreaming took off in China in 2016 and has since develop into one of many nation’s favourite pastimes. Zeng notably likes one creator: “Lawyer Longfei.” Each day, Longfei solutions her 9 million followers’ authorized inquiries dwell. Many cope with how girls ought to strategy difficult divorce instances.

However in Could, Longfei’s account went darkish for 15 days, probably as a result of her content material doesn’t match the state’s view on marriage. Whereas Longfei’s account was ultimately reinstated final month, her case displays what number of streamers are grappling with the Chinese language authorities’s rising willingness to weigh in on what’s acceptable. 

A brand new coverage doc, the Code of Conduct for On-line Streamers, launched by China’s high cultural authorities on June 22, is designed to instruct streamers on what is anticipated from them. Having managed to function underneath the radar up to now, livestreamers at the moment are going through the complete pressure of China’s censorship machine—and future interventions might show much more invasive. Learn the complete story.
—Zeyi Yang

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to seek out you as we speak’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.

1 Hackers say they’ve stolen knowledge on as much as one billion Chinese language residents
This could possibly be the nation’s largest ever cybersecurity breach. (Bloomberg $)
+ How China constructed a one-of-a-kind cyber-espionage behemoth to final. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)

2 Net searches are already getting used for abortion prosecutions
In a post-Roe US, such digital proof could possibly be routinely utilized in authorized proceedings in states the place abortion is unlawful. (WP $)
+ Consultants anticipate to see some miscarriages and stillbirths handled as felony investigations. (The Atlantic $)
+ Google will delete location knowledge for customers visiting abortion clinics. (The Guardian)
+ Abortion entry teams say they’ve been battling algorithmic suppression for years. (Wired $)

three We’re edging nearer to understanding covid mind fog
It’s partly to do with how the virus disrupts mind cells and leaves behind irritation. (Wired $)
+ mend your damaged pandemic mind. (MIT Expertise Evaluate) 

four A former Cambridge Analytica exec raised hundreds of thousands in crypto for Ukraine
However whereas the nation has hailed Brittany Kaiser as a key ally, critics are skeptical of her motives. (WP $)
+ NFT gross sales are the bottom they’ve been in a yr. (The Guardian)
+ A brand new invoice might grant crypto entry to the Federal Reserve. (WP $)

5 Life on earth has helped to create near half of all our minerals
Which is thrilling information for looking for life on different planets. (Quanta)
+ Making minerals is a tricky enterprise. (BBC)
+ A professional-China on-line affect marketing campaign is focusing on the rare-earths business. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)

6 Twitter is censoring tweets in India
Digital rights activists are frightened the nation’s new social media “hostage-taking legal guidelines” are fueling the most recent wave of censorship. (Remainder of World)

7 We’re nonetheless studying about how porn impacts adolescents’ brains 
However we do know youthful brains’ reward facilities gentle up extra when uncovered to it than older viewers’. (WSJ $)

eight Future breast reconstructions might dispose of silicone solely 
In favor of tissue-regrowing implants. (The Guardian)

9 Dinosaurs had a survival secret 🦕
They had been consultants at coping with the chilly. (Economist $)
+ We all know surprisingly little about how dinosaurs procreated. (BBC)

10 The chemistry behind fireworks’ vivid colours 🎆
There’s a motive why you don’t see many blue explosions. (Quick Firm $)

Quote of the day

“Opposite to the parable that we’re sliding into a cushty evolutionary relationship with a common-cold-like, pleasant virus, that is extra like being trapped on a rollercoaster in a horror movie.”

—Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial School London, explains we shouldn’t be so complacent about covid, the Guardian stories. 

The massive story

repair what the innovation economic system broke about America

February 2021

For many years, America’s political and enterprise leaders acted as if locations like Bryan, a small city in northwestern Ohio’s Williams County, didn’t matter. 

Palo Alto and Greenwich, Connecticut, did wonderful. These facilities of excessive tech and monetary providers create huge wealth within the nation’s so-called innovation economic system. However tons of of locations like Bryan, each city and rural, had been allowed to erode economically and socially. The innovation economic system largely handed them by.

Growing a cogent regional growth coverage is without doubt one of the most significant public coverage challenges going through America. President Joe Biden campaigned partially on the promise of making “expertise hubs” in 50 forgotten cities. However the diverging fates of locations like Bryan and locations like Palo Alto is clearly driving a lack of political religion—and consultants fear it’s getting worse. Learn the complete story.

Brian Alexander

We are able to nonetheless have good issues

A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ A brand new species of big waterlily has been found—in London.
+ This Future rocket launcher appears to be like completely ridiculous.
+ Henry is a courageous little vacuum cleaner touring the world—and his Instagram account is nearly as charming as he’s.
+ Love gators? Cool, so do these guys.
+ Duomo Cathedral in Italy is dwelling to extra statues than another constructing on the planet.

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