Not all blueberries are the same. A variety called Ridley 1111 is at the centre of an important lawsuit for intellectual property and plants. Shutterstock A few weeks ago, the Federal Court of Australia ordered a farmer in New South Wales to pay A$290,000 to a blueberry-producing company because he had grown […]
While leaks and whistleblowers continue to be valuable tools in the fight for data privacy, we can’t rely on them solely to keep big tech companies in check. SHUTTERSTOCK As survey results pile, it’s becoming clear Australians are sceptical about how their online data is tracked and used. But one […]
The Trump administration unlawfully excluded millions of tons of some of the most dangerous materials in public use from a safety review, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must consider dangers posed by […]
Ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly complex, as hackers find creative ways to beat ordinary systems of defence. christiaancolen/flickr, CC BY In recent weeks, Johannesburg’s computer network was held for ransom by a hacker group called Shadow Kill Hackers. This was the second time in three months a ransomware attack has hit South Africa’s largest city. […]
DESIGN CELLS/ISTOCK.COM For the first time, a state judge has forced a public genealogy site, GEDmatch, to allow police to search its entire database of DNA profiles. A detective wanted to find distant relatives of a serial rapist in hopes that their family trees could help him home in on […]
NATHAN WILLIAMS / BBC NEWS A police ban on Extinction Rebellion protests in London last month was unlawful, High Court judges have ruled. The Metropolitan Police imposed the ban, which prevented two or more people from the group taking part in protests, under the Public Order Act. But judges have ruled that […]
shutterstock. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) today announced it is suing Google for misleading consumers about its collection and use of personal location data. The case is the consumer watchdog’s first move against a major digital platform following the publication of the Digital Platforms Inquiry Final Report in July. The ACCC follows […]
A February 2017 protest by environmentalists in support of a New York state Exxon Mobil probe on climate change that will be the subject of a trial next week Charges that Exxon Mobil misled investors on the financial risks of climate change will be heard in court this month after […]
Tongass National Forest is a massive yet fragile treasure—logging and slicing roads into it will set off horrifying effects that will ripple through the ecosystem. PHOTOGRAPH: CARLOS ROJAS/GETTY IMAGES The Trump administration this week proposed ending the so-called Roadless Rule, which banned logging, development, and road construction in Alaska’s Tongass, the biggest national […]
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Nearly 600 former Environmental Protection Agency officials have called for an investigation into whether the agency’s leaders abused their authority by threatening punitive action against California. In a letter to the House committees on Oversight and Government Reform and Energy and Commerce, 593 signatories asked for […]