Reddit is tightening access to the classic "Old Reddit" interface to thwart scraping and automated accounts: users will soon need to be logged in and to have used Old Reddit within the prior six months to continue accessing it, with moderators exempted. That follows an earlier login-only step that reduced some abuse but still allowed any logged-in account to view the legacy UI. The six-month active-use requirement is aimed squarely at preventing new bot accounts and reusing dormant accounts for large-scale scraping and spam; company leadership has framed the change as necessary because bad actors were leveraging Old Reddit to scrape and spam the site.
Reddit will also shut down RSS feeds on November 13, citing RSS as "a common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse," and recommends alternatives like Discord Relay for moderation workflows while admitting there is no replacement for general RSS use. These moves sit alongside broader anti-scraping actions: blocking the Wayback Machine, suing Anthropic over alleged unauthorized access, striking licensing deals with Google and OpenAI, and overhauling API access - requiring app registration by January 12, 2027, and ending all remaining public API access in March 2027. The combined changes are designed to cut off data pipelines used for AI training and abusive automation but will disrupt third-party apps, RSS consumers, and archival access.
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A federal judge in Oklahoma ruled that police using Flock's automated license plate reader system without a warrant violated the Fourth Amendment. The decision highlights concerns about the system's potential for indiscriminate mass surveillance, with over 100,000 warrantless searches conducted monthly. (404media.co)
ICE stored photos, license plates, and other data of protesters in a Palantir-built database called the Investigative Case Management system. Court filings reveal DHS agents used this database to track and intimidate observers during enforcement operations in Maine. (wired.com)
Apple will require explicit user actions for Mac apps to access full disk data, aiming to reduce security risks. This change comes as AI agents are deemed to substantially increase potential security vulnerabilities. (theverge.com)
Two vessels heading to the United States have been reportedly compromised by hackers. US officials are investigating the incidents involving these ships' cybersecurity breaches. (reuters.com)
A California tech executive has been arrested for allegedly smuggling $300 million worth of Nvidia chips to China. The case involves violations of export controls and sanctions related to the transfer of advanced semiconductor technology. (qz.com)
GrapheneOS fixed a major performance regression caused by Android 17 QPR1, which caused lag and freezes on Pixels. Google has been slow to release fixes for such issues, but GrapheneOS addressed it promptly and plans further improvements. (discuss.grapheneos.org)
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