Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the for-the-record department: The FBI cut its warrantless searches of American data in half in 2023, according to a government report released on Tuesday. From a report: According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's annual transparency report, the FBI conducted 57,094 searches of "US person" data under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act last year -- a 52 percent decrease from 2022.
In a press briefing, a senior FBI official said that the drop was due to reforms the agency implemented in 2021 and 2022, The Record reports. Despite the drop in overall searches of Americans' data, the report also notes that the number of foreign targets whose data could be searched in the Section 702 database rose to 268,590, a 9 percent increase from the previous year. The number of "probable cause" targets also increased significantly, from 417 in 2022 to 759 in 2023. Of those, 57 percent are estimated to be "US persons," which includes US citizens and permanent residents.
Posted by from MMO Champion
Dragonflight: Dark Heart Content Update Notes
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Mark your calendars for the release of the next content update for
Dragonflight—Dark Heart— on May 7, and for the World of Warcraft Remix: Mists of Pandaria event on May 16 at 10:00 am PDT globally!
PROLOGUE TO THE WAR WITHIN
The Dark Heart content update ushers in the final chapter of the Dragonflight expansion setting the stage for the story in the upcoming expansion,
The War Within.
Khadgar has summoned you to Dalaran to help him investigate a mysterious figure called the Harbinger who possesses a powerful relic called the Dark Heart. The Archmage has also asked Alleria Windrunner to join you in order to give her unique perspective.
DRAENEI AND TROLL HERITAGE ARMOR
Draenei
Players level 50 and above can seek out the Magically-Sealed Parcel in Stormwind to begin the quest An Artificer's Appeal. This will allow them to complete the heritage questline and receive the Embrace of Lost Embaari and Endurance of Temple Telhamat ensembles, each of which includes shoulders, back, chest, wrist, hands, waist, legs, feet, and two helmets.
Troll
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Posted by from MMO Champion
Dragonflight: Dark Heart Arrives on May 7
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Mark your calendars for the release of the next content update for
Dragonflight—Dark Heart— on May 7!
Dive into the final chapter of
Dragonflight as it sets the stage for the upcoming expansion—
The War Within™, sojourn into new questlines, Heritage Armor sets for Draenei and Trolls, six new hair colors for Kul Tiran Humans, access to all Dragonflight quests regardless of Renown for maximum-level characters, and more.
Dragonflight: Dark Heart
Khadgar has summoned you to Dalaran to help him investigate a mysterious figure called the Harbinger, who possesses a powerful relic—the Dark Heart. The Archmage has also asked Alleria Windrunner to join you to give her unique perspective.
Xal’atath, Harbinger of the Void, reemerges from the shadows as the final chapter of Dragonflight sets the stage for the story in the upcoming expansion,
The War Within.
Draenei And Troll Heritage Armor
Draenei and Troll characters can embark on new questlines to lay claim to their heritage armors.
The Mysterious Draenei
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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the tussle-continues department: Google is making its last attempt to fight back against a historic effort by the US Department of Justice to break the tech giant's grip on online search, as the most significant antitrust trial in 25 years comes to a close in Washington. From a report: A federal court in Washington began hearing closing arguments on Thursday after a 10-week trial in which the DoJ accused Alphabet, the parent company of Google, of suppressing search rivals by paying tens of billions annually for anti-competitive agreements with wireless carriers, browser developers and device manufacturers. During the hearing on Thursday, John Schmidtlein, a lawyer from Williams & Connolly representing Google, sought to push back on claims that it had hindered rivals' efforts to gain a foothold in online search, and argued that users had plenty of alternatives.
Unsealed court documents revealed this week that Alphabet paid Apple $20bn in 2022 alone to be the default search engine for its iPhone and Safari browser on its other devices. "Google winning agreements because it has a better product is not a harm to the competitive process, even if it gives it scale to improve its product," Schmidtlein told the court. A lawyer for the government, Kenneth Dintzer, told the court that Google's "anti-competitive conduct harms competition and is self perpetuating." Defaults "are a powerful way to drive searches, otherwise Google wouldn't pay billions of dollars for them," he added.
Amit Mehta, the judge hearing the case, noted that search "today looks a lot different than it didâ 10 to 15 years ago. He pushed back on the DoJ's contention that the quality of search had suffered due to the lack of competition, although he also noted that only two "substantial competitors" had entered the search market in the past decade. "Doesn't that tell us all we need to know in terms of barriers of entry," he asked.
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