Welcome to the January 3, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• Computers of Senior U.S. Treasury Leaders Accessed in Hack
• Appeals Court Strikes Down Net Neutrality Rules
• U.S. Weighs Ban on Chinese Drones
• Greece is Building an App to Curb Excessive Internet Use for Under 15s
• Apple to Pay $95 Million to Settle Siri Privacy Lawsuit
• China Pushes to Use its Chips in Its EVs
• Judge Allows California's Ban on Addictive Feeds for Minors
• The World Needs Lazier Robots
• Hinton Backs Musk's Lawsuit Against OpenAI
• Millions of Fake 'Stars' on GitHub Projects
• WeChat, TikTok Secure First Licenses Under Malaysia’s New Social-Media Rules
• Beijing Unveils Plans to Boost Driverless Vehicle Use

Computers of Senior U.S. Treasury Leaders Accessed in Hack

China-backed hackers broke into the computers of senior U.S. Treasury Department leaders as part of a recent breach of the agency, say insiders, gaining access to drafts and notes for policy decisions, itineraries, and travel planning documents for Treasury leaders, as well as some internal communications. In a Dec. 30 letter to Congress, Treasury characterized the breach as a “major cybersecurity incident” and said the hackers gained access through software provider BeyondTrust.
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Appeals Court Strikes Down Net Neutrality Rules

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati has ruled the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lacks the legal authority to reinstate net neutrality rules. The court ruled broadband should be classified as an “information service,” and not the more heavily-regulated “telecommunications service” the FCC said it was in an order last year.
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U.S. Weighs Ban on Chinese Drones

The U.S. is considering putting in place a new rule that could restrict or ban Chinese drones. In a Thursday notice, the U.S. Commerce Department said permitting the continued involvement of foreign adversaries (notably China and Russia) in the design, development, manufacture, or supply of drones could pose “undue or unacceptable risk to U.S. national security.” Companies based in China account for at least 75% of the U.S. drone market, providing “ample exploitation opportunities,” Commerce added.
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Greece is Building an App to Curb Excessive Internet Use for Under 15s

Greece unveiled plans to boost parental oversight of mobile devices in 2025 through a government-operated app. Digital Governance minister Dimitris Papastergiou said the Kids Wallet app, due to launch in March, is aimed at safeguarding children under the age of 15 from the risks of excessive and inappropriate Internet use. The app, said Papastergiou, "will make parental control much easier, and it will be our official national tool for verifying the age of users."
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Apple to Pay $95 Million to Settle Siri Privacy Lawsuit

Apple will pay $95 million to settle a potential class action lawsuit that claimed its voice-activated Siri assistant violated users' privacy. Owners of mobile devices on which Siri was installed complained that Apple routinely recorded private conversations after they activated Siri unintentionally, and shared the information gathered that way with third parties such as advertisers.
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China Pushes to Use its Chips in Its EVs

China is pushing for the chips in the electric vehicles (EVs) it produces to be made by domestic chip makers. Low-end commodity chips currently account for many of the integrated circuits produced in China, and analog and power semiconductors that control simple vehicle components have been the first domestic chips to gain share.
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Judge Allows California's Ban on Addictive Feeds for Minors

Online business trade association NetChoice's challenge to a new California law prohibiting companies from serving "addictive feeds" to minors was blocked by a federal judge. Under Senate Bill 976, companies cannot serve addictive feeds, defined as an algorithm that selects and recommends content based on user behavior, to known minors without explicit parental consent. Beginning in January 2027, companies will need to use "age assurance techniques," including age estimation models, to identify minors and tailor their feeds accordingly.
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The World Needs Lazier Robots

Robots running on AI constantly process data, using so much of the energy consumed by datacenters that the emissions they're responsible for could outweigh their benefits. A potential solution proposed by René van de Molengraft at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands is “lazy robotics,” in which machines do less and take shortcuts to learning, much as humans would.
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Hinton Backs Musk's Lawsuit Against OpenAI

ACM A. M. Turing Award laureate Geoffrey Hinton has voiced support for Elon Musk's lawsuit seeking to prevent OpenAI from restructuring into a for-profit company. Hinton said in a statement that OpenAI "received numerous tax and other benefits from its non-profit status. Allowing it to tear all of that up when it becomes inconvenient sends a very bad message to other actors in the ecosystem."
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Millions of Fake 'Stars' on GitHub Projects

A study by researchers at cybersecurity platform Socket, Carnegie Mellon University, and North Carolina State University found 4.5 million suspected fake "stars" on GitHub. Stars are similar to “Like” buttons on social media sites; the fake stars are used to artificially boost repository rankings and often to promote malicious content on GitHub.
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WeChat, TikTok Secure First Licenses Under Malaysia’s New Social-Media Rules

Tencent’s WeChat and ByteDance’s TikTok have been approved to continue operating their apps in Malaysia. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said Wednesday the two Chinese technology companies had obtained the icenses now required for Web messaging and social-media companies to operate in Malaysia. The rules, unveiled last year, require companies with more than 8 million users in the country to be licensed, as part of government efforts to strengthen online safety, particularly for children and vulnerable groups.
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Beijing Unveils Plans to Boost Driverless Vehicle Use

Beijing has approved new regulations to encourage autonomous driving technology in the city. Autonomous vehicles that pass road testing and safety assessments will be allowed to apply for road trials, the state-backed Beijing Daily newspaper reported. The regulations also support the construction of intelligent road infrastructure.
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