EU privacy investigation targets Musk's Grok chatbot over sexualized deepfake images

Elon Musk’s social media platform X faces a European Union privacy investigation after its Grok AI chatbot started spitting out nonconsensual deepfake images, Ireland’s data privacy regulator said Tuesday.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said it notified X on Monday that it was opening the inquiry under the 27-nation EU’s strict data privacy regulations, adding to the scrutiny X is facing in Europe and other parts of the world over Grok’s behavior.

Grok sparked a global backlash last month after it started granting requests from X users to undress people with its AI image generation and editing capabilities, including putting females in transparent bikinis or revealing clothing. Researchers said some images appeared to include children. The company later introduced some restrictions on Grok, though authorities in Europe weren’t satisfied.

The Irish watchdog said its investigation focuses on the apparent creation and posting on X of “potentially harmful” nonconsensual intimate or sexualized images containing or involving personal data from Europeans, including children.

https://apnews.com/article/ireland-grok-deepfakes-eu-privacy-9d3d096a1f4dc0baddde3d5d91e050b7

I hope they nail him balls to the wall, and I hope it's the beginning of the end for Eloon. Soon isn't soon enough!

HIt the Road, ICE!--The Ragin' Grannies

Powered by women, 'Wuthering Heights' digs up $34.8 million at the box office for a No. 1 debut

Emerald Fennell’s bold reimagining of “Wuthering Heights” brought crowds of women to movie theaters this weekend. The Warner Bros. release topped the box office charts and nabbed the title for the year’s biggest opening with $34.8 million in ticket sales in its first three days in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. According to PostTrak polling, an estimated 76% of those ticket buyers were women. By the end of Monday’s Presidents Day holiday, the total could rise to $40 million from its 3,682 locations.

The romantic drama starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as the star-crossed Catherine and Heathcliff, won out over the weekend’s other newcomers, including the animated “GOAT” and the heist thriller “Crime 101.” Its biggest day was Saturday’s Valentine’s Day holiday, where it earned $14 million. “Wuthering Heights” is also performing even better internationally, where it’s expecting to rake in an additional $42 million from 76 territories.

The Warner Bros./MRC production cost a reported $80 million to produce, not accounting for the millions spent on marketing and promotion. If the four-day totals match the estimates, that makes for a strong $82 million global debut. And the film still has several big openings on the horizon, in Japan and Vietnam on Feb. 27, and in China on March 13.

The success comes while the future of Warner Bros. hangs in the balance, as Paramount continues to sweeten its hostile takeover bid in hopes of winning out over Netflix. “Wuthering Heights” is the studio’s ninth No. 1 opening in a row.


Fennell’s version of “Wuthering Heights,” which takes many liberties with Emily Brontë’s novel, largely divided critics. It’s currently sitting at a mixed 63% on Rotten Tomatoes. While that didn’t dissuade audiences from buying tickets, only 51% of the opening weekend audience said that they would “definitely recommend” the film to friends. Moviegoers also gave it a less-than-stellar B CinemaScore.

https://apnews.com/article/wuthering-heights-box-office-d10e1c446826f2ef7b7029953d468875

I don't get this success at all. I saw in high school, when we were forced to read this book, that it was, at its core, about abuse and codependence, although I didn't have the word for codependence then. Hated it then and have hated movies of it since.

Derek Dooley didn't vote for years. Now he wants Georgia voters to send him to Washington

Lots of candidates pitch themselves as political outsiders. Derek Dooley goes a step further. Not only is the former football coach running for the first time, he says he did not vote for nearly two decades.

He did not vote when Republican Donald Trump was first elected president in 2016. Nor did he vote in 2020, when Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

But Dooley does not worry about that as he seeks the Republican nomination to face off against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia. He insists that Washington needs someone with a fresh outlook, someone who is not focused on “their own political career or their political ambitions.”

Besides, lots of people do not vote, and Dooley told The Associated Press that he wants to inspire more people to do so.

“If you’re not vigilant in exercising that right, things can go pretty sideways in our country,” he said.

https://apnews.com/article/derek-dooley-georgia-football-republican-senate-trump-79206ea3f3150a1441c940c4b390b1a4

He was a lousy football coach, so now he wants to be a congresscritter? No thank you very much!

State Department orders nonprofit libraries to stop processing passport applications

The U.S. State Department has ordered certain public libraries nationwide to cease processing passport applications, disrupting a long-standing service that librarians say their communities have come to rely on and that has run smoothly for years.

The agency, which regulates U.S. passports, began issuing cease and desist orders to not-for-profit libraries in late fall, informing them they were no longer authorized to participate in the Passport Acceptance Facility program as of Friday.

“We still get calls daily seeking that service,” said Cathleen Special, executive director of the Otis Library in Norwich, Connecticut, where passport services were offered for 18 years but ceased in November after receiving the letter. “Our community was so used to us offering this.”

A State Department spokesperson said the order was given because federal law and regulations “clearly prohibit non-governmental organizations” from collecting and retaining fees for a passport application. Government-run libraries are not impacted.

The spokesperson did not respond to questions as to why it has become an issue now and exactly how many libraries are impacted by the cease and desist order. In a statement, they said, “passport services has over 7,500 acceptance facilities nationwide and the number of libraries found ineligible makes up less than one percent of our total network.”

https://apnews.com/article/passport-libraries-rubio-nonprofit-0a800e2661c1a07c6a81a40f3801af2f

And this is an issue now exactly WHY??????

Great quote from an immigration attorney in Virginia

“We can tell somebody what the law is, but if the government is not following the law, it’s kind of anyone’s guess what they’re going to do.”__Miriam Fisher, Richmond immigration attorney and CEO of Las Abogadas RVA

Sex workers at Nevada brothel fight for the first unionization

Nevada is the only state where people can legally purchase sex, and now sex workers at one of the state’s oldest brothels are fighting to become the nation’s first to be unionized.

“We want the same things that any other worker wants. We want a safe and respectful workplace,” said a worker at Sheri’s Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada, who goes by the stage name Jupiter Jetson and asked that her legal name not be used for fear of harassment.

Prostitution is legal at licensed brothels in 10 of Nevada’s rural counties. That doesn’t include Clark County, home to Las Vegas, though Sheri’s Ranch is about an hour’s drive away. The majority of the brothel’s 74 sex workers submitted a petition to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board last week under the name United Brothel Workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America.

Jetson said the drive was spurred by a new independent contractor agreement issued in December that would give the brothel power to use the women’s likeness without permission, even if they no longer work there.

“This is how you end up the face of a Japanese lubricant company without ever having signed a document,” Jetson said. “This is how you end up finding yourself on a website offering AI companionship without ever seeing a penny.”

https://apnews.com/article/nevada-brothel-sex-workers-unionizing-eacf41f41bee5cfe5c13d3dfc4a1887c

I've long been in favor of legalizing sex work and licensing sex workers, with mandatory medical check-ins. CWA seems like an odd choice though---maybe the Service Workers' Union wouldn't accept them?

Not One More--A song for Alex Pretti by The Midnight Republic

Minnesota Anthem---Together We Rise

We Are Vikings---A Message for tRump