The Web

In North Korea, your phone secretly takes screenshots every 5 minutes for government surveillance

The big picture: A smartphone smuggled out of North Korea is offering a rare – and unsettling – glimpse into the extent of control Kim Jong Un's regime exerts over its citizens, down to the very words they type. While the device appears outwardly similar to any modern smartphone, its software reveals a far more oppressive reality.

Amazon Fire Sticks are enabling billions in video piracy, report finds

Why it matters: It's somewhat ironic that arguably the biggest piracy enabler today is a device that comes from Amazon, a $2 trillion tech giant with a streaming service. According to a new report, jailbroken Amazon Fire Sticks are used to watch billions of dollars worth of pirated streams, and Google, Meta and Microsoft are exacerbating the situation.

Ultra-fast fiber sets global speed record: 1.02 petabits per second over continental distance

Why it matters: A technological leap in fiber optics has shattered previous limitations, achieving what experts once considered impossible: transmitting data at 1.02 petabits per second – enough to download every movie on Netflix 30 times over – across 1,808 kilometers using a single fiber no thicker than a human hair.

German roads thrown into chaos after Google Maps mislabels highways as closed

Fake math-puzzle event becomes one of Facebook's most-viewed posts

In a nutshell: There's a simple reason why you see so many baity Facebook posts that have headlines like "only for geniuses," or "only people with high IQs will get this": they attract a lot of engagement. One of them, for a fake competition that supposedly took place last year, has been one of the platform's most popular posts over the last 6 months.

Thousands of Asus routers compromised by "ViciousTrap" backdoor

Researchers find billions of browser cookies for sale on the dark web

Opera's Neon AI agentic browser promises to do everything – even write code while you're offline

Second crypto investor arrested in alleged Bitcoin password torture case

Putin calls for "throttling" Microsoft and Zoom in Russia, urges development of domestic alternatives

The CIA used a Star Wars fan website to secretly communicate with spies

Through the looking glass: The internet has seen its fair share of weird, but a Star Wars fan site secretly run by the CIA to communicate with overseas spies might top the list. StarWarsWeb.net looked like any other 2010-era fan page, complete with lightsabers, Yoda quotes ("Like these games you will"), LEGO ads, and hyped-up mentions of games like Battlefront 2 and The Force Unleashed II. But behind that nostalgic facade was a covert login system. If you entered the right password into the search bar, you'd unlock a secure line to CIA handlers. Or at least, that was the plan.

Most online games are now dead, Stop Killing Games proponents say

German court rules cookie banners must offer "reject all" button

Klarna's losses double as more buy now, pay later customers struggle with loans

Global crackdown led by Microsoft shuts down Lumma Stealer malware infecting 394,000 PCs

Doom: The Dark Ages hits 3 million players, but is the success real?

Court lets mother sue Google, Character.ai over Daenerys Targaryen chatbot's role in son's death

What just happened? A judge has ruled that the lawsuit against Google and Character.ai over claims the latter's chatbot caused a 14-year-old's suicide can go ahead. The boy's mother, who brought the suit, says her son became addicted to the service and emotionally attached to a chatbot based on the personality of Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen.

Trump tariffs haven't impacted Amazon's prices or customer spending, says CEO

In brief: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has assured the company's shareholders that Trump's tariffs have neither increased average selling prices of items on the site nor have they affected consumer demand. It comes a few weeks after Amazon was blasted by the White House over a plan to show exactly how much the tariffs will increase the cost of items on its Amazon Haul site.

Kansas woman sues porn sites after teenage son accessed adult content on old laptop

Texas is pushing a bill to block under-18s from joining social media platforms

Nvidia's RTX 5060 launch and the erosion of independent GPU reviews

Facepalm: As Computex 2025 is set to unfold in Taipei, much of the tech world's attention will be understandably drawn to new innovations and big announcements at the show. Yet, amid the buzz, a more troubling story is playing out behind the scenes – one that raises serious concerns about transparency, media integrity, and the trustworthiness of GPU launch coverage. The issue? Nvidia's release strategy for the GeForce RTX 5060, and how the company is manipulating public perception through tightly controlled media "previews."

Italy fines thousands as crackdown on pirate IPTV targets viewers

Europe prepares trial for Open Web Index to reduce reliance on Google and Bing

Which mobile app was the first to hit 1 billion active users?

Google faces $13 billion in European lawsuits over price comparison abuses