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OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent Casually Clicks Through Human Verification Test (Maria)
The author writes, “Maybe they should change the button to say, ‘I am a robot?’ OpenAI’s new ChatGPT Agent, which can perform multistep tasks for users, proved it can pass through one of the Internet’s most common security checkpoints by clicking Cloudflare’s anti-bot verification — the same checkbox that’s supposed to keep automated programs like itself at bay.”
Trump Is Making Thousands of Rule-Abiding Immigrants Undocumented (Dana)
From Mother Jones: “Fleeing persecution from pro-government militias in Venezuela, Maestre and Luis Guillermo came to the United States on tourist visas in September 2021 and later applied for asylum. In the fall of 2023, another option became available: Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. This stopgap shield from deportation for people who cannot safely return to their countries of origin because of armed conflicts, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances has protected roughly 600,000 Venezuelans — until now. President Donald Trump’s termination of TPS for Venezuelans is part of the largest delegalization campaign in modern US history.”
Volkswagen Kept a Dark Secret in the Amazon. Then a Priest Made a Call (Russ)
The author writes, “Page after page, the documents recounted how labor recruiters contracted by Vale do Rio Cristalino Co., the Volkswagen Brazil subsidiary, had lured hundreds of seasonal and informal workers to the Amazonian property in Santana do Araguaia with the promise of good pay and a better life. But once on the farm, the workers said, they were trapped — geographically isolated, ensnared by debt, sickened by malaria and forced to toil under threat of violence. Their job was to destroy the forest and make room for cattle.”
“Alligator Alcatraz” Detainees Held Without Charges, Barred From Legal Access (Reader Steve)
From AP News: “Civil rights lawyers seeking a temporary restraining order against an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades say that ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detainees have been barred from meeting attorneys, are being held without any charges and that a federal immigration court has canceled bond hearings. The immigration attorneys argued Monday during a virtual hearing that the detainees’ constitutional rights were being violated and that 100 detainees already had been deported from ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’”
Netherlands Lists Israel Among Countries Posing Threat to It for First Time (Sean)
The author writes, “The Netherlands has included Israel for the first time on its list of foreign states that pose a threat to the country, according to a recent report released by the country’s chief counterterrorism agency, the Dutch National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV). The document, titled Assessment of Threats from State Actors, points to efforts by Israel to manipulate Dutch public opinion and influence political decision-making through disinformation campaigns.”
Motion Cameras Were Set up in the Jungles of Guatemala — And They Captured Something Incredible (Laryn)
From Vox: “Bouts of extreme heat and drought — which are becoming more common and less predictable as global temperatures rise — can cause natural watering holes in many different types of ecosystems to dry up. And animals don’t have a tap they can simply turn on. That leaves them with few places to hydrate and cool off, putting their lives, often already imperiled, at risk. But in some parts of the world, humans are offering help. In the jungles of northern Guatemala, which have been abnormally hot in recent years, environmental groups placed several large tubs of water in nature reserves. They refill them regularly, providing a reliable source of fresh water that animals can drink from or splash in, even when there’s no rain.”