5.23.2023

Meta's Data Privacy Fine

Facebook's parent company, Meta, has been fined a record $1.3B by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission for violating EU privacy regulations and was ordered to stop transferring user data to US servers. Ireland’s DPC ruled Meta, whose European headquarters are in Dublin, violated the EU General Data Protection Regulation specifically pertaining to user data utilized for targeted online advertising.

The ruling stems from a 2013 lawsuit in Austria, which argued US law failed to provide adequate protection against surveillance of data transferred to the US. The US, which has a relatively relaxed privacy system, and the EU have long held contrasting views over data privacy (see 101). A previous agreement covering EU-US data transfers, known as the Privacy Shield, was struck down in 2020. The US and the EU reached an agreement on a reworked Privacy Shield framework last year, which is still pending approval.

Under the ruling, Meta has five months to stop transferring user data to the US and six months to ensure future data storage and processing comply with regulations. Meta said it will appeal the decision.

Colorado River Deal

The three lower basin states of the Colorado River—California, Nevada, and Arizona—agreed to cut their water usage by 3 million acre-feet through 2026 in a boost to the system's historically low levels (see chart). The proposal, which comes after a historic winter of precipitation provided some relief, caps a year of negotiations between a federal agency and the impacted states.

The Colorado River supports roughly 40 million people across seven states, including the upper basin's Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico (see map). A century of overallocation has depleted the river, with reservoirs Lake Mead and Lake Powell edging toward "dead pool" status, where reduced flows can't pass through dams. Some experts claim system stabilization requires an annual reduction of 4 million acre-feet, or a 25% cut overall.

All seven states approved the latest agreement ahead of a May 30 deadline triggering federal mandatory cuts, the first ever. Negotiations are expected to begin later this year on a longer-term deal to reach system stability. See a timeline of the Colorado River's history here.

World's Fastest Supercomputer

The US continues to be home to the world's top supercomputer for the second consecutive year, with Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Frontier facility ranking No. 1 in the semiannual list of the world's 500 most powerful systems. Japan's Fugaku system, which held the top spot in the past, remains at No. 2.  

Beyond leading the list, the Frontier system, powered by Intel-rival chipmaker AMD, continues to qualify as the first and only true exascale computing platform, capable of performing a billion billion operations per second (see overview, w/video). The computing power of the system is also believed to be comparable to that of the human brain. The Frontier system has improved by 17% in performance since first entering the list, now reaching 1.194 exaflops, up from 1.02 exaflops—a measure of performance for supercomputers (see 101). AMD currently powers four of the top 10 supercomputers, while Intel and IBM power two apiece.

Intel has been working on a two-exaflop Aurora supercomputer, designed for the Argonne National Laboratory, which it aims to be on par with the Frontier system. 

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In-Depth

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First female Arab astronaut reaches space station. 

Why thunder has different sounds.

Climate activists turn Italy's Trevi Fountain black.

Massive 1,200-pound great white shark returns to the US coast.  

Guitar smashed by Kurt Cobain sells for $600K.

Lego releases 2,650-piece Pac-Man arcade cabinet.

Watch a time-lapse of growing mushrooms.

UFOs halt airport traffic in Taiwan and Turkey.

Clickbait: Can't get Taylor Swift tickets? Apply to be a security guard. 

Historybook: Infamous bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are killed by police (1934); John D. Rockefeller dies (1937); German Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann revealed to have been captured in Argentina (1960); Musician Jewel born (1974); James Bond actor Roger Moore dies (2017).