A U.S. online privacy bill is not likely to come before Congress this year, Reuters reported Monday, citing three sources, as lawmakers disagree over issues like whether the bill should preempt state rules, forcing companies to deal with much stricter legislation in California that goes into effect on Jan. 1. From a report: Without a federal law, technology companies, retailers, advertising firms and others dependent on collecting consumer data to track users and increase sales must adapt to the California law, potentially harming corporate profits over the long term. The delay is a setback for companies ranging from Amazon and Facebook to Alphabet’s Google and retailers like Walmart, who either directly collect shopper information to run their websites, or provide free services and derive revenues from advertising that relies on online data collection.

“This will be tremendously challenging… companies need to really focus on complying with California now because there is not going to be a life raft from a federal level,” Gary Kibel, a partner specializing in technology and privacy at law firm Davis & Gilbert. While the sources, who are involved in the negotiations, still think it is possible at least one discussion draft of the bill could land before the year ends, congressional negotiators must still agree on whether it is adequate to simply ask consumers to consent to collection of personally identifiable information and give them the opportunity to opt out and how the new law would be enforced.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – US Online Privacy Rules Unlikely This Year, Hurting Big Tech

The team behind a pioneering biological experiment sent to the lunar far side has released an image showing two green leaves grown on the moon. From a report: The experiment began shortly after China’s Chang’e-4 spacecraft made the first ever landing on the far side of the moon, on 3 January this year. Cotton, arabidopsis and potato seeds, and fruit-fly eggs and yeast were all aboard the 2.6-kilogram mini biosphere, but only the cotton produced positive results. Image processing has now shown that two cotton leaves had grown — rather than just one as initially thought — in what was the first biological growth experiment on the moon. All the species died with the onset of the first lunar night, with no power to protect the canister from temperatures that reached as low as minus 190 degrees Celsius. The cotton leaves were dead within one lunar daytime, or around 14 and a half Earth days. The experiment continued until May, however, in order to test the longevity of the apparatus. The Chang’e-4 lander and rover meanwhile have just started their tenth lunar daytime in Von Karman crater.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – China Grew Two Cotton Leaves on the Moon