Latest news with #anonymity


CTV News
02-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
U.S. contractors say their colleagues are firing live ammo as Palestinians seek food in Gaza
This photo, provided by an American contractor on condition of anonymity, shows Palestinians behind gates before entering a food distribution site operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in May 2025, shortly after the start of the organization's distribution sites. (AP Photo)
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
ICEBlock, an app for anonymously reporting ICE sightings, goes viral overnight after Bondi criticism
ICEBlock, an iPhone app that allows users to anonymously report sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, has rocketed to one of the coveted top spots in Apple's U.S. app store rankings. The upshot: criticism from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi helped get it there. ICEBlock had about 20,000 users, mostly in Los Angeles, where ICE raids have become commonplace over recent weeks, according to CNN. Following Bondi's remarks late Monday, the app went viral overnight. As of Tuesday afternoon, the app is now one of the most downloaded free iPhone apps in the United States. ICEBlock allows users to lawfully share information about where they have seen ICE within a five-mile radius of their location. The app also sends notifications when ICE agents are sighted nearby to the user's location. The app does not collect or store any user data, which TechCrunch confirmed by analyzing the app's network traffic as part of a test.


TechCrunch
01-07-2025
- TechCrunch
ICEBlock, an app for anonymously reporting ICE sightings, goes viral overnight after Bondi criticism
In Brief ICEBlock, an iPhone app that allows users to anonymously report sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, has rocketed to one of the coveted top spots in Apple's U.S. app store rankings. The upshot: criticism from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi helped get it there. ICEBlock had about 20,000 users, mostly in Los Angeles, where ICE raids have become commonplace over recent weeks, according to CNN. Following Bondi's remarks late Monday, the app went viral overnight. As of Tuesday afternoon, the app is now one of the most downloaded free iPhone apps in the United States. ICEBlock allows users to lawfully share information about where they have seen ICE within a five-mile radius of their location. The app also sends notifications when ICE agents are sighted nearby to the user's location. The app does not collect or store any user data, which TechCrunch confirmed by analyzing the app's network traffic as part of a test.


Forbes
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
New Restaurant Critics At The New York Times Shed Anonymity
When The New York Times announced who would become the new chief restaurant critic earlier this month, the news reverberated throughout the food world. Since the 1960s when author Craig Claiborne, who started his career in food journalism as a receptionist for Gourmet Magazine , imagined a regular dining section and a four-star scale system to rate restaurants, the food critics' ultimate goal has been to remain anonymous. This was such an integral part of the job that in 2005, Ruth Reichl wrote an entire memoir called Garlic and Sapphires, The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise . Today, The New York Times ' new restaurant critic is shedding their cloak. Oh, and now there are two. Meet co-chief critics Ligaya Mishan based in New York and Tejal Rao in Los Angeles. Ligaya Mishan and Tejal Rao, the new co-chief restaurant critics at The New York Times Tony Cenicola/The New York Times SB: What will you gain by losing anonymity and what will you lose? Tejal Rao: The idea of perfect anonymity has never been completely realistic. It seems only one or two critics were able to achieve it before the era of social media, but when you live in a city and you go out to restaurants, you develop relationships with chefs and waiters and then they move to other places, so being under the radar is truly difficult. In the past, I enjoyed it but sometimes felt there were giveaways, such as how many different dishes I ordered. So, I don't feel we were completely anonymous prior to this decision, and I don't think we will be completely visible either. Ligaya Mishan: I agree. We know there were always critics' photographs in restaurant kitchens. Since the announcement, I have gone to restaurants and been treated poorly, which thrilled me! I could still be a regular diner which is the experience I want to understand. It's one thing to spot a celebrity but we are just ordinary people, and I believe that even without a disguise, it's possible to slip through. The late food critic Gael Greene hiding under her hat at Jean Georges restaurant. (Photo by James Keivom/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) NY Daily News via Getty Images SB: Are you the new influencers? LM: Aren't the influencers the old critics? I think the difference is that the influencer has a positive connotation. They will make you want to do whatever they think is great, sort of when someone is hawking skin care products, but a restaurant review is public service journalism. We provide information so that you can make a decision. Maybe one thing gained by losing anonymity is that we hope we can build relationships with our readers. Perhaps by getting to know us and understand where we are coming from, they will know when to trust us and agree, or when they might not. I don't want to influence people. I want them to think and wonder about the stories behind the restaurants. Every restaurant has a story to tell, and it can inform the basic question of 'where should I eat tonight?' SB: How will you compete with diners' reviews on various platforms? TR: I don't think of the work we do as competing with individual diners. I think diners look at various platforms, and they will also watch our videos and read our reviews. There are a lot of things people can consume today and there's room for all of it. SB: How do you feel about the relationship between chef and recipe? Are you looking for an authentic dish or are you more curious about the interpretation of that dish? Olives, mozzarella tomato salad, Greek salad, pasta, tortellini, pizza, pita sandwich, shish kebab, shakshuka, and hummus. getty TR: I want to know what the restaurant is doing. If a restaurant specializes in the classics, then I am interested in that. If they are creative, then I am open to understanding what the chef is trying to say. LM: Food is constantly changing. And the word authentic may not make sense when it comes to food. Even with classic recipes, many versions exist. There is such an abundance, dishes that are classics, others forward-thinking. We are curious to see how the chef's personal story comes out on the plate. One chef will say that they are making a dish the way it needs to be made, the way it's always been made, while the other will think, Let's play! SB: On a sensory level, what do you feel when you step into a restaurant? Dinner laid out on the table. getty TR: It depends but sometimes there are a lot of smells to take in. If there's an open kitchen, you immediately get what the cooks are preparing or how clean the frying oil may be. Depending on the place, how am I getting greeted or not, what does the menu say about the restaurant? LM: The texture of the sounds, how many people are there, the quality of the light. SB: How will you divide the country? TR: We are constantly in touch to make sure we don't end up in the same place at the same time, but there is no formal divide. We will be zigzagging across the country. LM: It's part of a conversation with our editors. We are in the field, so we discuss what we feel would be interesting to our readers. SB: Is video the new literary genre? TR: Video is new to me, something I need to figure out because I am so used to writing, but it's a wonderful way to connect with people so they can see who I am and understand why I write the kinds of reviews I write. I would not say it's a literary form but it's really valuable. LM: I believe it's a genre in itself. We have a fantastic team and through videos we are learning how to speak to our readers. SB: When Pete Wells, the former restaurant critic, announced his retirement, he detailed how eating out so much had serious consequences for his health. How will you handle this part of the job? LM: I run a lot. Right now, about 40 miles a week. I made a New Year's resolution way before I knew about this job to do push-ups every day, and I am at 36 per day! Seems I've hit a plateau now, but I also did strength training this morning. It's a work in progress. And when we are out, we don't finish everything we order. I say that, and then dessert arrives and it's game over! TR: When a place is not amazing it's easy to just take a few bites, but when it's great, I just enjoy it. I too though am committed to my workout routines and self-care, so I'm hoping this will balance out this athletic eating and prevent us from getting sick. But so much about this job is about finding pleasure. I don't want to curb that.


Forbes
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
How A Religious Cult And Absurdist Humour Led To Quantum Witch
NikkiJay doesn't want you to know her real name. She doesn't want you to see her face. On social media, she appears only as a pixelated version of herself. Anonymity isn't an easy choice for her, it's the only choice. She's scared that if she reveals too much information about herself, someone will find her. 'I'd call the police if certain family members knocked on my door' she says. 'I'm trying to avoid the chaos it'd bring for the sake of my daughter.' It's not the typical conundrum a video games developer faces. To this day, Jay only speaks with one person in her family. The rest will have nothing to do with her. It all stems from her upbringing. She grew up in the north east of England in the eighties as a member of a religious group she describes as a 'cult'. Her experiences as a child have formed the basis for the characters and story in her upcoming adventure game, Quantum Witch. Both her mother and father's family have been involved in this particular religious circle (which Jay doesn't want to name) for two generations and so it was inevitable she would be too. It meant she couldn't have friends and was expected to dogmatically preach her beliefs to anyone she met. NikkiJay appears only in pixelated format online FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder 'I'd have to reject invites to Christmas and birthday parties before explaining my beliefs to other kids' Jay says. She's talking with me over Zoom from her home. Sitting in a dark room with a green sheet draped across the window behind her, Jay recalls being spat on at school by a group of girls. 'People would call me a 'religious freak' and a 'weirdo'' she explains. She found herself isolated socially. After school, Jay would be expected to study in preparation for religious meetings that were held multiple times a week. These gatherings were in a building she describes as a corporate meeting hall without windows. 'It was the most soulless, life sucking experience imaginable' Jay adds. Beginning with a prayer, meetings would last for two hours. The group's male leaders recited sermons from a stage about how everyone in the world is being misled, while a crowd watched on. Jay says they were deliberately delivered in a monotone voice to keep people 'dazed' and to prevent any critical thinking. 'The routine was so monotonous, you'd just go into zombie mode. 'Brainwashing' is a strong term, but here it's warranted' she says. These sermons filled Jay's head with traumatic ideas. '[They'd say] God is going to come and kill you if you don't do everything he says' she remembers. Members of the group were also forbidden from receiving certain medical procedures (again, she doesn't want to elaborate through fear of reprisal). 'If you needed an operation, you'd have to be prepared to just die' Jay says, adding that a friend passed away as a result of this ideology, believing that God would resurrect her. Despite the sore topic, Jay tries to remain upbeat throughout the conversation. She says that inappropriate humour is her coping mechanism. A Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer (Photo by) During this period of her life, Jay used video games as a form of escapism. At the age of eight she begged her parents for a ZX Spectrum and they eventually obliged. She then spent the summer holidays reading through the system's manual and learning how to programme her own text-based adventure games. 'As soon as I found I could escape into these worlds inside computers, I knew it'd be my life's special interest' she adds. But things were made worse for Jay at the age of 17 when she realised she was gay, something that was strictly prohibited in the religion's ideals. She recalls one preacher saying that it would be great when 'all the lesbians are dead' in a sermon. Terrified, she didn't reveal her sexuality until she was 19. It proved to be a dramatic turning point in her life. It led to an argument with her family. Devastated, she was forced to flee her home and was exiled from the 'cult'. With no money, Jay became homeless. She recalls being forced to use a hacksaw just to open a tin of tuna, the only edible item she possessed. 'You're taught [by the religion] not to invest in the outside world so when you're forced into this position, you have no idea where you're going or how to eat' she says. No-one in her family would answer the phone to her. Eventually Jay understood that she would need to build a life of her own. A Saturday job at a video games store popped up and she began making friends for the first time. It led to couch surfing before a job in web development and her own apartment came along. Quantum Witch is about making your own choices 'That's a strong theme in Quantum Witch' explains Jay. 'Towards the end it becomes an issue of choice and agency, taking control of your own actions and not being led by the whim of others' she adds. Quantum Witch is a 2D pixelated adventure game set in the realm of Hus. Players take on the role of Ren as she discovers something is awry in her idyllic life. There's fetch quests and narrative decisions to make inspired by the ZX Spectrum's Dizzy series (1987) and LucasArts games such as Day of the Tentacle (1993). The game started out as a novel but Jay found writing a book to be too difficult. 'I turned a few of my experiences into metaphors and short stories, but I couldn't string them together into something cohesive with a through line and a strong narrative' she says. Although Jay has developed Quantum Witch alone, she received narrative input from Bafta award winning writer, Paul Rose and journalist, Stephanie Sterling - both are credited as writers on the game's end credits. Other inspirations include the comedy TV show Red Dwarf, the works of author Douglas Adams (The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and fourth-wall breaking films such as Deadpool (2016). 'I wanted to do something that was retro looking but also cartoonish that could go from happy and jolly to quite dark quickly' Jay explains. She now lives with her wife, daughter and cat and says she has been able to separate herself from the oppressive way of living she grew up with, although she concedes it took her decades to do so. Some of the memories she conjured while making Quantum Witch are still difficult to remember, however she now has a fresh perspective on her past. 'Instead of looking at [my past] and playing it out as a tragedy, I wanted it to be an absurdist comedy. I took that cult background and created characters from it that just amplified the ridiculousness of it. It really helped me. If you can laugh at something, it takes away it's power' she says. Quantum Witch is available on PC from June 24