Latest news with #Map
Hans India
2 days ago
- Hans India
Instagram's New Live Map Feature Sparks Privacy Backlash Over Stalking Fears
Instagram's latest update was supposed to make finding friends easier — instead, it's making many users feel far too visible. The platform has rolled out Live Map, a location-sharing feature tucked inside the direct messages section, but within hours of its launch, it triggered a wave of privacy concerns and online warnings. Meta, Instagram's parent company, introduced the feature as a 'lightweight' tool to help people connect with friends and discover nearby happenings. But in practice, it allows users to see exactly where someone is in real time — if that person has chosen to share their location. When users open Live Map, they can view the locations of friends who have opted in, based on their most recent Instagram activity or Story posts. On first use, the app prompts users to decide who can see their location, offering options from 'no one' to 'close friends' or 'specific followers.' While Instagram positioned the tool as a way to encourage local discovery, the response online has been less than enthusiastic. Just hours after Wednesday's rollout, screenshots of the map began circulating across X (formerly Twitter), Threads, TikTok, and Instagram itself. Many posts quickly went viral, with influencers, celebrities, and privacy advocates urging followers to double-check their settings. One of the most vocal critics was Kelley Flanagan, a lifestyle influencer and former contestant on The Bachelor, who bluntly advised users to 'turn off' the feature. She hinted at the potential risks, including unwanted tracking or even stalking. The reaction underscores the delicate balance social media platforms face between creating new ways to connect and protecting user privacy. While location sharing is not new — platforms like Snapchat and Apple's Find My have similar capabilities — the idea of sharing one's exact position in real time on Instagram, a platform with over two billion users, has made many uneasy. Influencers and safety advocates warn that even when location sharing is restricted to 'close friends' or 'select followers,' it could still be misused, especially if someone's account is compromised or if their definition of 'close friends' changes over time. Instagram has yet to release detailed guidance on the feature's privacy safeguards, but Meta representatives have emphasized that it is entirely optional and designed with granular control settings. Users can adjust their preferences at any time or disable the feature completely. For now, the backlash highlights just how sensitive users have become to online tracking — and how quickly new features can shift from being seen as convenient to potentially dangerous. As conversations about digital safety grow louder, Instagram's Live Map is proving to be yet another reminder that in the connected world, knowing 'where you are' can be as risky as it is social.
Sinar Daily
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sinar Daily
Privacy nightmare? Instagram's location-sharing feature draws comparisons to Snapchat
The feature, which was quietly introduced this week, allows users to share their precise, real-time location with selected friends. The feature, tucked at the top of your direct message inbox, lets you see exactly where your friends are and vice versa but only if both parties opt in. - Photo illustrated by Sinar Daily Instagram has rolled out a new 'Friend Map' in the United States (US), a move that has drawn comparisons to Snapchat and triggered backlash over privacy concerns. The feature, which was quietly introduced this week, allows users to share their precise, real-time location with selected friends. Many users, like Piper Foxx (@Piperfoxxi), reported that their location settings had been enabled without warning. On paper, it's all about staying connected. In practice, people are calling it a privacy nightmare waiting to happen. The feature, tucked at the top of your direct message inbox, lets you see exactly where your friends are and vice versa, but only if both parties opt-in. The backlash was so loud that Instagram head Adam Mosseri had to post a clarification on Thursday, assuring users their location will only be shared if they choose to. "We're double-checking everything, but so far it looks mostly like people are confused and assume that, because they can see themselves on the map when they open it, other people can see them too," he said. He added that the feature is designed to require "double consent" to ensure no one shares their location without explicitly choosing to do so. That hasn't stopped the avalanche of warnings flooding X and TikTok. One viral all-caps tweet with nearly 200,000 likes urged people to turn the location off on Instagram right away. Many users, like Piper Foxx (@Piperfoxxi), reported that their location settings had been enabled without warning. Instagram's new feature might be dressed up as a cute way to connect, but it's also a reminder that oversharing online has consequences. "Instagram turning on our exact location for thousands of people to see is actually terrifying. That's insane. Make sure to turn that off," she posted. If this is giving you déjà vu, you're not wrong. Snapchat rolled out its Snap Map back in 2017 and got roasted for similar reasons, with safety groups warning users not to share their precise location with strangers. Meta insisted Instagram's Friend Map is also opt-in and your location is off by default. But here's the catch: if you've ever tagged a location in a Story or post, your phone's location services may already be on and that makes it a lot easier to accidentally switch the feature on. Experts warn that while the idea of tracking your best friends at brunch might sound fun, your location data is worth a lot more to Big Tech than just casual hangouts. Instagram's new feature might be dressed up as a cute way to connect, but it's also a reminder that oversharing online has consequences. If you value your privacy and safety, double-check your settings before you accidentally give the internet a live feed of your life. Because in 2025, the only people who should know your exact location are your family and close friends. More Like This
CNN
4 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Voters in battleground Arizona seeing impacts of Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill'
On this installment of 'All Over the Map' John King travels to the ultra-competitive AZ-6 district to hear from voters the already positive and negative impacts of Trump's mega bill.
UPI
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- UPI
Movie review: New 'Dora' movie carries 'Indiana Jones' torch
1 of 5 | Diego (Jacob Rodriguez) and Dora (Samantha Lorraine) explore the Amazon in "Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado," on Paramount+ Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Spataro/Nickelodeon/Paramount+ LOS ANGELES, June 30 (UPI) -- Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado, premiering Wednesday on Paramount+, turns the Nickelodeon animated series Dora the Explorer into a thrilling live-action adventure for families. Like 2019's underrated Dora and the Lost City, it harkens back to the best classic adventure movies. As a toddler, young Dora's (Scarlett Spears) Abuelo (J. Santiago Suarez) tells her about the legend of Sol Dorado, an Incan treasure that grants a wish. He also gives her Map, which does not speak in this iteration. Map seems to be blank, but fills in with crayon art whenever Dora needs directions in her adventures. This is a lovely way to visualize that Map is essentially Dora's own sense of direction; it just skips the part where she researches and draws it herself. As a toddler, watching Camila the Crusader (Daniela Pineda) appears to be where Dora picked up the habit of looking directly into camera and asking the audience questions. As a teenager, Dora (Samantha Lorraine) and Diego (Jacob Rodriguez) have explored the Amazon rainforest but still have not found Sol Dorado. The pair get a job at the Jungle World theme park, where Camila now works. Camila's secret excavation behind the park leads Dora, Diego, coworker Naiya (Mariana Garzón Toro) and Naiya's brother Sonny (Acston Luca Porto) on another jungle adventure. Dora and her friends explore booby trapped caves and temples loaded with gross bugs. Their adventure is more Indiana Jones than Dial of Destiny was. Dora solves riddles through her knowledge of Incan history. Her spirit is selfless and optimistic for the joy of discovery, not for profit. She doesn't outright say Sol Dorado belongs in a museum, but she shares the morality and sentiment of Indiana Jones. Dora loses Map early in her quest, so the heart of her adventure becomes learning to chart her own course. Kids going on adventures was also a Steven Spielberg staple outside of his grown-up Indiana Jones movies. This was already inherent in the animated Dora, but both live-action movies have risen to the high standard of kids' adventures. Sol Dorado filmed in Colombia and the physical jungle is palpable in the adventure, as are interior sets of those caves and temples. The actors are hanging on vines and crouching under collapsing ceilings. There are computer generated elements like Boots the monkey (voice of Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias), whom only Dora understands. Swiper the stealing fox belongs to Camila, but artificial characters fit way better in a practical location than actors fit in artificial worlds. Map represents the central theme of Dora's quest, but her Backpack also appears. The film approaches its seemingly infinite contents with an appropriate nonchalance, while dismissing it as a tool to circumvent any of the adventure's challenges. By the time Dora meets her, Camila has lost her spirit of discovery since her TV show ended. Recognizing it in Dora could be a cliche, but Dora puts it in poignant context. Dora says, "I may have lost my map but you lost your compass." She articulates the difference between getting lost and losing one's purpose. With this moral compass, Dora also captures the spirit of Indiana Jones better than the recent streaming film Fountain of Youth. Dora still has a sense of humor, but not at the expense of its characters' heroic qualities. Jungle World does test Dora's patience. She begins a tram tour with the infectious enthusiasm of her real adventures, but repetition and animatronic displays wear on her quickly. There is a fun tram chase through the park before they go back to the jungle. And Jungle World is where the audience learns Diego and Naiya used to date, adding a teen Romancing the Stone dynamic to the rest of their adventure, updated for a couple who have ghosted each other. The English language film frequently drops in Spanish words. They are simple words like eschucha and vamanos, which may be familiar as "listen" and "let's go," even to viewers who have never taken a language class. Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado captures Dora's inclusive spirit while using Incan legend to inspire curiosity and valuable moral lessons. If it is a success on the streaming services, more adventures with this gang would be welcome. Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Abortions in the US are on the rise three years after Roe v Wade was overturned
Three years after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, erasing the national right to abortion and paving the way for more than a dozen states to ban the procedure, the number of abortions performed in the US is still on the rise – including in some states that ban the procedure. US abortion providers performed 1.14m abortions in 2024, according to new data released on Monday by #WeCount, a Society of Family Planning project that has tracked abortion provision since 2022. That's the highest number on record in recent years. 'We were really surprised to see the numbers go up over time,' said Ushma Upadhyay, a University of California, San Francisco professor who serves as co-chair of the #WeCount steering committee. 'Abortion bans haven't really stopped people from needing abortion care. It's just made it harder for them to be able to get it.' Although most of the abortions documented in #WeCount's report took place in person, a growing number of abortions are occurring through telehealth, including among patients living in one of the dozen-plus states that ban virtually all abortions. In a telehealth abortion, patients generally meet virtually with a provider before receiving abortion pills through the mail. By December 2023, 19% of abortions took place through telehealth – but by December 2024, that share had risen to 25%. In the last three months of 2024 alone, more than 70,000 abortions were performed through telehealth. These abortions are particularly popular in states with large rural regions, such as Montana, Nevada and Hawaii. Much of the increase in telehealth abortions can be attributed to the spread of 'shield laws'. Enacted by at least eight states since Roe's fall, these controversial laws are designed to protect abortion providers who treat women in states with bans from prosecution by those states. Demand for shield-law abortions has soared over the last two years. In July 2023, when the first shield-law abortion providers started operating, they facilitated fewer than 6,000 abortions for people living in states that ban almost all abortions or that restrict telehealth abortions. In December 2024, these providers performed almost 14,000 abortions. 'There's more abortion taking place in Mississippi today than there was prior to Dobbs,' said Dr Angel Foster, a co-founder of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project (Map), which uses shield laws to ship abortion pills out to about 2,500 patients a month. 'That really speaks to how little access some folks had to in-clinic abortion care prior to Dobbs and how shield law provision and telemedicine has really stepped into that space.' #WeCount also collected information on how many abortions were reported to government authorities in states with abortion bans in 2024. On average, states where abortion is totally banned saw just 30 in-person abortions a month, #WeCount found. All abortion bans permit abortions in emergency situations, but activists have long contended that that bans' exceptions are written so narrowly and vaguely that they are unworkable in practice. Since Roe fell, dozens of women have come forward to say they were denied emergency abortions. In Upadhyay's view, the #WeCount data backs up the claim that exceptions don't work. 'That seems very low,' Upadhyay said. 'That is something that I think states with abortion bans should be paying attention to and be concerned about.' The future of shield laws is now in doubt, as anti-abortion activists are trying to test their durability in court. Texas has sued a New York doctor over accusations that she mailed abortion pills to a woman in Texas, while Louisiana has indicted the same doctor for allegedly mailing a pill to that state. Access to the common abortion drug mifepristone is also under assault. Martin Makary, the FDA commissioner, and Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, have called for a 'review' of mifepristone, which is typically used in telehealth abortions – and which has been deemed safe by more than 100 studies conducted across dozens of countries. Kennedy specifically cited the results of a flawed analysis pushed by anti-abortion groups that claimed the complication rates from taking mifepristone are higher than previously known. 'Clearly, it indicates that, at very least, the label should be changed,' Kennedy told the Missouri senator Josh Hawley, a Republican, during a congressional hearing. For now, however, Foster remains optimistic about the future of her work. 'There will be a point where growth stops. There's a finite number of people who have an abortion each year,' Foster said. 'But I do think within our practice and within the shield law space we are anticipating that there will continue to be growth in demand.'
