Toni Myers, a pioneering IMAX filmmaker, passed away peacefully on Monday (2/18) at her home in Toronto where she was for final palliative care after being diagnosed with late-stage cancer. She was 75. Her body of award-winning work includes A Beautiful Planet (2016), Hubble 3D (2010), Under the Sea (2009), Deep Sea (2006), Space Station 3D (2002), Mission to Mir (1996), L5: First City in Space (1996), Destiny in Space (1994), Journey to the Planets (1993), Rolling Stones: At the Max (1991), Blue Planet (1990), The Dream Is Alive (1985), Hail Columbia! (1982), Nomads of the Deep (1979), Ocean (1977), and North of Superior (1971). The latter was one of the very first films made in the big-screen IMAX format.
Last September she received the Giant Screen Cinema Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Her work took audiences to–and immersed them in–new frontiers, from the deep sea to outer space. Her early IMAX space films inspired a generation, including several who successfully pursued careers as astronauts; in fact this past December she was awarded NASA’s highest civilian medal. Acclaimed director Christopher Nolan researched Myers’ space films in preparation for his feature Interstellar.
Myers also was presented with the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest honors.
Prior to her IMAX achievements, Myers edited music films and TV drama. Her music exploits had her working with the likes of John Lennon and Santana.
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
Lee... Read More