$7B opioid settlement set for votes

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s $7 billion-plus plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids will be sent to local governments, people who became addicted to the drug and other impacted groups after a judge’s ruling Friday.

The nationwide settlement advanced by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane was hammered out in negotiations between the company, groups that have sued and representatives of members of the Sackler family who own the company.

Lane did not accept the plan itself on Friday — just that the information to be provided to the voters is adequate enough for them to decide, along with the voting procedures.

Government entities, emergency room doctors, insurers, families of children born into withdrawal from the powerful prescription painkiller, individual victims and their families and others will have until Sept. 30 to vote on whether to accept the deal.

Billions of login credentials leaked

Researchers at cybersecurity outlet Cybernews say that billions of login credentials have been leaked and compiled into datasets online, giving criminals “unprecedented access” to accounts consumers use each day.

According to a report published this week, Cybernews researchers have recently discovered 30 exposed datasets that each contain a vast amount of login information — amounting to a total of 16 billion compromised credentials. That includes user passwords for a range of popular platforms including Google, Facebook and Apple.

Sixteen billion is roughly double the amount of people on Earth today, signaling that impacted consumers may have had credentials for more than one account leaked. Cybernews notes that there are most certainly duplicates in the data and so “it’s impossible to tell how many people or accounts were actually exposed.”

It’s also important to note that the leaked login information doesn’t span from a single source, such as one breach targeting a company. Instead, it appears that the data was stolen through multiple events over time, and then compiled and briefly exposed publicly, which is when Cybernews reports that its researchers discovered it.

Various infostealers are most likely the culprit, Cybernews noted.

Meta launches $399 Oakley AI glasses

Meta Platforms Inc. is going up-market with its surprise hit smart glasses, rolling out new models with Oakley that are aimed at athletes and include improved video recording.

The company on Friday launched new models based on Oakley’s HSTN design, marking the company’s first expansion away from Ray-Ban for its display-free glasses. Like the original models, the Oakley versions can make and take phone calls, play music, take pictures and video and use Meta’s artificial intelligence to answer questions about the surrounding environment.

The new versions, which start at $399 and go up to $499 for a limited edition model with gold-colored accents, include about double the battery life, video-recording at 3K resolution and water resistance. The display-free glasses are one component of the overall Meta AI hardware strategy. The company is planning to introduce higher-end glasses with a display to view notifications and the camera view finder later this year, Bloomberg News has reported.

Compiled from Associated Press and Bloomberg reports.