In today’s Bulldog wrapup of science and technology news:

  • First U.S. windfarm to open
  • Hackers hit anti-doping agency
  • Business groups oppose new China cybersecurity law
  • Arianna Huffington signs off at The Huffington Post
  • Sanpchat drops a filter in sensitivity dispute

The details:

  • 1st US offshore wind farm to usher in new era for industry

The nation’s first offshore wind farm is set to open off the coast of Rhode Island this fall, ushering in a new era in the U.S. for the industry.

Developers, federal regulators and industry experts say the opening will move the U.S. industry from a theory to reality, paving the way for the construction of many more wind farms that will eventually provide power for many Americans.

Deepwater Wind is building a five-turbine wind farm off Block Island, Rhode Island to power about 17,000 homes. The project costs about $300 million, according to the company.

(Watch a video overview about the project at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqlBue-DpZU )

  • Hackers target World Anti-Doping Agency, sports court

The World Anti-Doping Agency and Court of Arbitration forSport say they have been targeted by hackers, with an attempt made to obtain access credentials for the database which tracks athletes for drug testing.

WADA said it learned “this week,” during the Olympics, that it had been targeted, though it was not immediately clear when the attacks took place.

WADA communications coordinator Maggie Durand told The Associated Press in an email that the agency was notified of a YouTube video claiming WADA’s website had been hacked. She says an investigation “was quickly able to determine that the website had not been compromised, although we continue to monitor activity.”

Durand says WADA’s ADAMS database of doping results “has not been compromised,” but that so-called phishing emails were sent to users of the database disguised as official WADA communications requesting their login details.

WADA did not immediately respond to requests for comment on how many users weretargeted by the e-mails, whether athletes had been targeted, or what WADA’s plan was if credentials had been leaked. WADA said it had notified all users of the database about the phishing attempt, and posted a warning on the database website.

Athletes use the database to enter so-called “whereabouts” information which they are obliged to provide in order to make themselves available for drug testing outside competitions. Someone with an athlete’s credentials could potentially change that information, sending testers to the wrong location, potentially leading to athletes being wrongly blamed for missing a test.

Meanwhile, CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb told the AP “there has been an attempt to hack the CAS website. It is not the first time, and certainly not the last time.”

He says the attempt “was apparently unsuccessful but investigations are being made … to make sure that we have not suffered any damage.”

  • Business groups appeal to China over cybersecurity law

A coalition of 46 business groups from the United States, Europe and Asia has appealed to China to change proposed cybersecurity rules they warn will harm trade and isolate the country.

The action adds to mounting complaints Beijing is trying to squeeze foreign competitors out of promising industries in violation of the communist government’s market-opening commitments.

In a letter to Premier Li Keqiang, the country’s top economic official, the groups warn proposed Chinese limits on information security technology might make data theft easier and violate World Trade Organization rules.

The letter represents the biggest such joint action since at least 2010, whenbusiness groups banded together to express concern over China’s controls on rare earths exports. Its signers include the Business Software Alliance, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and bodies for insurers and manufacturers from Britain, Japan, Australia and Mexico.

“The current drafts, if implemented, would weaken security and separate China from the global digital economy,” said the letter, dated Wednesday.

A proposed Cybersecurity Law and separate rules for insurance companies would require technology providers to show authorities how their products work and to store information about Chinese citizens within the country.

The data storage rules “have no additional security benefits” and would “create barriers to entry” for providers, said the letter. It said being required to disclose how security products work might weaken data safety and count as trade barriers under WTO rules.

The groups appealed to Li to revise the proposed rules to follow international standards.

Chinese leaders say they need the controls to prevent terrorism and anti-government activity. But officials of Chinese industry groups quoted in the state press have said previous restrictions on use of foreign security technology also were intended to shield the country’s fledgling providers from competition.

  • Arianna Huffington signs off at The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post is going to be without a Huffington.

Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Post’s editor-in-chief, announced Thursday that she’s leaving to head a new health, wellbeing and productivity startup.

“I thought HuffPost would be my last act,” Huffington said in a tweet. “But I’ve decided to step down as HuffPost’s editor-in-chief to run my new venture, Thrive Global.”

The one-time conservative commentator oversaw explosive growth at the liberal online news and blog site that she co-founded in 2005, which went on to win a Pulitzer in less than a decade.

  • Snapchat removes filter amid claims of racial insensitivity

Snapchat has removed a filter for photos that some say promoted racist Asian stereotypes.

The social media app’s filters, also called lenses, allow users to change their appearance with silly faces or morph themselves into cartoonish animals and other characters.

A filter that Snapchat says was inspired by Japanese animation placed slanted eyes on a user’s face. The filter was quickly derided by Snapchat users on Twitter . One Asian-American user, Grace Sparapani, tells The Associated Press in a Twitter message she was “shocked by how much it looked like the classic cartoon caricatures of Asians–squinty eyes and buckteeth.”

Los Angeles-based Snapchat tells USA Today the filter has been taken down and won’t be used again. The company says its filters “are meant to be playful and never to offend.”