Google Will Start Paying Publishers for Upcoming News Service
By: Bloomberg June 25, 2020 Alphabet Inc.’s Google will begin paying select media outlets featured in a yet-to-be released news service later this year, a major business shift for the search engine after years of pressure from media companies and regulators. The licensing deals will start in three countries and Google is in talks with […]
Expert: Online Disinformation Now Targeting COVID-19, Black Lives Matter
By: Futurism June 25, 2020 For years, Hany Farid has been warning Congress, the media, and anyone else who would listen that society is losing the battle against disinformation online. With the rise of sophisticated, hyper-realistic deepfakes and other forms of manipulated media and the approaching 2020 presidential election, his warnings seem more prescient than ever. Farid, a professor […]
Google considers alternatives to Hong Kong for undersea cable
By: Financial Times June 24, 2020 Google is contemplating different locations for a deliberate high-speed web cable after the US authorities warned it towards constructing the hyperlink to Hong Kong for safety causes. “We are looking at alternatives. You always have alternative plans or are evaluating alternatives,” stated Thomas Kurian, the pinnacle of Google’s cloud […]
Column: Tesla’s reluctant commitment to cobalt a warning to others – Andy Home
By: Reuters June 23, 2020 Just when his electric vehicle (EV) company Tesla seemed to be pivoting away from using cobalt in its batteries, it signs a long-term supply deal for the controversial metal with Glencore. This from the man who has vowed to eliminate cobalt from the Tesla product mix because of its financial […]
‘A big victory’: Zoom to provide end-to-end encryption after mounting privacy concerns
By: ABC News June 18, 2020 Zoom will now allow end-to-end encryption for all users after the videoconferencing platform came under fire for privacy concerns. Evan Greer, the deputy director of nonprofit digital rights group Fight for the Future, called the decision “a big victory for grassroots activists who fought hard to make sure that […]
US upends global digital tax plans after pulling out of talks with Europe
By: Financial Times June 17, 2020 The US has thrown into disarray plans for a new global tax framework for technology companies after suspending talks with European countries — and warning them of retaliatory measures if they press ahead with their own taxes. In a letter to four European finance ministers seen by the Financial […]
Facebook closes political ads loophole ahead of US presidential election
By: Fox Business June 17, 2020 Facebook Inc said on Tuesday it would affix labels to political ads shared by users on their own feeds, closing what critics have said for years was a glaring loophole in the company’s election transparency measures. The world’s biggest social network has attached a “paid for by” disclaimer to political ads since […]
China Is Collecting DNA From Tens of Millions of Men and Boys, Using U.S. Equipment
By: The New York Times June 17, 2020 The police in China are collecting blood samples from men and boys from across the country to build a genetic map of its roughly 700 million males, giving the authorities a powerful new tool for their emerging high-tech surveillance state. They have swept across the country since late […]
Not just nipples: how Facebook’s AI struggles to detect misinformation
By: The Guardian June 16, 2020 “It’s much easier to build an AI system that can detect a nipple than it is to determine what is linguistically hate speech.” The Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made that comment in 2018 when he was discussing how the company tackles content that is deemed inappropriate or, in Facebook […]