Techmeme
March 28, 2019, 2:05 PM

Top News

Russell Brandom / The Verge:
US Department of Housing and Urban Development files charges against Facebook, saying the company's ad targeting tools enable violations of Fair Housing Act  —  'Facebook is discriminating against people based upon who they are and where they live,' says HUD secretary
Adam Satariano / New York Times:
UK's review of Huawei's telecommunications equipment finds “significant” security problems but does not call for an outright ban  —  LONDON — A British review of Huawei found “significant” security problems with the Chinese company's telecommunications equipment …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Spotify is testing Premium Duo, a discounted subscription for two for €12.49 a month, that includes a playlist based on both users' listening habits  —  Includes a new playlist based on both your listening habits  —  Spotify is testing a new subscription called Premium Duo that offers …
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Microsoft granted US court order to take control of 99 websites the company says are linked to Iranian hacking group Phosphorus and host them on its own servers  —  Microsoft has won a restraining order in a U.S. court in order to take control of domains used by an Iranian hacker group.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Office Depot and tech support vendor Support.com to pay the FTC $35M for allegedly persuading customers to buy computer repair services using fake malware scans  —  Office Depot and Support.com, Inc, a tech support software provided from California, will pay $35 million and $10 million respectively …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple releases watchOS 5.2 with support for the second-generation AirPods, extends ECG functionality to Hong Kong, the UK, and 18 other countries in Europe  —  Apple today released watchOS 5.2, the fifth update to the watchOS operating system that runs on modern Apple Watch models. watchOS 5.2 comes …
Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post:
Twitter's policy head Vijaya Gadde says it is experimenting with adding a “label” to notable tweets that break its standards explaining why they weren't removed  —  Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's head of legal, policy and trust & safety, made the revelation on stage at a Washington Post-sponsored event in San Francisco.
More: The Hill
Sarah Krouse / Fox News:
Records obtained via FOIA requests show the FCC has fined robocallers $208.4M since 2015, but has collected only $6,790 of that amount  —  America's telecommunications watchdogs have levied hefty financial penalties against illegal robocallers and demanded that bad actors repay millions to their victims.
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai met with President Trump to discuss contracts and other ongoing partnerships with the US government  —  ‘Meeting ended very well,’ Trump tweeted  —  On Wednesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai met with President Trump to discuss contracts and other ongoing partnerships with the US government.
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
As market for facial recognition software heats up, concerns about how and when facial data is collected remain largely unaddressed due to lack of regulations  —  While you weren't looking, tech companies helped themselves to your photos to power a facial recognition boom.  Here's how.
More: CNET and BREAKERMAGThanks:@jeffjohnroberts
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Twitch launches Squad Stream, a new feature that will let up to four Twitch streamers go live simultaneously in one window, available for Partners first  —  A feature perfect for battle royale games  —  Twitch today announced a new feature designed to help creators boost the profile …
C4ADS:
Analysis of GPS data finds 9,800+ GPS spoofing instances since 2016, likely to protect sensitive military and VIP travel areas in the Russian Federation  —  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GPS and other Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are used in everything from cellular communication networks …
Nick Summers / Engadget:
Xiaomi Mi 9 review: great alternative to OnePlus 6T in terms of hardware performance but has an average battery life and unreliable in-screen fingerprint sensor  —  I can't spend $1,000 on a smartphone.  I just can't.  I've walked into countless phone stores, credit card in hand, with every intention of buying the latest flagship.
Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept:
Sources: Google is secretly assessing work completed on Dragonfly, its censored search engine for China, leaving some staff concerned work on it continues  —  Google executives are carrying out a secret internal assessment of work on a censored search engine for China, The Intercept has learned.

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Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Motherboard:
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Reuters: