Techmeme: Amazon updates ToS for 3rd party sellers, will now give a 30-day notice and provide reasons for account suspensions, but sellers say changes don't go far enough (Eugene Kim/CNBC)

Top News

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Hackers breached SyTech, a contractor for Russia's FSB, and stole 7.5TB of data about its projects for the agency, including one for deanonymizing Tor traffic — SyTech, the hacked company, was working on research projects for the FSB, Russia's intelligence service.

More: Forbes, The Merkle Hash, BleepingComputer, and Slashdot

Tweets: @b52malmet, @troyhunt, and @lrvick

Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:

Profile of Calibra's head of strategy Morgan Beller, previously a partner at a16z, and the original driving force behind Facebook's push into cryptocurrency — KEY POINTS — Morgan Beller is one of three people — all Facebook employees — listed as a co-creator of the proposed Libra digital currency …

More: Wired and Mashable

Tweets: @iam_anandv, @adamnash, @msquinn, @mdudas, @sm, @rrhoover, @joshelman, @peterpham, @zmanian, @chrismaddern, and @random_walker

Andrew Liptak / The Verge:

A new set of Pixel 4 leaked images and a series of renders show it will have a large forehead bezel for a variety of sensors and front-facing cameras — A lot of space to cover up — A new set of leaked images of Google's forthcoming Pixel 4 smartphone have surfaced on the web …

More: iGeeksBlog, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, Android Police, Android Police, MSPoweruser, and XDA Developers

Tweets: @universeice, @onleaks, and @benbajarin

Eugene Kim / CNBC:

Amazon updates ToS for 3rd party sellers, will now give a 30-day notice and provide reasons for account suspensions, but sellers say changes don't go far enough — KEY POINTS — Amazon updated its terms of service for third-party sellers this week, committing to give a 30-day notice and provide reasons for account suspensions.

David Z. Morris / Fortune:

Dust Identity, which covers objects with a diamond dust coating with a unique pattern to track them across complex supply chains, raises $10M Series A — Startup Dust Identity has raised $10 million in a series A funding round, led by Kleiner Perkins and including strategic investments …

More: TechCrunch

FinSMEs:

BriteCore, a cloud-based insurance platform used by 50+ property and casualty insurers, raises $47.5M led by Warburg Pincus, bringing its total raised to $70M — BriteCore, a Springfield, MO-based provider of next-generation core software solutions for insurers, received $47.5m in growth funding.

More: blog.britecore.com

Andrew Liptak / The Verge:

Some publishers are demanding Audible to exclude their audiobooks from Captions, Audible's upcoming AI-powered transcriptions feature, citing copyright claims — Some are asking for their books to be withheld from the feature — Earlier this week, Audible revealed that it was working …

See also Mediagazer

AnnaMaria Andriotis / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Equifax is nearing a ~$700M settlement to resolve federal and state probes and a national class-action lawsuit over the breach disclosed in Sept. 2017 — Credit-reporting firm nears deal to settle investigations into 2017 hack that exposed millions of Americans' personal data

More: New York Times, TechSpot, Engadget, CNET, and Axios

Tweets: @hshaban, @nacin, @wbm312, @adambkaplan, @jamesvgrimaldi, and @brianpkime

Washington Post:

Sources: the FTC has finalized a multimillion dollar settlement with Google in an investigation into YouTube for violating federal data privacy laws for kids — The Federal Trade Commission has finalized a settlement with Google in its investigation into YouTube for violating federal kids …

More: Neowin, The Hill, Engadget, Financial Times, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, CNET, and MSPoweruser

Tweets: @benpatrickwill, @jason_kint, @tonyromm, @reckless, @stevekovach, @profcarroll, @anabmap, @lam_barrett, @lam_barrett, @lam_barrett, @karlbode, and @tonyromm

Jon Emont / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Amazon offers Marketplace merchants perks like prominent placements, more if they agree to sell their successful brands to Amazon, often at $10K/brand — Program offers merchants prominent display and marketing support—at the cost of giving Amazon the right to buy their brand at a fixed price

More: PYMNTS.com

Heather Landi / FierceHealthcare:

Phreesia, a patient-intake software platform, has closed up 40% on its first day of trading on Thursday, after raising $167M in its IPO — Healthcare software company Phreesia closed its first day of trading as a public company Thursday about 40% above its set price.

More: Bloomberg

Lucy Tobin / London Evening Standard:

UK-based AppyParking, which uses sensors in parking bays to help drivers find empty parking spots, raises £7.6M Series A, at a valuation of £50M — Car giant's investment boosts value of London start-up — A London tech firm that aims to end drivers' hunt for parking spots …

More: Tech.eu, UKTN, and FinSMEs

Sponsor Posts

Google:

Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life

Shopify:

Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26 — Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.

Zoho:

Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control — Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.

IDrive:

Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Acquired:

10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)

Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.

Subscribe to Acquired.

Lenny's Podcast:

Why humans are AI's biggest bottleneck (and what's coming in 2026) | Alexander Embiricos (OpenAI Codex Product Lead)

Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.

Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.

Big Technology Podcast:

OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble

The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.

Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.

Hard Fork:

Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped

The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.

Subscribe to Hard Fork.

Access:

Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain

A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.

Subscribe to Access.

Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:

Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.

Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:00 AM ET, July 21, 2019.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.