Techmeme: OECD countries unveil proposals to tax giant multinationals, especially tech giants, after months of negotiations, cracking down on the use of tax havens (Financial Times)

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October 9, 2019, 5:10 PM

Top News

Lauren Strapagiel / BuzzFeed News:

Blizzard is facing an intense backlash after banning a player over Hong Kong pro-democracy comments, with some fans boycotting its games — Players are boycotting games like World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Hearthstone after a user was punished for supporting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong during a tournament.

Verna Yu / The Guardian:

Chinese state media warns Apple over app that tracks Hong Kong police, says Apple's approval of the app made it an “accomplice” in the protests — State media says ‘poisonous’ app made Apple an accomplice in the Hong Kong protests — China's state media has accused Apple …

Bloomberg:

Blizzard bans player from Hearthstone competition for a year and rescinds $10K prize money, after he publicly supported Hong Kong's pro-democracy protestors

More: The Verge, Engadget, Engadget, The Verge, Kotaku, Business Insider, NPR, VICE, BBC, PC Gamer, Foreign Policy, Polygon, Trustnodes, Nikkei Asian Review, TechSpot, IGN, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and CNBC

Tweets: @ronwyden, @marcorubio, @grummz, @vocommunism, @lachlan, @tomasforgac, @mahoutzukai, @sweetpotatoes, and @vickerysec

See also Mediagazer

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Kuo: iPhone SE 2 and new iPad Pro models are coming in Q1'20; MacBooks with new keyboard and an Apple AR headset in partnership with third-party brands in Q2'20 — According to a Chinese language Ming-Chi Kuo report, Apple is readying the release of the iPhone SE 2 and new iPad Pro models for the first quarter of next year.

More: MacRumors, MacRumors, CNBC, CNET, Yahoo Finance, Thurrott, SiliconANGLE, BGR, Gizmodo, iPhone in Canada Blog, Macworld, Business Insider, Inquirer, MSPoweruser, iDownloadBlog.com, Gizchina, Cult of Mac, WinBuzzer, iPhone Hacks, Neowin, Computerworld, iMore, Fast Company, Mashable, MacDailyNews, KnowTechie, Tom's Guide, Coinspeaker, and PYMNTS.com

Tweets: @tomemrich, @bzamayo, and @stroughtonsmith

VICE:

Leaked email from GitHub CEO shows the company will renew its $200K contract with ICE, despite stated opposition to child separation policies — Even though GitHub leadership and others oppose ICE's child separation policy, an internal email suggests GitHub won't stop ICE from renewing a contract with the tech company.

Pew Research Center:

Survey of 4,272 US adults shows patchy knowledge on tech issues: many answered correctly on cookies and phishing, few knew about 2FA, https, or private browsing — A majority of U.S. adults can answer fewer than half the questions correctly on a digital knowledge quiz, and many struggle with certain cybersecurity and privacy questions

More: Washington Post, Mashable, Threatpost, Fast Company, Lifehacker, SlashGear, CNET, TechSpot, Adweek, and Boing Boing

Tweets: @hshaban, @tonyromm, @ericgeller, @epro, @lrainie, @isaacsmei, @samsabin923, @pewresearch, @digiphile, @monicaranders, and @daveschroeder

Anna Baydakova / CoinDesk:

The IRS publishes its first guidance in five years for calculating taxes owed on cryptocurrency holdings, clearing up how hard forks should be treated — The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has published its first guidance in five years for calculating taxes owed on cryptocurrency holdings.

More: Internal Revenue Service, Internal Revenue Service, Bloomberg, Fortune, SlashGear, Bitcoinist.com, Cointelegraph, Crowdfund Insider, and The Block

Rose Eveleth / Vox:

The biggest lie technologists tell themselves and others is that there is nothing we can do to stop the natural and inevitable evolution of technology — They see facial recognition, smart diapers, and surveillance devices as inevitable evolutions. They're not.

More: New York Times. Tweets: @chengela, @went1955, @voxdotcom, @johnwilson, and @vwpickard

Financial Times:

OECD countries unveil proposals to tax giant multinationals, especially tech giants, after months of negotiations, cracking down on the use of tax havens — The OECD has proposed a global shake-up of corporate taxation, overturning a century of rules that had allowed digital groups such as Facebook …

More: Reuters, Engadget, 9to5Mac, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AppleInsider, Business Insider, and iMore

Tweets: @leemakiyama and @chrisgiles_

CNBC:

House Financial Services Committee says Mark Zuckerberg will testify on October 23 as part of a hearing on Libra and more — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Oct. 23 at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, the committee announced Wednesday.

More: Financial Services Committee, Axios, Washington Post, CNET, CNN, Business Insider, and Cointelegraph

Tweets: @ceciliakang, @logandobson, @ceciliakang, and @dylanbyers

Danielle Abril / Fortune:

A look at Google's product inclusion team, tasked with making sure its products are without bias related to race, gender, sexual orientations, or disabilities — Choose Your Region: … Sign up now to receive FORTUNE's best content, special offers, and much more. — © 2019 Fortune Media IP Limited.

Zachary Evans / National Review:

FISA court rules that an FBI foreign surveillance program violated Americans' civil liberties, deeming tens of thousands of searches from 2017-2018 illegal — The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has ruled that an FBI program intended to target foreign suspects violated Americans' constitutional right …

More: IC ON THE RECORD, Wall Street Journal, Ars Technica, Engadget, TechSpot, CNET, and The Verge

Tweets: @dnvolz, @malwarejake, @senatorleahy, @ggreenwald, @jeff_kaye, @danielschuman, @roncoleman, @imeluny, @dnvolz, @miekeeoyang, @snowden, and @jesselynradack

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:10 PM ET, October 9, 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.

From Mediagazer

Paul Glynn / BBC:

HarperCollins UK drops children's author and comedian David Walliams following allegations of inappropriate behavior toward young women

Ken Vogel / @kenvogel:

Politico ends its print edition after 19 years, as its early reliance on print ad revenue fades and its audience relies more on digital platforms

Nicholas Henriquez / New Yorker:

The New Yorker has digitized its full archive covering 100 years, including covers and adding upgraded search capabilities; subscribers get unlimited access

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More News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Pinterest makes its Progressive Web App available as a Pinterest Lite app download on Google Play in Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico

More: Market Research Reporting

Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:

Analysis of Latin America's VC activity shows $2.6B has been invested across 160 deals in 2019 so far, up from $500M during the whole of 2016

Thanks:@bayareawriter

FinSMEs:

UK-based Sonovate, which offers a platform for back office administrative tasks, raises £110M in debt and equity led by M&G Investments and others

More: Sonovate

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:

Uber to launch Uber Pet, letting users bring pets on rides without risking cancellation, for a $3-$5 surcharge, in select US cities starting October 16

More: VentureBeat, TechCrunch, SlashGear, Digital Trends, Fast Company, Mashable, KnowTechie, CNET, TechCrunch, and TechSpot. Tweets: @tgiraudet

Arielle Pardes / Wired:

A growing number of astrophysicists are leaving academia to join data science teams at tech companies amid a surging demand for machine learning expertise

Tweets: @wired, @hshaban, @arigesher, @chrisoutofspace, @stevenstrogatz, @raffasadun, @tanmayis20, @pardesoteric, and @zackkanter

Nicola Davis / The Guardian:

Nobel prize in chemistry awarded to three scientists for their work in developing lithium-ion batteries, which sparked the portable technology revolution

More: Nikkei Asian Review, New York Times, Ars Technica, Engadget, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, BuzzFeed News, BBC, and CNN

Tweets: @campuscodi, @nicolaksdavis, and @jason_pontin

Denis Campbell / The Guardian:

UK's NHS launches first clinic to treat gaming addiction in young people aged 13 to 25; referred patients can be treated in person or online via Skype

Leigh Cuen / CoinDesk:

At Devcon 5, Ethereum's premier conference, Ethereum's creators admit that the original blockchain was never meant to scale and discuss how to get to Eth 2

Tweets: @scupytrooples, @bobsummerwill, @bytemaster7, @arcblock_io, and @la__cuen

Earlier Picks

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google's Grasshopper, its learn-to-code mobile app for beginners, is now available on the desktop in the form of a web-based app

More: Thurrott and The Next Web

Alfred Ng / CNET:

More than 30 civil rights groups sign an open letter asking mayors and city councils to cancel 500+ existing local police partnerships with Amazon's Ring

More: Vox, Threatpost, Beyond Search, ZDNet, and MediaNama

Tweets: @voxdotcom, @fightfortheftr, @raicestexas, @ranimolla, @fightfortheftr, and @profferguson

Amanda Capritto / CNET:

Smart fitness company Mirror, maker of a reflective LCD device with two-way audio and video, launches in-home 1:1 personal training at $40 per 30-minute session

More: Digital Trends. Thanks:@maxlifton

Lori Hawkins / Austin American-Statesman:

Austin-based SparkCognition, which uses AI to monitor and predict when industrial systems may fail or be hacked, raises $100M Series C at a valuation of $725M

More: Crunchbase News. Tweets: @jamesdavid, @johntchambers, @amirhusain_tx, and @lorichawkins

Theodore Schleifer / Vox:

Sources: Postmates, which planned to go public this year, has recently told advisers that it is delaying its IPO due to market conditions

Tweets: @mikeisaac, @davidschawel, and @teddyschleifer

Paul Wagenseil / Tom's Guide:

D-Link won't patch a remote exploit in four of its routers, saying they are end-of-life, despite some being discontinued in 2018 and still being sold on Amazon

More: SecurityWeek. Tweets: @mr_internet, @dd42bb, and @pblakez

Ina Fried / Axios:

Twitter says it has unintentionally used some email addresses and phone numbers provided for account security purposes for ad targeting

Washington Post:

Bipartisan Senate report makes recommendations to prevent Russian election interference in 2020, saying Russia sowed social media discord to help Trump in 2016

More: Select Committee …, CyberScoop, Wired, Bloomberg, Axios, CBS News, Business Insider, MIT Technology Review, and Politico

Tweets: @steventdennis, @business, @thomass4217, @zigmanfreud, @jeffrygc, @nprpolitics, @nickriccardi, @kristenclarkejd, @rodrosenstein, and @josh_emerson