Techmeme
October 10, 2019, 5:00 AM

Top News

Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Apple removes app from the App Store that tracked Hong Kong police and protests after pressure from China, says it “violates our guidelines and local laws”  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Apple removed an app on Wednesday that enabled protesters in Hong Kong to track police …
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.
Mark Kern / @grummz:
[Thread] Former World of Warcraft developer lead denounces Blizzard, says Chinese investment in game companies is silencing voices for freedom and democracy  —  This hurts. But until Blizzard reverses their decision on @blitzchungHS I am giving up playing Classic WoW, which I helped make and helped convince Blizzard to relaunch. There will be no Mark of Kern guild after all. Let me explain why I am #BoycottBlizzard
Verna Yu / The Guardian:
Bloomberg:
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
Facebook refuses Biden campaign's request to take down a misleading Trump campaign ad, rejected by CNN, reigniting a debate about Facebook and political speech  —  WASHINGTON — The 30-second video ad released by the Trump campaign last week is grainy, and the narrator's voice is foreboding.
Michael del Castillo / Forbes:
UNICEF's Office of Innovation launches crypto fund for bitcoin and ether donations, becoming the first UN agency to hold and make transactions in cryptocurrency  —  When Christina Lomazzo was a teenager, she used to hop back and forth across the U.S. Canada border for fun.
CNBC:
Shooting in Halle, Germany was livestreamed on Twitch; ~5 people watched the 35-minute video live and about 2,200 watched before it was removed in ~30 minutes  —  09 October 2019, Saxony-Anhalt, Landsberg: Police officers walk along a hedge with machine guns in their hands near Wiedersdorf/Landsberg.
Mitchel Broussard / MacRumors:
Apple starts selling Microsoft's Xbox Wireless Controller on its online store for the first time  —  Apple has added the Xbox Wireless Controller to Apple.com, although the accessory is currently unavailable to purchase at the time of writing.  Apple sells a few different gaming controllers …
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.
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.

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Earlier Picks

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