Techmeme
January 20, 2020, 12:45 AM

Top News

Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
A look at Clearview AI, a facial recognition app claiming it scraped 3B+ images from sites like Facebook, YouTube, and that 600+ law enforcement agencies use it  —  A little-known start-up helps law enforcement match photos of unknown people to their online images — and “might lead to a dystopian future or something,” a backer says.
Sundar Pichai / Financial Times:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says AI is too important not to be regulated and there are real concerns about the potential negative consequences of AI  —  The writer is chief executive of Alphabet and Google  —  Growing up in India, I was fascinated by technology.  Each new invention changed my family's life in meaningful ways.
More: 9to5Google
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
The Verge:
Profile of Armslist, the “Craigslist of guns” that offers nearly any kind of gun imaginable and where all transactions are done peer to peer  —  Inside Armslist, the online ‘gun show that never ends’  —  Thomas Caldwell was a veteran in his 60s with a soft physique, oval glasses …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Instagram removes the IGTV button from its home page; Sensor Tower: IGTV's standalone app was downloaded 1.1M times in the US since its launch in June 2018  —  TikTok saw 80X more installs  —  At most, 7 million of Instagram's 1 billion-plus users have downloaded its standalone IGTV app in the 18 months since launch.
Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:
An analysis of 40 studies finds that the link between social media use and both depression and anxiety among adolescents is small and inconsistent  —  A growing number of academics are challenging assumptions about the negative effects of social media and smartphones on children.
Hindenburg Research:
Research: Opera, known for its web browser, allegedly issues predatory loans in Kenya, Nigeria, and India via Android apps, likely violating Play Store policies  —  GET OUR LATEST REPORTS DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX  —  Summary (NASDAQ: OPRA)  — Opera went public in mid-2018 based largely on prospects for its core browser business.
Dave Gershgorn / OneZero:
US Army contracted two firms for $4.5M to create a facial recognition system that analyzes infrared images to identify people at a distance of 10 to 500 meters  —  Infrared cameras recognize the heat emitted from your face  —  he U.S. military is spending more than $4.5 million …

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More News

The Intercept:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
AnnaMaria Andriotis / Wall Street Journal:
Cameron Faulkner / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal:
Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:
Asif Iqbal Shaik / MySmartPrice:
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Samuel Stolton / EURACTIV.com: