Techmeme
March 29, 2020, 9:25 PM

Top News

Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Report: CDC, state and local authorities in the US have started using anonymized location data from mobile ads to help plan their response to the pandemic  —  The use of phone location tracking to keep tabs on COVID-19 is becoming increasingly common, and the US appears to be no exception.
Mark Wyciślik-Wilson / BetaNews:
Microsoft says that there has been a 775% increase in use of its cloud services in regions that have enforced social distancing or shelter in place orders  —  This weekend, Microsoft has given an insight into the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on its services.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Crowdsourced data from Candor shows 267 tech companies have frozen hiring, 44 had layoffs, 36 rescinded offers, while 111, like Zoom and Twitter, are hiring  —  The coronavirus has taken a toll on the workforce, and now you can see a list of who's hiring, freezing hires, laying off people …
Financial Times:
China proposes an internet architecture called New IP to UN's ITU; critics say its top-down design would give governments granular control over the internet  —  New architecture would enable cutting-edge technologies but western countries fear more control for state-run internet services
Financial Times:
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
As the Authors Guild voices its opposition to Internet Archive's National Emergency Library, a look at the legal issues related to digital book lending  —  Massive online library project is venturing into uncharted legal waters.  —  One of the casualties of coronavirus-related social distancing measures …
Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:
Data from a whistleblower appears to show Saudi Arabia tracking the location of its citizens in the US by exploiting flaws in the SS7 phone network protocol  —  Exclusive: Whistleblower's data suggests millions of tracking requests sent over four-month period
More: TechCrunch
Leo Kelion / BBC:
UK's NHS says it is working with Microsoft, Google, Palantir, and Faculty AI on a dashboard that shows the spread of the virus and NHS' ability to deal with it  —  The NHS has confirmed it is teaming up with leading tech firms to ensure critical medical equipment is available to the facilities …

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More News

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

ProPublica:
Kali Hays / WWD:
Joseph Cox / VICE: