Techmeme: Norwegian videoconferencing startup Pexip, whose clients include US government and Spotify, seeks ~$200M in IPO this quarter at a post-money valuation of ~$570M (Richard Milne/Financial Times)

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How Eric Schmidt is reinventing himself as the prime liaison between Silicon Valley and the US military — The former Google C.E.O. has reinvented himself as the prime liaison between Silicon Valley and the military-industrial complex. — In July 2016, Raymond Thomas …

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Drew Harwell / Washington Post:

Companies are turning to intrusive monitoring of work-from-home employees, with always-on webcam rules, daily check-ins, and not-so-optional company happy hours — Always-on webcams, virtual “water coolers,” constant monitoring: Is the tech industry's new dream for remote work actually a nightmare?

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Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Researchers detail the increasingly prevalent LockBit ransomware, which may one day reach parity with other feared ransomware packages like Maze or Ryuk — You've probably never heard of LockBit, but that's likely to change. — Ransomware has emerged as one of the top threats facing large organizations …

More: McAfee Blogs, Wired, and BleepingComputer

Tweets: @john_fokker, @john_fokker, @_intelligencex, @dangoodin001, and @raj_samani

Kim Lyons / The Verge:

Kickstarter reaches agreement with its union on four months of severance pay, up to six months of healthcare coverage, and more for laid off employees — The workers voted to unionize in Feburary — The union for Kickstarter employees reached an agreement with management on Friday …

More: Gizmodo, Neowin, PR Newswire, and Engadget

William Gallagher / AppleInsider:

How Apple relies on people like Mike Janicek, part of a vanishing breed of experts, for the manufacturing of products like Apple Watch and the unibody MacBook — Apple and all technology firms outsource work to around the globe, yet it's crucial that they keep key skills in America —and no one is training the new generation.

Tweets: @appleinsider

Emily Birnbaum / Protocol:

A look at TikTok's efforts to repair its reputation in DC, where Bytedance has spent $300K on lobbying in 2020 and has hired former Internet Association chief — For hundreds of millions of fans around the world, TikTok is the place to go for videos of dancing celebrities, cooking advice and teenage hormones on overdrive.

Tweets: @protocol, @birnbaum_e, and @issielapowsky

Richard Milne / Financial Times:

Norwegian videoconferencing startup Pexip, whose clients include US government and Spotify, seeks ~$200M in IPO this quarter at a post-money valuation of ~$570M — Video-conferencing firm's clients include the US government, Amnesty International and Spotify

More: Telecompaper, Verdict, and PitchBook

Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:

Telemedicine startup Medici raises $24M Series B as demand surges due to COVID-19 pandemic, bringing Medici's total raised since 2016 to over $70M — We've seen a number of industries hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. But we've also seen a number with increased demand. Telehealth is one of the latter.

More: MobiHealthNews and VentureBeat

Tweets: @bayareawriter and @hkanji

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:

Sources: the owners of Virgin Media and O2 are discussing a merger to create a new TV and mobile company that would challenge BT and Sky in the UK — Owners of telecoms giants set to team up and challenge major sector players — The owners of Virgin Media and O2 are in talks to create …

More: Telegraph, Telegraph, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Reuters, and Engadget

Adriana Hamacher / Decrypt:

Malta's financial regulator says ~70% of crypto and blockchain startups applying for a license have given up; insiders say Malta's regulations are too stringent — Approximately 70% of the crypto and blockchain startups which completed the first stage of the application process failed …

Tweets: @daiva_hadiva, @foundationdrep, @coinbureau, and @decryptmedia

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Barcelona-based Factorial, maker of an all-in-one HR automation platform aimed at SMBs that is used by 60K+ customers, raises €15M Series A funding led by CRV — A startup that's hoping to be a contender in the very large and fragmented market of human resources software has captured …

Paul Karp / The Guardian:

Australia's home affairs department data breach reveals personal details of 774,000 migrants and aspiring migrants, including the outcome of applications — Exclusive: Privacy experts say the breach in the SkillsSelect platform, which affects data going back to 2014, was ‘very serious’

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