Techmeme: The debate over TikTok is a chance to come up with a thoughtful model to regulate big tech companies, whether they're based in China, Copenhagen, or California (Kevin Roose/New York Times)

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July 27, 2020, 9:40 AM

Top News

Rob Copeland / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Google will keep nearly all of its employees working from home until at least July 2021, affecting almost 200,000 full-time and contract employees — Search engine giant pushes back return to normalcy — SAN FRANCISCO—Google will keep its employees home until at least next July …

More: Business Insider and Seeking Alpha

Tweets: @wsj, @biannagolodryga, @davejorgenson, and @retailprophet

Matt Johnston / iTnews:

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sues Google for allegedly expanding the use of users' personal data without gaining explicit consent — This time over expanded use of personal data. — The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has again taken aim at Google …

More: Australian Competition …, The Register, Reuters, MediaNama, ZDNet, and Neowin

Tweets: @wolfiechristl and @acccgovau

Ian Tucker / The Guardian:

Q&A with Yaël Eisenstat, who was briefly hired as Facebook's global head of elections integrity in 2018 and, she says, intentionally sidelined from the start — The ex-CIA officer on why she lasted only six months at the tech giant and her fears about its role in the forthcoming US election

More: Memex 1.1. Tweets: @0xcaffee, @ericgarland, @ideagov, @jankybrain, and @_brohrer_

Associated Press:

Trump is running Facebook ads accusing Twitter and Snapchat of election interference, while Biden's Facebook ads accuse Facebook of posing a threat to democracy

More: Slashdot. Tweets: @ap, @ashleymayer, @bruno_j_navarro, @fabiochiusi, @nickpacilio, @jason_kint, and @benedictevans

Kevin Roose / New York Times:

The debate over TikTok is a chance to come up with a thoughtful model to regulate big tech companies, whether they're based in China, Copenhagen, or California — There is plenty the U.S. government could do to ensure that TikTok acts responsibly without getting rid of it altogether.

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

A look at work-from-home trends: rise of “desktop as a service”, purpose-built hardware for remote communication, and more investment in home office equipment — Tens of millions of Americans are working from home and many will never go back; employers scramble to figure out what tools they'll need to stay productive

More: The Atlantic. Tweets: @tommorton, @mims, @dianeswonk, @idpharmacometrx, @cindyotis_, @prof_smurph, @wsj, @genszen, @cbdawson, @k_morrissey, @profmusgrave, @mims, @mims, @mims, and @mims

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Digital banking app and tech unicorn Dave confirms a security breach after a hacker published personal information on 7.5M+ of its users on a public forum — Dave user data is now available for download on a public hacking forum. — Digital banking app and tech unicorn Dave.com confirmed today …

More: A Banking Blog for Humans, BleepingComputer, and Slashdot

Tweets: @notsolpon, @ungarino, @mdudas, @haveibeenpwned, @troyhunt, @troyhunt, @ws, and @campuscodi

Prasid Banerjee / Livemint:

A look at how India has become a “hack-for-hire” hub, as the growing, dark, and shady industry targets politicians, companies, and activists — - Politicians, companies and activists are increasingly being targeted by a secretive industry. How does it work?

Tweets: @dillidurast and @razhael

Scott Galloway / No Mercy/No Malice:

Some ideas for questions and visual aids that House antitrust subcommittee members can use when questioning the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google — The CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google are scheduled to testify in front of the US House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee.

More: AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, Cult of Mac, The Verge, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Reuters, Benedict Evans, Business Insider, Axios, CNET, Memex 1.1, Politico, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @rishad, @profgalloway, @carnage4life, @tedstew, @profgalloway, @pythiar, @aleighmp, @profgalloway, @profgalloway, @peter_atwater, @jmrybnicek, @ashimehta23, and @justinhendrix

Robert McMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Audit finds six election boards in MI, MO, ME, NH using a buggy version of email software Exim, which the NSA says has been targeted in attacks by Russia's GRU — Six jurisdictions used software that Russian spies have targeted in cyberattacks — Many of the thousands of county …

More: Area 1 Security, Gizmodo, Mashable, The Verge, and Engadget

Tweets: @wsj, @wsjpolitics, and @dabeard

Annie Musgrove / Tech.eu:

cargo.one, a Berlin-based digital booking service for air cargo, raises $18.6M Series A led by Index Ventures — Berlin-based cargo.one, a digital booking platform for freight forwarders, has raised $18.6 million in Series A funding to develop its business into a global operating system for air cargo.

More: TechCrunch, Silicon Canals, and EU-Startups

Alex Konrad / Forbes:

SAP announces plans to spin out Qualtrics, a user experience management platform it acquired in 2018 for $8B, with an IPO in the US — Twenty months after SAP swooped in and announced its plan to acquire Qualtrics for $8 billion as it was on the cusp of an IPO, the experience management software company may be going public after all.

More: SAP, SAP News Center, Coinspeaker, Enterprise Times, diginomica, Fortune, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @trengriffin, @alexrkonrad, @nongaap, @katie_roof, and @derekjandersen. Thanks:@alexrkonrad

New York Times:

Jeff Bezos has taken a hands-off approach to Washington, staying above the fray, but that changes with his first-ever Congressional testimony on Wednesday — The chief executive, who testifies before Congress for the first time on Wednesday, had taken a hands-off approach with lawmakers in Washington.

More: Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Axios. Tweets: @dmccabe

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:40 AM ET, July 27, 2020.

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

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Alisa Bowen, president of Disney+ since late 2022, is leaving to become CEO of Disney-controlled Fubo, succeeding David Gandler, who led Fubo for over a decade

A.J. Katz / The Wrap:

NYT introduces The Local: Twin Cities, a pilot newsletter with original reporting, a goal of promoting local outlets, and an August launch date

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

USA Today CEO Mike Reed says the company is prepared to opt out of Google Search in the next 6 to 12 months because it has no licensing agreement with Google

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More News

David Uberti / Wall Street Journal:

As police requests for Google users' location history grow, “geofence warrants” are facing increasing pushback and legal scrutiny, with challenges in CA and VA

Christine Hall / Crunchbase News:

Sibros, which offers automakers a connected vehicle service for firmware updates and data collection from sensors and other components, raises $12M Series A

More: FinSMEs

FinSMEs:

Afresh, which offers grocers an AI-powered service to manage fresh food orders, inventory, and merchandising, raises $12M in Series A follow-on round of funding

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Seoul-based Riiid, which uses AI to offer personalized study plans to students in its test prep app Santa, raises $41.8M, bringing its total raised to $70.2M

Biz Carson / Protocol:

A look at the rise of “solo capitalists”, micro VC funds, and AngelList's Rolling Venture Fund product that lets users subscribe and invest on a quarterly basis

Tweets: @helen_min, @protocol, @bizcarson, @bizcarson, @bizcarson, @bizcarson, @rednieves, and @bizcarson

Anton Troianovski / New York Times:

Facebook hired StopFake in Ukraine to flag Russian disinformation, but critics accuse the fact-checking group of ties to the far right and of bias in its work

Tweets: @polinaivanovva, @dpol_un, @maximeristavi, @arictoler, and @maximeristavi

Earlier Picks

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

EU watchdogs warn that there is no grace period after Schrems II ruling and transfers of personal data from EU to US relying on Privacy Shield are now illegal

Brian Merchant / OneZero :

Q&A with Tim Maughan, the sci-fi writer whose dystopian visions of AR-powered surveillance capitalism now seem to be turning into reality with uncanny accuracy

More: The Prepared. Tweets: @ricksearle1, @hpredko, @jathansadowski, @cherylmorgan, and @techwontsaveus

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

A survey of 500+ cybersecurity pros sheds light on which skills they find most useful in cybersecurity job candidates, and which are most frequently lacking

Tweets: @infosecsherpa, @briankrebs, @bettersafetynet, and @foresightcyber

Mengmeng Zhang / Counterpoint Research:

Despite smartphone sales in China declining 17% YoY in Q2, Huawei grew 14%, capturing 46% of the market, as Apple grew 32%, becoming the fastest growing OEM

More: equalocean.com. Tweets: @trengriffin and @neiltwitz

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:

A Garmin employee confirms that the company's servers were hit by WastedLocker, a ransomware variant developed by Russia-based cybercriminal group Evil Corp

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

A vigilante hacker has been sabotaging the Emotet malware botnet, replacing a quarter of daily payloads with animated GIFs, stopping victims from being infected

More: TechRadar, Explica, iTnews, and DataBreaches.net

Tweets: @z_edian and @campuscodi