Techmeme
September 6, 2020, 12:40 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Nonparent employees are increasingly voicing their grievances over the extra benefits companies like Facebook extend to parents working from home  —  Pandemic policies at tech companies have created a rift between parents offered more benefits and resentful workers who don't have children.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
In court filing, Epic says Fortnite has 116M iOS users, a third of the game's 350M users, and iOS DAUs declined by 60%+ since its removal from the App Store  —  Epic is formally asking for a preliminary injunction  —  Shortly before midnight on the Friday before Labor Day weekend …
Andy Chalk / PC Gamer:
Twitch says it is shutting down Twitch Sings, a live streaming karaoke game it had co-developed with Rock Band studio Harmonix, on January 1, 2021  —  Twitch said it's being shuttered to ‘invest in broader tools and services’ for its music community.  —  Twitch Sings has sung its last …
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Interview with Reed Hastings, on the future of Hollywood, the US election and social media, his new book about Netflix's aggressive company culture, and more  —  Netflix started with sending DVDs — remember them? — through the mail, but now the streaming pioneer sits atop a Hollywood it has thoroughly upended.
Jeanne Whalen / Washington Post:
US government is considering adding Chinese chip manufacturer SMIC to the Entity List, which would block US companies from selling SMIC tech without a license  —  Pentagon says the Trump administration is weighing possible trade sanction on SMIC  —  The Trump administration …
Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:
Q&A with AI Now Institute's Amba Kak on the organization's new report detailing eight case studies of how biometric ID systems are regulated around the world  —  A new report from the AI Now Institute reveals how different regulatory approaches work or fall short in protecting communities from surveillance.
Wall Street Journal:
Amazon bans foreign plant sales in the US, after mystery seeds sent to households this summer led US officials to raise alarm over ease of e-commerce seed sales  —  Shift by the e-commerce giant comes as agricultural authorities investigate the delivery of thousands of packets of seeds
Paul Mozur / New York Times:
A look at the role of WeChat in China and abroad, its differences with TikTok, and how its features are inextricably woven with surveillance and censorship  —  A vital connection for the Chinese diaspora, the app has also become a global conduit of Chinese state propaganda, surveillance and intimidation.
Jeremy B. Merrill / ProPublica:
Facebook's ban on political ads in the week prior to the election applies to election officials, who use Facebook to inform voters about the voting process  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.

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