Techmeme
October 16, 2020, 9:50 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Twitter says it is now letting the NY Post link be shared because the info had spread so widely that it can no longer be considered private  —  The latest change underlined how rapidly social media platforms are shifting their positions in the days leading up to the election.
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Vijaya Gadde / @vijaya:
Wall Street Journal:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources describe how Mark Zuckerberg, who was once uninterested in politics, transformed himself into an active political operator during the Trump era  —  Facebook's chief, once uninterested, has transformed himself into an active political operator in the Trump era
Sean Lyngaas / CyberScoop:
Google says Chinese state-linked hacker group, known as APT31, has been using malware on GitHub to upload and download files on networks in targeted attacks  —  Former vice president Joe Biden.  Chinese hackers have unsuccessfully targeted the campaign, according to Google.  (Flickr / Gage Skidmore)
Edward Ongweso Jr / VICE:
At an all-hands, Brian Armstrong said a “silent majority” at Coinbase agreed with his apolitical stance; COO said some staff were asked to delete Slack posts  —  An internal all-hands meeting obtained by Motherboard shows Coinbase management was accused of “stunting internal discussion” …
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Watch with Family Setup, Apple's take on GPS tracking smartwatches for kids, has features like Schooltime mode while offering strong privacy, but is very costly  —  Apple's take on a GPS tracker for kids is unique but costly  —  The most interesting Apple Watch product Apple announced …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
UK's ICO reduces British Airways fine for a data breach, in which the personal details of more than 400,000 customers were leaked, from ~£184M to £20M  —  One of the biggest data breaches in UK corporate history has been closed off by regulators not with a bang, but a whimper — as a result of Covid-19.
Apple:
Apple opens preorders of the fourth-generation iPad Air with 10.9-inch display, 12MP rear camera, starting at $599, shipping from Friday, October 23  —  The most powerful iPad Air ever features a new all-screen design with larger 10.9-inch display, new 12MP rear camera, next-generation Touch ID sensor, and more
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
EU data protection authority finds IAB Europe's GDPR consent framework, adopted by Google and others, fails to meet required legal standards of data protection  —  A flagship framework for gathering Internet users' consent for targeting with behavioral ads — which is designed by ad industry body …
Bloomberg:
Ajit Pai says FCC will start a rulemaking to clarify the meaning of Section 230, and social media doesn't have “special immunity denied to other media outlets”  —  - Agency chief says it will conduct rulemaking Trump sought  — Analysts question authority of agency to issue regulations
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
BBC:
After a UK probe of influencer incentives, Instagram says it will add a prompt asking about compensation, improve detection algorithms, and report poor labeling  —  Instagram says it will do more to catch influencers who fail to disclose when they have been paid for their posts.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Google details how it is using AI to improve search, including indexing individual passages from webpages, allowing searches for songs by humming, and more  —  During a livestreamed event this afternoon, Google detailed the ways it's applying AI and machine learning to improve the Google Search experience.

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More News

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:

Earlier Picks

Aatif Sulleyman / Newsweek:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
NBC News:
Tom Warren / The Verge: