Techmeme
December 4, 2020, 1:40 PM

Top News

New York Times:
EU law inhibiting the monitoring of email, messaging, and other services that takes effect Dec. 20 would also restrict scanning for child sexual abuse imagery  —  Regulators argue that while abuse imagery on the internet is abhorrent, unchecked scanning for it by tech companies could violate privacy rights.
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Timnit Gebru says she was fired as co-lead of Ethical AI at Google due to an email to colleagues; leaked email details her struggles as a Black leader at Google  —  “Stop writing your documents because it doesn't make a difference”: Timnit Gebru's final message to her peers
Tom Simonite / Wired:
Chinese scientists claim quantum supremacy with a system that calculated in mins what a supercomputer would take 2B years, using tech different than Google  —  Google trumpeted its quantum computer that outperformed a conventional supercomputer.  A Chinese group says it's done the same, with different technology.
M.G. Siegler / 500ish:
Despite Microsoft's present-day sales power, a wave of product-focused enterprise companies inspired by Slack and its peers will ultimately disrupt the giant  —  A quick rebuttal on the Slackforce Slacklash  —  Look, it's late.  And everyone is happy enough so there's no pressing need to weigh in here.
Wall Street Journal:
DOJ sues Facebook, accusing it of improperly reserving jobs for H-1B workers by not sufficiently advertising open positions and overlooking US residents  —  Justice Department lawsuit says social-media company didn't sufficiently advertise open positions, overlooked U.S. residents
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Apple's Screen Recognition, a computer vision system in iOS14 trained on images of apps in use, labels the UI elements on screen for users who are blind  —  Apple has always gone out of its way to build features for users with disabilities, and VoiceOver on iOS is an invaluable tool for anyone …
Washington Post:
Parler's lax moderation policies have helped it become a magnet for porn and escort services, which might complicate its hopes of expanding into advertising  —  Hashtags like #keepamericasexy proliferate alongside conspiracy theories and conservative politics
Reuters:
The DOD has added China's largest chipmaker SMIC to its blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday added China's top chipmaker SMIC and oil giant CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies …
Caroline O'Donovan / BuzzFeed News:
NLRB has issued a complaint against Amazon in November over firing of warehouse employee who discussed pay and other workplace issues with her coworkers  —  This spring, six different Amazon employees claimed they were wrongfully terminated by the company in retaliation for their involvement in organizing to improve working conditions.

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More News

Wall Street Journal:
David McLaughlin / Bloomberg:
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:

Earlier Picks

Julia Alexander / The Verge:
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Peter Rudegeair / Wall Street Journal:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Brian Barrett / Wired:
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk: