Techmeme: UK grocery franchise Southern Co-op is using London-based Facewatch's facial recognition tech in 18+ stores to prevent shoplifting, raising privacy concerns (Matt Burgess/Wired)

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December 21, 2020, 5:20 PM

Top News

Reuters:

Sources: Apple is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that may include internally developed lidar sensors and breakthrough battery tech — (Reuters) - Apple Inc is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that could include …

More: The Verge, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Forbes, iPhone Hacks, iMore, MacDailyNews, Apple Terminal, iPhone in Canada Blog, MSPoweruser, iDownloadBlog.com, and MacRumors

Tweets: @ronamadeo, @raywongy, @asymco, @stephennellis, @reuters, @deitaone, @deitaone, @deitaone, @deitaone, and @deitaone

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

The omnibus funding bill Congress is set to vote on contains the controversial CASE Act, which may ratchet up copyright trolling, and the Felony Streaming Bill — from the but-why? dept — As we warned about earlier this month, it appears that Congress has in fact put …

More: Politico and Axios

Tweets: @sdkstl, @mmasnick, @ronwyden, @sbjohnsrpi, @ovenotter, @mmasnick, and @xirzon

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Margaret Harding McGill / Axios:

Congress' COVID-19 relief deal includes $7B in broadband funding, with $1.9B to remove Huawei and ZTE equipment, $3.2B to low-income families, and more — The coronavirus relief package deal that Congressional leaders reached Sunday includes $7 billion in funding for broadband internet access.

Wall Street Journal:

Analysis finds 24+ organizations that installed SolarWinds code, including Cisco, Intel, Nvidia, VMware, Belkin, a CA hospital, and Kent State university — A Wall Street Journal analysis identified at least 24 organizations that installed software laced with malicious code by Russian hackers

More: ZDNet, TechRadar, Business Insider, CRN, SiliconANGLE, CNBC, Federal Computer Week, BleepingComputer, CyberScoop, Axios, and NBC News

Tweets: @dnvolz, @wsjpolitics, @ericgeller, @senatordurbin, @drewharwell, @ericgeller, @ryanaraine, @ellenychang, @algotrdr, @john_sipher, @httech, @caseyjohnellis, @blackorbird, @carlquintanilla, and @debramessing

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Security research firms: a second hacking group targeted SolarWinds systems with different malware, likely unrelated to “Sunburst” code targeting the Orion app

More: CRN, Check Point Software, and Security Affairs

Tweets: @campuscodi, @baris, and @campuscodi

Katie Bo Williams / Defense One:

WH officials propose ending the “dual-hat” leadership arrangement of NSA and Cyber Command, renewing debate over splitting up the agencies amid recent attacks

Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:

Personal info including emails, home addresses, and phone numbers of 272K+ users of hardware cryptocurrency wallet Ledger are freely available on hacker forums — A threat actor has leaked the stolen email and mailing addresses for Ledger cryptocurrency wallet users on a hacker forum for free.

Zach Dorfman / Foreign Policy:

Interviews with 36+ current and former US officials describe China's strategy of analyzing vast quantities of stolen US personal data to identify CIA operatives — Around 2013, U.S. intelligence began noticing an alarming pattern: Undercover CIA personnel, flying into countries in Africa …

More: blogs.bsg.ox.ac.uk and caixinglobal.com

Tweets: @beijingpalmer, @bethanyallenebr, @beijingpalmer, @foreignpolicy, @bethanyallenebr, @foreignpolicy, @vermontgmg, @beijingpalmer, @gadyepstein, @bethanyallenebr, and @zachsdorfman

Sam Biddle / The Intercept:

Despite complaints from pro-democracy activists and celebrities in Vietnam, Facebook allows groups focused on harassing dissidents and getting them arrested — For the past two years, Do Nguyen Mai Khoi has been trying painfully, futilely, to get Facebook to care about Vietnam.

Tweets: @amnestyusa, @samfbiddle, @theintercept, @fboversight, @amnestyusa, @samfbiddle, @theintercept, @derektmead, and @slpng_giants

Nandita Bose / Reuters:

Sources: executives and employees at Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and others are seeking to place allies in senior roles at government agencies under Biden — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Silicon Valley is working behind the scenes to secure senior roles for tech allies in lesser-known …

Tweets: @timnitgebru, @teddyschleifer, @lanceulanoff, @anildash, @rachelbovard, and @blmohr

Matt Burgess / Wired:

UK grocery franchise Southern Co-op is using London-based Facewatch's facial recognition tech in 18+ stores to prevent shoplifting, raising privacy concerns — Branches of the British grocer Southern Co-op are using surveillance technology to look for potential shoplifters.

Tweets: @wired

Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times:

Profile of Dina Srinivasan, who is helping Texas AG's antitrust investigation of Google after her treatises on Facebook and Google reframed antitrust thinking — Regulators are relying on insiders like Dina Srinivasan, who left her digital ad job after concluding that “Facebook and Google …

More: Fast Company, Protocol, Slate, and BIG by Matt Stoller

Tweets: @nytimesbusiness, @nytimesbusiness, @jpscasteras, @frankpasquale, @seemay, @ashkan, @annmlipton, @fboversight, @lutherlowe, @daiwaka, and @moonalice

Andrés Arrieta / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Facebook is attacking privacy with its anti-Apple campaign and has locked SMBs into a surveillance-powered advertising model that's invasive of customers

Rob Copeland / Wall Street Journal:

Profile of Kent Walker, Google's chief legal officer and SVP of global affairs who helped it fend off antitrust probes in 10+ countries including India and UK

Bloomberg:

Apartment List, a rental service that earns a fee only when a property is rented, raises $50M and is now valued at $600M+, roughly double its prior valuation — - Public listing ‘realistic’ in the next two years, CEO says — Company enabled more than 175,000 rentals to new tenants

More: Silicon Valley Business …, New.blicio.us, and PYMNTS.com. Tweets: @apartmentlist

Margins:

Cultural taboos around porn have led to blind spots in Silicon Valley, with VCs missing out on many of the industry's breakout hits like OnlyFans — It always was, it always will be. … One of the biggest and most interesting things happening in the consumer web right now is running almost completely under the radar.

Tweets: @arvidkahl, @hkanji, @ericzawo, and @cathyreisenwitz

Isabel Woodford / Sifted:

Study: the number of neobanks worldwide has tripled since 2017, climbing to nearly 300; in 2019, more than 70 neobanks went live — The number of neobanks worldwide has tripled since 2017, climbing from 100 to nearly 300 worldwide. — That means, over the last three years …

More: Financial Times

Cecilia D'Anastasio / Wired:

Cyberpunk 2077's developer hamstrung reviewers by forcing NDAs and sending copies just days before launch to prevent players from seeing the buggy mess — Video game companies are increasingly putting restrictions on what reviewers can show, widening the gap between expectations and reality.

More: The Verge, International Business Times, Destructoid, Defector, Tom's Guide, Forbes, and IGN

Tweets: @acvalens, @william_partin, @cecianasta, @cecianasta, @jordantcarlson, @laurakbuzz, @papapishu, @cecianasta, @cecianasta, and @navalang

See also Mediagazer

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:20 PM ET, December 21, 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

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Source: Bari Weiss is planning to create a masthead for CBS News as part of a broader overhaul of standards and procedures

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Trump says Stephen Colbert is a “pathetic trainwreck” and “CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW”; earlier CBS aired the Kennedy Center Honors, hosted by Trump

Lorcan Lovett / Nieman Reports:

A look at the state of independent media in Myanmar, which lost US and Swedish funding this year and where subscriptions aren't a dependable source of revenue

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More News

BBC:

Facebook says it had to remove some features in EU, including some child abuse detection tools, due to new rules banning automatic scanning of private messages

More: Social Media Today and Telegraph

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

TikTok launches its first personalized annual recap feature, “Year on TikTok”, which highlights what sort of videos were watched the most, favorite tracks, more

More: CNET, Social Media Today, and SlashGear. Tweets: @tiktok_comms

See also Mediagazer

Christine Hall / Crunchbase News:

Bolt, which is developing a one-click checkout service, adds $75M to its Series C, bringing the total round to $135M and total funding to $215M

More: TechCrunch, Bolt, VentureBeat, and Forbes

Robin Wauters / Tech.eu:

Tel Aviv-based Trigo, which uses computer vision checkout tech to retrofit stores, competing with Amazon Go, raises $60M Series B, bringing total raised to $94M

More: CTech, FinSMEs, Reuters, Globes Online, Business Wire, Bloomberg, and Tech News

Pranay Prabhat / NYT Open:

A look at NYT's first-party data program for direct-sold ads that uses its own data and data science techniques, which it says has performed well competitively

Tweets: @nytopen

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

OneTrust, which offers privacy management and marketing compliance tools, raises $300M Series C at a $5.1B valuation, bringing its total raised to $710M

More: Bloomberg, FinSMEs, SiliconANGLE, TCV, TechCrunch, and Crunchbase News

Pranshu Verma / New York Times:

Documents: Michael Pack, CEO of USAGM, is seeking to cut funding for its nonprofit Open Technology Fund, limiting internet access in tightly controlled places

Tweets: @rabble, @kenroth, @mattduss, @zacharykeck, @digiphile, @ewong, @deborahamos, @moisesnaim, @donmoyn, @tmclaughlin3, and @frankpallone

Earlier Picks

Nico Grant / Bloomberg:

Zoom says it is under investigation by the SEC and two US attorney offices over security and privacy issues and interactions with China and other governments

More: Input, Washington Examiner, Security Boulevard, AppleInsider, infosecurity-magazine.com, and ZDNet

Tweets: @pingroma, @sophiehrw, @jchengwsj, and @mollylambert

Jason Torchinsky / Ars Technica:

A look back at UK-based Acorn, which created Acorn RISC Machine (ARM), a RISC-based CPU, and in 1987, the first RISC-based PC, Acorn Archimedes

Tweets: @padraig and @monkeydom

Rene Ebersole / National Geographic:

Black-market wildlife ads have increased on Facebook despite the company's steps to combat them, as experts say ad takedowns prematurely alert criminals

Tweets: @moonalice, @natgeo, @yashar, @alicediconcetto, and @counteringcrime

Wall Street Journal:

Private equity firm Thoma Bravo has agreed to buy property management software provider RealPage for $9.6B, a 31% premium to its closing price on Friday

More: CNBC, Fortune, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @miriamgottfried and @keith_wasserman

The Economic Times:

Pine Labs, which makes POS software and provides last-mile retail transaction tech for merchants, raises $75M-$100M at a $2B valuation

More: Medianama, YourStory.com, Inc42 Media, and Livemint

Tweets: @amrishrau, @strictlyvc, and @ettech

New York Times:

A look at some of the designers, competitors, streamers, voice actors, and labor activists working to shift the insular gaming world culture towards inclusivity

Tweets: @vera_lopezphd, @blackwomencrim1, @jcassadybiz, @taylorlorenz, and @nytstyles

Bill Marczak / The Citizen Lab:

Citizen Lab: NSO's zero-day, zero-click exploit chain, active in at least iOS 13.5.1, was used to hack ~36 Al Jazeera reporters via iMessage in summer of 2020

More: The Guardian, Ars Technica, Al Jazeera, TechCrunch, SecurityWeek, The Hacker News, Washington Post, CNET, Techdirt, 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, Threatpost, Security Affairs, iLounge, Gizmodo, Business Insider, HackRead, Input, The Verge, CyberScoop, TechRadar, Financial Times, Patently Apple, BBC, ZDNet, MacDailyNews, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Forbes, iPhone Hacks, Engadget, and AppleInsider

See also Mediagazer