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December 21, 2020, 7:35 AM
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| 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 — Summary & Key Findings — In July and August 2020, government operatives used NSO Group's Pegasus spyware …
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The Guardian, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, Associated Press, The Verge, Forbes, TechRadar, Engadget, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, ZDNet, AppleInsider, iPhone Hacks, SlashGear, Neowin, and The Hacker News
Tweets: @jsrailton, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @dr_ulrichsen, @wokyleeks, @donie, @jsrailton, @farshadnayeri, @jsrailton, @zackwhittaker, @citizenlab, @pwnallthethings, @matthew_d_green, @robertjdenault, @evacide, @laurahuu, @matthew_d_green, @aaschapiro, @jsrailton, @jeffstone500, @pwnallthethings, @aaschapiro, @matthew_d_green, @osxreverser, @kenklippenstein, @dangillmor, @film_girl, and @shashj
| 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 … | 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 — Facebook has recently launched a campaign touting itself as the protector of small businesses. This is a laughable attempt from Facebook …
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Business Insider, 9to5Mac, BGR, iLounge, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Daring Fireball, ZDNet, HotHardware.com News, AppleInsider, MacDailyNews, MacRumors, Daring Fireball, and iPhone in Canada Blog
Tweets: @eff, @charlesarthur, @thisisarp, @eric_seufert, @tapbot_paul, @eff, @aidazzles, @counternotions, @moonalice, @hollyvalero, @eric_seufert, @counternotions, @jheydasch, @eff, @hypervisible, @jason_kint, @johnpaczkowski, @jpwp, @random_walker, @moonalice, @alexhern, @hillbrad, @pt, @hillbrad, @hillbrad, @pt, @seldo, @dakami, @willoremus, @ampyourgrowth, @benedictevans, @karaswisher, @jason_kint, @benedictevans, and @ronwyden
| Matt Stoller / BIG: |
Google and Facebook may continue predatory behavior for years as antitrust cases play out, which can be deterred by filing criminal charges against their execs — Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai need to be indicted. — 1 hr ago — Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly and finance.| Dan Primack / Axios: |
Sources: SoftBank will file on Monday to raise between $500M and $600M via an IPO of its first SPAC and is preparing at least two additional SPACs — SoftBank on Monday will file to raise between $500 million and $600 million via an IPO of its first SPAC, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
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Bloomberg, TechCrunch, The Economic Times, SiliconANGLE, PYMNTS.com, equalocean.com, Tech in Asia, and Reuters. Tweets: @danprimack
| Owen Thomas / San Francisco Chronicle: |
Profile of Bret Taylor, Salesforce's new COO and the architect of its $27.7B acquisition of Slack, who might one day succeed Marc Benioff as CEO of the company — Everyone in Silicon Valley seems to know Bret Taylor. — Few outside do. — That's going to change, as the software engineer …
Tweets: @owenthomas, @sfchronicle, @louisgray, @martinsfp, @hbrucejohnson, @cherylszee, @jeffjarvis, @demianbulwa, @kfury, and @zlurie
| Lingling Wei / Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: in an early November meeting, Jack Ma offered concessions to Chinese regulators, including handing over parts of Ant Group if “the country needs it” — Trying to salvage his relationship with regulators in a Nov. 2 meeting, the Chinese billionaire said he was ready to do what the country needed
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PYMNTS.com. Tweets: @kate_okeeffe, @stevelevine, @ajitpaifcc, @chadbown, @bobdavis187, @anuraag_saxena, @chorzempamartin, @carlminzner, @ruima, @jchengwsj, and @jmulvenon
| Michael Steeber / 9to5Mac: |
Apple has closed nearly 100 stores globally since December 14, including in London, California, and Tennessee, as COVID-19 cases surge — New COVID-19 restrictions and worsening outbreaks have compelled Apple to temporarily close nearly one fifth of its retail stores during one of the busiest shopping weeks of the holiday season.
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Engadget, Bloomberg, USA Today, The Verge, Cult of Mac, New York Times, Gizmodo, MacRumors, International Business Times, Newser, Pocketnow, Reuters, Apple Terminal, Los Angeles Times, and BBC
Tweets: @gartenberg, @xeni, @jeffmacke, @rickydlaw, and @markgurman
| 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 — An end to the “dual hat” arrangement has been debated for years — but the timing raises questions.| 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 — Pine Labs is currently India's third largest fintech startup after Paytm and PhonePe. It counts Lone Pine Capital, Sequoia India, Temasek, Mastercard, Paypal and Actis LLP as among its investors.
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Livemint, Medianama, YourStory.com, and Inc42 Media
Tweets: @amrishrau, @strictlyvc, and @ettech
| 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 — llegal wildlife ads have increased on Facebook despite its steps to combat animal trafficking. Crime watch groups are calling for broad legal reforms.| 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 — Private-equity firm reaches deal with provider of technology platform used by owners and managers of rental properties| Jacob Knutson / Axios: |
Trump downplayed the massive cyberattack on the US government, claiming that China may be responsible and the “Fake News Media” is exaggerating its extent — President Trump downplayed a massive cyberattack on U.S. government departments and agencies and private companies on Twitter Saturday …
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Protocol, Bloomberg, New York Times, NPR, CNN, Federal Computer Week, Fortune, Gizmodo, Newser, The Verge, Politico, The Verge, CRN, CNBC, Business Insider, Engadget, and The Guardian
Tweets: @realdonaldtrump, @realdonaldtrump, @ellenychang, @richardgrenell, @john_sipher, @httech, @caseyjohnellis, @kyledcheney, @normative, @c_c_krebs, @jimsciutto, @carlquintanilla, @debramessing, @nicoleperlroth, @nytpolitics, @brianstelter, @jimsciutto, @levie, @jonathanvswan, @andrewsolender, @peterbakernyt, @briankrebs, @jonathanvswan, @homelanddems, @repadamschiff, @tedlieu, @wesball, @jonathanvswan, @alivelshi, @asemota, @rubengallego, @margbrennan, @gregpmiller, @oliverdarcy, @pwnallthethings, @jimsciutto, @atrupar, @kaitlancollins, @laurenwern, @aghamilton29, @b_fung, @nicoleperlroth, and @acosta
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