Techmeme
December 23, 2020, 11:00 AM

Top News

Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
SEC sues Ripple Labs, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Chairman Chris Larsen, alleging they violated federal securities laws in selling XRP to retail consumers  —  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) believes Ripple Labs violated federal securities laws in selling the XRP cryptocurrency to retail consumers.
Logic Magazine:
Q&A with an anonymous AWS cybersecurity engineer on why AWS is easy to migrate to but difficult to leave, how the pandemic compounded AWS' advantages, and more  —  Amazon is on a mission to own the infrastructure of our lives.  The second-largest private employer in the United States after Walmart …
Kevin McLaughlin / The Information:
Sources: Zoom has begun developing a web email service for businesses, and may trial it next year, and is also considering building a calendar app  —  Zoom Video Communications has had an astonishing rise in 2020, emerging as the go-to service for work meetings and family get-togethers during the pandemic.
John Harney / Bloomberg:
DHS has issued an advisory to US businesses, warning of data security risks with using communication equipment and services from China-linked companies  —  - Homeland Security warns of trade secret, competition risks  — Advisory comes after hack that Trump advisers blame on Russia
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Telegram debuts group voice chat as CEO Pavel Durov says it is nearing 500M MAUs and will launch an ad platform for public one-to-many channels next year  —  Instant messaging app Telegram is “approaching” 500 million users and plans to start generating revenue starting next year to keep the business afloat …
Rachel Sandler / Forbes:
NY Governor signs a bill to suspend the use of facial recognition and other biometric ID tech in schools until July 2022, the first such regulation in the US  —  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Tuesday temporarily banning the use of facial recognition in schools, making it the first state to take such a step.
Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg:
Biden transition team says Twitter told it current followers of @POTUS won't carry over to Biden, whose @POTUS account will start at zero, a reversal from 2017  —  - Followers were transfered to Trump from Obama in 2017  — First lady, press secretary accounts also reset to zero
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Certificate authority Let's Encrypt says it has found a workaround that will extend older Android phones' compatibility with its certificates by three years  —  When you haven't been updated since 2016, expiring certificates are a problem.  —  Things were touch-and-go for a while …
Reuters:
Documents: Google's AI unit tightened control over its scientists' papers on “sensitive topics” and asked at least three to portray its tech in a positive light  —  OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google this year moved to tighten control over its scientists' papers by launching a …
Tim Higgins / Wall Street Journal:
Memo: Apple gave developers of paid games and those with IAP a deadline of Dec. 31 to submit proof of a license or risk removal from the App Store in China  —  Thousands of games face removal in state as Beijing steps up policing of content  —  Apple Inc. is booting thousands of videogame apps …
More: AppleInsider and iMore
Substack Blog:
Explaining its content moderation policy, Substack says it will “resist public pressure to suppress voices that loud objectors deem unacceptable”  —  Building a system that puts readers and writers in charge  —  As Substack grows, there is increasing interest in the stance we take on content moderation.
Alex Gallagher / NME:
The COVID-19 relief bill passed by Congress includes the Felony Streaming Bill, which makes illegal streaming for profit a felony, with up to 10 years jail time  —  Targeting illegal for-profit streaming providers, not individual users  —  The US Congress has passed a COVID-19 stimulus bill …
Ruti Levy / Haaretz:
Sources: Israeli content recommendation company Taboola is in talks to merge with ION group's SPAC that raised $259M in October  —  Israeli online content-recommendation company Taboola may be the perfect match for ION, that raised $260m to merge with private firm valued at over a billion dollars
More: Tech.eu
Bloomberg:
Xiaomi's market value tops $100B, the valuation that sources said it had originally eyed for its 2018 IPO  —  - Stock surge follows strong sales, Hang Seng Index inclusion  — Shares have nearly tripled in 2020 after post-IPO struggles  —  Xiaomi Corp. founder Lei Jun can finally rejoice …
Tweets: @bsindia
Sascha Segan / PCMag:
Testing suggests Verizon's dynamic spectrum sharing tech, which reuses parts of 4G channels for 5G, often produces slower speeds on 5G than its LTE network  —  Verizon's DSS 5G can be slower than 4G.  We explain why, and how to turn off or disable 5G on your iPhone.
Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:
Hong Kong-based on-demand delivery startup Lalamove raises $515M Series E led by Sequoia Capital China, bringing its total raised to $976.5M  —  Lalamove will extend its network to cover more small Chinese cities after raising $515 million in Series E funding, the on-demand logistics company announced on its site.

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