Techmeme
February 6, 2021, 5:55 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Leaked cellphone data from the siege at the Capitol demonstrates how advertising IDs can be used to identify and track the movement of specific individuals  —  Times Opinion was able to identify individuals from a trove of leaked smartphone location data.  —  Mr. Warzel and Mr. Thompson are writers in Opinion.
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
As protests grow in Myanmar, NetBlocks says the country's internet connectivity fell to 16% of ordinary levels, indicating a near-total internet shutdown  —  Myanmar's military leaders are extending their  —  internet restrictions in a bid to limit protests against their coup.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Myanmar's new military government orders local telecom operators and ISPs to block Twitter and Instagram, days after imposing a similar blackout on Facebook  —  Updated at 1.46AM PT February 6: Telenor says Myanmar Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) has directed all mobile operators …
BuzzFeed News:
Sources: while Trump was in office, the Trump Org negotiated a 40% stake in Parler in exchange for making it his main social network; the deal never finalized  —  Documents seen by BuzzFeed News show that Parler offered Trump 40% of the company if he posted exclusively to the platform.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: CEO of Robinhood, which had 20M users in 2020 and recently raised $3.4B, told investors that he still plans to take the company public in H1 2021  —  The firm that set out to bring investing to the masses has run into the reality of Wall Street regulations
Mark Stenberg / Medialyte:
A skeptical look at Clubhouse, where most conversations are boring and whose audio-centric, synchronous content may be far less compelling after the pandemic  —  I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! … Share Medialyte  —  Clubhouse in the dog house  —  On Sunday night …
Ashley Gold / Axios:
Microsoft suspends contributions for the rest of the 2022 election cycle to all members of Congress who voted to object to the presidential election results  —  Microsoft announced Friday it will suspend contributions for the rest of the 2022 election cycle to all members of Congress who voted …
Emily Birnbaum / Protocol:
Democratic senators' SAFE TECH Act will strip Section 230 immunity for any ads or posts violating civil rights, antitrust, cyberstalking, human rights laws  —  Three top Democratic senators added to the stack of proposed Section 230 reforms Friday, introducing their own bill …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Associated Press:
Draft bill in Nevada to establish “Innovation Zones” would let tech companies with large areas of land form governments with the same authority as counties  —  CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Planned legislation to establish new business areas in Nevada would allow technology companies …
Kaveh Waddell / Consumer Reports:
Study finds that the CCPA needs stronger enforcement but “authorized agents” like DoNotPay can make it much easier for consumers to opt out of data collection  —  A CR study reveals progress, along with problems, when Calif. consumers use “authorized agents” to stop their data from being sold
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Research finds most Zoom-bombing incidents, especially in high schools and colleges, originate with participants who post the link publicly to invite trolls in  —  Researchers have found that most calls to disrupt videoconferences originate with the participants, especially in high schools and colleges.

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Earlier Picks

Arthur Holland Michel / Wired:
Ben Gilbert / Insider: