Techmeme
March 12, 2021, 7:35 PM

Top News

Kent Walker / The Keyword:
Google says Microsoft's support of a bill for greater bargaining power for news pubs is “self-serving” and intended to distract from the SolarWinds hack  —  Google has always been committed to providing high-quality and relevant information, and to supporting the news publishers who help create it.
Brad Smith / Microsoft On the Issues:
In House hearing, Brad Smith says monetizing referral traffic has become increasingly difficult for news pubs because Google squeezes out most of the profit  —  Editor's Note: On Mar. 12, Microsoft President Brad Smith testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: tools used in the Feb. 28 Exchange hack are similar to proof-of-concept attack code that Microsoft distributed to security partners a week earlier  —  Investigators seeking to unravel how attack spread in week before software fix  —  Microsoft Corp. is investigating whether …
Patrick Howell O'Neill / MIT Technology Review:
ESET: at least ten, mostly state-backed hacking groups are exploiting Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities on thousands of servers in over 115 countries  —  Days before Microsoft released a fix for a secret attack on its email systems, hackers ramped up their activity.  Now experts say swift action is required.
Marco Rubio / USA Today:
Marco Rubio says he is endorsing Amazon workers' unionization efforts in Alabama because Amazon leadership is waging “culture war against working-class values”  —  Amazon is waging a culture war against working-class values and is not helping workers or our economy.
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:
In a letter to GOP Senators, Amazon says it removed a book because of its policy not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness  —  Company states policy in response to inquiry by several Republican senators over recent removal of book by conservative author
James Tarmy / Bloomberg:
MetaKovan, an anonymous digital asset investor and founder of NFT focused crypto-based investment fund Metapurse, is the buyer of the $69M Beeple NFT  —  A digital asset investor who goes by the handle Metakovan and refuses to give his full name, announced that he is the buyer …
BuzzFeed News:
An internal doc at Facebook, co-written by Chris Cox, aims to equip employees with rebuttals to the perception that the company's products fuel polarization  —  In a Thursday presentation, Facebook executives told employees the company isn't to blame for social division in the country.
James Vincent / The Verge:
Facebook announces a project to train its AI to understand what is happening in videos, using data from videos publicly available on Facebook  —  AI that can understand video could be put to a variety of uses  —  Teaching AI systems to understand what's happening in videos as completely …
Reuters:
Sources: Qualcomm is struggling to meet higher than expected demand due to the global chip shortage and US sanctions against Huawei  —  SAN FRANCISCO/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc is struggling to keep up with demand for its processor chips used in smartphones and gadgets …
Matt Burgess / WIRED UK:
UK Home Office confirms trial of web surveillance tool that can track users' browsing history in partnership with two unnamed ISPs and National Crime Agency  —  The Investigatory Powers Act, or Snooper's Charter, was introduced in 2016.  Now one of its most contentious surveillance tools is being secretly trialled by internet firms
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple sues its former materials lead Simon Lancaster for allegedly stealing trade secrets and leaking them to the media  —  Apple is taking legal action against its former materials lead, Simon Lancaster, over allegedly leaking trade secrets to the media.  The lawsuit accuses Lancaster of abusing his …

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More News

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge: