Techmeme: Relativity, which helps law firms analyze large datasets, acquires Text IQ, an AI startup that helps businesses identify sensitive data, reportedly for $100M+ (Jim Dallke/Chicago Business Journal)

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May 30, 2021, 1:55 AM

Top News

Tyler Sonnemaker / Insider:

Court docs detail Google's user location data collection, efforts to hide an off toggle deep in Android settings, pressure on partners like LG to do the same — - Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private, according to newly unredacted court documents.

More: The Verge, CNET, Engadget, and Pixel Envy

Tweets: @jason_kint, @alistairmbarr, @aagha, @luisbruno, and @davewiner

Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:

How online criminals are turning to unlicensed crypto exchanges and over-the-counter crypto brokers to cash out profits and how crypto forensic firms track them — Criminals are locked in battle with Forensics firms tracking how Treasure Men, privacy wallets and gift cards are used to turn virtual hauls into hard cash

Tweets: @mshannahmurphy, @dimartinobooth, and @paulkrugman

New York Times:

Microsoft: hackers behind SolarWinds recently breached State Dept. aid agency to send emails with malicious code to 150 orgs, including NGOs critical of Putin — Microsoft reported that it had detected the intrusion and that the same hackers behind the earlier SolarWinds attack were responsible.

More: Wall Street Journal, CNN, Microsoft Security, SANS Internet Storm Center …, BleepingComputer, Thurrott, us-cert.cisa.gov, Microsoft On the Issues, Livemint, Microsoft Security, BBC, CyberScoop, Windows Central, Nextgov, Channel Futures, Wired, Ars Technica, PCMag, SC Media, CSO, Financial Times, HackRead, Mashable, us-cert.cisa.gov, NPR, TechRepublic, New York Post, Federal Computer Week, CyberPeace Institute, HotHardware.com News, Dark Reading, CRN, infosecurity-magazine.com, The Record, Malwarebytes Labs, HealthITSecurity, PYMNTS.com, The Verge, Security Boulevard, The Hacker News, Threatpost, FedScoop, SecurityWeek, USA Today, The Hill, International Business Times, Bloomberg, MUO, Engadget, CNBC, Insider, NBC News, Volexity, CyberNews, and iTnews

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:

In an email to podcasters, Apple says it is delaying the launch of its Podcasts Subscriptions and channels until June and plans improvements to its Podcasts app — Apple has announced in an email to podcasters today that it is delaying the launch of Apple Podcasts Subscriptions.

More: Engadget, MacRumors, Gizmodo, iPhone in Canada Blog, MUO, mobilesyrup.com, iThinkDifferent, AppleInsider, iDownloadBlog.com, iClarified, iMore, phonearena.com, CNET, Macworld, The Verge, Reuters, GSMArena.com, and TechRadar

Tweets: @ismh, @mlstotts, @hillitech, @mattcassinelli, @appleosophy, and @chancehmiller

See also Mediagazer

Jay Peters / The Verge:

WhatsApp reverses course and says it won't limit functionality for users who don't accept its new privacy policy — The new policy went into effect on May 15th — Earlier this month, Facebook-owned WhatsApp said that users would lose functionality over time if they didn't accept its new privacy policy by May 15th.

More: TNW, Gizmodo, Engadget, Slashdot, Insider, AppleInsider, Mashable, MUO, phonearena.com, Livemint, 9to5Mac, SlashGear, mobilesyrup.com, MSPoweruser, and The Hindu. Tweets: @gizmodo

Doc Searls Weblog:

Apple's claims about respecting privacy aren't fully serious, as the iPhone default doesn't disallow apps from tracking users, instead expecting users to do so — If you haven't seen it yet, watch Apple's Privacy on iPhone | tracked ad. In it a guy named Felix (that's him, above) …

Tweets: @dsearls, @itsjeffhiggins, and @jason_kint

Lily Hay Newman / Wired:

Google researchers detail “Half-Double”, a new Rowhammer attack technique they say will be difficult to mitigate as future generations of DRAM chips get smaller — A full fix for the “Half-Double” technique will require rethinking how memory semiconductors are designed.

More: Security Boulevard and Tom's Hardware

Tweets: @ucsdjacobs, @gadgetlab, and @wired

Faris Mokhtar / Bloomberg:

Tech companies took up 22% of new office space in Singapore between 2015-2020, up from 8% between 2004-2014, led by Amazon, as financial firms reduced workspace — In the financial mecca of Singapore, a new crowd is flocking to its offices: technology companies.

Tweets: @business

Nora Caplan-Bricker / New Yorker:

Despite a wave of complaints, pushback from top universities, lawsuits, and accusations of bias, Proctorio's client list grew over 500% from 2019 to 2021 — Despite students' complaints and the coming return to in-person learning, Proctorio and its rivals are betting on a lucrative future.

Tweets: @ncaplanbricker, @jessifer, @newyorker, @jessifer, @hypervisible, @bonstewart, @benwolfevision, @cayneletizia, @jofrhwld, @krystafauria, @autumm, @newyorker, @fennelaurora, @shorterpearson, and @hypervisible

Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:

Anthropic, a new startup from former GPT-3 researchers that aims to build large-scale, general AI systems, raises $124M Series A led by Skype's Jaan Tallinn — As AI has grown from a menagerie of research projects to include a handful of titanic, industry-powering models like GPT-3 …

More: Financial Times. Tweets: @danielaamodei, @marietjeschaake, @enricocoiera, @mark_riedl, @paulnemitz, @xamat, @danielaamodei, @timfinin, @martijnrasser, and @rao2z

Packy McCormick / Not Boring:

A bull case for Ethereum, which is the backbone and a settlement layer of a decentralized internet that continues to grow as DeFi and NFTs explode in popularity — A Bull Case for Ethereum … Today's Not Boring is brought to you by ... the Alto CryptoIRA … Set Up Your CryptoIRA

More: The Irrelevant Investor and Crypto Briefing

Jim Dallke / Chicago Business Journal:

Relativity, which helps law firms analyze large datasets, acquires Text IQ, an AI startup that helps businesses identify sensitive data, reportedly for $100M+ — The deal is reportedly worth more than $100 million — Two months after landing an investment from Silver Lake at a $3.6 billion valuation …

Source: PR Newswire. More: Chicago Business, LAW.com, Reuters, Artificial Lawyer, TechRepublic, and VentureBeat

Tweets: @techrepublic and @therealsjr

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From Mediagazer

Denise Petski / Deadline:

Amazon Prime Video sets November 20 for the premiere of “Melania, The Series”, the two-episode follow-up to Brett Ratner's “Melania” documentary

Salon:

Salon, launched in 1995 to cover politics, culture, and more, says it is closing: “business realities of independent digital journalism have changed profoundly”

Financial Times:

Bomb threats force the evacuation of Irish newsrooms, including national broadcaster RTÉ, which briefly went off air and resumed broadcasts from a mobile unit

More News

Reuters:

Indian conglomerate Tata Group buys a majority stake in e-grocer Bigbasket; previous reports suggest that the deal is worth $1.31B for a stake of up to 64.2%

More: The Week, The Hindu, Livemint, Moneycontrol, The Economic Times, PYMNTS.com, and Tech in Asia. Tweets: @docolumide

Stu Woo / Wall Street Journal:

US's campaign against Huawei has opened the $35B/year cellular equipment market, giving rise to new players and helping US's bid to counter China's 5G dominance

Tweets: @wsjtech, @wsj, @brendancarrfcc, and @ajitpai

Reuters:

Sprinklr, a provider of customer service software, files for an IPO and reports revenue of $386.9M and net loss of $41.2M in the year ended January 31

Kate Kaye / Digiday:

Google says it won't build itself Privacy Sandbox backdoors, but whether it will allow itself to use individual-level data from Chrome users remains unclear

Tweets: @kyotonio

Earlier Picks

Aislinn Keely / The Block:

SEC charges five people with promoting BitConnect, which it alleges was an unregistered digital securities offering that raised $2B+ from retail investors

More: U.S. Securities …, BitcoinExchangeGuide, Wall Street Journal, PYMNTS.com, Crowdfund Insider, NewsBTC, Associated Press, Crypto Briefing, Cointelegraph, Finbold, Decrypt, and Reuters

Tweets: @bradmichelson, @toluogunlesi, @cryptonator1337, @sec_news, and @ppgosavi

Carrie DeCell / Knight First Amendment Institute:

In a court filing, the Biden administration indicates it will defend a Trump-era rule that requires US visa applicants to register their social media handles

Tweets: @cmd_dc, @knightcolumbia, @minhtngo, @cmd_dc, @evelyndouek, @jimbovard, @jameeljaffer, @krhawkins5, and @idaorg