Techmeme
August 17, 2021, 12:25 PM

Top News

Joseph Cox / VICE:
T-Mobile confirms hackers gained access to its systems, following reports that sensitive data, including SSNs, for over 100M people was for sale on the dark web  —  “We have determined that unauthorized access to some T-Mobile data occurred.”  —  Joseph Cox
Bloomberg:
Adam Mosseri says Facebook is “proactively” removing content from its platforms that promotes or represents the Taliban  —  A Facebook Inc. executive said the company is “proactively” removing content from its platforms that promotes the Taliban as the group seizes power in Afghanistan.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
As the Taliban uses WhatsApp to coordinate and spread messages, the service's end-to-end encryption makes banning the group difficult  —  The Taliban are using the Facebook-owned chat app to spread messages to Afghan citizens as they take over the country.  —  Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
Ax Sharma / BleepingComputer:
Researcher finds a terrorist watchlist of 1.9M people, including “no-fly” records, on an unsecured Elasticsearch cluster; DHS later took the server offline  —  A secret terrorist watchlist with 1.9 million records, including classified “no-fly” records was exposed on the internet.
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
OnlyFans begins promoting OFTV, a free safe-for-work app available on iOS and Android with 800+ videos, as it prepares to raise new funding  —  The most common question customers ask Tim Stokely, the chief executive officer of OnlyFans, is why he doesn't have an app.
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Tinder says it will bring its optional ID Verification feature, which has been available in Japan since 2019, to all members globally “in the coming quarters”  —  The feature has been active in Japan since 2019  —  Tinder said on Monday that it will make its ID Verification feature available …
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Vienna-based crypto trading platform Bitpanda raises $263M led by Valar Ventures at a $4.1B valuation, up from $1.2B five months ago  —  - Cryptocurrency trading platform Bitpanda raised $263 million in a fresh round of funding valuing the company at $4.1 billion.
South China Morning Post:
Samantha Hissong / Rolling Stone:
TikTok partners with Audius, a music streaming service built on Ethereum, to let users upload their music as TikTok Sounds  —  It's the blockchain-powered Audius, rather than Spotify or Apple Music, that will let artists share their sounds into TikTok in one click
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
Researchers find a bug in the ThroughTek Kalay SDK, which connects over 83M IoT devices with apps, that lets attackers access audio and video streams  —  A vulnerability in the Kalay platform leaves countless IoT devices susceptible to hackers.  —  A VULNERABILITY IS lurking in numerous types …
Michael McSweeney / The Block:
Bluesky, the decentralized social media initiative unveiled by Twitter in 2019, will be led by Jay Graber, a former startup founder and cryptocurrency dev  —  Bluesky, the decentralized social media initiative unveiled by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey at the end of 2019, has a project lead, according to a Monday announcement.
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Google says the Pixel 5a is the last Pixel phone that will come with a charging brick, claiming most people already have a USB-C charger  —  Google says the 5A is the last Pixel phone to include a charging brick  —  Google is the latest manufacturer to bid farewell to the in-box charging brick …
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Reema Al Othman / Bloomberg:
Filing: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund raised its stake in Activision Blizzard by 13% to 37.9M shares, worth $3.6B, in Q2, despite workplace controversy  —  Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund kept buying Activision Blizzard Inc.'s stock last quarter, a commitment that may be tested …
Tweets: @kylebrussell

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Wired UK:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Tim Marcin / Mashable:
Brad Stone / Bloomberg:
Tom Krisher / Associated Press:
Loni Prinsloo / Bloomberg:
Joanna Ossinger / Bloomberg: