Techmeme
November 14, 2021, 11:05 AM

Top News

Ionut Ilascu / BleepingComputer:
FBI email servers were hacked to send spam warning of a “sophisticated chain attack”, with a likely goal to discredit security researcher Vinny Troia  —  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) email servers were hacked to distribute spam email impersonating FBI warnings …
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
The person claiming responsibility for the FBI email server hack says they were able to send spam messages by abusing insecure code in the FBI's LEEP portal  —  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed today that its fbi.gov domain name and Internet address were used to blast …
Taylor Locke / CNBC:
An overview of Bitcoin's Taproot upgrade, which makes transactions more private, less expensive, and will let bitcoin users execute more complex smart contracts  —  Taproot, a highly anticipated upgrade to bitcoin, is expected to go into effect in the coming days at block 709,632 — some sources say it'll go live as soon as Saturday.
New York Times:
Apple, Spotify, and other companies that distribute podcasts have done little to rein in COVID-19 misinformation, escaping the scrutiny social media giants face  —  False statements about vaccines have spread on the “Wild West” of media, even as some hosts die of virus complications.
Ted Alcorn / Bloomberg:
How Togo, a country where few possess a driver's license or national ID card, built a digital platform to rapidly disburse relief payments to millions of people  —  In two weeks, Togo designed and launched an all-digital system for delivering monthly payments to millions of people—and made the U.S. program look like a “dinosaur.”
Chris Prentice / Reuters:
US states led by Texas file an amended Google lawsuit, providing more details about “Project Bernanke”, which allegedly gave Google's own ad-buying an advantage  —  A group of U.S. states led by Texas have filed an amended complaint against Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) …
Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
How US cities are deploying drones, robots, and AI to more affordably inspect, diagnose, and repair the country's aging sewer infrastructure  —  Cash-strapped U.S. cities are turning to drones, artificial intelligence and other innovations to help inspect and fix the country's aging underground arteries of waste

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Earlier Picks

New York Times:
Hartley Charlton / MacRumors: