Techmeme
December 17, 2021, 11:55 AM

Top News

The Citizen Lab:
Two Egyptians living in exile had their iPhones compromised in June 2021 using Predator spyware built by North Macedonian developer Cytrox  —  Key Findings  — Two Egyptians—exiled politician Ayman Nour and the host of a popular news program (who wishes to remain anonymous) …
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Meta bans seven surveillance-for-hire groups, including Cytrox, removing over 1,500 Facebook and Instagram accounts and alerting 50K users who were targeted  —  Cytrox is one of seven surveillance companies now banned from Meta's platforms  —  While NSO Group was taking flak for hacking …
Zachary Basu / Axios:
The US bans investing in eight Chinese companies, including DJI and Megvii, for their alleged involvement in surveilling Uyghurs and other minority groups  —  The Treasury Department has added eight Chinese companies — including DJI, the world's largest commercial drone manufacturer …
Washington Post:
The Biden administration is concerned with US investments in Chinese companies developing “dual use” tech that could have civilian and military applications  —  Last year, a fast-rising artificial intelligence company in China won a little-noticed contract from a Chinese military academy …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft is moving some settings, including for networks, devices, and app uninstalls, to the Settings app, heralding the end of the Control Panel  —  One more step to simplifying Windows  —  Microsoft is finally signaling the end of the legacy Control Panel in Windows 11.
Tim O'Reilly / O'Reilly Media:
A look at the cycles of decentralization and recentralization, and why we won't understand what Web3 consists of until after the next bubble pops  —  There's been a lot of talk about Web3 lately, and as the person who defined “Web 2.0” 17 years ago, I'm often asked to comment.
Paul R. La Monica / CNN:
The CFPB probes buy now, pay later practices of Affirm, Afterpay, PayPal, Klarna, and Zip, citing concerns over customers' debt accumulation and data harvesting  —  New York (CNN Business)Regulators in Washington may crack down on the industry behind “buy now, pay later,” …
Josh Sisco / The Information:
Sources: the FTC opened an in-depth probe into Meta's acquisition of Within, the company behind VR fitness game Supernatural  —  Meta Platforms' Oculus virtual reality headsets are a vital step toward creating what its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, calls the metaverse, an immersive internet in which people can interact in digital spaces.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Oracle is in talks to acquire electronic medical records company Cerner, in a deal that could be worth ~$30B, which would make it Oracle's biggest yet  —  An agreement, which could potentially be worth $30 billion, would rank as biggest ever for software giant
Paresh Dave / Reuters:
Sources: California's civil rights regulator is investigating Google's treatment of Black female workers following allegations of harassment and discrimination  —  California's civil rights regulator is investigating Google's treatment of Black female workers following alleged incidents …
More: The Verge
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
Palantir plans to shift UK data processing from the US to the UK, hire 250 UK-based employees, and open an England office in 2022  —  Defence-oriented American firm among first to localise data operations fully as companies Balkanise their activity  —  Palantir, a data analytics firm best known …
Joe Miller / Financial Times:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Pakistan-based CreditBook, a bookkeeping app for small merchants, raises an $11M pre-Series A led by Tiger Global, the firm's first investment in the country  —  Two years ago, a group of entrepreneurs in Pakistan began surveying the market to understand why financial services weren't reaching …
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
GM's Cruise says CEO Dan Ammann is leaving the company to “pursue other opportunities”; Cruise co-founder and CTO Kyle Vogt will take over as interim CEO  —  He will be replaced by Cruise founder Kyle Vogt  —  Dan Ammann, the CEO of Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company …

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More News

Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
Sara Fischer / Axios:

Earlier Picks

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Washington Post:
Liza Lin / Wall Street Journal:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Henry Mance / Financial Times: