Techmeme: Two weeks ahead of China's 20th communist party congress, censors seem to be blocking TLS-based circumvention tools that locals use to bypass the Great Firewall (TechCrunch)

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October 6, 2022, 2:55 AM

Top News

Financial Times:

Sources: Twitter agreed to delay a deposition of Elon Musk by its lead litigation attorney on October 6 in Austin, as both sides hash out closing the $44B deal — Tesla chief and social media group are negotiating end to legal fight to finalise $44bn buyout

More: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Hill, Axios, and Reuters

Tweets: @stanphylcap, @garyblack00, @imkialikethecar, and @epro

New York Times:

Sources: in the weeks before Elon Musk's renewed $44B bid, his representatives asked Twitter about redoing the deal for up to a 30% discount, a ~$31B valuation — Before Mr. Musk renewed his $44 billion proposal, he and the company haggled in discussions that ultimately did not advance.

More: PYMNTS.com, The Block, Gamereactor UK, and ZyCrypto

Tweets: @annmlipton, @karaswisher, @sherman4949, @reckless, @sawyermerritt, @ncweaver, @waltlightshed, @parismarx, @reckless, and @wsj

Jeremy C. Owens / MarketWatch:

Elon Musk claims that buying Twitter “is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app”; in August 2022, Musk teased launching X.com as a social media site

Source: @elonmusk. More: Garbage Day, New York Magazine, Reuters, Mike's List, Bitcoin News, MacDailyNews, ZDNet, Financial Times, Marketing Dive, Quartz, HotHardware, Digital Trends, Newser, PYMNTS.com, Financial Times, CNN, Insider, New York Post, Light Reading, and CNBC

Tweets: @unsubtledesi, @broderick, @elonmusk, @jgriffiths, @steinkobbe, @saylor, @pranavdixit, @chafkin, @alexoimas, @karaswisher, @mrandyngo, and @silvermanjacob

Bloomberg:

Elon Musk's revived $44B Twitter acquisition could rely on banks providing $12.5B at a time when offloading risky debt is difficult, leading to potential losses

Tom Hals / Reuters:

Sources: Elon Musk and Twitter have not yet reached an agreement to end litigation

Cade Metz / New York Times:

A US federal court jury finds ex-Uber Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan guilty for not disclosing a 2016 breach of customer and driver records to regulators — A jury found Joe Sullivan, who led security at the ride-hailing company, guilty on two different counts.

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Google unveils two text-to-video AI generators: Imagen Video, a higher image quality system, and Phenaki, which prioritizes coherency and length over quality — Not to be outdone by Meta's Make-A-Video, Google today detailed its work on Imagen Video, an AI system that can generate video clips given …

More: Google Brain, Google Brain, SiliconANGLE, Boing Boing, PCMag, and Ars Technica

Tweets: @rachelmetz, @ashleevance, @rachelmetz, @kevinroose, @simonw, @kevinroose, @hardmaru, @rachelmetz, @mark_riedl, @hardmaru, and @kevinroose

Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review:

DeepMind uses its AlphaTensor AI to solve a matrix multiplication problem by building a 3D TensorGame board game, beating a record that has stood for 50+ years — The new version of AlphaZero discovered a faster way to do matrix multiplication, a core problem in computing that affects thousands of everyday computer tasks.

More: Nature, DeepMind Blog, VentureBeat, and SiliconANGLE

Tweets: @demishassabis, @deepmind, @balajis, @jonst0kes, @amcafee, @bneiluj, @infoecon, @sweis, @kevinroose, @marcelsalathe, @deepmind, @deliprao, @codeorg, @tedchris, @erictopol, and @perrymetzger

David Cohen / Adweek:

Twitter rolls out its mixed media feature globally, letting Android and iOS users include up to four videos, images, and GIFs in the same tweet — Up to 4 GIFs, photos and/or videos can be included

More: Twitter, BGR India, MobileSyrup, The Verge, Android Headlines, 9to5Mac, Digital Trends, and iMore. Tweets: @twittersupport

Jon Fingas / Engadget:

What to expect from the “Made by Google” event on October 6: Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel Watch, and potentially Nest hardware and previews of Pixel devices — - Wildcards: More Pixel device previews and Nest hardware — Google's fall hardware event promises to be special this year.

Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:

A look at Iranian activists' fight for internet access amid the regime's crackdowns, including using Tor servers inside Iran to bypass internet blockades — Activists in Iran are working with outsiders to fight the regime's censorship — As protesters flooded the streets of Iran in September …

More: CNBC. Thanks:@mikebutcher

Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News:

Minneapolis-based NetSPI, which offers penetration testing and attack surface management services, raised $410M from KKR, bringing its total funding to $500M — Although venture funding in cybersecurity has taken a slight dip this year—as it has in most sectors—that does not mean large growth rounds do not exist.

More: Bloomberg, DataBreachToday.com, VentureBeat, Star Tribune, Channel Futures, CRN, SiliconANGLE, SecurityWeek, Dark Reading, and FinSMEs

Brendan Vaughan / Fast Company:

Fast Company brings its site, Inc, and Mansueto back online after eight days, saying a cyberattack hit its CMS and no customer or advertiser info was disclosed — Eight days. That's how long FastCompany.com was offline after we were targeted in a cyberattack, first on the afternoon of Sunday …

Tweets: @scottnover

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The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Reuters:

Independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta plans to shut down after 30+ years, following pressure from Russian authorities and the persecution of its reporters

Gavin Blair / The Hollywood Reporter:

The Association of Japanese Animations: Japan's anime industry revenue grew 15.8% YoY to a record ~$28.5B in 2025, with overseas revenue reaching ~$16B

Amy Chozick / New York Times:

Amy Chozick, who wrote a profile of Elizabeth Holmes, talks about ghosting Nathan Fielder after tentatively agreeing to be filmed for You Can See Everything

More News

TechCrunch:

Two weeks ahead of China's 20th communist party congress, censors seem to be blocking TLS-based circumvention tools that locals use to bypass the Great Firewall

More: GitHub and The Register

Renju Jose / Reuters:

Australia proposes changes to its consumer privacy rules post the Optus hack, enabling telcos to share IDs with banks for better monitoring during data breaches

More: ZDNet, Treasury Ministers, ABC News, The Guardian, Bloomberg, and The World According to Spart

Bloomberg:

Sources: to evade US sanctions, Huawei is supporting PXW, a startup based in its hometown Shenzhen that ordered chipmaking equipment for a semiconductor plant

More: Financial Times. Tweets: @pelstrom, @dericsayers, @niubi, @niubi, @chinabeigebook, @byron_wan, and @byron_wan

Jeffrey Dastin / Reuters:

Investing via outside VCs for the first time, Amazon plans to give $150M through 2023 to 10+ funds backing underrepresented founders at or before the seed stage

More: Amazon, dot.LA, SiliconANGLE, PYMNTS.com, FinSMEs, and GeekWire

Anna Edgerton / Bloomberg:

Experts say political ads on Facebook no longer result in a good ROI, due to a stagnating user base and policy changes that make it harder to target voters

More: Gizmodo. Tweets: @mediumbuying, @mediumbuying, @travisfain, @mediumbuying, @mattnavarra, @jason_kint, @onelikeapp, and @fboversight

Heather Murphy / New York Times:

A look at the CBP prioritizing facial recognition to verify ~85% of the 221K daily visitors to the US, replacing mobile passport lines and self-service kiosks

Tweets: @fabiochiusi

Dawn Chmielewski / Reuters:

Spotify acquires Kinzen, which identifies misinformation and hate speech; the Dublin-based company partnered with Spotify in 2020, initially on election content

More: Spotify, TechCrunch, The Verge, Reclaim The Net, PYMNTS.com, Android Headlines, Neowin, Engadget, and Silicon Republic

Tweets: @ainekerr, @ianbetteridge, @seldo, @runasand, and @donie

Earlier Picks

Steve Dent / Engadget:

Meta details updates to the Facebook Feed that let users show more or fewer posts from friends, Groups, and Pages, helping improve Meta's AI-based ranking

More: Meta, Meta AI, 9to5Mac, Dan's Stack, Popular Science, Digital Trends, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Verge, SiliconANGLE, Thurrott, BigTechWire, Search Engine Land, Wall Street Journal, BGR, KnowTechie, XDA Developers, Mashable, and TechCrunch

Tweets: @alexvoica, @alexvoica, @heidilegg, @facebook, @medvidekpu, @missladyniobe, and @nickclegg

Brendan Sinclair / GamesIndustry.biz:

An interview with Unity CEO John Riccitiello on making an ever-better game engine, the ironSource merger, monetization vs. creation, stock price woes, and more

Tweets: @gibiz, @petermoorelfc, @chrisbergman, and @firstadopter

Ken Sweet / Associated Press:

A report by Senator Warren's office says fraud and scams are occurring more often on P2P payments app Zelle, and banks fail to refund 53% of defrauded funds

More: U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren …

Stuart A. Thompson / New York Times:

LA County arrests election software maker Konnech's CEO Eugene Yu for allegedly stealing data on poll workers and says some data was found to be stored in China

More: Los Angeles County …, NPR, New York Post, The Register, Global Community Weekly, Gizmodo, and Law Street Media

Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:

Tesla plans to remove ultrasonic sensors from some new Model 3 and Y cars in October 2022 and Model S and X cars in 2023, in favor of camera and software

More: Tesla, MobileSyrup, Ars Technica, The Verge, TechSpot, Redmond Pie, Drive Tesla, SlashGear, Engadget, Livemint, and PCMag

Tweets: @dirtytesla, @macheauto, @wholemarsblog, @wholemarsblog, @katharineberry, @_mm85, and @jstogdill

Brady Dale / Axios:

A look at “Crypto Twitter”, which acts as a town hall where traders, investors, scammers, content creators, founders, and others connect, do business, and relax

Tweets: @cryptofung, @milesdeutscher, @jordanlyall, and @grady_booch

Associated Press:

A US judge sentences Paige Thompson, who accessed the data of 100M+ Capital One customers in 2019, to five years of probation; the DOJ is “very disappointed”

More: U.S. Department of Justice, The Register, Seattle Business Journal, SiliconANGLE, Wall Street Journal, The Seattle Times, GeekWire, The Verge, Gizmodo, and Tech Monitor

Tweets: @wdwanews and @joetidy

Mariella Moon / Engadget:

Blizzard President Mike Ybarra says Overwatch 2 servers are “experiencing a mass DDoS attack”, preventing users from joining the game's early access launch

More: Windows Central, Forbes, The Verge, Dot Esports, Dexerto, TheGamer, Game Rant, PC Gamer, GameSpot, IGN, Digital Trends, GoNintendo, TechCrunch, HotHardware, GameRevolution, Gameranx, TrueAchievements, MobileSyrup, Washington Post, OnMSFT.com, and Ars Technica

Tweets: @qwik, @aaronkellerow, @althistoryhub, @homiehotdog, @prorebornyt, @lululuvely, and @zweverigow