Techmeme
April 17, 2018, 7:05 AM

Top News

Facebook:
Following questions from Congress about Facebook's web tracking of users who aren't logged in, the company details what data it collects and how  —  Last week, Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of the US Congress.  He answered more than 500 questions and promised that we would get back on the 40 …
Reuters:
Dept of Commerce blocks sales from US firms to ZTE for seven years, after alleged false statements to officials that followed guilty plea on sanctions violation  —  LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Commerce has banned American companies from selling components …
BBC:
FBI, DHS, and UK's National Cyber Security Centre issue joint alert warning of a Russian-led global campaign to attack and infiltrate internet infrastructure  —  State-sponsored Russian hackers are actively seeking to hijack essential internet hardware, US and UK intelligence agencies say.
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Coinbase acquires Earn.com, which lets users earn bitcoin by completing tasks, hires Earn.com CEO Balaji Srinivasan as CTO; sources say deal is valued at $120M+  —  Coinbase is acquiring Earn.com, a paid inbox service formerly known as 21 inc., with CEO Balaji Srinivasan joining as chief technology officer …
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft announces the Azure Sphere stack for securing IoT devices, includes a Linux-based OS, custom silicon for microcontrollers, and matching cloud service  —  Microsoft is introducing new custom silicon, a Linux-based embedded OS and cloud service aimed at securing microcontroller-based devices.
Alfred Ng / CNET:
TaskRabbit informs users that it is investigating a cybersecurity incident and that it has temporarily taken down its app and website  —  The handyman-for-hire app sent an email to users today recommending they change their passwords if they used the same ones for different websites.
New York Times:
China's Weibo backs down from censoring gay content following backlash from users, after saying it would ban it along with other content to comply with new law  —  BEIJING — Bowing to intense pressure from millions of internet users, a Chinese social media site said on Monday that it would scrap plans …
Catalin Cimpanu / BleepingComputer.com:
After Telegram moved some of its infrastructure to AWS and Google cloud, Russia banned 1.8M Amazon and Google IP addresses, impacting many other online services  —  Roskomnadzor, Russia's telecommunications watchdog, banned today over 1.8 million IP addresses belonging to Amazon and Google's cloud infrastructure.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / Motherboard:
GrayKey, the tool law enforcement's been buying to unlock iPhones, appears to work by brute forcing passcodes, another reason to use a strong alphanumeric code  —  Now that police agents can allegedly crack iPhones protected with passcodes made of six numbers, it's time to use longer, harder to guess and crack alphanumeric passphrases.
Eliot Brown / Wall Street Journal:
Pitchbook: US VC firms are at record levels of late-stage funding with 102 startups receiving at least $50M in Q1 2018, totaling $16B  —  The rush of venture funds has led to bidding wars and heightened concerns that the sector is overvalued  —  When Tony Xu, chief executive …
More: PYMNTS.com
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Lyft says its drivers have earned $500M+ in tips since the company was founded in 2012; tip averages up 8% YoY in 2017 due to app encouraging higher tip amounts  —  Lyft drivers have earned more than $500 million in tips to date, Lyft announced today.  Since fleshing out tip functionality …
More: Lyft Blog, CNET, and Mashable

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Earlier Picks

David Shepardson / Reuters:
CNBC:
Robert Draper / New York Times:
Issie Lapowsky / Wired: