Techmeme
December 19, 2018, 10:25 AM

Top News

New York Times:
Internal docs show Facebook gave ~150 companies access to more user data than disclosed; some could read private DMs; Facebook says it didn't violate FTC decree  —  Internal documents show that the social network gave Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify and others far greater access to people's data than it has disclosed.
Konstantinos Papamiltiadis / Facebook:
Facebook says it shared data with integration partners only when users signed in with their Facebook accounts, to access features on other platforms, devices  —  Today, we're facing questions about whether Facebook gave large tech companies access to people's information and, if so, why we did this.
Kashmir Hill / Gizmodo:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft announces Windows Sandbox, a desktop environment for running apps in isolation, for users running Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise build 18301 and later  —  Microsoft's coming ‘Windows Sandbox’ feature is a lightweight virtual machine that allow users to run potentially suspicious software in isolation.
Peter Bright / Ars Technica:
Google repeatedly pushes the web in a proprietary direction to improve its services on Chrome making Microsoft's adoption of Chromium a loss for the open web  —  Analysis: Microsoft adopting Chromium puts the Web in a perilous place.  —  With Microsoft's decision to end development …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
NASA reveals data breach of employee information including Social Security numbers in October; scope of breach and number of impacted employees still unclear  —  Hack took place in October 2018.  Agency still doesn't know the number of impacted employees.  —  The US National Aeronautics …
Mallory Locklear / Engadget:
Facebook posts a six-month update on its civil rights audit: 2018 changes included voting encouragement and banning voting disinformation  —  In May, Facebook agreed to conduct a civil rights audit, and now the company has released an update of its progress.
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Blythe Masters, CEO of blockchain startup Digital Asset Holdings and a former JPMorgan executive, will step down as CEO but remain on its board  —  Blythe Masters left her job as a high-flying JPMorgan Chase executive in 2014, and soon after became CEO of Digital Asset, a blockchain startup that caters to banks and startups.
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Blockstream expands its satellite service, which lets users transfer bitcoin through leased satellites, to Asia Pacific and adds support for lightning payments  —  Bitcoin users' ability to send transactions through outer space has just been given a boost.  —  Blockchain technology firm …
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Anthony Levandowski launches self-driving truck startup Pronto.ai, which plans to ship level 2 automated driving systems in 2019 starting at $4,999  —  Anthony Levandowski, the former Google engineer and serial entrepreneur who was at the center of a trade secrets lawsuit between Uber and Waymo …
Emily Dreyfuss / Wired:
Amnesty International calls Twitter a “toxic place for women” in a study of 288,000 tweets aimed at 778 female journalists and politicians from the US and UK  —  FOR MANY WOMEN, especially journalists, politicians, and other public figures, Twitter is something to endure.
Guru Gowrappan / Verizon:
On January 8, Oath, which was created from Verizon's acquisitions of Yahoo and AOL, will be rebranded as Verizon Media Group  —  Verizon Media Group will replace the Oath brand, representing our strong alignment as a core pillar of Verizon's business.  —  I'm excited today to share …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Zwift, which turns indoor cycling workouts into multiplayer games, raises $120M Series B led by Highland Europe  —  Fitness and gaming have been two of the most popular categories of apps for years, and now a startup founded out of London that has combined the two in a unique way has picked …
More: Bloomberg, Forbes, and VentureBeatThanks:@ingridlunden
Ina Fried / Axios:
AT&T to launch 5G mobile service on December 21 across 12 US cities via a $499 mobile hotspot device and $70/month data plan  —  The 5G era has arrived.  AT&T is launching 5G mobile service in a dozen U.S. cities beginning this Friday, becoming the first carrier to do so.

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More News

Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal:
Matthew Leising / Bloomberg:
Casey Newton / The Verge:
New York Times:
Taylor Lorenz / The Atlantic:
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge: