Techmeme
March 28, 2019, 6:05 PM

Top News

Russell Brandom / The Verge:
US Department of Housing and Urban Development files charges against Facebook, saying the company's ad targeting tools enable violations of Fair Housing Act  —  'Facebook is discriminating against people based upon who they are and where they live,' says HUD secretary
Tracy Jan / Washington Post:
Sources: HUD alerted Twitter and Google last year that it is scrutinizing their ad targeting practices for possible housing discrimination  —  The Department of Housing and Urban Development alerted Twitter and Google last year that it is scrutinizing their practices for possible housing discrimination …
Adam Satariano / New York Times:
UK's review of Huawei's telecommunications equipment finds “significant” security problems but does not call for an outright ban  —  LONDON — A British review of Huawei found “significant” security problems with the Chinese company's telecommunications equipment …
CNBC:
Lyft prices IPO at $72 per share, which would value the company at over $20B and hit the top of its expected range  —  - Ridehailing platform Lyft was funded early on by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, Mayfield, K9 Ventures, Floodgate and others.  — Lyft is one of several aging startups expected …
Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac:
Twitter expands dark mode options for iOS users with a pure black Lights Out mode and an Automatic Dark Mode  —  Twitter has announced today that it is expanding its dark mode options for iOS users.  Adding to the blue/gray dark mode theme that the platform has offered for a while …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Spotify is testing Premium Duo, a discounted subscription for two for €12.49 a month, that includes a playlist based on both users' listening habits  —  Includes a new playlist based on both your listening habits  —  Spotify is testing a new subscription called Premium Duo that offers …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Verizon rolls out a free version of Call Filter, its $3/month spam and robocall protection service  —  Now you don't have to pay extra money to battle against spam and robocalls  —  Verizon is taking new steps to combat the unrelenting nuisance of spam calls.
Sarah Krouse / Wall Street Journal:
FTC has secured $1.5B worth of fines from robocallers through court judgments since 2004 and has collected $121M or 8% of that amount  —  America's telecommunications watchdogs have levied hefty financial penalties against illegal robocallers and demanded that bad actors repay millions to their victims.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Jake Kanter / Business Insider:
Leaked Facebook emails reveal intense discussion over an anti-Semitic Instagram post by Alex Jones before it was taken down  —  - Business Insider has seen a lengthy Facebook email chain in which executives discuss Alex Jones' future on Instagram and removing an inflammatory post.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Microsoft granted US court order to take control of 99 websites the company says are linked to Iranian hacking group Phosphorus and host them on its own servers  —  Microsoft has won a restraining order in a U.S. court in order to take control of domains used by an Iranian hacker group.
Bloomberg:
Filing: Apple's Tim Cook, Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf, and execs and engineers from both companies to testify in the Apple vs Qualcomm trial starting Apr. 15  —  The Apple vs. Qualcomm trial kicking off in San Diego next month will feature a star-studded cast in the dispute over chips used in iPhones …
More: 9to5Mac
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
As market for facial recognition software heats up, concerns about how and when facial data is collected remain largely unaddressed due to lack of regulations  —  While you weren't looking, tech companies helped themselves to your photos to power a facial recognition boom.  Here's how.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Office Depot and tech support vendor Support.com to pay the FTC $35M for allegedly persuading customers to buy computer repair services using fake malware scans  —  Office Depot and Support.com, Inc, a tech support software provided from California, will pay $35 million and $10 million respectively …
Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:
More Apple Card details, including that a user can generate virtual card numbers for online non-Apple Pay purchases at any time by tapping a button  —  One of the most buzzy announcements on Apple's stage this week was Apple Card, its in-house credit card powered by Goldman Sachs and Mastercard.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Sensor Tower: worldwide App Store spending will reach $96B by 2023, up 104% from $47B in 2018; Google Play will reach $60B, up 140% from $27B in 2018  —  Consumer spending in mobile apps across both Apple's App Store and Google Play will grow by 120 percent to reach $156 billion worldwide by 2023 …
C4ADS:
Analysis of GPS data finds 9,800+ GPS spoofing instances since 2016, likely to protect sensitive military and VIP travel areas in the Russian Federation  —  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GPS and other Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are used in everything from cellular communication networks …

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More News

Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept:

Earlier Picks

Nick Statt / The Verge:
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Motherboard:
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Reuters: