Techmeme
August 20, 2020, 10:20 PM

Top News

Kate Conger / New York Times:
An appeals court blocked an order requiring Uber and Lyft to classify drivers as employees, averting an expected shutdown of their services in California  —  The companies, under legal pressure to reclassify their drivers as employees, said they would halt rides unless an appeals court gives them permission to continue.
Kate Conger / New York Times:
Former Uber CSO Joe Sullivan charged with obstruction of justice for trying to conceal the 2016 data breach of millions of users and drivers from FTC officials  —  Joe Sullivan, who led Uber's security team through the company's most tumultuous period, was fired by the company's newly installed chief executive in 2017.
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
A trade body representing NYT, WaPo, WSJ, and other publishers asks Apple for improved deal terms for digital subscriptions sold through the App Store  —  The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are among companies seeking more favorable terms in Apple's app store
Casey Newton / The Interface:
Facebook says it's piloting an effort that will closely watch posts that rapidly gain millions of views to ensure they don't violate community standards  —  Earlier this week, I wrote about how platforms proved they can stop a piece of health-related misinformation in its tracks.
Meir Orbach / CTech:
Sources: Apple quietly acquired Israeli AR and computer vision startup Camerai over a year ago for several tens of millions of dollars  —  The AR and computer vision company was purchased a year and a half ago, an example of the tech giant's strategy of silently buying up small tech companies
DL Cade / PetaPixel:
Latest update to Lightroom for iOS inadvertently wiped users' photos and presets not synced to the cloud; Adobe says Apple backups may recover some photos  —  This morning, multiple readers wrote in to alert us to a major Adobe gaff.  It seems the latest update to the Lightroom app for iPhone …
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Facebook confirms Mark Zuckerberg testified before FTC this week, as part of the agency's antitrust probe  —  - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week testified at a Federal Trade Commission investigative hearing related to the federal agency's antitrust investigation into the tech company, the company confirmed to CNBC on Thursday.
John Kruzel / The Hill:
DOJ asks US Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that found Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking his critics on Twitter  —  The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that found President Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking his critics on Twitter.
Sam Shead / CNBC:
Airbnb announces a global party ban at its listings and an occupancy cap of 16 people, saying some users took “bar and club behavior to homes” during COVID-19  —  - Home-sharing platform Airbnb has introduced a global ban on parties as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
A look at contact-tracing app Aura, which was a required download for students at a Michigan college and has faced criticism for its privacy and security issues  —  And students have no way to opt out  —  Schools and universities across the United States are split on whether to open for the fall semester …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Google's Pixel Buds get a new transcribe mode to translate long speeches, Attention Alerts to alert users of important events happening around them, and more  —  There's also a bass boost mode  —  Google is adding a number of new features to its Pixel Buds today.

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