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December 21, 2020, 7:35 AM
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| The Citizen Lab: |
Citizen Lab: NSO's zero-day, zero-click exploit chain, active in at least iOS 13.5.1, was used to hack ~36 Al Jazeera reporters via iMessage in summer of 2020 — Summary & Key Findings — In July and August 2020, government operatives used NSO Group's Pegasus spyware …
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The Guardian, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, Associated Press, The Verge, Forbes, TechRadar, Engadget, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, ZDNet, AppleInsider, iPhone Hacks, SlashGear, Neowin, and The Hacker News
Tweets: @jsrailton, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @dr_ulrichsen, @wokyleeks, @donie, @jsrailton, @farshadnayeri, @jsrailton, @zackwhittaker, @citizenlab, @pwnallthethings, @matthew_d_green, @robertjdenault, @evacide, @laurahuu, @matthew_d_green, @aaschapiro, @jsrailton, @jeffstone500, @pwnallthethings, @aaschapiro, @matthew_d_green, @osxreverser, @kenklippenstein, @dangillmor, @film_girl, and @shashj
| Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times: |
Profile of Dina Srinivasan, who is helping Texas AG's antitrust investigation of Google after her treatises on Facebook and Google reframed antitrust thinking — Regulators are relying on insiders like Dina Srinivasan, who left her digital ad job after concluding that “Facebook and Google … | Andrés Arrieta / Electronic Frontier Foundation: |
Facebook is attacking privacy with its anti-Apple campaign and has locked SMBs into a surveillance-powered advertising model that's invasive of customers — Facebook has recently launched a campaign touting itself as the protector of small businesses. This is a laughable attempt from Facebook …
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Business Insider, 9to5Mac, BGR, iLounge, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Daring Fireball, ZDNet, HotHardware.com News, AppleInsider, MacDailyNews, MacRumors, Daring Fireball, and iPhone in Canada Blog
Tweets: @eff, @charlesarthur, @thisisarp, @eric_seufert, @tapbot_paul, @eff, @aidazzles, @counternotions, @moonalice, @hollyvalero, @eric_seufert, @counternotions, @jheydasch, @eff, @hypervisible, @jason_kint, @johnpaczkowski, @jpwp, @random_walker, @moonalice, @alexhern, @hillbrad, @pt, @hillbrad, @hillbrad, @pt, @seldo, @dakami, @willoremus, @ampyourgrowth, @benedictevans, @karaswisher, @jason_kint, @benedictevans, and @ronwyden
| Matt Stoller / BIG: |
Google and Facebook may continue predatory behavior for years as antitrust cases play out, which can be deterred by filing criminal charges against their execs — Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai need to be indicted. — 1 hr ago — Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly and finance.| Dan Primack / Axios: |
Sources: SoftBank will file on Monday to raise between $500M and $600M via an IPO of its first SPAC and is preparing at least two additional SPACs — SoftBank on Monday will file to raise between $500 million and $600 million via an IPO of its first SPAC, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
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Bloomberg, TechCrunch, The Economic Times, SiliconANGLE, PYMNTS.com, equalocean.com, Tech in Asia, and Reuters. Tweets: @danprimack
| Owen Thomas / San Francisco Chronicle: |
Profile of Bret Taylor, Salesforce's new COO and the architect of its $27.7B acquisition of Slack, who might one day succeed Marc Benioff as CEO of the company — Everyone in Silicon Valley seems to know Bret Taylor. — Few outside do. — That's going to change, as the software engineer …
Tweets: @owenthomas, @sfchronicle, @louisgray, @martinsfp, @hbrucejohnson, @cherylszee, @jeffjarvis, @demianbulwa, @kfury, and @zlurie
| Lingling Wei / Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: in an early November meeting, Jack Ma offered concessions to Chinese regulators, including handing over parts of Ant Group if “the country needs it” — Trying to salvage his relationship with regulators in a Nov. 2 meeting, the Chinese billionaire said he was ready to do what the country needed
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PYMNTS.com. Tweets: @kate_okeeffe, @stevelevine, @ajitpaifcc, @chadbown, @bobdavis187, @anuraag_saxena, @chorzempamartin, @carlminzner, @ruima, @jchengwsj, and @jmulvenon
| Michael Steeber / 9to5Mac: |
Apple has closed nearly 100 stores globally since December 14, including in London, California, and Tennessee, as COVID-19 cases surge — New COVID-19 restrictions and worsening outbreaks have compelled Apple to temporarily close nearly one fifth of its retail stores during one of the busiest shopping weeks of the holiday season.
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Engadget, Bloomberg, USA Today, The Verge, Cult of Mac, New York Times, Gizmodo, MacRumors, International Business Times, Newser, Pocketnow, Reuters, Apple Terminal, Los Angeles Times, and BBC
Tweets: @gartenberg, @xeni, @jeffmacke, @rickydlaw, and @markgurman
| Katie Bo Williams / Defense One: |
WH officials propose ending the “dual-hat” leadership arrangement of NSA and Cyber Command, renewing debate over splitting up the agencies amid recent attacks — An end to the “dual hat” arrangement has been debated for years — but the timing raises questions.| The Economic Times: |
Pine Labs, which makes POS software and provides last-mile retail transaction tech for merchants, raises $75M-$100M at a $2B valuation — Pine Labs is currently India's third largest fintech startup after Paytm and PhonePe. It counts Lone Pine Capital, Sequoia India, Temasek, Mastercard, Paypal and Actis LLP as among its investors.
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Livemint, Medianama, YourStory.com, and Inc42 Media
Tweets: @amrishrau, @strictlyvc, and @ettech
| Rene Ebersole / National Geographic: |
Black-market wildlife ads have increased on Facebook despite the company's steps to combat them, as experts say ad takedowns prematurely alert criminals — llegal wildlife ads have increased on Facebook despite its steps to combat animal trafficking. Crime watch groups are calling for broad legal reforms.| Wall Street Journal: |
Private equity firm Thoma Bravo has agreed to buy property management software provider RealPage for $9.6B, a 31% premium to its closing price on Friday — Private-equity firm reaches deal with provider of technology platform used by owners and managers of rental properties| Jacob Knutson / Axios: |
Trump downplayed the massive cyberattack on the US government, claiming that China may be responsible and the “Fake News Media” is exaggerating its extent — President Trump downplayed a massive cyberattack on U.S. government departments and agencies and private companies on Twitter Saturday …
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Protocol, Bloomberg, New York Times, NPR, CNN, Federal Computer Week, Fortune, Gizmodo, Newser, The Verge, Politico, The Verge, CRN, CNBC, Business Insider, Engadget, and The Guardian
Tweets: @realdonaldtrump, @realdonaldtrump, @ellenychang, @richardgrenell, @john_sipher, @httech, @caseyjohnellis, @kyledcheney, @normative, @c_c_krebs, @jimsciutto, @carlquintanilla, @debramessing, @nicoleperlroth, @nytpolitics, @brianstelter, @jimsciutto, @levie, @jonathanvswan, @andrewsolender, @peterbakernyt, @briankrebs, @jonathanvswan, @homelanddems, @repadamschiff, @tedlieu, @wesball, @jonathanvswan, @alivelshi, @asemota, @rubengallego, @margbrennan, @gregpmiller, @oliverdarcy, @pwnallthethings, @jimsciutto, @atrupar, @kaitlancollins, @laurenwern, @aghamilton29, @b_fung, @nicoleperlroth, and @acosta
Sponsor Posts
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Cloudflare:
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IDrive:
IDrive Autonomy: low-cost L2+ driver assistance with AI — L2+ driver assistance with a scalable AI stack built for automotive companies and laying the foundation for the autonomous future.
IDrive Autonomy: low-cost L2+ driver assistance with AI — L2+ driver assistance with a scalable AI stack built for automotive companies and laying the foundation for the autonomous future.Featured Podcasts
Big Technology Podcast:
Cloudflare CEO: We're Ready To Block Millions of Websites From AI — With Matthew Prince
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
Data Centers, Elon Musk, and the New Politics of Tech, with David Weigel
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
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Access:
Sam Altman on OpenAI's next model and the AI backlash
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
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Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Brian Singerman from GPx
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
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Training Data:
Making Cities Awesome: Peregrine's Nick Noone & Ben Rudolph
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
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| Sankalp Phartiyal / Reuters: |