Techmeme
May 12, 2021, 8:02 AM

Top News

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Deep dive on the DarkSide ransomware gang, which pressures victims into paying via phone calls by affiliates, DDoS attacks, and threats of tipping short sellers  —  The FBI confirmed this week that a relatively new ransomware group known as DarkSide is responsible for an attack …
Bloomberg:
US agrees to remove Xiaomi from blacklist which could have restricted American investment in the company, following Xiaomi's lawsuit earlier this year  —  - U.S. to vacate order designating company as military-linked  — Xiaomi had sued U.S. government following the Trump order
The Coinbase Blog:
Coinbase to ban pay negotiations in hiring and will offer the same pay to new hires in the same position and location; top performers to still get “multipliers”  —  Coinbase is always evolving.  In the last year, we've grown our headcount by 100%, hired in 6 new countries …
Anna Cooban / Insider:
WhatsApp details the experience for those who don't agree to its new privacy policy, including losing access to calls, messages, and notifications  —  - WhatsApp will eventually stop users sending and receiving messages if they refuse a new privacy policy.  — If users do not agree to the policy …
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:
Researcher discovers a series of vulnerabilities, known as Frag Attacks, impacting Wi-Fi devices from the past 24 years, even when WEP and WPA are activated  —  A Belgian security researcher has discovered a series of vulnerabilities that impact the WiFi standard, with some bugs dating …
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple says that ~1M new apps and ~1M app updates were rejected in 2020, 470,000+ developer accounts were terminated over fraud concerns, and more  —  - Apple said it rejected almost 1 million apps that were submitted to its App Store for the first time in 2020.
Maya Gebeily / Reuters:
Instagram and Twitter apologize for deleting pro-Palestine posts, blaming technical errors, but critics say their “discriminatory” algorithms are to blame  —  Instagram and Twitter have blamed technical errors for deleting posts mentioning the possible eviction of Palestinians …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube plans to pay $100M to top creators on YouTube Shorts, its TikTok competitor, through 2022, starting in the next few months in the US and India  —  YouTube is giving its TikTok competitor, YouTube Shorts, an injection of cash to help it better compete with rivals.
MK Manoylov / The Block:
eBay says it will allow NFTs to be sold on its platform and will add new “capabilities” for blockchain-driven collectibles in the coming months  —  The online sales platform eBay is now permitting the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for digital collectibles.
Stephen Shankland / CNET:
Zigbee Alliance renames as Connectivity Standards Alliance and unveils Matter, an interoperable connectivity standard to ship in smart home devices this year  —  An industry alliance sponsored by Apple, Google, Amazon and other tech companies will begin certifying smart home devices later this year …
Tripp Mickle / Wall Street Journal:
Google says it plans to double the size of its team studying AI ethics in the coming years, as it looks to strengthen the group battered by recent controversies  —  CEO will boost operating budget of team tasked with evaluating code and product to avert discrimination and other problems
Riley de León / CNBC:
Online mortgage service Better.com to go public via a SPAC merger with Aurora Acquisition Corp. at $7.7B valuation; deal includes $1.5B SoftBank-led investment  —  - Digital mortgage lender Better will make its market debut by merging with Aurora Acquisition Corp., valuing the company at $7.7 billion.
Erika Kinetz / Associated Press:
Investigation: an army of fake bots covertly amplify Chinese propaganda on Twitter by retweeting posts from diplomats and state media tens of thousands of times  —  BRUSSELS (AP) — China's ruling Communist Party has opened a new front in its long, ambitious war to shape global public opinion: Western social media.
Michael Holden / Reuters:
UK unveils Online Safety Bill which would fine social media firms up to 10% of revenue or £18M if they fail to address online abuses such as racist hate crimes  —  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Wednesday a planned new law would see social media companies fined up to 10% of turnover …
Dan Primack / Axios:
Wall Street Journal:
Uber and Lyft will offer free rides to and from US vaccination sites until July 4, partnering with the Biden administration, which is providing site data  —  New transportation partnership comes as Biden administration explores ways to encourage people to get vaccinated

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More News

Sheelah Kolhatkar / New Yorker:

Earlier Picks

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