Archive for October 2019
Facebook agrees to pay a £500k fine to the UK over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal
Facebook has agreed to pay a £500,000 fine to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which nearly 90 million users had their personal data shared with the political consulting firm without their knowledge or consent. The social media company has now withdrawn its appeal after a year of litigation, agreeing […]
European Commission says tech companies must do more to fight disinformation
The European Commission has warned that tech platforms’ voluntary, self-regulatory efforts to minimize disinformation need to go much further, in their latest progress report on an agreement several of the largest companies signed a year ago, according to TechCrunch. Facebook, Google, Twitter, Mozilla, and Microsoft signed on to the EU’s Code of Practice on Disinformation in […]
Volkswagen aims to surpass Tesla with expanded production of electric cars
Volkswagen is stepping up electric car production to compete with Tesla, aiming to produce roughly 1 million electric vehicles by 2022, according to Reuters. Production will be concentrated at two factories in China, with a combined production capacity of 600,000 vehicles. Tesla is building its own new plant in Shanghai, as part of an effort to […]
British chipmaker ARM says it will continue to supply Huawei
UK-based chip manufacturer ARM says it will continue to provide its chip designs to Huawei, after their legal team found that the technology is “of UK origin” and not subject to a US trade ban against the Chinese tech company, according to Reuters. It’s a reversal from earlier this year when ARM told staff to suspend their […]
Macron nominates Atos CEO Thierry Breton for EU commissioner
French President Emmanuel Macron has nominated Thierry Breton, former finance minister and current chief of technology company Atos, as the nation’s EU commissioner, according to The Independent. Macron’s initial pick for commissioner, Sylvie Goulard, was rejected by the European Parliament, which must approve the nominations. Breton could be well-positioned to gain the approval of the conservative European […]
Google researchers report major breakthrough in quantum computing
Google has announced an unprecedented breakthrough in quantum computing, with a quantum processor performing a complex calculation in a fraction of the time they say it would have taken the world’s most powerful conventional supercomputers, according to Reuters. Google’s 54-qubit Sycamore processor performed the calculation in 200 seconds, compared to the 10,000 years they say it […]
UK lawmaker questions Facebook on its move to allow misinformation in political ads
A UK lawmaker is challenging Facebook on its decision to exclude political ads from its fact-checking requirements, effectively allowing politicians to lie in Facebook ads, according to The Guardian. The House of Commons’ media committee chair, Damian Collins, pressed Facebook vice president and former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg over the company’s policy change, dropping a ban […]
Researchers spied on users of Amazon and Google’s smart speakers, exposing privacy risks
Security researchers designed apps to spy on users of Amazon Echo and Google Home smart speakers, uncovering vulnerabilities that they say could be exploited by other app developers, according to BBC News. Berlin-based Security Research Labs (SRL) designed eight apps, billed as offering horoscopes and random number generators. Once those apps were approved by Amazon and […]
EU antitrust authorities issue rare interim order against Broadcom, in ongoing probe
Europe’s antitrust authorities have ordered the US chipmaker Broadcom to halt potentially anticompetitive practices while they’re under investigation, in an unusual step that could suggest swifter action against tech giants in the future, according to Reuters. The probe by the Competition Commission, led by antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, is investigating exclusivity clauses in contracts with six […]
Network crash leaves millions of Three’s UK customers without phone service
A network crash left millions of UK users without phone service on Wednesday, according to The Guardian. UK telecom provider Three said that a “significant majority” of its ten million users had been affected, and many customers were reportedly still without service on Thursday. The outage began late Wednesday night during maintenance on Three’s network infrastructure. UK […]