For years, Facebook gave some of the world’s largest technology companies more intrusive access to users’ personal data than it has disclosed, effectively exempting those business partners from its usual privacy rules, according to internal records and interviews. The special arrangements are detailed in hundreds of pages of Facebook documents obtained by The New York… Read more »
Monthly Archives: December 2018
5G is here. What that means and how you can get it
Ushering in the mobile 5G era, AT&T announced Tuesday that it will start selling a 5G wireless hotspot. It can offer speeds up to 400 megabits per second, which is way faster than most home broadband connections and between 10 and 100 times faster than 4G, depending on network conditions. 4G is the fastest wireless technology… Read more »
Russia, Facebook, the US election and when 126 million isn’t 126 million
As many as 126 million Americans may have seen content uploaded to Facebook by Russia-based operatives since 2015. That’s nearly half of the 270 million Americans who are old enough to be allowed a Facebook profile. The figure comes from the social network itself, which along with Google and Twitter, is preparing for a Senate… Read more »
France to go it alone on digital tax
France has said it will introduce its own tax on big technology firms from 1 January after EU-wide efforts stalled. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he expected it to bring in €500m (£450m) in 2019. France, along with Germany, had been pushing for the European Commission to agree measures by the end of… Read more »
California proposes a plan to tax text messages
California regulators want to tax text messages to increase funds for programs that bring connectivity to underserved residents. A new surcharge proposed by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) wouldn’t be a per-text tax, but a monthly fee based on a cellular bill that includes any fees for text-message services. Most carriers offer a flat… Read more »
Apple to create $1bn Texas base
Apple has announced plans to build a new campus in Austin, Texas, saying the project will involve a $1bn (£790m) investment. The company already has an existing base in the city. The iPhone-maker said it expected the latest move would eventually make it the state capital’s biggest private employer. One expert said the area had a… Read more »
Is US military cloud safe from Russia? Fears over sensitive data
A technology company bidding for a Pentagon contract to store sensitive data has close partnerships with a firm linked to a sanctioned Russian oligarch, the BBC has learned. The Jedi project, a huge cyber-cloud which could ultimately store nuclear codes, has already sparked security fears. Viktor Vekselberg, who is close to the Kremlin, has links… Read more »
Huawei arrest puts ‘bullseye’ on Apple
You don’t need to look hard to see how the Global Times – the state-backed Chinese newspaper – is interpreting the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou. “Washington’s move to stifle Huawei will undermine itself,” reads a headline. “Banning Chinese companies like Huawei will isolate US from digital economy of the future,” reads… Read more »
Singapore’s Grab ends its game-changing year flush with cash
Grab, the most popular ride-hailing app in Southeast Asia, will end 2018 with $3 billion in new funds as it seeks to fend off rivals in a region of more than 600 million people. The Singapore-based startup has raised more than $2.7 billion so far this year and will get to $3 billion “before New Year’s… Read more »
Facebook ‘struck secret deals over user data’
Emails written by Facebook’s chief and his deputies show the firm struck secret deals to give some developers special access to user data while refusing others, according to MPs. A cache of internal documents has been published online by a parliamentary committee. It said the files also showed Facebook had deliberately made it “as hard as possible”… Read more »
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