James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Australia probes impact of Facebook and Google on traditional media
Australia’s competition regulator began a probe Monday into how Google LLC and Facebook Inc. have disrupted media in the country. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been asked by the government to look at the impact the aforementioned companies and other digital platforms are having on traditional media and to ascertain the damage it ...
Report: Multiple women accuse investor Shervin Pishevar of sexual misconduct
Prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist and early Uber Technologies Inc. investor Shervin Pishevar has been accused of sexual misconduct by five women, according to a report published by Bloomberg on Thursday. Pishevar, who is managing director of Sherpa Capital, is also co-founder of Hyperloop-one (now Virgin Hyperloop One), and served as board observer at Uber for four ...
Supreme Court considers limiting ‘Big Brother’ tracking of mobile data by police
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering imposing stricter limits on police to track American citizens’ movements as a landmark case raises concerns over potentially oppressive surveillance. The high court heard arguments today on the case in question, Carpenter v. The United States, which has provoked doubts regarding the privacy of the American public in the ...
Facebook and Twitter to share info about possible Russian meddling in UK politics
Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. will provide information to the U.K. government to determine if Russian-backed organizations used the Internet to spread misinformation relating to the vote on Brexit. The companies agreed to provide the information following a request by the U.K.’s head of digital, culture, media and sport committee, Damian Collins. The request was ...
YouTube hikes efforts to stamp out creepy videos aimed at children
Following numerous reports on how decidedly creepy content aimed at children is getting past YouTube’s filters, the video platform has once again vowed to take action. The videos in question depict real children’s cartoon characters, such as Peppa Pig, involved in vulgar or violent acts. The videos masquerade as content suitable for kids and find ...
The FCC’s net neutrality proposal is here, and it’s just what the critics feared
If you haven’t seen a meme over the last 24 hours relating to outrage over the scrapping of net neutrality rules, your cyberspace must be a very small world. In spite of the tide of the general public’s enmity towards the changes, it hasn’t always been clear what exactly will change and how it will affect ...
Google tracks your location even if you opted out – until next week, anyway
Your Android phone could be tracking your location even when you when you haven’t turned on location services or even have a SIM card installed, a report by Quartz revealed Tuesday. An investigation found that by triangulating information from cell towers, Google LLC could find the location of users’ phones and send data back to the ...
Justice Department files lawsuit against AT&T to block Time Warner merger
The Justice Department Monday filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in an attempt to thwart AT&T Inc.’s acquisition of Time Warner Inc. The merger would be the largest media and telecommunications deal of its kind, set to cost AT&T $84.5 billion. In a press release, Justice said such an acquisition would “substantially lessen competition, resulting in higher prices ...
Germany bans smartwatches for children and says the devices must be destroyed
A German regulator has banned smartwatches for kids and said they should be destroyed by parents since the watches could easily be turned into a spying device. Telecommmunications regulator Bundesnetzagentur, or Federal Network Agency, called smartwatches “prohibitive listening devices” and said it has already taken action against companies that sell them. The agency said that the ...
Twitter announces new verification guidelines and begins a purge
Twitter Inc. announced on Wednesday that blue-checkmarked verified accounts could lose their status, following criticism last week about the verified status of white nationalist Jason Kessler’s account. The company accepted responsibility for the confusion around what a verified account actually meant, and that it was assumed by the members of the public to be an endorsement. ...