James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Clearview AI will stop selling its facial recognition technology to private companies
The controversial facial recognition firm Clearview AI Inc. has stopped selling its technology to private companies, it was reported today. According to Buzzfeed News, the company is “is cancelling the accounts of every customer who was not either associated with law enforcement or some other federal, state, or local government department, office, or agency.” Clearview ...
YouTube and Twitter pressured to remove more COVID-19-related misinformation
Rep. Adam Schiff shared some strong words with Twitter Inc. and Google LLC-owned YouTube today, telling the companies that they aren’t doing enough to crack down on COVID-19 misinformation and should follow the example of Facebook Inc. “Though the best protection is removing or downgrading harmful content before users engage with it, that is not ...
Twitter makes it easier for researchers to see real-time COVID-19 tweets
In an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and help people and organizations trying to better understand the current crisis, Twitter Inc. announced today that it’s opening up the platform to approved developers and researchers. “To further support Twitter’s ongoing efforts to protect the public conversation, and help people find authoritative health information ...
Google will soon require that all advertisers reveal their identities
Google LLC announced today that all advertisers will soon be required to go through a verification process so consumers can better understand who’s behind an ad and where it came from. Since 2018, Google has used a verification process for only political ads, which the company says has provided better transparency for voters in 30 ...
Facebook to start showing users where posts originate
Facebook Inc. said today that it will start showing users where posts come from in order to improve transparency. The company said in a blog post that when posts are made from “high-reach” accounts both on Facebook and Instagram, where that post was created will be displayed with the text or the image. Facebook didn’t ...
Facebook bans posts supporting protests that violate social distancing
Facebook Inc. said today that it will take down posts that promote protests the violate social distancing rules that have been imposed in various states. This week there have been COVID-19 anti-quarantine rallies all over the U.S., with some of those rallies talking about “revolution” in the country. Health experts have advised people not to protest ...
Facebook actively searching for people who interacted with COVID-19 misinformation
Facebook Inc. announced today that it will start notifying people if they have engaged with misinformation regarding COVID-19. Although information and research pertaining to the novel coronavirus changes daily and not all scientists agree on various aspects of the disease, that’s not what Facebook seems to be interested in. What the company is more concerned ...
Amazon under more scrutiny after firing two workers who spoke out about safety conditions
Amazon.com Inc. has fired two workers in a Seattle-based facility after they both criticized the company over safety issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report today. The Washington Post said the two workers, Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, had been highly critical of how Amazon had dealt with the crisis at their facility, although according ...
UK’s National Health Service working with Apple and Google on contact tracing app
Britain’s National Health Service is now working with Apple Inc. and Google LLC in creating technology to track citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced today. Speaking at a news conference, U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the use of a contact tracing app could help to reduce the number of infections and the country ...
Uber expands its Eats service for hungry homebound workers
Uber Technologies Inc. is diversifying during the present global pandemic crisis, announcing Wednesday that it’s vastly expanding its food delivery service, Uber Eats. The company said Uber Eats will soon be available in 20 new countries, with the service starting in Brazil, Canada, France and the U.K. This is not the consumer-focused Uber Eats, but part ...