James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Amazon stung with antitrust lawsuit filed by Washington DC attorney general
A lawsuit was filed today by Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine that accuses the company of anticompetitive practices. “Amazon’s online retail sales platform benefits from, and is protected by, Amazon’s anticompetitive business practices,” said the lawsuit. It claims that the company’s large market share of U.S. online sales leads to higher prices for the ...
Florida governor signs bill to block social media platforms from booting politicians
In a bid to prevent social media behemoths from banning politicians, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill today that will prevent them from doing so. Senate Bill 7072 is a response to former President Donald Trump being blocked from using the platforms of Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc., as well as Google-owned YouTube. Soon ...
Following an investigation, Twitter admits its image cropping algorithm is biased
Twitter Inc. today revealed the results of an internal investigation into its image cropping algorithm, following accusations that it’s biased. In April this year, the company announced that it would conduct an analysis regarding its machine learning algorithms and whether they may cause unintentional harm. The investigation was called the “Responsible Machine Learning Initiative.” Part ...
Amazon still won’t make its facial recognition software available to police anytime soon
Amazon.com Inc. announced today that it’s extending a moratorium that forbids police from using the company’s controversial facial recognition software. Last year, Amazon place a one-year moratorium on police to block them from using the technology, coming at a time when other technology companies either said they wouldn’t sell their own similar product or stopped ...
Tesla is under review by the DMV for claiming ‘full self-driving’ capability
The California Department of Motor Vehicles is reportedly investigating Tesla Inc.’s claims regarding its vehicles’ full self-driving capabilities. Regulators will try to ascertain if the company has falsely promoted the feature, possibly putting people’s lives at risk. The scrutiny comes after accidents in such vehicles, as well as people showing themselves in videos in their ...
Google gets hit with $123 million fine in Italy for anticompetitive behavior
Italy has slapped a 102 million euro ($123 million) fine on Google LLC for abusing its market dominance. The Italian Competition Authority said today that the company had violated Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union by preventing the release of an Italian-made app. “Google holds a dominant position allowing ...
Chinese firm Xiaomi exits the US government’s blacklist
Xiaomi Corp. and the U.S. government have made up and the company has now been taken off the blacklist, it was reported today. The Chinese electronics giant was accused during the Trump presidency of being “owned or controlled” by the Chinese military and therefore a threat. At the time, many U.S. pundits expressed surprise at ...
Agree to WhatsApp’s new privacy policy or else, says Facebook
Facebook Inc. announced today that WhatsApp users won’t lose their account completely if they don’t agree to its new privacy policy right away, but the company has made many users an offer they might not be able to refuse. WhatsApp said on its FAQ page that users won’t have their accounts deleted on May 15 ...
Dozens of attorneys general tell Facebook to scrap plans to launch Instagram for kids
Forty-four state attorneys general have signed a letter urging Facebook Inc. not to go ahead with its plans to launch a version of Instagram for children under the age of 13. The letter, which was published online today, talked about the “detrimental” effects social media can have on young people, saying that children of that ...
Twitter introduces Tip Jar, a way to make money from tweets
Twitter Inc. announced today that it’s now testing a tipping system called Tip Jar that will allow users to send money to the accounts that impress them with certain tweets. Earlier this year, Twitter laid out plans for a number of changes that would let people make money from their accounts. One of the ideas ...