James Farrell
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Authorities take down DarkMarket, the world’s largest illegal online marketplace
The world’s largest online illegal marketplace today was taken offline and an Australian man accused of running it has been arrested. The unnamed 34-year-old man from Australia said to be behind the marketplace, DarkMarket, was picked up by police in the city of Koblenz in the southwest of Germany. According to police, the investigation was ...
Facebook and other big tech firms halt political spending after attack on the Capitol
Facebook Inc. will freeze political contributions after last week’s attack on the Capitol, it was first reported today by Axios. “Following last week’s awful violence in DC, we are pausing all of our PAC contributions for at least the current quarter, while we review our policies,” the company said in a statement. Google LLC said ...
After US Capitol violence, Twitter and Facebook slap bans on Trump’s accounts
Updated: Following chaos on Capitol Hill today and President Donald Trump’s repeated violations of policy, both Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. temporarily banned his accounts. Twitter was the first to take action. “As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, DC, we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump tweets that ...
Amazon buys 11 Boeing aircraft to expand its cargo fleet
Amazon.com Inc. announced today that it will purchase 11 used Boeing 767-300s, a first for the e-commerce giant. In the past, Amazon has relied on leasing aircraft. The purchase of the 11 planes, seven from Delta Air Lines Inc. and four from WestJet Airlines Ltd., is a sign of the company’s intention to go it ...
Singapore’s COVID-19 contact tracing app can be used in criminal investigations
Data from Singapore’s widely used COVID-19 tracing app will be available to police for criminal investigations, it was announced today. The government app, called TraceTogether, is currently being used by almost 80% of the country’s population of 5.7 million, making it one of the most-used apps of its kind during the pandemic. Although the country ...
Chinese company that supplies US big tech with products accused of using forced Uyghur labor
Electronics components company Lens Technology Co. Ltd. has been using forced Uyghur labor workers, according to a new report that was published in the Washington Post today. The investigation, which was undertaken by the Tech Transparency Project, found that thousands of Uyghur Muslims mostly from Xinjiang, China, were being forced to work in factories. Lens ...
Twitter POTUS account will start with zero followers for Joe Biden
Following the inauguration of President Joseph Biden, the @POTUS and @WhiteHouse Twitter Inc. accounts will have zero followers, the company announced today. “The accounts will not automatically retain their existing followers,” Twitter said in a statement. “Instead, Twitter will notify followers of these accounts to provide context that the content will be archived and allow ...
Facebook blasts Apple over upcoming data privacy changes
A number of Facebook Inc. ads today criticized Apple Inc. over changes to its upcoming iOS 14 operating system. The full-page ads appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, each carrying the headline, “We’re standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere.” That’s a criticism of Apple’s decision ...
Troll farms in France and Russia are trying to influence politics in Africa, according to Facebook
Rival troll networks from France and Russia have been trying to meddle with politics in North Africa and the Middle East, according to a blog post published today by Facebook Inc. Facebook said it had taken down three separate networks for violating the company’s policy against foreign or government interference. The networks were accused of coordinated ...
Pornhub has just removed the majority of its videos
The world’s largest pornography website, Pornhub, has removed millions of unverified videos following a scathing report published earlier in December by the New York Times. That report detailed how the website hosted videos of children, which resulted in the website making some policy changes. Last week, Pornhub said that it would ban downloads and restrict ...