James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Google investigating top AI ethicist after thousands of files downloaded and shared
It was only in December that Google LLC found itself the topic of controversy once again when it fired Dr. Mimnit Gebru, one of its leading artificial intelligence ethicists, and today a very similar story hit the news. The company said Gebru had given her superiors an ultimatum, which was to publish her paper or she’d ...
GitHub head of HR resigns after Jewish employee was fired for warning about Nazis among Capitol mob
Following the unnecessary firing of an employee over a comment about Nazis being among the people that invaded the U.S. Capitol this month, GitHub Inc. announced today that the head of human resources has “taken accountability” and resigned. The reason the employee in question was fired was a message he sent to his coworkers regarding ...
YouTube suspends Trump’s channel, Snapchat hands down a permanent ban
After being accused of inciting violence, YouTube has banned President Trump’s channel for at least seven days. “After review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to Donald J. Trump’s channel for violating our policies,” YouTube said. “It now has its 1st strike and is temporarily ...
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 ...