James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Women’s period tracking apps are sharing intimate data with Facebook
Menstruation tracking apps have been sharing highly sensitive data with Facebook Inc., the U.K.-based advocacy group Privacy International said Monday. According to that group’s research, apps such as Maya by Plackal Tech and MIA by Mobapp Development Limited shared information with Facebook about menstruation cycles, menstruation symptoms, mood and general health, but also the use ...
Facebook introduces ‘Dating’ feature to US market
Facsebook Inc. is vying to overtake dating apps in the U.S. after releasing its own service here Thursday. The company said that after testing the feature in a number of countries since 2018, the service will roll out to American lonely hearts. In a blog post, Facebook said the feature will already know interests, groups, events ...
Big tech meets with US national security officials to discuss 2020 election
Representatives from Google LLL, Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Microsoft Corp. met with U.S. security officials Wednesday in Silicon Valley to discuss the upcoming 2020 presidential election. The talk, held at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, was not announced beforehand to the media. People close to the matter said the representatives from the aforementioned ...
Homeland Security won’t be able to use reported fake accounts, says Facebook
During Facebook Inc.’s continuing crackdown on fake accounts, its latest victim is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The social media giant told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the department is no different from anyone else when it comes to violating its terms of service. The announcement follows news that Citizenship and Immigration Services ...
Facebook might do away with the ‘Like’ count
In an effort to reduce the pressure of using social media, Facebook Inc. could get rid of its ‘Like’ count on the news feed. The possibility was first raised today by app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, who noticed that in the Android app Facebook was hiding the number of ‘Likes’ on some posts from everyone ...
Facebook strengthens rules for political ads ahead of 2020 election
Facebook Inc. will make its rules on political advertising stricter to prevent the spread of disinformation on the run-up to the 2020 U.S. elections, the company announced Wednesday. The social media giant was heavily criticized for allowing Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and can’t afford to allow that to happen again this time ...
Google Maps now lets users plan mixed modes of travel
Now you can select multiple modes of travel options on Google Maps to make door-to-destination easier, the company announced Tuesday. Maps has always offered various modes of travel, but until now the app hasn’t combined all of them into one itinerary. Now users can select a destination and the app will give directions and the ...
BBC to launch ‘Beeb,’ its own voice assistant
The BBC is planning to introduce its own voice assistant to rival Amazon.com’s Alexa, according to report Monday in the Guardian. This will be a voice with a difference, though, since it’s being trained to understand British accents. For some time now, various British comedy TV shows have featured sketches in which artificial intelligent voice assistants fail ...
Google shuts down 210 YouTube channels linked to Chinese disinformation campaign
Some 210 YouTube accounts were just disabled by Google LLC for involvement in a coordinated effort to spread disinformation relating to the Hong Kong protests. Google said Thursday it has identified threats after sharing information with industry partners and law enforcement, following an internal investigation found a propaganda campaign on YouTube similar to the campaigns recently ...
Contractors working for Microsoft’s Xbox claim to have listened to audio recordings
Microsoft Corp. has found itself in hot water again after contractors working for the company said they have listened to Xbox One users in their homes via voice recordings. According to an article published by Motherboard Wednesday, several contractors claimed to have listened to those recordings. The practice goes back to when Xbox One could be ...