James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Apple advises many US retail workers to stay at home until year-end
Apple Inc. said Monday that many of its retail staff in the U.S. should stay at home as COVID-19 cases spike, according to a report by Bloomberg. The company closed many of its retail stores in the U.S. and across the world during the last few months out of an “abundance of caution.” Retail staff were told ...
Facebook heavily criticized after civil rights audit
Facebook Inc. today released a 100-page report on its efforts to embrace civil liberties, and the news wasn’t good. In a blog post, the company said that the audit started about two years ago, adding that no other social media company had ever done the same. Facebook said it had “no idea” that the report ...
Google, Facebook and Twitter pause data requests from Hong Kong police
Google LLC, Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. all said today that they will pause cooperation with Hong Kong police regarding requests for user data. This follows the introduction of a new security law last week by the Chinese government that has been criticized the world over. Under that law, police in Hong Kong will be ...
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t think ad boycott will change anything
Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg isn’t overly concerned about the advertising boycott and doesn’t believe anything is going to change in the long run, according to a report published by The Information today. More than 500 companies so far have said they will suspend advertising on Facebook, including Verizon Communications Inc., Coca-Cola Co., Levi Strauss & Co., ...
Facebook makes changes to News Feed amid advertiser boycott
Facebook Inc. announced today that it’s making some changes to its algorithm so that original reporting as well as stories with transparent authorship will be prioritized in the News Feed. During the #StopHateforProfit campaign, more than 200 brands have paused ads on Facebook and asked that the company make changes to its content policy. Some of ...
Reddit takes down largest pro-Trump subreddit in hate speech crackdown
Reddit Inc. today announced that it has banned the largest pro-Trump community on its platform after revamping its hate speech policies. The company said that “The Donald” subreddit will have to go, as well as 2,000 other communities. Another banned community is leftist “Chapo Trap House,” which Reddit also said violates its policies. The vast ...
Wrongful arrest leads to controversy over racially biased face recognition technology
Tensions are high again regarding the use of facial recognition technology in law enforcement after a black man was wrongfully arrested in January this year, according to a report today in the New York Times. Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a complaint against the Detroit Police Department. The lawsuit explains how ...
Segway’s iconic self-balancing scooter will no longer be produced
Segway Inc. will not make any more of its iconic self-balancing scooters. The “Segway Personal Transporter” has on the market since 2001, and while touted by some to be the future of alternative transportation, the vehicle was also widely mocked. Production at its factory in Bedford, New Hampshire, will stop July 15, and 21 employees will lose ...
Big tech slams Trump’s suspension of guest worker visas
President Trump today signed off on an executive order to suspend a number of nonimmigrant visas temporarily, a move that leading tech firms have slammed. The order, titled, “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak,” means that the following visas will be suspended throughout ...
After initial rebuff, UK turns to Google and Apple for COVID-19 contact tracing software
The U.K. government has decided to ditch its own COVID-19 contact tracing app and instead look to Apple Inc. and Google LLC for help. According to the BBC today, the technology developed in the U.K. was not as “privacy focused” as what has been created by Apple and Google, but after testing its own app on the ...