James Farrell
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US sanctions prompt Slack to close accounts of people who visited certain countries
Updated: Slack Technologies Inc. has started banning accounts with links to Iran and other nations, according to reports Thursday. Some of the reports said users with hardly any remaining ties to Iran, living as far and wide as Finland and Canada, as well as the United States, had woken up to see their Slack accounts deactivated. The ...
DC attorney general sues Facebook over Cambridge Analytica leak
The attorney general of the District of Columbia today sued Facebook Inc. for not protecting user privacy during the scandal involving the campaign data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica. “Facebook failed to protect the privacy of its users and deceived them about who had access to their data and how it was used,” said Karl Racine. “Facebook put ...
NAACP calls for Facebook boycott after report reveals Russian government targeted African-Americans
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has asked people to boycott Facebook for a week following reports that the platform had been used by Russian agents to try to sway the minds of America’s black voters. Two reports released Monday showed how millions of posts from fake Russian accounts ended up on ...
Facebook slams report that fact-checkers were hired only for ‘crisis PR’
Facebook Inc. is criticizing a scathing report published by The Guardian Thursday in which former and current fact-checkers said they were hired for face value rather than to do a meaningful job. The report stated that some of the fact-checkers who were hired to combat fake news had “lost trust” in Facebook. One of the ...
Sundar Pichai tells Congress Chinese search engine isn’t coming soon
Google LLC Chief Executive Sundar Pichai met with the House judiciary committee Tuesday, three months after the company failed to turn up for a date with Congress with other tech giants. One of the more contentious issues discussed and one that is currently causing internal discord at the company was that of “Project Dragonfly,” a ...
Torrent of criticism pelts Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for his Myanmar comments
Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Jack Dorsey has found himself in deep water after going on a 10-day meditation retreat in Myanmar and promoting the country as a tourist destination. “The people are full of joy and the food is amazing,” Dorsey (pictured) told his 4 million-plus followers, a comment some people thought crude seeing as though ...
Australia passes controversial encryption bill
The Australian Parliament passed a bill Thursday that will require all technology companies to hand over encrypted data to law enforcement if asked to do so. Privacy advocates decry such a law, but the government has said that such a law is necessary to fight organized crime and terrorism, making Australia a safer place. Critics ...
Leaked Facebook emails reveal determination to rule the digital world
The U.K. Parliament Wednesday released a huge cache of documents that might vindicate hardline Facebook Inc. critics that charge the company is willing to sideline ethics to focus on the bottom line. More than 250 pages of internal correspondence from 2012 to 2015 were released by U.K. lawmakers. The emails were originally sealed for a lawsuit that was ...
Hackers got into Republican campaign aides’ emails during 2018 election
A number of House Republicans’ campaign aides were hacked during this years’ midterms, according to a report first published Tuesday by Politico. Four senior aides of the National Republican Congressional Committee had their emails hacked, and this went on for several months, according to the report. An NRCC vendor spotted an attack in April, and ...
Amazon is reportedly testing its cashierless technology in larger stores
Amazon.com Inc. is now testing its cashierless checkout technology in bigger stores, according to a report published Sunday by The Wall Street Journal. Although there have been some bumps along the road, the Journal reported that the tech now works well in smaller places that look more like grocery stores. Apparently, things ran less smooth when ...