Techmeme
September 15, 2018, 11:30 PM

Top News

Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept:
Sources: prototypes of Google's Dragonfly search engine for China link the search app on users' Android devices to their phone numbers  —  Google built a prototype of a censored search engine for China that links users' searches to their personal phone numbers, thus making it easier …
Caroline O'Donovan / BuzzFeed News:
Sources: a list of seven employees who quit Google over Dragonfly, including some engineers with up to 11 years tenure, is circulating inside Google  —  A list that names seven employees who say they quit their jobs at Google over a lack of corporate transparency is circulating within the company's ranks.
Molly Taft / The Outline:
Inside the paid courses where deactivated NYC Uber drivers try to learn how to get back in, while critics say tutors are squeezing yet another fee from drivers  —  One of the only ways for drivers whose rating falls below about 4.5 stars to get reinstated is to take a class, where they get a side of labor organizing.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Let's Encrypt has issued 380M+ free TLS certificates on 129M unique domains in three years since launch, making it the largest certificate issuer in the world  —  Bon anniversaire, Let's Encrypt!  —  The free-to-use nonprofit was founded in 2014 in part by the Electronic Frontier Foundation …
Jason M. Bailey / New York Times:
Esports companies like Blizzard are growing by replicating traditional sports leagues like NBA that are structured around local franchises and fanfare  —  Jay Goldthwaite had never felt passion for a Boston sports team, no matter how often his neighbors' cheers pierced the walls …
John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:
After receiving “increased level of interest”, DOJ has invited a bipartisan group of 24 state AGs to upcoming meeting on alleged speech stifling by tech firms  —  Late-September meeting, announced last week, to focus on antitrust issues and stifling of conservative speech
Wall Street Journal:
Investigation: North Korean operatives are evading US sanctions and earning millions by using fake identities on services like Github, Slack, and Paypal  —  Hiding behind social-media fake profiles, a group linked to Pyongyang solicited technology work to send hard currency back home
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Airware, a drone startup that has raised $118M from Andreessen Horowitz, Google's GV, Kleiner Perkins, and others, is shutting down  —  Drone operating system startup Airware today suddenly informed employees it will cease operations immediately despite having raised $118 million from top investors …
Nicole Nguyen / BuzzFeed News:
European website finds that a free app is exposing the exact locations of Grindr's 3.6M+ active users via unauthorized access to Grindr's private API  —  The gay dating app Grindr is still exposing the precise location of its more than 3.6 million active users although it has long been aware of the issue.

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More News

Ari Levy / CNBC:

Earlier Picks

Theodore Schleifer / Recode:
Katherine Ellen Foley / Quartz:
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge: