Techmeme
June 6, 2019, 11:15 PM

Top News

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Google to buy data analytics startup Looker for $2.6B in cash, Google Cloud's first major acquisition under new CEO Thomas Kurian  —  KEY POINTS  — The acquisition of Looker is the first major acquisition under former Oracle executive Thomas Kurian  —  Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Google Stadia details: pre-order now, coming in Nov. with $130 Founder's Edition, subscription costs $10/month not including extra games, and free tier in 2020  —  Today, Google has revealed the key details that were conspicuously missing from its March announcement of the new Stadia game streaming service.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: WarnerMedia abandons plan for a three-tiered streaming service, will likely package HBO, Cinemax, and the Warner Bros. library together for $16-$17/mo  —  New package is expected to include HBO, Cinemax and Warner Bros. content for barely more than HBO's current streaming service
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
FCC votes unanimously to let carriers block robocalls by default and advances proposed rule for carriers to adopt SHAKEN/STIR caller ID system  —  The FCC voted to give cell providers explicit permission to do stop the madness  —  The FCC voted unanimously today to allow carriers …
Samantha Cole / VICE:
Ring is using a video captured by one of its doorbell cameras of a woman, whom cops suspect is a petty thief, in Facebook ads that ask users to identify her  —  Ring, Amazon's doorbell company, posted a video of a woman suspected of a crime and asked users to call the cops with information.
Steven Zheng / The Block:
New York Times:
US election laws, which prohibit companies from providing candidates services at a discount, are hampering cybersecurity work, a weakness for 2020 campaigns  —  One year out from the 2020 elections, presidential candidates face legal roadblocks to acquiring the tools and assistance necessary …
Ian Sherr / CNET:
How YouTube gaming commentators use anger to gain views on their videos, which researchers and some YouTubers say are amplified by YouTube's recommendations  —  How to make a successful video on one of the internet's most popular sites:  —  Step 1: Find something to be angry about.
Financial Times:
A close look at Russia's plan for a “sovereign internet”, which aims to use deep packet inspection for censorship and a backup domain name system  —  Thousands of protesters had gathered outside government headquarters in Magas, the capital of the heavily Muslim republic of Ingushetia in Russia's north Caucasus.
More: Wired
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
Microsoft has pulled its facial recognition database, MS Celeb, which contained 10M+ images of ~100K individuals scraped under the Creative Commons license  —  Microsoft has quietly pulled from the internet its database of 10m faces, which has been used to train facial recognition systems around the world …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Barack and Michelle Obama's company, Higher Ground Productions, strikes a multiyear deal with Spotify to produce exclusive podcasts for the platform  —  NY Digital Editor @https://twitter.com/xpangler FOLLOW  — YouTube Says It's Reviewing Harassment Policies, After It Condoned Sustained Attacks on Gay Latino Journalist
Shivani Vora / New York Times:
Uber debuts Uber Copter, a helicopter service starting July 9 in New York, to ferry customers between Lower Manhattan and JFK for $200-$225 per person  —  For an 8-minute, one-way flight, the average ride will cost between $200 and $225 per person and include private ground transportation on both ends of the trip.
Del Harvey / Twitter:
Twitter simplifies the language for its rules and reorganizes them into three high-level categories: safety, privacy, and authenticity  —  Our rules exist to help keep everyone using Twitter safe and ensure they can participate freely in the public conversation.
Casey Newton / The Verge:
YouTube updates guidelines to ban videos that promote the superiority of any group to justify discrimination, resulting in the removal of thousands of channels  —  YouTube is trying to reduce the prevalence of extremist content on the platform  —  YouTube is changing its community guidelines …
YouTube Blog:
Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:

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Taylor Lorenz / The Atlantic: