Techmeme
December 22, 2019, 6:10 PM

Top News

New York Times:
US officials say ToTok, a chat app gaining popularity around the world, is a spying tool by the government of UAE; Google and Apple have now removed the app  —  ToTok, an Emirati messaging app that has been downloaded to millions of phones, is the latest escalation of a digital arms race.
The Verge:
The 84 biggest flops, fails, and dead dreams of the 2010s, from the Fire phone and Google Glass to the undoing of net neutrality in the US  —  A decade of failures  —  The world never changes quite the way you expect.  But at The Verge, we've had a front-row seat while technology …
Reuters:
US Navy bans TikTok from government-issued mobile devices citing a cybersecurity threat, will block devices with the app from the Navy Marine Corps Intranet  —  (Reuters) - Earlier this week the United States Navy banned the social media app TikTok from government-issued mobile devices …
Wired:
San Francisco's municipal surveillance law, which banned city agencies from using facial recognition in May, amended to allow for Face ID on city-issued iPhones  —  San Francisco quietly amends its municipal surveillance law to allow for Apple's Face ID, though the ban on facial recognition still applies.
Davey Alba / New York Times:
Facebook and Twitter shut down a network of fake accounts using AI-generated faces to “masquerade” as Americans; Facebook links the network to Epoch Media Group  —  Researchers said the profiles, linked to the Epoch Media Group, used photos generated by artificial intelligence in a preview of an …
Matt Brown / Jalopnik:
California DMV to start approving permits for self-driving delivery vehicles, with and without backup drivers, from Jan. 17, both for testing and commercial use  —  Are you ready to be stuck in traffic behind armies of autonomous delivery robots?  No?  Well good news: if you live in California …
Sarah Nassauer / Wall Street Journal:
New York Times:
Text messages show how the head of DOJ antitrust division Makan Delrahim steered the T-Mobile-Sprint deal and played a crucial role in getting Dish involved  —  Text messages indicate that Makan Delrahim, the head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, worked behind the scenes to help the companies pull off a deal.
The Verge:
Reuters:
German classifieds group Scout24 agrees to sell its European automotive digital marketplace, AutoScout24, to private equity firm Hellman & Friedman for $3.2B  —  German classifieds group Scout24 said on Tuesday it had agreed to sell AutoScout24 to private equity investor Hellman & Friedman …

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More News

Elias Groll / Wired:
Lisa Kaplan / Lawfare:

Earlier Picks

Karen Weise / New York Times:
Andy Greenberg / Wired: