Techmeme
August 20, 2020, 5:25 PM

Top News

Kate Conger / New York Times:
An appeals court blocked an order requiring Uber and Lyft to classify drivers as employees, averting an expected shutdown of their services in California  —  The companies, under legal pressure to reclassify their drivers as employees, said they would halt rides unless an appeals court gives them permission to continue.
Kate Conger / New York Times:
Former Uber CSO Joe Sullivan charged with attempting to conceal from FTC officials the 2016 data breach that exposed details of 57M drivers and users  —  Joe Sullivan, who led Uber's security team through the company's most tumultuous period, was fired by the company's newly installed chief executive in 2017.
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
A trade body representing NYT, WaPo, WSJ, and other publishers asks Apple for improved deal terms for digital subscriptions sold through the App Store  —  The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are among companies seeking more favorable terms in Apple's app store
DL Cade / PetaPixel:
Latest update to Lightroom for iOS inadvertently wiped users' photos and presets not synced to the cloud; Adobe says there is no way to get them back  —  This morning, multiple readers wrote in to alert us to a major Adobe gaff.  It seems the latest update to the Lightroom app for iPhone …
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Facebook confirms Zuckerberg testified before FTC this week, as part of the agency's antitrust probe  —  - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week testified at a Federal Trade Commission investigative hearing related to the federal agency's antitrust investigation into the tech company, the company confirmed to CNBC on Thursday.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
A look at contact-tracing app Aura, which was a required download for students at a Michigan college and has faced criticism for its privacy and security issues  —  And students have no way to opt out  —  Schools and universities across the United States are split on whether to open for the fall semester …
Julia Carrie Wong / The Guardian:
Facebook removes over 980 Groups, 520 Pages, and 160 ads for “US-based militia organizations” and those that identify as Antifa  —  Facebook has taken down or restricted more than 10,000 groups, pages and Instagram accounts associated with QAnon, in the latest effort …
Sheera Frenkel / New York Times:
Kate Cox / Ars Technica:
Police in NYC and Miami have reportedly used facial recognition software to arrest people who allegedly committed crimes during Black Lives Matter protests  —  Cops' use of the tech among the list of things protesters are demonstrating against.  —  Law enforcement in several cities …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Google's Pixel Buds get a new transcribe mode to translate long speeches, Attention Alerts to alert users of important events happening around them, and more  —  There's also a bass boost mode  —  Google is adding a number of new features to its Pixel Buds today.
John Kruzel / The Hill:
DOJ asks US Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that found Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking his critics on Twitter  —  The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that found President Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking his critics on Twitter.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, and more Google services were hit by widespread disruption globally for a few hours Thursday  —  A number of Google services including Gmail, Drive, Docs, Meet, Groups, Chat, Keep and Voice are experiencing service disruptions, the company is reporting on its G Suite Status Dashboard.
Burt Helm / Fast Company:
Investigation sheds light on Roblox's battle against “condo games”, digital sex parties where kids act like adults and adults may be posing as kids  —  Roblox is waging a technological shadow war against condo games: digital sex parties where kids act like adults.

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Earlier Picks

Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
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