Techmeme
July 19, 2021, 6:00 AM

Top News

Dana Priest / Washington Post:
Investigation: Israel-based NSO Group's malware infected 23 phones belonging to government officials, reporters, execs, and activists, out of 67 checked  —  Dana Priest, a reporter at The Washington Post for 30 years, covers national security issues.  Recently, she has investigated Russian …
More: The Guardian, The Guardian, The Guardian, The Guardian, Amnesty International, Washington Post, Washington Post, Forbidden Stories, BBC, The Guardian, CNET, iThinkDifferent, The Citizen Lab, Haaretz, The Verge, Washington Post, Engadget, New York Times, Reuters, Associated Press, HackRead, Bloomberg, The Register, The Week, New York Post, The Hacker News, TNW, SiliconANGLE, CyberNews, The Hill, Insider, Gizmodo, AppleInsider, news.com.au, CNBC, The Overspill, Mashable, HotHardware.com News, phonearena.com, Financial Times, Slashdot, and Politico
Bill Marczak / @billmarczak:
[Thread] Amnesty International and Citizen Lab found zero-click iMessage exploits being deployed against iPhones, even with iOS 14.6, to install malware  —  THREAD with a couple of interesting bits from @AmnestyTech's new report on what they learned from looking for NSO Group's spyware on phones https://www.amnesty.org/...
Guy Rosen / About Facebook:
Facebook says their data shows a 50% decline in vaccine hesitancy among US users, refuting Biden's claim that it's “killing people” by allowing COVID-19 misinfo  —  At a time when COVID-19 cases are rising in America, the Biden administration has chosen to blame a handful of American social media companies.
More: The Guardian, BBC, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Galaxy Brain, ZDNet, The Register, CNBC, Fox News, Fox News, Insider, and Newser
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Carl T. Bergstrom / @ct_bergstrom:
[Thread] The response to Biden from Facebook's VP of Integrity is a textbook example of bluster and obfuscation  —  After Biden's criticism of @Facebook for their inaction on antivax propaganda, @fbnewsroom is going on the offensive. They issued a press release that is a textbook example of bluster, obfuscation, and agnatogenesis. Here's the link. Let's take a look. https://about.fb.com/...
GlobeNewswire News Room:
Zoom says it will acquire Five9, which makes cloud-based call center software for sales, marketing, and support, in an all-stock deal valued at ~$14.7B  —  The combination of Zoom's robust communications platform with Five9's intelligent cloud contact center will enable organizations …
Flavia Rotondi / Bloomberg:
An Italian museum is using cameras to monitor people looking at artwork, to define a work of art's “attraction value” and accordingly change museum layouts  —  As Italy's museums and galleries welcome back tourists and try to recoup some of the 190 million euros ($225 million) …
Muvija M / Reuters:
Tencent to buy British video game developer Sumo Games for $1.27B, a 43% premium on Sumo's Friday closing price  —  Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) will buy video game company Sumo Group (SUMO.L) in a deal that values the British firm at 919 million pounds ($1.27 billion), the companies said on Monday.
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Overview of short-form audio apps like Racket, Beams, and Quest that let users record and share voice clips, as Facebook aims to enter the space with Soundbites  —  “So I've identified a few metrics and KPIs that I'm going to start tracking in order to better my overall life experience,” …
Lewis Gordon / The Verge:
Interviews with digital artists and game makers who are pushing the boundaries in Roblox by creating interactive art projects and MMO games  —  Like so many Roblox players, digital artist Everest Pipkin has their own abandoned birthday world.  —  Last year, when the pandemic …
Helen Rosner / New Yorker:
Experts say consent and disclosure are key to the ethical use of synthetic media, amid controversy surrounding Bourdain's deepfake voice in a new documentary  —  The new documentary “Roadrunner” uses A.I.-generated audio without disclosing it to viewers.  How should we feel about that?

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