Techmeme
October 15, 2021, 12:00 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: the SEC is poised to let the first Bitcoin futures ETFs, from Proshares and Invesco, trade in the US as early as next week  —  - Cutoff for action on ProShares, Invesco filings is next week  — Tacit approval is seen after an almost decade-long push
James Clayton / BBC:
A Koran app developer says Apple took down their app in China over “content that is illegal”; another developer removed their Bible app in China this week  —  Apple has taken down one of the world's most popular Koran apps in China, after a request from officials, the company has confirmed to the BBC.
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:
Google Threat Analysis Group says it tracks 270+ state-backed threat actors, and sent 50K+ alerts for email phishing attacks to Gmail users in 2021, up ~33% YoY  —  The Google Threat Analysis Group said today that its security researchers are currently tracking more than 270 different …
Fred Lambert / Electrek:
Tesla starts offering insurance in Texas using drivers' “real-time driving behavior” and a “safety score”  —  Tesla has now officially launched its insurance product using “real-time driving behavior.”  —  The product is only available in Texas for now.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
WhatsApp starts rolling out e2e encryption for chat history backups in iCloud and Google Drive  —  WhatsApp is beginning to roll out a new feature that will provide its two billion users the option to encrypt their chat history backup in iCloud or Google Drive, patching a major loophole …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple hired Afrooz Family, its former employee and a co-founder of speaker startup Syng, to lead HomePod software efforts  —  - Apple's smart-speaker efforts have struggled since 2018 debut  — Afrooz Family takes job after co-founding Syng speaker startup
David Uberti / Wall Street Journal:
At the White House's ransomware summit, 32 countries pledged to share cyberattack info, push firms to improve security, and disrupt hackers' financial tools  —  Officials from 31 countries and the EU say uneven enforcement allows hackers to cash in  —  Officials from 32 governments …
Kellen Browning / New York Times:
Security researchers say Apple and EU plans to monitor phones for illicit material are ineffective and could embolden government surveillance  —  A group of researchers said the “dangerous technology” was invasive and not effective at detecting images of child sexual abuse.
Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft is shuttering the Chinese version of LinkedIn and replacing it with a job board; sources say China told LinkedIn in March to better regulate content  —  LinkedIn cites challenging operating environment, as retreat marks the biggest departure from China by a major tech company in years
Haje Jan Kamps / TechCrunch:
Reliable Robotics, which wants to retrofit commercial cargo planes with autonomous systems, raises a $100M Series C led by Coatue Management  —  When flying cargo from one part of the world to another, you typically need a pilot for two parts: The take-off and the landing.
More: FinSMEs and pitchbook.comTweets: @chr1sa
Ax Sharma / Ars Technica:
A US hacker says he built a network of “news” sites and Facebook Groups in 2015 to push bogus stories after a company hired him to “stop Hillary Clinton”  —  He was hired to build a fake news op but now wants to put things right.  —  This is the story of the mastermind behind …
Wall Street Journal:
Coinbase asks Congress to regulate digital assets outside of the existing financial system and to create a special regulator for digital asset markets  —  Crypto trading platform asks Congress to create an oversight regime separate from existing market regulators
Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:
Profile of Cher Scarlett, an Apple employee leading the #AppleToo campaign highlighting racism, retaliation, sexual and other forms of workplace harassment  —  Cher Scarlett is willing to risk a dream job at Apple to blow the whistle on alleged labor violations at the iPhone maker.
William Turton / Bloomberg:
US Treasury says there was $590M in suspicious ransomware activity in H1 2021, exceeding the entire amount in 2020, when $416M was reported  —  Suspicious activity reports related to ransomware jumped significantly in 2021, according to the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

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