Techmeme: The US is shifting its cybersecurity strategy from relying on companies' voluntary cooperation toward stronger oversight, minimum security standards, and more (Patrick Howell O'Neill/MIT Technology Review)

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March 20, 2022, 8:25 PM

Top News

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:

CEO Pavel Durov says Telegram was unresponsive to Brazil's Supreme Court because the court used the wrong email address, apologizes, and asks for a ruling delay — Telegram's founder and CEO Pavel Durov has just put out a statement about why Brazil's Supreme Court is now suspending the app, and the reason is incredible.

New York Times:

Brazil's Supreme Court reverses its decision to ban Telegram, which it had ordered on Friday, after Telegram suddenly worked to comply with the court's orders — Brazil's Supreme Court blocked Telegram on Friday. The messaging app then responded with measures to fight misinformation, and the court quickly lifted its ban.

More: The Verge, Agence France-Presse, and Engadget

Tweets: @arturpericles, @afp, and @jacknicas

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Now that Apple is making monitors again, the company should develop a mesh network version of the AirPort Extreme to compete with Google and Amazon routers — Apple's new monitor isn't getting off to a particularly strong start, but I still think the company should do more to bolster its Mac lineup …

More: 9to5Mac, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Gizchina, AppleTrack, and Appleosophy

Tweets: @pwthornton, @dmoren, @reneritchie, @dmoren, @mikeelgan, @parkerortolani, and @mgsiegler

CBS San Francisco:

A former Apple employee faces federal charges for allegedly defrauding the company out of $10M+, taking kickbacks, stealing parts, evading taxes, and more — CUPERTINO (CBS SF) - A former Apple employee is facing federal charges after he allegedly defrauded the tech giant out of millions …

More: Insider, Associated Press, Reuters, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, SiliconValley.com, Washington Examiner, New York Post, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Daily Beast, Newser, AppleInsider, MacDailyNews, Patently Apple, and Mercury News

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Google begins rolling out a feature that lets users delete the last 15 minutes of their search history on Android, after rolling it out for iOS in July 2021 — The feature came to the iOS app in July — Google is finally bringing the ability to delete the last 15 minutes of your search history …

More: Softpedia News, Mashable, PhoneArena, iPhone in Canada Blog, BetaNews, TechSpot, PCMag, BGR India, Tech Times, Tribuneindia News Service, and Android Police

Tweets: @nh_india and @glenngabe

Alex Sherman / CNBC:

A look at the fallout between Bob Chapek and Bob Iger as Disney restructures for a world where streaming dominates and legacy distribution models fade away — Bob Iger, left, and Bob Chapek of Disney — April 12, 2020. That's the day former Disney CEO Bob Iger's relationship …

Miriam Gottfried / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Thoma Bravo has agreed to buy Anaplan for $10.7B or $66/share, after the maker of cloud-based business planning software closed at $50.59 on Friday — Anaplan shareholders are to receive $66 a share in cash — Private-equity firm Thoma Bravo LP has struck a deal to buy Anaplan Inc …

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Q&A with Margrethe Vestager on EU's cases against Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon, how the planned Digital Markets Act may help with antitrust enforcement, more — Margrethe Vestager is one of the driving forces behind tech regulation worldwide. Appointed as the European Commission's commissioner …

Tweets: @reckless, @thedextriarchy, @nicholashirst_, and @igorletina

Kevin Williams / Washington Post:

Limestone, Tennessee residents were promised economic benefits from a bitcoin mine, but now face constant noise pollution from its computers and cooling fans — LIMESTONE, Tenn. — It started as a low hum one day last spring. Then it got louder, and soon some residents said the noise was like a jet engine idling on a nearby tarmac.

More: Cryptocracy. Tweets: @sesmith, @mestizoleftist, @peterwsinger, @kamatlabnd, and @jimmcwilliams5

Patrick Howell O'Neill / MIT Technology Review:

The US is shifting its cybersecurity strategy from relying on companies' voluntary cooperation toward stronger oversight, minimum security standards, and more — The specter of Russian hackers and an overreliance on voluntary cooperation from the private sector means officials are finally prepared to get tough.

Tweets: @ericgeller, @taliaringer, @howelloneill, and @kimzetter

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

How researchers are using self-supervised learning, a branch of AI that has proven effective for handling human language, to better understand animal sounds — New kinds of artificial intelligence are enabling scientists to better understand the sounds of the animal world, from whale songs to mouse squeaks

Tweets: @julespolonetsky, @drescotet, @julespolonetsky, @2morrowknight, @etzioni, @mims, and @mims

Charlie Warzel / The Atlantic:

Q&A with Second Life journalist Wagner James Au, on crypto-based metaverses, companies such as Meta struggling to foster healthy metaverse communities, and more — Welcome to Galaxy Brain—a newsletter from Charlie Warzel about technology, media, culture, and big ideas. You can read what this is all about here.

More: Engadget and New World Notes

Tweets: @cwarzel, @_maargentino, @doctorow, @cwarzel, @arnicas, @rajit_h, @arainert, @annehelen, @cwarzel, @theatlantic, @scottnover, @mathewi, @adrianhon, @cwarzel, and @transmutablenew

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From Mediagazer

Axios:

Internal memo: AG Pam Bondi rescinds Merrick Garland's policy restricting most subpoenas for journalists, “to identify and punish the source of improper leaks”

Emma Roth / The Verge:

Report: an Australian radio station has been using an AI-generated host named Thy, whose voice was created using ElevenLabs, for months without disclosing it

Todd Spangler / Variety:

SEC filing: Bob Bakish's severance compensation was worth $69.3M after his exit as Paramount CEO in April 2024, and his 2024 compensation totaled $86.96M

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More News

Katie Palmer / STAT:

Doctors often use Google Translate to talk with non-English speaking patients, but researchers say inaccurate results are common and can lead to serious errors

Tweets: @karimccneo, @epro, @berkeleydatasci, and @rickberke

Washington Post:

Mykhailo Fedorov says Starlink's quality is excellent, as Ukrainians use the terminals to stay online; a source says there are 5,000+ terminals in the country

More: Slashdot and The Guardian

Tweets: @richgel999, @timothymeade, @mayemusk, @davidshipley, @edithhonan, @westcoastbill, @kimzetter, @stanphylcap, @josephmenn, @chris_maag, @gbrumfiel, @pstasiatech, and @kbandersen

S.I. Rosenbaum / Input:

A look at TropeTrainer, beloved Torah learning software that helped rabbis prepare kids for bar and bat mitzvahs, which became obsolete after its creator died

More: Wishful Linking. Tweets: @stevemann, @fakebaldur, @hels, @jesseltaylor, @yacobg42, @carseatheadrest, @ftrain, @anirvan, @communalsauce, @sesmith, @waxpancake, @rinewithoutacat, @mabfan, and @asafshaloo

David McCabe / New York Times:

US judge dismisses a DC AG lawsuit against Amazon, which claimed that the company maintained a monopoly by locking wholesalers into anti-competitive agreements

More: Wall Street Journal, Engadget, Reuters, The Verge, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @nytnational and @carnage4life

Adnan Bhat / Rest of World:

Doctors say the rise of fantasy sports apps has led to a spike in gambling addiction in India, where gambling is illegal but fantasy gaming has no clear laws

Tweets: @adnanmbhat, @anirvan, @restofworld, @anupkaphle, and @restofworld

Edward Ongweso Jr / VICE:

SXSW shows crypto and the metaverse are underwhelming, mundane, and pathetic; the biggest boosters are rich enough to generate interest but not social utility

Earlier Picks

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:

After some creators speak out, Vimeo caps the monthly bandwidth usage at 2TB instead of charging the top 1% of users; creators have at least 30 days to appeal

More: Vimeo Blog, PCMag, and Pixel Envy

Tweets: @vimeo, @jake_k, and @waxpancake

New York Times:

A look at China-made hit fantasy RPG Genshin Impact, as China takes on the video game market by buying up Japanese talent and imitating Japan's industry leaders

Tweets: @andreasharsono

Barbara Krasnoff / The Verge:

Meta locks out some users, whether they had enabled Facebook Protect or not, after asking them to activate the security feature in a spam-like message in March

Joseph Cox / VICE:

The developer of the popular open-source networking tool node-ipc allegedly sabotaged its code to wipe data on computers that use the tool in Russia and Belarus

More: Ars Technica, Daring Fireball, CSO, Wired, Protocol, and Slashdot

Tweets: @williamturton, @bsletten, @f_bartoloni, @electriccowboyr, @ax_sharma, @film_girl, @film_girl, @emilygorcenski, @gilanghamidy, @cpm5280, @mjgault, @josephfcox, @kimzetter, @josephfcox, @clintehrlich, @briankrebs, and @campuscodi

Andrew R. Chow / TIME:

A profile of Vitalik Buterin, who says he decided “to try to be more risk-taking and less neutral” to shape Ethereum with “lots of good crazy and bad crazy”