Techmeme
October 21, 2019, 2:10 PM

Top News

Facebook:
Facebook bans networks, three originating in Iran and one in Russia, running “inauthentic” accounts, Pages, and Groups misleading users in the US, Latin America  —  Today, we removed four separate networks of accounts, Pages and Groups for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook:
Facebook says it will more prominently label content that fact-checkers deem false on Facebook and Instagram, will ban ads suggesting voting is pointless  —  By Guy Rosen, VP of Integrity; Katie Harbath, Public Policy Director, Global Elections; Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Cybersecurity Policy …
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Facebook now requires some page owners to disclose the orgs running them and if they're tied to state-owned media, will add labels to pages run by state media  —  The new efforts are meant to bolster its defenses ahead of the upcoming 2020 presidential election but are unlikely to end the growing dispute over political ads.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google Pixel 4 and 4 XL review: fast face unlock, smooth display, and great still camera, but average video recording and battery life, and no ultrawide camera  —  There's a baseline for “fast enough” on Android phones, and the Pixel 4 more than hits it.  It might not be the fastest Android phone …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google says it will update the Pixel 4 “in the coming months” with an option that requires open eyes for the phone's face unlock to be successful  —  In the meanwhile, learn how to use the lockdown feature  —  One of the headline features for the Google Pixel 4 is that it adds a new …
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
NordVPN confirms it found out a few months ago that one of its datacenters was hacked in March 2018, which could've potentially led to man-in-the-middle attacks  —  NordVPN, a virtual private network provider that promises to “protect your privacy online,” has confirmed it was hacked.
Financial Times:
Joint UK and US probe finds that a Russian cyber espionage unit hacked the tools of a hacker group linked to Iran's government to lead attacks in 35+ countries  —  A Russian cyber espionage unit has hacked Iranian hackers to lead attacks in more than 35 countries, a joint UK and US investigation has revealed.
Bloomberg:
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife have privately recommended several potential hires to Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign, two of whom were hired  —  - Facebook CEO, wife privately recommended hires to Democrat  — Zuckerberg facing barrage of criticism in DC for bias, privacy
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Researchers show how malicious voice apps for Alexa or Google Home eavesdrop on users, as Amazon and Google take a lax approach to vetting the platforms  —  Exclusive: Amazon, Google fail to address security loopholes in Alexa and Home devices more than a year after first reports.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 review: great performance, is cool and quiet, resumes quickly, and has USB-C, but no Thunderbolt 3, design is dated, and lacks LTE  —  Minor improvements in a familiar package  —  Something weird has happened over the past year: I've kind of fallen in love with the Surface Pro.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft announces Secured-core PCs, which will come from many vendors like Dell and adhere to security best practices for better firmware attack protection  —  Microsoft today announced a new initiative to combat threats specifically targeted at the firmware level and data stored in memory: Secured-core PCs.
Wall Street Journal:
The Indian government is trying to tempt cellphone manufacturers with lower taxes, incentives, and less red tape, to make the country a major source of exports  —  Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is trying to tempt cellphone makers, manufacturers with lower taxes and less red tape as economy slows down
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Nielsen's SVOD Content Ratings now tracks Amazon Prime Video, two years after launching with ratings for Netflix  —  Nielsen announced this morning it will now be able to measure the viewing taking place on Amazon Prime Video, through its Subscription Video on Demand Content Ratings solution.
Owen S. Good / Polygon:

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