Techmeme
December 4, 2020, 11:00 PM

Top News

Julia Carrie Wong / The Guardian:
1,200+ Google employees and 1,500+ academic, industry, and civil supporters have signed a petition condemning the termination of AI scientist Timnit Gebru  —  More than 1,500 researchers also sign letter after Black expert on ethics says Google tried to suppress her research on bias
Reuters:
Forbes:
Friends and colleagues of Tony Hsieh say he was privately coping with issues of mental health and addiction, made worse by COVID lockdowns, over the past year  —  When the business icon died in a fire last week, questions abounded.  The answers seem rooted in a Covid-period spiral, where he turned to drugs and shunned old friends.
Bloomberg:
Sources: the US will not extend the December 4 deadline for TikTok's forced sale but will not enforce the order either, allowing the negotiations to continue  —  - No new deadline is expected while deal discussions progress  — Administration wants to finalize deal before Trump's term ends
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple launches a display module replacement program for iPhone 11 devices manufactured between November 2019 and May 2020 experiencing touch issues  —  Apple today launched a new display replacement program for iPhone 11 devices to address a problem that cases a “small percentage” of iPhone 11 displays to stop responding to touch.
Eileen Yu / ZDNet:
Singapore issues digital bank licenses to Ant Group, Sea, and joint bidders Singtel and Grab, with operations likely to start in early 2022  —  Alibaba's Ant Group and joint bidders Grab and Singtel are amongst bidders that have snagged licences to offer digital banking services in the country …
Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:
How Montreal-based Pornhub profits from child and revenge porn, rape, spy cam and other criminal, non-consensual sex videos  —  Why does Canada allow this company to profit off videos of exploitation and assault?  —  Pornhub prides itself on being the cheery, winking face of naughty …
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Amazon adds live and on-demand US local news to its news app on Fire TVs, starting with 12 major markets and expanding into 90 more during 2021  —  At the end of a record-setting year of news consumption, Amazon Fire TV said local TV stations in 12 U.S. cities will be added to Amazon's news app, with another 90 on deck for 2021.
Jessica Toonkel / The Information:
Sources: WarnerMedia is weighing two new streaming services, with a subscription service based on CNN content in 2021 and a free entertainment service for 2022  —  AT&T's WarnerMedia, long a giant in cable TV, was a late arrival to streaming video.  Under its new CEO, Jason Kilar, Warner is trying to make up for lost time.
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
New York Times:
EU law inhibiting the monitoring of email, messaging, and other services that takes effect Dec. 20 would also restrict scanning for child sexual abuse imagery  —  Regulators argue that while abuse imagery on the internet is abhorrent, unchecked scanning for it by tech companies could violate privacy rights.
Mary Ann Azevedo / FinLedger:
Moov Financial, which developed an open source platform for adding banking and payment functionality into apps, raises $27M Series A led by a16z  —  Startup's goal is to empower developers with developer-first code that's “modular, portable, and bank agnostic”
Hollywood Reporter:
Activision sues Netflix for poaching its CFO, says Netflix induced him to breach his contract; Fox and Viacom also have said Netflix illegally poached staff  —  The gaming giant alleges “Netflix's tortious and unethical conduct is intentional and a directive ‘from the top.’”
Emily Bell / Columbia Journalism Review:
The remit of Facebook's Oversight Board is narrow by design and its 90-day time frame per case is too long, hindering its ability to have any lasting impact  —  This week saw the long-awaited public debut of Facebook's Oversight Board, a group of twenty eminent lawyers, human rights experts …
Caroline O'Donovan / BuzzFeed News:
NLRB has issued a complaint against Amazon in November over firing of warehouse employee who discussed pay and other workplace issues with her coworkers  —  This spring, six different Amazon employees claimed they were wrongfully terminated by the company in retaliation for their involvement in organizing to improve working conditions.

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More News

Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Tom Simonite / Wired:

Earlier Picks

Reuters:
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Washington Post:
Wall Street Journal:
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
Jay Peters / The Verge: