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web business and news
Year: 2021
Year: 2021
Rental Car Company Hertz Announces Purchase of 100,000 Teslas
Car rental company Hertz says it will buy 100,000 electric cars from Tesla. Hertz interim CEO Mark Fields said the Model 3 cars could be ready for renters as early as November, The Associated Press reported. Fields said the reason for the move was that electric cars are becoming mainstream, and consumer interest in them
DetailsIn Face of Hack Attacks, US State Department to Set Up Cyber Bureau
The U.S. State Department plans to establish a bureau of cyberspace and digital policy in the face of a growing hacking problem, specifically a surge of ransomware attacks on U.S. infrastructure. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said a Senate-confirmed ambassador at large will lead the bureau. Hackers have struck numerous U.S. companies this year. One
DetailsFacebook Whistleblower Presses Case with British Lawmakers
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told British lawmakers Monday that the social media giant “unquestionably” amplifies online hate. In testimony to a parliamentary committee in London, the former Facebook employee echoed what she told U.S. senators earlier this month. Haugen said the media giant fuels online hate and extremism and does not have any incentive to
DetailsMicrosoft Discloses New Russian Hacking Effort
The U.S. technology giant Microsoft says that the same Russia-backed hackers responsible for the 2020 SolarWinds breach of corporate computer systems is continuing to attack global technology systems, this time targeting cloud service resellers. Microsoft said the group, which it calls Nobelium, is employing a new strategy to take advantage of the direct access resellers
DetailsFacebook’s Language Gaps Weaken Screening of Hate, Terrorism
In Gaza and Syria, journalists and activists feel Facebook censors their speech, flagging inoffensive Arabic posts as terrorist content. In India and Myanmar, political groups use Facebook to incite violence. All of it frequently slips through the company’s efforts to police its social media platforms because of a shortage of moderators who speak local languages
DetailsWhistleblower Haugen to Testify as UK Scrutinizes Facebook
Former Facebook data scientist turned whistleblower Frances Haugen plans to answer questions Monday from lawmakers in the United Kingdom who are working on legislation to rein in the power of social media companies. Haugen is set to appear before a parliamentary committee scrutinizing the British government’s draft legislation to crack down on harmful online content,
DetailsItalian Lab Creates Extreme Weather; Could Predict Climate Change Effects
Researchers at a specialized lab in Italy say understanding climate change effects requires recreating them in a controlled environment. So, they built one. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …
DetailsZoom Gets More Popular Despite Worries About Links to China
Very few companies can boast of having their name also used as a verb. Zoom is one of them. The popularity of the videoconferencing platform continues to grow around the world despite continued questions about whether Chinese authorities are monitoring the calls. Since Zoom became a household word last year during the pandemic, internet users
DetailsFacebook Dithered in Curbing Divisive User Content in India
Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as its own employees cast doubt over the company’s motivations and interests. From research as recent as March of this year to company memos that date back to
DetailsApple Updates App Store Payment Rules in Concession to Developers
Apple has updated its App Store rules to allow developers to contact users directly about payments, a concession in a legal settlement with companies challenging its tightly controlled marketplace. According to App Store rules updated Friday, developers can now contact consumers directly about alternate payment methods, bypassing Apple’s commission of 15 or 30%. They will
DetailsAnother Whistleblower Accuses Facebook of Wrongdoing: Report
A former Facebook worker reportedly told U.S. authorities Friday the platform has put profits before stopping problematic content, weeks after another whistleblower helped stoke the firm’s latest crisis with similar claims. The unnamed new whistleblower filed a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal financial regulator, that could add to the company’s
DetailsChina’s Reach Into Africa’s Digital Sector Worries Experts
Chinese companies like Huawei and the Transsion group are responsible for much of the digital infrastructure and smartphones used in Africa. Chinese phones built in Africa come with already installed apps for mobile money transfer services that increase the reach of Chinese tech companies. But while many Africans may find the availability of such technology
DetailsFacebook Kept Oversight Board in Dark about Special Treatment of VIP Accounts
Facebook’s quasi-independent oversight board criticized the company Thursday, saying many high-profile accounts such as celebrities and politicians are not held to the same standards as other accounts. In a blog post, the board said, “Facebook has not been fully forthcoming with the Board on its ‘Cross-Check’ system, which the company uses to review content decisions
DetailsNew Name for Facebook? Critics Cry Smoke and Mirrors
Facebook critics pounced Wednesday on a report that the social network plans to rename itself, arguing it may be seeking to distract from recent scandals and controversy. The report from tech news website The Verge, which Facebook refused to confirm, said the embattled company was aiming to show its ambition to be more than a
DetailsFacebook to Pay Up to $14 Million Over Discrimination Against US Workers
Facebook must pay a $4.75 million fine and up to $9.5 million in back pay to eligible victims who say the company discriminated against U.S. workers in favor of foreign ones, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. The discrimination took place from at least January 1, 2018, until at least September 18, 2019. The Justice Department
DetailsCatching a Ride: A ‘Robotaxi’ Drives Itself to You
Consider it a “robotaxi.” For customers who need a ride in Las Vegas, they can now use a ride-hailing startup whose cars drive themselves to customers. Tina Trinh reports. …
DetailsFacebook Plans to Hire 10,000 in EU to Build ‘Metaverse’
Facebook says it plans to hire 10,000 workers in the European Union over the next five years to work on a new computing platform. The company said in a blog post Sunday that those high-skilled workers will help build “the metaverse,” a futuristic notion for connecting people online that encompasses augmented and virtual reality. Facebook
DetailsUS Puts Cryptocurrency Industry on Notice Over Ransomware Attacks
Suspected ransomware payments totaling $590 million were made in the first six months of this year, more than the $416 million reported for all of 2020, U.S. authorities said on Friday, as Washington put the cryptocurrency industry on alert about its role in combating ransomware attacks. The U.S. Treasury Department said the average amount of
DetailsFacebook Objects to Releasing Private Posts About Myanmar’s Rohingya Campaign
Facebook was used to spread disinformation about the Rohingya, the Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar, and in 2018 the company began to delete posts, accounts and other content it determined were part of a campaign to incite violence. That deleted but stored data is at issue in a case in the United States over whether
DetailsUS Authorities Disclose Ransomware Attacks Against Water Facilities
U.S. authorities said on Thursday that four ransomware attacks had penetrated water and wastewater facilities in the past year, and they warned similar plants to check for signs of intrusions and take other precautions. The alert from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) cited a series of apparently unrelated hacking incidents from September 2020 to August
DetailsMicrosoft to Shut Down LinkedIn in China Over Censorship Concerns
Microsoft will close LinkedIn in China later this year, the company announced Thursday. The professional networking site, which started operating in China in 2014, faces a “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements” in the country, it said in a blog post. “We recognized that operating a localized version of LinkedIn in China
DetailsForum Urges Social Networks to Act Against Antisemitism
Social media giants were urged to act Wednesday to stem online antisemitism during an international conference in Sweden focused on the growing amount of hatred published on many platforms. The Swedish government invited social media giants TikTok, Google and Facebook along with representatives from 40 countries, the United Nations and Jewish organizations to the event
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