ii view: Sales boom at Amazon, but so do costs July 26, 2019 | City Talk By Keith Bowman from interactive investor. Rising costs and disappointing profits overshadow further sales growth at the online retailer. Second-quarter results to 30 June 2019 Net sales up 20 per cent to $63.4 Operating income up 3.3 per cent to $3.1 billion Diluted earnings per share up 3 per cent to $5.22 Chief executive Jeff Bezos said: “Customers [...]
Israeli security firm NSO denies Whatsapp spyware can hack data from Google Cloud, iCloud and Facebook July 19, 2019 Israeli cyber security company NSO has denied telling customers that its Whatsapp-hacking spyware is capable of hacking people’s data from the servers of Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. NSO’s smartphone malware, named Pegasus, has been used by governments for a number of years to spy on specific individuals and how they use their smartphones, [...]
Google terminates Project Dragonfly, its censored search engine for China July 17, 2019 Google has “terminated” China’s controversial censored search engine, codenamed Project Dragonfly, a top executive has said. The project, which a former Google staffer had called “disturbing”, was shelved last December, but suggestions continued to circulate that the tech giant was still running it. Read more: Donald Trump hints at treason probe into Google Karan Bhatia, [...]
Google employee who led walkout leaves firm following retaliation claims July 16, 2019 Google employee Meredith Whittaker, who led global staff walkouts over the tech giant’s sexual harassment policy, has left the company following allegations of a backlash against the protest’s organisers. Read more: Google workers listen in on private conversations via smart speakers Whittaker, who specialised in AI and founded the company’s Open Research Group, was a [...]
Google workers listen in on private conversations via smart speakers July 12, 2019 Google has admitted its contractors listen in on conversations people have with its smart speaker system, Assistant. The tech giant yesterday said its contractors can access recordings made by the system. It made the admission after the leak of several Dutch language recordings. Google Assistant starts to record audio when it hears a so-called wake [...]
Plans for internet regulation ‘could lead to censorship’ July 9, 2019 Government plans to crack down on internet firms over online harms could lead to the UK having the highest level of online censorship of all major democracies, a City law firm has warned. In its response to a recent government white paper, RPC said plans to hold businesses accountable for material posted to their platforms [...]
Competition watchdog launches probe into tech giants over digital advertising dominance July 3, 2019 The competition watchdog has launched an inquiry into major tech firms amid fears about their dominance in the digital advertising market. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today said it has launched a market study into online platforms such as Facebook and Google, which are funded almost entirely by digital advertising. Read more: Hammond calls [...]
Internet regulation poses ‘serious threat’ to free speech and innovation June 20, 2019 Government plans to tighten regulations against internet companies pose a serious threat to free speech and will damage the economy, according to a new report. The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) warned that making platforms such as Google and Facebook accountable for material posted by their users could lead to widespread censorship. Read more: Online harms [...]
Activists call for break up of Google June 19, 2019 Protesters are calling on Google’s parent company Alphabet to break itself up before it is forced to by regulators. Sum Of Us, a US-based activist group, will ask shareholders to vote on breaking the company up at a meeting at the company’s offices in California today. Read more: Amazon overtakes Apple and Google as world’s [...]
Social media firms team up with advertisers to fight online harms June 18, 2019 Social media giants including Facebook and Google have formed a new alliance with brands and ad agencies in a bid to crack down on harmful material online. A total of 16 brands, including Unilever, Diageo and Procter & Gamble, have signed up to a new working group that will lobby publishers and platforms to remove [...]