Friday, January 8, 2021

What Twitter CEO told employees before banning Trump

A report by The Washington Post states that more than 300 Twitter employees urged the company to permanently ban Trump from the platform. https://ift.tt/2MCaRSH

Twitter permanently suspends @TeamTrump after the account posted quotes from Trump's now removed @POTUS tweets, says evading suspension is against its rules (Jack Morse/Mashable)

Jack Morse / Mashable:
Twitter permanently suspends @TeamTrump after the account posted quotes from Trump's now removed @POTUS tweets, says evading suspension is against its rules  —  Twitter kept its word.  —  After permanently suspending the @realDonaldTrump account late Friday, Twitter also moved to suspend the @TeamTrump account.



Equifax says it has acquired Kount, which uses AI for digital ID and fraud prevention services, for $640M; Kount becomes part of Equifax's Luminate platform (Chris O'Brien/VentureBeat)

Chris O'Brien / VentureBeat:
Equifax says it has acquired Kount, which uses AI for digital ID and fraud prevention services, for $640M; Kount becomes part of Equifax's Luminate platform  —  Equifax announced today that it would pay $640 million to acquire Kount, a company that uses artificial intelligence to drive …



Twitter has taken down tweets from @POTUS in which Trump criticized his ban and suggested looking "at the possibilities of building out our own platform" (Sean Hollister/The Verge)

Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Twitter has taken down tweets from @POTUS in which Trump criticized his ban and suggested looking “at the possibilities of building out our own platform”  —  They're gone  —  Twitter permanently banned Donald Trump today.  For a brief moment, he managed to tweet anyhow …



Google suspends Parler from the Play Store over moderation and enforcement policies, citing an "ongoing and urgent public safety threat" (Shawna Chen/Axios)

Shawna Chen / Axios:
Google suspends Parler from the Play Store over moderation and enforcement policies, citing an “ongoing and urgent public safety threat”  —  Google has pulled Parler, a social media app for conservatives and far-right extremists, from its app store following the company's role in the deadly U.S. Capitol siege this week.



Discord bans pro-Trump server "The Donald" because of "its overt connection to an online forum used to incite violence and plan an armed insurrection" (Jay Peters/The Verge)

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Discord bans pro-Trump server “The Donald” because of “its overt connection to an online forum used to incite violence and plan an armed insurrection”  —  The server had connections to the banned r/The_Donald subreddit  —  Discord has banned a server called “The Donald …



Twitter describes how it decided to suspend Trump's account, specifying how two tweets were in violation of its Glorification of Violence Policy (Twitter)

Twitter:
Twitter describes how it decided to suspend Trump's account, specifying how two tweets were in violation of its Glorification of Violence Policy  —  After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received …



Dlive, a livestreaming platform that has attracted a far-right userbase, had a near record of 150K concurrent viewers on Wednesday, according to estimates (New York Times)

New York Times:
Dlive, a livestreaming platform that has attracted a far-right userbase, had a near record of 150K concurrent viewers on Wednesday, according to estimates  —  A site called Dlive, where rioters broadcast from the Capitol, is benefiting from the growing exodus of right-wing users from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.



Thursday, January 7, 2021

Hacking victim SolarWinds hires ex-Homeland Security official Krebs as consultant

The company used by hackers as a springboard for the worst-known breach of U.S. government computers in at least five years has hired some of the biggest names in security to help it recover. https://ift.tt/38oHImm

Bitcoin slides more than 5% after topping $40,000 for first time

The world's most popular digital currency slid to as low as $36,618.36 on Bitstamp exchange, after reaching an all-time high of $40,402.46 in the previous session. https://ift.tt/2LA5WB6

French IT firm Atos makes $10 billion DXC bid approach

France's Atos confirmed it has made a bid approach for U.S. rival DXC Technology in what would be the deal-hungry IT consulting group's biggest ever acquisition. https://ift.tt/3s6JhNG

US suspends French tariffs over digital services tax

The United States on said it would hold off slapping tariffs on French cosmetics, handbags and other imports in retaliation for a digital services tax Washington says will harm U.S. tech firms, while it investigates similar taxes elsewhere. https://ift.tt/3hRttts

Hyundai Motor says it is in early talks with Apple, shares surge 24%

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co said on Friday it was in early, unspecified talks with Apple after a local broadcaster said the pair were discussing an electric car and battery tie-up, sending Hyundai shares surging 24%. In a regulatory filing issued later, the automaker said it was "getting requests for cooperation on joint development of autonomous electric vehicles from various companies", without identifying any of them. https://ift.tt/2Xs8TGB

Lava's 'made-to-order' phone: What can change and not

https://ift.tt/2XkYAnN

10 most-read Wikipedia articles of 2020

Wikipedia has shared a list of top 50 but here we bring you the top 10. https://ift.tt/2JVKOoL

A look at Chinese hackers' attacks on US infrastructure and telecoms; sources: Charter, Consolidated Communications, and Windstream networks were also breached (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal : A look at Chinese hackers' attacks on US infrastructure and telecoms; sources: Charter, Consolidated Communicat...