BATTERYFORPC BLOG
Apple threatened Facebook ban over slavery posts on Instagram
Apple threatened to remove Facebook's products from its App Store, after the BBC found domestic "slaves" for sale on apps, including Instagram, in 2019. The threat was revealed in the Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) Facebook Files, a series of reports based on its viewing of internal Facebook documents. Facebook says it prohibits human exploitation "in no uncertain terms". It sa ... Read more
2021-09-23 20:22:35
Lithuania urges people to throw away Chinese phones
Consumers should throw away their Chinese phones and avoid buying new ones, Lithuania’s Defence Ministry has warned. A report by its National Cyber Security Centre tested 5G mobiles from Chinese manufacturers. It claimed that one Xiaomi phone had built-in censorship tools while another Huawei model had security flaws. Huawei said no user data is sent externally and Xiaomi said it does not censo ... Read more
2021-09-22 19:51:43
Extremists using video-game chats to spread hate
Extremists are using mainstream video games and gaming chat platforms to spread hate, BBC Click has found. Over three months, researchers found anti-Semitism, racism and homophobia on platforms, including DLive and Odysee, where users stream and chat about games such as Call of Duty and Minecraft. Campaigners say including extremist narratives among everyday conversations can be a pathway to rad ... Read more
2021-09-22 19:51:18
NFT-based fantasy football card firm raises $680m
French firm Sorare, which sells football trading cards in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has raised $680m (£498m). The NFT-based cards are used by fans to create fantasy football teams which can then "play" each other. The funding was led by tech investor Softbank, with ex-England international Rio Ferdinand also putting in money. NFTs are controversial, with concerns over fi ... Read more
2021-09-21 20:17:57
China: Children given daily time limit on Douyin - its version of TikTok
Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, will limit use of the platform for children to 40 minutes a day. The rules will apply to users under 14, who have been authenticated using their real names, and who will be able to access it between 06:00 and 22:00. Parent company Bytedance announced the app’s Youth Mode in a blog post, saying it is the first short-video company in the industry to have these li ... Read more
2021-09-21 20:17:34
Tech Tent - what next for Wikipedia?
It's the go-to site for information on just about everything but until recently Wikipedia has mostly avoided the battles over abusive behaviour and fake news that have plagued the social media giants. Now, just as a new chief executive takes over, a bitter dispute has erupted between volunteer editors of the online encyclopedia's Chinese language edition over how events in Hong Kong are portrayed ... Read more
2021-09-17 19:36:53
High-speed internet via airborne beams of light
A novel way of delivering high-speed internet via beams of light through the air has successfully transmitted data across the Congo River. It means that citizens in Brazzaville and Kinshasa could get faster and cheaper broadband. Project Taara is one of Alphabet X's (formerly Google X) so-called moonshot ideas. It grew out of Project Loon, a broadband project using balloons in the stratosphere, ... Read more
2021-09-17 19:36:16
OpenSea admits insider trading of NFTs it promoted
An employee at OpenSea, the largest digital collectible marketplace, used inside knowledge to buy NFTs before they were promoted on the website. NFTs are unique digital tokens attributed to art which have risen in popularity over the past year, with some selling for millions. CEO Devin Finzer said the incident was "incredibly disappointing" and did not represent the team's values. An ... Read more
2021-09-16 19:49:16
Wikipedia blames pro-China infiltration for bans
Wikipedia has suffered an "infiltration" that sought to advance the aims of China, the US non-profit organisation that owns the volunteer-edited encyclopaedia has said. The Wikimedia Foundation told BBC News the infiltration had threatened the "very foundations of Wikipedia". The foundation banned seven editors linked to a mainland China group. Wikimedians of Mainland China ... Read more
2021-09-16 19:48:48
TikTok faces privacy investigations by EU watchdog
TikTok is under investigation by The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) - its lead regulator in the EU - over two privacy-related issues. The watchdog is looking into its processing of children's personal data, and whether TikTok is in line with EU laws about transferring personal data to other countries, such as China. TikTok said privacy was "our highest priority". The Irish DPC ... Read more
2021-09-15 20:04:26