Today’s Tech Sightings:
Motorists ride past a billboard displaying Facebook’s Free Basics initiative in Mumbai, India, Dec. 30, 2015. Egypt became the second country to temporarily ban the app on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Following India, Egypt Shuts Down Facebook’s ‘Free Basics’ Service
Once again, Facebook’s efforts to provide free internet services are running into trouble in some parts of the world. Egypt on Wednesday joined India in temporarily banning the company’s Free Basics app. Critics argue the service violates net neutrality by favoring some websites and carriers over others and by creating a “walled garden” Internet.
Twitter Criticized for Hiring White Male as New Diversity Chief
The lack of diversity has been plaguing Silicon Valley for some time now. And tech companies have been trying to address the shortage of women and minorities on the tech scene. Among them is Twitter, whose workforce is heavily male and white. Yet it didn’t help that Twitter’s new global diversity chief, Jeffrey Siminoff, who has an impressive resume, is also male and white.
Cyberattack Takes BBC Websites Offline
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack brought down BBC websites Thursday. An earlier statement from the British broadcaster blamed the outage on technical issues. Service was restored four hours later.
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