Today’s Tech Sightings: Chinese Government Partially Blocks WhatsApp Service The WhatsApp messaging service ran afoul of Chinese government censors as part of a wider effort to restrict messengers that do not follow the country’s surveillance policies. The government partially blocked messages in China on Monday, with users reporting instances of undelivered messages that contain pictures […]
WhatsApp Partially Blocked in China; Google Overhauls Mobile Search
Posted July 19th, 2017 at 1:31 pm (UTC-5)
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Millions of Verizon Records Leaked; Tech Giants Rally for Net Neutrality
Posted July 12th, 2017 at 12:51 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Millions of Verizon Customer Records Exposed in Security Lapse Up to 14 million Verizon subscriber records were left unprotected on an Amazon storage server in Israel. An employee of Israel-based NICE Systems left the information unsecured on the server and available for download with little difficulty. The leak includes sensitive records of […]
China Eyes VPN Ban; Wednesday Set as Net Neutrality Day of Action
Posted July 11th, 2017 at 12:30 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: China Will Block All VPNs by February 2018 The Chinese government has notified internet carriers that they have until February 1, 2018 to block all Virtual Private Networks (VPN) connections and shut down unauthorized VPN operators. Thanks to the country’s Great Firewall, a lot of internet services, including Western social media networks […]
Google Teaches Kids About Online Safety; Email Scams on the Rise
Posted June 6th, 2017 at 12:35 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Google Is Using Games to Teach Kids About Online Safety Learning how to watch your step online to avoid malware and other pitfalls is an acquired skill. And Google has just launched a new program called “Be Internet Awesome” to teach young people how to make smart decisions online. The program includes […]
Facebook Denies Mood-based Ad Tools; ‘Minecraft’ to Teach Coding
Posted May 2nd, 2017 at 1:09 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Facebook Denies Selling Ad-targeting Based on Users’ Emotions Facebook has denied a report from The Australian that claimed the social media giant gives advertisers tools to target users whenever they are in emotionally-vulnerable moods. The newspaper claimed that includes insecure teenagers as young as 14. A Facebook spokesman called the claims “misleading” […]
Twitter Eyes India Expansion; Facebook Goes After Fake News – Again
Posted April 6th, 2017 at 1:52 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Twitter Pushes Into Countries With Poor Connectivity Twitter’s latest “Twitter Lite” mobile service, a faster, more data-efficient version of the microblogging service, will target parts of the world where connectivity is spotty in an effort to add new users. Twitter Lite will be rolled out globally, but is primarily aimed at India, […]
Amazon Offerings Irk India; Americans Split on Encryption
Posted January 26th, 2017 at 11:03 am (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Amazon Has an India Problem Amazon, looking to expand in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, has run into trouble with Indian officials on ‘sensitivity’ issues, for lack of a better word. First, it angered a lot of people a couple of weeks ago with a doormat bearing the Indian flag, for […]
Google Hacked; Trump Mobile Alerts Are Coming to Your Phone
Posted November 30th, 2016 at 2:28 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: At Least 1 Million Google Accounts Breached by Gooligan Android Malware An Android-based malware dubbed Gooligan has compromised up to one million Google accounts. Researchers from security firm Check Point Software Technologies found the strain in at least 86 apps available in third-party marketplaces. When the apps are installed, they gain high-level access to […]
Google Search Points Out US Election Polls; Twitter Bot Tracks Dictators
Posted October 13th, 2016 at 1:03 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Google Now Will Tell You Where You Can Vote in US Election The clock is ticking ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November, and Google is offering to point you in the direction of the nearest polling station. Starting Thursday, searching in English or Spanish for “where to vote” will yield […]