Former Oracle Product Manager Claims He Was Forced Out For Refusing to Sell Vaporware

A former Oracle employee filed a lawsuit against the database giant on Tuesday claiming that he was forced out for refusing to lie about the functionality of the company’s software. The civil complaint, filed on behalf of plaintiff Tayo Daramola in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, contends that Oracle violated whistleblower protections under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Act,…

44 Million Microsoft Users Reused Passwords in the First Three Months of 2019

The Microsoft threat research team scanned all Microsoft user accounts and found that 44 million users were employing usernames and passwords that leaked online following security breaches at other online services. From a report: The scan took place between January and March 2019. Microsoft said it scanned user accounts using a database of over three billion leaked credentials, which it obtained…

Facebook Sues Chinese Malware Operator For Abusing Its Ad Platform

Facebook today filed a lawsuit against a Chinese company and two Chinese nationals for abusing the Facebook ad platform to run a malware scheme. From a report: The accused are ILikeAd Media International Company, a Hong Kong-based company founded in 2016, and Chen Xiao Cong and Huang Tao, the two men behind it. Facebook said today that ILikeAd used Facebook ads…

Plex Launches Free, Ad-Supported Video Service in 200-Plus Countries, Territories

Media center app maker Plex officially launched its ad-supported video service with movies and TV shows from MGM, Warner Bros., Lionsgate and Legendary Wednesday. The service will be available in more than 200 countries and territories, making it the first ad-supported video service with a nearly global reach. From a report: Getting the rights to launch in so many countries was…

Mozilla Removes Avast and AVG Extensions From Add-on Portal Over Snooping Claims

Mozilla today removed four Firefox extensions made by Avast and its subsidiary AVG after receiving credible reports that the extensions were harvesting user data and browsing histories. From a report: The four extensions are Avast Online Security, AVG Online Security, Avast SafePrice, and AVG SafePrice. The first two are extensions that show warnings when navigating to known malicious or suspicious sites,…

Google, Facebook In EU Probe Over User Data

European officials have launched a “preliminary” investigation into Facebook and Google in order to determine how people’s information is used for ad purposes. The Mercury News reports: The European Commission, which oversees antitrust issues for the European Unions, said it has opened a preliminary investigation into Facebook and Google in order to determine if the two companies are adhering to new…

Apple’s and Microsoft’s 2019 Holiday Ads: Naughty Or Nice?

Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: In Apple’s 2019 holiday ad The Surprise (YouTube, 11.8M views), the reveal at the end is that two young girls thought to have been frittering away time on their iPads have been making an unforgettable, heartwarming tribute to their recently passed grandmother that brings tears to their grandpa’s eyes. “This is a master class in comfy…

YouTube Masthead, Rolling Out To All Users, is a Massive Auto-Playing Video Ad for TV

Speaking of YouTube ads, the Google-owned company is rolling out a new ad format for its TV experience, dubbed Masthead, to all users. The company tested this new ad format with some users earlier this year. From a report: Announced in a brief post, YouTube says that its beta test of this new ad format was successful in select markets leading…