The Associated Press reports:
Amazon is suing the attorney general of New York in a bid to stop her from suing the company over its coronavirus safety protocols and the firing of one of its outspoken workers. In the lawsuit filed Friday in Brooklyn federal court, Amazon said Attorney General Letitia James overstepped her authority by trying to regulate coronavirus safety protocols…
Tag: brooklyn
Is Letterboxd Becoming a Blockbuster?
Early last decade, Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow, web designers based in Auckland, New Zealand, were seeking a passion project. Their business, a boutique web design studio called Cactuslab, developed apps and websites for various clients, but they wanted a project of their own that their team could plug away at when there wasn’t much else to do. From a…
Ticketmaster Pays $10 Million Criminal Fine for Invading Rival’s Computers
Ticketmaster will pay a $10 million criminal fine to avoid prosecution on U.S. charges it repeatedly accessed the computer systems of a rival whose assets its parent Live Nation Entertainment Inc later purchased. From a report: The fine is part of a three-year deferred prosecution agreement between Ticketmaster and the U.S. Department of Justice, which was disclosed at a Wednesday hearing…
U.S. Charges China-based Zoom Executive With Disrupting Tiananmen Crackdown Commemorations
U.S. prosecutors on Friday charged a China-based executive at Zoom Video Communications with disrupting video meetings commemorating the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown at the request of the Chinese government. From a report: Xinjiang Jin, 39, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of conspiring since January 2019 to use his company’s systems to censor speech, the…
‘Divinity Consultants’ are Now Designing Sacred Rituals for Some Corporations
“They go by different names: ritual consultants, sacred designers, soul-centered advertisers,” reports the New York Times, describing “a new corporate clergy” working as “divinity consultants” and “designing sacred rituals for corporations.” They have degrees from divinity schools. Their business is borrowing from religious tradition to bring spiritual richness to corporate America. In simpler times, divinity schools sent their graduates out to…
Tens of Suspects Arrested For Cashing-out Santander ATMs Using Software Glitch
An anonymous reader writes: The FBI and local police have made tens of arrests across the tri-state area this week as part of a crackdown against multiple criminal gangs who exploited a glitch in the software of Santander ATMs to cash-out more money than was stored on cards. According to reports in local media, the bulk of the arrests took place…
‘Landlord Tech Watch’ Site Lets You Report Landlords Using Tech To Screw Over Tenants
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: A group of activists have released Landlord Tech Watch, a site that allows anyone to report where this “landlord tech” is being used and plot it on a map — like a version of Nextdoor that turns the tables to hold property owners and real estate companies accountable. The project is the effort…
Police Surveilled Protests With Help From Twitter-Affiliated Startup Dataminr
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Intercept: Leveraging close ties to Twitter, controversial artificial intelligence startup Dataminr helped law enforcement digitally monitor the protests that swept the country following the killing of George Floyd, tipping off police to social media posts with the latest whereabouts and actions of demonstrators, according to documents reviewed by The Intercept and a source…
Alphabet Reportedly Buying Smart Glasses Maker North
According to The Globe and Mail, Alphabet is rumored to be acquiring smart glasses maker North for $180 million. 9to5Google reports: This comes after North in December stopped selling Focals to focus on launching second-generation smart glasses sometime in 2020. “Focals 2.0” has been teased over the past several months with North claiming that they would be the “most significant product…
Will the Pandemic Inspire Silicon Valley to Do Good?
The global pandemic “has stirred up a missionary zeal throughout Silicon Valley,” writes Bloomberg:
Apple and Google put aside a decadelong rivalry to form an alliance to track the spread of infections. Facebook and Salesforce.com are procuring millions of masks for health care workers. Jeff Bezos is donating $100 million and Jack Dorsey $1 billion. In other corners of the Valley, people…