Tech Roundup: Apple FaceTime Flaw, Google+ Shutdown Timeline & More

[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]

• Anthropogenic climate change and deforestation have put 60 percent of wild coffee species at risk of extinction, according to a study published in Science Advances.
• Singapore's Ministry of Health reveals that personal details and the HIV-positive status of 14,200 people have been leaked online in what appears to be a case of unauthorised access; comes months after a targeted cyber attack of SingHealth that exposed medical records of 1.5 million patients last July.
• Japan amends its laws to allow government agents to access and survey Internet of Things (IoT) devices by using their default password settings with an intention to alert authorities to try to secure them.
• Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) raises concerns over Facebook's proposed plans to integrate messaging across Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram; says "the Irish DPC will be very closely scrutinising Facebook's plans as they develop, particularly insofar as they involve the sharing and merging of personal data between different Facebook companies."
• 74 percent of U.S. adult Facebook users say they did not know the social network keeps a lists of their interests and traits under Your Ads Preferences, according to a new study by Pew Research; "roughly half of Facebook users (51 percent) say they are not comfortable that the company created such a list."
• Apple disables Group FaceTime feature after a major security vulnerability is discovered that allows users to eavesdrop audio on the other end even before the call is accepted (the bug works simply by dialling another user, and adding your own number via "Add Person" before it is answered, thus tricked into believing a Group FaceTime call has been initiated); says a software update is coming in the coming days following criticism that it sat on the issue for a week despite having reported by Michele Thompson, whose 14-year-old son Grant discovered the bug. (Apple didn't respond until a separate developer reported the same flaw, and Apple-coverage site 9to5Mac picked up the story.)
• Sidewalk Labs, Alphabet's smart neighbourhood initiative, employs a tool called Replica that uses uses de-identified mobile location information (which it obtains from unspecified third-party vendors) to help planning agencies "a comprehensive portrait of how, when, and why people travel in urban areas," adding to the growing unease over tech companies' use of personal data.
• The New York Times, last month, detailed how a variety of apps exploit intimate levels of location tracking with no consideration for explicit user consent, instead resorting to vague privacy policies to mention the fact that their location data tracked for purposes of showing weather alerts or recommending local sports teams will in fact be shared and sold to advertisers to make quick money. Motherboard, earlier in January, further revealed how cell companies sell users' locations data to aggregation services for quick profit.
• New research published in the journal Nature Human Behavior shows social media platforms such as Twitter can be used to glean information about the preferences of former users by monitoring as few as eight of their one-time contacts, indicating friends have a say in an individual's privacy on social media platforms.
• Facebook blocks third-party tools from collecting information (Facebook Political Ad Collector) on political ads it runs on the social network; the tools, which simulated mouse clicks to scrap information about "Why Am I Seeing This Ad?", have been rendered non-functional by altering its code to add a new condition that checks if the clicks are trust-worthy.
• Indian government proposes new amendments to Information Technology Act that would force platforms like Facebook and Twitter to censor content that it deems inappropriate (hate speech, child abuse etc.), and assist government requests for user information (by adding a decryption clause), posing serious legal problems for end-to-end encrypted services like WhatsApp.
• Google begins testing new barebones search results page to comply with E.U.'s Copyright Directive that would require would require Google, Bing and other news aggregators to pay licensing fees when taking short snippets of content from publishers and presented on their sites (Article 11), and major platforms like Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and others to monitor and proactively screen content uploads for potential copyright infringement or face liability (Article 13).

Google's search results page in the E.U. in response to the 
new Copyright Directive regulations (via Search Engine Land)

• Facebook says number of daily active users climbed to 1.52 billion during the period October-December, up from 1.49 billion the previous quarter, thereby managing to survive a nonstop barrage of controversies throughout 2018; says it plans to add more encryption and ephemerality features, double down on Facebook Watch, add new commerce and shopping features to Instagram, and confirms its plans to allow encrypted cross-app messaging between Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp (targeting a 2020 release).
• U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh rejects Yahoo's settlement plan (US$ 50 million payout, plus two years of free credit monitoring for affected people) in a class-action lawsuit brought against the company after it failed to report two major data breaches that affected over 3 billion users in 2014 and 2016; says "the accord did not disclose the size of the settlement fund or the costs of the credit monitoring, and the proposed class may be too big because the number of 'active' users that Yahoo disclosed privately to her was far lower."
• Google announces Google+ shutdown timeline for consumers (corporate version of Google+ will continue to exist as part of G Suite); says users will no longer be able to create new profiles starting February 4, and that it will delete all Google+ accounts and pages effective April 2.
• Android Q to support iOS-like temporary app permissions with a new "allow only while the app is in use" setting that allows apps from accessing location, camera etc. all the time; also said to be adding a new permission "android.permission.READ_CLIPBOARD_IN_BACKGROUND" that prevents third-party from reading clipboard contents when running in background as it continues to ramp up security and privacy measures in Android.
• Apple reports a 15 percent decline in iPhone sales for the period October-December, while highlighting a 19 percent jump in revenues from Services vertical (iCloud, App Store purchases, Apple Music, Apple Pay, AppleCare etc.); CEO Tim Cook says the company is "rethinking how it prices the iPhone outside the United States," as a prohibitive price tag continues to make iPhones an impossible option for customers in markets like India.
• Apple reportedly working on a Netflix-like subscription game streaming service, according to Cheddar, weeks after reports emerged that Verizon has begun quietly testing a version of its own; HomePod smart speaker starts shipping in Mainland China and Hong Kong, joining U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico and Spain as the list of countries where it's available.
• Google updates Play Store app for Android to prominently feature apps and games, but removes other sections like Movies & TV, Books and Music.
• It wouldn't be surprising if Google decides to sunset Play Store brand - Play Newsstand has been already absorbed into Google News last year, Play Music is being phased off in favour of YouTube Music, Movies & TV can be easily integrated into YouTube as well, and in similar vein, both Google Books and Play Books can be combined into one service.
• Apple to add system-wide dark mode to iOS 13, reports Bloomberg, as Google continues to redesign its apps with white backgrounds as it prepares to flip dark mode on easily with Android Q.
• Facebook hires Nate Cardozo, former top legal counsel at privacy watchdog Electronic Frontier Foundation and a harsh critic of the company, WhatsApp's privacy policy manager; Instagram sells ad spaces to services that make money by charging clients for fake followers or "that automatically follow/unfollow other people to get them to follow the client back," according to TechCrunch; Instagram responds by removing all offending ads disabling the Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts of the services that were found to be violating its policies.
• Office chat platform Slack unveils a new logo that swaps the octothorpe for a multi-coloured pinwheel with chat bubbles as it hits 10 million daily active users, up from 8 million last May.
• Chip maker Intel reports a miss in quarterly revenue (for the period October-December) as it blames the shortfall on "weaker modem demand, slowdown in China, cloud customers absorbing capacity, and weakening NAND environment," indirectly hinting at lower than expected iPhone sales.
• Gmail gains options for strikethrough, undo/redo and download emails as .EML files; reportedly adding facial recognition features to its Google app for Android that can scan users' faces to provide tailored commands on camera-equipped devices.
• Cloud storage service Dropbox acquires electronic signature start-up HelloSign for US$ 230 million in cash as it readies to take on rivals Adobe and DocuSign.
• Apple's efforts to develop a self-driving car, dubbed "Project Titan", gets stranded after the iPhone-maker lays off 200 employees previously involved in its development; says "some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives."
• Amazon is readying to launch a new marketplace targeting Middle East market, two years after buying Souq for US$ 580 million, reports CNBC, even as the retail behemoth reports record holiday quarter amid concerns about slowing growth, India's new foreign investment regulations and rising Amazon Prime fulfilment costs.
• Amazon Prime subscription includes free-shipping, but fulfilment/shipping costs are slated to keep rising, in part due to price hikes by the major shippers, thereby eating into its profits.
• In an interesting turn of events, however, the company's decision to raise the minimum wage to US$ 15 last October has barely created a dent in its operating expenses, suggesting Amazon compensated for increased salaries by slashing bonuses.
• Indian ride-hailing startup announces Ola Money Postpaid that builds on existing payment service (used to pay for rides, shopping, food and more) and allows users to accumulate credit for 15 days, and pay back in one go.
• Global app downloads hit 194 billion in 2018, up 35 percent from 2016, according to App Annie's annual "State of Mobile 2019" report; consumer spending across app stores (Apple App Store, Google Play and third-party Android stores in China) reaches US$ 101 billion (up 75 percent), with China and emerging markets (India, Brazil and Indonesia) racking up most downloads.
• Music streaming music service Spotify is in "advanced" talks to acquire start-up podcast network Gimlet Media, according to Recode.
• Sony announces plans to expand its cloud gaming subscription service PlayStation Now to new markets Spain, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden.