Tech Roundup: GDPR Consent, Google's Messaging Clarity & More

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

• European Data Protection Board publishes updated guidelines arguing that scrolling and "cookie walls," a tactic where websites bar internet browsers from accessing their content unless they agree to allowing cookies and trackers on the site, don't constitute meaningful consent under GDPR regulations; says "actions such as scrolling or swiping through a webpage or similar user activity will not under any circumstances satisfy the requirement of a clear and affirmative action."
• With manipulative consent pop-ups and dark patterns also remaining a major problem, privacy is fast becoming an extra that needs to be paid for.
• The "right to be left alone" is now a right that can be paid for, reflecting the increasing value of privacy, not as a right, but as a luxury good. Privacy is an extra, something to be opted into and paid for. And those who keep using "free ad-supported platforms — because they don't understand the risks of giving away personal data or can't afford to pay extra for privacy — are finding themselves on the wrong side of the new digital divide.
• New research finds that popular Chinese messaging app WeChat is systematically monitoring the content sent by international users to build up its censorship algorithms applied against accounts registered in China; says "WeChat screens images and documents shared by accounts registered outside China after they are sent, then adds the digital signature — or 'hash' — of any files deemed sensitive to a blacklist […] those files then cannot be sent or received by China-registered users."
• Controversial AI company Clearview to stop selling its facial recognition software to private companies and non-law enforcement entities, amid mounting scrutiny over its privacy-breaking approach to data collection by scraping publicly available photos on the internet to create a searchable database of faces.
• Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs scraps Toronto smart city project over "unprecedented economic uncertainty" due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak; says "it has become too difficult to make the 12-acre project financially viable without sacrificing core parts of the plan we had developed together with Waterfront Toronto to build a truly inclusive, sustainable community."

Google's product strategy in recent years

• Google brings all its disjointed communication offerings under one umbrella as part of a coherent vision to "modernise [Hangouts] towards Google Meet and Google Chat"; rolls out Google Meet integration in Gmail, permitting users to start a meeting and invite participants in a pop-up browser window, as reports emerge that the popularity of rival Zoom led the search giant consider the idea of buying the company as early as 2018.
• What's more, Google is reportedly working on a new feature for Duo video chat service that allows users to call others using their email addresses. The web version of Duo is also set to gain support for group calls, starting as a preview on Chrome browser.
• It still never fails to amaze me how Google spectacularly screwed up its Google Talk cross-platform, universal video calling service in its ill-advised attempts to release a seemingly-endless string of rebrands only to shut them down a few years later.
• Intel acquires transit planner platform Moovit for nearly US $ 900 million to advance its mobility ambitions and develop self-driving "robotaxis" that could take to the streets in early 2022; data it collects from more than 800 million of its users in 102 countries to be integrated into Intel's Israel-based autonomous car unit Mobileye.
• Israeli-based surveillance vendor NSO Group refutes claims that it used U.S.-based infrastructure to launch spyware against thousands of WhatsApp users last year; says it does not operate the Pegasus technology for its clients.
• Google-owned Nest to mandate two-factor authentication for its accounts as an extra security measure; Google Authenticator gets its first update in three years with support for Security Key (FIDO U2F) and a new feature that makes it easy to backup and restore two-factor codes from one device to another without having to manually transfer each code or disable and reenable two-factor authentication (2FA) on each account. (It's Android only for now, and there's no word yet on whether Google is planning to update the iOS app as well.)
• Microsoft-owned Wunderlist shuts down in favour of Microsoft To Do three years after the company was acquired in 2017; To Do gains Today, Tomorrow, and Week views and support for All and Completed smart lists, as Wunderlist founder Christian Reber announces new productivity tool called Superlist that aims to be a "slick, fast, and hyper-collaborative" productivity apps for teams.
• Apple sets online-only Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) for June 22 to preview upcoming features in iOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS. (June 22nd is a later start than usual for WWDC, which typically kicks off in the first week of the month.)
• Pinterest reaches 367 million monthly active users, up 26 percent from last year, as user growth rate plateaus; rolls out new activity planning features, allowing users to annotate their saves with personal notes and add dates to boards to help plans projects better.
• Online vacation rental platform Airbnb to lay off nearly 1,900 people, 25 percent of the company, effective May 11 as coronavirus upends the travel economy.
• Samsung becomes the latest company to follow Apple and Huawei's footsteps; unveils plans to release its own "innovative" payment experience later this year, with the Samsung Pay debit card backed by a cash management account in partnership with SoFi, a personal finance company led by former Goldman Sachs Managing Director Anthony Noto.
• Disney+ streaming service's paid subscribers grow from 33.5 million in March to 54 million in May, nearly meeting its launch date projection of 60 million-90 million users by the end of 2024.
• Twitter trials a new prompt for iOS users that asks them to consider revising a tweet they are writing when it includes "harmful" language.
• Music streaming service Spotify begins testing video podcasts in its apps in a bid to become a full-fledged media entertainment company.
• Microsoft-owned GitHub announces Codespaces, a free cloud-based developer environment in beta that's based on Microsoft's Visual Studio Code editor and makes it easier for developers to join a project, launch a developer environment, and start coding with minimal configuration — all from a browser. (It's worth noting that Microsoft rebranded Visual Studio Code Online to Visual Studio Codespaces just a week ago, indicating that the feature is now being directly integrating into GitHub.)
• Facebook's Oversight Board adds its first 20 members, a mix of rights activists and law experts, more than a year after the social platform announced the creation of the independent body in response to concerns about content moderation and rewrite the rules of engagement on the tech platform; to oversee challenging content issues, including hate speech and harassment, and protecting people's safety and privacy.
• The truth is that the value of social-media platforms lies partly in their appearance of democratic openness, that the content is made by the people, for the people, when in fact, the apparent democratic neutrality of social-media platforms has always been shaped by algorithms.
• Big Tech has spent years exploiting the vulnerabilities in the human operating system and developing the infrastructure for continued future exploitation of social engineering, persuasive design and behavioural economics to nudge unsuspecting users into ultimately destructive (yet insanely profitable) patterns of behaviour.
• The internet, it seems, has imprinted itself on modern hate crimes, giving its most unstable residents a theatre for unspeakable acts — and an amplification system for harassment and trolling that only recently was relegated to the shadows.
• Facebook has a lot of work to do to remedy its toxic effects on online discourse, election integrity, and misinformation and fake news, but this could be a step in the right direction.
• Google, Gates Foundation, and a coalition of non-profits form the Mojaloop Foundation, which aims to develop a free, open-source digital payments platform for developing countries.
• Microsoft debuts new Surface Headphones, wireless Surface Buds, Surface Pro 3 laptops and Surface Go tablet.
• Uber and Lyft to lay off 3,700 (about 14 percent of its workforce) and 1,000 employees (a 17 percent reduction of workforce) respectively, as demand plummets during the coronavirus pandemic, pummelling ride-sharing businesses.
• In a separate development, Uber has also slashed 31 percent of workforce, or 536 jobs, from its Middle East business Careem; and has announced plans to shutter Uber Eats in seven markets, including Czech Republic, Egypt, Honduras, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and Ukraine, and transferring its Uber Eats business operations in the United Arab Emirates to Careem.
• The move comes three months after Uber sold its Eats operations in India to rival Zomato as online delivery services continue to face questions about profitability and vie for marketshare.
• India surpasses 227 million active internet users in rural areas, more than the 205 million in urban areas, for the first time, as of November 2019, making it the second largest internet market after China (850 million).
• Popular video conferencing tool Zoom buys Keybase, makers of an end-to-end encrypted messaging and cloud storage system, in its first-ever acquisition as part of a 90-day plan to fix security flaws in the platform; to fold Keybase's features into its paid offering.
• Google's multipurpose object recognition tool, Google Lens, gains new feature that lets users copy and paste handwritten notes from an Android device or iPhone to another device via Google Chrome.