Google has announced that Android users in Ukraine will now get air raid alerts on their phones before attacks by Russian forces.

In a blog post on Thursday, the tech giant said it’s working with the Ukrainian government to roll out an air raid alert system for Android phones in the country.&nbsp;

“Tragically, millions of people in Ukraine now rely on airstrike alerts to try to get to safety. At the request, and with the help, of the government of Ukraine, we’ve started rolling out a rapid Air Raid Alerts system for Android phones in Ukraine,” the company said.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/un-security-council-to-discuss-russian-claim-of-us-backed-biowarfare-labs-in-ukraine-461110">UNSC to discuss Russian claim of US-backed biowarfare labs in Ukraine</a>

The air raid alert would be adapted from a system built for quickly sending warnings about earthquakes.

“The system leverages our low latency alert mechanism we built for earthquake alerts. The air raid system is supplemental to, and shares the same triggers used for, the country's existing air raid alert systems,” Dave Burke, vice president of engineering for Android, said in a tweet.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-says-ukraine-needs-surface-to-air-missiles-not-fighter-jets-to-fight-formidable-russian-air-force-461103">Ukraine needs surface-to-air missiles, not fighter jets: US</a>

He said that the system, called Ukrainian Alarm, will start rolling out on March 11 and will ramp up to target all Android phones in Ukraine over the next few days.

Google has already been highlighting the app on the Google Play Store before the announcement.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, Google scaled back its presence in Russia, including pausing all ad sales and removing Russian state-funded media apps from Google Play in Europe.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine is both a tragedy and a humanitarian disaster in the making,” Google wrote on March 1st.

The company said it was working to “support people in Ukraine through our products, defend against cybersecurity threats, surface high-quality, reliable information and ensure the safety and security of our colleagues and their families in the region.”

Google has announced that Android users in Ukraine will now get air raid alerts on their phones before attacks by Russian forces. In a blog post on Thursday, the tech giant said it’s working with the Ukrainian government to roll out an air raid alert system for Android phones in the country.

Google has announced that Android users in Ukraine will now get air raid alerts on their phones before attacks by Russian forces. In a blog post on Thursday, the tech giant said it’s working with the Ukrainian government to roll out an air raid alert system for Android phones in the country. “Tragically, millions of people in Ukraine now rely on airstrike alerts to try to get to safety. At the request, and with the help, of the government of Ukraine, we’ve started rolling out a rapid Air Raid Alerts system for Android phones in Ukraine,” the company said. Also read | UNSC to discuss Russian claim of US-backed biowarfare labs in Ukraine The air raid alert would be adapted from a system built for quickly sending warnings about earthquakes. “The system leverages our low latency alert mechanism we built for earthquake alerts. The air raid system is supplemental to, and shares the same triggers used for, the country's existing air raid alert systems,” Dave Burke, vice president of engineering for Android, said in a tweet. Also read | Ukraine needs surface-to-air missiles, not fighter jets: US He said that the system, called Ukrainian Alarm, will start rolling out on March 11 and will ramp up to target all Android phones in Ukraine over the next few days. Google has already been highlighting the app on the Google Play Store before the announcement. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, Google scaled back its presence in Russia, including pausing all ad sales and removing Russian state-funded media apps from Google Play in Europe. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine is both a tragedy and a humanitarian disaster in the making,” Google wrote on March 1st. The company said it was working to “support people in Ukraine through our products, defend against cybersecurity threats, surface high-quality, reliable information and ensure the safety and security of our colleagues and their families in the region.”

Google rolls out air raid alerts feature for Ukraine Android users

In recent weeks, Russian hackers well-known to law enforcement have been engaging in phishing campaigns, espionage and other attacks targetting Ukraine and its European allies, said Alphabet Inc's Google. These hackers include FancyBear. &nbsp;

In a blog post on Monday, Google’s Threat Analysis Group, which focuses on disrupting computer hackers and issuing warnings about them to users, said that for the last two weeks, Russian hacking unit FancyBear, which is also known as APT28, has been sending phishing emails to Ukrainian media company, UkrNet. &nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/to-allow-civilians-to-leave-russia-proposes-humanitarian-corridors-in-five-ukrainian-cities-say-reports-460072" hreflang="en">To allow civilians to leave, Russia proposes humanitarian corridors in five Ukrainian cities, say reports</a>

Russia has denied that it uses hackers to attack its foes. The phishing messages look to steal account login information from users to breach a target's computers and online accounts. &nbsp;

Google did not say whether the attacks were successful. &nbsp;

Ghostwriter/UNC1151, which has been described as a Belarusian threat actor by Google, has been trying to steal account credentials through phishing attempts on Polish and Ukrainian government and military organisations. &nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-allies-plan-ways-to-help-establish-support-a-ukrainian-government-in-exile-459791" hreflang="en">US, allies plan ways to help establish, support a Ukrainian government-in-exile</a>

Mustang Panda or Temp.Hex, which Google described as China-based, has been sending virus-laden attachments to "European entities" with file names, such as "Situation at the EU borders with Ukraine.zip." &nbsp;&nbsp;

The effort has been described by Google as a deviation from Mustang Panda's standard focus on Southeast Asian targets. &nbsp;&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

In recent weeks, Russian hackers well-known to law enforcement have been engaging in phishing campaigns, espionage and other attacks targetting Ukraine and its European allies, said Alphabet Inc's Google.

In recent weeks, Russian hackers well-known to law enforcement have been engaging in phishing campaigns, espionage and other attacks targetting Ukraine and its European allies, said Alphabet Inc's Google. These hackers include FancyBear. In a blog post on Monday, Google’s Threat Analysis Group, which focuses on disrupting computer hackers and issuing warnings about them to users, said that for the last two weeks, Russian hacking unit FancyBear, which is also known as APT28, has been sending phishing emails to Ukrainian media company, UkrNet. Also Read: To allow civilians to leave, Russia proposes humanitarian corridors in five Ukrainian cities, say reports Russia has denied that it uses hackers to attack its foes. The phishing messages look to steal account login information from users to breach a target's computers and online accounts. Google did not say whether the attacks were successful. Ghostwriter/UNC1151, which has been described as a Belarusian threat actor by Google, has been trying to steal account credentials through phishing attempts on Polish and Ukrainian government and military organisations. Also Read: US, allies plan ways to help establish, support a Ukrainian government-in-exile Mustang Panda or Temp.Hex, which Google described as China-based, has been sending virus-laden attachments to "European entities" with file names, such as "Situation at the EU borders with Ukraine.zip." The effort has been described by Google as a deviation from Mustang Panda's standard focus on Southeast Asian targets. (With inputs from agencies)

Russian, Belarusian hackers target Ukraine, European allies through phishing campaigns, says Google

Microsoft&nbsp;Corp said on Monday it would&nbsp;remove&nbsp;Russian state-owned media outlet RT's mobile apps from the Windows App store and ban advertisements on&nbsp;Russian state-sponsored media, as global tech firms respond to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The company said it would not display any state-sponsored RT and Sputnik content, de-rank their search results on Bing and not place any ads from its ad network on those sites.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/node/454148">Here's what Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates doing in Pakistan</a>

Western tech companies, including Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, have placed restrictions on&nbsp;Russia's state-controlled media outlets in Ukraine and around the world.

Google has banned downloads of RT's mobile app on Ukrainian territory after barring&nbsp;Russia's state-owned media outlet RT and other channels from receiving money for ads on their websites, apps and YouTube videos.

Facebook is barring&nbsp;Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on its platform anywhere in the world.

Watch |&nbsp;World Bank Prez David Malpass criticized Microsoft's $69 billion deal as poor countries struggle

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/world-bank-prez-david-malpass-criticized-microsofts-69-billion-deal-as-poor-countries-struggle-446131/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"(We) will make ongoing adjustments to strengthen our detection and disruption mechanisms to avoid the spread of disinformation and promote instead independent and trusted content,"&nbsp;Microsoft&nbsp;said in a blog.

A growing list of companies are also looking to exit&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;as sanctions from Western countries tighten.

Microsoft Corp said on Monday it would remove Russian state-owned media outlet RT's mobile apps from the Windows App store and ban advertisements on Russian state-sponsored media, as global tech firms respond to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Microsoft Corp said on Monday it would remove Russian state-owned media outlet RT's mobile apps from the Windows App store and ban advertisements on Russian state-sponsored media, as global tech firms respond to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The company said it would not display any state-sponsored RT and Sputnik content, de-rank their search results on Bing and not place any ads from its ad network on those sites. Also read | Here's what Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates doing in Pakistan Western tech companies, including Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, have placed restrictions on Russia's state-controlled media outlets in Ukraine and around the world. Google has banned downloads of RT's mobile app on Ukrainian territory after barring Russia's state-owned media outlet RT and other channels from receiving money for ads on their websites, apps and YouTube videos. Facebook is barring Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on its platform anywhere in the world. Watch | World Bank Prez David Malpass criticized Microsoft's $69 billion deal as poor countries struggle "(We) will make ongoing adjustments to strengthen our detection and disruption mechanisms to avoid the spread of disinformation and promote instead independent and trusted content," Microsoft said in a blog. A growing list of companies are also looking to exit Russia as sanctions from Western countries tighten.

Microsoft to remove RT apps, ban Russian state-owned media ads

Alphabet Inc's&nbsp;Google&nbsp;confirmed on Sunday it has temporarily disabled for Ukraine some&nbsp;Google&nbsp;Maps tools which provide live information about traffic conditions and how busy different places are.

The company said it had taken the action of globally disabling the&nbsp;Google&nbsp;Maps traffic layer and live information on how busy places like stores and restaurants are in Ukraine for the safety of local communities in the country, after consulting with sources including regional authorities.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/worlds-biggest-plane-mriya-destroyed-by-russia-near-kyiv-457293">World's biggest plane 'Mriya' destroyed by Russia near Kyiv</a>

Ukraine is facing attacks from Russian forces who invaded the country on Thursday. As missiles fell on Ukrainian cities, nearly 400,000 civilians, mainly women and children, have fled into neighbouring countries.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation".

Big tech companies including&nbsp;Google&nbsp;have said they are taking new measures to protect users' security in the region.

Online services and social media sites have also been tapped by researchers piecing together activity around the war.

Also read |<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russia-ukraine-conflict-352-ukrainian-civilians-killed-1684-injured-457271">&nbsp;Russia-Ukraine conflict: 352 Ukrainian civilians killed, 1,684 injured</a>

A professor at California's Middlebury Institute of International Studies said&nbsp;Google&nbsp;Maps helped him track a "traffic jam" that was actually Russian movement towards the border hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the attack.

Google&nbsp;said live traffic information remained available to drivers using its turn-by-turn navigation features in the area.

Alphabet Inc's Google confirmed on Sunday it has temporarily disabled for Ukraine some Google Maps tools which provide live information about traffic conditions and how busy different places are.

Alphabet Inc's Google confirmed on Sunday it has temporarily disabled for Ukraine some Google Maps tools which provide live information about traffic conditions and how busy different places are. The company said it had taken the action of globally disabling the Google Maps traffic layer and live information on how busy places like stores and restaurants are in Ukraine for the safety of local communities in the country, after consulting with sources including regional authorities. Also read | World's biggest plane 'Mriya' destroyed by Russia near Kyiv Ukraine is facing attacks from Russian forces who invaded the country on Thursday. As missiles fell on Ukrainian cities, nearly 400,000 civilians, mainly women and children, have fled into neighbouring countries. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation". Big tech companies including Google have said they are taking new measures to protect users' security in the region. Online services and social media sites have also been tapped by researchers piecing together activity around the war. Also read | Russia-Ukraine conflict: 352 Ukrainian civilians killed, 1,684 injured A professor at California's Middlebury Institute of International Studies said Google Maps helped him track a "traffic jam" that was actually Russian movement towards the border hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the attack. Google said live traffic information remained available to drivers using its turn-by-turn navigation features in the area.

Google temporarily disables Google Maps live traffic data in Ukraine

Google parent Alphabet Inc reported record quarterly sales that topped expectations on Tuesday, as its internet advertising business surged on consumers using Google search as they shopped online and advertisers upping their marketing budgets.

Alphabet`s shares jumped more than 8% in after-hours trading, also rising on the company`s announcement that it would undertake a 20-to-one stock split.

The results were the latest to reinforce that the global trend toward a more digital economy has made Big Tech companies resistant to small-market shocks. While concerns about rising inflation, COVID-19 variants and supply-chain shortages have rattled Wall Street and hurt sales at some businesses, the companies that control key gateways to e-commerce, hybrid work and streaming entertainment have not seen a dip since the early days of the pandemic.

Alphabet`s sales jumped 32% to $75.3 billion in the fourth quarter, for a third straight quarterly sales record and topping the average estimate of $72 billion among financial analysts tracked by Refinitiv.

Consumers dove into Google search looking for apparel and hobbyist items, while retail, finance, entertainment and travel advertisers raised marketing budgets, Google`s chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, said on an earnings call.

Analysts said Google, which generates more revenue from internet ads than any other company, is proving that its growth is unstoppable for the foreseeable future.

"The pandemic has handily accelerated the world’s reliance on digital advertising," said Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. "Sitting through traditional TV advert breaks or reading billboards suddenly feels completely archaic in the age of streaming and mobile phone addiction."

Shares of Alphabet rose 8.6% in after-hours trading, to $2,990.10, erasing their losses for the year-to-date. Shares of competitors in online ads including Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc, Twitter Inc, Trade Desk Inc and Snap Inc all rose as well.

Under the planned 20-for-one stock split, investors as of July 1 will receive 19 additional shares for each one held. The split, which is subject to shareholder approval, will make the stock more affordable and potentially eligible for inclusion in more market indexes.

Shares of Apple Inc and Tesla Inc rallied in 2020 after splits, but increasingly brokerages such as Robinhood Markets allow purchases of fractional shares, diminishing some benefit of the tactic.

Banner year

For the 2021 full year, Alphabet`s sales rose 41% to a record $258 billion. Sales had grown just 13% in 2020, the slowest rate in over a decade, after advertisers slashed spending in the first few weeks of the pandemic.

Across both 2021 and 2020, Google`s advertising business, including YouTube, accounted for 81% of Alphabet`s revenues.

Companies including Amazon.com Inc and ByteDance`s TikTok have been taking small pieces of Google`s share of the global advertising market. But market forecasters do not expect major slippage in Google`s leading position. Google`s secondary businesses, including Cloud, also have been lifting overall sales.

Google Cloud, which serves clients such as online shopping software maker Shopify Inc, increased quarterly revenue by 45% to $5.5 billion, above estimates of $5.4 billion.

The division`s operating loss narrowed by 45% to $3.1 billion in 2021.

Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai told analysts that Cloud is exploring how to support clients that want to use blockchain, one of several emerging technologies that proponents view as crucial to kickstarting a new era of online innovations.

Alphabet also reported a quarterly sales record during the holiday season for its Google Pixel smartphones, despite what Pichai called "extremely challenging" supply constraints.

Alphabet`s quarterly profit was $20.6 billion, or $30.69 per share, beating expectations of $27.56 per share and marking a fourth straight quarter of record profit. The profit benefited from unrealized gains from Alphabet`s investments in startups, and the company also got a $2 billion boost last year from extending the useful life of its servers and networking gear.

For the 2021 year, Alphabet`s profit increased 89% to $76 billion.

Alphabet`s total costs in 2021 increased 27% to $178.9 billion as the company began to resume its pre-pandemic pace of hiring and construction. The company also noted increased legal fees, costs from a one-time bonus of $1,600 to all employees https://www.reuters.com/article/google-bonus-idCNL4N2ST4F5, and a rise in charitable contributions as it matched increased giving by employees.

Numerous lawsuits accusing Google of anticompetitive conduct in the advertising and mobile app store markets continue to be one of the company`s biggest challenges.

Google already has said its efforts to lower Play app store fees to assuage some of the concerns will hurt revenue.

Alphabet`s cash hoard grew by nearly $3 billion in 2021 to $139.6 billion, with another $50 billion going to buying back shares.

The operating loss for Other Bets, a unit that includes self-driving technology company Waymo and other non-Google ventures, was $5.3 billion in 2021, widening from $4.5 billion in 2020. The company offered no 2022 financial outlook for the unit.

Google parent Alphabet Inc reported record quarterly sales that topped expectations on Tuesday, as its internet advertising business surged on consumers using Google search as they shopped online and advertisers upping their marketing budgets.

Google parent Alphabet Inc reported record quarterly sales that topped expectations on Tuesday, as its internet advertising business surged on consumers using Google search as they shopped online and advertisers upping their marketing budgets. Alphabet`s shares jumped more than 8% in after-hours trading, also rising on the company`s announcement that it would undertake a 20-to-one stock split. The results were the latest to reinforce that the global trend toward a more digital economy has made Big Tech companies resistant to small-market shocks. While concerns about rising inflation, COVID-19 variants and supply-chain shortages have rattled Wall Street and hurt sales at some businesses, the companies that control key gateways to e-commerce, hybrid work and streaming entertainment have not seen a dip since the early days of the pandemic. Alphabet`s sales jumped 32% to $75.3 billion in the fourth quarter, for a third straight quarterly sales record and topping the average estimate of $72 billion among financial analysts tracked by Refinitiv. Consumers dove into Google search looking for apparel and hobbyist items, while retail, finance, entertainment and travel advertisers raised marketing budgets, Google`s chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, said on an earnings call. Analysts said Google, which generates more revenue from internet ads than any other company, is proving that its growth is unstoppable for the foreseeable future. "The pandemic has handily accelerated the world’s reliance on digital advertising," said Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. "Sitting through traditional TV advert breaks or reading billboards suddenly feels completely archaic in the age of streaming and mobile phone addiction." Shares of Alphabet rose 8.6% in after-hours trading, to $2,990.10, erasing their losses for the year-to-date. Shares of competitors in online ads including Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc, Twitter Inc, Trade Desk Inc and Snap Inc all rose as well. Under the planned 20-for-one stock split, investors as of July 1 will receive 19 additional shares for each one held. The split, which is subject to shareholder approval, will make the stock more affordable and potentially eligible for inclusion in more market indexes. Shares of Apple Inc and Tesla Inc rallied in 2020 after splits, but increasingly brokerages such as Robinhood Markets allow purchases of fractional shares, diminishing some benefit of the tactic. Banner year For the 2021 full year, Alphabet`s sales rose 41% to a record $258 billion. Sales had grown just 13% in 2020, the slowest rate in over a decade, after advertisers slashed spending in the first few weeks of the pandemic. Across both 2021 and 2020, Google`s advertising business, including YouTube, accounted for 81% of Alphabet`s revenues. Companies including Amazon.com Inc and ByteDance`s TikTok have been taking small pieces of Google`s share of the global advertising market. But market forecasters do not expect major slippage in Google`s leading position. Google`s secondary businesses, including Cloud, also have been lifting overall sales. Google Cloud, which serves clients such as online shopping software maker Shopify Inc, increased quarterly revenue by 45% to $5.5 billion, above estimates of $5.4 billion. The division`s operating loss narrowed by 45% to $3.1 billion in 2021. Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai told analysts that Cloud is exploring how to support clients that want to use blockchain, one of several emerging technologies that proponents view as crucial to kickstarting a new era of online innovations. Alphabet also reported a quarterly sales record during the holiday season for its Google Pixel smartphones, despite what Pichai called "extremely challenging" supply constraints. Alphabet`s quarterly profit was $20.6 billion, or $30.69 per share, beating expectations of $27.56 per share and marking a fourth straight quarter of record profit. The profit benefited from unrealized gains from Alphabet`s investments in startups, and the company also got a $2 billion boost last year from extending the useful life of its servers and networking gear. For the 2021 year, Alphabet`s profit increased 89% to $76 billion. Alphabet`s total costs in 2021 increased 27% to $178.9 billion as the company began to resume its pre-pandemic pace of hiring and construction. The company also noted increased legal fees, costs from a one-time bonus of $1,600 to all employees https://www.reuters.com/article/google-bonus-idCNL4N2ST4F5, and a rise in charitable contributions as it matched increased giving by employees. Numerous lawsuits accusing Google of anticompetitive conduct in the advertising and mobile app store markets continue to be one of the company`s biggest challenges. Google already has said its efforts to lower Play app store fees to assuage some of the concerns will hurt revenue. Alphabet`s cash hoard grew by nearly $3 billion in 2021 to $139.6 billion, with another $50 billion going to buying back shares. The operating loss for Other Bets, a unit that includes self-driving technology company Waymo and other non-Google ventures, was $5.3 billion in 2021, widening from $4.5 billion in 2020. The company offered no 2022 financial outlook for the unit.

Google propels record Alphabet revenue, driving shares up 8%

Alphabet Inc`s Google will invest up to $1 billion in Bharti Airtel in a move that could help bolster the Indian telecom operator`s digital offerings, the companies said on Friday.

The investment includes a $700 million equity investment in Airtel at a price of 734 rupees ($9.77) per share and up to $300 million towards implementing commercial agreements, including investments in scaling Airtel`s offerings, the companies said.

The share issue is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval and comes months after Airtel raised up to 210 billion rupees through a sale of shares to existing shareholders.

Airtel shares were up 0.54 per cent at 711 rupees after the announcement.

Google announced plans less than two years ago to infuse $10 billion in India via its digitisation fund over five to seven years through equity deals and tie-ups.

Conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd`s digital unit Jio Platforms, which houses Airtel`s telecom rival Jio, received an investment of $4.5 billion from Google in July 2020. In return, the US&nbsp;tech behemoth got a seat on Jio`s board.

Alphabet Inc`s Google will invest up to $1 billion in Bharti Airtel in a move that could help bolster the Indian telecom operator`s digital offerings, the companies said on Friday.

Alphabet Inc`s Google will invest up to $1 billion in Bharti Airtel in a move that could help bolster the Indian telecom operator`s digital offerings, the companies said on Friday. The investment includes a $700 million equity investment in Airtel at a price of 734 rupees ($9.77) per share and up to $300 million towards implementing commercial agreements, including investments in scaling Airtel`s offerings, the companies said. The share issue is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval and comes months after Airtel raised up to 210 billion rupees through a sale of shares to existing shareholders. Airtel shares were up 0.54 per cent at 711 rupees after the announcement. Google announced plans less than two years ago to infuse $10 billion in India via its digitisation fund over five to seven years through equity deals and tie-ups. Conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd`s digital unit Jio Platforms, which houses Airtel`s telecom rival Jio, received an investment of $4.5 billion from Google in July 2020. In return, the US tech behemoth got a seat on Jio`s board.

Google to invest up to $1 billion in India telecom company Bharti Airtel

The smartphone industry is dominated by two major operating systems—Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. And the Indian government has taken upon itself to shake the status quo.

In a recent interview, India’s junior Information and Technology (IT) minister&nbsp;Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said that the government is talking with tech companies to come up with an indigenous operating system (OS).

“There is no third one. Therefore, in a lot of ways there is tremendous interest in MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) and in the Government of India to even create a new handset operating system. We are talking to people. We are looking at a policy for that," Chandrasekhar told PTI news agency.

The government is looking for capabilities within start-up and academic ecosystems for the development of the OS, he said.

“If there is some real capability then we will be very much interested in developing that area because that will create an alternative to&nbsp;iOS&nbsp;and&nbsp;Android&nbsp;which then an Indian brand can grow," Chandrasekhar said.

In the last few years, Android and iOS have ruled the mobile OS market. According to Statcounter, a web traffic analysis website, Android OS rules the roost with 70 per cent market share, while iOS is at a distant second with 29.24 per cent.

Microsoft tried to break the duopoly and had even acquired Nokia to push out Windows phones, but it failed miserably.

Mozilla's Firefox OS was discontinued after efforts to crack India's mobile market with low-cost devices failed. The Linux Foundation's Tizen also didn’t find any takers.

China's government has promoted Linux-derived Kylin OS for locals, but it has not won much market share.

While Russia’s Astra Linux is only limited to the nation’s military.

(With inputs from agencies)

The smartphone industry is dominated by two major operating systems—Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. And the Indian government has taken upon itself to shake the status quo.

The smartphone industry is dominated by two major operating systems—Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. And the Indian government has taken upon itself to shake the status quo. In a recent interview, India’s junior Information and Technology (IT) minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said that the government is talking with tech companies to come up with an indigenous operating system (OS). “There is no third one. Therefore, in a lot of ways there is tremendous interest in MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) and in the Government of India to even create a new handset operating system. We are talking to people. We are looking at a policy for that," Chandrasekhar told PTI news agency. The government is looking for capabilities within start-up and academic ecosystems for the development of the OS, he said. “If there is some real capability then we will be very much interested in developing that area because that will create an alternative to iOS and Android which then an Indian brand can grow," Chandrasekhar said. In the last few years, Android and iOS have ruled the mobile OS market. According to Statcounter, a web traffic analysis website, Android OS rules the roost with 70 per cent market share, while iOS is at a distant second with 29.24 per cent. Microsoft tried to break the duopoly and had even acquired Nokia to push out Windows phones, but it failed miserably. Mozilla's Firefox OS was discontinued after efforts to crack India's mobile market with low-cost devices failed. The Linux Foundation's Tizen also didn’t find any takers. China's government has promoted Linux-derived Kylin OS for locals, but it has not won much market share. While Russia’s Astra Linux is only limited to the nation’s military. (With inputs from agencies)

Indian govt looking to break dominance of Android, iOS; to facilitate homegrown OS

Indian filmmaker Suneel Darshan, famed for films like 'Inteqam' and 'Andaaz,' has filed a FIR against Google, its CEO, Sundar Pichai, and numerous other Google workers, alleging copyright violations of his 2017 directorial 'Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha' on YouTube.

Darshan claims that, despite the fact that he did not upload the film anywhere or sell it to anyone, it is being profited from by many YouTube channels, and that Google has refused to remove the film from those channels.

Infringement of Sections 51, 63, and 69 of the Copyright Act of 1957, according to his FIR filed with the MIDC Police Station in Andheri East.&nbsp;

He said: "My faith and belief in the advancement of technology are implicit, but the infringement of my rights is a cause of grave concern." 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-awards-padma-bhushan-to-googles-sundar-pichai-and-microsofts-satya-nadella-447531">Also read | FIR against Google CEO Sundar Pichai, five others over film piracy on YouTube</a>

He added: "My entire copyrighted movie, apart from its songs and sequences from it, has been uploaded and monetised, and I have helplessly watched such illegal acts."

In the complaint, Google LLC, YouTube LLC, Google India Ltd., Pichai, and others were mentioned.

Sections 51, 63, and 69 of the Copyright Act, 1957, which deal with copyright infringement, were used to record the offence.

When contacted for comment, a Google spokesperson in India stated that the company relies on copyright owners to notify it of unauthorised uploads and that it provides them with "rights management tools, such as YouTube's Content ID system, which gives rights holders an automated way to identify, block, promote, and even make money from uploads of their content."&nbsp; 
 
Watch: Google CEO Sundar Pichai to be questioned in privacy lawsuit

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-to-be-questioned-in-privacy-lawsuit-440842/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"When a copyright holder notifies us of a video that infringes their copyright, we remove the content promptly in accordance with the law, and terminate the accounts of users with multiple copyright strikes," the spokesperson added.

(With inputs from agencies)

Indian filmmaker Suneel Darshan, famed for films like 'Inteqam' and 'Andaaz,' has filed a FIR against Google, its CEO, Sundar Pichai, and numerous other Google workers, alleging copyright violations of his 2017 directorial 'Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha' on YouTube.

Indian filmmaker Suneel Darshan, famed for films like 'Inteqam' and 'Andaaz,' has filed a FIR against Google, its CEO, Sundar Pichai, and numerous other Google workers, alleging copyright violations of his 2017 directorial 'Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha' on YouTube. Darshan claims that, despite the fact that he did not upload the film anywhere or sell it to anyone, it is being profited from by many YouTube channels, and that Google has refused to remove the film from those channels. Infringement of Sections 51, 63, and 69 of the Copyright Act of 1957, according to his FIR filed with the MIDC Police Station in Andheri East. He said: "My faith and belief in the advancement of technology are implicit, but the infringement of my rights is a cause of grave concern." Also read | FIR against Google CEO Sundar Pichai, five others over film piracy on YouTube He added: "My entire copyrighted movie, apart from its songs and sequences from it, has been uploaded and monetised, and I have helplessly watched such illegal acts." In the complaint, Google LLC, YouTube LLC, Google India Ltd., Pichai, and others were mentioned. Sections 51, 63, and 69 of the Copyright Act, 1957, which deal with copyright infringement, were used to record the offence. When contacted for comment, a Google spokesperson in India stated that the company relies on copyright owners to notify it of unauthorised uploads and that it provides them with "rights management tools, such as YouTube's Content ID system, which gives rights holders an automated way to identify, block, promote, and even make money from uploads of their content." Watch: Google CEO Sundar Pichai to be questioned in privacy lawsuit "When a copyright holder notifies us of a video that infringes their copyright, we remove the content promptly in accordance with the law, and terminate the accounts of users with multiple copyright strikes," the spokesperson added. (With inputs from agencies)

FIR against Google CEO Sundar Pichai, five others over film piracy on YouTube

A group of top US justice officials accused&nbsp;Google&nbsp;in lawsuits on Monday of tracking and profiting from users' location data, despite leading consumers to think they could protect their privacy on the tech giant's services.

Google&nbsp;builds detailed profiles and sells highly targeted advertising with data collected from its billions of users -- with location being a key piece of information, argued the suits that seek to block the alleged practices.

"Google&nbsp;falsely led consumers to believe that changing their account and device settings would allow customers to protect their privacy," said Karl Racine, the attorney general in the nation's capital Washington.

These suits are the latest legal threats against&nbsp;Google&nbsp;and other US Big Tech giants, which have long faced probes and court cases but a lack of new national laws that would regulate their businesses.

Attorneys general -- states' top law enforcers and legal advisors -- from Indiana, Washington and Texas were to file suits making the same allegations against the tech colossus.

Google&nbsp;said the officials' claims were inaccurate and based on outdated assertions about its settings.

"We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data,"&nbsp;Google&nbsp;said in a statement. "We will vigorously defend ourselves and set the record straight."

Racine argued that from 2014 to at least 2019,&nbsp;Google&nbsp;claimed that users could turn off their "Location History" setting and "the places you go are no longer stored."

"That is false. Even when Location History is off,&nbsp;Google&nbsp;continues to collect and store users' locations," Racine's office said in a statement.

The officials also allege the Silicon Valley giant has used "dark patterns," or design tricks aimed at subtly influencing consumers' choices in ways that benefit the company.

Racine's office cited the example of repeatedly prompting users to provide location in certain apps and claiming products would not function properly without it, when in fact location was not needed for the app.

"Even a limited amount of location data, aggregated over time, can expose a person's identity and routines," Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a statement.

He noted that information can be used to infer "sensitive personal details" like political or religious beliefs, income, health or life events like births and divorces.

&nbsp;

A group of top US justice officials accused Google in lawsuits on Monday of tracking and profiting from users' location data, despite leading consumers to think they could protect their privacy on the tech giant's services.

A group of top US justice officials accused Google in lawsuits on Monday of tracking and profiting from users' location data, despite leading consumers to think they could protect their privacy on the tech giant's services. Google builds detailed profiles and sells highly targeted advertising with data collected from its billions of users -- with location being a key piece of information, argued the suits that seek to block the alleged practices. "Google falsely led consumers to believe that changing their account and device settings would allow customers to protect their privacy," said Karl Racine, the attorney general in the nation's capital Washington. These suits are the latest legal threats against Google and other US Big Tech giants, which have long faced probes and court cases but a lack of new national laws that would regulate their businesses. Attorneys general -- states' top law enforcers and legal advisors -- from Indiana, Washington and Texas were to file suits making the same allegations against the tech colossus. Google said the officials' claims were inaccurate and based on outdated assertions about its settings. "We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data," Google said in a statement. "We will vigorously defend ourselves and set the record straight." Racine argued that from 2014 to at least 2019, Google claimed that users could turn off their "Location History" setting and "the places you go are no longer stored." "That is false. Even when Location History is off, Google continues to collect and store users' locations," Racine's office said in a statement. The officials also allege the Silicon Valley giant has used "dark patterns," or design tricks aimed at subtly influencing consumers' choices in ways that benefit the company. Racine's office cited the example of repeatedly prompting users to provide location in certain apps and claiming products would not function properly without it, when in fact location was not needed for the app. "Even a limited amount of location data, aggregated over time, can expose a person's identity and routines," Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a statement. He noted that information can be used to infer "sensitive personal details" like political or religious beliefs, income, health or life events like births and divorces.

Google profited from users' location data, claims lawsuit

A new lawsuit has claimed that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai colluded in online ad sales.

According to an amended antitrust complaint filed by Texas and 15 other states, the two tech giants teamed up and hammered out the terms of the agreement.

The deal was allegedly struck as part of Google's effort to counter header bidding, which publishers wanted to use to make more money from advertising placed on their websites, the filing said.

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/from-meatless-meat-to-web-30-here-are-the-tech-trends-that-can-dominate-in-2022-441762" hreflang="en">From meatless meat to Web 3.0: Here are the tech trends that can dominate in 2022</a>

"Google quickly realised that this innovation substantially threatened its exchange’s ability to demand a very large&nbsp;19 to 22 per cent,&nbsp;cut on all advertising transactions," the filing said.

"Following the agreement, Facebook curtailed its involvement with header bidding in return for Google giving Facebook information, speed, and other advantages."

Facebook, which has since become Meta Platforms Inc, said in a statement that the deal was not exclusive to Google and that other agreements have increased competition for ad placements. It said it was better for advertisers "while fairly compensating publishers."

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/facebook-google-slapped-with-huge-fines-in-france-over-cookies-442661" hreflang="en">Facebook, Google slapped with huge fines in France over 'cookies'</a>

Facebook’s former chief operating officer&nbsp;Sheryl Sandberg was “explicit that ‘this is a big deal strategically’” in a 2018 email thread about the deal that included Zuckerberg.

“We’re nearly ready to sign and need your approval to move forward,” the email read, according to the complaint. Zuckerberg wanted to meet with Sandberg and his other executives before making a decision, the complaint states.

In a statement, Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said the lawsuit is “full of inaccuracies and lacks legal merit.”

Meta spokesperson Chris Sgro said Friday that the company’s ad bidding agreement with Google and similar agreements it has with other bidding platforms “have helped to increase competition for ad placements.”

“These business relationships enable Meta to deliver more value to advertisers while fairly compensating publishers, resulting in better outcomes for all,” Sgro said.

(With inputs from agencies)

A new lawsuit has claimed that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai colluded in online ad sales. According to an amended antitrust complaint filed by Texas and 15 other states, the two tech giants teamed up and hammered out the terms of the agreement.

A new lawsuit has claimed that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai colluded in online ad sales. According to an amended antitrust complaint filed by Texas and 15 other states, the two tech giants teamed up and hammered out the terms of the agreement. The deal was allegedly struck as part of Google's effort to counter header bidding, which publishers wanted to use to make more money from advertising placed on their websites, the filing said. Also see | From meatless meat to Web 3.0: Here are the tech trends that can dominate in 2022 "Google quickly realised that this innovation substantially threatened its exchange’s ability to demand a very large 19 to 22 per cent, cut on all advertising transactions," the filing said. "Following the agreement, Facebook curtailed its involvement with header bidding in return for Google giving Facebook information, speed, and other advantages." Facebook, which has since become Meta Platforms Inc, said in a statement that the deal was not exclusive to Google and that other agreements have increased competition for ad placements. It said it was better for advertisers "while fairly compensating publishers." Also read| Facebook, Google slapped with huge fines in France over 'cookies' Facebook’s former chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg was “explicit that ‘this is a big deal strategically’” in a 2018 email thread about the deal that included Zuckerberg. “We’re nearly ready to sign and need your approval to move forward,” the email read, according to the complaint. Zuckerberg wanted to meet with Sandberg and his other executives before making a decision, the complaint states. In a statement, Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said the lawsuit is “full of inaccuracies and lacks legal merit.” Meta spokesperson Chris Sgro said Friday that the company’s ad bidding agreement with Google and similar agreements it has with other bidding platforms “have helped to increase competition for ad placements.” “These business relationships enable Meta to deliver more value to advertisers while fairly compensating publishers, resulting in better outcomes for all,” Sgro said. (With inputs from agencies)

New lawsuit alleges Facebook and Google colluded in online ad sales

Regulators in France have slapped massive fines of USD 237 million (210 million euros) on Facebook and Google over their use of 'cookies', said authorities on Thursday. Cookies and the data used to track users online.

Tech giants like Apple and Amazon have received major flak from regulators over their business practices in Europe. Massive fines have already been slapped and new rules may have far-reaching impact on how they operate in Europe.

The 150-million-euro fine imposed on Google was a record by France's National Commission for Information Technology and Freedom (CNIL), beating a previous cookie-related fine of 100 million euros against the company in December 2020.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/the-metaverses-dark-side-here-come-harassment-and-assaults-442636">The Metaverse’s dark side: Here come harassment and assaults</a>

Facebook was handed a 60-million-euro fine.

"CNIL has determined that the sites facebook.com, google.fr and (Google-owned) youtube.com do not allow users to refuse the use of cookies as simply as to accept them," the regulatory body said.

Facebook and Google have three months to adapt their practices. If they fail to do so, France will impose fines of 100,000 euros per day.

Google told AFP it would change its practices following the ruling.

"In accordance with the expectations of internet users... we are committed to implementing new changes, as well as to working actively with CNIL in response to its decision," the US firm said in a statement.&nbsp;

Cookies are little packets of data that are set up on a user's computer when they visit a website, allowing web browsers to save information about their session.

They are highly valuable for Google and Facebook as ways to personalise advertising -- their primary source of revenue.&nbsp;

But privacy advocates have long pushed back.&nbsp;

Since the European Union passed a 2018 law on personal data, internet companies face stricter rules that oblige them to seek the direct consent of users before installing cookies on their computers.

90 notices issued

CNIL argued that Google, Facebook and YouTube make it very easy to consent to cookies via a single button, whereas rejecting the request requires several clicks.

It had given internet companies until April 2021 to adapt to the tighter privacy rules, warning that they would start facing sanctions after that date.

French newspaper Le Figaro was the first to be sanctioned, receiving a fine of 50,000 euros in July for allowing cookies to be installed by advertising partners without the direct approval of users, or even after they had rejected them.

CNIL said recently that it had sent 90 formal notices to websites since April.

In 2020, it inflicted fines of 100 million and 35 million euros respectively on Google and Amazon for their use of cookies.

(With inputs from agencies)

Regulators in France have slapped massive fines of USD 237 million (210 million euros) on Facebook and Google over their use of 'cookies', said authorities on Thursday.

Regulators in France have slapped massive fines of USD 237 million (210 million euros) on Facebook and Google over their use of 'cookies', said authorities on Thursday. Cookies and the data used to track users online. Tech giants like Apple and Amazon have received major flak from regulators over their business practices in Europe. Massive fines have already been slapped and new rules may have far-reaching impact on how they operate in Europe. The 150-million-euro fine imposed on Google was a record by France's National Commission for Information Technology and Freedom (CNIL), beating a previous cookie-related fine of 100 million euros against the company in December 2020. Also Read | The Metaverse’s dark side: Here come harassment and assaults Facebook was handed a 60-million-euro fine. "CNIL has determined that the sites facebook.com, google.fr and (Google-owned) youtube.com do not allow users to refuse the use of cookies as simply as to accept them," the regulatory body said. Facebook and Google have three months to adapt their practices. If they fail to do so, France will impose fines of 100,000 euros per day. Google told AFP it would change its practices following the ruling. "In accordance with the expectations of internet users... we are committed to implementing new changes, as well as to working actively with CNIL in response to its decision," the US firm said in a statement. Cookies are little packets of data that are set up on a user's computer when they visit a website, allowing web browsers to save information about their session. They are highly valuable for Google and Facebook as ways to personalise advertising -- their primary source of revenue. But privacy advocates have long pushed back. Since the European Union passed a 2018 law on personal data, internet companies face stricter rules that oblige them to seek the direct consent of users before installing cookies on their computers. 90 notices issued CNIL argued that Google, Facebook and YouTube make it very easy to consent to cookies via a single button, whereas rejecting the request requires several clicks. It had given internet companies until April 2021 to adapt to the tighter privacy rules, warning that they would start facing sanctions after that date. French newspaper Le Figaro was the first to be sanctioned, receiving a fine of 50,000 euros in July for allowing cookies to be installed by advertising partners without the direct approval of users, or even after they had rejected them. CNIL said recently that it had sent 90 formal notices to websites since April. In 2020, it inflicted fines of 100 million and 35 million euros respectively on Google and Amazon for their use of cookies. (With inputs from agencies)

Facebook, Google slapped with huge fines in France over 'cookies'

As per a report by Newsweek and Capital &amp; Main, which cited leaked internal documents, Amazon, Google, Walmart, and other corporate behemoths have been spying on their employees to prevent them from unionising.

According to Newsweek, the most well-known examples of businesses using surveillance technologies on employees include Amazon and Walmart.

Whole Foods Market, owned by Amazon, employs heat maps to track store locations with a high likelihood of union action.

According to Newsweek, which cited the twice-weekly Human Resources journal, HR Brew, Walmart has tools to monitor an employee's activities and chats regarding activism, while Google has a system that warns management about internal meetings attended by 100 or more employees.&nbsp;

Companies frequently use underhanded tactics, according to Ricardo Hidalgo, an international organiser with the Teamsters who has helped unionise machinists and sanitation workers, by installing an informer among the group of employees who try to unionise.

This is done to keep track of conversations and pit staff members against one another.

Experts point to employment regulations, the majority of which were enacted in the first part of the twentieth century, emphasising that while the legislation has remained the same, technology has evolved and continues to improve, making it easier for employers to keep track of their employees.

In some circumstances, companies can acquire commercially available tools rather than invent their own gadgets to spy on employees.&nbsp;

Employee surveillance has increased dramatically in recent years.

According to a study conducted by Gartner, 60 per cent of large firms utilise monitoring technologies, which is twice as many as before the coronavirus outbreak.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

As per a report by Newsweek and Capital & Main, which cited leaked internal documents, Amazon, Google, Walmart, and other corporate behemoths have been spying on their employees to prevent them from unionising.

As per a report by Newsweek and Capital & Main, which cited leaked internal documents, Amazon, Google, Walmart, and other corporate behemoths have been spying on their employees to prevent them from unionising. According to Newsweek, the most well-known examples of businesses using surveillance technologies on employees include Amazon and Walmart. Whole Foods Market, owned by Amazon, employs heat maps to track store locations with a high likelihood of union action. According to Newsweek, which cited the twice-weekly Human Resources journal, HR Brew, Walmart has tools to monitor an employee's activities and chats regarding activism, while Google has a system that warns management about internal meetings attended by 100 or more employees. Companies frequently use underhanded tactics, according to Ricardo Hidalgo, an international organiser with the Teamsters who has helped unionise machinists and sanitation workers, by installing an informer among the group of employees who try to unionise. This is done to keep track of conversations and pit staff members against one another. Experts point to employment regulations, the majority of which were enacted in the first part of the twentieth century, emphasising that while the legislation has remained the same, technology has evolved and continues to improve, making it easier for employers to keep track of their employees. In some circumstances, companies can acquire commercially available tools rather than invent their own gadgets to spy on employees. Employee surveillance has increased dramatically in recent years. According to a study conducted by Gartner, 60 per cent of large firms utilise monitoring technologies, which is twice as many as before the coronavirus outbreak. (With inputs from agencies)

Technology giants spy on staff to prevent unionising, report says

Invoking for the first time the recently notified intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code under the Information and Technology (IT) Act, 20 YouTube channels and two websites were banned by the Indian government for allegedly running ‘anti-India’ propaganda from Pakistan, according to reports.

According to Economic Times (ET) newspaper, which cited sources, Information and Broadcasting (I&amp;B) secretary Apurva Chandra wrote to YouTube and the Department of Telecom, directing them to immediately block the content which impinges the sovereignty and integrity of India.

According to the reports, the contents&nbsp;were “blasphemous” in nature and were being funded by Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Watch | Gravitas:&nbsp;India dismantles Pak's fake news network

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-india-dismantles-paks-fake-news-network-438844/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

It was first flagged by the Indian security agencies, following which the I&amp;B ministry conducted an inquiry.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/indian-govt-issues-one-last-notice-to-twitter-to-comply-with-it-rules-389639">Indian govt issues 'one last notice' to Twitter to comply with IT rules</a>

Among the sites that were taken down include ‘Naya Pakistan’, which had over two million subscribers on YouTube. It was reportedly running “false news” on issues such as Kashmir, farmers’ protests against the farm laws and Ayodhya.

Another portal that was banned is ‘Naya Pakistan Group’, which ran over 15 channels on YouTube and had a following of more than a million subscribers.

According to the reports, the channel ran contents like ‘PM Modi concedes defeat in Kashmir; Article 370 restored’, ‘Taliban Army leaves Kabul for India’, ‘Taiyyap Erdogan sends 35,000 mercenaries for Kashmir’, and the ‘Turk Army enters Ayodhya Ram Mandir to Take revenge’— all of which were seen by the ministry as a “concerted effort to sow unrest in India”.&nbsp;

Under section 16 of the IT Rules, the I&amp;B ministry can block content that is considered “necessary or expedient and justifiable to block”.

Officials said the decision to ban and block these channels and websites will be presented before the Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) within 48 hours, following which it will be ratified by a committee under the IT Rules, 2021, ET reported.

(With inputs from agencies)

Invoking for the first time the recently notified intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code under the Information and Technology (IT) Act, 20 YouTube channels and two websites were banned by the Indian government for allegedly running ‘anti-India’ propaganda from Pakistan, according to reports.

Invoking for the first time the recently notified intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code under the Information and Technology (IT) Act, 20 YouTube channels and two websites were banned by the Indian government for allegedly running ‘anti-India’ propaganda from Pakistan, according to reports. According to Economic Times (ET) newspaper, which cited sources, Information and Broadcasting (I&B) secretary Apurva Chandra wrote to YouTube and the Department of Telecom, directing them to immediately block the content which impinges the sovereignty and integrity of India. According to the reports, the contents were “blasphemous” in nature and were being funded by Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Watch | Gravitas: India dismantles Pak's fake news network It was first flagged by the Indian security agencies, following which the I&B ministry conducted an inquiry. Also read | Indian govt issues 'one last notice' to Twitter to comply with IT rules Among the sites that were taken down include ‘Naya Pakistan’, which had over two million subscribers on YouTube. It was reportedly running “false news” on issues such as Kashmir, farmers’ protests against the farm laws and Ayodhya. Another portal that was banned is ‘Naya Pakistan Group’, which ran over 15 channels on YouTube and had a following of more than a million subscribers. According to the reports, the channel ran contents like ‘PM Modi concedes defeat in Kashmir; Article 370 restored’, ‘Taliban Army leaves Kabul for India’, ‘Taiyyap Erdogan sends 35,000 mercenaries for Kashmir’, and the ‘Turk Army enters Ayodhya Ram Mandir to Take revenge’— all of which were seen by the ministry as a “concerted effort to sow unrest in India”. Under section 16 of the IT Rules, the I&B ministry can block content that is considered “necessary or expedient and justifiable to block”. Officials said the decision to ban and block these channels and websites will be presented before the Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) within 48 hours, following which it will be ratified by a committee under the IT Rules, 2021, ET reported. (With inputs from agencies)

20 YouTube channels, two websites taken down under IT Act for ‘anti-India’ propaganda: Report

Facebook has paid USD 229,643 in fines in Russia over content Moscow deemed illegal, Interfax news agency has reported. There is looming threat of larger fines over the tech giant.

Meta and Alphabet, parent companies of Facebook and Google respectively face a court case next week. &nbsp;They face allegations of violation of Russian legislation. A fine equal to their annual revenue in Russia may be imposed.

Reuters said that Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

Russia in October sent state bailiffs to enforce the collection of 17 million roubles in fines imposed on Facebook. Interfax said there were no more enforcement proceedings against the company as of Sunday, citing the federal bailiff service's database.

Moscow has increased pressure on large tech firms this year in a campaign that critics characterise as an attempt by the Russian authorities to exert tighter control over the internet, something they say threatens to stifle individual and corporate freedom.

Interfax said messaging app Telegram has also paid 15 million roubles in fines.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(With inputs from agencies)

Facebook has paid USD 229,643 in fines in Russia over content Moscow deemed illegal, Interfax news agency has reported. There is looming threat of larger fines over the tech giant.

Facebook has paid USD 229,643 in fines in Russia over content Moscow deemed illegal, Interfax news agency has reported. There is looming threat of larger fines over the tech giant. Meta and Alphabet, parent companies of Facebook and Google respectively face a court case next week. They face allegations of violation of Russian legislation. A fine equal to their annual revenue in Russia may be imposed. Reuters said that Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday. Russia in October sent state bailiffs to enforce the collection of 17 million roubles in fines imposed on Facebook. Interfax said there were no more enforcement proceedings against the company as of Sunday, citing the federal bailiff service's database. Moscow has increased pressure on large tech firms this year in a campaign that critics characterise as an attempt by the Russian authorities to exert tighter control over the internet, something they say threatens to stifle individual and corporate freedom. Interfax said messaging app Telegram has also paid 15 million roubles in fines. Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (With inputs from agencies)

Facebook pays fine in Russia over content deemed illegal

Following complaints of alleged incidents of harassment and discrimination, California is gearing up to investigate Google’s treatment of female Black employees.<o:p></o:p>

Experts at the California department of fair employment and housing (DFEH) have recently interviewed several Black women who have worked, or are working, at Google. These women were questioned about their experiences in the tech company, and if they have faced any form of harassment and/or discrimination.

<o:p>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/now-people-can-send-and-receive-messages-from-their-face-through-smart-glasses-437367">Now, people can send and receive messages from their face through smart glasses</a></o:p>

Analysts and attorneys of DFEH have not only interviewed the people who had filed a complaint against Google, but also several Black female employees who have been associated with the tech giant but had not filed a complaint. These women were also asked about their experiences to make sure the accounts of different match.<o:p></o:p>

These interviews happened almost a month ago, sources revealed to Reuters on condition of anonymity. <o:p></o:p>

Meanwhile, Google is trying to paint its image by stating that the tech giant is focused on "building sustainable equity" for all of its Black employees. "Our goal is to ensure that every employee experiences Google as an inclusive workplace," it said. "We'll continue to focus on this important work and thoroughly investigate any concerns, to make sure our workplace is representative and equitable."

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/report-google-to-cut-pay-and-eventually-fire-unvaccinated-employees-437139">WATCH |</a>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/report-google-to-cut-pay-and-eventually-fire-unvaccinated-employees-437139/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

While Black men have been complaining about casual racism and intended discrimination for years now, as more and more Black women join workplaces and start speaking against such mistreatment, the experts are now looking at fixing these societal issues.<o:p></o:p>

Black women have been complaining that they were not being taken seriously in the Google workspace and were being ignored from some of the major projects.

<o:p></o:p>

​​​​​​​(With inputs from agencies)

Following complaints of alleged incidents of harassment and discrimination, California is gearing up to investigate Google’s treatment of female Black employees.

Following complaints of alleged incidents of harassment and discrimination, California is gearing up to investigate Google’s treatment of female Black employees. Experts at the California department of fair employment and housing (DFEH) have recently interviewed several Black women who have worked, or are working, at Google. These women were questioned about their experiences in the tech company, and if they have faced any form of harassment and/or discrimination. Also read | Now, people can send and receive messages from their face through smart glasses Analysts and attorneys of DFEH have not only interviewed the people who had filed a complaint against Google, but also several Black female employees who have been associated with the tech giant but had not filed a complaint. These women were also asked about their experiences to make sure the accounts of different match. These interviews happened almost a month ago, sources revealed to Reuters on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, Google is trying to paint its image by stating that the tech giant is focused on "building sustainable equity" for all of its Black employees. "Our goal is to ensure that every employee experiences Google as an inclusive workplace," it said. "We'll continue to focus on this important work and thoroughly investigate any concerns, to make sure our workplace is representative and equitable." WATCH | While Black men have been complaining about casual racism and intended discrimination for years now, as more and more Black women join workplaces and start speaking against such mistreatment, the experts are now looking at fixing these societal issues. Black women have been complaining that they were not being taken seriously in the Google workspace and were being ignored from some of the major projects. (With inputs from agencies)

California to investigate Google for treatment of Black female workers

Before last month’s U.N. global climate summit, Google, the world’s biggest provider of ads online, made a big announcement: It would stop placing ads on sites that deny the scientific consensus on climate change.

Banned from profiting from its advertising program, Google said, were sites and videos falsely referring to global warming as a hoax or a scam. Also no longer welcome to run Google ads: Content falsely claiming that greenhouse gas emissions, or human activity, do not contribute to climate change.

But new research shows that Google’s policy has had limited effect so far.

As of Wednesday, ads placed by Google were still running on scores of articles, including ones on major right-wing sites like Breitbart, that falsely called global warming a hoax and described the U.N. climate conference last month as “a gigantic eco-fascist gaslighting operation.” In reality, diplomats from nearly 200 countries struck a major agreement to intensify efforts to fight the serious hazards posed by a hotter planet.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit group based in London, said Thursday that it had counted at least 50 new climate denial articles on 14 different sites, all published after Nov. 9, when Google’s new policy was to have taken effect. An earlier report by the centre’s researchers found that 10 of the most prominent publishers of climate denial content had received nearly 1.1 billion visits in the six months before the climate conference.

That’s a concern because the ad revenue that these denial sites earn by running Google ads then helps to fund more denial content, said Imran Ahmed, the centre’s chief executive.

“The more ad revenue they get, the more they can pump out articles and they can get it in front of as many eyeballs as possible,” he said.

In fact, Google’s business model, to maximize its reach on the internet and to use personal data and algorithms to optimize ad placements, had made it “a major route for the monetization of malignant content, whether it’s vaccine denial, identity-based hate, climate denial,” Ahmed said.

Michael Aciman, a spokesman for Google, said the company had reviewed the pages in question and had taken “appropriate enforcement actions.” Early Thursday, Breitbart climate denial articles that had displayed ads placed by Google were no longer displaying them.

“When we find content that crosses the line from policy debate to promoting climate change denial, we stop serving ads on that page or site,” Aciman said.

The findings underscore how Google has struggled to rein in even blatant examples of climate denialism, experts said. The company’s latest pledge was triggered by mounting pressure on Google to stop monetizing the worst examples of online climate denial.

“There’s no ambiguity that these pages are out of sync with mainstream climate science,” said John Cook, an assistant professor at the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, whose research encompasses using machine learning to identify climate misinformation. “They shouldn’t be difficult to blacklist.”

And even though much of the rest of the world has moved on from more blatant forms of climate denialism, the United States has remained particularly vulnerable, Cook said.

“There are parts of the country where science denial is still flourishing, and those tend to be the markets for these types of webpages,” he said. “Climate misinformation confuses and polarizes the public, delays climate action and reduces trust in scientists.”

Google, whose parent company is Alphabet, has also come under pressure to counter election-related misinformation across its platforms, which include the video sharing site YouTube.

Google has said that it is using a mix of automated detection and human review to evaluate content, including YouTube videos. It normally disables ads on a page-by-page level, although egregious or persistent violations can trigger action against an entire site. Publishers have the option of appealing a decision or addressing their violations and applying for reinstatement.

Before last month’s U.N. global climate summit, Google, the world’s biggest provider of ads online, made a big announcement: It would stop placing ads on sites that deny the scientific consensus on climate change.

Before last month’s U.N. global climate summit, Google, the world’s biggest provider of ads online, made a big announcement: It would stop placing ads on sites that deny the scientific consensus on climate change. Banned from profiting from its advertising program, Google said, were sites and videos falsely referring to global warming as a hoax or a scam. Also no longer welcome to run Google ads: Content falsely claiming that greenhouse gas emissions, or human activity, do not contribute to climate change. But new research shows that Google’s policy has had limited effect so far. As of Wednesday, ads placed by Google were still running on scores of articles, including ones on major right-wing sites like Breitbart, that falsely called global warming a hoax and described the U.N. climate conference last month as “a gigantic eco-fascist gaslighting operation.” In reality, diplomats from nearly 200 countries struck a major agreement to intensify efforts to fight the serious hazards posed by a hotter planet. The Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit group based in London, said Thursday that it had counted at least 50 new climate denial articles on 14 different sites, all published after Nov. 9, when Google’s new policy was to have taken effect. An earlier report by the centre’s researchers found that 10 of the most prominent publishers of climate denial content had received nearly 1.1 billion visits in the six months before the climate conference. That’s a concern because the ad revenue that these denial sites earn by running Google ads then helps to fund more denial content, said Imran Ahmed, the centre’s chief executive. “The more ad revenue they get, the more they can pump out articles and they can get it in front of as many eyeballs as possible,” he said. In fact, Google’s business model, to maximize its reach on the internet and to use personal data and algorithms to optimize ad placements, had made it “a major route for the monetization of malignant content, whether it’s vaccine denial, identity-based hate, climate denial,” Ahmed said. Michael Aciman, a spokesman for Google, said the company had reviewed the pages in question and had taken “appropriate enforcement actions.” Early Thursday, Breitbart climate denial articles that had displayed ads placed by Google were no longer displaying them. “When we find content that crosses the line from policy debate to promoting climate change denial, we stop serving ads on that page or site,” Aciman said. The findings underscore how Google has struggled to rein in even blatant examples of climate denialism, experts said. The company’s latest pledge was triggered by mounting pressure on Google to stop monetizing the worst examples of online climate denial. “There’s no ambiguity that these pages are out of sync with mainstream climate science,” said John Cook, an assistant professor at the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, whose research encompasses using machine learning to identify climate misinformation. “They shouldn’t be difficult to blacklist.” And even though much of the rest of the world has moved on from more blatant forms of climate denialism, the United States has remained particularly vulnerable, Cook said. “There are parts of the country where science denial is still flourishing, and those tend to be the markets for these types of webpages,” he said. “Climate misinformation confuses and polarizes the public, delays climate action and reduces trust in scientists.” Google, whose parent company is Alphabet, has also come under pressure to counter election-related misinformation across its platforms, which include the video sharing site YouTube. Google has said that it is using a mix of automated detection and human review to evaluate content, including YouTube videos. It normally disables ads on a page-by-page level, although egregious or persistent violations can trigger action against an entire site. Publishers have the option of appealing a decision or addressing their violations and applying for reinstatement.

Google pledged to remove ads from climate denial sites, but many still run

Google has recently released its year-end list about the most-searched topics in India in 2021. The IPL has emerged as the most searched topic whereas three other mega sporting events also made it to the top five.&nbsp;

Here's the top-five most-searched topics in India in the calendar year:

1. IPL

2. CoWIN

3. ICC Men's T20 World Cup

4. Euro 2020

5. Tokyo 2020

Talking about the IPL, this year's edition was the first-ever to have taken place in two halves. Hence, it generated a lot of noise. The first edition took place in India when the second wave of COVID-19 led to its indefinite postponement in early May.&nbsp;The second and final leg, on the other hand, ended in the UAE in mid-October with the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) winning their fourth title.

ALSO READ I&nbsp;

CoWIN was the second most searched topic. It doesn't come as a huge surprise given how the countrymen were constantly monitoring the official website to book their Covid vaccination slots.&nbsp;

The other three in the top five are T20 World Cup, Euro 2020 and the Tokyo 2020 Games. As it has been a year filled with big-ticket sporting events, it isn't surprising that the three mega events were also one of the most-searched topics in India in 2021. Interestingly, all the three events were postponed in 2020 due to the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

ALSO READ |

Talking about the T20 WC, Australia won the championship for the first-time ever whereas Italy won Euro 2020. The Indian contingent, meanwhile, had a glorious run in the Tokyo 2020 as they returned with as many as seven medals. Being India's most successful appearance in an Olympic event, the countrymen searched a lot about the tournament and made it enter the top 5 in Google's year-end list.

Google has recently released its year-end list about the most-searched topics in India in 2021. The IPL has emerged as the most searched topic whereas three other mega sporting events also made it to the top five.

Google has recently released its year-end list about the most-searched topics in India in 2021. The IPL has emerged as the most searched topic whereas three other mega sporting events also made it to the top five. Here's the top-five most-searched topics in India in the calendar year: 1. IPL 2. CoWIN 3. ICC Men's T20 World Cup 4. Euro 2020 5. Tokyo 2020 Talking about the IPL, this year's edition was the first-ever to have taken place in two halves. Hence, it generated a lot of noise. The first edition took place in India when the second wave of COVID-19 led to its indefinite postponement in early May. The second and final leg, on the other hand, ended in the UAE in mid-October with the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) winning their fourth title. ALSO READ I CoWIN was the second most searched topic. It doesn't come as a huge surprise given how the countrymen were constantly monitoring the official website to book their Covid vaccination slots. The other three in the top five are T20 World Cup, Euro 2020 and the Tokyo 2020 Games. As it has been a year filled with big-ticket sporting events, it isn't surprising that the three mega events were also one of the most-searched topics in India in 2021. Interestingly, all the three events were postponed in 2020 due to the spread of the Covid-19 virus. ALSO READ | Talking about the T20 WC, Australia won the championship for the first-time ever whereas Italy won Euro 2020. The Indian contingent, meanwhile, had a glorious run in the Tokyo 2020 as they returned with as many as seven medals. Being India's most successful appearance in an Olympic event, the countrymen searched a lot about the tournament and made it enter the top 5 in Google's year-end list.

Most-searched topic in India in 2021: IPL atop, 3 other sporting events in top-5 in Google's year-end list

In the wake of growing concerns over the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus and some reluctance to comply with company-mandated vaccinations, Alphabet Inc's Google said on Thursday it will delay its January return-to-work plan indefinitely.

Google had announced in August that it would expect its workers to come into the office approximately three days a week as of Jan. 10 at the earliest, ending its voluntary work-from-home policy.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/with-omicron-reinfection-is-three-times-more-likely-south-african-health-body-433684" hreflang="en">With Omicron, reinfection is three times more likely: South African health body</a>

On Thursday, Google executives told employees that the company would put off the deadline beyond that date.

Company officials said the update was consistent with its earlier guidance that a return to work would not take place earlier than January&nbsp;10 and will be determined by local conditions.

According to Google, nearly 40 per cent of US&nbsp;employees came into an office in recent weeks, while other regions had higher percentages.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/omicron-scare-new-york-records-5-cases-bringing-number-of-new-variant-cases-in-us-to-eight-433665" hreflang="en">Omicron scare: New York records 5 cases, bringing number of new variant cases in US to eight</a>

However, CNBC reported last week that hundreds of employees protested the vaccination mandate for employees working on US&nbsp;government contracts.

In the midst of the pandemic, Google employees were one of the first to work from home. The company has 85 offices in over 60 countries.

Watch |&nbsp;Omicron Scare: Biden administration announces winter campaign against COVID-19

<iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/omicron-scare-biden-administration-announces-winter-campaign-against-covid-19-433682/embed" width="560"></iframe>

As of Thursday, 79 cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in Europe, the EU's public health agency said. Recently, New York (USA), Karnataka (India), have also reported cases of the variant.&nbsp;

A few countries, like Germany, have also started imposing restrictions to prevent the spread of this newly identified variant. The disease was first discovered in southern Africa last month.

(With inputs from agencies)

In the wake of growing concerns over the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus and some reluctance to comply with company-mandated vaccinations, Alphabet Inc's Google said on Thursday it will delay its January return-to-work plan indefinitely.

In the wake of growing concerns over the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus and some reluctance to comply with company-mandated vaccinations, Alphabet Inc's Google said on Thursday it will delay its January return-to-work plan indefinitely. Google had announced in August that it would expect its workers to come into the office approximately three days a week as of Jan. 10 at the earliest, ending its voluntary work-from-home policy. Also read | With Omicron, reinfection is three times more likely: South African health body On Thursday, Google executives told employees that the company would put off the deadline beyond that date. Company officials said the update was consistent with its earlier guidance that a return to work would not take place earlier than January 10 and will be determined by local conditions. According to Google, nearly 40 per cent of US employees came into an office in recent weeks, while other regions had higher percentages. Also read | Omicron scare: New York records 5 cases, bringing number of new variant cases in US to eight However, CNBC reported last week that hundreds of employees protested the vaccination mandate for employees working on US government contracts. In the midst of the pandemic, Google employees were one of the first to work from home. The company has 85 offices in over 60 countries. Watch | Omicron Scare: Biden administration announces winter campaign against COVID-19 As of Thursday, 79 cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in Europe, the EU's public health agency said. Recently, New York (USA), Karnataka (India), have also reported cases of the variant. A few countries, like Germany, have also started imposing restrictions to prevent the spread of this newly identified variant. The disease was first discovered in southern Africa last month. (With inputs from agencies)

Amid Omicron scare, Google delays mandatory return to office beyond Jan 10

Lead 'em then leave 'em: Tech founders who quit

Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California signed a bill to expand protections for people who speak up about discrimination in the workplace.

A new website arrived to offer tech workers advice on how to come forward about mistreatment by their employers.

And Apple responded to a shareholder proposal that asked it to assess how it used confidentiality agreements in employee harassment and discrimination cases.

The disparate developments had one thing — or, rather, a person — in common: Ifeoma Ozoma.

Since last year, Ozoma, 29, a former employee of Pinterest, Facebook and Google, has emerged as a central figure among tech whistleblowers. A Yale-educated daughter of Nigerian immigrants, she has supported and mentored tech workers who needed help speaking out, pushed for more legal protections for those employees and urged tech companies and their shareholders to change their whistleblower policies.

She helped inspire and pass the new California law, the Silenced No More Act, which prohibits companies from using nondisclosure agreements to squelch workers who speak up against discrimination in any form. Ozoma also released a website, The Tech Worker Handbook, which provides information on whether and how workers should blow the whistle.

“It’s really sad to me that we still have such a lack of accountability within the tech industry that individuals have to do it” by speaking up, Ozoma said in an interview.

Her efforts — which have alienated at least one ally along the way — are increasingly in the spotlight as restive tech employees take more action against their employers. Last month, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, revealed that she had leaked thousands of internal documents about the social network’s harms. (Facebook has since renamed itself Meta.) Apple also recently faced employee unrest, with many workers voicing concerns about verbal abuse, sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination.

Ozoma is now focused on directly pushing tech companies to stop using nondisclosure agreements to prevent employees from speaking out about workplace discrimination. She has also met with activists and organizations that want to pass legislation similar to the Silenced No More Act elsewhere. And she is constantly in touch with other activist tech workers, including those who have organized against Google and Apple.

Much of Ozoma’s work stems from experience. In June 2020, she and a colleague, Aerica Shimizu Banks, publicly accused their former employer, the virtual pinboard maker Pinterest, of racism and sexism. Pinterest initially denied the allegations but later apologized for its workplace culture. Its workers staged a walkout, and a former executive sued the company over gender discrimination.

“It’s remarkable how Ifeoma has taken some very painful experiences, developed solutions for them and then built a movement around making those solutions a reality,” said John Tye, the founder of Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit that provides legal support to whistleblowers.

He and Ozoma recently appeared on a webinar to educate people on whistleblower rights.

Meredith Whittaker, a former Google employee who helped organize a 2018 walkout over the company’s sexual harassment policy, added of Ozoma: “She has stuck around and worked to help others blow the whistle more safely.”

Ozoma, who grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and Raleigh, North Carolina, became an activist after a five-year career in the tech industry. A political science major, she moved to Washington, D.C., in 2015 to join Google in government relations. She then worked at Facebook in Silicon Valley on international policy.

In 2018, Pinterest recruited Ozoma to its public policy team. There, she helped bring Banks on board. They spearheaded policy decisions including ending the promotion of anti-vaccination information and content related to plantation weddings on Pinterest, Ozoma said.

Yet Ozoma and Banks said they faced unequal pay, racist comments and retaliation for raising complaints at Pinterest. They left the company in May 2020. A month later, during the Black Lives Matter protests, Pinterest posted a statement supporting its Black employees.

Ozoma and Banks said Pinterest’s hypocrisy had pushed them to speak out. On Twitter, they disclosed their experiences as Black women at the company, with Ozoma declaring that Pinterest’s statement was “a joke.”

In a statement, Pinterest said it had taken steps to increase diversity.

By speaking out, Ozoma and Banks took a risk. That’s because they broke the nondisclosure agreements they had signed with Pinterest when they left the company. California law, which offered only partial protection, didn’t cover people speaking out about racial discrimination.

Peter Rukin, their lawyer, said he had an idea: What if state law was expanded to ban nondisclosure agreements from preventing people speaking out on any workplace discrimination? Ozoma and Banks soon began working with a California state senator, Connie Leyva, a Democrat, on a bill to do just that. It was introduced in February.

“I’m just so proud of these women for coming forward,” Levya said.

Along the way, Ozoma and Banks fell out. Banks said she no longer spoke with Ozoma because Ozoma had recruited her to Pinterest without disclosing the discrimination there and then excluded her from working on the Silenced No More Act.

“Ifeoma then cut me out of the initiative through gaslighting and bullying,” Banks said.

Ozoma said she had not cut Banks out of the organizing. She added that Banks had “felt left out” because news coverage focused on Ozoma’s role.

Since leaving Pinterest, Ozoma has moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she lives with a flock of chickens she calls the Golden Girls. She also runs a tech equity consulting firm, Earthseed.

Through Earthseed, Ozoma is continuing her work around whistleblowing. She is collaborating with the nonprofit Open MIC and the consulting firm Whistle Stop Capital to stop tech companies from using nondisclosure agreements to keep workers anywhere from coming forward on discrimination.

In September, Ozoma, Whistle Stop Capital and Open MIC, along with the social impact investor Nia Impact Capital, filed a shareholder proposal at Apple. The proposal asked the company to assess the risks associated with the use of concealment clauses for employees who have experienced harassment and discrimination.

Last month, Apple said in a letter that it wouldn’t take action on the proposal, arguing that the company “does not limit employees’ and contractors’ ability to speak freely about harassment, discrimination and other unlawful acts in the workplace.” It declined to comment beyond the letter.

Ozoma also supports and counsels other tech activists. The Tech Worker Handbook website, in part, was designed to help with that. The website has information on how to navigate nondisclosure agreements and how to protect against corporate surveillance or physical threats. Across the top of the site is a slogan: “Preparedness Is Power.” Since it went online Oct. 6, the site has had over 53,000 visitors, Ozoma said.

“I send it to people who are thinking about coming forward,” said Ashley Gjovik, a former activist employee at Apple who has relied on Ozoma for support. When people think about whistleblowing, she added, “their mind won’t go to the places of the personal, digital, security stuff, all of the legal ramifications, how do you even get that story out, the impact on friends and family, the impact on your mental health.”

Last month, Ozoma also got a call from Cher Scarlett, another activist Apple employee who left the company this month. (Scarlett declined to provide her real name for security reasons; she is legally changing her name to Cher Scarlett.) She asked Ozoma how to pass legislation like the Silenced No More Act in her home state, Washington.

Ozoma described the steps she had taken, including working closely with a lawmaker who could write a bill, Scarlett said.

Along with another tech activist, Scarlett then contacted Karen Keiser, a Washington state senator and a Democrat. Keiser now plans to sponsor a bill to expand whistleblower protections when the legislative session starts in January, her office said.

“This is why the network of whistleblowers and women like Ifeoma are so important,” Scarlett said.

Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California signed a bill to expand protections for people who speak up about discrimination in the workplace. A new website arrived to offer tech workers advice on how to come forward about mistreatment by their employers.

Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California signed a bill to expand protections for people who speak up about discrimination in the workplace. A new website arrived to offer tech workers advice on how to come forward about mistreatment by their employers. And Apple responded to a shareholder proposal that asked it to assess how it used confidentiality agreements in employee harassment and discrimination cases. The disparate developments had one thing — or, rather, a person — in common: Ifeoma Ozoma. Since last year, Ozoma, 29, a former employee of Pinterest, Facebook and Google, has emerged as a central figure among tech whistleblowers. A Yale-educated daughter of Nigerian immigrants, she has supported and mentored tech workers who needed help speaking out, pushed for more legal protections for those employees and urged tech companies and their shareholders to change their whistleblower policies. She helped inspire and pass the new California law, the Silenced No More Act, which prohibits companies from using nondisclosure agreements to squelch workers who speak up against discrimination in any form. Ozoma also released a website, The Tech Worker Handbook, which provides information on whether and how workers should blow the whistle. “It’s really sad to me that we still have such a lack of accountability within the tech industry that individuals have to do it” by speaking up, Ozoma said in an interview. Her efforts — which have alienated at least one ally along the way — are increasingly in the spotlight as restive tech employees take more action against their employers. Last month, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, revealed that she had leaked thousands of internal documents about the social network’s harms. (Facebook has since renamed itself Meta.) Apple also recently faced employee unrest, with many workers voicing concerns about verbal abuse, sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination. Ozoma is now focused on directly pushing tech companies to stop using nondisclosure agreements to prevent employees from speaking out about workplace discrimination. She has also met with activists and organizations that want to pass legislation similar to the Silenced No More Act elsewhere. And she is constantly in touch with other activist tech workers, including those who have organized against Google and Apple. Much of Ozoma’s work stems from experience. In June 2020, she and a colleague, Aerica Shimizu Banks, publicly accused their former employer, the virtual pinboard maker Pinterest, of racism and sexism. Pinterest initially denied the allegations but later apologized for its workplace culture. Its workers staged a walkout, and a former executive sued the company over gender discrimination. “It’s remarkable how Ifeoma has taken some very painful experiences, developed solutions for them and then built a movement around making those solutions a reality,” said John Tye, the founder of Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit that provides legal support to whistleblowers. He and Ozoma recently appeared on a webinar to educate people on whistleblower rights. Meredith Whittaker, a former Google employee who helped organize a 2018 walkout over the company’s sexual harassment policy, added of Ozoma: “She has stuck around and worked to help others blow the whistle more safely.” Ozoma, who grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and Raleigh, North Carolina, became an activist after a five-year career in the tech industry. A political science major, she moved to Washington, D.C., in 2015 to join Google in government relations. She then worked at Facebook in Silicon Valley on international policy. In 2018, Pinterest recruited Ozoma to its public policy team. There, she helped bring Banks on board. They spearheaded policy decisions including ending the promotion of anti-vaccination information and content related to plantation weddings on Pinterest, Ozoma said. Yet Ozoma and Banks said they faced unequal pay, racist comments and retaliation for raising complaints at Pinterest. They left the company in May 2020. A month later, during the Black Lives Matter protests, Pinterest posted a statement supporting its Black employees. Ozoma and Banks said Pinterest’s hypocrisy had pushed them to speak out. On Twitter, they disclosed their experiences as Black women at the company, with Ozoma declaring that Pinterest’s statement was “a joke.” In a statement, Pinterest said it had taken steps to increase diversity. By speaking out, Ozoma and Banks took a risk. That’s because they broke the nondisclosure agreements they had signed with Pinterest when they left the company. California law, which offered only partial protection, didn’t cover people speaking out about racial discrimination. Peter Rukin, their lawyer, said he had an idea: What if state law was expanded to ban nondisclosure agreements from preventing people speaking out on any workplace discrimination? Ozoma and Banks soon began working with a California state senator, Connie Leyva, a Democrat, on a bill to do just that. It was introduced in February. “I’m just so proud of these women for coming forward,” Levya said. Along the way, Ozoma and Banks fell out. Banks said she no longer spoke with Ozoma because Ozoma had recruited her to Pinterest without disclosing the discrimination there and then excluded her from working on the Silenced No More Act. “Ifeoma then cut me out of the initiative through gaslighting and bullying,” Banks said. Ozoma said she had not cut Banks out of the organizing. She added that Banks had “felt left out” because news coverage focused on Ozoma’s role. Since leaving Pinterest, Ozoma has moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she lives with a flock of chickens she calls the Golden Girls. She also runs a tech equity consulting firm, Earthseed. Through Earthseed, Ozoma is continuing her work around whistleblowing. She is collaborating with the nonprofit Open MIC and the consulting firm Whistle Stop Capital to stop tech companies from using nondisclosure agreements to keep workers anywhere from coming forward on discrimination. In September, Ozoma, Whistle Stop Capital and Open MIC, along with the social impact investor Nia Impact Capital, filed a shareholder proposal at Apple. The proposal asked the company to assess the risks associated with the use of concealment clauses for employees who have experienced harassment and discrimination. Last month, Apple said in a letter that it wouldn’t take action on the proposal, arguing that the company “does not limit employees’ and contractors’ ability to speak freely about harassment, discrimination and other unlawful acts in the workplace.” It declined to comment beyond the letter. Ozoma also supports and counsels other tech activists. The Tech Worker Handbook website, in part, was designed to help with that. The website has information on how to navigate nondisclosure agreements and how to protect against corporate surveillance or physical threats. Across the top of the site is a slogan: “Preparedness Is Power.” Since it went online Oct. 6, the site has had over 53,000 visitors, Ozoma said. “I send it to people who are thinking about coming forward,” said Ashley Gjovik, a former activist employee at Apple who has relied on Ozoma for support. When people think about whistleblowing, she added, “their mind won’t go to the places of the personal, digital, security stuff, all of the legal ramifications, how do you even get that story out, the impact on friends and family, the impact on your mental health.” Last month, Ozoma also got a call from Cher Scarlett, another activist Apple employee who left the company this month. (Scarlett declined to provide her real name for security reasons; she is legally changing her name to Cher Scarlett.) She asked Ozoma how to pass legislation like the Silenced No More Act in her home state, Washington. Ozoma described the steps she had taken, including working closely with a lawmaker who could write a bill, Scarlett said. Along with another tech activist, Scarlett then contacted Karen Keiser, a Washington state senator and a Democrat. Keiser now plans to sponsor a bill to expand whistleblower protections when the legislative session starts in January, her office said. “This is why the network of whistleblowers and women like Ifeoma are so important,” Scarlett said.

A tech whistleblower helps others speak out

A group of US&nbsp;states led by Texas have filed an amended complaint against Alphabet Inc's Google accusing the tech giant of using coercive tactics and breaking antitrust laws in its efforts to boost its already dominant advertising business.

The updated allegations are the latest in an onslaught of regulatory scrutiny of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/uks-top-court-blocks-class-action-lawsuit-against-google-428249">Google over its practices</a>. The tech company faces several lawsuits, including one by the Justice Department for monopolistic practices.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/youtube-gives-dislikes-the-thumbs-down-hides-public-counts-428414" hreflang="en">YouTube gives dislikes the thumbs-down, hides public counts</a>

Earlier this week, Google lost an appeal against a $2.8 billion European Union antitrust decision.&nbsp;

The amended US&nbsp;lawsuit, filed in a federal court in New York late Friday, accuses Google of using monopolistic and coercive tactics with advertisers in its efforts to dominate and drive out competition in online advertising.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/apple-loses-bid-to-stall-apps-bypassing-pay-system-in-epic-games-case-428338" hreflang="en">Apple loses bid to stall apps bypassing pay system in Epic Games case</a>

The lawsuit also highlights Google's use of a secret program dubbed "Project Bernanke" in 2013 that used bidding data to give its own ad-buying an advantage. For example, in a 2015 iteration of the program, Google allegedly dropped the second-highest bids from publishers' auctions, accumulated money into a pool and then spent that money to inflate only the bids belonging advertisers who used the company's Google Ads. They otherwise would have likely lost the auctions, the states alleged.

Neither Alphabet nor the Texas Attorney General's office responded immediately to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

A group of US states led by Texas have filed an amended complaint against Alphabet Inc's Google accusing the tech giant of using coercive tactics and breaking antitrust laws in its efforts to boost its already dominant advertising business.

A group of US states led by Texas have filed an amended complaint against Alphabet Inc's Google accusing the tech giant of using coercive tactics and breaking antitrust laws in its efforts to boost its already dominant advertising business. The updated allegations are the latest in an onslaught of regulatory scrutiny of Google over its practices. The tech company faces several lawsuits, including one by the Justice Department for monopolistic practices. Also read | YouTube gives dislikes the thumbs-down, hides public counts Earlier this week, Google lost an appeal against a $2.8 billion European Union antitrust decision. The amended US lawsuit, filed in a federal court in New York late Friday, accuses Google of using monopolistic and coercive tactics with advertisers in its efforts to dominate and drive out competition in online advertising. Also read | Apple loses bid to stall apps bypassing pay system in Epic Games case The lawsuit also highlights Google's use of a secret program dubbed "Project Bernanke" in 2013 that used bidding data to give its own ad-buying an advantage. For example, in a 2015 iteration of the program, Google allegedly dropped the second-highest bids from publishers' auctions, accumulated money into a pool and then spent that money to inflate only the bids belonging advertisers who used the company's Google Ads. They otherwise would have likely lost the auctions, the states alleged. Neither Alphabet nor the Texas Attorney General's office responded immediately to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

US states file updated antitrust complaint against Alphabet's Google

The top court in Britain has blocked a class action against Google, accused of illegally tracking millions of iPhone users.

The Supreme Court said in a statement that it "unanimously dismisses" the legal action brought by campaigners against the US-based tech giant on behalf of 4.4 million people in England and Wales.

The country's first such data privacy case is bound to upset a string of similar claims against technology giants such as Facebook and TikTok, already waiting in the wings.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/google-wants-to-work-with-the-pentagon-again-despite-employee-concerns-426580">Also read |&nbsp;Google wants to work with the Pentagon again, despite employee concerns</a>

If the court had allowed the lawsuit to proceed, a fine worth 3.2 billion pounds ($4.3 billion) would have been imposed on Google in the hotly-anticipated judgment.

However, Google suffered a major setback after Europe's second-highest court dismissed its challenge to an EU antitrust ruling and 2.42 billion euro ($2.8 billion) fine in a major win for EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager.

The matter could be challenged again, however, if Google decides to turn to the EU's highest court, the European Court of Justice, for a final say.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/google-collects-data-in-incognito-mode-consumers-allege-in-lawsuit-370408">Also read |&nbsp;Google collects data in incognito mode, consumers allege in lawsuit</a>

The case centres on Google's shopping service and is one of three against the search engine giant currently moving through the EU's drawn-out appeals system.

The shopping case was the first of a trio of decisions that have seen Google rack up a total of 8.25 billion euros in EU antitrust fines in the last decade.

"The General Court largely dismisses Google's action against the decision of the Commission finding that Google abused its dominant position by favouring its own comparison shopping service over competing comparison shopping services," the Court said.

(With inputs from agencies)

The top court in Britain has blocked a class action against Google, accused of illegally tracking millions of iPhone users. The Supreme Court said in a statement that it "unanimously dismisses" the legal action brought by campaigners against the US-based tech giant on behalf of 4.

The top court in Britain has blocked a class action against Google, accused of illegally tracking millions of iPhone users. The Supreme Court said in a statement that it "unanimously dismisses" the legal action brought by campaigners against the US-based tech giant on behalf of 4.4 million people in England and Wales. The country's first such data privacy case is bound to upset a string of similar claims against technology giants such as Facebook and TikTok, already waiting in the wings. Also read | Google wants to work with the Pentagon again, despite employee concerns If the court had allowed the lawsuit to proceed, a fine worth 3.2 billion pounds ($4.3 billion) would have been imposed on Google in the hotly-anticipated judgment. However, Google suffered a major setback after Europe's second-highest court dismissed its challenge to an EU antitrust ruling and 2.42 billion euro ($2.8 billion) fine in a major win for EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager. The matter could be challenged again, however, if Google decides to turn to the EU's highest court, the European Court of Justice, for a final say. Also read | Google collects data in incognito mode, consumers allege in lawsuit The case centres on Google's shopping service and is one of three against the search engine giant currently moving through the EU's drawn-out appeals system. The shopping case was the first of a trio of decisions that have seen Google rack up a total of 8.25 billion euros in EU antitrust fines in the last decade. "The General Court largely dismisses Google's action against the decision of the Commission finding that Google abused its dominant position by favouring its own comparison shopping service over competing comparison shopping services," the Court said. (With inputs from agencies)

UK's top court blocks class action lawsuit against Google

Three years after an employee revolt forced Google to abandon work on a Pentagon program that used artificial intelligence, the company is aggressively pursuing a major contract to provide its technology to the military.

The company’s plan to land the potentially lucrative contract, known as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, could raise a furor among its outspoken workforce and test the resolve of management to resist employee demands.

In 2018, thousands of Google employees signed a letter protesting the company’s involvement in Project Maven, a military program that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video images and could be used to refine the targeting of drone strikes. Google management caved and agreed to not renew the contract once it expired.

The outcry led Google to create guidelines for the ethical use of artificial intelligence, which prohibit the use of its technology for weapons or surveillance, and hastened a shake-up of its cloud computing business. Now, as Google positions cloud computing as a key part of its future, the bid for the new Pentagon contract could test the boundaries of those AI principles, which have set it apart from other tech giants that routinely seek military and intelligence work.

The military’s initiative, which aims to modernize the Pentagon’s cloud technology and support the use of artificial intelligence to gain an advantage on the battlefield, is a replacement for a contract with Microsoft that was canceled this summer amid a lengthy legal battle with Amazon. Google did not compete against Microsoft for that contract after the uproar over Project Maven.

The Pentagon’s restart of its cloud computing project has given Google a chance to jump back into the bidding, and the company has raced to prepare a proposal to present to Defense officials, according to four people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. In September, Google’s cloud unit made it a priority, declaring an emergency “Code Yellow,” an internal designation of importance that allowed the company to pull engineers off other assignments and focus them on the military project, two of those people said.

On Tuesday, the Google cloud unit’s chief executive, Thomas Kurian, met with Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., the chief of staff of the Air Force, and other top Pentagon officials to make the case for his company, two people said.

Google, in a written statement, said it is “firmly committed to serving our public sector customers,” including the Defense Department, and that it “will evaluate any future bid opportunities accordingly.”

The contract replaces the now-scrapped Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, the Pentagon cloud computing contract that was estimated to be worth $10 billion over 10 years. The exact size of the new contract is unknown, although it is half the duration and will be awarded to more than one company, not to a single provider like JEDI.

It is unclear whether the work, which would provide the Defense Department access to Google’s cloud products, would violate Google’s AI principles, although the Defense Department has said the technology is expected to support the military in combat. But Pentagon rules about outside access to sensitive or classified data could prevent Google from seeing exactly how its technology is being used.

The Defense Department said it would seek proposals from a limited set of companies that could meet its requirements. “As this is an active acquisition, we cannot provide any additional information related to this effort,” said Russell Goemaere, a spokesperson for the department.

After a late start in selling its cloud computing technology to other organizations, Google has struggled to close the gap with Amazon and Microsoft, which have the two biggest cloud computing businesses. To bring in more big customers, Google hired Kurian, a longtime executive at the software company Oracle, to take over the business in 2018. He has beefed up the size of Google’s sales staff and pushed the company to compete aggressively for new contracts, including military deals.

But Google employees have continued to resist some work pursued by the cloud unit. In 2019, they protested the use of artificial intelligence tools for the oil and gas industry. A year later, the company said it would not build custom AI software for the extraction of fossil fuels.

Google started working on Project Maven in 2017 and prepared to bid for JEDI. Many Google employees believed Project Maven represented a potentially lethal use of artificial intelligence, and more than 4,000 workers signed a letter demanding that Google withdraw from the project.

Soon after, Google announced a set of ethical principles that would govern its use of artificial intelligence. Google would not allow its AI to be used for weapons or surveillance, said Sundar Pichai, its chief executive, but would continue to accept military contracts for cybersecurity and search and rescue.

Several months later, Google said it would not bid on the JEDI contract, although it was unlikely that the company had a shot at landing the deal; the Maven experience had soured the relationship between Google and the military, and Google lacked some of the security certifications needed to handle classified data.

Google’s cloud business recently has done other work with the military. Since last year, Google has signed contracts with the U.S. Air Force for using cloud computing for aircraft maintenance and pilot training, as well as a U.S. Navy contract for using artificial intelligence to detect and predict the maintenance needs of facilities and vessels.

Some Google workers believed the new contract would not violate the principles, a person familiar with the decision said, because the contract would enable generic uses of its cloud technology and artificial intelligence. The principles specifically state Google will not pursue AI that can be applied in “weapons or those that direct injury.”

Lucy Suchman, a professor of anthropology of science and technology at Lancaster University whose research focuses on the use of technology in war, said that with so much money at stake, it is no surprise Google might waver on its commitment.

“It demonstrates the fragility of Google’s commitment to staying outside the major merger that’s happening between the DOD and Silicon Valley,” Suchman said.

Google’s efforts come as its employees are already pushing the company to cancel a cloud computing contract with the Israeli military, called Project Nimbus, that provides Google’s services to government entities throughout Israel. In an open letter published last month by The Guardian, Google employees called on their employer to cancel the contract.

The Defense Department’s effort to transition to cloud technology has been mired in legal battles. The military operates on outdated computer systems and has spent billions of dollars on modernization. It turned to U.S. internet giants in the hope that the companies could quickly and securely move the Defense Department to the cloud.

In 2019, the Defense Department awarded the JEDI contract to Microsoft. Amazon sued to block the contract, claiming that Microsoft did not have the technical capabilities to fulfill the military’s needs and that former President Donald Trump had improperly influenced the decision because of animosity toward Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s executive chair and the owner of The Washington Post.

In July, the Defense Department announced that it could no longer wait for the legal fight with Amazon to resolve. It scrapped the JEDI contract and said it would be replaced with the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability.

The Pentagon also noted that Amazon and Microsoft were the only companies that likely had the technology to meet its needs but said it would conduct market research before ruling out other competitors. The Defense Department said it planned to reach out to Google, Oracle and IBM.

But Google executives believe they have the capability to compete for the new contract, and the company expects the Defense Department to tell it whether it will qualify to make a bid in the coming weeks, two people familiar with the matter said.

The Defense Department has previously said it hopes to award a contract by April.

Three years after an employee revolt forced Google to abandon work on a Pentagon program that used artificial intelligence, the company is aggressively pursuing a major contract to provide its technology to the military.

Three years after an employee revolt forced Google to abandon work on a Pentagon program that used artificial intelligence, the company is aggressively pursuing a major contract to provide its technology to the military. The company’s plan to land the potentially lucrative contract, known as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, could raise a furor among its outspoken workforce and test the resolve of management to resist employee demands. In 2018, thousands of Google employees signed a letter protesting the company’s involvement in Project Maven, a military program that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video images and could be used to refine the targeting of drone strikes. Google management caved and agreed to not renew the contract once it expired. The outcry led Google to create guidelines for the ethical use of artificial intelligence, which prohibit the use of its technology for weapons or surveillance, and hastened a shake-up of its cloud computing business. Now, as Google positions cloud computing as a key part of its future, the bid for the new Pentagon contract could test the boundaries of those AI principles, which have set it apart from other tech giants that routinely seek military and intelligence work. The military’s initiative, which aims to modernize the Pentagon’s cloud technology and support the use of artificial intelligence to gain an advantage on the battlefield, is a replacement for a contract with Microsoft that was canceled this summer amid a lengthy legal battle with Amazon. Google did not compete against Microsoft for that contract after the uproar over Project Maven. The Pentagon’s restart of its cloud computing project has given Google a chance to jump back into the bidding, and the company has raced to prepare a proposal to present to Defense officials, according to four people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. In September, Google’s cloud unit made it a priority, declaring an emergency “Code Yellow,” an internal designation of importance that allowed the company to pull engineers off other assignments and focus them on the military project, two of those people said. On Tuesday, the Google cloud unit’s chief executive, Thomas Kurian, met with Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., the chief of staff of the Air Force, and other top Pentagon officials to make the case for his company, two people said. Google, in a written statement, said it is “firmly committed to serving our public sector customers,” including the Defense Department, and that it “will evaluate any future bid opportunities accordingly.” The contract replaces the now-scrapped Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, the Pentagon cloud computing contract that was estimated to be worth $10 billion over 10 years. The exact size of the new contract is unknown, although it is half the duration and will be awarded to more than one company, not to a single provider like JEDI. It is unclear whether the work, which would provide the Defense Department access to Google’s cloud products, would violate Google’s AI principles, although the Defense Department has said the technology is expected to support the military in combat. But Pentagon rules about outside access to sensitive or classified data could prevent Google from seeing exactly how its technology is being used. The Defense Department said it would seek proposals from a limited set of companies that could meet its requirements. “As this is an active acquisition, we cannot provide any additional information related to this effort,” said Russell Goemaere, a spokesperson for the department. After a late start in selling its cloud computing technology to other organizations, Google has struggled to close the gap with Amazon and Microsoft, which have the two biggest cloud computing businesses. To bring in more big customers, Google hired Kurian, a longtime executive at the software company Oracle, to take over the business in 2018. He has beefed up the size of Google’s sales staff and pushed the company to compete aggressively for new contracts, including military deals. But Google employees have continued to resist some work pursued by the cloud unit. In 2019, they protested the use of artificial intelligence tools for the oil and gas industry. A year later, the company said it would not build custom AI software for the extraction of fossil fuels. Google started working on Project Maven in 2017 and prepared to bid for JEDI. Many Google employees believed Project Maven represented a potentially lethal use of artificial intelligence, and more than 4,000 workers signed a letter demanding that Google withdraw from the project. Soon after, Google announced a set of ethical principles that would govern its use of artificial intelligence. Google would not allow its AI to be used for weapons or surveillance, said Sundar Pichai, its chief executive, but would continue to accept military contracts for cybersecurity and search and rescue. Several months later, Google said it would not bid on the JEDI contract, although it was unlikely that the company had a shot at landing the deal; the Maven experience had soured the relationship between Google and the military, and Google lacked some of the security certifications needed to handle classified data. Google’s cloud business recently has done other work with the military. Since last year, Google has signed contracts with the U.S. Air Force for using cloud computing for aircraft maintenance and pilot training, as well as a U.S. Navy contract for using artificial intelligence to detect and predict the maintenance needs of facilities and vessels. Some Google workers believed the new contract would not violate the principles, a person familiar with the decision said, because the contract would enable generic uses of its cloud technology and artificial intelligence. The principles specifically state Google will not pursue AI that can be applied in “weapons or those that direct injury.” Lucy Suchman, a professor of anthropology of science and technology at Lancaster University whose research focuses on the use of technology in war, said that with so much money at stake, it is no surprise Google might waver on its commitment. “It demonstrates the fragility of Google’s commitment to staying outside the major merger that’s happening between the DOD and Silicon Valley,” Suchman said. Google’s efforts come as its employees are already pushing the company to cancel a cloud computing contract with the Israeli military, called Project Nimbus, that provides Google’s services to government entities throughout Israel. In an open letter published last month by The Guardian, Google employees called on their employer to cancel the contract. The Defense Department’s effort to transition to cloud technology has been mired in legal battles. The military operates on outdated computer systems and has spent billions of dollars on modernization. It turned to U.S. internet giants in the hope that the companies could quickly and securely move the Defense Department to the cloud. In 2019, the Defense Department awarded the JEDI contract to Microsoft. Amazon sued to block the contract, claiming that Microsoft did not have the technical capabilities to fulfill the military’s needs and that former President Donald Trump had improperly influenced the decision because of animosity toward Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s executive chair and the owner of The Washington Post. In July, the Defense Department announced that it could no longer wait for the legal fight with Amazon to resolve. It scrapped the JEDI contract and said it would be replaced with the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability. The Pentagon also noted that Amazon and Microsoft were the only companies that likely had the technology to meet its needs but said it would conduct market research before ruling out other competitors. The Defense Department said it planned to reach out to Google, Oracle and IBM. But Google executives believe they have the capability to compete for the new contract, and the company expects the Defense Department to tell it whether it will qualify to make a bid in the coming weeks, two people familiar with the matter said. The Defense Department has previously said it hopes to award a contract by April.

Google wants to work with the Pentagon again, despite employee concerns

The brain of a fruit fly is the size of a poppy seed and about as easy to overlook.

“Most people, I think, don’t even think of the fly as having a brain,” said Vivek Jayaraman, a neuroscientist at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Virginia. “But, of course, flies lead quite rich lives.”

Flies are capable of sophisticated behaviors. And their specksize brains are tremendously complex, containing about 100,000 neurons and tens of millions of connections, or synapses, between them.

Since 2014, a team of scientists at Janelia, in collaboration with researchers at Google, have been mapping these neurons and synapses in an effort to create a comprehensive wiring diagram, also known as a connectome, of the fruit fly brain.

The work is time-consuming and expensive, even with the help of state-of-the-art machine-learning algorithms. But the data they have released so far is stunning in its detail, composing an atlas of gnarled neurons in many crucial areas of the fly brain.

And now, in a new paper being published Tuesday in the journal eLife, neuroscientists are beginning to show what they can do with it.

By analyzing the connectome of just a small part of the fly brain — the central complex, which plays an important role in navigation — Jayaraman and his colleagues identified dozens of new neuron types and pinpointed neural circuits that appear to help flies make their way through the world. The work could help provide insight into how all kinds of animal brains, including our own, process a flood of sensory information and translate it into appropriate action.

It is also a proof of principle for the young field of modern connectomics, which was built on the promise that constructing detailed diagrams of the brain’s wiring would pay scientific dividends.

“It’s really extraordinary,” Dr. Clay Reid, a senior investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, said of the new paper. “I think anyone who looks at it will say connectomics is a tool that we need in neuroscience — full stop.”

The only complete connectome in the animal kingdom belongs to the humble roundworm, C. elegans. Biologist Sydney Brenner, who would later go on to win a Nobel Prize, started the project in the 1960s. His small team spent years on it, using colored pens to trace all 302 neurons by hand.

“Brenner realized that to understand the nervous system you had to know its structure,” said Scott Emmons, a neuroscientist and geneticist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who later used digital techniques to create new C. elegans connectomes. “And that’s true across biology. Structure is so important.”

Brenner and his colleagues published their landmark paper in 1986.

But the field of modern connectomics did not take off until the 2000s, when advances in imaging and computing finally made it feasible to map the connections in larger brains. In recent years, research teams have started assembling connectomes of zebrafish, songbirds, mice, humans and more.

When the Janelia Research Campus opened in 2006, Gerald Rubin, its founding director, set his sights on the fruit fly.

Several different teams at Janelia have embarked on fly connectome projects in the years since, but the work that led to the new paper began in 2014, with the brain of a single, 5-day-old female fruit fly.

Researchers cut the fly brain into slabs and then used a technique known as focused-ion beam scanning electron microscopy to image them, layer by painstaking layer. The microscope essentially functioned like a tiny, precise nail file, filing away an exceedingly thin layer of the brain, snapping a picture of the exposed tissue and then repeating the process until nothing remained.

“You’re simultaneously imaging and cutting off little slices of the fly brain, so they don’t exist after you’re done,” Jayaraman said.

The team then used computer vision software to stitch the millions of resulting images back together into a single, 3D volume and sent it off to Google. There, researchers used advanced machine-learning algorithms to identify each individual neuron and trace its twisting branches.

Finally, the Janelia team used additional computational tools to pinpoint the synapses, and human researchers proofread the computers’ work, correcting errors and refining the wiring diagrams.

Last year, the researchers published the connectome for what they called the “hemibrain,” a large portion of the central fly brain, which includes regions and structures that are crucial for sleep, learning and navigation.

The connectome, which is accessible free online, includes about 25,000 neurons and 20 million synapses, far more than the C. elegans connectome.

“It’s a dramatic scaling up,” said Cori Bargmann, a neuroscientist at Rockefeller University in New York. “This is a tremendous step toward the goal of working out the connectivity of the brain.”

Once the hemibrain connectome was ready, Jayaraman, an expert on the neuroscience of fly navigation, was eager to dive into the data on the central complex.

The brain region, which contains nearly 3,000 neurons and is present in all insects, helps flies build an internal model of their spatial relationship to the world and then select and execute behaviors appropriate for their circumstances, such as searching for food.

“You’re telling me you can give me the wiring diagram for something like this?” Jayaraman said. “This is better industrial espionage than you could get by getting insights into the Apple iPhone.”

He and his colleagues studied how the region’s neural circuits were put together.

For instance, Hannah Haberkern, a postdoctoral associate in Jayaraman’s lab, analyzed the neurons that send sensory information to the ellipsoid body, a doughnut-shape structure that acts as the fly’s internal compass.

Haberkern found that neurons that are known to transmit information about the polarization of light — a global environmental cue that many animals use for navigation — made more connections to the compass neurons than did neurons that transmit information about other visual features and landmarks.

The neurons dedicated to polarization of light also connect to, and are capable of strongly inhibiting, brain cells that provide information about other navigational cues.

The researchers hypothesize that fly brains may be wired to prioritize information about the global environment when they are navigating, but also that these circuits are flexible, so that when such information is inadequate, they can pay more attention to local features of the landscape.

Other members of the research team identified specific neural pathways that seem well suited to helping the fly keep track of its head and body orientation; anticipate its future orientation and traveling direction; calculate its current orientation relative to another desired location; and then move in that direction.

Imagine, for instance, that a hungry fly temporarily abandons a rotting banana to see whether it can rustle up something better. But after a (literally) fruitless few minutes of exploration, it wants to return to its previous meal.

The connectome data suggests that certain brain cells, technically known as PFL3 neurons, help the fly pull off this maneuver. These neurons receive two critical inputs: They get signals from neurons that track the direction the fly is facing as well as from neurons that may be keeping tabs on the direction of the banana.

After receiving those signals, the PFL3 neurons then send out their own message to a set of turning neurons that prompt the fly to veer off in the correct direction. Dinner is served, again.

“Being able to trace that activity through that circuit — from sensory back to motor through this complex intermediate circuit — is really amazing,” said Brad Hulse, a research scientist in Jayaraman’s lab who led this part of the analysis. The connectome, he added, “showed us a lot more than we thought it was going to.”

And the group’s paper, a draft of which includes 75 figures and stretches to 360 pages, is just the beginning.

“It just really provides this ground truth for exploring this brain region further,” said Stanley Heinze, an expert on insect neuroscience at Lund University in Sweden. “It’s just enormously impressive.”

And just plain enormous. “I wouldn’t really treat it as a paper but more as a book,” Heinze said.

In fact, the paper is so large that the preprint server bioRxiv initially declined to publish it, perhaps because the administrators thought it actually was a book, Jayaraman said. (The server ultimately did post the study, after a few extra days of processing, he noted.)

The paper’s publication in the journal eLife “required some special permissions and back-and-forth with editorial staff,” Jayaraman said.

There are limitations to what a snapshot of a single brain at a single moment in time can reveal, and connectomes do not capture everything of interest in an animal brain. (Janelia’s hemibrain connectome omits glial cells, for instance, which perform all sorts of important tasks in the brain.)

Jayaraman and his colleagues stressed that they would not have been able to infer so much from the connectome if not for decades of prior research, by many other scientists, into fruit fly behavior and basic neuron physiology and function, as well as theoretical neuroscience work.

But the wiring diagrams can help researchers investigate existing theories and generate better hypotheses, figuring out what questions to ask and which experiments to conduct.

“Now what we’re really excited about is taking those ideas that the connectome inspired and going back to the microscope, going back to our electrodes and actually recording the brain and seeing if those ideas are true,” Hulse said.

One could have asked — some did — why a fruit fly’s brain circuitry matters.

“I get asked this at the holidays a lot,” Hulse said.

Flies are not mice or chimps or humans, but their brains perform some of the same basic tasks&lt;strong&gt;. &lt;/strong&gt;Understanding the basic neural circuitry in an insect could provide important clues to how other animal brains approach similar problems, said David Van Essen, a neuroscientist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Gaining a deep understanding of the fly’s brain “also gives us insights that are very relevant to the understanding of mammalian, and even human, brains and behavior,” he said.

Creating connectomes of larger, more complex brains will be enormously challenging. The mouse brain contains roughly 70 million neurons, the human brain a whopping 86 billion.

But the central complex paper is decidedly not a one-off; detailed studies of regional mouse and human connectomes are in the pipeline, Reid said: “There’s a lot more to come.”

Journal editors, consider yourselves warned. 
&nbsp;

The brain of a fruit fly is the size of a poppy seed and about as easy to overlook. “Most people, I think, don’t even think of the fly as having a brain,” said Vivek Jayaraman, a neuroscientist at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Virginia.

The brain of a fruit fly is the size of a poppy seed and about as easy to overlook. “Most people, I think, don’t even think of the fly as having a brain,” said Vivek Jayaraman, a neuroscientist at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Virginia. “But, of course, flies lead quite rich lives.” Flies are capable of sophisticated behaviors. And their specksize brains are tremendously complex, containing about 100,000 neurons and tens of millions of connections, or synapses, between them. Since 2014, a team of scientists at Janelia, in collaboration with researchers at Google, have been mapping these neurons and synapses in an effort to create a comprehensive wiring diagram, also known as a connectome, of the fruit fly brain. The work is time-consuming and expensive, even with the help of state-of-the-art machine-learning algorithms. But the data they have released so far is stunning in its detail, composing an atlas of gnarled neurons in many crucial areas of the fly brain. And now, in a new paper being published Tuesday in the journal eLife, neuroscientists are beginning to show what they can do with it. By analyzing the connectome of just a small part of the fly brain — the central complex, which plays an important role in navigation — Jayaraman and his colleagues identified dozens of new neuron types and pinpointed neural circuits that appear to help flies make their way through the world. The work could help provide insight into how all kinds of animal brains, including our own, process a flood of sensory information and translate it into appropriate action. It is also a proof of principle for the young field of modern connectomics, which was built on the promise that constructing detailed diagrams of the brain’s wiring would pay scientific dividends. “It’s really extraordinary,” Dr. Clay Reid, a senior investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, said of the new paper. “I think anyone who looks at it will say connectomics is a tool that we need in neuroscience — full stop.” The only complete connectome in the animal kingdom belongs to the humble roundworm, C. elegans. Biologist Sydney Brenner, who would later go on to win a Nobel Prize, started the project in the 1960s. His small team spent years on it, using colored pens to trace all 302 neurons by hand. “Brenner realized that to understand the nervous system you had to know its structure,” said Scott Emmons, a neuroscientist and geneticist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who later used digital techniques to create new C. elegans connectomes. “And that’s true across biology. Structure is so important.” Brenner and his colleagues published their landmark paper in 1986. But the field of modern connectomics did not take off until the 2000s, when advances in imaging and computing finally made it feasible to map the connections in larger brains. In recent years, research teams have started assembling connectomes of zebrafish, songbirds, mice, humans and more. When the Janelia Research Campus opened in 2006, Gerald Rubin, its founding director, set his sights on the fruit fly. Several different teams at Janelia have embarked on fly connectome projects in the years since, but the work that led to the new paper began in 2014, with the brain of a single, 5-day-old female fruit fly. Researchers cut the fly brain into slabs and then used a technique known as focused-ion beam scanning electron microscopy to image them, layer by painstaking layer. The microscope essentially functioned like a tiny, precise nail file, filing away an exceedingly thin layer of the brain, snapping a picture of the exposed tissue and then repeating the process until nothing remained. “You’re simultaneously imaging and cutting off little slices of the fly brain, so they don’t exist after you’re done,” Jayaraman said. The team then used computer vision software to stitch the millions of resulting images back together into a single, 3D volume and sent it off to Google. There, researchers used advanced machine-learning algorithms to identify each individual neuron and trace its twisting branches. Finally, the Janelia team used additional computational tools to pinpoint the synapses, and human researchers proofread the computers’ work, correcting errors and refining the wiring diagrams. Last year, the researchers published the connectome for what they called the “hemibrain,” a large portion of the central fly brain, which includes regions and structures that are crucial for sleep, learning and navigation. The connectome, which is accessible free online, includes about 25,000 neurons and 20 million synapses, far more than the C. elegans connectome. “It’s a dramatic scaling up,” said Cori Bargmann, a neuroscientist at Rockefeller University in New York. “This is a tremendous step toward the goal of working out the connectivity of the brain.” Once the hemibrain connectome was ready, Jayaraman, an expert on the neuroscience of fly navigation, was eager to dive into the data on the central complex. The brain region, which contains nearly 3,000 neurons and is present in all insects, helps flies build an internal model of their spatial relationship to the world and then select and execute behaviors appropriate for their circumstances, such as searching for food. “You’re telling me you can give me the wiring diagram for something like this?” Jayaraman said. “This is better industrial espionage than you could get by getting insights into the Apple iPhone.” He and his colleagues studied how the region’s neural circuits were put together. For instance, Hannah Haberkern, a postdoctoral associate in Jayaraman’s lab, analyzed the neurons that send sensory information to the ellipsoid body, a doughnut-shape structure that acts as the fly’s internal compass. Haberkern found that neurons that are known to transmit information about the polarization of light — a global environmental cue that many animals use for navigation — made more connections to the compass neurons than did neurons that transmit information about other visual features and landmarks. The neurons dedicated to polarization of light also connect to, and are capable of strongly inhibiting, brain cells that provide information about other navigational cues. The researchers hypothesize that fly brains may be wired to prioritize information about the global environment when they are navigating, but also that these circuits are flexible, so that when such information is inadequate, they can pay more attention to local features of the landscape. Other members of the research team identified specific neural pathways that seem well suited to helping the fly keep track of its head and body orientation; anticipate its future orientation and traveling direction; calculate its current orientation relative to another desired location; and then move in that direction. Imagine, for instance, that a hungry fly temporarily abandons a rotting banana to see whether it can rustle up something better. But after a (literally) fruitless few minutes of exploration, it wants to return to its previous meal. The connectome data suggests that certain brain cells, technically known as PFL3 neurons, help the fly pull off this maneuver. These neurons receive two critical inputs: They get signals from neurons that track the direction the fly is facing as well as from neurons that may be keeping tabs on the direction of the banana. After receiving those signals, the PFL3 neurons then send out their own message to a set of turning neurons that prompt the fly to veer off in the correct direction. Dinner is served, again. “Being able to trace that activity through that circuit — from sensory back to motor through this complex intermediate circuit — is really amazing,” said Brad Hulse, a research scientist in Jayaraman’s lab who led this part of the analysis. The connectome, he added, “showed us a lot more than we thought it was going to.” And the group’s paper, a draft of which includes 75 figures and stretches to 360 pages, is just the beginning. “It just really provides this ground truth for exploring this brain region further,” said Stanley Heinze, an expert on insect neuroscience at Lund University in Sweden. “It’s just enormously impressive.” And just plain enormous. “I wouldn’t really treat it as a paper but more as a book,” Heinze said. In fact, the paper is so large that the preprint server bioRxiv initially declined to publish it, perhaps because the administrators thought it actually was a book, Jayaraman said. (The server ultimately did post the study, after a few extra days of processing, he noted.) The paper’s publication in the journal eLife “required some special permissions and back-and-forth with editorial staff,” Jayaraman said. There are limitations to what a snapshot of a single brain at a single moment in time can reveal, and connectomes do not capture everything of interest in an animal brain. (Janelia’s hemibrain connectome omits glial cells, for instance, which perform all sorts of important tasks in the brain.) Jayaraman and his colleagues stressed that they would not have been able to infer so much from the connectome if not for decades of prior research, by many other scientists, into fruit fly behavior and basic neuron physiology and function, as well as theoretical neuroscience work. But the wiring diagrams can help researchers investigate existing theories and generate better hypotheses, figuring out what questions to ask and which experiments to conduct. “Now what we’re really excited about is taking those ideas that the connectome inspired and going back to the microscope, going back to our electrodes and actually recording the brain and seeing if those ideas are true,” Hulse said. One could have asked — some did — why a fruit fly’s brain circuitry matters. “I get asked this at the holidays a lot,” Hulse said. Flies are not mice or chimps or humans, but their brains perform some of the same basic tasks. Understanding the basic neural circuitry in an insect could provide important clues to how other animal brains approach similar problems, said David Van Essen, a neuroscientist at Washington University in St. Louis. Gaining a deep understanding of the fly’s brain “also gives us insights that are very relevant to the understanding of mammalian, and even human, brains and behavior,” he said. Creating connectomes of larger, more complex brains will be enormously challenging. The mouse brain contains roughly 70 million neurons, the human brain a whopping 86 billion. But the central complex paper is decidedly not a one-off; detailed studies of regional mouse and human connectomes are in the pipeline, Reid said: “There’s a lot more to come.” Journal editors, consider yourselves warned.

How to map a fly brain in 20 million easy steps

In what appears to be Moscow's strongest effort to rein in foreign tech firms, Russia said on Tuesday that it will seek to fine Google a percentage of its annual Russian turnover for failing to delete content deemed illegal.

Communications regulator Roskomnadzor said Google had failed to pay 32.5 million roubles ($458,100) in penalties levied so far this year and that it would now seek a fine of 5-20% of Google's Russian turnover, which could reach as much as $240 million, a significant increase.

There was no immediate comment from Google.

Russia is seeking to assert greater control on the internet in the country and has increased pressure on foreign tech companies. This has resulted in slowing down the speed of Twitter since March and other measures like fines for content violations.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russia-backs-china-over-hypersonic-test-row-422096">Russia backs China over hypersonic test row</a>

Opposition activists have accused Alphabet's Google and Apple of caving to Kremlin pressure after they removed an anti-government tactical voting app from their stores.

Roskomnadzor earlier in October said it would ask a court to impose a turnover fine on social media firm Facebook, citing legislation signed by President Vladimir Putin in December 2020.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-russia-recognise-common-threats-coming-from-afghanistan-indian-envoy-to-russia-422098">India, Russia recognise common threats coming from Afghanistan: Indian envoy to Russia</a>

"A similar case will be put together in October against Google," Roskomnadzor said in emailed comments to Reuters on Tuesday, noting that the company also owned video-hosting site YouTube.

The SPARK business database showed that Google's turnover in Russia in 2020 was 85.5 billion roubles. A 5-20% fine would amount to between 4.3 and 17.1 billion roubles.

Google is currently fighting a court ruling demanding it unblock the YouTube account of a sanctioned Russian businessman or face a compounding fine on its overall turnover that would double every week and force Google out of business within months if paid.

(With inputs for agencies)

In what appears to be Moscow's strongest effort to rein in foreign tech firms, Russia said on Tuesday that it will seek to fine Google a percentage of its annual Russian turnover for failing to delete content deemed illegal.

In what appears to be Moscow's strongest effort to rein in foreign tech firms, Russia said on Tuesday that it will seek to fine Google a percentage of its annual Russian turnover for failing to delete content deemed illegal. Communications regulator Roskomnadzor said Google had failed to pay 32.5 million roubles ($458,100) in penalties levied so far this year and that it would now seek a fine of 5-20% of Google's Russian turnover, which could reach as much as $240 million, a significant increase. There was no immediate comment from Google. Russia is seeking to assert greater control on the internet in the country and has increased pressure on foreign tech companies. This has resulted in slowing down the speed of Twitter since March and other measures like fines for content violations. Also Read | Russia backs China over hypersonic test row Opposition activists have accused Alphabet's Google and Apple of caving to Kremlin pressure after they removed an anti-government tactical voting app from their stores. Roskomnadzor earlier in October said it would ask a court to impose a turnover fine on social media firm Facebook, citing legislation signed by President Vladimir Putin in December 2020. Also Read | India, Russia recognise common threats coming from Afghanistan: Indian envoy to Russia "A similar case will be put together in October against Google," Roskomnadzor said in emailed comments to Reuters on Tuesday, noting that the company also owned video-hosting site YouTube. The SPARK business database showed that Google's turnover in Russia in 2020 was 85.5 billion roubles. A 5-20% fine would amount to between 4.3 and 17.1 billion roubles. Google is currently fighting a court ruling demanding it unblock the YouTube account of a sanctioned Russian businessman or face a compounding fine on its overall turnover that would double every week and force Google out of business within months if paid. (With inputs for agencies)

Russia plans to fine Google up to 20 per cent of annual turnover

Nearly 400 employees of e-commerce company Amazon and tech giant Google have asked their companies to scrap a military contract worth $1.2 billion with Israel.

They have written an open letter to their respective companies in a bid to seek the end of Project Nimbus.

Project Nimbus, a contract to provide cloud services to the government and military of Israel,&nbsp;allows the surveillance and collection of data about Palestinians. It was signed amid the conflict on the Gaza strip.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/israel-orders-massive-reinforcement-of-forces-to-quell-unrest-in-cities-after-gaza-violence-384790">Also read |&nbsp;Israel orders 'massive reinforcement' of forces to quell unrest in cities after Gaza violence</a>

The letter states, ''We cannot look the other way, as the products we build are used to deny Palestinians their basic rights, force Palestinians out of their homes and attack Palestinians in the Gaza Strip - actions that have prompted war crime investigations by the international criminal court.''

The employees have talked about the supremacy of privacy and a vision for a better and safer future.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/israel-palestine-conflict-idf-strikes-hamas-tunnels-in-gaza-world-leaders-call-for-de-escalation-385580">Also read |&nbsp;Israel-Palestine conflict: IDF strikes Hamas tunnels in Gaza, world leaders call for de-escalation</a>

''To build that brighter future, the companies we work for need to stop contracting with any and all militarized organizations in the US and beyond. These contracts harm the communities of technology workers and users alike. While we publicly promise to uplift and assist our users, contracts such as these secretly facilitate the surveillance and targeting of those same users.''

Both the companies are already facing backlash over their deals with Customs and Border Protection as well as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Amazon employees had previously written a letter to founder Jeff Bezos asking him to support Palestinians and cut ties with Israeli Defense Forces.

Nearly 400 employees of e-commerce company Amazon and tech giant Google have asked their companies to scrap a military contract worth $1.2 billion with Israel. They have written an open letter to their respective companies in a bid to seek the end of Project Nimbus.

Nearly 400 employees of e-commerce company Amazon and tech giant Google have asked their companies to scrap a military contract worth $1.2 billion with Israel. They have written an open letter to their respective companies in a bid to seek the end of Project Nimbus. Project Nimbus, a contract to provide cloud services to the government and military of Israel, allows the surveillance and collection of data about Palestinians. It was signed amid the conflict on the Gaza strip. Also read | Israel orders 'massive reinforcement' of forces to quell unrest in cities after Gaza violence The letter states, ''We cannot look the other way, as the products we build are used to deny Palestinians their basic rights, force Palestinians out of their homes and attack Palestinians in the Gaza Strip - actions that have prompted war crime investigations by the international criminal court.'' The employees have talked about the supremacy of privacy and a vision for a better and safer future. Also read | Israel-Palestine conflict: IDF strikes Hamas tunnels in Gaza, world leaders call for de-escalation ''To build that brighter future, the companies we work for need to stop contracting with any and all militarized organizations in the US and beyond. These contracts harm the communities of technology workers and users alike. While we publicly promise to uplift and assist our users, contracts such as these secretly facilitate the surveillance and targeting of those same users.'' Both the companies are already facing backlash over their deals with Customs and Border Protection as well as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Amazon employees had previously written a letter to founder Jeff Bezos asking him to support Palestinians and cut ties with Israeli Defense Forces.

Hundreds of Amazon and Google employees ask their companies to end military contract with Israel

Google on Wednesday said it is tweaking widely used tools for getting around, shopping and more to let users factor climate change into daily routines.

Google is among the Big Tech firms that have made pledges and investments to reduce the environmental impact of their operations with moves such as making power-hungry data centers carbon neutral.

New features unveiled on Wednesday provide users with ways to help in the effort, whether it be driving routes that result in less exhaust being spewed from cars or shopping online for energy efficient appliances.

Also Read |<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/google-ends-work-on-its-plex-project-even-after-financial-markets-heat-up-417518">&nbsp;Google ends work on its Plex project even after financial markets heat up</a>

"In all these efforts, our goal is to make the sustainable choice an easier choice," Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said while briefing journalists on the latest features.

Artificial intelligence was put to work in Google's free Maps service in the United States to show people the most fuel efficient routes to destinations even if they are not the quickest.

"It defaults to the route that uses less fuel when the estimated time of arrival is similar," Pichai said.

"We believe the feature will have the same impact in the next year as taking over 200,000 cars off the road."

The feature is to be rolled out in Europe in 2022.

Google has also started work on a project to use AI to optimize the efficiency of traffic in cities to reduce time vehicles spend idling at intersections.

Carbon dioxide emission information is being added to a Flights service for booking travel by air.

"We're putting these numbers in context by labeling flights that have significantly higher emissions, and adding a green badge to flights with significantly lower emissions," Google said in a post.

The metrics will also show how much more CO2 is attributed to business or first-class seats, which give passengers more room.

In coming months, Google will start adding details about how eco-friendly hotels are so people can opt for lodging that is kinder to the planet.

Google moves include weaving environmental impact information into its services for financial investing or shopping for appliances, and providing more insights into cost-benefits of electric vehicles.

"Individually, these choices might feel small but when you multiply them together across our products, they equal big transformations for the planet," Pichai said.

"It's going to take all of that to avert the worst consequences of climate change and there's no time to waste."

Google on Wednesday said it is tweaking widely used tools for getting around, shopping and more to let users factor climate change into daily routines. Google is among the Big Tech firms that have made pledges and investments to reduce the environmental impact of their operations with moves such as making power-hungry data centers carbon neutral.

Google on Wednesday said it is tweaking widely used tools for getting around, shopping and more to let users factor climate change into daily routines. Google is among the Big Tech firms that have made pledges and investments to reduce the environmental impact of their operations with moves such as making power-hungry data centers carbon neutral. New features unveiled on Wednesday provide users with ways to help in the effort, whether it be driving routes that result in less exhaust being spewed from cars or shopping online for energy efficient appliances. Also Read | Google ends work on its Plex project even after financial markets heat up "In all these efforts, our goal is to make the sustainable choice an easier choice," Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said while briefing journalists on the latest features. Artificial intelligence was put to work in Google's free Maps service in the United States to show people the most fuel efficient routes to destinations even if they are not the quickest. "It defaults to the route that uses less fuel when the estimated time of arrival is similar," Pichai said. "We believe the feature will have the same impact in the next year as taking over 200,000 cars off the road." The feature is to be rolled out in Europe in 2022. Google has also started work on a project to use AI to optimize the efficiency of traffic in cities to reduce time vehicles spend idling at intersections. Carbon dioxide emission information is being added to a Flights service for booking travel by air. "We're putting these numbers in context by labeling flights that have significantly higher emissions, and adding a green badge to flights with significantly lower emissions," Google said in a post. The metrics will also show how much more CO2 is attributed to business or first-class seats, which give passengers more room. In coming months, Google will start adding details about how eco-friendly hotels are so people can opt for lodging that is kinder to the planet. Google moves include weaving environmental impact information into its services for financial investing or shopping for appliances, and providing more insights into cost-benefits of electric vehicles. "Individually, these choices might feel small but when you multiply them together across our products, they equal big transformations for the planet," Pichai said. "It's going to take all of that to avert the worst consequences of climate change and there's no time to waste."

Google lets users factor climate change into life

The global dominance of tech giants serves as a convenient online chokepoint for authoritarian governments to crack down on dissent or rig elections, critics of Apple and Google said Friday.

The companies were facing international outrage after pulling a Russian opposition voting app off their online marketplaces in response to authorities' escalating pressure, including arrest threats.

Google and Apple, whose operating systems run on 99 percent of the world's smartphones, have a stranglehold on the markets for the applications that allow users to do everything from watch movies to hail a ride.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/china-cracks-down-on-tech-titans-billionaire-loses-27-billion-in-worlds-biggest-wealth-drop-413853" hreflang="en">China cracks down on tech titans: Billionaire loses $27 billion in world's biggest wealth drop</a>

"The app stores are the new frontier for censorship," Natalia Krapiva, tech legal counsel at rights group Access Now told AFP. "We're witnessing a new stage of assault on digital rights."

The companies face a growing pile of new legislation, legal trouble and regulators scrutiny over worries their dominance is a competition-killing monopoly.

Concerns recently had been about consumers' choice and app developers ability to avoid paying Apple an up to 30 percent cut on purchases made via its App Store.

But after an app advising opposition supporters on how to vote out Kremlin allies in Russia's parliamentary election was removed from the app stores of both Apple and Google, advocates warned of another threat.

"As long as Apple maintains a stranglehold over what software millions of people (use)... the App Store will continue to be a convenient chokepoint for government censorship and crackdowns on dissent," said Evan Greer, director of digital advocacy group Fight for the Future.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/safe-and-easy-microsoft-announces-passwordless-account-for-users-413771" hreflang="en">Safe and easy: Microsoft announces 'passwordless account' for users</a>

The digital world has been an incubator for opposition from the Arab Spring to Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests by giving people a way to communicate and organize movements rapidly.

Yet that same technology can be turned against people, as was demonstrated by the scandal around Pegasus, a hugely invasive spyware that can essentially turn a phone into a pocket listening device.&nbsp;

Limits of Big Tech

Allegations that the software has been used by governments worldwide to eavesdrop on human rights activists, business executives and politicians sparked a global uproar in July.

In the case of Russia, pressure has been building after Moscow accused the US tech giants of election interference and demanded they remove the app.

"This demonstrates the limits of Big Tech to resist crackdowns with regards to dissent, in Russia and elsewhere, during elections and outside them," said David Levine, an election integrity fellow at think tank Alliance for Securing Democracy.

Sources close to the decision to pull the opposition app said both companies faced threats of criminal charges or the jailing of staff and general "bullying" from authorities.

Levine noted this type of escalating pressure could become a "page in the playbook" for repressive governments.

The firms are for-profit, yet because of their global reach and key role in mass communication, can end up being called on to combat hate, lies and repression on their devices or platforms.

As a result, Big Tech can and will get entangled in these type of fights on delicate matters with the governments of places where they do business.

"Giant IT companies are going to have to think about how they operate in these markets, like how far they'll go in terms of complying and cutting off the freedom of people to see things," said Kathryn Stoner, a Stanford political science professor.

Especially for social media companies like Facebook, the role of information gatekeeper is one that the firms have played with widely varying outcomes.

The case in Russia, though, has resonated in particular because it touches on something deeply personal, which also has tremendous consequences.

"This is the government going into your house and saying you cannot talk about voting against us," Isabel Linzer, a Research analyst at NGO Freedom House, said.

"That is as much election interference as it would be to go and stuff a ballot box," she added.

The global dominance of tech giants serves as a convenient online chokepoint for authoritarian governments to crack down on dissent or rig elections, critics of Apple and Google said Friday.

The global dominance of tech giants serves as a convenient online chokepoint for authoritarian governments to crack down on dissent or rig elections, critics of Apple and Google said Friday. The companies were facing international outrage after pulling a Russian opposition voting app off their online marketplaces in response to authorities' escalating pressure, including arrest threats. Google and Apple, whose operating systems run on 99 percent of the world's smartphones, have a stranglehold on the markets for the applications that allow users to do everything from watch movies to hail a ride. Also read | China cracks down on tech titans: Billionaire loses $27 billion in world's biggest wealth drop "The app stores are the new frontier for censorship," Natalia Krapiva, tech legal counsel at rights group Access Now told AFP. "We're witnessing a new stage of assault on digital rights." The companies face a growing pile of new legislation, legal trouble and regulators scrutiny over worries their dominance is a competition-killing monopoly. Concerns recently had been about consumers' choice and app developers ability to avoid paying Apple an up to 30 percent cut on purchases made via its App Store. But after an app advising opposition supporters on how to vote out Kremlin allies in Russia's parliamentary election was removed from the app stores of both Apple and Google, advocates warned of another threat. "As long as Apple maintains a stranglehold over what software millions of people (use)... the App Store will continue to be a convenient chokepoint for government censorship and crackdowns on dissent," said Evan Greer, director of digital advocacy group Fight for the Future. Also read | Safe and easy: Microsoft announces 'passwordless account' for users The digital world has been an incubator for opposition from the Arab Spring to Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests by giving people a way to communicate and organize movements rapidly. Yet that same technology can be turned against people, as was demonstrated by the scandal around Pegasus, a hugely invasive spyware that can essentially turn a phone into a pocket listening device. Limits of Big Tech Allegations that the software has been used by governments worldwide to eavesdrop on human rights activists, business executives and politicians sparked a global uproar in July. In the case of Russia, pressure has been building after Moscow accused the US tech giants of election interference and demanded they remove the app. "This demonstrates the limits of Big Tech to resist crackdowns with regards to dissent, in Russia and elsewhere, during elections and outside them," said David Levine, an election integrity fellow at think tank Alliance for Securing Democracy. Sources close to the decision to pull the opposition app said both companies faced threats of criminal charges or the jailing of staff and general "bullying" from authorities. Levine noted this type of escalating pressure could become a "page in the playbook" for repressive governments. The firms are for-profit, yet because of their global reach and key role in mass communication, can end up being called on to combat hate, lies and repression on their devices or platforms. As a result, Big Tech can and will get entangled in these type of fights on delicate matters with the governments of places where they do business. "Giant IT companies are going to have to think about how they operate in these markets, like how far they'll go in terms of complying and cutting off the freedom of people to see things," said Kathryn Stoner, a Stanford political science professor. Especially for social media companies like Facebook, the role of information gatekeeper is one that the firms have played with widely varying outcomes. The case in Russia, though, has resonated in particular because it touches on something deeply personal, which also has tremendous consequences. "This is the government going into your house and saying you cannot talk about voting against us," Isabel Linzer, a Research analyst at NGO Freedom House, said. "That is as much election interference as it would be to go and stuff a ballot box," she added.

Critics warn of Apple, Google 'chokepoint' repression

According to reports, Google underpaid thousands of international contract workers, violating pay-parity laws in several countries and delayed correcting the pay rates for more than two years as it attempted to cover up the problem.

The tech giant’s compliance department discovered that it had been underpaying workers in UK, Europe and Asia since May 2019, but chose not to immediately compensate the underpaid temporary staff.

Instead, they only corrected rates for new employees in the hopes of avoiding legal, financial, and reputational damage, the Guardian reported citing access to internal Google documents and emails.

According to the New York Times, Alan Barry, a Google manager based in Ireland, feared that the dramatic pay increase would cause employees to “connect the dots” and "give rise to a flurry of noise/frustration."

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/apple-google-and-a-deal-that-controls-the-internet-337885">Apple, Google and a deal that controls the internet</a>

“I'm also not keen to invite the charge that we've allowed this situation to persist for so long that the correction required is significant,” Barry wrote in an email, per the NYT.

Google admitted the failures and said it would conduct an investigation after being contacted by the Guardian.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/google-executives-see-cracks-in-their-companys-success-393029">Google executives see cracks in their company’s success</a>

“While the team hasn’t increased the comparator rate benchmarks for some years, actual pay rates for temporary staff have increased numerous times in that period,” said Spyro Karetsos, Google’s chief compliance officer, in a statement.

“Most temporary staff are paid significantly more than the comparator rates.

“Nevertheless, it’s clear that this process has not been handled consistent with the high standards to which we hold ourselves as a company. We’re doing a thorough review, and we’re committed to identifying and addressing any pay discrepancies that the team has not already addressed.

“And we’ll be conducting a review of our compliance practices in this area. In short, we’re going to figure out what went wrong here, why it happened, and we’re going to make it right.”

According to The Guardian, Google employs over 900 temporary workers throughout the UK, Ireland, India, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Poland - all of which enforce local pay-parity laws.

Meanwhile, a whistleblower represented by Whistleblower Aid has filed a complaint about the alleged violations with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

(With inputs from agencies)

According to reports, Google underpaid thousands of international contract workers, violating pay-parity laws in several countries and delayed correcting the pay rates for more than two years as it attempted to cover up the problem.

According to reports, Google underpaid thousands of international contract workers, violating pay-parity laws in several countries and delayed correcting the pay rates for more than two years as it attempted to cover up the problem. The tech giant’s compliance department discovered that it had been underpaying workers in UK, Europe and Asia since May 2019, but chose not to immediately compensate the underpaid temporary staff. Instead, they only corrected rates for new employees in the hopes of avoiding legal, financial, and reputational damage, the Guardian reported citing access to internal Google documents and emails. According to the New York Times, Alan Barry, a Google manager based in Ireland, feared that the dramatic pay increase would cause employees to “connect the dots” and "give rise to a flurry of noise/frustration." Also read | Apple, Google and a deal that controls the internet “I'm also not keen to invite the charge that we've allowed this situation to persist for so long that the correction required is significant,” Barry wrote in an email, per the NYT. Google admitted the failures and said it would conduct an investigation after being contacted by the Guardian. Also read | Google executives see cracks in their company’s success “While the team hasn’t increased the comparator rate benchmarks for some years, actual pay rates for temporary staff have increased numerous times in that period,” said Spyro Karetsos, Google’s chief compliance officer, in a statement. “Most temporary staff are paid significantly more than the comparator rates. “Nevertheless, it’s clear that this process has not been handled consistent with the high standards to which we hold ourselves as a company. We’re doing a thorough review, and we’re committed to identifying and addressing any pay discrepancies that the team has not already addressed. “And we’ll be conducting a review of our compliance practices in this area. In short, we’re going to figure out what went wrong here, why it happened, and we’re going to make it right.” According to The Guardian, Google employs over 900 temporary workers throughout the UK, Ireland, India, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Poland - all of which enforce local pay-parity laws. Meanwhile, a whistleblower represented by Whistleblower Aid has filed a complaint about the alleged violations with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. (With inputs from agencies)

Google underpaid thousands of contract workers across dozens of countries: Report

Google on Wednesday ramped up cloud collaboration tools for businesses, expecting "hybrid" work routines to remain even after the pandemic has ended.

The internet titan competes with Microsoft, Zoom, Facebook and others with online services that employees can use to collaborate remotely.

Tech giants turned to their own tools after abandoning campuses early in the pandemic, which fueled a fierce remote work trend.

"We've seen a radical transformation, and a lot of that transformation is here to stay," Google product management director Dave Citron said during a briefing on new Workspace offerings.

"But I think it is too early to say that the 40-hour work week in a cubicle is permanently dead across all industries and regions."

Major tech companies themselves have postponed workers returning to offices and expect the new norm to become "hybrid" routines that mix being on-site with working remotely.

Google said it has created a hybrid work handbook for how to take advantage of tools, as well as software for employees to conduct efficient meetings no matter where they are working from.

"We're really excited to bring this to our customers to give them some best practices as they're working to redesign their offices," Citron said.

Google also announced enhancements to its Workspace portfolio that integrate the tech giant's apps for meetings, email, calendars, documents, chat and more.

"As some people return to the office, teams need that ability to flexibly collaborate from anywhere, anytime,” said Workspace senior director of product management Sanaz Ahari.

"The innovations we're bringing to customers today help bridge the gaps of virtual and in-person collaboration."

Workspace added a dedicated online venue for working on projects, and unveiled interactive Series One displays designed specifically for conferencing.

An all-in-one desktop model of Series One was priced at $2,000, while a larger model designed for conference rooms was priced at $7,000.

"Based on the price points, we think the vast amount of the customers will be companies buying it for their employees," Citron said.

Google on Wednesday ramped up cloud collaboration tools for businesses, expecting "hybrid" work routines to remain even after the pandemic has ended. The internet titan competes with Microsoft, Zoom, Facebook and others with online services that employees can use to collaborate remotely.

Google on Wednesday ramped up cloud collaboration tools for businesses, expecting "hybrid" work routines to remain even after the pandemic has ended. The internet titan competes with Microsoft, Zoom, Facebook and others with online services that employees can use to collaborate remotely. Tech giants turned to their own tools after abandoning campuses early in the pandemic, which fueled a fierce remote work trend. "We've seen a radical transformation, and a lot of that transformation is here to stay," Google product management director Dave Citron said during a briefing on new Workspace offerings. "But I think it is too early to say that the 40-hour work week in a cubicle is permanently dead across all industries and regions." Major tech companies themselves have postponed workers returning to offices and expect the new norm to become "hybrid" routines that mix being on-site with working remotely. Google said it has created a hybrid work handbook for how to take advantage of tools, as well as software for employees to conduct efficient meetings no matter where they are working from. "We're really excited to bring this to our customers to give them some best practices as they're working to redesign their offices," Citron said. Google also announced enhancements to its Workspace portfolio that integrate the tech giant's apps for meetings, email, calendars, documents, chat and more. "As some people return to the office, teams need that ability to flexibly collaborate from anywhere, anytime,” said Workspace senior director of product management Sanaz Ahari. "The innovations we're bringing to customers today help bridge the gaps of virtual and in-person collaboration." Workspace added a dedicated online venue for working on projects, and unveiled interactive Series One displays designed specifically for conferencing. An all-in-one desktop model of Series One was priced at $2,000, while a larger model designed for conference rooms was priced at $7,000. "Based on the price points, we think the vast amount of the customers will be companies buying it for their employees," Citron said.

Google see the future of work as 'hybrid'

Google has temporarily locked down an unspecified number of Afghan government email accounts, according to a person familiar with the matter, as fears grow over the digital paper trail left by former officials and their international partners.

In the weeks since the Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan from a US-backed government, reports have highlighted how biometric&nbsp;and Afghan payroll databases might be exploited by the new rulers to hunt their enemies.

In a statement on Friday, Alphabet Inc's Google stopped short of confirming that Afghan government accounts were being locked down, saying that the company was monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and "taking temporary actions to secure relevant accounts."

Watch | Afghanistan: Armed Fighters battle Taliban in Panjshir valley

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One employee of the former government has told Reuters, the Taliban are seeking to acquire former officials' emails. 
Late last month, the employee said that the Taliban had asked him to preserve the data held on the servers of the ministry he used to work for.

"If I do so, then they will get access to the data and official communications of the previous ministry leadership," the employee said.

The employee said he did not comply and has since gone into hiding. Reuters is not identifying the man or his former ministry out of concern for his safety.

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/south-asia/expect-taliban-to-form-inclusive-government-in-afghanistan-says-blinken-410604" hreflang="en">Expect Taliban to form inclusive government in Afghanistan, says&nbsp;Blinken &nbsp;</a>

Publicly available mail exchanger records show that some two dozen Afghan government bodies used Google's servers to handle official emails, including the ministries of finance, industry, higher education, and mines.&nbsp;Afghanistan's office of presidential protocol also used Google, according to the records, as did some local government bodies.

Commandeering government databases and emails could provide information about employees of the former administration, ex-ministers, government contractors, tribal allies and foreign partners.

Google has temporarily locked down an unspecified number of Afghan government email accounts, according to a person familiar with the matter, as fears grow over the digital paper trail left by former officials and their international partners.

Google has temporarily locked down an unspecified number of Afghan government email accounts, according to a person familiar with the matter, as fears grow over the digital paper trail left by former officials and their international partners. In the weeks since the Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan from a US-backed government, reports have highlighted how biometric and Afghan payroll databases might be exploited by the new rulers to hunt their enemies. In a statement on Friday, Alphabet Inc's Google stopped short of confirming that Afghan government accounts were being locked down, saying that the company was monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and "taking temporary actions to secure relevant accounts." Watch | Afghanistan: Armed Fighters battle Taliban in Panjshir valley × One employee of the former government has told Reuters, the Taliban are seeking to acquire former officials' emails. Late last month, the employee said that the Taliban had asked him to preserve the data held on the servers of the ministry he used to work for. "If I do so, then they will get access to the data and official communications of the previous ministry leadership," the employee said. The employee said he did not comply and has since gone into hiding. Reuters is not identifying the man or his former ministry out of concern for his safety. Also Read: Expect Taliban to form inclusive government in Afghanistan, says Blinken Publicly available mail exchanger records show that some two dozen Afghan government bodies used Google's servers to handle official emails, including the ministries of finance, industry, higher education, and mines. Afghanistan's office of presidential protocol also used Google, according to the records, as did some local government bodies. Commandeering government databases and emails could provide information about employees of the former administration, ex-ministers, government contractors, tribal allies and foreign partners.

Google locks Afghan government accounts as Taliban seek emails: Source

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