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John David McAfee, the eccentric founder of the antivirus software company McAfee, was found dead in his prison cell in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, shortly after the country's National Court approved his extradition to the United States to face criminal tax evasion charges, according to his lawyers.&nbsp;

The Catalan Justice Department claimed McAfee, 75, died within hours of the extradition order, according to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. Barcelona is located in Spain's Catalonia region. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science-tech/intel-john-mcafee-settle-lawsuits-over-antivirus-pioneers-name-17653">Also read | Intel, John McAfee settle lawsuits over antivirus pioneer's name</a>

According to McAfee's lawyer in Spain, the founder of McAfee Associates apparently hanged himself.&nbsp;

In a statement, the Catalan justice department said that prison officers and medics had tried to save the life of a 75-year-old man but had been unsuccessful. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/computer-anti-virus-creator-john-mcafee-arrested-in-spain-on-us-tax-evasion-charges-332789">Also read | Computer anti-virus creator John McAfee arrested in Spain on US tax evasion charges</a>

“Judicial staff have been dispatched to the prison and are investigating the causes of death,” the statement said, adding: “Everything points to death by suicide.” 
 
Why was McAfee in trouble?

Since his arrest in October 2020, McAfee has been kept in prison awaiting extradition to the United States.

He was charged with tax evasion and securities fraud in connection with an alleged bitcoin pump and dump scheme.

His extradition had been authorised by Spanish courts this morning, with the possibility of an appeal. 
 
McAfee and crypto allegations

McAfee reportedly purchased a big number of cheap cryptocurrencies and then advertised them on the internet. To boost their market price, he allegedly used "false and deceptive tweets."&nbsp;

“McAfee team members collectively earned more than $2 million in illicit profits from their altcoin scalping activities,” the Justice Department said in March.

McAfee tweeted about the allegations from the jail

“The US believes I have hidden crypto. I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association. I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing,” wrote McAfee on Twitter.

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The US believes I have hidden crypto. I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association. 
 
I have nothing. 
 
Yet, I regret nothing.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) <a href="https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/1405178506712174593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

John David McAfee, the eccentric founder of the antivirus software company McAfee, was found dead in his prison cell in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, shortly after the country's National Court approved his extradition to the United States to face criminal tax evasion charges, according to his lawyers.

John David McAfee, the eccentric founder of the antivirus software company McAfee, was found dead in his prison cell in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, shortly after the country's National Court approved his extradition to the United States to face criminal tax evasion charges, according to his lawyers. The Catalan Justice Department claimed McAfee, 75, died within hours of the extradition order, according to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. Barcelona is located in Spain's Catalonia region. Also read | Intel, John McAfee settle lawsuits over antivirus pioneer's name According to McAfee's lawyer in Spain, the founder of McAfee Associates apparently hanged himself. In a statement, the Catalan justice department said that prison officers and medics had tried to save the life of a 75-year-old man but had been unsuccessful. Also read | Computer anti-virus creator John McAfee arrested in Spain on US tax evasion charges “Judicial staff have been dispatched to the prison and are investigating the causes of death,” the statement said, adding: “Everything points to death by suicide.” Why was McAfee in trouble? Since his arrest in October 2020, McAfee has been kept in prison awaiting extradition to the United States. He was charged with tax evasion and securities fraud in connection with an alleged bitcoin pump and dump scheme. His extradition had been authorised by Spanish courts this morning, with the possibility of an appeal. McAfee and crypto allegations McAfee reportedly purchased a big number of cheap cryptocurrencies and then advertised them on the internet. To boost their market price, he allegedly used "false and deceptive tweets." “McAfee team members collectively earned more than $2 million in illicit profits from their altcoin scalping activities,” the Justice Department said in March. McAfee tweeted about the allegations from the jail “The US believes I have hidden crypto. I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association. I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing,” wrote McAfee on Twitter. The US believes I have hidden crypto. I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association. I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing. — John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 16, 2021 ×

John McAfee, antivirus software creator-turned fugitive, dies by hanging in Spanish jail

The introduction of Battlegrounds Mobile India's early access before the release of the final edition received a positive response from the Indian public. 
&nbsp; 
Within a single day, the game had topped a million downloads. However, there have been various controversies over the game up to this point. 
&nbsp; 
As the launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India is set to take a few more days, several quarters of the country have urged that the game should be banned. 
 
Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/when-will-pubg-mobile-india-be-launched-heres-what-we-know-so-far-351394">When will PUBG Mobile India be launched? Here's what we know so far</a> 
&nbsp; 
According to a revelation by IGN India, Battle Ground Mobile India was exchanging data with Chinese servers as well as some other non-local servers. 
 
Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/indian-govt-confirms-that-pubg-mobile-not-given-approval-350504">Indian govt confirms that PUBG Mobile not given approval</a> 
&nbsp; 
According to the report, Battleground Mobile India was linked to several IP addresses, including one belonging to China Mobile Communications Corporation, a Chinese state-owned cellular operator based in Beijing. 
&nbsp; 
The mobile app, according to the company, sends data to servers in Hong Kong, Moscow, the United States, and Mumbai. 
&nbsp; 
The game's makers Krafton said it will continue to closely monitor and protect any data being transferred to "unexpected and restricted IP addresses".

The introduction of Battlegrounds Mobile India's early access before the release of the final edition received a positive response from the Indian public. Within a single day, the game had topped a million downloads.

The introduction of Battlegrounds Mobile India's early access before the release of the final edition received a positive response from the Indian public. Within a single day, the game had topped a million downloads. However, there have been various controversies over the game up to this point. As the launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India is set to take a few more days, several quarters of the country have urged that the game should be banned. Also read | When will PUBG Mobile India be launched? Here's what we know so far According to a revelation by IGN India, Battle Ground Mobile India was exchanging data with Chinese servers as well as some other non-local servers. Also read | Indian govt confirms that PUBG Mobile not given approval According to the report, Battleground Mobile India was linked to several IP addresses, including one belonging to China Mobile Communications Corporation, a Chinese state-owned cellular operator based in Beijing. The mobile app, according to the company, sends data to servers in Hong Kong, Moscow, the United States, and Mumbai. The game's makers Krafton said it will continue to closely monitor and protect any data being transferred to "unexpected and restricted IP addresses".

PUBG Mobile India in hot water for sharing data with Chinese servers

A group of state attorneys general may file a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc's Google as early as next week, accusing the search and advertising giant of violating antitrust law in running its mobile app store, a report said citing sources familiar with the matter.

The anticipated lawsuit follows complaints from app developers about Google's management of its Play Store for Android devices, according to a source. The lawsuit has been in the works since last year and has already been delayed, but seems close again, the sources said as per Reuters report. 
 
The investigation by the state attorneys general is being led by Utah, Tennessee, North Carolina and New York. It is unclear how many states will participate. 
 
Two sources said the case is likely to be filed in federal court in Northern California, where related cases are being heard. These include a lawsuit that video game maker Epic Games Inc filed against Google last year, accusing it of having anticompetitive app store rules. It is expected to go to trial in 2022. 
 
There also are two proposed class-action lawsuits over the Play store before the same judge. If the states want to participate in depositions and other pre-trial activities, they would have to file fairly soon, one source said. 
 
Apple Inc and Epic are awaiting the verdict in a similar California lawsuit after a trial that ended last month. 
 
A Google spokesperson defended their app store as open. 
 
"Android is the only major operating system that allows people to download apps from multiple app stores. In fact, most Android devices ship with two or more app stores preinstalled. They can also install additional app stores or apps directly from their browser if they choose," the spokesperson said. 
 
Google was originally seen as more open in how it ran its app store than Apple but has tightened rules recently and increased enforcement of those rules. 
 
The lawsuit is expected to focus on Google's requirement that some apps use the company's payment tools to sell subscriptions and content and pay Google as much as 30% of sales, according to two sources. 
 
App makers like music streaming service Spotify Technology SA and dating services giant Match Group, which owns the Tinder app, have long accused both Google, as well as Apple, of being anti-competitive in demanding mandatory revenue sharing. 
 
This latest lawsuit is being planned at a time of unusually vigorous debate over whether federal antitrust enforcement is too lax. Many people, including Senator Amy Klobuchar who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, have pressed for tougher enforcement. 
 
Google already faces a federal lawsuit brought by the Justice Department last year and related antitrust cases brought by two separate groups of attorneys general. One is led by Texas and focused on advertising while the other targets Google's alleged efforts to extend its dominance in search to newer markets, like voice assistants. 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

A group of state attorneys general may file a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc's Google as early as next week, accusing the search and advertising giant of violating antitrust law in running its mobile app store, a report said citing sources familiar with the matter.

A group of state attorneys general may file a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc's Google as early as next week, accusing the search and advertising giant of violating antitrust law in running its mobile app store, a report said citing sources familiar with the matter. The anticipated lawsuit follows complaints from app developers about Google's management of its Play Store for Android devices, according to a source. The lawsuit has been in the works since last year and has already been delayed, but seems close again, the sources said as per Reuters report. The investigation by the state attorneys general is being led by Utah, Tennessee, North Carolina and New York. It is unclear how many states will participate. Two sources said the case is likely to be filed in federal court in Northern California, where related cases are being heard. These include a lawsuit that video game maker Epic Games Inc filed against Google last year, accusing it of having anticompetitive app store rules. It is expected to go to trial in 2022. There also are two proposed class-action lawsuits over the Play store before the same judge. If the states want to participate in depositions and other pre-trial activities, they would have to file fairly soon, one source said. Apple Inc and Epic are awaiting the verdict in a similar California lawsuit after a trial that ended last month. A Google spokesperson defended their app store as open. "Android is the only major operating system that allows people to download apps from multiple app stores. In fact, most Android devices ship with two or more app stores preinstalled. They can also install additional app stores or apps directly from their browser if they choose," the spokesperson said. Google was originally seen as more open in how it ran its app store than Apple but has tightened rules recently and increased enforcement of those rules. The lawsuit is expected to focus on Google's requirement that some apps use the company's payment tools to sell subscriptions and content and pay Google as much as 30% of sales, according to two sources. App makers like music streaming service Spotify Technology SA and dating services giant Match Group, which owns the Tinder app, have long accused both Google, as well as Apple, of being anti-competitive in demanding mandatory revenue sharing. This latest lawsuit is being planned at a time of unusually vigorous debate over whether federal antitrust enforcement is too lax. Many people, including Senator Amy Klobuchar who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, have pressed for tougher enforcement. Google already faces a federal lawsuit brought by the Justice Department last year and related antitrust cases brought by two separate groups of attorneys general. One is led by Texas and focused on advertising while the other targets Google's alleged efforts to extend its dominance in search to newer markets, like voice assistants. (With inputs from agencies)

Google likely to soon face antitrust claims over Play store from US states: Report

Social media has become the cornucopia of information and the virality which ensues. With different types of memes, articles, and posts going viral every day, the landscape of social media has tremendously changed over the last decade.

Everything has a short shelf-life on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, except trolling. Since early days of social media, the act of “trolling” someone has remain largely intact.

Now, a new study sheds light on how our interactions on social media shape viral content. According to the research undertaken by Cambridge University, social posts are twice as likely to go viral if they depict a negative image of politicians whom people don’t support, as against positive content they may be pushing out in support of a politician.&nbsp;

<h2>Trolling wins social media</h2>

The study suggests that negative posts that “troll” someone have a higher chance of getting liked and shared on social media platforms.

Researchers analysed 2.7 million tweets and Facebook posts from various US media houses and politicians over five years.&nbsp;They also found that negative posts were not only more likely to go viral, but also received twice as many comments as&nbsp;positive posts.

On Facebook, posts maligning someone received a higher number of angry or laughing reactions as opposed to positive posts that received hearts or thumbs ups.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-seizes-36-iranian-linked-websites-for-alleged-disinformation-393220" hreflang="en">US seizes 36 Iranian-linked websites for alleged disinformation</a>

Politics matter

The study’s co-author Steve Rathje told BBC that if the post originated from a Republican and referred to Joe Biden, it was more likely to go viral than posts by Republicans about other politicians. Rathje also claimed that a screenshot of the US president with the caption “latest brain freeze” posted first by Breitbart News had received a lot of hits quickly.

On the other end of this political spectrum, a tweet by Bernie Sanders about Donald Trump also received a lot of hits wherein Sanders referred to “3,000” lies by Donald Trump.&nbsp;

Algorithms on social media platforms are meant to promote "viral content" and amplify voices that are receiving a lot of attention on platforms. This practice has been criticised for its ability to make hateful and divisive content viral.

The peer-reviewed study was published in the journal called “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/listen-up-facebook-launches-new-live-audio-rooms-in-us-to-take-on-clubhouse-392998" hreflang="en">Listen up! Facebook launches new 'live audio' rooms in US to take on Clubhouse</a>

Social media has become the cornucopia of information and the virality which ensues. With different types of memes, articles, and posts going viral every day, the landscape of social media has tremendously changed over the last decade.

Social media has become the cornucopia of information and the virality which ensues. With different types of memes, articles, and posts going viral every day, the landscape of social media has tremendously changed over the last decade. Everything has a short shelf-life on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, except trolling. Since early days of social media, the act of “trolling” someone has remain largely intact. Now, a new study sheds light on how our interactions on social media shape viral content. According to the research undertaken by Cambridge University, social posts are twice as likely to go viral if they depict a negative image of politicians whom people don’t support, as against positive content they may be pushing out in support of a politician. Trolling wins social media The study suggests that negative posts that “troll” someone have a higher chance of getting liked and shared on social media platforms. Researchers analysed 2.7 million tweets and Facebook posts from various US media houses and politicians over five years. They also found that negative posts were not only more likely to go viral, but also received twice as many comments as positive posts. On Facebook, posts maligning someone received a higher number of angry or laughing reactions as opposed to positive posts that received hearts or thumbs ups. Also read: US seizes 36 Iranian-linked websites for alleged disinformation Politics matter The study’s co-author Steve Rathje told BBC that if the post originated from a Republican and referred to Joe Biden, it was more likely to go viral than posts by Republicans about other politicians. Rathje also claimed that a screenshot of the US president with the caption “latest brain freeze” posted first by Breitbart News had received a lot of hits quickly. On the other end of this political spectrum, a tweet by Bernie Sanders about Donald Trump also received a lot of hits wherein Sanders referred to “3,000” lies by Donald Trump. Algorithms on social media platforms are meant to promote "viral content" and amplify voices that are receiving a lot of attention on platforms. This practice has been criticised for its ability to make hateful and divisive content viral. The peer-reviewed study was published in the journal called “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”. Also read: Listen up! Facebook launches new 'live audio' rooms in US to take on Clubhouse

Negative political posts on social media get more traction than positive ones, study claims

SoftBank Group Corp CEO Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday share buybacks remain an option, amid a slide in the conglomerate's shares. 
 
"Buybacks are always on my mind as an important option but when and how big requires balanced thinking," Son said at SoftBank's annual shareholders' meeting, adding that the group also needs to consider alternative uses of its capital. 
 
Shares in SoftBank, which completed a record 2.5 trillion yen ($22.6 billion) buyback programme in May, have slid amid weakness in tech stocks. That has helped widen its conglomerate discount, the gap between the value of its assets and share price, to about 50%. 
 
"I believe our potential is much bigger than the discounted share price," said Son, calling on shareholders to take a long-term view on the company.

SoftBank Group Corp CEO Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday share buybacks remain an option, amid a slide in the conglomerate's shares. "Buybacks are always on my mind as an important option but when and how big requires balanced thinking," Son said at SoftBank's annual shareholders' meeting, adding that the group also needs to consider alternative uses of its capital.

SoftBank Group Corp CEO Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday share buybacks remain an option, amid a slide in the conglomerate's shares. "Buybacks are always on my mind as an important option but when and how big requires balanced thinking," Son said at SoftBank's annual shareholders' meeting, adding that the group also needs to consider alternative uses of its capital. Shares in SoftBank, which completed a record 2.5 trillion yen ($22.6 billion) buyback programme in May, have slid amid weakness in tech stocks. That has helped widen its conglomerate discount, the gap between the value of its assets and share price, to about 50%. "I believe our potential is much bigger than the discounted share price," said Son, calling on shareholders to take a long-term view on the company.

Share buybacks remain an option for SoftBank, says CEO Son

A Swedish information technology firm said on Tuesday a database containing patient data, including COVID-19 test results, had been breached but it was unclear if any contents had leaked. 
 
InfoSolutions said in a statement that it had identified a breach last week but it had since identified and solved what made the intrusion possible. 
 
"It cannot be ruled out that personal data has been read, but InfoSolutions considers the risk to be very low," it said, adding that no information had been lost or altered. 
 
The firm provides digital journals, including test results, for 15 of Sweden's 21 regions on behalf of the Public Health Agency, which has twice shut the database in recent months and reported suspected breaches to the police.

A Swedish information technology firm said on Tuesday a database containing patient data, including COVID-19 test results, had been breached but it was unclear if any contents had leaked.

A Swedish information technology firm said on Tuesday a database containing patient data, including COVID-19 test results, had been breached but it was unclear if any contents had leaked. InfoSolutions said in a statement that it had identified a breach last week but it had since identified and solved what made the intrusion possible. "It cannot be ruled out that personal data has been read, but InfoSolutions considers the risk to be very low," it said, adding that no information had been lost or altered. The firm provides digital journals, including test results, for 15 of Sweden's 21 regions on behalf of the Public Health Agency, which has twice shut the database in recent months and reported suspected breaches to the police.

Swedish IT provider says COVID-19 test database breached

US&nbsp;President Joe Biden believes steps are needed to safeguard privacy, bolster innovation and deal with other problems created by big technology platforms, the White House said on Tuesday, signaling his support for legislation concerning Big Tech. 
 
Biden is encouraged by bipartisan work underway in Congress to tackle these issues, the official said, a day before the US&nbsp;House Judiciary Committee votes on a package of antitrust bills, some of which target the market power of large tech firms. 
 
"These platforms have transformed our daily lives, and showcase our country's ingenuity and potential, but also create real problems for users, small businesses, and tech startups," said the White House official. 
 
"The president believes we need to address the problems these platforms create to protect privacy, generate more innovation, and make sure the great tech companies of the future can emerge and grow right here in the US," the official said. 
 
The House Judiciary Committee will vote on Wednesday on a package of six antitrust bills, including two that address the issue of giant companies, such as Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, creating a platform for other businesses and then competing against those same businesses. 
 
The legislation drew fire on Tuesday from the US&nbsp;Chamber of Commerce, the largest US&nbsp;business group, which warned it would have 'dangerous consequences for America'. 
 
It said antitrust laws 'should not be rigged against a small number of companies'. 
 
The White House hoped the bipartisan proposals would move forward in the legislative process and looked forward to working with Congress on the issue, the official added. 
 
In a separate development, the Federal Trade Commission, whose new chairwoman has been critical of Amazon, has decided to review the company`s planned purchase of US&nbsp;movie studio MGM, a source familiar with the matter said. 
 
Lina Khan was sworn in as FTC chair on June 15 in what was broadly seen as a victory for progressives seeking tougher antitrust enforcement. 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

US President Joe Biden believes steps are needed to safeguard privacy, bolster innovation and deal with other problems created by big technology platforms, the White House said on Tuesday, signaling his support for legislation concerning Big Tech.

US President Joe Biden believes steps are needed to safeguard privacy, bolster innovation and deal with other problems created by big technology platforms, the White House said on Tuesday, signaling his support for legislation concerning Big Tech. Biden is encouraged by bipartisan work underway in Congress to tackle these issues, the official said, a day before the US House Judiciary Committee votes on a package of antitrust bills, some of which target the market power of large tech firms. "These platforms have transformed our daily lives, and showcase our country's ingenuity and potential, but also create real problems for users, small businesses, and tech startups," said the White House official. "The president believes we need to address the problems these platforms create to protect privacy, generate more innovation, and make sure the great tech companies of the future can emerge and grow right here in the US," the official said. The House Judiciary Committee will vote on Wednesday on a package of six antitrust bills, including two that address the issue of giant companies, such as Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, creating a platform for other businesses and then competing against those same businesses. The legislation drew fire on Tuesday from the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest US business group, which warned it would have 'dangerous consequences for America'. It said antitrust laws 'should not be rigged against a small number of companies'. The White House hoped the bipartisan proposals would move forward in the legislative process and looked forward to working with Congress on the issue, the official added. In a separate development, the Federal Trade Commission, whose new chairwoman has been critical of Amazon, has decided to review the company`s planned purchase of US movie studio MGM, a source familiar with the matter said. Lina Khan was sworn in as FTC chair on June 15 in what was broadly seen as a victory for progressives seeking tougher antitrust enforcement. (With inputs from agencies)

Biden sees work needed to address problems created by big tech firms: White House

Tech companies both large and small&nbsp;have found themselves dependent on the arbitrary whim of Big Tech, one algorithm tweak away from ruin.

The&nbsp;decisions made by tech giants are largely unaccountable, opaque, and result in sweeping consequences, the dominant platforms effectively serve as private regulators.

To break up their monopoly, regulatory battles have broken out across the world to curb the rising influence and diminishing responsibility of these tech giants.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon&nbsp;and Apple are a part of the&nbsp;'hit list'&nbsp;that will be facing new and tougher rules aimed at curbing their dominant market position and its misuse.

They are facing the biggest threat from&nbsp;the European Union and the United States Congress, which are introducing&nbsp;rules that will force the companies to share data with rivals and be more transparent on how they gather information.

Democrats from a US&nbsp;House of Representatives subcommittee issued a report&nbsp;detailing tactics they said four of the biggest technology companies used to gain dominant positioning in online search, advertising, social networking shopping, and other businesses.

AMAZON 
Amazon.com Inc sells its own products as well as goods from independent merchants on a single platform. The Congressional report alleged that Amazon has "monopoly power" over many of these merchants, which "do not have a viable alternative to Amazon for reaching online consumers."

US&nbsp;Senator Amy Klobuchar said that the company&nbsp;needs to offer more details about how its&nbsp;smart-home devices and virtual assistants will support competition and user privacy.

The&nbsp;House Judiciary Committee is all set&nbsp;take up a package of six antitrust bills on Wednesday.

Before the beginning of the session,&nbsp;Amazon's Brian Huseman, vice president of public policy, said&nbsp;the company believed that the bills "would have significant negative effects on the hundreds of thousands of American small- and medium-sized businesses that sell in our store, and tens of millions of consumers who buy products from&nbsp;Amazon."

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) launched an investigation in January last year after a complaint accused Flipkart and&nbsp;Amazon&nbsp;of promoting select sellers on their e-commerce platforms and using deep discounts to stifle competition.

Amazon was accused of favoring big sellers on its India platform – and used them to maneuver around rules meant to protect the country's small retailers from getting crushed by e-commerce giants.

India proposed banning flash sales on e-commerce websites and said their affiliate entities should not be listed as sellers on their platforms, in a proposed tightening of rules that could hit Amazon and Flipkart, owned by Walmart.

APPLE 
Apple has a monopoly on distributing software onto the iPhone. Apple used that monopoly power to charge above-market prices to developers in the form of a 30 per cent&nbsp;commission on App Store sales, to exclude rival apps and services, and to misappropriate data from developers and use it to create competing services and features.

A former App Store employee told lawmakers that the App Store costs Apple merely an estimated $100 million per year to run, while it generates billions of dollars in revenue.

Meanwhile, Apple boss Tim Cook took aim on Wednesday at proposed European rules aimed at curbing the power of US tech giants, saying they could pose security and privacy risks to iPhones.

Cook, in his first public comments about the Digital Markets Act (DMA) proposed by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, said parts of it were good but others were not.

He said he feared the draft rules would lead to more installing of apps that do not come via Apple's App Store, or "side-loading".

"You take an example here where I don't think it's in the best interest (of the user): the current DMA language that is being discussed would force side-loading on the iPhone," the Apple CEO, speaking remotely, said at VivaTech, France´s biggest tech conference.

"And so this would be an ultimate way of getting apps onto the iPhone," he said. "It would destroy the security of the iPhone, and a lot of the privacy initiatives that we've built into the App Store or the privacy intrusion labels and app-tracking transparency," he added.

Earlier this month, EU lawmaker Andreas Schwab, who is leading the European Parliament scrutiny of the draft rules, said he wanted to beef up the legislation and narrow its scope to just big companies like Google Amazon, Apple, and Facebook.

Apple would take part in the debate and try to find a way forward, Cook said.

FACEBOOK 
Facebook holds monopoly power in the “social networking” market, which it distinguished from the market for more content-centric social media products like YouTube and TikTok.

Facebook secured its dominance in that highly concentrated market by identifying nascent rivals and copying, acquiring or killing them off before they could mature into competitive threats, the US Congressional report said.

The company’s two biggest acquisitions, of Instagram and WhatsApp, fit that pattern. The US report&nbsp;also accused Facebook of selectively enforcing its platform policies to defuse a threat from video-sharing app Vine, which Twitter shut down in 2016.

Regulatory experts stopped short of recommending a breakup of Facebook, but propose boosting the budgets of antitrust enforcers and allowing them more leeway to stop companies from purchasing would-be rivals.

That could strengthen regulators’ hands in current investigations into Facebook’s alleged anti-competitive practices and make future transactions trickier.

GOOGLE 
Google has used restrictive customer and partner contracts and other means to ensure its own services are favored over those of competitors in search, phone and tablet software, advertising technology, and mapping technology.

For instance, the House Judiciary Committee&nbsp;found in internal Google documents that top executives such as now-Chief Executive Sundar Pichai approved stiff-arming partners to make sure Google search, in the company’s own words, was “front and centre” on mobile devices.

When one hardware manufacturer in 2014 complained about its devices being overloaded with required Google apps, the search giant blamed it for not making gadgets with more memory.

The US Congress is planning to pass nondiscrimination and bargaining laws requiring big service providers such as Google to provide fair access to their systems.

Such a rule could give a leg-up to device makers, ad tech companies, and app developers that want to shift from Google tools.

Also in the US, reports emerged that a group of state attorneys general may file a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc's&nbsp;Google&nbsp;as early as next week, accusing the search and advertising giant of violating antitrust law in running Google Play, its mobile app store.

The European Commission, meanwhile, is&nbsp;investigating whether&nbsp;Google&nbsp;distorts competition by restricting third party access to user data for advertising purposes on websites and apps, while reserving such data for its own use.

"We are concerned that&nbsp;Google&nbsp;has made it harder for rival online advertising services to compete in the so-called ad tech stack," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

YOUTUBE

About 1.6 million views on YouTube out of every 1 billion are of a video that violates its content policies, about even a year ago, the streaming service owned by Alphabet Inc’s Google said in a new disclosure.

The “violative view rate” (VVR) has dropped over 70 per cent&nbsp;since it was first tracked in the fourth quarter of 2017, YouTube said, and demonstrates its progress in blocking hate speech and other videos it considers dangerous before they go viral.

Critics have said inadequate policing by YouTube and other social media companies enables false and hateful rhetoric to spread, fomenting deadly violence such as the US&nbsp;Capitol attack in January.

YouTube’s VVR was steady over the last six quarters measured, according to the new data, which run through 2020.

Jennifer O’Connor, a product director at YouTube, told reporters that she hoped releasing the estimate each quarter “continues to hold us accountable.”

She said the rate, like other enforcement data YouTube releases, could fluctuate as its technology, rules and users evolve. For instance, YouTube removed nearly 171,000 channels for hate speech in the fourth quarter, three times more than the preceding period. It attributed the jump to improved detection technology.

The VVR comprises all policy violations and is derived from a sampling of videos. It does not include comments on videos.

Tech companies both large and small have found themselves dependent on the arbitrary whim of Big Tech, one algorithm tweak away from ruin. The decisions made by tech giants are largely unaccountable, opaque, and result in sweeping consequences, the dominant platforms effectively serve as private regulators.

Tech companies both large and small have found themselves dependent on the arbitrary whim of Big Tech, one algorithm tweak away from ruin. The decisions made by tech giants are largely unaccountable, opaque, and result in sweeping consequences, the dominant platforms effectively serve as private regulators. To break up their monopoly, regulatory battles have broken out across the world to curb the rising influence and diminishing responsibility of these tech giants. Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon and Apple are a part of the 'hit list' that will be facing new and tougher rules aimed at curbing their dominant market position and its misuse. They are facing the biggest threat from the European Union and the United States Congress, which are introducing rules that will force the companies to share data with rivals and be more transparent on how they gather information. Democrats from a US House of Representatives subcommittee issued a report detailing tactics they said four of the biggest technology companies used to gain dominant positioning in online search, advertising, social networking shopping, and other businesses. AMAZON Amazon.com Inc sells its own products as well as goods from independent merchants on a single platform. The Congressional report alleged that Amazon has "monopoly power" over many of these merchants, which "do not have a viable alternative to Amazon for reaching online consumers." US Senator Amy Klobuchar said that the company needs to offer more details about how its smart-home devices and virtual assistants will support competition and user privacy. The House Judiciary Committee is all set take up a package of six antitrust bills on Wednesday. Before the beginning of the session, Amazon's Brian Huseman, vice president of public policy, said the company believed that the bills "would have significant negative effects on the hundreds of thousands of American small- and medium-sized businesses that sell in our store, and tens of millions of consumers who buy products from Amazon." The Competition Commission of India (CCI) launched an investigation in January last year after a complaint accused Flipkart and Amazon of promoting select sellers on their e-commerce platforms and using deep discounts to stifle competition. Amazon was accused of favoring big sellers on its India platform – and used them to maneuver around rules meant to protect the country's small retailers from getting crushed by e-commerce giants. India proposed banning flash sales on e-commerce websites and said their affiliate entities should not be listed as sellers on their platforms, in a proposed tightening of rules that could hit Amazon and Flipkart, owned by Walmart. APPLE Apple has a monopoly on distributing software onto the iPhone. Apple used that monopoly power to charge above-market prices to developers in the form of a 30 per cent commission on App Store sales, to exclude rival apps and services, and to misappropriate data from developers and use it to create competing services and features. A former App Store employee told lawmakers that the App Store costs Apple merely an estimated $100 million per year to run, while it generates billions of dollars in revenue. Meanwhile, Apple boss Tim Cook took aim on Wednesday at proposed European rules aimed at curbing the power of US tech giants, saying they could pose security and privacy risks to iPhones. Cook, in his first public comments about the Digital Markets Act (DMA) proposed by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, said parts of it were good but others were not. He said he feared the draft rules would lead to more installing of apps that do not come via Apple's App Store, or "side-loading". "You take an example here where I don't think it's in the best interest (of the user): the current DMA language that is being discussed would force side-loading on the iPhone," the Apple CEO, speaking remotely, said at VivaTech, France´s biggest tech conference. "And so this would be an ultimate way of getting apps onto the iPhone," he said. "It would destroy the security of the iPhone, and a lot of the privacy initiatives that we've built into the App Store or the privacy intrusion labels and app-tracking transparency," he added. Earlier this month, EU lawmaker Andreas Schwab, who is leading the European Parliament scrutiny of the draft rules, said he wanted to beef up the legislation and narrow its scope to just big companies like Google Amazon, Apple, and Facebook. Apple would take part in the debate and try to find a way forward, Cook said. FACEBOOK Facebook holds monopoly power in the “social networking” market, which it distinguished from the market for more content-centric social media products like YouTube and TikTok. Facebook secured its dominance in that highly concentrated market by identifying nascent rivals and copying, acquiring or killing them off before they could mature into competitive threats, the US Congressional report said. The company’s two biggest acquisitions, of Instagram and WhatsApp, fit that pattern. The US report also accused Facebook of selectively enforcing its platform policies to defuse a threat from video-sharing app Vine, which Twitter shut down in 2016. Regulatory experts stopped short of recommending a breakup of Facebook, but propose boosting the budgets of antitrust enforcers and allowing them more leeway to stop companies from purchasing would-be rivals. That could strengthen regulators’ hands in current investigations into Facebook’s alleged anti-competitive practices and make future transactions trickier. GOOGLE Google has used restrictive customer and partner contracts and other means to ensure its own services are favored over those of competitors in search, phone and tablet software, advertising technology, and mapping technology. For instance, the House Judiciary Committee found in internal Google documents that top executives such as now-Chief Executive Sundar Pichai approved stiff-arming partners to make sure Google search, in the company’s own words, was “front and centre” on mobile devices. When one hardware manufacturer in 2014 complained about its devices being overloaded with required Google apps, the search giant blamed it for not making gadgets with more memory. The US Congress is planning to pass nondiscrimination and bargaining laws requiring big service providers such as Google to provide fair access to their systems. Such a rule could give a leg-up to device makers, ad tech companies, and app developers that want to shift from Google tools. Also in the US, reports emerged that a group of state attorneys general may file a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc's Google as early as next week, accusing the search and advertising giant of violating antitrust law in running Google Play, its mobile app store. The European Commission, meanwhile, is investigating whether Google distorts competition by restricting third party access to user data for advertising purposes on websites and apps, while reserving such data for its own use. "We are concerned that Google has made it harder for rival online advertising services to compete in the so-called ad tech stack," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. YOUTUBE About 1.6 million views on YouTube out of every 1 billion are of a video that violates its content policies, about even a year ago, the streaming service owned by Alphabet Inc’s Google said in a new disclosure. The “violative view rate” (VVR) has dropped over 70 per cent since it was first tracked in the fourth quarter of 2017, YouTube said, and demonstrates its progress in blocking hate speech and other videos it considers dangerous before they go viral. Critics have said inadequate policing by YouTube and other social media companies enables false and hateful rhetoric to spread, fomenting deadly violence such as the US Capitol attack in January. YouTube’s VVR was steady over the last six quarters measured, according to the new data, which run through 2020. Jennifer O’Connor, a product director at YouTube, told reporters that she hoped releasing the estimate each quarter “continues to hold us accountable.” She said the rate, like other enforcement data YouTube releases, could fluctuate as its technology, rules and users evolve. For instance, YouTube removed nearly 171,000 channels for hate speech in the fourth quarter, three times more than the preceding period. It attributed the jump to improved detection technology. The VVR comprises all policy violations and is derived from a sampling of videos. It does not include comments on videos.

In focus: Big Tech firms facing antitrust investigations across world

Twitter on Tuesday announced plans to monetise specialised content on the portal through its “Ticketed Spaces” and "Super Follows" features. As part of pilot testing, Twitter will offer the feature to a few influencers in the United States, allowing their fans to pay for content.

The company began accepting applications from Twitter users in the US who are trying to earn money through “Ticketed Spaces” or “Super Follows”.

What are "Ticketed Spaces" and "Super Follows"?

“Ticketed Spaces” refers to exclusive and unique live audio experiences on Twitter, but users may not join in for free. Regular “Spaces” continues to remain free. Monetised Spaces could cost anything between $1-$999.

"Ticketed Spaces helps you create unique and exclusive live audio experiences in Twitter Spaces, ones your audience is willing to pay for," Ellen Havlicek&nbsp;and&nbsp;Esther Crawford of the company’s product team were cited as saying by AFP.

“Super Follows” is a feature that enables creators to charge for exclusive content on a monthly basis. The pricing for this feature is set at $2.99, $4.99 and $9.99 per month.

"Super Follows gives you a direct relationship with your most engaged followers that can generate monthly revenue”, the company’s product team said.

What's in it for Twitter?

The company will take three per cent of the first $50,000 any user amasses through selling tickets. After the first time, Twitter’s cut of&nbsp;the share will jump to 20 per cent. Influencers have a lot of clout on social media and will now have the chance to make a living through their presence&nbsp;with help from promotion campaigns.&nbsp;

Twitter is also testing a paid ad-free feature but it is unclear when the feature will be rolled out. Currently, the company is attempting to increase its revenue without disrupting the flow of content on its portal.

"We want to help make Twitter not just a fun place to engage your audience, but a place where you can earn money driving great conversations," Crawford and Havlicek added in the post.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/technology/twitter-restarts-verification-application-process-for-the-blue-badge-find-out-how-to-apply-389004" hreflang="en">Twitter restarts verification application process for the blue badge: Find out how to apply</a>

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/technology/twitter-is-working-on-a-three-tier-labelling-mechanism-to-fight-misinformation-heres-how-itll-work-388770" hreflang="en">Twitter is working on a three-tier labelling mechanism to fight misinformation. Here's how it'll work</a>

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/technology/features-of-twitter-blue-companys-upcoming-paid-service-revealed-385364" hreflang="en">Features of 'Twitter Blue', company's upcoming paid service revealed!</a>

Twitter on Tuesday announced plans to monetise specialised content on the portal through its “Ticketed Spaces” and "Super Follows" features. As part of pilot testing, Twitter will offer the feature to a few influencers in the United States, allowing their fans to pay for content.

Twitter on Tuesday announced plans to monetise specialised content on the portal through its “Ticketed Spaces” and "Super Follows" features. As part of pilot testing, Twitter will offer the feature to a few influencers in the United States, allowing their fans to pay for content. The company began accepting applications from Twitter users in the US who are trying to earn money through “Ticketed Spaces” or “Super Follows”. What are "Ticketed Spaces" and "Super Follows"? “Ticketed Spaces” refers to exclusive and unique live audio experiences on Twitter, but users may not join in for free. Regular “Spaces” continues to remain free. Monetised Spaces could cost anything between $1-$999. "Ticketed Spaces helps you create unique and exclusive live audio experiences in Twitter Spaces, ones your audience is willing to pay for," Ellen Havlicek and Esther Crawford of the company’s product team were cited as saying by AFP. “Super Follows” is a feature that enables creators to charge for exclusive content on a monthly basis. The pricing for this feature is set at $2.99, $4.99 and $9.99 per month. "Super Follows gives you a direct relationship with your most engaged followers that can generate monthly revenue”, the company’s product team said. What's in it for Twitter? The company will take three per cent of the first $50,000 any user amasses through selling tickets. After the first time, Twitter’s cut of the share will jump to 20 per cent. Influencers have a lot of clout on social media and will now have the chance to make a living through their presence with help from promotion campaigns. Twitter is also testing a paid ad-free feature but it is unclear when the feature will be rolled out. Currently, the company is attempting to increase its revenue without disrupting the flow of content on its portal. "We want to help make Twitter not just a fun place to engage your audience, but a place where you can earn money driving great conversations," Crawford and Havlicek added in the post. Also read: Twitter restarts verification application process for the blue badge: Find out how to apply Also read: Twitter is working on a three-tier labelling mechanism to fight misinformation. Here's how it'll work Also read: Features of 'Twitter Blue', company's upcoming paid service revealed!

'Ticketed Spaces': All you need to know about Twitter's new content monetisation features

Britain's streaming services and broadcasters should be on a level-playing field, as traditional broadcasters now compete with 'one hand tied behind their backs', Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said on Wednesday. 
 
Dowden is to unveil plans for a white paper on broadcasting that aims to make streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ follow the code of British regulator Ofcom, he said in the Times newspaper. 
 
"Every 'linear' broadcaster - BBC, Sky and so on - has to comply with stringent content and audience protection standards," Dowden said in an article published on Wednesday. 
 
"You might assume the same is true of video-on-demand services, such as Amazon Prime and Disney+. You'd be wrong." 
 
The government will consult this summer on whether it is time to set the same basic rules for video-on-demand services as is done for traditional broadcasters, he added. 
 
"The white paper will also set out proposals on how we ensure public service broadcasters are given sufficient visibility...online, and ensure viewers can continue to find and watch original and high-quality British programmes." 
 
Separately, Britain's Conservative government said it plans to sell Channel 4, launched 39 years ago as an alternative to the BBC and ITV, to help secure its future as a public service broadcaster. 
 
"In summer, I will consult on the sale of Channel 4," Dowden wrote, adding that he would proceed on the lines that an alternative ownership model retaining the broadcaster's public service remit would better serve both it and Britain. 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

Britain's streaming services and broadcasters should be on a level-playing field, as traditional broadcasters now compete with 'one hand tied behind their backs', Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said on Wednesday.

Britain's streaming services and broadcasters should be on a level-playing field, as traditional broadcasters now compete with 'one hand tied behind their backs', Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said on Wednesday. Dowden is to unveil plans for a white paper on broadcasting that aims to make streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ follow the code of British regulator Ofcom, he said in the Times newspaper. "Every 'linear' broadcaster - BBC, Sky and so on - has to comply with stringent content and audience protection standards," Dowden said in an article published on Wednesday. "You might assume the same is true of video-on-demand services, such as Amazon Prime and Disney+. You'd be wrong." The government will consult this summer on whether it is time to set the same basic rules for video-on-demand services as is done for traditional broadcasters, he added. "The white paper will also set out proposals on how we ensure public service broadcasters are given sufficient visibility...online, and ensure viewers can continue to find and watch original and high-quality British programmes." Separately, Britain's Conservative government said it plans to sell Channel 4, launched 39 years ago as an alternative to the BBC and ITV, to help secure its future as a public service broadcaster. "In summer, I will consult on the sale of Channel 4," Dowden wrote, adding that he would proceed on the lines that an alternative ownership model retaining the broadcaster's public service remit would better serve both it and Britain. (With inputs from agencies)

British minister urges same rules for streaming services, broadcasters: Times

Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk is considering holding an Artificial Intelligence Day in about a month, where the Silicon Valley billionaire will showcase the progress in AI software and hardware with an aim to recruit. 
 
"Looking at holding Tesla AI Day in about a month or so. Will go over progress with Tesla AI software &amp; hardware, both training &amp; inference. Purpose is recruiting," Musk tweeted on Monday. 
 
His latest plan to promote Tesla's technology comes amid the hiccups faced in the company's path to achieve full self-driving technology. 
 
Musk had during an earnings call in January said he was 'highly confident the car will be able to drive itself with reliability in excess of human this year'. 
 
But in May, Tesla informed the California Department of Motor Vehicles that it may not achieve full self-driving technology by 2021 end. 
 
The automaker is under review by the California regulator, which is probing if the company violated regulations by falsely promoting its advanced driver-assistance systems as being 'full self-driving'. 
 
Tesla's driver assistant features, which it describes as 'autopilot' or 'full self-driving", are designed to make hands-on driving easier. Those features do not make the vehicle autonomous. 
 
In Tesla's 'Battery Day' event in September last year, Musk said a $25,000 car that drives itself will be possible in three years. 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk is considering holding an Artificial Intelligence Day in about a month, where the Silicon Valley billionaire will showcase the progress in AI software and hardware with an aim to recruit.

Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk is considering holding an Artificial Intelligence Day in about a month, where the Silicon Valley billionaire will showcase the progress in AI software and hardware with an aim to recruit. "Looking at holding Tesla AI Day in about a month or so. Will go over progress with Tesla AI software & hardware, both training & inference. Purpose is recruiting," Musk tweeted on Monday. His latest plan to promote Tesla's technology comes amid the hiccups faced in the company's path to achieve full self-driving technology. Musk had during an earnings call in January said he was 'highly confident the car will be able to drive itself with reliability in excess of human this year'. But in May, Tesla informed the California Department of Motor Vehicles that it may not achieve full self-driving technology by 2021 end. The automaker is under review by the California regulator, which is probing if the company violated regulations by falsely promoting its advanced driver-assistance systems as being 'full self-driving'. Tesla's driver assistant features, which it describes as 'autopilot' or 'full self-driving", are designed to make hands-on driving easier. Those features do not make the vehicle autonomous. In Tesla's 'Battery Day' event in September last year, Musk said a $25,000 car that drives itself will be possible in three years. (With inputs from agencies)

Tesla to hold Artificial Intelligence Day in 'about a month' for hiring: Musk

Starlink, the satellite internet unit of Elon Musk's SpaceX, expects to be able to provide continuous global coverage by around September but will then need to seek regulatory approvals, its president Gwynne Shotwel said on Tuesday. 
 
"We've successfully deployed 1,800 or so satellites and once all those satellites reach their operational orbit, we will have continuous global coverage, so that should be like September timeframe," she told a Macquarie Group technology conference via webcast. 
 
"But then, we have regulatory work to go into every country and get approved to provide telecoms services." 
 
Starlink, which has said it plans to deploy 12,000 satellites in total at a cost of roughly $10 billion, currently offers beta services in 11 countries, Shotwel said. 
 
In May, Musk said the low-Earth orbiting satellite network had received more than 500,000 preorders for its internet service and anticipates no technical problems meeting demand. 
 
The US&nbsp;Federal Communications Commission this year approved SpaceX's plan to deploy some Starlink satellites at a lower earth orbit than planned to provide high-speed broadband internet services to people, who currently lack access. 
 
Starlink is one of a growing number of makers of small satellites that also includes Amazon.com's Kuiper, Britain's OneWeb, venture capital-backed Planet, and Raytheon Technologies Corp's Blue Canyon Technologies. 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

Starlink, the satellite internet unit of Elon Musk's SpaceX, expects to be able to provide continuous global coverage by around September but will then need to seek regulatory approvals, its president Gwynne Shotwel said on Tuesday.

Starlink, the satellite internet unit of Elon Musk's SpaceX, expects to be able to provide continuous global coverage by around September but will then need to seek regulatory approvals, its president Gwynne Shotwel said on Tuesday. "We've successfully deployed 1,800 or so satellites and once all those satellites reach their operational orbit, we will have continuous global coverage, so that should be like September timeframe," she told a Macquarie Group technology conference via webcast. "But then, we have regulatory work to go into every country and get approved to provide telecoms services." Starlink, which has said it plans to deploy 12,000 satellites in total at a cost of roughly $10 billion, currently offers beta services in 11 countries, Shotwel said. In May, Musk said the low-Earth orbiting satellite network had received more than 500,000 preorders for its internet service and anticipates no technical problems meeting demand. The US Federal Communications Commission this year approved SpaceX's plan to deploy some Starlink satellites at a lower earth orbit than planned to provide high-speed broadband internet services to people, who currently lack access. Starlink is one of a growing number of makers of small satellites that also includes Amazon.com's Kuiper, Britain's OneWeb, venture capital-backed Planet, and Raytheon Technologies Corp's Blue Canyon Technologies. (With inputs from agencies)

SpaceX's satellite internet unit Starlink expects it can provide global coverage around September

Europe's top court on Tuesday said that Google's YouTube and other online platforms are not liable for copyright-infringing works uploaded by users onto their platforms under certain conditions. 
 
The case marks the latest development in a long-running battle between Europe's $1 trillion creative industry and online platforms, with the former seeking compensation or action from the latter for unauthorised works that are uploaded. 
 
YouTube found itself in the dock after Frank Peterson, a music producer, sued the company and Google in Germany over the uploading to YouTube by users in 2008 of several phonograms to which he holds the rights. 
 
In a second case, publishing group Elsevier took legal action against file-hosting service Cyando in Germany after its users uploaded several Elsevier works on its platform Uploaded in 2013 without its approval. 
 
A German court subsequently sought advice from the EU Court of Justice, which ruled on both cases on Tuesday. 
 
"As currently stands, operators of online platforms do not, in principle, themselves make a communication to the public of copyright-protected content illegally posted online by users of those platforms," the EU Court of Justice said. 
 
"However, those operators do make such a communication in breach of copyright where they contribute, beyond merely making those platforms available, to giving access to such content to the public," judges said. 
 
The cases are C-682/18 YouTube and C-683/18 Cyando.

Europe's top court on Tuesday said that Google's YouTube and other online platforms are not liable for copyright-infringing works uploaded by users onto their platforms under certain conditions.

Europe's top court on Tuesday said that Google's YouTube and other online platforms are not liable for copyright-infringing works uploaded by users onto their platforms under certain conditions. The case marks the latest development in a long-running battle between Europe's $1 trillion creative industry and online platforms, with the former seeking compensation or action from the latter for unauthorised works that are uploaded. YouTube found itself in the dock after Frank Peterson, a music producer, sued the company and Google in Germany over the uploading to YouTube by users in 2008 of several phonograms to which he holds the rights. In a second case, publishing group Elsevier took legal action against file-hosting service Cyando in Germany after its users uploaded several Elsevier works on its platform Uploaded in 2013 without its approval. A German court subsequently sought advice from the EU Court of Justice, which ruled on both cases on Tuesday. "As currently stands, operators of online platforms do not, in principle, themselves make a communication to the public of copyright-protected content illegally posted online by users of those platforms," the EU Court of Justice said. "However, those operators do make such a communication in breach of copyright where they contribute, beyond merely making those platforms available, to giving access to such content to the public," judges said. The cases are C-682/18 YouTube and C-683/18 Cyando.

EU top court hands win to YouTube in user copyright fight

To stay up-to-date with the rising demand of the audio-based audience in recent months, the social media platform, Facebook, has launched a new feature of ‘live audio rooms’.

Proving as a direct rival to the popular audio-only exclusive mobile app, Clubhouse, Facebook has started rolling out audio-based features in the US.

Also read |&nbsp;<a data-ctorig="https://www.wionews.com/technology/facebook-launches-ads-for-instagram-reels-392258" data-cturl="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=006054055338965708568:09spwrlibei&amp;q=https://www.wionews.com/technology/facebook-launches-ads-for-instagram-reels-392258&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiynfqW_ajxAhW0zDgGHcCRBHYQFjAGegQIBxAC&amp;usg=AOvVaw23H6D18XunoCLTED4Tbcmw" dir="ltr" href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/facebook-launches-ads-for-instagram-reels-392258" target="_blank">Facebook&nbsp;launches ads for Instagram Reels</a>

These live audio rooms will be led by influencers and celebrities in which other participants can listen to the ongoing conversations of their choice and sometimes also participate.

The new feature will "enable you to discover, listen in on and join live conversations with public figures, experts and others about topics you're interested in," said Fidji Simo, head of the Facebook app, in a blog post.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/facebook-develops-new-method-to-reverse-engineer-deepfakes-and-track-their-source-392216">Facebook develops new method to reverse-engineer deepfakes and track their source</a>

Unlike Clubhouse, Facebook’s new feature will put a cap of 50 on the number of participants allowed in an audio room. "Public figures can invite friends, followers, verified public figures, or any listeners in the room to be a speaker. The host can invite speakers in advance or during the conversation.&nbsp;There can be up to 50 speakers, and there's no limit to the number of listeners," Simo added.

To stay up-to-date with the rising demand of the audio-based audience in recent months, the social media platform, Facebook, has launched a new feature of ‘live audio rooms’.

To stay up-to-date with the rising demand of the audio-based audience in recent months, the social media platform, Facebook, has launched a new feature of ‘live audio rooms’. Proving as a direct rival to the popular audio-only exclusive mobile app, Clubhouse, Facebook has started rolling out audio-based features in the US. Also read | Facebook launches ads for Instagram Reels These live audio rooms will be led by influencers and celebrities in which other participants can listen to the ongoing conversations of their choice and sometimes also participate. The new feature will "enable you to discover, listen in on and join live conversations with public figures, experts and others about topics you're interested in," said Fidji Simo, head of the Facebook app, in a blog post. Also read | Facebook develops new method to reverse-engineer deepfakes and track their source Unlike Clubhouse, Facebook’s new feature will put a cap of 50 on the number of participants allowed in an audio room. "Public figures can invite friends, followers, verified public figures, or any listeners in the room to be a speaker. The host can invite speakers in advance or during the conversation. There can be up to 50 speakers, and there's no limit to the number of listeners," Simo added.

Listen up! Facebook launches new 'live audio' rooms in US to take on Clubhouse

A German trade union called on workers at seven Amazon warehouses to go on strike on Monday for several days to coincide with the global Prime Day promotion. 
 
Verdi said it was organising the three-day strike as part of a long-running battle with the US&nbsp;tech giant in Germany over better pay and working conditions. 
 
"The workers in the mail order centres have to cope with the rush of customers and don't get a cent more for the additionally intensified workload," said Verdi representative Orhan Akman in a statement. 
 
Germany is Amazon's biggest market after the United States, and the Verdi union has been organising strikes at Amazon in the country since 2013 to protest low pay and poor conditions. 
 
An Amazon spokesperson said the company offers excellent pay and benefits. It has said during past calls for strikes over 90% of employees in the logistic centres worked as normal. 
 
Earlier this month, Amazon said it will guarantee an entry-level wage at its German warehouses of 12 euros ($14.25) an hour from July, which will rise to at least 12.50 euros per hour from autumn 2022. 
 
Amazon holds Prime Day to boost summer sales. The member-only discounts are an important way Amazon markets Prime, a fast-shipping and media-streaming service that incentivises subscribers to do more shopping on Amazon. 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

A German trade union called on workers at seven Amazon warehouses to go on strike on Monday for several days to coincide with the global Prime Day promotion. Verdi said it was organising the three-day strike as part of a long-running battle with the US tech giant in Germany over better pay and working conditions.

A German trade union called on workers at seven Amazon warehouses to go on strike on Monday for several days to coincide with the global Prime Day promotion. Verdi said it was organising the three-day strike as part of a long-running battle with the US tech giant in Germany over better pay and working conditions. "The workers in the mail order centres have to cope with the rush of customers and don't get a cent more for the additionally intensified workload," said Verdi representative Orhan Akman in a statement. Germany is Amazon's biggest market after the United States, and the Verdi union has been organising strikes at Amazon in the country since 2013 to protest low pay and poor conditions. An Amazon spokesperson said the company offers excellent pay and benefits. It has said during past calls for strikes over 90% of employees in the logistic centres worked as normal. Earlier this month, Amazon said it will guarantee an entry-level wage at its German warehouses of 12 euros ($14.25) an hour from July, which will rise to at least 12.50 euros per hour from autumn 2022. Amazon holds Prime Day to boost summer sales. The member-only discounts are an important way Amazon markets Prime, a fast-shipping and media-streaming service that incentivises subscribers to do more shopping on Amazon. (With inputs from agencies)

German union calls for Amazon workers to strike on 'Prime Day'

Germany's antitrust watchdog said on Monday it had launched an investigation into whether Apple was exploiting its market dominance, following similar proceedings into US&nbsp;tech rivals Facebook, Amazon and Google. 
 
Based on new competition law rules specifically intended for large digital companies, Germany's Federal Cartel Office (FCO) said it would assess whether Apple has a 'paramount significance across markets' in a first step. 
 
"Based on this first proceeding, the (FCO) intends to assess in more detail specific practices of Apple in a possible further proceeding. In this regard, the authority has received various complaints relating to potentially anti-competitive practices." 
 
The FCO said one complaint came from an association in the advertising and media industry and was aimed at Apple restricting user tracking with the introduction of its iOS 14.5 operating system. 
 
An Apple spokesperson said: "We look forward to discussing our approach with the FCO and having an open dialogue about any of their concerns."

Germany's antitrust watchdog said on Monday it had launched an investigation into whether Apple was exploiting its market dominance, following similar proceedings into US tech rivals Facebook, Amazon and Google.

Germany's antitrust watchdog said on Monday it had launched an investigation into whether Apple was exploiting its market dominance, following similar proceedings into US tech rivals Facebook, Amazon and Google. Based on new competition law rules specifically intended for large digital companies, Germany's Federal Cartel Office (FCO) said it would assess whether Apple has a 'paramount significance across markets' in a first step. "Based on this first proceeding, the (FCO) intends to assess in more detail specific practices of Apple in a possible further proceeding. In this regard, the authority has received various complaints relating to potentially anti-competitive practices." The FCO said one complaint came from an association in the advertising and media industry and was aimed at Apple restricting user tracking with the introduction of its iOS 14.5 operating system. An Apple spokesperson said: "We look forward to discussing our approach with the FCO and having an open dialogue about any of their concerns."

German antitrust watchdog launches investigation into Apple

With automation taking place at a much faster pace across industries especially in the tech space, domestic software firms that employ over 16 million are set to slash headcounts by a massive 3 million by 2022, which will help them save a whopping USD 100 billion mostly in salaries annually, says a report.

The domestic IT sector employs around 16 million, of which around 9 million are employed in low-skilled services and BPO roles, according to Nasscom. Of these 9 million low-skilled services and BPO roles, 30 per cent or around 3 million will be lost by 2022, principally driven by the impact of robot process automation or RPA.

Roughly 0.7 million roles are expected to be replaced by RPA alone and the rest due to other technological upgrades and upskilling by the domestic IT players, while the RPA will have the worst impact in the US with a loss of almost 1 million jobs, according to a Bank of America report on Wednesday.

Based on average fully-loaded employee costs of USD 25,000 per annum for India-based resources and USD 50,000 for US resources, this will release around USD 100 billion in annual salaries and associated expenses for corporates, the report says. "TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Tech Mahindra and Cognizant and others appear to be planning for a 3 million reduction in low-skilled roles by 2022 because of RPA up-skilling.

"This is a USD 100-billion in reduced salary and other costs, but on the flip side, it offers a likely a USD 10 billion boons for IT companies that successfully implement RPA, and another a USD5 billion opportunity from a vibrant new software niche by 2022.

Given that robots can function for 24 hours a day, this represents a significant saving of up to 10:1 versus the human labour," says the report.

Robot process automation (RPA) is the application of software, not physical robots, to perform routine, high-volume tasks, allowing employees to focus on more differentiated work. It differs from ordinary software applications as it mimics how the employee has worked instead of building a workflow into technology from the ground up and thus minimising time to market and greatly reducing cost over the more traditional software-led approaches.

Offshoring helped the domestic IT sector to grow from around 1 per cent of GDP in 1998 to 7 per cent today, a highly strategic sector for its economy and has also significantly outgrown their Western peers (mainly Accenture, Capgemini and Atos) with annual revenue growth of 18 per cent between 2005 and 2019.

Another key reason for the RPA-driven job losses is that many countries that had offshored their work in the past are likely to bring the jobs back to their home markets. Developed countries will also look to increasingly bringing back offshored IT jobs and either use native IT workers or domestic software robots like RPA to secure their digital supply chain and ensure future resiliency of their national technology infrastructure, reasons the report.

Software offshoring began in the 1970s and the 1980s when the personal computer began to gain traction when major world players began shifting focus to trade liberalisation. However, despite such massive automation, major economies like Germany (26 per cent shortage), China (7 per cent), India (5 per cent) Korea, Brazil, Thailand Malaysia and Russia will likely face labour shortages, warns the report, adding on contrary South Africa, Greece, Indonesia and the Philippines will have surplus labour for the next 15 years.

According to the report, faster automation is driven by the shrinking talent pool of high-skilled jobs in developing economies, the need for which will only jump, but the global high-skill talent pool is shrinking and exposing outmoded immigration systems.

The report goes onto warn that emerging economies mostly India and China face the most risk of technology-driven disruptions which can impact up to 85 per cent of jobs in countries like Kenya and Bangladesh. India and China are at the greatest risk of skills disruption, while ASEAN, the Persian Gulf and Japan are at the least risk.

Perhaps the most worrying trend is that emerging market jobs are most at risk of automation because of the low-/mid-skilled nature of sectors like manufacturing, highlighting the risk of premature de-industrialization. India saw its manufacturing peak in 2002, while it occurred in Germany in 1970, in Mexico in 1990.

With automation taking place at a much faster pace across industries especially in the tech space, domestic software firms that employ over 16 million are set to slash headcounts by a massive 3 million by 2022, which will help them save a whopping USD 100 billion mostly in salaries annually, says a report.

With automation taking place at a much faster pace across industries especially in the tech space, domestic software firms that employ over 16 million are set to slash headcounts by a massive 3 million by 2022, which will help them save a whopping USD 100 billion mostly in salaries annually, says a report. The domestic IT sector employs around 16 million, of which around 9 million are employed in low-skilled services and BPO roles, according to Nasscom. Of these 9 million low-skilled services and BPO roles, 30 per cent or around 3 million will be lost by 2022, principally driven by the impact of robot process automation or RPA. Roughly 0.7 million roles are expected to be replaced by RPA alone and the rest due to other technological upgrades and upskilling by the domestic IT players, while the RPA will have the worst impact in the US with a loss of almost 1 million jobs, according to a Bank of America report on Wednesday. Based on average fully-loaded employee costs of USD 25,000 per annum for India-based resources and USD 50,000 for US resources, this will release around USD 100 billion in annual salaries and associated expenses for corporates, the report says. "TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Tech Mahindra and Cognizant and others appear to be planning for a 3 million reduction in low-skilled roles by 2022 because of RPA up-skilling. "This is a USD 100-billion in reduced salary and other costs, but on the flip side, it offers a likely a USD 10 billion boons for IT companies that successfully implement RPA, and another a USD5 billion opportunity from a vibrant new software niche by 2022. Given that robots can function for 24 hours a day, this represents a significant saving of up to 10:1 versus the human labour," says the report. Robot process automation (RPA) is the application of software, not physical robots, to perform routine, high-volume tasks, allowing employees to focus on more differentiated work. It differs from ordinary software applications as it mimics how the employee has worked instead of building a workflow into technology from the ground up and thus minimising time to market and greatly reducing cost over the more traditional software-led approaches. Offshoring helped the domestic IT sector to grow from around 1 per cent of GDP in 1998 to 7 per cent today, a highly strategic sector for its economy and has also significantly outgrown their Western peers (mainly Accenture, Capgemini and Atos) with annual revenue growth of 18 per cent between 2005 and 2019. Another key reason for the RPA-driven job losses is that many countries that had offshored their work in the past are likely to bring the jobs back to their home markets. Developed countries will also look to increasingly bringing back offshored IT jobs and either use native IT workers or domestic software robots like RPA to secure their digital supply chain and ensure future resiliency of their national technology infrastructure, reasons the report. Software offshoring began in the 1970s and the 1980s when the personal computer began to gain traction when major world players began shifting focus to trade liberalisation. However, despite such massive automation, major economies like Germany (26 per cent shortage), China (7 per cent), India (5 per cent) Korea, Brazil, Thailand Malaysia and Russia will likely face labour shortages, warns the report, adding on contrary South Africa, Greece, Indonesia and the Philippines will have surplus labour for the next 15 years. According to the report, faster automation is driven by the shrinking talent pool of high-skilled jobs in developing economies, the need for which will only jump, but the global high-skill talent pool is shrinking and exposing outmoded immigration systems. The report goes onto warn that emerging economies mostly India and China face the most risk of technology-driven disruptions which can impact up to 85 per cent of jobs in countries like Kenya and Bangladesh. India and China are at the greatest risk of skills disruption, while ASEAN, the Persian Gulf and Japan are at the least risk. Perhaps the most worrying trend is that emerging market jobs are most at risk of automation because of the low-/mid-skilled nature of sectors like manufacturing, highlighting the risk of premature de-industrialization. India saw its manufacturing peak in 2002, while it occurred in Germany in 1970, in Mexico in 1990.

Automation: Indian IT companies to slash 3 million jobs; 30% of low-skill force by 2022

The internet has become an irreplaceable tool across most of the globe, serving as the backbone of commercial operations and e-commerce, worldwide news and social media commentary, as well as health and public welfare.&nbsp;

We take the internet for granted when it functions well. It's similar to breathing. We don't think about it, or the procedure that goes on behind the scenes.&nbsp;

But once it stops working, then we realise the authority of its presence in our daily life. The internet is becoming more and more centralised. As a result, it has become more vulnerable to catastrophic breakdowns.

<h2>Here is the list of the worst server outages in recent internet history:</h2>

Dyn Cyberattack of 2016

This catastrophe impacted people across two continents, including the United States and Europe, as well as popular platforms like Airbnb, Amazon, BBC, CNN, eBay, Netflix, and Twitter. Multiple distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) assaults attacked Dyn's Managed Domain Name System (DNS) service.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/british-airways-suffers-flight-delays-after-it-system-failure-3520">British Airways IT failure of 2017</a>

The whole of British Airways fleet was grounded in 2017 due to a huge IT failure, disrupting the travel plans of thousands of passengers not only in the UK but all over the world who were intending to board a British Airways flight.&nbsp;

Microsoft Azure cloud outage of 2018

Microsoft is one of the firms that offer Azure cloud servers as a platform for app development. However on June 20, 2018, the large cloud company's fortunes took a turn for the worse. In a nightmare scenario, a human error at one of Microsoft's data centres in Dublin, Ireland, resulted in an 11-hour outage.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/facebook-and-instagram-suffer-global-outages-265135">Facebook server outage</a>&nbsp;of 2019

While Facebook and its services have endured countless outages over the years, the one on March 13, 2019, was by far the worst, affecting 7.5 million people, according to DownDetector. People with Facebook services were disrupted for nearly a day and a half, according to Downdetector.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/monday-blues-google-drive-gmail-youtube-face-downtime-twitter-reacts-349730">Google Server Crash</a>&nbsp;of 2020

The world saw Google services break down in December 2020, resulting in a global outage of important services such as YouTube, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Meet, and others. All this when millions were working from home during the Covid pandemic. An examination eventually discovered that the problem was caused by a storage quota issue within the company.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/several-global-media-websites-go-down-white-house-uk-govt-sites-go-dark-too-390160">June 8, 2021: Fastly glitch causes a global internet outage</a>

Websites of several global media groups, international organisations, the White House as well as internet giants including Amazon, Reddit, Twitch, Github, Shopify and Spotify were&nbsp; affected by this outage. The issue was traced to a problem with Fastly, a cloud computing service provider employed by several of these companies. The glitch was caused by an undiscovered bug, according to Fastly's blog.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/many-us-airlines-and-australian-banks-hit-by-online-outage-392084">June 17, 2021: Many US airlines and Australian banks hit by online outage</a>

A glitch with tech company Akamai prompted a global web outage affecting major institutions and airlines. According to the monitoring site Downdetector, many corporations' websites experienced online failures all across the world.

The internet has become an irreplaceable tool across most of the globe, serving as the backbone of commercial operations and e-commerce, worldwide news and social media commentary, as well as health and public welfare.

The internet has become an irreplaceable tool across most of the globe, serving as the backbone of commercial operations and e-commerce, worldwide news and social media commentary, as well as health and public welfare. We take the internet for granted when it functions well. It's similar to breathing. We don't think about it, or the procedure that goes on behind the scenes. But once it stops working, then we realise the authority of its presence in our daily life. The internet is becoming more and more centralised. As a result, it has become more vulnerable to catastrophic breakdowns. Here is the list of the worst server outages in recent internet history: Dyn Cyberattack of 2016 This catastrophe impacted people across two continents, including the United States and Europe, as well as popular platforms like Airbnb, Amazon, BBC, CNN, eBay, Netflix, and Twitter. Multiple distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) assaults attacked Dyn's Managed Domain Name System (DNS) service. British Airways IT failure of 2017 The whole of British Airways fleet was grounded in 2017 due to a huge IT failure, disrupting the travel plans of thousands of passengers not only in the UK but all over the world who were intending to board a British Airways flight. Microsoft Azure cloud outage of 2018 Microsoft is one of the firms that offer Azure cloud servers as a platform for app development. However on June 20, 2018, the large cloud company's fortunes took a turn for the worse. In a nightmare scenario, a human error at one of Microsoft's data centres in Dublin, Ireland, resulted in an 11-hour outage. Facebook server outage of 2019 While Facebook and its services have endured countless outages over the years, the one on March 13, 2019, was by far the worst, affecting 7.5 million people, according to DownDetector. People with Facebook services were disrupted for nearly a day and a half, according to Downdetector. Google Server Crash of 2020 The world saw Google services break down in December 2020, resulting in a global outage of important services such as YouTube, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Meet, and others. All this when millions were working from home during the Covid pandemic. An examination eventually discovered that the problem was caused by a storage quota issue within the company. June 8, 2021: Fastly glitch causes a global internet outage Websites of several global media groups, international organisations, the White House as well as internet giants including Amazon, Reddit, Twitch, Github, Shopify and Spotify were affected by this outage. The issue was traced to a problem with Fastly, a cloud computing service provider employed by several of these companies. The glitch was caused by an undiscovered bug, according to Fastly's blog. June 17, 2021: Many US airlines and Australian banks hit by online outage A glitch with tech company Akamai prompted a global web outage affecting major institutions and airlines. According to the monitoring site Downdetector, many corporations' websites experienced online failures all across the world.

Massive online outages in recent internet history

Facebook is launching ads globally on Instagram Reels, it said on Thursday.

Facebook began testing Instagram Reels ads in India, Brazil, Germany and Australia in April. The tests ran with brands like BMW, Louis Vuitton, Netflix and Uber.&nbsp;

Facebook is aiming to monetise&nbsp;its short-form video feature.

"We see Reels as a great way for people to discover new content on Instagram, and so ads are a natural fit," said Instagram's Chief Operating Officer Justin Osofsky. "Brands of all sizes can take advantage of this new creative format in an environment where people are already being entertained."

The company said that Reels ads, which will loop and can be up to 30 seconds long, will appear between individual Reels.

(With inputs from agencies)

Facebook is launching ads globally on Instagram Reels, it said on Thursday. Facebook began testing Instagram Reels ads in India, Brazil, Germany and Australia in April.

Facebook is launching ads globally on Instagram Reels, it said on Thursday. Facebook began testing Instagram Reels ads in India, Brazil, Germany and Australia in April. The tests ran with brands like BMW, Louis Vuitton, Netflix and Uber. Facebook is aiming to monetise its short-form video feature. "We see Reels as a great way for people to discover new content on Instagram, and so ads are a natural fit," said Instagram's Chief Operating Officer Justin Osofsky. "Brands of all sizes can take advantage of this new creative format in an environment where people are already being entertained." The company said that Reels ads, which will loop and can be up to 30 seconds long, will appear between individual Reels. (With inputs from agencies)

Facebook launches ads for Instagram Reels

By Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Walmart Inc’s Flipkart has filed a legal challenge against the restarting of an antitrust probe into the company, arguing in a court filing that the investigation would cause "irreparable injury." The Competition Commission of India (CCI) launched an investigation in January last year following a complaint alleging that Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc promoted select sellers on their e-commerce platforms and used deep discounts to stifle competition. The companies have denied wrongdoing and near-immediate legal challenges from the pair stalled the probe for more than a year until a court last week ruled it could resume, having dismissed arguments that the CCI lacked evidence. The fresh appeal from Flipkart, filed on June 16, argues that decision by the Karnataka court to allow the probe to resume was erroneous and must be put on hold. "Irreparable injury will be caused to the appellant if the investigation was to continue pending the present appeal," the filing, which was not made public but has been viewed by Reuters, said. It also urged the court to quash the initial CCI order for the investigation. Flipkart and CCI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Amazon, which industry sources said was expected to file a similar challenge, declined to comment. Sources told Reuters earlier this week that the CCI planned to expedite the investigation as it intensifies scrutiny of big-tech firms, Reuters reported this week. The CCI plans to demand information from Flipkart and Amazon to the allegations "as quickly as possible", one source said, contrary to the several months such probes usually take. Both Amazon and Flipkart are currently battling accusations from offline retailers that their complex business structures allow them to circumvent foreign investment rules for e-commerce. In February, a Reuters investigation http://reut.rs/2OCOT2W based on Amazon documents showed the e-tailer for years gave preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its Indian platform. Amazon has said it "does not give preferential treatment to any seller". (Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; editing by Jane Wardell)

By Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Walmart Inc’s Flipkart has filed a legal challenge against the restarting of an antitrust probe into the company, arguing in a court filing that the investigation would cause "irreparable injury.

By Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Walmart Inc’s Flipkart has filed a legal challenge against the restarting of an antitrust probe into the company, arguing in a court filing that the investigation would cause "irreparable injury." The Competition Commission of India (CCI) launched an investigation in January last year following a complaint alleging that Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc promoted select sellers on their e-commerce platforms and used deep discounts to stifle competition. The companies have denied wrongdoing and near-immediate legal challenges from the pair stalled the probe for more than a year until a court last week ruled it could resume, having dismissed arguments that the CCI lacked evidence. The fresh appeal from Flipkart, filed on June 16, argues that decision by the Karnataka court to allow the probe to resume was erroneous and must be put on hold. "Irreparable injury will be caused to the appellant if the investigation was to continue pending the present appeal," the filing, which was not made public but has been viewed by Reuters, said. It also urged the court to quash the initial CCI order for the investigation. Flipkart and CCI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Amazon, which industry sources said was expected to file a similar challenge, declined to comment. Sources told Reuters earlier this week that the CCI planned to expedite the investigation as it intensifies scrutiny of big-tech firms, Reuters reported this week. The CCI plans to demand information from Flipkart and Amazon to the allegations "as quickly as possible", one source said, contrary to the several months such probes usually take. Both Amazon and Flipkart are currently battling accusations from offline retailers that their complex business structures allow them to circumvent foreign investment rules for e-commerce. In February, a Reuters investigation http://reut.rs/2OCOT2W based on Amazon documents showed the e-tailer for years gave preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its Indian platform. Amazon has said it "does not give preferential treatment to any seller". (Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; editing by Jane Wardell)

Walmart''s Flipkart challenges India court order on antitrust probe

For many years, the vicious cycle has spun: Websites solicit lurid, unverified complaints about supposed cheaters, sexual predators, deadbeats and scammers. People slander their enemies. The anonymous posts appear high in Google results for the names of victims. Then the websites charge the victims' thousands of dollars to take the posts down.

This circle of slander has been lucrative for the websites and associated middlemen — and devastating for victims. Now Google is trying to break the loop.

The company plans to change its search algorithm to prevent websites, which operate under domains like BadGirlReport.date and PredatorsAlert.us, from appearing in the list of results when someone searches for a person’s name.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/googles-plan-for-the-future-of-work-privacy-robots-and-balloon-walls-389036">Google’s plan for the future of work: Privacy robots and balloon walls</a>

Google also recently created a new concept it calls “known victims.” When people report to the company that they have been attacked on sites that charge to remove posts, Google will automatically suppress similar content when their names are searched for. “Known victims” also includes people whose nude photos have been published online without their consent, allowing them to request suppression of explicit results for their names.

The changes, some already made by Google and others planned for the coming months, are a response to recent New York Times articles documenting how the slander industry preys on victims with Google’s unwitting help.

“I doubt it will be a perfect solution, certainly not right off the bat. But I think it really should have a significant and positive impact,” said David Graff, Google’s vice president for global policy and standards and trust and safety. “We can’t police the web, but we can be responsible citizens.”

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>

That represents a momentous shift for victims of online slander. Google, which fields an estimated 90 per cent of global online search, historically resisted having human judgment play a role in its search engine, although it has bowed to mounting pressure in recent years to fight misinformation and abuse appearing at the top of its results.

At first, Google’s founders saw its algorithm as an unbiased reflection of the internet itself. It used an analysis called PageRank, named after co-founder Larry Page, to determine the worthiness of a website by evaluating how many other sites linked to it, as well as the quality of those other sites, based on how many sites linked to them.

The philosophy was, “We never touch search, no way no how. If we start touching search results, it’s a one-way ratchet to a curated internet and we’re no longer neutral,” said Danielle Citron, a law professor at the University of Virginia. A decade ago, Citron pressured Google to block so-called revenge porn from coming up in a search of someone’s name. The company initially resisted.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/tech-giants-are-plunged-into-political-firestorm-391017">Tech giants are plunged into political firestorm</a>

Google articulated its hands-off view in a 2004 statement about why its search engine was surfacing anti-Semitic websites in response to searches for “Jew.”

“Our search results are generated completely objectively and are independent of the beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google,” the company said in the statement, which it deleted a decade later. “The only sites we omit are those we are legally compelled to remove or those maliciously attempting to manipulate our results.”

Google’s early interventions in its search results were limited to things like web spam and pirated movies and music, as required by copyright laws, as well as financially compromising information, such as Social Security numbers. Only recently has the company grudgingly played a more active role in cleaning up people’s search results.

The most notable instance came in 2014 when European courts established the “right to be forgotten.” Residents of the European Union can request that what they regard as inaccurate and irrelevant information about them be removed from search engines.

Google unsuccessfully fought the court ruling. The company said that its role was to make existing information accessible and that it wanted no part in regulating content that appeared in search results. Since the right was established, Google has been forced to remove millions of links from the search results of people’s names.

More pressure to change came after Donald Trump was elected president. After the election, one of the top Google search results for “final election vote count 2016” was a link to an article that wrongly stated that Trump, who won in the Electoral College, had also won the popular vote.

A few months later, Google announced an initiative to provide “algorithmic updates to surface more authoritative content” in an effort to prevent intentionally misleading, false or offensive information from showing up in search results.

Around that time, Google’s antipathy toward engineering harassment out of its results began to soften.

The Wayback Machine’s archive of Google’s policies on removing items from search results captures the company’s evolution. First, Google was willing to disappear nude photos put online without the subject’s consent. Then it began delisting medical information. Next came fake pornography, followed by sites with “exploitative removal” policies and then so-called doxxing content, which Google defined as “exposing contact information with an intent to harm.”

The removal-request forms get millions of visits each year, according to Google, but many victims are unaware of their existence. That has allowed “reputation managers” and others to charge people for the removal of content from their results that they could request for free.

Pandu Nayak, the head of Google’s search quality team, said the company began fighting websites that charge people to remove slanderous content a few years ago, in response to the rise of a thriving industry that surfaced people’s mug shots and then charged for deletion.

Google started ranking such exploitative sites lower in its results, but the change didn’t help people who don’t have much information online. Because Google’s algorithm abhors a vacuum, posts accusing such people of being drug abusers or paedophiles could still appear prominently in their results.

Slander-peddling websites have relied on this feature. They wouldn’t be able to charge thousands of dollars to remove content if the posts weren’t damaging people’s reputations.

Nayak and Graff said Google was unaware of this problem until it was highlighted in The Times articles this year. They said that changes to Google’s algorithm and the creation of its “known victims” classification would help solve the problem. In particular, it will make it harder for sites to get traction on Google through one of their preferred methods: copying and reposting defamatory content from other sites.

Google has recently been testing the changes, with contractors doing side-by-side comparisons of the new and old search results.

The Times had previously compiled a list of 47,000 people who have been written about on the slander sites. In a search of a handful of people whose results were previously littered with slanderous posts, the changes Google has made were already detectable. For some, the posts had disappeared from their first page of results and their image results. For others, posts had mostly disappeared, save for one from a newly launched slander site called CheaterArchives.com.

CheaterArchives.com may illustrate the limits of Google’s new protections. Since it is fairly new, it is unlikely to have generated complaints from victims. Those complaints are one way Google finds slander sites. Also, CheaterArchives.com does not explicitly advertise the removal of posts as a service, potentially making it harder for victims to get it removed from their results.

The Google executives said the company was not motivated solely by sympathy for victims of online slander. Instead, it is part of Google’s long-standing efforts to combat sites that are trying to appear higher in the search engine’s results than they deserve.

“These sites are, frankly, gaming our system,” Graff said.

Still, Google’s move is likely to add to questions about the company’s effective monopoly over what information is and is not in the public domain. Indeed, that is part of the reason that Google has historically been so reluctant to intervene in individual search results.

“You should be able to find anything that’s legal to find,” said Daphne Keller, who was a lawyer at Google from 2004 to 2015, working on the search product team for part of that time, and is now at Stanford studying how platforms should be regulated. Google, she said, “is just flexing its own muscle and deciding what information should disappear.”

Keller was not criticizing her former employer, but rather lamenting the fact that lawmakers and law enforcement authorities have largely ignored the slander industry and its extortionary practices, leaving Google to clean up the mess.

That Google can potentially solve this problem with a policy change and tweaks to its algorithm is “the upside of centralization,” said Citron, the University of Virginia professor who has argued that technology platforms have more power than governments to fight online abuse.

Citron was impressed by Google’s changes, particularly the creation of the “known victims” designation. She said such victims are often posted about repeatedly, and sites compound the damage by scraping one another.

“I applaud their efforts,” she said. “Can they do better? Yes, they can.”

For many years, the vicious cycle has spun: Websites solicit lurid, unverified complaints about supposed cheaters, sexual predators, deadbeats and scammers. People slander their enemies.

For many years, the vicious cycle has spun: Websites solicit lurid, unverified complaints about supposed cheaters, sexual predators, deadbeats and scammers. People slander their enemies. The anonymous posts appear high in Google results for the names of victims. Then the websites charge the victims' thousands of dollars to take the posts down. This circle of slander has been lucrative for the websites and associated middlemen — and devastating for victims. Now Google is trying to break the loop. The company plans to change its search algorithm to prevent websites, which operate under domains like BadGirlReport.date and PredatorsAlert.us, from appearing in the list of results when someone searches for a person’s name. Also read | Google’s plan for the future of work: Privacy robots and balloon walls Google also recently created a new concept it calls “known victims.” When people report to the company that they have been attacked on sites that charge to remove posts, Google will automatically suppress similar content when their names are searched for. “Known victims” also includes people whose nude photos have been published online without their consent, allowing them to request suppression of explicit results for their names. The changes, some already made by Google and others planned for the coming months, are a response to recent New York Times articles documenting how the slander industry preys on victims with Google’s unwitting help. “I doubt it will be a perfect solution, certainly not right off the bat. But I think it really should have a significant and positive impact,” said David Graff, Google’s vice president for global policy and standards and trust and safety. “We can’t police the web, but we can be responsible citizens.” Also read | Apple, Google and a deal that controls the internet That represents a momentous shift for victims of online slander. Google, which fields an estimated 90 per cent of global online search, historically resisted having human judgment play a role in its search engine, although it has bowed to mounting pressure in recent years to fight misinformation and abuse appearing at the top of its results. At first, Google’s founders saw its algorithm as an unbiased reflection of the internet itself. It used an analysis called PageRank, named after co-founder Larry Page, to determine the worthiness of a website by evaluating how many other sites linked to it, as well as the quality of those other sites, based on how many sites linked to them. The philosophy was, “We never touch search, no way no how. If we start touching search results, it’s a one-way ratchet to a curated internet and we’re no longer neutral,” said Danielle Citron, a law professor at the University of Virginia. A decade ago, Citron pressured Google to block so-called revenge porn from coming up in a search of someone’s name. The company initially resisted. Also read | Tech giants are plunged into political firestorm Google articulated its hands-off view in a 2004 statement about why its search engine was surfacing anti-Semitic websites in response to searches for “Jew.” “Our search results are generated completely objectively and are independent of the beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google,” the company said in the statement, which it deleted a decade later. “The only sites we omit are those we are legally compelled to remove or those maliciously attempting to manipulate our results.” Google’s early interventions in its search results were limited to things like web spam and pirated movies and music, as required by copyright laws, as well as financially compromising information, such as Social Security numbers. Only recently has the company grudgingly played a more active role in cleaning up people’s search results. The most notable instance came in 2014 when European courts established the “right to be forgotten.” Residents of the European Union can request that what they regard as inaccurate and irrelevant information about them be removed from search engines. Google unsuccessfully fought the court ruling. The company said that its role was to make existing information accessible and that it wanted no part in regulating content that appeared in search results. Since the right was established, Google has been forced to remove millions of links from the search results of people’s names. More pressure to change came after Donald Trump was elected president. After the election, one of the top Google search results for “final election vote count 2016” was a link to an article that wrongly stated that Trump, who won in the Electoral College, had also won the popular vote. A few months later, Google announced an initiative to provide “algorithmic updates to surface more authoritative content” in an effort to prevent intentionally misleading, false or offensive information from showing up in search results. Around that time, Google’s antipathy toward engineering harassment out of its results began to soften. The Wayback Machine’s archive of Google’s policies on removing items from search results captures the company’s evolution. First, Google was willing to disappear nude photos put online without the subject’s consent. Then it began delisting medical information. Next came fake pornography, followed by sites with “exploitative removal” policies and then so-called doxxing content, which Google defined as “exposing contact information with an intent to harm.” The removal-request forms get millions of visits each year, according to Google, but many victims are unaware of their existence. That has allowed “reputation managers” and others to charge people for the removal of content from their results that they could request for free. Pandu Nayak, the head of Google’s search quality team, said the company began fighting websites that charge people to remove slanderous content a few years ago, in response to the rise of a thriving industry that surfaced people’s mug shots and then charged for deletion. Google started ranking such exploitative sites lower in its results, but the change didn’t help people who don’t have much information online. Because Google’s algorithm abhors a vacuum, posts accusing such people of being drug abusers or paedophiles could still appear prominently in their results. Slander-peddling websites have relied on this feature. They wouldn’t be able to charge thousands of dollars to remove content if the posts weren’t damaging people’s reputations. Nayak and Graff said Google was unaware of this problem until it was highlighted in The Times articles this year. They said that changes to Google’s algorithm and the creation of its “known victims” classification would help solve the problem. In particular, it will make it harder for sites to get traction on Google through one of their preferred methods: copying and reposting defamatory content from other sites. Google has recently been testing the changes, with contractors doing side-by-side comparisons of the new and old search results. The Times had previously compiled a list of 47,000 people who have been written about on the slander sites. In a search of a handful of people whose results were previously littered with slanderous posts, the changes Google has made were already detectable. For some, the posts had disappeared from their first page of results and their image results. For others, posts had mostly disappeared, save for one from a newly launched slander site called CheaterArchives.com. CheaterArchives.com may illustrate the limits of Google’s new protections. Since it is fairly new, it is unlikely to have generated complaints from victims. Those complaints are one way Google finds slander sites. Also, CheaterArchives.com does not explicitly advertise the removal of posts as a service, potentially making it harder for victims to get it removed from their results. The Google executives said the company was not motivated solely by sympathy for victims of online slander. Instead, it is part of Google’s long-standing efforts to combat sites that are trying to appear higher in the search engine’s results than they deserve. “These sites are, frankly, gaming our system,” Graff said. Still, Google’s move is likely to add to questions about the company’s effective monopoly over what information is and is not in the public domain. Indeed, that is part of the reason that Google has historically been so reluctant to intervene in individual search results. “You should be able to find anything that’s legal to find,” said Daphne Keller, who was a lawyer at Google from 2004 to 2015, working on the search product team for part of that time, and is now at Stanford studying how platforms should be regulated. Google, she said, “is just flexing its own muscle and deciding what information should disappear.” Keller was not criticizing her former employer, but rather lamenting the fact that lawmakers and law enforcement authorities have largely ignored the slander industry and its extortionary practices, leaving Google to clean up the mess. That Google can potentially solve this problem with a policy change and tweaks to its algorithm is “the upside of centralization,” said Citron, the University of Virginia professor who has argued that technology platforms have more power than governments to fight online abuse. Citron was impressed by Google’s changes, particularly the creation of the “known victims” designation. She said such victims are often posted about repeatedly, and sites compound the damage by scraping one another. “I applaud their efforts,” she said. “Can they do better? Yes, they can.”

Google seeks to break vicious cycle of online slander

Whether it was gangsters a century ago speeding off in faster getaway cars or terrorists and hackers in recent decades who shielded their communications through encrypted apps, criminals have perennially exploited technology to stay a step ahead of law enforcement.

The FBI struck back in the past week with a pair of victories: a seizure of most of the $4 million ransom in Bitcoin that Russian hackers extorted from a US pipeline operator and the announcement of a yearslong sting operation where thousands of suspects were duped into using a messaging app secretly controlled by authorities. More than 800 people were arrested in more than a dozen countries.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/el-salvador-legalises-bitcoin-as-other-nations-plan-similar-moves-390658">El Salvador legalises Bitcoin as other nations plan similar moves</a>

The breakthroughs came in part because law enforcement officials learned how to leverage two rapidly advancing technologies — encryption and cryptocurrencies — that had previously been a boon for criminals.

Yet the events did little to fundamentally alter the challenges for authorities in an increasingly digital world, according to former law enforcement officials, prosecutors, historians and technology experts. The global sting is highly unlikely to keep criminals from using encryption and could encourage them to go even further underground, experts said. And while the FBI has shown that it can recover stolen cryptocurrencies, doing so requires resources beyond the reach of most law enforcement agencies.

Ultimately, the cases were the latest iteration in the decades-long back and forth between lawbreakers and the FBI in which both sides have seized on technological advances, whether it is criminals hiding behind encryption or investigators exploiting facial recognition, drones and other mechanisms.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/uk-police-accidentally-discover-bitcoin-mine-while-searching-for-cannabis-warehouse-388213">UK police accidentally discover Bitcoin mine while searching for cannabis warehouse</a>

“You get a sharper sword; they get a stronger shield. The greed of the bad guys is always stronger than the reach of the good guys,” said Tim Weiner, author of “Enemies: A History of the FBI.” “That’s not just the story of the FBI; it’s been true throughout the history of warfare.”

Now law enforcement agencies are seeking more access to digital devices, sometimes buying hacking tools from the private sector, and urging lawmakers to give them more power to track suspects.

“This does not end the debate on encryption,” said Joseph DeMarco, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who has spent years working on cybercrime. “It shows that law enforcement is willing to design flanking maneuvers to go around encryption obstacles. But the debate about whether or not those workarounds are adequate will continue.”

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/elon-musks-tesla-halts-bitcoin-purchases-amid-concerns-of-increasing-carbon-emissions-384647">Elon Musk's Tesla halts bitcoin purchases amid concerns of increasing carbon emissions</a>

Law Enforcement Gains

Technology has not been all bad for the police. Beyond facial recognition and drones, authorities in the United States use gunshot detectors and devices that simulate cell towers to surreptitiously connect to suspects’ phones and determine their location.

Law enforcement also has an advantage when it gets hold of digital devices. Despite claims from Apple, Google and even the Justice Department that smartphones are largely impenetrable, thousands of law enforcement agencies have tools that can infiltrate the latest phones to extract data.

“Police today are facing a situation of an explosion of data,” said Yossi Carmil, CEO of Cellebrite, an Israeli company that has sold data extraction tools to more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies, including hundreds of small police departments across the United States. “The solutions are there. There is no real challenge to accessing the data.”

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-administration-secretly-seized-phone-records-of-times-reporters-389303">Trump administration secretly seized phone records of Times reporters</a>

The police also have an easier time getting to data stored in the cloud. Technology companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft regularly turn over customers’ personal data, such as photographs, emails, contacts and text messages, to authorities with a warrant.

From January 2013 through June 2020, Apple said, it turned over the contents of tens of thousands of iCloud accounts to US law enforcement in 13,371 cases.

And Friday, Apple said that in 2018, it had unknowingly turned over to the Justice Department the phone records of congressional staff members, their families and at least two members of Congress, including Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., now the chair of the House Intelligence Committee. The subpoena was part of an investigation by the Trump administration into leaks of classified information.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/apple-is-said-to-have-turned-over-data-on-trumps-white-house-counsel-in-2018-391445">Apple is said to have turned over data on Trump’s White House counsel in 2018</a>

Challenge of Encryption

Yet intercepting communications has remained a troublesome problem for the police. While criminals used to talk over channels that were relatively simple to tap — like phones, emails and basic text messages — most now use encrypted messengers, which are not.

Two of the world’s most popular messaging services, Apple’s iMessage and Facebook’s WhatsApp, use so-called end-to-end encryption, meaning only the sender and receiver can see the messages. Not even the companies have access to their contents, allowing Apple and Facebook to argue that they cannot turn them over to law enforcement.

Authorities’ frustration has prompted them to target smaller encrypted apps favoured by criminals. In July, the police in Europe said they hacked into one called EncroChat, leading to hundreds of arrests.

That pushed many criminals onto a new service, Anom. They had to buy specialized phones with few working features, aside from an app disguised as a calculator. With a code, it would turn into a messaging app, Anom, that claimed to be encrypted.

In fact, the FBI created Anom. The bureau and the Australian police started the operation by persuading an informant to distribute the devices to criminal networks, after which they caught on by word-of-mouth. After three years, Anom had more than 12,000 users.

Criminals felt so comfortable on the service that they stopped using coded language, sending photos of smuggled cocaine shipments and openly planning murders, the police said. And when authorities obtained court approval to surveil any Anom users, they could easily monitor their messages.

But when the police carried out hundreds of arrests and detailed the scheme to news cameras this past week, the ruse was over. Authorities were once again in the dark.

An Attractive Tool for Criminals

For years, Bitcoin and other digital currencies were the coin of choice for international criminal syndicates. The qualities that make cryptocurrencies attractive — decentralization and anonymity — make them great for theft, ransom and selling drugs.

Getting paid used to be the hardest part of holding something or someone hostage, said Ross Anderson, a cybersecurity researcher at the University of Cambridge who studies how the police and criminals use technology.

“It’s easy enough to grab the heiress or her dog, but the problem then is that when you threatened to cut her ear off and asked Mr. Rockefeller to send you a large suitcase full of dollar bills, the police tagged along, or they put a radio transmitter in it,” he said. “With Bitcoin, you can get actually quite substantial extortion amounts, like seven- and eight-figure sums, which can be delivered instantaneously to Russia or North Korea or wherever.”

That new model fueled a surge in ransomware attacks, where hackers take control of a person’s or company’s computers and demand a ransom. Recorded Future, a security company that tracks such attacks, estimated that last year, one attack occurred every eight minutes.

Ransomware attacks have recently hit hospitals, meatpackers, minor league baseball teams and the ferries to Martha’s Vineyard. Many companies pay the ransoms because it is easier and faster than alternative solutions, despite also giving hackers more incentive.

Yet the Colonial Pipeline case showed that the police could also use cryptocurrencies to their advantage. Each transaction is recorded in a public ledger, making the money traceable even as it travels from one anonymous account to the next. That means that law enforcement with enough money and know-how can typically hack into an account and snatch back the money.

But hacking can be expensive and time-consuming, leaving few agencies outside the FBI with the ability to do it.

The 21st-Century Fight

The history of the cat-and-mouse game between the police and criminals is long. In the 1920s, bandits realized that cars could allow them to rob a home or bank and quickly escape to the next county or state, where the police would be less interested in solving the crime.

“It took something like 50 years for the police to catch up with regional crime squads and police national computers and eventually with automatic plate number recognition,” Anderson said. “But for a while, the existence of the car meant that it was a fun time for the gangsters.”

Today, law enforcement’s eagerness to keep up has spawned a rapidly growing industry dedicated to extracting suspects’ communications data. Cellebrite, the Israeli company, said its sales increased 38 per cent in the first quarter to $53 million as more police departments bought its tools to hack into suspects’ phones.

At least 2,000 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states have such tools, including 49 of the 50 largest US police departments, according to Upturn, a Washington nonprofit that investigates how the police use technology.

Still, some of the nation’s top law enforcement officials have asked for more from tech companies and lawmakers. Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, told Congress in 2019 that data extraction tools were expensive and unreliable. They can sometimes take weeks or even years to crack into a phone, he said.

“There are many, many serious cases where we can’t access the device in the time period where it is most important for us,” Vance told lawmakers.

Apple said security researchers agreed that the iPhone is the most secure device on the market. Google declined to comment.

Whether it was gangsters a century ago speeding off in faster getaway cars or terrorists and hackers in recent decades who shielded their communications through encrypted apps, criminals have perennially exploited technology to stay a step ahead of law enforcement.

Whether it was gangsters a century ago speeding off in faster getaway cars or terrorists and hackers in recent decades who shielded their communications through encrypted apps, criminals have perennially exploited technology to stay a step ahead of law enforcement. The FBI struck back in the past week with a pair of victories: a seizure of most of the $4 million ransom in Bitcoin that Russian hackers extorted from a US pipeline operator and the announcement of a yearslong sting operation where thousands of suspects were duped into using a messaging app secretly controlled by authorities. More than 800 people were arrested in more than a dozen countries. Also read | El Salvador legalises Bitcoin as other nations plan similar moves The breakthroughs came in part because law enforcement officials learned how to leverage two rapidly advancing technologies — encryption and cryptocurrencies — that had previously been a boon for criminals. Yet the events did little to fundamentally alter the challenges for authorities in an increasingly digital world, according to former law enforcement officials, prosecutors, historians and technology experts. The global sting is highly unlikely to keep criminals from using encryption and could encourage them to go even further underground, experts said. And while the FBI has shown that it can recover stolen cryptocurrencies, doing so requires resources beyond the reach of most law enforcement agencies. Ultimately, the cases were the latest iteration in the decades-long back and forth between lawbreakers and the FBI in which both sides have seized on technological advances, whether it is criminals hiding behind encryption or investigators exploiting facial recognition, drones and other mechanisms. Also read | UK police accidentally discover Bitcoin mine while searching for cannabis warehouse “You get a sharper sword; they get a stronger shield. The greed of the bad guys is always stronger than the reach of the good guys,” said Tim Weiner, author of “Enemies: A History of the FBI.” “That’s not just the story of the FBI; it’s been true throughout the history of warfare.” Now law enforcement agencies are seeking more access to digital devices, sometimes buying hacking tools from the private sector, and urging lawmakers to give them more power to track suspects. “This does not end the debate on encryption,” said Joseph DeMarco, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who has spent years working on cybercrime. “It shows that law enforcement is willing to design flanking maneuvers to go around encryption obstacles. But the debate about whether or not those workarounds are adequate will continue.” Also read | Elon Musk's Tesla halts bitcoin purchases amid concerns of increasing carbon emissions Law Enforcement Gains Technology has not been all bad for the police. Beyond facial recognition and drones, authorities in the United States use gunshot detectors and devices that simulate cell towers to surreptitiously connect to suspects’ phones and determine their location. Law enforcement also has an advantage when it gets hold of digital devices. Despite claims from Apple, Google and even the Justice Department that smartphones are largely impenetrable, thousands of law enforcement agencies have tools that can infiltrate the latest phones to extract data. “Police today are facing a situation of an explosion of data,” said Yossi Carmil, CEO of Cellebrite, an Israeli company that has sold data extraction tools to more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies, including hundreds of small police departments across the United States. “The solutions are there. There is no real challenge to accessing the data.” Also read | Trump administration secretly seized phone records of Times reporters The police also have an easier time getting to data stored in the cloud. Technology companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft regularly turn over customers’ personal data, such as photographs, emails, contacts and text messages, to authorities with a warrant. From January 2013 through June 2020, Apple said, it turned over the contents of tens of thousands of iCloud accounts to US law enforcement in 13,371 cases. And Friday, Apple said that in 2018, it had unknowingly turned over to the Justice Department the phone records of congressional staff members, their families and at least two members of Congress, including Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., now the chair of the House Intelligence Committee. The subpoena was part of an investigation by the Trump administration into leaks of classified information. Also read | Apple is said to have turned over data on Trump’s White House counsel in 2018 Challenge of Encryption Yet intercepting communications has remained a troublesome problem for the police. While criminals used to talk over channels that were relatively simple to tap — like phones, emails and basic text messages — most now use encrypted messengers, which are not. Two of the world’s most popular messaging services, Apple’s iMessage and Facebook’s WhatsApp, use so-called end-to-end encryption, meaning only the sender and receiver can see the messages. Not even the companies have access to their contents, allowing Apple and Facebook to argue that they cannot turn them over to law enforcement. Authorities’ frustration has prompted them to target smaller encrypted apps favoured by criminals. In July, the police in Europe said they hacked into one called EncroChat, leading to hundreds of arrests. That pushed many criminals onto a new service, Anom. They had to buy specialized phones with few working features, aside from an app disguised as a calculator. With a code, it would turn into a messaging app, Anom, that claimed to be encrypted. In fact, the FBI created Anom. The bureau and the Australian police started the operation by persuading an informant to distribute the devices to criminal networks, after which they caught on by word-of-mouth. After three years, Anom had more than 12,000 users. Criminals felt so comfortable on the service that they stopped using coded language, sending photos of smuggled cocaine shipments and openly planning murders, the police said. And when authorities obtained court approval to surveil any Anom users, they could easily monitor their messages. But when the police carried out hundreds of arrests and detailed the scheme to news cameras this past week, the ruse was over. Authorities were once again in the dark. An Attractive Tool for Criminals For years, Bitcoin and other digital currencies were the coin of choice for international criminal syndicates. The qualities that make cryptocurrencies attractive — decentralization and anonymity — make them great for theft, ransom and selling drugs. Getting paid used to be the hardest part of holding something or someone hostage, said Ross Anderson, a cybersecurity researcher at the University of Cambridge who studies how the police and criminals use technology. “It’s easy enough to grab the heiress or her dog, but the problem then is that when you threatened to cut her ear off and asked Mr. Rockefeller to send you a large suitcase full of dollar bills, the police tagged along, or they put a radio transmitter in it,” he said. “With Bitcoin, you can get actually quite substantial extortion amounts, like seven- and eight-figure sums, which can be delivered instantaneously to Russia or North Korea or wherever.” That new model fueled a surge in ransomware attacks, where hackers take control of a person’s or company’s computers and demand a ransom. Recorded Future, a security company that tracks such attacks, estimated that last year, one attack occurred every eight minutes. Ransomware attacks have recently hit hospitals, meatpackers, minor league baseball teams and the ferries to Martha’s Vineyard. Many companies pay the ransoms because it is easier and faster than alternative solutions, despite also giving hackers more incentive. Yet the Colonial Pipeline case showed that the police could also use cryptocurrencies to their advantage. Each transaction is recorded in a public ledger, making the money traceable even as it travels from one anonymous account to the next. That means that law enforcement with enough money and know-how can typically hack into an account and snatch back the money. But hacking can be expensive and time-consuming, leaving few agencies outside the FBI with the ability to do it. The 21st-Century Fight The history of the cat-and-mouse game between the police and criminals is long. In the 1920s, bandits realized that cars could allow them to rob a home or bank and quickly escape to the next county or state, where the police would be less interested in solving the crime. “It took something like 50 years for the police to catch up with regional crime squads and police national computers and eventually with automatic plate number recognition,” Anderson said. “But for a while, the existence of the car meant that it was a fun time for the gangsters.” Today, law enforcement’s eagerness to keep up has spawned a rapidly growing industry dedicated to extracting suspects’ communications data. Cellebrite, the Israeli company, said its sales increased 38 per cent in the first quarter to $53 million as more police departments bought its tools to hack into suspects’ phones. At least 2,000 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states have such tools, including 49 of the 50 largest US police departments, according to Upturn, a Washington nonprofit that investigates how the police use technology. Still, some of the nation’s top law enforcement officials have asked for more from tech companies and lawmakers. Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, told Congress in 2019 that data extraction tools were expensive and unreliable. They can sometimes take weeks or even years to crack into a phone, he said. “There are many, many serious cases where we can’t access the device in the time period where it is most important for us,” Vance told lawmakers. Apple said security researchers agreed that the iPhone is the most secure device on the market. Google declined to comment.

Bitcoin and encryption: A race between criminals and the FBI

Social media plaform&nbsp;Facebook has developed a&nbsp;new method to reverse-engineer deepfakes and track their source.

Deepfakes are photos, videos or audio clips altered using artificial intelligence to appear authentic, which experts have warned can mislead or be completely false.

Facebook research scientists Tal Hassner and Xi Yin said their team worked with Michigan State University to create software that reverse engineers deepfake images to figure out how they were made and where they originated.

"Our method will facilitate deepfake detection and tracing in real-world settings, where the deepfake image itself is often the only information detectors have to work with," the scientists said in a blog post.

"This work will give researchers and practitioners tools to better investigate incidents of coordinated disinformation using deepfakes, as well as open up new directions for future research," they added.

Facebook's new software runs deepfakes through a network to search for imperfections left during the manufacturing process, which the scientists say alter an image's digital "fingerprint."

"In digital photography, fingerprints are used to identify the digital camera used to produce an image," the scientists said.&nbsp;

"Similar to device fingerprints, image fingerprints are unique patterns left on images... that can equally be used to identify the generative model that the image came from."

"Our research pushes the boundaries of understanding in deepfake detection," they said.

Microsoft late last year unveiled software that can help spot deepfake photos or videos, adding to an arsenal of programs designed to fight the hard-to-detect images ahead of the US presidential election.

The company's Video Authenticator software analyzes an image or each frame of a video, looking for evidence of manipulation that could be invisible to the naked eye.

(With inputs from agencies)

Social media plaform Facebook has developed a new method to reverse-engineer deepfakes and track their source. Deepfakes are photos, videos or audio clips altered using artificial intelligence to appear authentic, which experts have warned can mislead or be completely false.

Social media plaform Facebook has developed a new method to reverse-engineer deepfakes and track their source. Deepfakes are photos, videos or audio clips altered using artificial intelligence to appear authentic, which experts have warned can mislead or be completely false. Facebook research scientists Tal Hassner and Xi Yin said their team worked with Michigan State University to create software that reverse engineers deepfake images to figure out how they were made and where they originated. "Our method will facilitate deepfake detection and tracing in real-world settings, where the deepfake image itself is often the only information detectors have to work with," the scientists said in a blog post. "This work will give researchers and practitioners tools to better investigate incidents of coordinated disinformation using deepfakes, as well as open up new directions for future research," they added. Facebook's new software runs deepfakes through a network to search for imperfections left during the manufacturing process, which the scientists say alter an image's digital "fingerprint." "In digital photography, fingerprints are used to identify the digital camera used to produce an image," the scientists said. "Similar to device fingerprints, image fingerprints are unique patterns left on images... that can equally be used to identify the generative model that the image came from." "Our research pushes the boundaries of understanding in deepfake detection," they said. Microsoft late last year unveiled software that can help spot deepfake photos or videos, adding to an arsenal of programs designed to fight the hard-to-detect images ahead of the US presidential election. The company's Video Authenticator software analyzes an image or each frame of a video, looking for evidence of manipulation that could be invisible to the naked eye. (With inputs from agencies)

Facebook develops new method to reverse-engineer deepfakes and track their source

A global online outage at major banks and airlines on Thursday was caused by a problem with tech provider Akamai, one of the firms affected has confirmed.

Virgin Australia said it "was one of many organisations to experience an outage with the Akamai content delivery system", adding that work was underway to prevent the roughly one-hour blackout from happening again.

"We are aware of the issue and actively working to restore services as soon as possible", a spokesperson for Akamai said in an emailed statement.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/many-us-airlines-and-australian-banks-hit-by-online-outage-392084">Many US airlines and Australian banks hit by online outage</a>

Many other websites in Australia, including those belonging to the central bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp, and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, had also started to come back online late afternoon on Thursday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia cancelled an operation to buy long-dated government bonds because of technical difficulties.

Websites of major US&nbsp;airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, also experienced disruptions early on Thursday, according to&nbsp;outage&nbsp;monitoring website Downdetector.

More than a thousand user reports indicated problems at Southwest Airlines, with over 400 user reports indicating the same for Delta Air Lines, according to Downdetector. That number was around 300 for the other two airline companies.

Southwest canceled nearly 300 flights on Wednesday and delayed more than 500 a day after it was forced to temporarily halt operations over a computer glitch.

The websites were back up in about an hour.

The&nbsp;outages predominantly in Australia on Thursday come a little over a week after thousands of government, news, and social media websites around the world were hit by a technical issue linked to US-based cloud company Fastly Inc.

(With inputs from agencies)

A global online outage at major banks and airlines on Thursday was caused by a problem with tech provider Akamai, one of the firms affected has confirmed. Virgin Australia said it "was one of many organisations to experience an outage with the Akamai content delivery system", adding that work was underway to prevent the roughly one-hour blackout from happening again.

A global online outage at major banks and airlines on Thursday was caused by a problem with tech provider Akamai, one of the firms affected has confirmed. Virgin Australia said it "was one of many organisations to experience an outage with the Akamai content delivery system", adding that work was underway to prevent the roughly one-hour blackout from happening again. "We are aware of the issue and actively working to restore services as soon as possible", a spokesperson for Akamai said in an emailed statement. Also read| Many US airlines and Australian banks hit by online outage Many other websites in Australia, including those belonging to the central bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp, and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, had also started to come back online late afternoon on Thursday. The Reserve Bank of Australia cancelled an operation to buy long-dated government bonds because of technical difficulties. Websites of major US airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, also experienced disruptions early on Thursday, according to outage monitoring website Downdetector. More than a thousand user reports indicated problems at Southwest Airlines, with over 400 user reports indicating the same for Delta Air Lines, according to Downdetector. That number was around 300 for the other two airline companies. Southwest canceled nearly 300 flights on Wednesday and delayed more than 500 a day after it was forced to temporarily halt operations over a computer glitch. The websites were back up in about an hour. The outages predominantly in Australia on Thursday come a little over a week after thousands of government, news, and social media websites around the world were hit by a technical issue linked to US-based cloud company Fastly Inc. (With inputs from agencies)

Tech provider Akamai blamed for latest global online outages

The decades-old dream of zipping around in the sky as simply as driving on highways may be becoming a reality faster than we thought.

A full-size pilotless 'flying race car' has taken to the sky for the first time ahead of remotely piloted races to be held later this year at three international locations still to be revealed.

The Alauda Mk3's first flight brings the company's goal of an electric flying car Grand Prix, one step closer.

"It is a momentous day," founder and chief executive of Adelaide-based Alauda Aeronautics, Matt Pearson, said in an interview.

"To be able to showcase the Mark 3 to the world and show that flying car racing is just around the corner."

The Mk3 Airspeeder is a multicopter craft based on a Formula 1 car and has a greater thrust-to-weight ratio than an F15 fighter jet, according to Alauda.

Pearson's eventual plan is the Airspeeder Race Series of piloted multicopters, but he is using their EXA Series, with remotely controlled Mark 3s, as a proving ground.

"The EXA Series will always be a feeder series to the main Airspeeder event and the crewed racing that's coming. And the cool thing is it'll always be with full-size vehicles, fully functional electric flying cars, just remotely piloted for now," Pearson said.

Battery sizes, air traffic control, and other infrastructure issues are among the many potential challenges to commercialising them.

The pilots will remotely race on augmented reality sky-tracks visible to an audience watching via a digital stream.

"We don't need a track," Pearson said, "but it's important to convey what's going on to the audience at home."

Alauda Aeronautics are themselves involved in a race to be the first of several companies hoping to race manned drones or eVTOL vehicles.

Air Race E has partnered with European planemaker Airbus to launch races of 3 different classes of electric aircraft including eVTOL.

The Spanish entrepreneur behind city-based electric racing series, Formula E and off-road Extreme E, Alejandro Agag, is also considering electric air racing.

Pearson believes racing electric flying cars will hasten the development of eVTOL advanced air mobility craft, a market that Alauda Aeronautics wants a share of.

"I looked back at what happened 100 years ago," Pearson said.

"In the last great mobility revolutions when the dawn of the automobile and the airplane and what accelerated that? What drove acceptance? What drove technology? It was always racing. If you go back far enough the first application is always racing."

(With inputs from agencies)

The decades-old dream of zipping around in the sky as simply as driving on highways may be becoming a reality faster than we thought. A full-size pilotless 'flying race car' has taken to the sky for the first time ahead of remotely piloted races to be held later this year at three international locations still to be revealed.

The decades-old dream of zipping around in the sky as simply as driving on highways may be becoming a reality faster than we thought. A full-size pilotless 'flying race car' has taken to the sky for the first time ahead of remotely piloted races to be held later this year at three international locations still to be revealed. The Alauda Mk3's first flight brings the company's goal of an electric flying car Grand Prix, one step closer. "It is a momentous day," founder and chief executive of Adelaide-based Alauda Aeronautics, Matt Pearson, said in an interview. "To be able to showcase the Mark 3 to the world and show that flying car racing is just around the corner." The Mk3 Airspeeder is a multicopter craft based on a Formula 1 car and has a greater thrust-to-weight ratio than an F15 fighter jet, according to Alauda. Pearson's eventual plan is the Airspeeder Race Series of piloted multicopters, but he is using their EXA Series, with remotely controlled Mark 3s, as a proving ground. "The EXA Series will always be a feeder series to the main Airspeeder event and the crewed racing that's coming. And the cool thing is it'll always be with full-size vehicles, fully functional electric flying cars, just remotely piloted for now," Pearson said. Battery sizes, air traffic control, and other infrastructure issues are among the many potential challenges to commercialising them. The pilots will remotely race on augmented reality sky-tracks visible to an audience watching via a digital stream. "We don't need a track," Pearson said, "but it's important to convey what's going on to the audience at home." Alauda Aeronautics are themselves involved in a race to be the first of several companies hoping to race manned drones or eVTOL vehicles. Air Race E has partnered with European planemaker Airbus to launch races of 3 different classes of electric aircraft including eVTOL. The Spanish entrepreneur behind city-based electric racing series, Formula E and off-road Extreme E, Alejandro Agag, is also considering electric air racing. Pearson believes racing electric flying cars will hasten the development of eVTOL advanced air mobility craft, a market that Alauda Aeronautics wants a share of. "I looked back at what happened 100 years ago," Pearson said. "In the last great mobility revolutions when the dawn of the automobile and the airplane and what accelerated that? What drove acceptance? What drove technology? It was always racing. If you go back far enough the first application is always racing." (With inputs from agencies)

'Future of racing': Full-size flying race car takes first flight

France's President Emmanuel&nbsp;Macron has attacked the United States and China for investing in ''nonsense innovation'' and praised his nation for being much more business-friendly and innovative.

Macron advised the two countries to foster the growth of tech companies in Europe instead of wasting their money because they have an excess liquidity in&nbsp;financial markets.

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"This place (Paris) now is more and more perceived as first business-friendly and then innovative," Macron&nbsp;told a panel of executives from startups at France's tech show Viva Tech.

"So the more ... we elaborate and increase the strength of this place the more you will attract investors coming from the United States and China."

Macron&nbsp;is pushing for Europe to create 10 technology giants worth 100 billion euros ($120 billion) each in valuation by 2030, in a bid to rival US&nbsp;companies that dominate the sector.

But while a growing number of digital companies are lining up to go public via an initial public offering (IPO) or a buyout from a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), investments in tech lag those seen in the United States and China.

Macron&nbsp;has since his election in 2017 championed investment in the digital economy as a key to lower unemployment and stimulating economic growth and vowed to turn the country into a "startup nation."

Four years on, France's startup scene has prospered, with more than a dozen so-called unicorns, or companies valued 1 billion euros or more.

French startups raised a record 5.4 billion euros in 2020, up 7 per cent&nbsp;from a year earlier, according to EY.

(With inputs from agencies)

France's President Emmanuel Macron has attacked the United States and China for investing in ''nonsense innovation'' and praised his nation for being much more business-friendly and innovative.

France's President Emmanuel Macron has attacked the United States and China for investing in ''nonsense innovation'' and praised his nation for being much more business-friendly and innovative. Macron advised the two countries to foster the growth of tech companies in Europe instead of wasting their money because they have an excess liquidity in financial markets. "This place (Paris) now is more and more perceived as first business-friendly and then innovative," Macron told a panel of executives from startups at France's tech show Viva Tech. "So the more ... we elaborate and increase the strength of this place the more you will attract investors coming from the United States and China." Macron is pushing for Europe to create 10 technology giants worth 100 billion euros ($120 billion) each in valuation by 2030, in a bid to rival US companies that dominate the sector. But while a growing number of digital companies are lining up to go public via an initial public offering (IPO) or a buyout from a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), investments in tech lag those seen in the United States and China. Macron has since his election in 2017 championed investment in the digital economy as a key to lower unemployment and stimulating economic growth and vowed to turn the country into a "startup nation." Four years on, France's startup scene has prospered, with more than a dozen so-called unicorns, or companies valued 1 billion euros or more. French startups raised a record 5.4 billion euros in 2020, up 7 per cent from a year earlier, according to EY. (With inputs from agencies)

Taking aim at US and Chinese tech bonanza, Macron says France is more 'innovative'

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