UK parliament calls for antitrust, data abuse probe of Facebook

A final report by a British parliamentary committee which spent months last year investigating online political disinformation makes very uncomfortable reading for Facebook — with the company singled out for “disingenuous” and “bad faith” responses to democratic concerns about the misuse of people’s data. In the report, published today, the committee has also called for […]

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Apple tells app developers to disclose or remove screen recording code

Apple is telling app developers to remove or properly disclose their use of analytics code that allows them to record how a user interacts with their iPhone apps — or face removal from the app store, TechCrunch can confirm. In an email, an Apple spokesperson said: “Protecting user privacy is paramount in the Apple ecosystem. Our […]

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Google files appeal against Europe’s $5BN antitrust fine for Android

Google has lodged its legal appeal against the European Commission’s €4.34 billion (~$5BN) antitrust ruling against its Android mobile OS, according to Reuters — the first step in a process that could keep its lawyers busy for years to come. “We have now filed our appeal of the EC’s Android decision at the General Court of the […]

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61 Facebook app developers still had access to users’ friends data after 2015

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Facebook said that apps’ data-scraping days ended in 2015. But that wasn’t the end of the story.

In 2015, Facebook says it changed the policy that allowed app developers — such as the Cambridge Analytica-affiliated researcher Aleksandr Kogan — access to the data of app users’ friends. That was the tactic that enabled Kogan to gather data on 87 million Facebook users, which he sold to Cambridge Analytica.

Now, in a document submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives, Facebook has said that 61 app developers had access to users’ friends data for nearly 6 months after the policy change. Facebook says it allowed the extension to give these companies time to comply with the new policy.  Read more…

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Apple will require all new apps to support iPhone X by April 1

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The days of wonky-looking apps on the iPhone X are coming to a close.

Beginning April 1, Apple will require all new apps in the Apple Store to natively support iPhone X Super Retina display. Developers will also have to build new iOS apps with iOS 11 SDK or later, and construct new Apple Watch apps with watchOS 4 SDK or laterAccording to VentureBeat, Apple notified developers  in their developer program of the new requirements in an email Thursday.

When the iPhone X first came out, app developers had to adjust quickly to what was the most significant iPhone overhaul in a long time. That meant that the iPhone X display might have been beautiful — but some of the apps actually running on your new phone were distorted, not working properly with the notch, and not accurately filling the screen.  Read more…

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