Natasha Lomas
Writer
The Latest from Natasha Lomas
Max Schrems on the EU court ruling that could cut Facebook in two
Last month’s ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), ripping up the EU-US Privacy Shield and sewing doubt over alternative mechanisms, has put a cat among the pigeons of int
This subscription social network is happy to be an Albatross in a pandemic
In discussions of ethically dubious social networks, Facebook is the usual reference choice. But spare a thought for subscribers of InterNations, a Munich-based social networking community for expats,
Facebook signals expansion to portability tools ahead of FTC hearing
Facebook is considering expanding the types of data its users are able to port directly to alternative platforms. In comments on portability sent to US regulators ahead of an FTC hearing on the topic
Agtech startup iFarm bags $4M to help vertical farms grow more tasty stuff
Vertical farming technology provider iFarm has bagged a $4 million seed round, led by Gagarin Capital, an earlier investor in the startup. Other investors in the round include Matrix Capital, Impulse
Further delay to GDPR enforcement of 2018 Twitter breach
Twitter users have to wait to longer to find out what penalties, if any, the platform faces under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for a data breach that dates back
UK class action style claim filed over Marriott data breach
A class action style suit has been filed in the UK against hotel group Marriott International over a massive data breach that exposed the information of some 500 million guests around the world, inclu
Omio takes $100M to shuttle through the coronavirus crisis
Multimodal travel platform Omio (formerly GoEuro) has raised $100M in late stage funding to help see its business through the coronavirus crisis. It also says it’s eyeing potential M&A oppor
EU websites’ use of Google Analytics and Facebook Connect targeted by post-Schrems II privacy complaints
A month after Europe’s top court struck down a flagship data transfer arrangement between the EU and the US as unsafe, European privacy campaign group, noyb, has filed complaints against 101 web
Deepfake video app Reface is just getting started on shapeshifting selfie culture
A bearded Rihanna gyrates and sings about shining bright like a diamond. A female Jack Sparrow looks like she’d be a right laugh over a pint. The cartoon contours of The Incredible Hulk lend env
Google warns users in Australia free services are at risk if it’s forced to share ad revenue with ‘big media’
Google has fired a lobbying pot-shot at a looming change to the law in Australia that will force it to share ad revenue with local media businesses whose content its platforms monetize — seeking
Travel startups cry foul over what Google’s doing with their data
As the antitrust drumbeat continues to pound on tech giants, with Reuters reporting comments today from the U.S. Justice Department that it’s moving “full-tilt” on an investigation o
Oracle and Salesforce hit with GDPR class action lawsuits over cookie tracking consent
The use of third party cookies for ad tracking and targeting by data broker giants Oracle and Salesforce is the focus of class action style litigation announced today in the UK and the Netherlands. Th
Twitter pledges to dial up efforts to combat election misinformation
In the latest sign of U.S. platforms bracing for the 2020 U.S. presidential election in November, Twitter has said it will step up efforts to prevent its service from being used to target voters with
UK eyeing disclosure labels for online political campaigning
The U.K. government is considering changes to the law that would require online political campaign material to carry labels disclosing who is promoting and funding the messaging. The proposal, which i
TikTok found to have tracked Android users’ MAC addresses until late last year
Until late last year social video app TikTok was using an extra layer of encryption to conceal a tactic for tracking Android users via the MAC address of their device, which skirted Google’s pol
TikTok is being investigated by France’s data watchdog
More worries for TikTok: A European data watchdog that’s landed the biggest blow on a tech giant to date — slapping Google with a $57M fine last year (upheld in June) — now has an op
Google, Nokia, Qualcomm are investors in $230M Series A2 for Finnish phone maker, HMD Global
Mobile device maker HMD Global has announced a $230M Series A2 — its first tranche of external funding since a $100M round back in 2018 when it tipped over into a unicorn valuation. Since late 2
Court finds some fault with UK police force’s use of facial recognition tech
Civil rights campaigners in the UK have won a legal challenge to South Wales Police’s (SWP) use of facial recognition technology. The win on appeal is being hailed as a “world-first”
EU-US Privacy Shield is dead. Long live Privacy Shield
As the saying goes, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And so we arrive at the news, put out yesterday in the horse latitudes of summer via joint pre
Hypotenuse AI wants to take the strain out of copywriting for e-commerce
Imagine buying a dress online because a piece of code sold you on its ‘flattering, feminine flair’ — or convinced you ‘romantic floral details’ would outline your figure