Tech company denied illegally recording and circulating private conversations to send phone users targeted ads
Google agreed to pay $68m to settle a lawsuit claiming that its voice-activated assistant spied inappropriately on smartphone users, violating their privacy.
A preliminary class-action settlement was filed late on Friday night in the San Jose, California, federal court, and requires approval by US district judge Beth Labson Freeman. Smartphone users accused Google, a unit of Alphabet, of illegally recording and disseminating private conversations after Google Assistant was triggered, in order to send them targeted advertising.
Continue reading...Twice-sacked former home secretary is ‘not a team player’ and may limit attempts to expand Reform’s appeal
It was a full 90 minutes into the Reform UK rally – and 10 minutes into Nigel Farage’s speech – when the surprise guest who was also not a surprise at all came bounding on to the stage: ah, Suella Braverman, we were expecting you.
If ever there was a definition of a high-profile yet semi-detached Conservative, Braverman was it. Although twice the home secretary, and also attorney general, she has been on the backbenches for more than three years and had precisely zero chance of advancement under Kemi Badenoch.
Continue reading...Some parts of city were buried under nearly 60cm of snow and over 500 flights were cancelled Sunday
Toronto is beginning to dig itself out from the largest snowfall in the city’s history, a process which officials say is likely to take “several days”.
Some parts of Canada’s largest city were buried under nearly 60cm (about 23in) of snow and more than 500 flights were cancelled Sunday after Toronto’s main airport was snowed in.
Continue reading...Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, who had held senior roles in Russian government, used a variant spelling of his name to access UK banking system
The UK’s sanctions watchdog has fined Bank of Scotland £160,000 for opening a bank account and processing payments for an ally of Vladimir Putin.
Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, who became the first person to be prosecuted for circumventing UK sanctions last year, made 24 payments totalling £77,383 to or from a personal current account during February 2023.
Continue reading...AMSTERDAM (ANP) - Socialemediaplatform Meta is het nog altijd "fundamenteel oneens" met de aanpassingen die Facebook en Instagram van de Nederlandse rechter moesten ondergaan. Tegen dat besluit van oktober stelde het concern direct hoger beroep in, maar vlak voor de behandeling trok Meta de belangrijkste bezwaren in. Tijdens die zitting bleek maandag dat het bedrijf op andere manieren de gedwongen aanpassingen wil aanvechten.
De zaak draait om de gepersonaliseerde tijdlijnen van Facebook en Instagram. De rechtbank in Amsterdam ging in oktober mee in de klacht van stichting Bits of Freedom (BoF) dat er een makkelijk toegankelijke chronologische tijdlijn moest komen, naast de standaardfeed met aanbevolen berichten.
Meta voerde de door de rechter opgedragen wijzigingen de afgelopen maanden wel door, in afwachting van het hoger beroep. Vorige week trok het bedrijf de inhoudelijke bezwaren daartegen in, maar het blijft wel bestrijden dat een kort geding de juiste juridische weg is en overweegt een bodemprocedure. Dat proces zou langer duren.
Meta en BoF praten komende week over een mogelijke uitweg, anders doet het gerechtshof in Amsterdam daarna uitspraak. Discussiepunten zijn onder meer of de chronologische tijdlijn duidelijk genoeg is en wie de proceskosten moet betalen.
AI adoption in the workplace stalled in the fourth quarter of 2025, but those who have already started using it are making increased use of it, according to a survey by pollster Gallup. Don't let that fool you into thinking AI is taking over work, though: frequent AI users are still a tiny minority of overall workers.…
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