Natasha Lomas
TechCrunch
Philippines
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Recent articles by Natasha:
Nym gets $6M for its anonymous overlay mixnet to sell privacy as a service –
Switzerland-based privacy startup Nym Technologies has raised $6 million, which is being loosely pegged as a Series A round. Earlier raises included a $2.5M seed round in 2019. The founders also took in grant money from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research fund during an earlier R&D phase developing the network tech. The latest funding […] → Read More
Ireland must ‘swiftly’ investigate legality of Facebook-WhatsApp data-sharing, says EDPB –
Facebook’s lead regulator in the European Union must “swiftly” investigate the legality of data-sharing related to a controversial WhatsApp policy update, following an order by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB). We’ve reached out to the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) for a response. Updated terms had been set to be imposed upon users of […] → Read More
Anyone is building a marketplace for advice, one 5-minute call at a time –
Anyone, an audio app that’s building a ‘marketplace for advice’ one five-minute phone call at a time, is launching new versions of its iOS and Android apps today* and beginning to large-scale onboarding after operating in a limited closed beta for the past six months. The app — which was founded around 18 months ago […] → Read More
Cadoo gets $1.5M to gamify fitness with betting challenges –
Cadoo, a US-startup that’s gamifying fitness by turning it into a betting opportunity, using the prospect of winning (or losing) cold hard cash to motivate people to get off the couch, has collected $1.5 million in seed funds from Sam & Max Altman’s Apollo VC and the student-focused Dorm Room Fund. The app itself has […] → Read More
Google fined $592M in France for breaching antitrust order to negotiate news copyright fees –
France has hit Google with a fine of half a billion euros after finding major breaches in how it negotiated with publishers to remunerate them for reuse of their content — as is required under a pan-EU reform of digital copyright law which extended neighbouring rights to news snippets. The size of the fine is […] → Read More
Controversial WhatsApp policy change hit with consumer law complaint in Europe –
Facebook has been accused of multiple breaches of European Union consumer protection law as a result of its attempts to force WhatsApp users to accept controversial changes to the messaging platforms’ terms of use — such as threatening users that the app would stop working if they did not accept the updated policies by May […] → Read More
Swiss Post acquires e2e encrypted cloud services provider, Tresorit –
Swiss Post, the former state-owned mail delivery firm which became a private limited company in 2013, diversifying into logistics, finance, transport and more (including dabbling in drone delivery) while retaining its role as Switzerland’s national postal service, has acquired a majority stak… → Read More
Raylo nabs $11.5M to get more mobile users to lease and reuse –
UK-based smartphone subscription startup Raylo has tucked $11.5 million in Series A funding into its top pocket, led by Octopus Ventures. The equity round follows a debt raise last year — and brings Raylo’s total raised since being founded back in 2019 to $40M (in equity and debt). Its roster of investors to date also […] → Read More
Localyze raises $12M for a SaaS that supports cross-border hiring and relocation –
Y-Combinator-backed Localyze has nabbed $12 million in Series A funding led by Blossom Capital for a SaaS that supports staff relocations and hiring across borders. Previous investor Frontline Ventures also participated,with a number of angel investors joining the round — including Andrew Robb (ex-Farfetch); Des Traynor, co-founder and CSO at Intercom; Hanno Renner, co-founder and […] → Read More
YouTube’s recommender AI still a horrorshow, finds major crowdsourced study –
For years YouTube’s video-recommending algorithm has stood accused of fuelling a grab-bag of societal ills by feeding users an AI-amplified diet of hate speech, political extremism and/or conspiracy junk/disinformation for the profiteering motive of trying to keep billions of eyeballs stuck to its ad inventory. And while YouTube’s tech giant parent Google has, sporadically, responded […] → Read More
Italy’s DPA fines Glovo-owned Foodinho $3M, orders changes to algorithmic management of riders –
Algorithmic management of gig workers has landed Glovo-owned on-demand delivery firm Foodinho in trouble in Italy where the country’s data protection authority issued a €2.6 million penalty (~$3M) yesterday after an investigation found a laundry list of problems. The delivery company has been ordered to make a number of changes to how it operates in […] → Read More
TravelPerk buys UK-based Click Travel in latest pandemic purchase –
Business trip booking platform TravelPerk has bagged another rival — picking up UK-based Click Travel. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed but we’re told it’s the third — and largest — acquisition for TravelPerk to date. The Barcelona-based startup has been on a bit of a shopping spree since the pandemic crisis hit […] → Read More
Dutch court will hear another Facebook privacy lawsuit –
Privacy litigation that’s being brought against Facebook by two not-for-profits in the Netherlands can go ahead, an Amsterdam court has ruled. The case will be heard in October. Since 2019, the Amsterdam-based Data Privacy Foundation (DPS) has been seeking to bring a case against Facebook over its rampant collection of Internet users’ data — arguing […] → Read More
The EU’s COVID-19 ‘digital certificates’ are up and running –
A regulation underpinning a digital certification system for individuals in the European Union to verify their COVID-19 status via a common credential has gone into application today — on schedule. From today, almost all EU Member States are now able to issue and verify digital certificates, per the Commission — with only a handful of […] → Read More
German government bodies urged to remove their Facebook Pages before next year –
Germany’s federal information commissioner has run out of patience with Facebook. Last month, Ulrich Kelber wrote to government agencies “strongly recommend” they to close down their official Facebook Pages because of ongoing data protection compliance problems and the tech giant’s failure to fix the issue. In the letter, Kelber warns the government bodies that he […] → Read More
UK tells messaging apps not to use e2e encryption for kids’ accounts –
For a glimpse of the security and privacy dystopia the UK government has in store for its highly regulated ‘British Internet’, look no further than guidance put out by the Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) yesterday — aimed at social media platforms and private messaging services — which includes the suggestion that […] → Read More
Google tightens UK policy on financial ads after watchdog pressure over scams –
The UK’s more expansive, post-Brexit role in digital regulation continues to be felt today via a policy change by Google which has announced that it will, in the near future, only run ads for financial products and services when the advertiser in question has been verified by the financial watchdog, the FCA. The Google Ads […] → Read More
UK gets data flows deal from EU — for now –
The UK’s digital businesses can breathe a sign of relief today as the European Commission has officially signed off on data adequacy for the (now) third country, post-Brexit. It’s a big deal for UK businesses as it means the country will be treated by Brussels as having essentially equivalent data protection rules as markets within […] → Read More
Thursday snags $3.5M for a dating app that’s live once a week –
Thursday, a dating app that wants to solve problems created by, well, too much time spent using dating apps, had raised a £2.5 million (~$3.5M) seed investment — a few months after launching (in May) its single-matching service in London and New York (and racking up over 52k downloads). Last Thursday (June 17) it says […] → Read More
LinkedIn formally joins EU Code on hate speech takedowns –
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has committed to doing more to quickly purge illegal hate speech from its platform in the European Union by formally signing up to a self-regulatory initiative that seeks to tackle the issue through a voluntary Code of Conduct. In statement today, the European Commission announced that the professional social network has joined the […] → Read More