Natasha Lomas
TechCrunch
Philippines
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Recent articles by Natasha:
Snyk acquires DeepCode to boost its code review smarts –
Switzerland-based machine learning code review startup DeepCode — which bills itself as ‘Grammarly for coders’ — has been acquired by Snyk, a post-unicorn valuation cybersecurity startup which is focused on helping developers secure their code. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. But the ‘big code’ parsing startup had only raised around $5.2M […] → Read More
UK launches COVID-19 exposure notification app for England and Wales –
The last two regions of the UK now have an official coronavirus contacts tracing app, after the UK government pushed the button to launch the NHS COVID-19 app across England and Wales today. Northern Ireland and Scotland launched their own official apps to automate coronavirus exposure notifications earlier this year. But the England and Wales […] → Read More
Spain’s top court rejects Glovo’s classification of couriers as self-employed –
Glovo, a Spain-based delivery platform startup, is facing legal disruption in its home market after the country’s Supreme Court ruled against its classification of delivery couriers as ‘autonomous’ (i.e. self employed) — finding riders are instead in a laboural relationship with the platform. It’s the latest in a string of legal rulings around the classification […] → Read More
EU’s antitrust probe of Google-Fitbit gets more time –
European antitrust regulators now have until almost the end of the year to take a decision on whether to green light Google’s planned acquisition of Fitbit. The tech giant announced its intention to buy the fitness tracking wearable maker in November 2019, saying it would shell out $2.1 billion in cash to make off with […] → Read More
Facebook denies it will pull service in Europe over data transfer ban –
Facebook’s head of global policy has denied the tech giant could close its service to Europeans if local regulators order it to suspend data transfers to the US following a landmark Court of Justice ruling in July that has cemented the schism between US surveillance laws and EU privacy rights. Press reports emerged this week […] → Read More
Big tech has 2 elephants in the room: Privacy and competition –
The question of how policymakers should respond to the power of big tech didn’t get a great deal of airtime at TechCrunch Disrupt last week, despite a number of investigations now underway in the United States (hi, Google). It’s also clear that attention- and data-monopolizing platforms compel many startups to use their comparatively slender resources […] → Read More
Amnesty calls for human rights controls on EU digital surveillance exports –
In a new report, Amnesty International says it’s found evidence of EU companies selling digital surveillance technologies to China — despite the stark human rights risks of technologies like facial recognition ending up in the hands of an authoritarian regime that’s been rounding up ethnic Uyghurs and holding them in “re-education” camps. The human rights […] → Read More
Ireland’s data watchdog slammed for letting adtech carry on ‘biggest breach of all time’ –
A dossier of evidence detailing how the online ad targeting industry profiles Internet users’ intimate characteristics without their knowledge or consent has been published today by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), piling more pressure on the country’s data watchdog to take enforcement action over what complainants contend is the “biggest data breach of […] → Read More
On lying AIs –
A yellow-eyed cat tilts its eyes at the camera, gazing up from a grey bedspread. ‘London Trip’, is the AI’s title for this photo-montage ‘Memory’ plucked from the depths of my iPhone camera-roll. It’s selected a sad score of plinking piano and sweeping violin. The algorithm has calculated it must tug at the heart strings. […] → Read More
Twitter tightens account security for political candidates ahead of US election –
Twitter is taking steps to tighten account security for a range of users ahead of the US presidential election, including by requiring the use of strong passwords. “We’re taking the additional step of proactively implementing account security measures for a designated group of high-profile, election-related Twitter accounts in the US. Starting today, these accounts will […] → Read More
Delivery Hero picks up Glovo’s LatAm ops for $272M in latest food delivery consolidation –
More consolidation in the thin-margin food delivery space: Delivery Hero has announced it’s buying the LatinAm operations of Glovo, a Spanish on-demand delivery app. The German company said today that it’s paying up to €230 million to take over eight markets, including a €60M performance-based earn-out. The transaction, which Berlin-based Delivery Hero said it expects to […] → Read More
Volocopter kicks off presales for its first air taxi flights — with a wait time of 2-3 years –
If your sad-faced technology mantra is ‘we were promised flying cars and all we got were these shitty Internet trolls’ never fear, Berlin-based autonomous air mobility startup, Volocopter, wants to revive your sci-fi dreams. It’s just kicked off presales for trips in its forthcoming electric air taxi service, VoloCity — albeit, there’s no date on […] → Read More
Europe will go it alone on digital tax reform in 2021 if it must, says EU president, as bloc directs €150BN in COVID-19 relief toward cloud, AI and broadband –
Europe will propose its own digital tax early next year if there’s no agreement at a global level on how to update taxation rules for the Internet age, EU president Ursula von der Leyen said today, reiterating the bloc’s determination not to let tax reform slide in a ‘state of the union’ speech to the […] → Read More
Europe’s top court says net neutrality rules bar ‘zero rating’ –
The European Union’s top court has handed down its first decision on the bloc’s net neutrality rules — interpreting the law as precluding the use of commercial ‘zero rating’ by Internet services providers. ‘Zero rating’ refers to the practice of ISPs offering certain apps/services ‘tariff free’ by excluding their data consumption. It’s controversial because it […] → Read More
Sentinel loads up with $1.35M in the deepfake detection arms race –
Estonia-based Sentinel, which is developing a detection platform for identifying synthesized media (aka deepfakes), has closed a $1.35 million seed round from some seasoned angle investors — including Jaan Tallinn (Skype), Taavet Hinrikus (Transferwise), Ragnar Sass & Martin Henk (Pipedrive) — and Baltics early stage VC firm, United Angels VC. The challenge of building tools […] → Read More
Europe starts testing app interoperability service to power cross-border COVID-19 exposure alerts –
The European Commission has begun testing backend infrastructure that’s needed to make national coronavirus contacts tracing apps interoperate across the bloc’s internal borders. It’s kicked off test runs between the backend servers of the official apps from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Latvia, and the newly established gateway server — which is […] → Read More
YouTube hit with UK class action style suit seeking $3BN+ for ‘unlawful’ use of kids’ data –
Another class action style lawsuit has been lodged against a tech giant in the UK alleging violations of privacy and seeking major damages. The latest representative action, filed against Google-owned YouTube, accuses the platform of routinely breaking UK and European data protection laws by unlawfully targeting up to five million under-13-year-olds with addictive programming and […] → Read More
Facebook seeks fresh legal delay to block order to suspend its transatlantic data transfers –
Facebook is firing up its lawyers to try to block EU regulators from forcing it to suspend transatlantic data transfers in the wake of a landmark ruling by Europe’s top court this summer. The tech giant has applied to judges in Ireland to seek a judicial review of a preliminary suspension order, it has emerged. […] → Read More
England’s long delayed COVID-19 contacts tracing app to launch on September 24 –
The UK’s long delayed coronavirus contact tracing app finally has a release date: The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced today that the app will launch in England and Wales on September 24. The other regions of the country, Scotland and Northern Ireland, already have their own COVID-19 contacts tracing apps — the latter […] → Read More
Willo, a freemium video interview SaaS, scores ~$320k during the remote work boom –
Scotland-based video interview startup Willo has scored a £250,000 (~$320k) seed round of funding after watching demand for its asynchronous Q&A style video platform leap up during the COVID-19 lockdown. Guernsey-based VC firm 1818 Venture Capital is investing in the seed round, with Willo board members Steve Perry, Stefan Ciecierski and Peter Preston also kicking […] → Read More