Not Wanting Surveillance Competition, Facebook Tells Clearview AI to Back Off

Last month, we got word that a company called Clearview AI helped law enforcement with its facial recognition technology. Now, Facebook and Google, which also use facial recognition, told Clearview AI to stop scraping images from each one’s website.

Ton-That argued that his firm’s work is protected by the First Amendment and also that Clearview doesn’t do anything Google doesn’t.

“The way we have built our system is to only take publicly available information and index it that way,” he said.

Ton-That added, “Google can pull in information from all different websites… So if it’s public and it’s out there and could be inside Google search engine, it can be inside ours as well.”

There’s ANOTHER Streaming Service on The Way

I’m sure you would all agree, that what we need is another streaming service. Thankfully, ViacomCBS are set to answer our call. A new service bringing together content from the newly merged firm is in the works, CNBC reported, creating yet another challenger for Apple TV+.

While ViacomCBS executives haven’t made any firm decisions, they are considering creating a service with advertisements that will combine CBS All Access with Viacom assets including Pluto TV, Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures, said the people, who asked not to be named because the product discussions are private. An ad-free version will also be available, and a premium version of the streaming service will include Showtime, the people said. ViacomCBS executives haven’t decided on a name for the service, nor a price, though the base service will probably be less than $10 a month, two of the people said.

Avast Probably Isn't The Only Antivirus Company Selling User Data

In today’s episode of The Mac Observer‘s Daily Observations podcast, Kelly and I did our Security Friday. We talked about two security articles this week, and answered a reader’s question about antivirus programs. I mentioned that people shouldn’t use Avast since it was revealed they collected and sold user data. Now, in the irony of ironies, I got an email today from someone offering me Trend Micro user data.

We have an updated contact list of Trend Micro Users, which can support your marketing campaigns. The database will have access to complete contact information of Trend Micro Users including Emails, Phone number, Mailing address and other relevant data fields. Please let me know your interest in acquiring the list and I will get back to you with counts and pricing. Also, let me know if you are interested in acquiring similar technology users contact list.

That’s a no from me, fam.

Foxconn Staff Told to Stay Away from Shenzhen Factory

The impact of the coronavirus outbreak is continuing to be felt by Apple. Key iPhone assembler Foxconn has now told its works to stay away from its Shenzhen factory, Bloomberg News reported.

The moratorium represents an extreme effort by Apple Inc.’s most important partner to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus that’s paralyzed much of China’s manufacturing. Foxconn’s main iPhone-making base is farther north in Zhengzhou but coastal Shenzhen serves as its Chinese headquarters and the majority of the tens of thousands employed there are out-of-towners. The company also assembles a small portion of iPhones there. “To safeguard everyone’s health and safety and comply with government virus prevention measures, we urge you not to return to Shenzhen,” Foxconn wrote in a text message sent to employees. “We’ll update you on the situation in the city. The company will protect everyone’s work-related rights and interests in the duration. As for the happy reunion date in Shenzhen, please wait for further notice.”