Welcome, all again to – 5-For-Friday – your weekly, tech news roundup.
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1. Twitter Reportedly Under Investigation.
Irish privacy authorities are reportedly investigating Twitter for violating the European data law – General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Michael Veale – a privacy researcher at the Unversity College London – filed the report, as Twitter refused to give him records on what kind of data was collected about him.
Under GDPR, we are allowed to ask companies to provide, amend, move or delete the data they collect.
Companies found in breach of GDPR can be fined up to €20 million, or 4% of their annual revenue, whichever is higher.
2. Second British Airways Website Hack Attack Reported.
A reported ‘second hack‘ on BA’s website has hit the news this week, with more than 185,000 customers payment details stolen.
The hack had gone unnoticed for months, with BA only detecting the second breach while investigating a breach in September, which affected 380,000 customer transactions.
British Airways have advised that both attacks seemed to have been carried out by the same group or gang.
The September attack prompted an investigation by the UK’s National Crime Agency and the Information Commissioner’s Office.
BA and IAG face huge fines following the General Data Protection Regulation coming into force.
3. Microsoft, Facebook, and Google Seek Brexit Assurances.
Three of the world’s biggest technology firms – Microsoft, Facebook, and Google – have held meetings with UK government ministers in London.
They are seeking assurances about the impact of a no-deal Brexit, as concerns grow over the potential impact on jobs, staff visas, investment and rules on data sharing.
The talks came just days before Chancellor Phillip Hammond is due to deliver the Autumn Budget – on Monday 29 October – amid growing speculation over the possibility of a new digital tax on the technology giants.
4. Apple and Samsung Fined for Deliberately Slowing Down Handsets.
In Italy, Apple and Samsung are being fined €10m and €5m respectively for the ‘planned obsolescence’ of their smartphone handsets
The findings follow an investigation launched in January by Italy’s competition authority, who found that software updates caused an adverse effect on the device performance.
Believed to be the first ruling of its kind, this could see the launch of a wider crackdown on operating system updates implementing dishonest commercial practices for older phones to slow them down.
5. AI Painting Sells for £337,000.
A painting called ‘Portrait of Edmond Belamy‘ created by artificially intelligente has sold at auction for £337,000.
‘Obvious’ – a Paris-based art collective – designed an algorithm and data programme to analyse 15,000 portraits painted between the 14th and 20th Centuries.
The algorithm compared its work to those in the data set until it could not tell them apart.
The portrait is the first piece of AI art to go under the hammer at a major auction house. The sale attracted a significant amount of media attention.
Until next week. We hope you have a great weekend!
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