Tech
Google to destroy browsing data to settle consumer privacy lawsuit
Google agreed to destroy billions of data records to settle a lawsuit claiming it secretly tracked the internet use of people who thought they were browsing privately.
Terms of the settlement were filed on Monday in the Oakland, California federal court, and require approval by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs valued the accord at more than $5 billion, and as high as $7.8 billion. Google is paying no damages, but users may sue the company individually for damages.
The class action began in 2020, covering millions of Google users who used private browsing since June 1, 2016.
Users alleged that Google’s analytics, cookies and apps let the Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab unit improperly track people who set Google’s Chrome browser to “Incognito” mode and other browsers to “private” browsing mode.
They said this turned Google into an “unaccountable trove of information” by letting it learn about their friends, favorite foods, hobbies, shopping habits, and the “most intimate and potentially embarrassing things” they hunt for online.
Under the settlement, Google will update disclosures about what it collects in “private” browsing, a process it has already begun. It will also let Incognito users block third-party cookies for five years.
“The result is that Google will collect less data from users’ private browsing sessions, and that Google will make less money from the data,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote.
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said the company was pleased to settle the lawsuit, which it always considered meritless.
“We never associate data with users when they use Incognito mode,” Castaneda said. “We are happy to delete old technical data that was never associated with an individual and was never used for any form of personalization.”
David Boies, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, in a statement called the settlement “a historic step in requiring honesty and accountability from dominant technology companies.”
A preliminary settlement had been reached in December, averting a scheduled Feb. 5, 2024 trial. Terms were not disclosed at the time. The plaintiffs’ lawyers plan to later seek unspecified legal fees payable by Google.
Source: REUTERS
China Telcom’s AI Research Institute claims it trained a 100-billion-parameter model using only domestically produced computing power – a feat that suggests Middle Kingdom entities aren’t colossally perturbed by sanctions that stifle exports of Western tech to the country.
The model is called TeleChat2-115B and, according to a GitHub update posted on September 20, was “trained entirely with domestic computing power and open sourced.”
“The open source TeleChat2-115B model is trained using 10 trillion tokens of high-quality Chinese and English corpus,” the project’s GitHub page states.
The page also contains a hint about how China Telecom may have trained the model, in a mention of compatibility with the “Ascend Atlas 800T A2 training server” – a Huawei product listed as supporting the Kunpeng 920 7265 or Kunpeng 920 5250 processors, respectively running 64 cores at 3.0GHz and 48 cores at 2.6GHz.
Huawei builds those processors using the Arm 8.2 architecture and bills them as produced with a 7nm process.
At 100 billion parameters, TeleChat2 trails the likes of recent Llama models that apparently top 400 billion parameters, or Open AI’s o1 which has been guesstimated to have been trained with 200 billion parameters. While parameter count alone doesn’t determine a model’s power or utility, the low-ish parameter count suggests training TeleChat2 would likley have required less computing power than was needed for other projects.
Which may be why we can’t find a mention of a GPU – although the Ascend training server has a very modest one to drive a display at 1920 × 1080 at 60Hz with 16 million colors.
It therefore looks like the infrastructure used to train this model was not at parity with the kind of rigs available outside China, suggesting that tech export sanctions aren’t preventing the Middle Kingdom from pursuing its AI ambitions.
Or that it can deliver in other ways, such as China Telecom’s enormous scale. The carrier has revenue of over $70 billion, drawn from its provision of over half a billion wired and wireless subscriptions. It’s also one of the biggest users and promoters of OpenStack. Even without access to the latest and greatest AI hardware, China Telecom can muster plenty of power.
theregister.com
The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) on Wednesday said that it was making deliberate efforts to close the digital divide among the youths, underserved and unserved communities.
The Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC), NCC, Dr Aminu Maida, said this at the 2024 Nigeria Innovation Summit (NIS) 9.0 in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the Summit is, “Building a Culture of Innovation”.
The Head, New Media and Innovation Security, NCC, Babagana Digima represented the EVC.
Maida said that the Universal Service Provision Fund of the NCC was responsible for providing digital access to underserved and unserved areas.
He said that the NCC had done a lot of work across the country, done projects in almost all secondary schools across the country, and provided digital tools for people with disabilities.
According to the NCC boss, the commission has also subsidised the deployment of base stations in rural areas to provide them with Internet connectivity.
“The commission also identifies youths with talents, and supports them with mentorship, formal support, and identification as a legal entity, among others.
“Nigeria youths are faced with unemployment and the honourable minister of Innovation and Digital Economy has an initiative called 3Million Technical Talents,’’ he said.
Maida said that the commission was fully in support of the 3Million Technical Talents initiative, adding that the commission had also embarked on many empowerment programmes.
He said that in trying to close the digital divide, the NCC trained youths on use of digital tools, enables them to access the tools and also continuously supported those in need of the tools.
John Ajah, the Convener, Nigeria Innovation Summit (NIS) 9.0, said that this edition was organised to explore why innovative culture was essential for national development, and how it could provide opportunities for economic growth.
Ajah said, in his opening remarks, that the annual event brought together stakeholders from different sectors of the economy to discuss ground-breaking ideas and trends.
He added that the stakeholders also discussed opportunities and numerous verticals to accelerate innovation to attain certain goals.
The convener said: “This year’s event has enabled us bring together stakeholders to discuss how we can move forward as a country.
“We will be using the “four Cs” for discussion, which are conversation, collaboration, community and connection.
“Some leading countries in the world have used the culture of innovation to improve the quality of their lives, Nigeria and Africa should not be left out.”
He noted that in establishing the culture of innovation, stakeholders must build strong institutions that leveraged emerging technologies to solve critical local problems.
“The NIS is designed to be the springboard of some insights and also challenge the minds of stakeholders to begin leveraging innovative culture for global competitiveness and digital acceleration.
“The highlights of the NIS 2024 includes the Nigeria Innovation Experience Talks (NiX Talks), innovation tours, innovation showcasing & exhibitions, startup pitch, and the 2024 Nigeria Innovation Awards, and more.
“We have speakers from government agencies, corporate organisations, investment groups, international bodies, research institutions, and leading start-ups in Nigeria and around the world.
“This edition offers great opportunities through sponsorship, partnership, and exhibitions of innovative products, ideas, and services,” he said.
Ajah said that the NIS would continue to partner with the world’s leading innovation providers from the academic community, government and industry.
This partnerships, he said, were to connect Nigerian businesses and innovators to the global innovation ecosystem.
The convener noted that previous editions of the NIS attracted over 10,000 delegates, 200 speakers and panellists.
According to him, 100 tertiary institutions and research centres, 40 government ministries, attendees from 36 states were present for past editions.
He added that the past eight editions also witnessed over 100 sponsors and partners, 40 countries in attendance and over 85 award recipients.
Source: 21stcenturychronicle
A player in the crypto payments industry, 100Pay, has announced a significant step forward in promoting cryptocurrency adoption across Nigeria with the launch of a $200,000 startup fund.
In addition to the funding, the platform also unveiled its new 4,000-square-meter headquarters in Port Harcourt, signaling a major step in its expansion plans across Africa.
The initiative, according to the firm, is designed to support businesses and startups focused on integrating crypto payments into their operations, particularly through 100Pay’s innovative PAY Checkout platform.
The company said in a statement that the $200K fund aims to empower startups driving crypto adoption through PAY checkout, enabling them to access resources and support needed to implement crypto transactions in physical stores, e-commerce platforms, and mobile apps.
Some of the startups that already benefited from the fund include Everest Mobility, a ride-sharing platform; Cloudnotte, an edutech firm dedicated to making education more accessible; and Meedleman, an escrow service designed to protect freelancers and ensure timely payments.
According to 100Pay, its PAY token, which offers users discounted crypto payments, is central to this program, providing businesses with a seamless way to accept digital currencies straight to their local bank accounts.
“With over 20,000 businesses already onboard, we’re focused on making crypto more accessible for Nigerian businesses.
“Our $200K startup fund is a key part of that vision, giving businesses the tools and support to attract crypto-savvy customers,” CEO and founder of 100Pay, Brainy Josh, said.
Josh revealed that the company’s infrastructure enables payment acceptance in over 20 cryptocurrencies. He highlighted the platform’s capability for swift conversions from USDT and PAY tokens to Naira, thereby eliminating the need for peer-to-peer transactions.
He also disclosed that 100Pay’s infrastructure is driving HXAfrica, a Security and Exchange Commission-licensed housing exchange. According to him, HXAfrica simplifies real estate investment through tokenization.
The CEO disclosed that it is partnering with Nano Apps, a cross-platform app store, to support app developers within its ecosystem.
“We are also forming strategic partnerships with major tech and retail brands, including LG, Samsung, Hisense, and BRUHM.”
The company is also working with top e-commerce platforms, ride-sharing services, and utility payment apps to integrate its PAY Checkout system.
In terms of expansion, 100Pay is also creating job opportunities, with over 50 new hires and plans to add 1,000 jobs in the next 24 months, the CEO said.
“The company’s Port Harcourt headquarters is home to a growing team of engineers and customer support specialists,” he stated.
TikTok will start making its case on Monday against a law that will see it banned in the US unless its Chinese owner ByteDance sells it within nine months.
The measure – signed into law by President Biden in April – has been prompted by concerns that US users’ data is vulnerable to exploitation by China’s government.
TikTok and ByteDance have always denied links to the Chinese authorities and have described the law an “extraordinary intrusion on free speech rights.”
The social media firm, which claims to have more than 170 million American users, will make its arguments before a three-judge panel at an appeals court in Washington DC.
Company representatives will be joined by eight TikTok creators, including a Texas rancher and a Tennessee baker, who say they rely on the platform to market their products and make a living.
Lawyers from the Department of Justice (DoJ) will then proceed to lay out their case.
In addition to data concerns, DoJ officials and lawmakers have expressed alarm at the prospect of TikTok being used by the Chinese government to spread propaganda to Americans.
However, advocates of America’s powerful free speech rights, enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution, say upholding the divest-or-ban law would be a gift to authoritarian regimes everywhere.
“We shouldn’t be surprised if repressive governments the world over cite this precedent to justify new restrictions on their own citizens’ right to access information, ideas, and media from abroad,” said Xiangnong Wang, a staff attorney at Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute.
It has filed an amicus brief – legal documents submitted by someone not a party to the case but with an interest in it, offering information or expertise, usually with the hope of influencing the outcome.
Mr Wang also criticised lawmakers for being vague about the specific national security threats that they say TikTok poses.
“We can’t think of any previous instance in which such a broad restriction on First Amendment rights was found to be constitutional on the basis of evidence that wasn’t disclosed,” he said.
But according to James Lewis, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, the law was drafted to withstand judicial scrutiny.
“The substance of the case against TikTok is very strong,” Mr Lewis said.
“The key point is whether the court accepts that requiring divestiture does not regulate speech.”
Mr Lewis added that the courts usually defer to the president on national security matters.
Regardless of how the appeals court rules, most experts agree the case could drag on for months, if not longer.
“Nothing gets resolved next week,” said Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at analysis firm Forrester.
“This is a high stakes and very complicated conundrum that will likely go all the way to the Supreme Court.”
Apple has been ordered to pay Ireland €13bn (£11bn; $14bn) in unpaid taxes by Europe’s top court, putting an end to an eight-year row.
The European Commission accused Ireland of giving Apple illegal tax advantages in 2016, but Ireland has consistently argued against the need for the tax to be paid.
The Irish government said it would respect the ruling.
Apple said it was disappointed with the decision and accused the European Commission of “trying to retroactively change the rules”.
The EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager praised both judgements. “Today is a huge win for European citizens and tax justice,” she said.
Back and forth
In the Apple case, the ECJ said: “The Court of Justice gives final judgment in the matter and confirms the European Commission’s 2016 decision: Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover.”
The ruling puts an end to a lengthy back and forth legal process.
The original decision covered the period from 1991 to 2014, and related to the way in which profits generated by two Apple subsidiaries based in Ireland were treated for tax purposes.
Those tax arrangements were deemed to be illegal because other companies were not able to obtain the same advantages.
That ruling came at a time when the Commission was attempting to clamp down on multinational giants it believed were using creative financial arrangements to reduce their tax bills.
It was overturned by the lower court of the ECJ in 2020 following an appeal by Ireland.
However, that verdict has now been set aside by the higher court, which said it contained legal errors.
Apple said in a statement: “This case has never been about how much tax we pay, but which government we are required to pay it to. We always pay all the taxes we owe wherever we operate and there has never been a special deal.
“The European Commission is trying to retroactively change the rules and ignore that, as required by international tax law, our income was already subject to taxes in the US.
“We are disappointed with today’s decision as previously the General Court reviewed the facts and categorically annulled this case,” Apple added.
The bad news for Apple comes a day after the tech giant released its new iPhone 16 range.
The ECJ ruling means Ireland will have to recover the lost taxes from Apple – something Dublin has spent years of legal wrangling trying to avoid.
The Irish government has argued that Apple should not have to repay the back taxes, deeming that its loss was worth it to make the country an attractive home for large companies.
Ireland, which has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the EU, is Apple’s base for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Although corporation tax rates for businesses are set nationally, and are not subject to the EU’s jurisdiction, the trade bloc does have extensive powers to regulate state aid and in this case, it argued that by applying very low tax rates to Apple, Ireland was granting it an unfair subsidy.
The latest decision is a colossal victory for the European Commission in its attempts to stop big companies bending the rules.
The Irish government said the issue in the Apple case was “now of historical relevance only” and said the process of transferring assets to Ireland would now begin.
Tove Maria Ryding from the European Network on Debt and Development, an association of trade unions and non-governmental organisations, welcomed the ECJ’s decision but stressed “our tax problem is more than just one rotten apple”.
She said the case addressed tax matters dating back over 20 years and was “a perfect illustration of the chaotic corporate tax system we have”.
“What we urgently need is a fundamental reform that can give us a tax system that is fair, effective, transparent and predictable,” she said.
An expensive day for tech giants
Europe’s top court has also ruled that Google must pay a €2.4bn fine for abusing the market dominance of its shopping comparison service.
The tech giant had been appealing against the fine, which was originally levied by the European Commission in 2017.
Google said it was disappointed with the ruling, and pointed out it had made changes in 2017 to comply with the Commission’s decision.
At the time it was the largest penalty the Commission had ever levied – though a year later it issued Google with an even bigger fine of €4.3bn over claims it used Android software to unfairly promote its own apps.
Europe’s top court has ruled Google must pay a €2.4bn (£2bn) fine handed down for abusing the market dominance of its shopping comparison service.
The tech giant had appealed against the fine, which was originally levied by the European Commission in 2017.
It was at the time the largest penalty the Commission had ever imposed – though it has since been supplanted by a €4.3bn fine, also against Google.
Google said it was “disappointed” with the ruling.
It brings an end to a long-running case that was first brought by British firm Foundem in 2009, when the UK was still part of the EU.
Another of the complainants, shopping comparison site Kelkoo, called the ruling “a win for fair competition and consumer choice” in a post on X.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ), which made today’s judgement, said in its ruling the Commission was right to find Google’s conduct “discriminatory” and its appeal “must be dismissed in its entirety”.
It ordered Google and owner Alphabet to bear their own costs and pay the costs incurred by the European Commission.
In a statement, Google pointed out it had made changes in 2017 to comply with the European Commission’s decision.
“Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services,” it said.
Anne Witt, professor of law at EDHEC Business School’s Augmented Law Institute, said it was “an important judgement”.
“This is bad news for Google, which has exhausted its legal remedies in this case,” she said – while pointing out there could be further problems ahead for the firm.
“Several follow-on actions by injured parties claiming compensation for losses suffered as a consequence of Google’s anticompetitive conduct are already pending in national courts.”
On Monday, Google was taken to court by the US government over its ad tech business – it has been accused of illegally operating a monopoly. That trial is ongoing.
Last week, UK regulators provisionally concluded Google used anti-competitive practices to dominate the market for online advertising technology.
The EU’s case against Google started with Foundem, which filed its complaint against the tech giant in 2009.
At its heart was the contention that Google made its own shopping recommendations appear more prominent than rivals in search results.
Google had tried to argue that the case had no legal or economic merit.
But seven years ago, the Commission agreed that the tech giant effectively monopolised online price comparison by preventing others from getting a foothold in the market.
That decision has now been upheld.
Industry insiders have been keeping a close eye on the EU case, with suggestions that its outcome may illuminate the direction of travel of the many other antitrust cases Google is currently facing from the European Commission.
The search giant has amassed fines of €8.2bn from the Commission, which has repeatedly alleged it abused its dominant market position. These are:
The EU is also currently investigating the firm over whether it preferences its own goods and services over others in search results, as part of its Digital Markets Act.
If it finds Google guilty, the firm could face a fine of up to 10% of its annual turnover.
It is far from the only clash between the EU and big tech.
In a separate judgement today, the ECJ has told Apple it must pay back €13bn (£11bn; $14bn) in unpaid taxes to Ireland.
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