The UN is calling for an immediate investigation into allegations that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ phone was hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Dan digs in with Cyberscoop reporter Shannon Vavra.
Apple has come under fire this week for holding onto encryption keys to iCloud backups, which let it provide law enforcement with access to users' data even while the company is refusing to unlock iPhones for the FBI, as in the current standoff over the Pensacola shooter's phone.
The state of play: Apple's practice is nothing new — and it's not a sign the company is capitulating to law enforcement in the encryption debate.
If it weren't for impeachment, the country's biggest story would be allegations that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) hacked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' phone.
Whyit matters: This would be the nominal leader of an American ally spying on the head of one of America's largest companies, who doubles as the owner of one of America's most influential media outlets.
Tinder will debut a feature later this month that will allow users to hit a panic button if they feel physically unsafe on a date gone wrong, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Why it matters: Critics have previously called out Tinder for not doing more to ensure the safety of users and filtering out possibly dangerous users, especially following reports of sexual assaults after connections made via the app.
One of Facebook's biggest headaches leading up to 2020 isn't election interference or fake news — it's worrying about what a Democrat in the White House could mean for the business.
Why it matters: The Obama administration's warm embrace of Big Tech is no longer shared by many Democratic policymakers and presidential hopefuls. Many of them hold Facebook responsible for President Trump's 2016 victory, assail it for allowing misinformation to spread, and have vowed to regulate it or break it up.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tweeted Wednesday a photo at an Istanbul memorial to murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi amid allegations that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) played a part in hacking the tech mogul's phone.
The big picture: Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, had his phone hacked by an account apparently owned by MBS in 2018. UN investigators believe that MBS, who the CIA has concluded ordered Khashoggi's death, may have been seeking to "influence, if not silence, [the Post's] reporting on Saudi Arabia."
Front, a San Francisco-based maker of email collaboration software, raised $59 million in Series C funding led by a group of top executives from enterprise software companies Atlassian, Qualtrics and Zoom.
Why it matters: It's not common for individuals to lead such a large round, but Front thinks that it will gain insights from executives who have had success in changing the way people work.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' phone was hacked in 2018 after he received a WhatsApp message from an account apparently owned by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), UN investigators said in a statement Wednesday.
What they're saying: The UN is calling for an “immediate investigation” by the United States and other countries into the hacking of Bezos' phone, which experts said may have been part of "an effort to influence, if not silence, The Washington Post's reporting on Saudi Arabia."
European countries are caught in the middle of dueling pressure campaigns from the U.S. and China over whether to let equipment made by Chinese manufacturer Huawei into their 5G networks.
Why it matters: It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" choice that could leave Europe alienating a major trading partner either way.
