Policy

All stories in Policy

• Why it’s almost impossible to insure these 5 emerging technologies

  We’re exposed to risk every day. From crossing the road to using our phones on the toilet. Every decision is a gamble and, ...

  • Sam Golden

• No clue how to handle coronavirus as a startup founder? Here's what we're doing

  Helpful templates on how to deal with the coronavirus epidemic for startups, coworking spaces, and companies of any size. ...

  • Patrick de Laive

• TikTok encouraged moderators to suppress content from those deemed ugly, poor, or overweight

  Chinese video-sharing app TikTok once instructed its moderators to hide posts created by users it deemed to be ugly, poor, ...

  • Bryan Clark

• Facebook uses its ad policies to block apps that compete with its dating service

  Facebook Dating was always doomed to be as dystopian and inhumane as a speech from Mark “I'm not a robot, I swear it” ...

  • Tristan Greene

• 3 things startups need to consider before buying insurance

  Startups can be among the riskiest businesses to insure. That’s because they operate in new markets and often with untested ...

  • Lauren Hubbard

• The EU isn't particularly fond of Canada's anti-piracy laws

  The European Commission isn't particularly happy with Canada's copyright policy (or the lack thereof) — and it's got some ...

  • Mix

• YouTube now bans 'veiled threats' against content creators

  It's that time of year for looking back and seeing what happened in 2019. And given that YouTube was raked over the coals ...

  • Rachel Kaser

• India's IT minister conflates deepfake with fake news — and that's naive

  A lot of countries and states are forming, or thinking about forming policies around deepfake content. However, a question answered by minister RS Prasad during a parliamentary session in India on December 4, suggests the government is not thinking about devising a specific policy ...

  • Ivan Mehta

• Danish bank staff banned from buying Bitcoin with their own money — urged to dump holdings

  A Danish bank has successfully won a court case that means it can now prevent its staff from buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. ...

  • Matthew Beedham

• Google employees protest suspension of two activist colleagues

  Googlers are planning a rally today over the suspension of two activist employees who were put on leave for speaking out ...

  • Cara Curtis

• Facebook must remove fake Bitcoin ads featuring Big Brother creator or pay $1.2M

  The billionaire creator of the 'Big Brother' television format, John de Mol, has been successful in forcing Facebook to take ...

  • David Canellis

• The EU is coming after big tech again — this time for political ads

  The EU is said to be considering new political ad regulations so that "people know who is behind the campaigning, who pays ...

  • Ravie Lakshmanan

• We've got to regulate the application of AI — not the tech itself

  Regulations around the application of AI could prove vital in the future, while focusing on managing the tech itself is a ...

  • Asheesh Mehra

• How to opt out of Revolut's data sharing policies

  Revolut, like a lot of tech companies, shares data about its users with third parties. But you can opt out of that if you ...

  • Matthew Beedham

• Facebook employees object to the company’s policy of allowing lies in political ads

  Facebook employees issued an open letter urging Mark Zuckerberg to rethink the company's strategy for regulating paid political ...

  • Cara Curtis

• US Fed Reserve: Facebook’s ‘cryptocurrency’ dream faces core legal, regulatory challenges

  The US Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said yesterday that Facebook must overcome a “core of legal and regulatory ...

  • Yessi Bello Perez

• Twitter details what world leaders would have to do to be banned

  Twitter today revealed its list of rules specific to world leaders, and exactly what they can and can't do. It also revealed ...

  • Rachel Kaser

• This is how CIOs should approach ethics and privacy

  CIOs and IT directors must oversee appropriate data management while enabling their organizations to turn this information ...

  • Hilary Wandall

• The IRS’ latest cryptocurrency tax guidance shows it still doesn’t get it

  The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued updated guidance for calculating taxes owed on cryptocurrency holdings yesterday. ...

  • Matthew Beedham

• Period tracker apps caught sharing sensitive health data with Facebook

  Popular period tracker apps used by millions of women are sharing sensitive information such as monthly timings, contraception ...

  • Ravie Lakshmanan

• Report: TikTok censored posts about Trump, Christianity, and LGBTQ relationships

  TikTok's 500 million users aren't there to fight about politics, troll their enemies, or shitpost for lolz. They're mostly ...

  • Tristan Greene

• ICE is on the hunt for a new DevOps company thanks to a software engineer's protest

  Open-source technology company Chef has finally decided having a relationship with the US government isn't worth alienating ...

  • Tristan Greene

• Facebook hires lobbying firm to help sweet talk cryptocurrency regulators

  It seems Facebook's so-called "cryptocurrency" Libra needs a helping hand, as it's hired a specialist firm to lobby Washington ...

  • Matthew Beedham

• Google's new policy forbids employees from having 'raging debates' over politics

  Google used to be the epitome of young, smart, techy culture. Its offices have always been lauded as a workplace where free ...

  • Tristan Greene

• Researchers propose aggressive new method to eradicate online hate groups

  A team of researchers from George Washington University and the University of Miami recently published the results of a study ...

  • Tristan Greene

• Anti-abortion groups found a way around Google's new ad policy

  A report from the Guardian found that Google’s policy has a loophole. This means anti-abortion centers are able to continue ...

  • Cara Curtis

• Bitcoin traders in Israel fight bank lockouts with petition, lawsuits

  Israel's Bitcoin traders have simply had enough. They want to be able to deposit money generated by selling cryptocurrency, ...

  • David Canellis

• Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo join forces against lootboxes

  The three big console makers have just pledged to put an end to the "gambling" aspect of lootboxes, meaning the gaming industry ...

  • Rachel Kaser

• Google will remove shady data-stealing Chrome extensions starting October 15

  Google has said its new policy for Minimum Permission and updated User Data policy will be enforced starting October 15, ...

  • Ravie Lakshmanan

• Instagram will kindly let you know you’ve F’ed up before banning you

  Instagram has just introduced a new policy that’ll notify you if your account is at risk of getting banned. The social ...

  • Ivan Mehta

• Neuroscientists scanned radicals' brains to determine what makes them turn violent

  The young man sitting in the waiting room of our neuroimaging facility wearing skinny jeans and trainers looked like a typical ...

  • The Conversation

• EU lawmakers need to look beyond the ‘top layer’ when regulating the internet

  Brussels policy makers could be forgiven for wanting to move quickly to regulate ‘the internet.’ Assailed by an avalanche ...

  • Caroline Greer

• YouTube clumsily tries to rectify its confusing anti-harassment policies (again)

  YouTube has said it will reexamine its harassment policies and update them in "consultation with experts, creators, journalists ...

  • Ravie Lakshmanan

• Twitter's simplified policies won't help fix its underlying abuse problem

  Twitter has updated, reorganized, and shortened its rules to make it clear for users to understand what is and isn't acceptable ...

  • Ravie Lakshmanan

• Naked protestors redress Facebook's prude nudity policy

  Yesterday, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) announced that Facebook will reconsider its nudity guidelines. ...

  • Cara Curtis

• Twitter 'accidentally' blocked accounts of China dissidents ahead of Tiananmen anniversary

  Twitter has apologized after it suspended hundreds of accounts that were critical of Chinese government, days ahead of the ...

  • Ravie Lakshmanan

• Google’s new policy update cracks down on misleading anti-abortion ads

  This week, Google announced its plans to crack down on misleading advertisements from anti-abortion groups that present themselves ...

  • Cara Curtis

• Facebook finally takes steps to limit abusive live streamers

  Today, the social network introduced a new 'One strike' policy to ban users who violate its community guidelines. It's introducing ...

  • Ivan Mehta

• WeChat quietly bans cryptocurrency fundraising

  The Chinese equivalent of WhatsApp, WeChat, has updated its terms of service to ban merchants from fundraising by using tokens ...

  • Matthew Beedham

• Africa's mobile-based healthcare initiatives need regulatory and community support - not just funding

  As a community health worker tasked with tracking infant vaccinations in Kenya, Collince Oluoch was overwhelmed by ...

  • Laura Owings

• Big tech’s ‘ethical guidelines’ are no substitute for real regulation

  Data ethics is now a cause célèbre. “Digital ethics and privacy” shot into research and advisory company Gartner’s ...

  • The Conversation

• I failed supporting my female co-founder — here’s how I try to do better

  I always thought of myself as an enlightened, progressive man. Maybe I didn’t exactly paste the word “feminist” on ...

  • Christoph Bornschein

• The Netherlands premieres the first GDPR fining policy in the EU

  GDPR made a lot of noise last year, but we've yet to see any real enforcement. The new Dutch policy could signal a change. ...

  • Már Másson Maack

• The US Army wants us to pretend autonomous tanks aren't killer robots

  Killer robots? Are you going to throw that in the Army's face everytime you have an argument? You're being irrational. Look, ...

  • Tristan Greene

• YouTube's need to disable comments highlights how shitty the internet is

  YouTube has disabled comments on millions of videos featuring minors, in an effort to prevent predatory behavior in the comments ...

  • Abhimanyu Ghoshal

• Twitter finally banned misgendering transgender people

  Last month, Twitter banned misgendering transgender people as a part of a wider update to its hateful conduct policy. The ...

  • Georgina Ustik

• Here’s how face recognition tech can be GDPR compliant

  Ah, face recognition, that nifty little feature that's already making the still new fingerprint scanners (kind of) obsolete. ...

  • Parth Misra

• Tim Cook supports EU’s strict privacy laws — but thinks taxes are 'crap'

  Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, gave a keynote at ICDPPC where he called for better data policies in tech and lauded EU's GDPR. Unfortunately, ...

  • Már Másson Maack

• 6 reasons why municipalities are getting hammered by cyberattacks

  More and more municipalities are becoming victims of hacks. For example in the US, the first half of 2018 has seen many major ...

  • John Randall

• Bill Gates and the EU announce a €100M investment fund to combat climate change

  Bill Gates has signed an agreement with the EU, on behalf of his billionaire investment coaltion, to launch a joint €100M ...

  • Már Másson Maack

• Without coaching our privacy, does Google even have a business?

  Google is on a seemingly-ceaseless crusade to turn every one of its users into an open book that it can exploit for valuable ...

  • Gary Eastwood

• Twitter's new policy aims to eradicate 'dehumanizing speech'

  Twitter today announced it'd be altering its hateful conduct policies to prohibit "dehumanizing speech." By doing so, it ...

  • Rachel Kaser

• Amazon will no longer give you price adjustment refunds (except for TVs)

  Most people shop on Amazon because of its large catalog and competitive pricing – prices so good that sometimes, they drop even ...

  • Natt Garun