📵 Apps With Hidden Data-Harvesting Software Are Banned by Google

Today’s pick

Apps With Hidden Data-Harvesting Software Are Banned by Google. Google has yanked dozens of apps from its Google Play store after determining that they include a software element that surreptitiously harvests data… (Byron Tau / Wall Street Journal)

Johana Bhuiyan @JMBooyah

Google pulled dozens of apps it found to include hidden data-harvesting software, with code tied to U.S. national-security contractors, including Muslim apps like Al Moazin and Qibla Compass wsj.com/articles/apps-… via @WSJ

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Deception, exploited workers, and cash handouts: How Worldcoin recruited its first half a million test users. The startup promises a fairly-distributed, cryptocurrency-based universal basic income. So far all it's done is build a biometric database from the bodies of the poor. (Eileen Guo / MIT Technology Review)

Eileen Guo @eileenguo

When @worldcoin announced its cryptocurrency-based, biometrically-authenticated UBI scheme, testing primarily in developing countries, I had questions. So @anxioushuxley @Lujainion @AntoanetaRoussi & I investigated what they were really up to 🧵 technologyreview.com/2022/04/06/104…

technologyreview.comDeception, exploited workers, and cash handouts: How Worldcoin recruited its first half a million test usersThe startup promises a fairly-distributed, cryptocurrency-based universal basic income. So far all it’s done is build a biometric database from the bodies of the poor.

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Meta is reportedly making 'Zuck Bucks'. Meta may have given up on its Diem cryptocurrency, but the company is still exploring finance products, according to a new Financial Times report. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram reportedly has a few irons in the fire, including… (Jay Peters / The Verge)

Karl Bode @KarlBode

imagine working for Facebook marketing, with an unlimited budget and the best creative talent in the world at your fingertips, and being forced to constantly tether your brand to a man with the charisma of a damp walnut

theverge.comMeta is reportedly making ‘Zuck Bucks’They’re one of a few finance projects in the works at Meta.

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Miami Gets Its Own 'Charging Bull' Statue for Crypto Week. Miami is kicking off a multiday Bitcoin conference by unveiling a larger-than-life bull statue, as the city looks to cement its image as a crypto hub. The installation, named “Miami Bull,” bears the likeness of Wall Street's… (Vildana Hajric / Bloomberg)

Bloomberg @business

Miami is kicking off a multiday Bitcoin conference by unveiling a 3,000-pound bull statue, as the city looks to cement its image as a crypto hub

trib.alMiami Gets Its Own ‘Charging Bull’ Statue for Crypto Week

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Europe Is Building a Huge International Facial Recognition System. Lawmakers advance proposals to let police forces across the EU link their photo databases—which include millions of pictures of people’s faces. (Matt Burgess / WIRED)

WIRED Science @WIREDScience

Lawmakers advance proposals to let police forces across the EU link their photo databases—which include millions of pictures of people’s faces.

trib.alEurope Is Building a Huge International Facial Recognition SystemLawmakers advance proposals to let police forces across the EU link their photo databases—which include millions of pictures of people’s faces.

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— Jose Montes de Oca

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