Category: Tech news

Security and encryption experts from around the world are joining a number of organizations to call on India to reconsider its proposed amendments to local intermediary liability rules.

In an open letter to India’s IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday, 27 security and cryptography experts warned the Indian government that if it goes ahead with its originally proposed changes to the law, it could weaken security and limit the use of strong encryption on the internet.

The Indian government proposed (PDF) a series of changes to its intermediary liability rules in late December 2018 that, if enforced, would require millions of services operated by anyone from small and medium businesses to large corporate giants such as Facebook and Google to make significant changes.

The originally proposed rules say that intermediaries — which the government defines as those services that facilitate communication between two or more users and have five million or more users in India — will have to proactively monitor and filter their users’ content and be able to trace the originator of questionable content to avoid assuming full liability for their users’ actions.

“By tying intermediaries’ protection from liability to their ability to monitor communications being sent across their platforms or systems, the amendments would limit the use of end-to-end encryption and encourage others to weaken existing security measures,” the experts wrote in the letter, coordinated by the Internet Society .

With end-to-end encryption, there is no way for the service provider to access its users’ decrypted content, they said. Some of these experts include individuals who work at Google, Twitter, Access Now, Tor Project and World Wide Web Consortium.

“This means that services using end-to-end encryption cannot provide the level of monitoring required in the proposed amendments. Whether it’s through putting a ‘backdoor’ in an encryption protocol, storing cryptographic keys in escrow, adding silent users to group messages, or some other method, there is no way to create ‘exceptional access’ for some without weakening the security of the system for all,” they added.

Technology giants have so far enjoyed what is known as “safe harbor” laws. The laws, currently applicable in the U.S. under the Communications Decency Act and India under its 2000 Information Technology Act, say that tech platforms won’t be held liable for the things their users share on the platform.

Many organizations have expressed in recent days their reservations about the proposed changes to the law. Earlier this week, Mozilla, GitHub and Cloudflare requested the Indian government to be transparent about the proposals that they have made to the intermediary liability rules. Nobody outside the Indian government has seen the current draft of the proposal, which it plans to submit to India’s Supreme Court for approval by January 15.

Among the concerns raised by some is the vague definition of “intermediary” itself. Critics say the last publicly known version of the draft had an extremely broad definition of the term “intermediary,” that would be applicable to a wide-range of service providers, including popular instant messaging clients, internet service providers, cyber cafes and even Wikipedia.

Amanda Keton, general counsel of Wikimedia Foundation, requested the Indian government late last month to rethink the requirement to bring “traceability” on online communication, as doing so, she warned, would interfere with the ability of Wikipedia contributors to freely participate in the project.

A senior executive with an American technology company, who requested anonymity, told TechCrunch on Wednesday that even as the proposed changes to the intermediary guidelines need major changes, it is high time that the Indian government decided to look into this at all.

“Action on social media platforms, and instant communications services is causing damage in the real world. Spread of hoax has cost us more than at least 30 lives. If tomorrow, someone’s sensitive photos and messages leak on the internet, there is currently little they can expect from their service providers. We need a law to deal with the modern internet’s challenges,” he said.

 A new Transportation Department policy on self-driving cars is long on boosting the industry and short on ensuring its safety.

The retail giant warned holiday shoppers that Honey, a popular browser extension, was a “security risk.” Honey denies the claim.

Lime is hoping to achieve profitability this year by laying off about 14% of its workforce and ceasing operations in 12 markets, Axios first reported.

“Financial independence is our goal for 2020, and we are confident that Lime will be the first next-generation mobility company to reach profitability,” Lime CEO Brad Bao said in a statement to TechCrunch. “We are immensely grateful for our team members, riders, Juicers and cities who supported us, and we hope to reintroduce Lime back into these communities when the time is right.”

That means Lime is shutting down in Atlanta, Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio, Linz, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima, Puerto Vallarta, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

This is not the first time Lime has pulled out of markets. Over the span of about a year, Lime exited at least 11 markets while it entered 69 new ones. Between 2018 and 2019, competitor Bird pulled out of 38 markets and entered 36 new ones.

And while layoffs are not fun, Lime is not alone. Last year, both Bird and Lyft laid off employees working on micromobility. In March, Bird laid off up to 5% of its workforce and then cut up to a dozen Scoot employees in December. Lyft, similarly, also laid off up to 50 people on its bikes and scooters team in March.

Following Lime’s $310 million round in February led by Bain Capital, it hit a valuation of $2.4 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg won’t be spending 2020 focused on wearing ties, learning Mandarin or just fixing Facebook. “Rather than having year-to-year challenges, I’ve tried to think about what I hope the world and my life will look in 2030,” he wrote today on Facebook. As you might have guessed, though, Zuckerberg’s vision for an improved planet involves a lot more of Facebook’s family of apps.

His biggest proclamations in today’s notes include that:

• AR – Phones will remain the primary computing platform for most of the decade but augmented reality could get devices out from between us so we can be present together — Facebook is building AR glasses
• VR – Better virtual reality technology could address the housing crisis by letting people work from anywhere — Facebook is building Oculus
• Privacy – The internet has created a global community where people find it hard to establish themselves as unique, so smaller online groups could make people feel special again — Facebook is building more private groups and messaging options
• Regulation – The big questions facing technology are too thorny for private companies to address by themselves, and governments must step in around elections, content moderation, data portability and privacy — Facebook is trying to self-regulate on these and everywhere else to deter overly onerous lawmaking

These are all reasonable predictions and suggestions. However, Zuckerberg’s post does little to address how the broadening of Facebook’s services in the 2010s also contributed to a lot of the problems he presents:

• Isolation – Constant passive feed scrolling on Facebook and Instagram has created a way to seem like you’re being social without having true back-and-forth interaction with friends
• Gentrification – Facebook’s shuttled employees have driven up rents in cities around the world, especially the Bay Area
• Envy – Facebook’s algorithms can make anyone without a glamorous, Instagram-worthy life look less important, while hackers can steal accounts and its moderation systems can accidentally suspend profiles with little recourse for most users
• Negligence – The growth-first mentality led Facebook’s policies and safety to lag behind its impact, creating the kind of democracy, content, anti-competition and privacy questions it’s now asking the government to answer for it

Noticeably absent from Zuckerberg’s post are explicit mentions of some of Facebook’s more controversial products and initiatives. He writes about “decentralizing opportunity” by giving small businesses commerce tools, but never mentions cryptocurrency, blockchain or Libra directly. Instead he seems to suggest that Instagram store fronts, Messenger customer support and WhatsApp remittance might be sufficient. He also largely leaves out Portal, Facebook’s smart screen that could help distant families stay closer, but that some see as a surveillance and data collection tool.

I’m glad Zuckerberg is taking his role as a public figure and the steward of one of humanity’s fundamental utilities more seriously. His willingness to even think about some of these long-term issues instead of just quarterly profits is important. Optimism is necessary to create what doesn’t exist.

Still, if Zuckerberg wants 2030 to look better for the world, and for the world to look more kindly on Facebook, he may need to hire more skeptics and cynics that see a dystopic future instead — people who understand human impulses toward greed and vanity. Their foresight on where societal problems could arise from Facebook’s products could help temper Zuckerberg’s team of idealists to create a company that balances the potential of the future with the risks to the present.

For more on why Facebook can’t succeed on idealism alone, read:

It’s true that different light sources can alter colors. But Trump’s science is off on this one.

OrCam is expanding its product lineup with new devices that tackle new use cases. OrCam’s best-known device is the OrCam MyEye 2 — a tiny device for people with visual impairment that you clip on your glasses to help you navigate the world around you.

At CES, OrCam announced that the MyEye 2 is getting new features. In addition to being able to point at text and signs to read text aloud, recognize faces and identify objects and money notes, you’ll be able to let the device guide you.

For instance, you can say “what’s in front of me?” and the device could tell you that there’s a door. You can then ask to be guided to that door. The MyEye 2 is also getting better at natural language processing for interactive reading sessions.

When it comes to new devices, OrCam is expanding to hearing impairment with the OrCam Hear. It can be particularly useful in loud rooms. The device helps you identify and isolate a speaker’s voice so you can follow a conversation even in a public space. You pair it with your existing Bluetooth hearing aids.

Finally, OrCam is introducing the OrCam Read, a handheld AI reader. This time, you don’t clip a camera to your glasses, you take the device in your hand and point it at text. The company says it could be particularly useful for people who have reading difficulties due to dyslexia.

Now that 2020 has started, Uber, DoorDash and Lyft are taking additional steps to undermine a new California law that would help more gig workers qualify as full-time employees. These moves entail product changes, lawsuits and ramped-up efforts to get a ballot initiative in front of voters that would roll back the new legislation.

Let’s start with the most recent development; yesterday, Uber sent a note to users announcing that it’s getting rid of upfront pricing in favor of estimated prices, unless they’re Uber Pool rides.

“Due to a new state law, we are making some changes to help ensure that Uber remains a dependable source of flexible work for California drivers,” Uber wrote in an email to customers. “These changes may take some getting used to, but our goal is to keep Uber available to as many qualified drivers as possible, without restricting the number of drivers who can work at a given time.”

Uber says it also has to discontinue rewards benefits like price protection on a route and flexible cancellations for trips in California. For drivers, that means they won’t see estimated earnings and drivers in surge arteas will no longer see fixed dollar amounts.

“AB5 threatens to restrict or eliminate opportunities for independent workers across a wide spectrum of industries, including trucking, freelance journalism and ridesharing,” an Uber spokesperson told TechCrunch. “As a result of AB5, we’ve made a number of product changes to preserve flexible work for tens of thousands of California drivers. At the same time, we’ve put forward a progressive package of new protections for drivers, including guaranteed minimum earnings and benefits, so voters can choose to truly improve flexible work in November.”

While Uber is essentially saying this is something the company must do, it’s worth noting that this is not some requirement of the new law; this is Uber’s attempt to beef up its case that it’s legally allowed to classify drivers as independent contractors. Since much of the rationale for determining whether or not a worker is an employee comes down to control, removing upfront fares and ditching penalties for rejecting fares could help Uber make a case that its drivers are operating on their own accord.

A state-sponsored group called Magnallium has been probing American electric utilities for the past year.

It’s the last days of CES 2020, but the WIRED crew is still roaming show floor to find the coolest and strangest gadgets this year.

Assa Abloy, the world’s largest lock maker and the parent company of August Home and Yale, announced some new products at CES this week. The company didn’t talk about doorbell cameras at all — it could be related to recent Ring’s controversies.

As a well-known brand when it comes to smart lock in the U.S., August Home is iterating and refining with new products without any groundbreaking change. This time, the company is introducing a new August Wi-Fi Smart Lock.

This is the fourth generation lock from the startup that got acquired by Assa Abloy. It is 45% smaller than the previous version and it features a Wi-Fi chip on the device itself. It means that you no longer need to plug a bridge that connects to your Wi-Fi network and communicates with your lock.

As a result, battery life should be a bit worse on the new device. The company says that you can expect 3 to 6 months of battery compared to 6 months with the third generation device.

Like previous versions of August devices, it integrates directly in the deadbolt so that you don’t have to replace your lock altogether.

While August Home is quite popular in the U.S., the same can’t be said in Europe. It turns out that the lock market is quite fragmented with different locking system depending on the country.

But Yale is releasing a smart door lock called Linus that works pretty much like August Home locks in Europe. Yves Behar has designed both the new August Home lock and the Yale Linus lock. The company has designed different mounting plates so that it fits with as many European homes as possible.

You can lock and unlock your door using your phone, temporarily hand out digital key to guests and more. The Linus lock isn’t connected to the internet, so you have to get a bridge in case you’re interested in that functionality. There are integrations with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, Airbnb and IFTTT.

When it comes to apps, the August Home and Yale apps are now identical. The company is just keeping both names for branding reasons.

Yale also took advantage of CES to announce a Smart Cabinet Lock that can lock your medicine cabinet for instance. The company has integrated that lock into a delivery box that you can put in front of your house. There’s a new smart safe as well.

The automobile industry has experienced considerable change when it comes to powertrain and cabin technology features in the past decade, but what about boats? They’re also getting some cutting-edge upgrades made possible by the same technologies that are improving the power and performance of smartphones, and Sea Ray debuted a new top-end outboard boat at CES 2020 that puts a lot of that on display in one big, beautiful package.

The Sea Ray SLX-R 400e has one feature in particular that’s brand new and could easily trickle down to other pleasure craft, should it catch on with boaters: The Fathom e-Power system developed by partner Brunswick, which helped Sea Ray put together the innovative SLX-R 400e. This is an electrified part of the seacraft’s powertrain, featuring a lithium-ion battery pack with a high enough storage capacity that it can handle powering all the accessory systems on board the boat, including its entertainment features.

The SLX-R 400e’s main engines are still powered by traditional fuel — and there are three 450 hp V8 Mercury outboard engines to drive the 40-foot boat. But the Fathom e-Power system means that when you’re just sitting on the water entertaining up to 21 of your closest friends, you’re not burning fuel, making it “more eco-friendly” and providing more power longer than traditional alternators.

In addition to the e-Power system, the Sea Ray SLX-R 400e also features joystick piloting, giving you more precise control over orientation of the outboards while being user-friendly for people who don’t necessarily have a lot of experience piloting boats.

The cockpit is equally futuristic, with multiple 16-inch displays providing a comprehensive overview of the boat’s status and systems. The boat-wide audio system even boasts AirPlay support for streaming from Apple devices.

This isn’t just a concept: Sea Ray is actually going to be selling this to consumers, with availability set for sometime later this year.

Underserved areas are becoming hot, hot, hot, from the standpoint of venture capitalists and their own backers.

In October, Steve Case’s Revolution announced that a second Rise of the Rest Seed Fund had closed with $150 million in commitments. In November, Drive Capital, a Columbus, Ohio-based venture firm that was started by two former Sequoia Capital partners and focuses on largely Midwestern startups, revealed in SEC filings that it had raised a fresh $350 million in capital commitments across two funds. Meanwhile, last month, Hyde Park Venture Partners, a Chicago-based early-stage software-focused venture firm that’s focused on the “mid-continent,” announced on Medium that it had closed its third fund with $100 million.

Now, J.D. Vance — who rose to fame after penning a memoir (“Hillbilly Elegy”) but who has also worked as an investor, including as principal for Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital Management and more recently as a managing director with Revolution — has swung open the doors of his own Midwest-focused venture fund, Narya Capital, based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The outfit has so far raised $93 million in capital commitments for its debut fund, and its investors include Thiel, along with some other heavyweight names, including Marc Andreessen, Eric Schmidt and ExactTarget co-founder Scott Dorsey — who also now runs a Midwest-focused venture firm and startup studio.

Vance isn’t talking publicly yet about the fund — it’s still in fundraising mode — but judging by an SEC filing first flagged by Axios, he isn’t going it alone. Colin Greenspon, who was partner at Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and a former managing director at Mithril, is joining him as co-founder and partner.

According to the outlet Columbus Business First, the two are also joined by partner Falon Donohue, who spent more than four years as the CEO of VentureOhio, a nonprofit organization that aims to increase access to venture capital for Ohio entrepreneurs. Donohue had also started a seed-stage venture firm in Columbus called Sadie Ventures back in 2018.

The firm’s SEC filing shows a target of $125 million.

Its name — like that of Mithril — derives from the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. While mithril is a fictional metal, Narya is a magical ring that (according to fan pages) has the power to inspire others to resist tyranny, domination and despair.

According to data from PitchBook and CB Insights in association with Hyde Park, the Midwest has seen a meaningful uptick in venture investment in recent years, jumping from $2.7 billion in 2016 to $4.3 billion by 2018.

Other funds to close in recent times include Great North Labs, which closed its first fund with $23.7 million in capital last June to invest in early-stage tech startups across the Upper Midwest in the U.S. As we reported over the weekend, a firm that invests expressly in startups from “Park City to Kansas City” just attracted more than $16 million in backing for its newest fund, too.

Two years ago, we created the Matrix FinTech Index to highlight what we saw as the beginnings of a 10+ year mega innovation wave in financial services.

The trillion-dollar financial services industry was going to be turned on its head over the next decade, and we were just getting started. At the time, the top 10 publicly traded U.S. fintech companies had just surpassed the $100 billion mark in terms of total market capitalization, 12 unicorns had emerged in the category, and the U.S. VC industry had just poured in $6.7B — a record at the time.

As we predicted last year, the innovation cycle continues, and we are transitioning into its mid-phase. So what happened in U.S. fintech in 2019? In short, monster growth.

On the public side, fintechs delivered resoundingly. PayPal alone gained $26B in market capitalization. On a return basis, the public Matrix FinTech Index continued to crush every major equity index as well as the financial services incumbents. Nicely matching our forecasts, our Index delivered 213% returns over the last three years. The Index outperformed the financial services incumbents by 151 percentage points and the S&P 500 by 170 percentage points.