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(Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. shares surged to a record high Monday, with megacap Internet and technology stocks rallying amid optimism about the strong pace of economic growth.Shares of Facebook gained as much as 3.8% to touch an intraday record of $309.89, with the social-media company taking out a peak that has stood since August. Robust economic data on the service industries supported an advance in cyclical and growth-orientated industries, fueling the S&P 500 Index’s gain for a third day.The communication services and information technology sectors were among the strongest-performing stocks of the day. Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, rose 3.9% and also surged to an intraday record. Among other notable tech gainers, Amazon.com rose 1.9%, Apple Inc. gained 2.1%, and Microsoft Corp. was up as much as 3.1% at an all-time high.Shares of tech behemoths have broadly performed well this year -- despite a rotation into value stocks -- amid a strong vaccine rollout in the U.S., stoking enthusiasm of rapid economic growth. Of the market’s biggest tech names,  » Read More

2019 Stolen Data of 533M Users' Personal Data & Phone Numbers Surface Online. It appears people, governments, regulators and legislators worldwide may have forgotten Facebook's complicit involvement with Cambridge Analytica (CA). It is possible that new priorities such as the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 may have pre-occupied them, and rightly so. But an unprecedented data breach in 2019 unfolded this weekend, bringing a recurring nightmare of the past back into today's reality. Simply put, it should serve as a daunting reminder to people worldwide that expecting our regulators to finally do the right thing is continuing to stick our heads in the sand like ostriches. Did we forget that Facebook and Cambridge Analytica illegally harvested users' data and then manipulated voters of the UK Brexit vote, the 2016 US Presidential elections, as well as multiple African presidential elections? These were a few out of a much longer list of illegal and unethical activities CA was caught doing. This included its president being caught bragging on Video about some of CA's successes to UK's Channel 4 TV undercover investigators.  » Read More

Facebook recently updated its App Store privacy labels to reveal its user data collection practices as per the guidelines of the marketplace. This is part of Apple's crackdown on user privacy making it a mandate for all App Store apps to disclose what data they collect from their users and how they use it. The App Privacy section is at the bottom of any app listings page and it details information on whether the app uses your data to track you across other websites or apps, or collects it for third-party advertising, developer marketing, analytics, better product personalisation, or improving app functionality.The social media giant had to disclose how it collects data after Apple made it mandatory last December for apps to submit the information with reviews for app updates or new app listings. The privacy labels suggest Facebook uses important data like contact information to track users across other websites and apps.Where can I see Facebook's privacy labels?Head to Facebook's App Store listing and scroll down to a section called App Privacy.  » Read More

PETALING JAYA: The reimposition of cabotage policy on submarine cable repair works did not cause tech giants to skip Malaysia as part of its plans to install undersea cables to boost Internet connection in the region, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong. Referring to Facebook's plan to install Bifrost and Echo undersea cables, the Transport Minister said the two undersea cables did not mean to bypass Malaysia because Facebook had built a database in Tanjong Keling Data Centre Park, Singapore in 2019. Dr Wee said the data centre was built in Singapore because Malaysia lacked the appropriate data centre infrastructure. "For example between 2018 and 2019 (under Pakatan Harapan), Malaysia was busy wasting time and money for ancient ideas such as flying cars, rather than a data centre and the third industrial revolution," he said in a Facebook post on Sunday (April 4). Dr Wee was responding to a report by portal SoyaCincau that quoted the Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX) as urging the government to reinstate the cabotage exemption for foreign vessels to conduct undersea cable repair works or risk losing out foreign direct investments to neighbouring countries.  » Read More

Here's our curated list of important tech news from this week in byte size. (Subscribe to our Today's Cache newsletter for a quick snapshot of top 5 tech stories. Click here to subscribe for free.)Google extends free ‘unlimited’ Meet calls till JuneGoogle has once again extended ‘unlimited’ Meet calls for free users by six months. “We’re continuing unlimited #GoogleMeet calls (up to 24 hours) in the free version through June 2021 for Gmail accounts,” the tech giant wrote in a tweet. This is the second time the company has extended free Meet calls. Last April, the search giant had announced Meet’s availability for free to everyone with a Google account, and had said the time limit will be capped to 60 minutes per meeting post-September 2020. However, in September last year, the company extended the unlimited Meet calls till March 2021. Since April last year, Google has added numerous enhancements to the video-conferencing platform for its users. This week, Google also launched its version of CamScanner app.  » Read More

Apple CEO Tim Cook took part in a remote interview with journalist Kara Swisher this week, with the pair discussing topics ranging from App Store policy to the now infamous "Tim Apple" incident. Cook's virtual sit-down will air on The New York Times podcast "Sway" next Monday. The show is hosted by Swisher and regularly features high profile players in tech, politics, entertainment and beyond. According to a tweet from Swisher, the interview covers a number of topics including Apple's decision to yank right wing social app Parler from the App Store in January. The app was pulled on concerns that it was used to help "plan, coordinate, and facilitate" the storming of the U.S. Capitol and remains off Apple's marketplace, as well as Google's Play Store and Amazon's servers. Republican lawmakers are currently scrutinizing the removal. Cook will also speak about user privacy safeguards coming to iOS, namely a new feature called App Tracking Transparency that requires developers to gain permission before tracking a user's device advertising identifier,  » Read More

Some of the biggest companies in the Bay Area are reopening their offices after more than a year of shelter in place. The Chronicle is tracking major reopening dates, health policies, real estate decisions and permanent remote work policies. Uber Reopening date: San Francisco headquarters reopened March 29. Uber was the first major office employer in San Francisco to reopen on March 29 after the city entered the orange tier of the state’s coronavirus reopening system, which allowed nonessential offices to reopen. The company opened its new Mission Bay headquarters on a voluntary basis at 20% capacity. The 1 million-square-foot, four-building complex next to Chase Center has room for roughly 5,000 employees. Uber plans to increase cleaning services and require face coverings. To qualify to work at the office, employees must take daily health screenings and temperature checks at home. Others can work remotely until Sept. 13. Real estate plans: Uber sought to reduce its office commitments in San Francisco buildings prior to the pandemic, listing sublease space at its previous headquarters at 1455 Market St.  » Read More

Shawanda Woodson, 25. (WKMG 2021)TITUSVILLE, Fla. – A woman with an outstanding warrant fled the scene of her traffic stop before an officer could arrest her, however, the officer later saw a post on a Facebook group regarding the incident with comments from the suspect, according to Titusville police.According to the arrest warrant, a Titusville police officer pulled over Shawanda Woodson’s Hyundai on March 11 around noon after she failed to stop at a stop sign near Prospect Street and Burning Tree Drive. The officer said he saw a young child not in a car seat but seated in the front passenger seat with a seatbelt on.AdWoodson, 25, told the officer she was on probation and was not supposed to have contact with law enforcement, according to the report. After pulling up Woodson’s information the officer asked her to step out of the vehicle but as she was doing so she “suddenly,  » Read More

The Supreme Court said Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission could begin to relax the rules restricting single-company ownership of multiple media outlets in a community, clearing the way for more industry consolidation.In a separate ruling, the court said Facebook did not violate the federal law governing robocalls when it sent text messages to a man who said he never had an account with the social media company.Both decisions were unanimous.In a victory for the nation's broadcasters, the justices overturned a lower court ruling that blocked the FCC from carrying out a Trump administration effort to repeal some media cross-ownership rules. The industry argued that consolidation would help it remain competitive as audiences increasingly move to online sources.The court's opinion, written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, said the limits on cross ownership were adopted at a time when media sources were more limited."The FCC considered the record evidence on competition, localism, viewpoint diversity, and minority and female ownership, and reasonably concluded that the three ownership rules no longer serve the public interest," he wrote.  » Read More

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