TechBooky

The European Union led by its Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager has concluded an investigation onto what they say is an antitrust case regarding Android mobile devices which they say was designed to strengthen the dominance of Google’s Search Engine. It is because of this that they have fined Google a massive €4.3b or about $5b . [xyz-ihs snippet="EU-fines-google-5b"] Google they say has forced phone makers over the years to include its own apps in their devices and the EU has determined that this practise is unfair and has given Google an undue advantage over its competitors. This is the second time in two years that the European regulators would be slamming a fine in the billions on the American tech giant. Back in June 2017, Google was fined $2.7b for unfairly redirecting users to its own shopping platform before it gives others a choice. This means that Google was accused of relegating links of rival services to areas where users are less likely to click w...

Let"s take a walk down memory lane.  On the 29th day of April 2017, Turkish authorities blocked online access to all language editions of the online encyclopedia- Wikipedia- throughout Turkey. The restrictions were imposed in accordance to Turkish Law No. 5651, due to the English version of an article on state-sponsored terrorism, where Turkey was described as a sponsor country for ISIS and Al-Qaeda, which Turkish courts viewed as a public manipulation of mass media. Despite multiple requests by Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority, Wikipedia"s community, ascribed such claims to be referenced to reliable sources, refused to edit the article to comply with the Turkish law. When the Turkish government suddenly banned Wikipedia in late April last year, it came as little surprise to many people in the country. Access to platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and WhatsApp have been periodically restricted in Turkey numerous times since 2...

The instant messaging app, Telegram has been under fire for its encryption which prevents a third-party from intercepting messages shared on its platform. Iran has joined the list of counties at war with Telegram. The Asian country is disrupting the swapping of videos and images via the service. Iran"s net regulator in an official statement said the sharing images and videos were banned and the move will apparently affect the "quality" of the app in the country. Last month, Russia had banned Telegram app for refusing to submit the encryption keys to the authority to intercept messages. Russia said it was a procedure to ensure safety and after it failed to comply with the power despite the ultimatum, the site was blocked which allegedly knocked out over four million IP addresses, including cloud services from Google and Amazon Like Russia, Iran telecoms official had given Telegram a mandate to move its servers to be routed through Iran"s Iran"s government-contro...

Ahead of the new EU data regulations which will take effect on May 25, the instant messaging app, WhatsApp which is also owned by Facebook Inc. is raising the minimum age limit to 16 in the European Union. The European Union"s General Data Protection Regulation, (GPDR) will accord users the control over how their data is used as regards the information they supply to internet-based companies. The new law will also take cognizance of kids who use platforms like WhatsApp. Since the platform does not verify users" ages before accessing their site, it will now to obliged to make an effort to ensure that a parent has given permission or authorization for their kids or wards to use the online service. This new law applies to users below 16. Other countries aside the UK will maintain the cut-off age at 13.  Read more: The New European Privacy Laws Will Not Protect The Other 1.5 Billion Facebook Users The app currently allows users from the age of 13 to use the app but will begin to ...

In the newly changed terms of service, 1.5 billion members will be unprotected under the strict rules coming to Europe. The new policies follow a series of questions from lawmakers and regulators in the past week, concerning how the social network handles users" information. Facebook users outside the EU will be governed by Facebook Inc. in the US other than the company in Ireland. This automatically sees that over 70% of the users outside the EU are unprotected. This may be a move by Facebook to continuously control users" data or better still, avoid applying the EU"s stringent rules. In December, Facebook"s statistics showed that the social network had 239 million active users in the US and Canada, 370 million in Europe and 1.5 billion users in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Australia. This vividly explains that Facebook still has a superior power over the majority number of users. Although Facebook claims to apply the same rules for its users regardless of their...

In an attempt to block the Telegram app in Russia, the media regulator has blocked over 4 million IP addresses. A court in Moscow approved a ban on the instant messaging app after it failed to submit encryption keys to enable the security intercept users" messages. Shortly after the court passed the ban, Durov Pavel, telegram owner assured the users that with the use of a VPN, they could bypass the strict rule to access the app. According to tech reports, Telegram is allegedly using different addresses to stay connected in the country. However, this action has affected millions of web users including another messaging service, Viber, which tweeted a complaint about assessing the app which is seemingly linked to the Telegram app blocking in Russia. Also, businesses have been affected; some business activities have reportedly come to a halt. Some online shops complained about the blocking, as well as some online gaming shops who reported that the users experienced problems with log...

Human-free driving in the Golden State, California . Last month, following the fatal accident that caused the death of a woman in Arizona which involved Uber’s self-driving vehicle . The incident sent shockwaves through the tech and auto industries, raising questions about the safety surrounding this technology and the permissiveness of states like Arizona to welcome the testing. Unlike Arizona, though, California has been permitting and putting policies in place for self-driving cars to thrive. A couple of weeks ago, California was accepting applications for permits that would allow testing of fully driverless vehicles on public roads. At the time, the Department of Motor Vehicles wouldn"t reveal which companies had applied for the permits. Now, thanks to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle , we know that one of the companies was Waymo. Waymo is considered by many to be a leader in driverless car development, so its permit application comes as no surprise. As the company is a...

  If you’ve been looking out for a gold iPhone X, you may be in luck as iPhone fans might be in for a real special treat.  The amazing news is that a filing from Apple at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has revealed images of an unreleased gold version of the iPhone X . The filing from Apple at the Federal Communications Commission reveals the images of a gold iPhone X that has yet to be released. The 180-day confidentiality period on the photos has now lapsed, offering a clear view of an iPhone X with a glass backplate featuring the same gold tone as the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus released in September. MacRumors first spotted the now-public photographs. The stainless steel sides are also a shade of gold. The Federal Communications Committee (of all places) has published several photos of what appears to be a gold-coloured iPhone X – a shade of Apple"s smartphone that hasn"t been announced or released yet. Leading up to last year’s iPhone event, it ha...

MTN is a South Africa-based multinational mobile telecommunications company, operating in many African, European and Asian countries. Its head office is in Johannesburg. As of 30 June 2017, MTN recorded 500 million subscribers across its operations. Although MTN operates in over 20 countries, one-third of its revenues come from Nigeria, where it holds about 43% market share. Recently, The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has confirmed MTN Nigeria’s adherence to the deal entered in 2015 after the South African company was fined ₦1.04 trillion for non-compliance with the deactivation of unregistered SIM cards on its network. According to The Guardian, asides the failure of MTN Nigeria, which controls 43% of the country’s telecommunications market, to fully deactivate subscribers with unregistered and incomplete Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM) cards details within the stipulated time,  NCC officials feel belittled and disrespected after MTN sent low ...

Following the Facebook Inc. breach which saw over 50 million users" data inappropriately used by Cambridge Analytica, Apple Chief, Time Cook, and IBM Corp Chief have requested for an intense oversight on the external use of users" data, Reuters reported. Tim Cook, Apple boss, emphasised on the use of a well-crafted regulation, in line with what IBM Corp Chief, Virginia Rometty said. He noted that social network owners should be transparent with their terms and conditions. In retrospect, users should be in control of their data or information. During the three-day China Development Forum in Beijing, Tim Cook spoke on the necessity to review the regulations to prevent users from surprises in the future. He said: " It"s clear to me that something, some profound change in needed. I"m personally not a big fan of regulation because sometimes, regulations can have unexpected consequences to it; however, I think this certain situation is so dire and has become so large...

US President Donald Trump blocks Broadcom buyout of Qualcomm Looks like the big competition to Intel may not be happening after all as its shares jumped over 4%, hitting a record high of $53.76, Tuesday morning after US President Donald Trump blocked Broadcom’s proposed $117 billion buyout of Qualcomm . The arrangement would have made a noteworthy competitor for the chip maker. Intel, which generally has not been a noteworthy player in mobile chips, has been attempting to develop its essence in the fragment and even considered entering a contending offer for Qualcomm to fight off the risk of expanded rivalry. Citing national security concerns, President Donald Trump on Monday blocked a Singapore-based company from buying the American Qualcomm even as some accuse him of pushing his "protectionist" agenda forward in spite of concerns such moves could attract a retaliation from other countries.  In a White House website post , the US President said “There is credible evide...

The plan to punish porn sites in the UK who don"t comply with age verification regulations delayed further As far back as the Digital Economy Act moved toward becoming UK law this time a year ago, we"ve known there would come a period when porn sites would be constrained to check the British visitors to guarantee that it is grown-ups who have access and not minors. Shortly after, the UK"s digital minister set a due date of April 2018, and soon thereafter porn sites would need to go along or be punished by the government. We had accepted everything was on track, yet the UK government has conceded that they are nowhere close to making this happen, and now it expects age check won"t be enforceable until the maybe year"s end and that"s assuming nothing goes wrong again. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which chooses the age appraisals for motion pictures, games and music videos, as of late went up against the extra part of porn controller. The ...