Tech Digest daily roundup: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg sued over Cambridge Analytica scandal
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is being sued by the US District of Columbia which is seeking to hold him personally liable for the Cambridge Analytica scandal that breached millions of people’s personal data. The political consultancy was accused in 2018 of illegally harvesting the personal data of as many as 87 million Facebook users. The data was alleged to have been used to manipulate the 2016 US presidential election. D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine filed a civil lawsuit against Mr Zuckerberg in the D.C. Superior Court. He is seeking damages and penalties from Mr Zuckerberg. Sky News
Google Maps’ Street View feature is getting a couple of upgrades to celebrate the service’s 15th anniversary, the search giant announced today. The first is a new feature coming to its iOS and Android apps that’ll display historical Street View imagery on your phone. The second is a new, more portable camera that Google hopes will make it easier for it to capture Street View imagery in the future. Since 2014, it’s been possible to use Street View to see how a place has changed over the years via the desktop version of Google Maps. But now, the service’s iOS and Android apps will have the same ability. The Verge
Android smartphones in a number of countries around the world have been targeted by powerful PREDATOR spyware, researchers from Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) have warned. The company’s recent report says that the spyware, allegedly developed by a commercial entity – a company called Cytrox, headquartered in Skopje, North Macedonia – is capable of recording audio, adding CA certificates, and hiding apps. Cytrox is being distributed via email, with victims receiving a message carrying a one-time link mimicking a URL shortener service. Once clicked, the victim would then be redirected to a domain owned by the attacker, that would deliver simple Android spyware called ALIEN. Tech Radar
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EA may end up being the next big video game acquisition, although one potential deal with NBCUniversal already seems to have fallen through. In a few years’ time the video games industry will probably look very different to the way it does today, with the consolidation that began with Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda likely to end with all of today’s big name publishers either being acquired or merging with even larger companies. Together with Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts are regarded as the biggest third-party publisher in the West but they’re still minnows compared to the likes of Apple, Amazon, Disney, and NBCUniversal, all of which are supposedly interested in either acquiring or merging with EA. Metro
Airbnb is shutting down its domestic rentals in China, where a “zero-Covid” policy has meant lockdowns are ongoing. All listings for homes and experiences in the country will be removed from the company’s website by summer, a source familiar with the matter told the BBC. Stays within China made up only 1% of Airbnb’s revenue over the last few years. The company is expected to instead focus on Chinese residents travelling abroad to other destinations. Before the pandemic, Chinese travellers heading abroad had tripled in less than a decade, reaching 155 million journeys in 2019, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation. BBC
