Good morning! Here's the technology news you need to know this Thursday.
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10 things in tech you need to know today (TWTR, TSLA)
Twitter cracks down on Verified users, the FCC plans a final vote on net neutrality rules, and Uber is being sued by a rider.
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1. Twitter has removed its blue Verified tick from white nationalists like Richard Spencer, and the company won't hand out more badges until it revamps its entire verification programme. The company has been criticised for handing out what is seen as an endorsement to white supremacists.
2. The FCC is set for a final vote next week to reverse net neutrality rules in the US, paving the way for internet providers to block or throttle websites. FCC chair Ajit Pai claims the existing regulation harms jobs and investment.
3. An anonymous Uber rider is suing the ride-hailing firm in the US for failing to protect her after a driver allegedly raped her. The victim said the company didn't do a sufficient background check.
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3. The White House has published new rules about its approach to disclosing cybersecurity flaws, after accusations that the US stockpiles bugs in order to take advantage of them. The new rules give some transparency about how different agencies determine whether to disclose a security flaw.
4. Tim Berners-Lee, the British inventor of the web, has said "the system is failing" around his creation. Berners-Lee described the web's polarisation, the US net neutrality debate, and fake news as a "nasty storm" and that the web wouldn't automatically lead to "wonderful things."
5. Russian hackers targeted UK media, telecoms firms, and energy companies over the last year, the UK's head of cybersecurity said. Ciaran Martin, the founding chief executive of the NCSC, said Russia was "seeking to undermine the international system."
6. Digital wallet firm Parity has admitted that it already knew about a critical security flaw that allowed one hacker to lock down $300 million of other people's Ethereum funds. According to Motherboard, the firm knew about the bug since August but didn't address it for months.
7. Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank plans to invest up to $25 billion in Saudi Arabia, deepening its ties to the Gulf state. It will put around $15 billion into Neom, a new city on the Red Sea coast, and additional money into a state-controlled electricity firm.
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8. The chief executive of UK delivery startup Deliveroo, Will Shu, has said an IPO is "somewhat logical" for the company. Shu told Business Insider noted that Deliveroo's latest lead investors were public market investors like T. Rowe Price and Fidelity.
9. Elon Musk criticised investors who short Tesla's stock, calling them "jerks who want us to die." Musk described their actions as "hurtful."
10. Facebook's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said he's surprised at the extent of the opioid crisis, but a CNBC investigation found his platform full of illicit ads for opioids. Sellers abroad use Facebook posts and videos to market the drugs illegally.
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