Around the world, governments are turning to technology to trace people who have been exposed to the coronavirus. There are two main approaches. Michelle Quinn has a look at how they aim to work. …

Governments around the world have used the COVID-19 pandemic as their reason for expanding digital surveillance and collecting more data from their citizens, according to a report published Wednesday.The annual FILE – People wearing face masks to protect against the coronavirus use their smartphones to enter their personal data before …

Apple unveiled four new iPhones equipped with technology for use with faster new 5G wireless networks, hoping that demand for higher data speeds will spark demand for new phones. That might not happen as quickly as Apple would like. In a virtual presentation Tuesday, the company announced four 5G-enabled versions …

As coronavirus infections surged in Malaysia this year, a wave of hate speech and misinformation aimed at Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar began appearing on Facebook.   Alarmed rights groups reported the material to Facebook. But six months later, many posts targeting the Rohingya in Malaysia remain on the platform, including pages such …

A mobile app launched last week in China that many there hoped would allow access to long banned Western social media sites abruptly disappeared from Chinese app stores a day after its unveiling.Tuber, an Andriod app backed by Chinese cyber security software giant Qihoo 360, first appeared to be officially …

Microsoft announced legal action Monday seeking to disrupt a major cybercrime digital network that uses more than 1 million zombie computers to loot bank accounts and spread ransomware, which experts consider a major threat to the U.S. presidential election. The operation to knock offline command-and-control servers for a global botnet that uses an …

Facebook announced Monday that it is updating its hate speech policy and will ban all posts that deny or distort the Jewish Holocaust.Today we’re updating our hate speech policy to ban Holocaust denial. We’ve long taken down posts that praise hate…Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, October 12, 2020“We’ve long …

Mounted on rooftops, utility poles and streetlights throughout China since last year are hundreds of thousands of high-tech wireless towers for 5G, a powerful sign of the country’s ambition to lead in new technology. Yet many of them are operational for only half the day.China Unicom, one of three telecommunication …

Twitter Inc. said Friday that it would remove tweets calling for people to interfere with the U.S. election process or implementation of election results, including through violence, as the company also announced more restrictions to slow the spread of misinformation.Twitter said in a blog post that, from next week, users …

Pakistan has blocked online short-video sharing platform TikTok on the grounds of “immoral/indecent” content for viewing in the majority-Muslim nation.The state regulator said Friday that it had repeatedly instructed the platform to tighten its content monitoring to block access to the “unlawful” material.”However, the application failed to fully comply with …

Tech giants Google and Oracle are clashing at the Supreme Court in a copyright dispute that’s worth billions and important to the future of software development. The case before the justices Wednesday has to do with Google’s creation of the Android operating system now used on the vast majority of …

Facebook said it will ban groups that “represent” QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory that paints President Donald Trump as a secret warrior against a supposed child-trafficking ring run by celebrities and “deep state” government officials. The company said Tuesday that it will remove Facebook pages, groups and Instagram accounts for “representing …

A U.S. House of Representatives panel looking into abuses of market power by four of the biggest technology companies found they used “killer acquisitions” to smite rivals, charge exorbitant fees and force small businesses into “oppressive” contracts in the name of profit. The panel, an antitrust subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, …

Even though businesses are reopening around the world, the pandemic is still a reality. Many commercial spaces and offices are taking people’s temperatures before allowing them inside.  In some industries, handheld thermometers may not be efficient enough. Thermal imaging systems allow temperatures to be taken without anyone needing to be …

Even though businesses are reopening around the world, the pandemic is still a reality. Many commercial spaces and offices are taking people’s temperatures before allowing them inside.  In some industries, handheld thermometers may not be efficient enough. Thermal imaging systems allow temperatures to be taken without anyone needing to be …

More than six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a handful of U.S. states are starting to roll out apps that promise to tell people if they’ve been exposed to someone with the virus — without revealing personal information.  Now with the White House struggling with a COVID-19 outbreak, the goal to figure out a way to …

With tens of thousands of new coronavirus cases daily in the U.S., states are launching digital apps that alert people if they have been exposed to someone who tested positive for the virus. Virginia recently rolled out a COVID exposure app that became instantly popular with residents. Health officials are …

Israel is struggling against a virulent second wave of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, with thousands of new cases diagnosed every day. A key element in the fight to contain the pandemic is contact tracing. In Israel, this is conducted by the Internal Security Service, the Shin Bet, …

Need to pay for some groceries? No problem, just wave your palm. That could be the new mode of payment at Amazon Go stores if current trials of its new technology in Seattle, Washington, are successful.   The technology, known as Amazon One, is a “free, contactless service that lets you …

Chinese-owned video sharing platform TikTok says it is creating a guide “to protect against misinformation” during the 2020 U.S. elections. In a blog post Tuesday, the company said its guide would connect “100 million Americans with trusted information about the elections from the National Association of Secretaries of State, BallotReady, SignVote, …

Facebook’s deletion of accounts targeting the Philippines from bases in China shows that the U.S. internet giant wants a better reputation in Southeast Asia after letting things slide in the past, say analysts who follow the case. On September 22, Facebook said it had removed 155 of its own accounts and six Instagram …

There are all kinds of apps that rate the air quality of your home inside and outside. But one young programmer has created one that has taken off in his native Macedonia. Now it’s also expanding worldwide. VOA`s Jane Bojadzievski reports. …

A federal judge on Sunday postponed a Trump administration order that would have banned the popular video sharing app TikTok from U.S. smartphone app stores around midnight. A more comprehensive ban remains scheduled for November, about a week after the presidential election. The judge, Carl Nichols of the U.S District Court for the …

Lawyers for TikTok pleaded with a U.S. federal judge on Sunday to delay the Trump administration’s ban of the popular video sharing program from app stores set to take effect at the end of the day, arguing the move would infringe on First Amendment rights and do irreparable harm to …

The U.S. government has placed new export restrictions on China’s most advanced maker of computer chips, citing an “unacceptable risk” that equipment sold to the country’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) could be used for military purposes.According to a letter Friday by the Commerce Department, American suppliers of certain technology …