Lindsey Graham’s Draft Bill Punishes Companies Using End-to-End Encryption

Senator Lindsey Graham is drafting a bill [PDF] that could penalize companies using end-to-end encryption.

Although the measure doesn’t directly mention encryption, it would require that companies work with law enforcement to identify, remove, report and preserve evidence related to child exploitation — which critics said would be impossible to do for services such as WhatsApp that are encrypted from end-to-end.

If technology companies don’t certify that they are following the best practices set by the 15-member commission, they would lose the legal immunity they currently enjoy under Section 230 relating to child exploitation and abuse laws. That would open the door to lawsuits for “reckless” violations of those laws, a lower standard than contained in current statutes.

Of all the dumb things this administration has done, attacking encryption is a doozy. It’s not clear how much this would impact Apple, since the company does in fact scan for child abuse images. But iMessage and a few other services are end-to-end encrypted.

iOS 13 and Swift 5 Programming eBook: $9

We have a deal on the iOS 13 & Swift 5 Programming eBook, which is designed to be the ultimate beginner programming guide. Covering Swift programming basics, object-oriented programming, model view controller, iOS 13 development, and other frameworks, this book will have you build multiple apps on your own and publish it to the Apple App Store. It’s $9 through our deal.

Apple Chipmaker Says Supply Not Affected By Coronavirus

The coronavirus outbreak in China has posed a number of manufacturing problems, not least for Apple. It was an issue of concern at the firm’s otherwise successful earnings call this week. However, one of its chipmakers, TMSC, insists it is business as usual, according to DigiTimes.

TSMC, UMC say production in China remains normal: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics (UMC) have both said that production at their fabs in China stays on track and has not been affected by the coronavirus outbreak… coronavirus outbreak likely to complicate global panel supply: The lockdown of Wuhan due to the coronavirus outbreak could impact global panel shipments as the Chinese city is one of the major production bases for a number of China-based panel makers.

Amazon’s 2019 Transparency Report Shows Slight Decline in Government Requests

Amazon’s 2019 transparency report says it received 1,841 subpoenas, 440 search warrants, and 114 other court orders in the second half of 2019.

We previously reported on how Amazon’s transparency reports have purposefully become more vague over the years rather than clearer — bucking the industry trend. At just three pages, the company spends most of it explaining how it responds to each kind of legal demand rather than expanding on the numbers themselves.

Two other notable findings: Apple was the only other company to report a decline in government requests. And Amazon’s Ring surveillance product hasn’t released a transparency report.

Reasons to Make Disney+ Your Favorite Streaming Service

As more and more streaming services come out, we are all picking our favorite. For Christine Chan at iMore, it’s Disney+, for the combination of nostalgia and original content.

Ever since Disney+ came out, I’ve been watching my favorite childhood classics, like The Little Mermaid (though I bought the 30th anniversary Blu-ray last year), and catching up on everything else that I hadn’t seen as I was growing up, like Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, and Sleeping Beauty (yes, yes, I know, shame on me). With Disney+, I’m able to relive my happy childhood memories with those animated classics, and sometimes, that’s all you need when the rest of the world can be a bit depressing.

There's no New Content on Apple TV+. Again.

I’ve generally been supportive of Apple TV+. I’ve even got on board with the weekly rollout of big shows, instead of having everything there for binge-watching. That strategy comes with one caveat though – new content needs to appear (almost) every week. However, as Cult of Mac noted, for the second week in a row there is nothing new today.

By comparison, this week Netflix debuted seven new series including Next In Fashion, Ragnarok, BoJack Horseman season six, and more. Disney+, meanwhile, got new episodes of Diary of a Future President, Marvel Hero Project, exclusive short Lamp Life, and the 2019 Lion King remake. As I’ve written before, I’m a big fan of Apple TV+ as far as quality goes. The service hasn’t had a miss yet — and it’s had quite a few hits. To me, Little America, Servant, and The Morning Show are all standouts. But even shows I wasn’t immediately won over by, such as See, are solid entertainment.

Rupert Murdoch Now Has a Challenger to Apple News

News Corp, the firm led by Rupert Murdoch, launched in beta its equivalent of Apple News this week. Knewz promises to provide content “from the widest variety of sources, free of filter bubbles and narrow-minded nonsense,” Variety reported.

The company’s new Knewz.com site — a text-heavy agglomeration that has already drawn critiques of its cluttered design — officially launched Thursday as a “beta” test. The site, patterned after other aggregators like Google News, Apple News and Drudge Report, compiles headlines and links for publications across a broad range of political leanings, from Fox News and Newsmax to Daily Kos and Mother Jones. In announcing the launch of Knewz.com, News Corp said readers will be presented news “from the widest variety of sources, free of filter bubbles and narrow-minded nonsense.” Knewz.com is currently sourcing headlines from more than 400 publishers. News Corp said it expects to expand the roster during beta testing.

PETA Wants to Replace Punxsutawney Phil With AI

Animal rights group PETA wants to replace famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil with an animatronic AI.

The way the group sees it, not only would an AI be better at estimating when the winter will end, but it would also attract an entirely new generation of visitors to the western Pennsylvanian town. “Today’s young people are born into a world of terabytes, and to them, watching a nocturnal rodent being pulled from a fake hole isn’t even worthy of a text message,” Newkirk said. “Ignoring the nation’s fast-changing demographics might well prove the end of Groundhog Day.”

TiVo GameSkip Will Let You Watch Pure Commercials for Super Bowl LIV

TiVo’s GameSkip feature lets people record Super Bowl LIV and jump right to the commercial breaks, which are nearly as big as the game itself.

Here’s how GameSkip works: Set your TiVo to record during the game, an hour after it’s over, look for the onscreen SKIP icon. Once the icon appears, you can jump right to the commercial breaks.

Amazon Beats Apple to Become World's Most Valuable Brand

Amazon is the world’s most valuable brand, according to one analysis firm. Cult of Mac reported that it beat Apple and Google in the Brand Finance list.

The somewhat unorthodox ranking system looks at the world’s 500 most valuable brands across all sectors and countries. It then assigns a “brand value” based on a royalty rate that companies could get for licensing their name in the open market. Brand Finance compiles its annual list by estimating the royalty rate that would be charged to use a company’s brand. This takes into account current and expected future revenue. It’s a fairly complex methodology that’s explained in more detail here. As the firm explains: “Brand Finance helped craft the internationally recognised standard on Brand Valuation – ISO 10668. It defines a brand as a marketing-related intangible asset including, but not limited to, names, terms, signs, symbols, logos, and designs, intended to identify goods, services or entities, creating distinctive images and associations in the minds of stakeholders, thereby generating economic benefits.”

EU Wants a Single Data Market to Challenge Big Tech

The European Union introduced a way to challenge the likes of Big Tech by creating a single market for data.

Measures to achieve that goal include an array of new rules covering cross-border data use, data interoperability and standards related to manufacturing, climate change, the auto industry, healthcare, financial services, agriculture and energy.

Other rules in the coming months will open up more public data on geospatial, the environment, meteorology, statistics and companies’ data across the bloc for companies to use for free.

Facebook Settles Dispute Over Facial Recognition Tech

Facebook has settled a dispute over its use of facial recognition technology, BBC News reports. It will pay $550m to users in Illinois who claimed it was against the state’s privacy laws.

The lawsuit against Facebook was given the go-ahead in 2018 when a federal judge ruled it could be heard as a class action (group) case. The appeals court disagreed with Facebook’s attempts to stop this, and in January the Supreme Court also declined to review its appeal. The social network told the BBC: “We decided to pursue a settlement as it was in the best interests of our community and our shareholders to move past this matter.” Facebook began using facial recognition in the US in 2010 when it automatically tagged people in photos using its tag suggestions tool. The tool scan a user’s face and offered suggestions about who that person is.