Not for the first time, food delivery firm Foodinho has been spanked by Italy’s privacy watchdog. Per Reuters, the Glovo-owned on-demand delivery app has been fined €5 million ($5.20 million) after it was found to have unlawfully processed the data of more than 35,000 riders registered on the platform.
Issues identified included riders’ geolocation data being transferred to third parties without their knowledge, including — up to August 2023 — when they were not working. The watchdog has ordered changes related to the app’s messaging to riders and GPS feature, so the tracking can be turned off when riders are not on the job.
Foodinho has also been banned from using riders’ biometric data, such as facial recognition, for identity verification.
Back in 2021, when Foodinho had around 19,000 registered riders, Italy’s watchdog fined it around $3 million over a laundry list of data protection and algorithmic management issues. So the app hasn’t proved to be ‘once bitten, twice shy’ on privacy compliance.
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The European Commission (EC) has quietly closed a longstanding antitrust investigation into Apple over rules it enforces against third-party e-book and audiobook app developers.
The EC opened the probe back in 2020 after receiving complaints over how Apple forced competing e-book and audiobook app developers to use Apple’s own in-app payment system, while also preventing them from informing customers of alternative ways to pay — a practice known as anti-steering. The EC opened a parallel investigation into similar practices vis à vis music-streaming apps, a move prompted by complaints made by Spotify.
For the music-streaming part, Apple was hit by a $2 billion fine in March. However, the undisclosed complainant in the e-book / audiobook aspect of the investigation has since withdrawn their complaint, leading the Commission to close the probe with no further action.
“The closure of an investigation is not a finding that the conduct in question complies with EU competition rules,” the announcement clarified.
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American Airlines has a new tactic for shaming boarding line cutters: A loud beeper.
CNBC reports that the airline is rolling out a system that emits two loud beeps when a traveler tries to get on an airplane before their boarding group is called.
As of Wednesday, the new tech was in over 100 airports around the U.S. following tests at Albuquerque International Sunport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and Tucson International Airport.
CNBC notes that other airlines have experimented with less, well, audible ways to prevent gate crowding, which can interfere with the boarding process for flyers who pay a premium to get seated early. United, for example, texts customers when it’s time to board, provides a countdown-to-boarding clock via its iOS app, and has digital signs showing which boarding group has been called.
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Hackers have breached an online course founded by ostensible influencer and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate, leaking data on close to 800,000 users, including thousands of email addresses, and private user chat logs.
The Daily Dot, which broke the news Thursday, reported that the hackers accessed the user data, then flooded the online course’s chatroom with emojis that “included a transgender flag, a feminist fist, an AI-generated image of Tate draped in a rainbow flag, another where his buttocks are enlarged,” among others.
The hacktivists provided the hacked data on the course’s users to The Daily Dot, which handed the records to data breach notification site Have I Been Pwned, and DDoSecrets, a nonprofit collective that stores leaked datasets in the public interest.
Per the BBC News, Tate remains under house arrest in Romania awaiting trial on charges on allegations of human trafficking and rape.
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Apple is developing a new version of its voice assistant, Siri, powered by advanced large language models (LLMs), according to sources cited by Bloomberg. This more conversational Siri is part of Apple’s attempt to catch up in AI, where competitors have released impressive features, like Google’s Gemini Live, that are far more natural to talk to than Siri.
The new assistant reportedly will fully replace the Siri interface that users rely on today, and Apple is planning to release the feature in the spring of 2026. The feature seems like it will be similar to OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode but with all the same access to personal information and apps that Siri has today.
Until then, Apple is relying on third parties to power the iPhone’s advanced AI features. OpenAI’s ChatGPT will become available inside Apple Intelligence in December, and Apple has reportedly discussed similar deals with other AI providers, such as Google and Anthropic.
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X’s former top policy chief has taken a job at Tools for Humanity, the company building the tech to support World Network (formerly Worldcoin).
Nick Pickles, previously head of global affairs at X, Elon Musk’s social media platform, will serve as chief policy officer for Tools for Humanity, which OpenAI CEO Sam Altman co-founded five years ago.
Pickles revealed the move in a Reuters interview published on Thursday, adding that he was “optimistic” about incoming president Donald Trump’s tech regulatory proposals.
Pickles spent years at Twitter before Musk acquired the company and rebranded it to X, working with regulators to shape proposals and represent the company in global forums. He was promoted in July.
Musk and Pickles’ new boss don’t exactly get along. Earlier this year, Musk sued Altman and OpenAI for allegedly abandoning the AI startup’s nonprofit mission in violation of contractual terms. Pickles declined to comment on the litigation when asked by Reuters.
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