Page 17 - DIGICE 10 DEC 2015
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TECHNOLOGY A23
Thursday 10 December 2015
U.S. wants social Facebook lifts ban on content from rival network Tsu
media to report
extremist activity MICHAEL LIEDTKE how many people read that required New York- est said she was pleased to
AP Technology Writer their posts. based Tsu.co to remove recover hundreds of her
TAMI ABDOLLAH SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook decided Tsu’s a feature that allowed its dog drawings that had
Associated Press Facebook has lifted a ban payments represented a users to share content di- been deleted from her
WASHINGTON (AP) — that blocked material from financial incentive for peo- rectly to Facebook with Facebook page during
Lawmakers on Tuesday Tsu.co, a small rival chal- ple to share links on its net- one click on an app. Now the tiff between the two
introduced legislation to lenging the world’s largest work, something the Menlo Tsu.co users will have to social networks. She fears
require social media com- social network’s financial Park, California, company go through several extra the restored links to the
panies to report any online dependence on free con-
extremist activity they be- tent shared by its 1.5 billion Sebastian Sobczak, CEO of Tsu.co, poses for a photo in his company’s New York office. On
come aware of to law en- users.
forcement. The reversal comes a Tuesday, Facebook lifted a ban that blocked material from Tsu.co, a small rival challenging the
The bill by Sen. Dianne month after The Associat-
Feinstein and Sen. Rich- ed Press published a story world’s largest social network’s financial dependence on free content shared by its 1.5 billion
ard Burr is a replica of lan- airing concerns that Face-
guage that was dropped book might be abusing its users. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
from the Senate’s annual power to thwart competi-
intelligence authorization tion and stifle the concept says it prohibits because it steps to transfer their posts sketches that sell for $30
bill in September. advanced by Tsu that believes the practice pol- to Facebook, or just copy apiece won’t attract as
Companies would be re- people should be paid for lutes its service with the and paste a link. much traffic as they might
quired to report to law en- the stories and images that digital rubbish known as The concession prompted otherwise have because
forcement if they became they post on social net- “spam.” Sobczak con- Facebook to restore the they date back to months
aware of activity such as works. tends Facebook hoped to Tsu posts that had previ- ago and are now buried in
attack planning, recruiting “We won in the court of destroy an upstart trying to ously been erased from its her Facebook feed.
or distribution of extremist public opinion,” Tsu CEO popularize the idea that social network and allow Despite that frustration,
material. Sebastian Sobczak said people should get paid for additional material from Everest is pleased Face-
“This bill doesn’t require Tuesday. “When you have posts that help sell adver- Tsu, which has nearly 5 mil- book and Tsu have settled
companies to take any something new and novel tising. Facebook has built lion users. Tsu links can also their differences.
additional actions to dis- in the market like what a highly profitable compa- be circulated on Instagram “I believe that despite all
cover terrorist activity, it we are doing, this kind of ny with a market value of and Facebook’s Messen- the social networks looking
merely requires them to validation is extremely im- $300 billion, partly because ger app. to make money and there-
report such activity to law portant. It feels like we just it doesn’t pay for the mate- Facebook spokeswoman fore being in direct com-
enforcement when they got a golden stamp of ap- rial that keeps people and Melanie Ensign described petition, there are benefits
come across it,” Feinstein proval.” advertisers coming to its the circumstances sur- to everyone if there is a
said in a statement. The dispute between one social network. rounding Tsu’s two-month certain amount of shar-
Last week, 28-year-old of the Internet’s most pow- The two sides resolved their ban as a “miscommunica- ing between sites,” Everest
Syed Farook and his wife, erful companies and Tsu differences with a truce tion.” Tsu user Claudia Ever- wrote in Tuesday email.q
29-year-old Tashfeen Malik, began in late September
went on a shooting attack when Facebook removed
in San Bernardino, Califor- nearly 10 million posts con-
nia, that killed 14 people taining links and other refer-
and left 21 injured. A Face- ences to Tsu (pronounced
book post on Malik’s page “soo”). Facebook also
around the time of the at- blocked attempts to post
tack included a pledge of anything else that sent traf-
allegiance to the leader fic to Tsu.co, both on the
of the Islamic State group, pages of its social network
and the FBI is investigating or on in its popular Messen-
the shooting as an act of ger and Instagram appli-
terrorism. cations.
Facebook found the post, Tsu’s ouster stemmed from
which was under an alias, its practice of sharing ad
the day after the attack. revenue with its users. The
The company removed payments are based on
the profile from public view
and informed law enforce- Samsung to venture into autonomous driving tech
ment. In his address to the
nation Sunday, President YOUKYUNG LEE business, will oversee the Google has been testing an enthusiast for sports
Barack Obama urged new team. self-driving cars for six years cars. But the venture went
high-tech and law en- AP Technology Writer The announcement and Apple has developed bankrupt in the aftermath
forcement leaders to make comes as Samsung is un- software for automakers of the 1997 Asian financial
it harder for extremists to SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — der pressure to find new called CarPlay that let crisis. Some other Samsung
use technology to escape businesses to offset sag- drivers use an iPhone to companies have auto in-
from justice. Social media Samsung Electronics said ging profit from its smart- operate an entertainment terests. Samsung SDI sup-
increasingly has become phone sales. system. plies lithium-ion batteries
a tool of recruitment and Wednesday it will set up a Technology companies Samsung was silent about for electric car makers and
radicalization for the Islam- have been expanding its plans until now. It had Samsung Electro-Mechan-
ic State group, and tech team to develop an auto into aspects of auto tech- an auto manufactur- ics, an electronic parts
companies are dedicating nology and some have ing business in the 1990s, maker, said last year that
more resources to tracking components business fo- formed partnership with under the leadership of it would enter the auto
reports of extremist or other automakers. Chairman Lee Kun-hee, components business.q
violent threats.q cusing on autonomous
driving technology and
entertainment systems.
Kwon Oh-hyun, a vice
chairman who has long
managed Samsung’s
electronics component
