Natasha Lomas, Author at TechCrunch

Don’t expect competition authorities to wade into the Microsoft-OpenAI power-play — yet

Natasha Lomas — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:00:09 +0000

As the tech world watches Microsoft suck in top execs and AI engineering talent from OpenAI, the generative AI giant in which it already holds a minority stake worth several billion dollars, one question to consider is what, if anything, can competition regulators do about the visible flight of AI expertise and value into Microsoft’s […]

Signal details costs of keeping its private messaging service alive

Natasha Lomas — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 11:34:51 +0000

What price privacy? End-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging app Signal has put out an interesting overview of the costs required to develop and maintain its pro-privacy systems which shield user data from tracking by default. The blog post, penned by Signal president Meredith Whittaker and developer Joshua Lund, reveals it’s currently spends around $14 million per […]

France’s Mistral dials up call for EU AI rules to fix rules for apps, not model makers

Natasha Lomas — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 20:40:19 +0000

Divisions over how to set rules for applying artificial intelligence are complicating talks between European Union lawmakers trying to secure a political deal on draft legislation in the next few weeks, as we reported earlier this week. Key among the contested issues is how the law should approach upstream AI model makers. French startup Mistral […]

EU faces privacy complaint over CSAM microtargeting ads it ran on X

Natasha Lomas — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 06:00:59 +0000

A microtargeted advertising controversy which has implicated European Union lawmakers in privacy-hostile practices banned by laws they had a hand in passing is the subject of a new complaint by privacy rights not-for-profit, noyb. The complaint against the EU Commission’s Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs is being filed today, with the European Data […]

Amazon next in line for EU scrutiny over product risks and user rights

Natasha Lomas — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:10:33 +0000

E-commerce behemoth Amazon has joined the growing list of tech giants getting formal requests for information (RFIs) from European Union regulators overseeing the bloc’s rebooted digital rulebook, the Digital Services Act (DSA). The European Commission said today it’s asked Amazon to provide it with more information on measures it’s taken to comply with DSA obligations […]

Europe’s AI Act talks head for crunch point

Natasha Lomas — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 14:56:53 +0000

Negotiations between European Union lawmakers tasked with reaching a compromise on a risk-based framework for regulating applications of artificial intelligence appear to be on a tricky knife edge. Speaking during a roundtable yesterday afternoon, organized by the European Center for Not-For-Profit Law (ECNL) and the civil society association EDRi, Brando Benifei, MEP and one of […]

Meta and Snap latest to get EU request for info on child safety, as bloc shoots for ‘unprecedented’ transparency

Natasha Lomas — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 16:59:42 +0000

Meta and Snap are the latest tech firms to get formal requests for information (RFI) from the European Commission about the steps they’re taking to safeguard minors on their platforms in line with requirements set out in the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA). Yesterday the Commission sent similar RFIs to TikTok and YouTube also focused […]

EU asks TikTok and YouTube for more info on how they’re safeguarding kids

Natasha Lomas — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 15:17:25 +0000

The European Commission has sent another couple of formal requests for information to major platforms subject to the bloc’s rebooted online governance and content moderation rulebook, the Digital Services Act (DSA). The latest requests, which are focused on child safety, have been sent to TikTok and YouTube. “The Commission is requesting the companies to provide […]

Secure messaging app Signal moves a step closer to launching usernames

Natasha Lomas — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 11:47:49 +0000

End-to-end encrypted messaging app, Signal, is getting closer to launching a much anticipated feature that will allow users to share only a username in order to connect with other users, rather than having to reveal the phone number linked to their account, as is the case now. Other secure messaging platforms, such as Telegram and […]

UK’s online safety regulator puts out draft guidance on illegal content, saying child safety is priority

Natasha Lomas — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 00:01:26 +0000

The U.K.’s newly empowered Internet content regulator has published the first set of draft Codes of Practice under the Online Safety Act (OSA) which became law late last month. More codes will follow but this first set — which is focused on how user-to-user (U2U) services will be expected to respond to different types of illegal […]

Apple says it ‘expects to make’ App Store policy changes due to EU DMA

Natasha Lomas — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 13:29:06 +0000

Apple has bowed to the inevitable and said it “expects to make” App Store policy changes to comply with EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The pan-EU DMA came into application across the bloc back in May. Apple has likely been expecting for months, if not years, to be subject to the new ex ante competition […]

Withings Body Scan review: A smart scale that tracks cardio health, body comp and more

Natasha Lomas — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 18:00:02 +0000

French health tech brand Withings has been around the block and some. These days it offers a range of fitness wearables and monitors. It was also an early mover in smart scales and is continuing to push the envelope here — with Body Scan, its current flagship scale (or “connected health station” as its marketing […]

The 20 best STEM toys to gift coders-in-training

Natasha Lomas — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 13:00:46 +0000

There’s no doubt the STEM toys category has lost a bit of its magic. The hype that started about a decade ago, powering a wave of startups to launch creative and experimental products — pitching parents on dedicated connected hardware and apps to help unlock their kids’ future tech career progression — has faded to […]

Daye now offers tampon-based STI screening — starting in the UK

Natasha Lomas — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 09:30:53 +0000

U.K. femcare-turned-gynaecological-health startup, Daye, has expanded its tampon-based home screening service to add STI testing. The startup is billing this “non-invasive screening” service for sexually transmitted infections as a “world first”. The “STI Diagnostic Tampon” service uses Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing tech to detect the presence of pathogens. Daye is launching with the ability […]

Dreamfarm, a startup out of Italy’s Food Valley, is setting its sights on the perfect vegan mozzarella

Natasha Lomas — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 08:00:27 +0000

Vegan cheese isn’t usually anything to write home about, in terms of taste and texture. Dreamfarm, a startup based in Parma, in the Food Valley of Italy, is hoping to change that. It’s cooked up a plant-based mozzarella using a base of fermented almonds, and just a handful of other ingredients, which it reckons does […]

Meta’s latest privacy rip-off will test the EU’s mettle for reining in Big Tech

Natasha Lomas — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 10:49:41 +0000

This week Europe was treated to another show of the mutability of tech after Meta, the microtargeting ad empire formerly known as Facebook, announced it would be launching an ad-free subscription — with a starting price of €10 per month (on web) or €13pm (mobile). As recently as mid 2019, visitors to Facebook’s landing page […]

Meta to offer ad-free subscription in Europe in bid to keep tracking other users

Natasha Lomas — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 13:52:00 +0000

Meta is to offer an ad-free subscription version of Facebook and Instagram in the European Union, EEA (European Economic Area) and Switzerland, confirming the core of a report in the WSJ earlier this month. The new ad-free subscription will be available from next month, per a Meta blog post. The move follows years of privacy […]

Web Summit names ex-Wikimedia CEO, Katherine Maher, to take over in wake of Cosgrave controversy

Natasha Lomas — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 10:51:39 +0000

Web Summit has named a new CEO: Katherine Maher — previously CEO and executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation (between 2019 and 2021). Maher is also chair of the board of the foundation behind the private messaging app Signal, and holds various other board and fellowship positions — including on the Atlantic Council and the […]

EU lawmakers agree on key detection limits in controversial CSAM-scanning file

Natasha Lomas — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 15:32:38 +0000

Key negotiators in the European Parliament have announced making a breakthrough in talks to set MEPs’ position on a controversial legislative proposal aimed at regulating how platforms should respond to child sexual abuse risks. The European Union’s executive body, the Commission, presented a proposal for a regulation in this area last year but the plan […]

EU commissioner sidesteps MEPs’ questions about CSAM proposal microtargeting

Natasha Lomas — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 21:02:44 +0000

The European Union’s home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, has confirmed the Commission is investigating whether or not it broke recently updated digital governance rules when her department ran a microtargeted political ad campaign aiming to drive support for a controversial child sexual abuse material (CSAM)-scanning proposal she’s spearheading. But at a committee hearing in the […]