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Firefox maker sets out dodgy practices the browser will block The Mozilla Foundation has announced its intent to reduce the ability of websites and other online services to track users of its Firefox browser around the internet.…

Plan to integrate platforms raises regulators' hackles Facebook has been warned it can only borg its three messaging platforms in the European Union if it meets data protection rules. There are widespread concerns about the plan's impact.…

Plus: Chinese buyers may turn on firm, warns analyst Never mind the car crash financials that Apple is expected to file tonight, an estimated glut of iPhones taking up warehouse space in the tech channel could point to worse things to come this year.…

From one little pill to impersonating a cat-owning site admin Long read “How do you eat an elephant? Nibble at it, nibble at it, a lot of little bites.” That was how Special Agent Jared Der-Yeghiayan infiltrated notorious dark web market the Silk Road and helped unmask site operator Dread Pirate Roberts, aka Ross Ulbricht.…

India and China keep chucking out satellites Roundup As NASA continued to listen for its stricken Mars rover and SpaceX moved closer to a first crewed launch from US soil, rocket fans had plenty to occupy them last week.…

'We don't allow lead paint ... There should be some uses of information we just don't abide' Monday, January 28, was Data Privacy Day and you won't get another for a year.…

It doesn't help that we try to give kids grown-up protections, like memorizing long passphrases Usenix Engima Protecting students' privacy – from securing their personal information to safeguarding their schoolwork – is a challenge for schools and software developers, apparently.…

And spy through your video camera if they hit the power button You might want to disable FaceTime on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac until Apple patches this bonkers bug.…

Chinese telco box maker also accused of stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile USA Huawei and its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou were charged with fraud on Monday by US prosecutors over their alleged sanction-busting dealings with an Iranian subsidiary.…

Only veteran 'nauts should think about going to Mars, judging by this research Floating silently among the stars may sound idyllic, but the longer you stay in space, the worse it is for your immune system, according to this latest research.…

We're like a building contractor, explains Cupertino. More like vampires, thinks rest of world Apple is like a building contractor you hire to redo your kitchen, the tech giant has argued in an attempt to explain why it shouldn't have to pay customers for slowing down their iPhones.…

It's not up there with looming food, medicine shortages, but it's still rather annoying An already iffy plan to deal with .eu domain ownership when the UK crashes out of the European Union has taken a turn for the worst.…

Supplier's substandard sauce will hit processor manufacturing Taiwan-based chip maker TSMC said on Monday that its chip production has been adversely affected by a bad batch of chemicals at a manufacturing facility that provides components for other chip makers.…

Advocacy groups: Force 'em to 'disgorge' data slurped up from Instagram, WhatsApp America's Federal Trade Commission has resumed work today, including its probe into Facebook, and is being urged by advocacy groups to hand the organisation a $2bn fine and break up the social networking empire.…

Flash storage embiggened, CPU clock speed less so The Rasperry Pi Foundation has updated its Compute Module with better thermals, an updated application processor and bucketloads of flash memory (in Pi terms, at least).…

Good news if you're in London or Salford (or Glasgow or Manchester) BT Openreach has declared it is installing yet more full-fibre broadband connections around the country. In an ingenious move, the infraco is putting these into the most media-heavy spots in the nation: London and Salford.…

Cloud backup bod Backblaze: Failure rates fell for high-cap spinners Just 139 out of 10,000 12TB Seagate drives fail a year, and Western Digital's HGST brand has an even better rate of 51 in 10,000, according to cloud backup service provider Backblaze, which has 104,778 drives spinning in its data centre.…

Regulators asked to tackle 'systemic' GDPR breaches A series of challenges to the practices used by the likes of Google in online behavioural advertising have been filed in the UK, Ireland and Poland, alleging that information slurped up on internet users is not only "highly intimate" but also improperly protected.…

Despite, er, you know the drill... Neither Britain's exit from the European Union, nor a trade tariff standoff between China and the US, nor uncertainty caused by talk of recession shall stymie tech spending this year, so say the tea-leaf readers at Gartner.…

UK.gov warned businesses are not prepared for 'burdensome' contract changes The lack of agreement on data flows in a no-deal Brexit is a "significant" concern and possible solutions are "burdensome and costly" to already underprepared businesses, MPs have said.…

There's also another Windows 10 Insider build out Roundup Microsoft continued its grand tradition of delivering developer tools and snapping up tech firms last week.…

Don't take grenades to lunch Oh, Florida man. Will your hijinks ever cease?…

We're taking it seriously, says chief architect Arm has declared that it feels the "weight of our responsibility" as it jumps on board with UK.gov's £70m plans to influence "hardware and chip designs" to enhance security.…

Plus more of the week's networking nuggets Roundup Relative newcomer Arrcus wants to help networking upstarts follow the industry's juggernauts into the 400Gbps Ethernet world with the latest update to its year-old ArcOS network operating system.…

Drunk confessional two years later failed to impress Who, Me? Welcome once more to Who, Me?, El Reg's weekly confessional column for readers with technical mishaps weighing on their minds.…

A. Bad things from 2008 we can't seem to shake A piece of banking malware that first debuted more than a decade ago is once again wrecking havoc.…

...while Apple cuts 200 jobs from its car project, and more from the AI world Roundup Hello, here’s this week’s roundup of all things robot and AI-related. We’re talking delivery robots, self-driving cars, and a new natural language dataset to play with.…

...PHP's PEAR sabotaged for months, and more from the world of infosec Roundup This week we saw Hadoop hacks, Exchange exploits, and Deadpool besting scammers.…

Still, not bad for hardware that was supposed to last 90 days NASA scientists this week celebrated the fact their robot buddy Opportunity has spent the past fifteen years on Mars.…

Nothing to see here, etc etc Analysis Apple has, over the past few years, quietly and successfully patented, in the US at least, various aspects of Swift.…

Takeover leads to consolidation? Unfathomable (adjusted for sarcasm) Analysis In an unprecedented decision that has left tech observers struggling to contain their shock, Facebook has decided to create a common software architecture for its three main apps: Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp.…

Moving to high-density DRAM and delaying 96-layer flash DRAM shortages that boosted the coffers of memory makers in recent times looks to be over - at least for now - and the impact can be seen in SK Hynix's top and bottom lines judging by its calendar Q4 financials.…

Theme park's attempt to shoot down lawsuit snubbed by top judges Analysis The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday ruled a family's lawsuit that claims downmarket-Disneyland Six Flags broke the US state's Biometric Privacy Act can proceed.…

House Commerce committee says it has inside knowledge of dodgy regulator antics US telecoms regulator the FCC has been accused of colluding with companies it is supposed to oversee in order to protect a controversial decision over new 5G networks.…

New toys for C++, C# and mobile in tech giant's big bag of early access goodies Developers rejoice! The second preview of Visual Studio 2019 is upon us and contains all manner of goodies for those brave enough to venture into the not-for-production environment.…

Nah, says 39th richest man in world Michael Dell, the 39th richest man in the world, has shocked observers by speaking out against a higher marginal tax rate on people earning more than $10m.…

At up to 2,003bps, it'll be 2021 before we get all the data The New Horizons spacecraft has continued its dribble of data back to Earth with a fresh image of Ultima Thule.…

Chocolate Factory hoping to strike it lucky against Oracle Google has taken the years-long spat with Oracle over its use of Java code in the Android mobile operating system to the US Supreme Court.…

Even Angry Birds' makers asked why so many refunds were being made Facebook has been accused of not caring if game companies diddled children and their parents out of millions of dollars with in-game purchases, following the unsealing of US court documents.…

More stuff disclosed, but code host could rarely tell targets Microsoft-owned code repo GitHub has received twice as many requests for user information in 2018 as the prior year, noting a disproportionate rise in accompanying gag orders.…

Crew Dragon demo flight slated for February SpaceX has finally fired up the engines of the Falcon 9 that is tasked with carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft on its demo flight.…

Ops director talks to El Reg about continential cybersecurity contrivances Interview A senior EU cybersecurity official has said he is “optimistic” about information sharing between the UK and the political bloc continuing after Brexit.…

Revenue drops 20% as market slackens, with worse to come Western Digital is about to go into cost cutting mode to carve out $800m in savings, after reporting shrinking revenues of $4.23bn for its second fiscal 2019 quarter, down by a fifth compared to the year ago period.…

But thousands opting out in 'backlash', says privacy group HMRC's database of Brits' voiceprints has grown by 2 million since June – but campaign group Big Brother Watch has claimed success as 160,000 people turned the taxman's requests down.…

Want expansion? Tough. You're using it wrong. It is 35 years since computer buyers were first able to take a glimpse into a fruity future without having to remortgage for an Apple Lisa. Happy birthday, Mac.…

Earlier investigation would've been 'premature' The US government has confirmed it is investigating whether Amazon's decision to rehire a former Pentagon staffer poses a conflict of interest to the $10bn JEDI cloud contract.…

You can't eavesdrop on these whispers MIT boffins have used low-power lasers to beam audio directly into a subject's ear.…

Meanwhile, Canada to sign 5G R&D collab with Nokia Reports that University of California Berkeley will remove Huawei kit from its networks are overblown, the institute has told The Register.…

Programming skills assessment tweak after 2017 malpractice GCSE computer science will be exam-only, the UK's education watchdog has said, after concluding it isn’t possible to fairly and reliably assess the secondary school qualification any other way.…