YouTube Unleashed a Conspiracy Theory Boom. Can It Be Contained? - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/technology/youtube-conspiracy-stars.html

YouTube’s stars are primarily homegrown, and many feel — not entirely unreasonably — that after years of encouraging them to build their audiences with viral stunts and baseless rumor-mongering, the platform is now changing the rules on them.

Your Smart Light Can Tell Amazon and Google When You Go to Bed - Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-12/your-smart-light-can-tell-amazon-and-google-when-you-go-to-bed

The tech giants are demanding a continuous stream of customer information from smart-home manufacturers, prompting privacy concerns. 

Google will stop peddling a data collector through Apple’s back door - TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/30/googles-also-peddling-a-data-collector-through-apples-back-door/

It looks like Facebook was not the only one abusing Apple’s system for distributing employee-only apps to sidestep the App Store and collect extensive data on users.

Google fined $57m by French regulator for breaching GDPR - Digiday

https://digiday.com/media/google-fined-57m-french-regulator-breaching-gdpr/

for making it difficult for users to see the detail on why and how they should give consent in order to be sent personalized ads, and for providing a pre-ticked option when requesting consent.

YouTube is reading text in users’ videos – Naked Security

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/12/14/youtube-is-reading-text-in-users-videos/

Google keeps tabs on much of your activity, including your browsing history and your location. Now, it turns out that its YouTube service is also reading what’s in your videos, too.

Google will shut down Google+ four months early after second data leak - The Verge

https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/10/18134541/google-plus-privacy-api-data-leak-developers

the new vulnerability impacted 52.5 million users, who could have had profile information like their name, email address, occupation, and age exposed […] even if their account was set to private.

Alibaba already has a voice assistant way better than Google’s - MIT Technology Review

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612511/alibaba-already-has-a-voice-assistant-way-better-than-googles/

It navigates interruptions and other tricky features of human conversation to field millions of requests a day.

Wing, Alphabet’s drone delivery business, to begin a pilot in Finland in Spring 2019 – TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/04/wing-takes-flight-in-finland/

delivering goods and packages of up to 1.5 kilograms (about 3.3 pounds) within a distance of up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).

Forbrukerrådet: – Google fører brukerne bak lyset

https://nrkbeta.no/2018/11/27/forbrukerradet-google-forer-brukerne-bak-lyset/

– Vi mener forbrukere manipuleres til å overvåkes når de benytter Googles tjenester. Dette skjer gjennom en rekke ulike metoder som å tilbakeholde eller skjule informasjon, benytte villedende designgrep[…]

Google+ bug gave outsiders potential access to private data from 2015 to mid-2018; no disclosure made amid fear of blowback and no evidence of misuse - WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-exposed-user-data-feared-repercussions-of-disclosing-to-public-1539017194