The newest Facebook hire was a key person in the crafting of the Patriot Act; on Earth Day Apple highlights its efforts to combat climate change; UPS announces it will begin using no-emissions trucks
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It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Wednesday, April 24th, and I’m your host, Buckley Smith.
For people who are concerned by the levels of surveillance governments are capable of, you are not going to be happy about Facebook’s newest hire. In a story trending on Reddit, Facebook announced that Jennifer Newstead will be taking over as Facebooks general counsel; taking over for Colin Stretch. Newstead, served in the Justice Department under President George W. Bush, and has been described as the day-to-day manager of the Patriot Act; which was created after 9/11 as a means of extending the surveillance capabilities of the U.S. government. And for a company that has been notorious for privacy breaches, this is troubling news.
Trending on Google, we find a story about Apple’s efforts to combat climate change. With yesterday being Earth Day, Apple published an in-depth account of the efforts it has put forth to conserve a 27,000 acre mangrove forest in Colombia. Apple says that if a forest of this size was left to be damaged, it would release 1 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. This comes on the heels of an announcement by Apple that it would be quadrupling the size of its phone recycling program.
Back over to Reddit we find another trending story about the fight to save the environment. UPS has announced that it will be receiving three no-emission semi trucks from Toyota. Toyota has been developing these vehicles in partnership with Kenworth under the name Project Portal and is finally ready to release some models into the world. Along with the three that UPS will be receiving, an additional seven of these hydrogen-fuel cell vehicles have been assigned to other companies for use.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. I’m Buckley Smith, thanks for listening.
