Today’s Hashtag Trending episode talks about the drama between Google and the U.S. government, as well as the friction between Bell and the CRTC. Also, GitHub launched a mobile app, so that’s pretty cool.
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Thank you for tuning, it’s Thursday, November 14th, and I’m your host, Tom Li.
Trending on Reddit, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is now investigating the collaboration between Google and Ascension. The Wall Street Journal published a report on Tuesday, which revealed that Google has been collecting Ascension patient data without their knowledge. According to the report, sensitive information including patient names, medical history, and doctor diagnoses have been passed off to Google to develop AI products. Google has appended its announcement blog post welcoming the federal inquiry, and maintains that it complies with all relevant laws.
Trending on Google, Bell has asked the Canadian government to reverse the internet wholesale rates set by the CRTC. In August, the CRTC drastically lowered the cost smaller providers must pay to access major provider’s infrastructures. In its press release, the CRTC said the rates were lowered to foster competition. The major providers are of course unhappy with the change. In its letter, Bell wrote that the new rates are below its cots and may result in a reduction of services.
Trending on Google, Github has released its first mobile app. The app, which is exclusive to iOS for now, allows developers to comment on code through their mobile devices. Dana Lawson, vice president of engineering at GitHub, said that the project materialized because people kept on asking for it. Currently, the app only focuses on the social aspect of collaborative coding, which means you won’t be able to actually edit code just yet.
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 Tom Li, thanks for listening.