Hackers took control of an FBI email account, Facebook promises to curtail targeted ads criteria, and Patreon is making a YouTube competitor.
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That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Monday, November 15, and I’m your host, Tom Li.
Our first story of the day proves once again that no organization is immune to being breached. Over the weekend, hackers gained control of one of the FBI’s email systems and used it to spam 100,000 accounts, according to an email spam watchdog group. The emails pretend to be from the Department of Homeland Security, but interestingly, did not demand actions from the recipients. And while it sounded like a potential leak of security intelligence, the compromised account is one the FBI uses for external communication, not the one they use with their agents.
Up next, Facebook announced that it will be shrinking its targeted ads criterias. Earlier this week, the social media platform announced that advertisers can no longer use certain sensitive targeting options such as race, religion, sexual orientation, health causes, and political stance. Moreover, the platform will also give its users greater control of what they want to see. The change will take effect early next year, and will apply to all applications under the Meta brand, including Instagram and Facebook Messenger.
And finally, crowdfunding platform Patreon is planning to build its own video hosting system, complete with its own video player. Currently, Patreon creators must adhere to the restrictions of today’s popular video hosting services like YouTube and Vimeo. The company is keeping all the details under wraps, but it’s clear that it wants to cut its external reliance and keep all content on its own platform.
And now for something a little different. It turns out that profit does have a sound, but no one likes it. It’s no news that gamers are cheesed about crypto miners sapping all the graphics card inventory, but here’s another reason to hate crypto farms: noise. In a nutshell, some miners use racks upon racks of computers to mine, and their fan noise can be nerve-wracking. That’s exactly what’s happening in the quaint town of Sherbrook, Quebec, where 500 residents suffer from the perpetual droning from Bitfarms, a cryptocurrency company. The noise has been described to be akin to a non-stopping dental drill, and it’s driving the residents crazy.
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. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire Newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. If you have a suggestion or tip, please drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thanks for listening, I’m Tom Li.