This Week in Tech – 04/29/2018: France Seizes France.com From Man Who’s Had It Since ‘94, So He Sues
France Seizes France.com From Man Who’s Had It Since ‘94, So He Sues
A French-born American has now sued his home country because, he claims, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has illegally seized a domain that he’s owned since 1994: France.com…
Fake Five-Star Reviews Being Bought and Sold Online
Fake online reviews are being openly traded on the internet, a BBC investigation has found…
Amazon to Increase U.S. Prime Annual Fee to $119, Up From $99
Amazon will increase the annual cost of Prime for U.S. customers to $119 per year, up 20% from $99 currently — news coming after it blew the doors off revenue and profit expectations in the first quarter…
Apple Will Start Paying $16 Billion in Back Taxes to Ireland
Apple has to pay €13 billion, or about $16 billion, as part of a record-breaking back tax judgment from August 2016…
You Could Be Flirting on Dating Apps With Paid Impersonators
Every morning I wake up to the same routine. I log into the Tinder account of a 45-year-old man from Texas—a client. I flirt with every woman in his queue for 10 minutes, sending their photos and locations to a central database of potential “Opportunities.” For every phone number I get, I make $1.75…
The EU Is Currently Debating Whether or Not to Grant Robots ‘Personhood’ — Here’s What That Would Mean
In 2015, an A.I.-powered Twitter bot did something a little out there — avant-garde, one might say. It tweeted, “I seriously want to kill people,” and mentioned a fashion event in Amsterdam. Dutch police questioned the owner of the bot over the death threat, claiming he was legally responsible for its actions, because it was in his name and composed tweets based on his own Twitter account…
Rest That Hand, This $365K Machine Can Sign Your Name for You
When the prestigious Swiss watchmaker Jaquet Droz began building its Signing Machine in 2014, perhaps it was thinking it might be perfect for famous folks fed up with having to repeatedly pen their autograph for adoring fans…