Tax system gives tech giants ‘unfair advantage’, says Publicis boss January 22, 2020 Tech giants have an “unfair advantage” and a clampdown on the amount of tax they pay will help to level the playing field, the boss of Publicis has said. Maurice Levy, chairman of the French media giant, today said he did not believe it was fair that digital firms could benefit from infrastructure and consumers [...]
Sage reports strong revenue growth amid continued subscription momentum January 22, 2020 Software company Sage has reported strong revenue growth for the first quarter of the 2020 financial year, boosted by the performance of its software subscription business. Total group revenue at the Newcastle-headquartered company grew 6.7 per cent to £465m in the three months ending 31 December, with recurring revenue increasing 11 per cent year-on-year. Sage [...]
As Vodafone quits, who’s left at Facebook’s Libra project? January 22, 2020 Vodafone has withdrawn from the organisation overseeing Facebook’s efforts to launch its Libra digital currency, making it the latest in a string of big companies to abandon the project. Facebook’s Libra project has faced intense scrutiny from regulators and politicians across the world over the social media giant’s plans for the launch of the stablecoin [...]
Privacy ‘cannot be a luxury good’, says Google boss Sundar Pichai January 22, 2020 Privacy “cannot be a luxury good”, Google’s chief executive said today, while vowing his company would protect its users’ information. Sundar Pichai, who also leads parent company Alphabet, said privacy was “at the heart of what we do”. “Users come to Google at very important moments, ask us questions, we deal with people’s sensitive information [...]
OECD tells UK to ‘hold fire’ on new tech giants tax January 22, 2020 The UK has been told by the OECD to “hold fire” on a new tax on big technology companies planned for April. The secretary general of the organisation, which is tasked with brokering a global compromise on the issue of tech giants not paying enough tax, said there would be the risk of “a cacophony” [...]
Our way, not the Huawei — for the sake of national security January 22, 2020 Boris Johnson might have been forgiven for thinking that the biggest dilemma he inherited from Theresa May would be how to resolve Brexit. But a second straggler from the May era has reared its head to disrupt the post-election serenity. How the Prime Minister chooses to deal with it may have long-term effects as important [...]
What lessons have we learned from a decade in cyber security? January 22, 2020 A colleague recently asked me what I thought had changed in cyber security over the last 10 years. We agreed that it had certainly been a time of momentous change. In 2012, there was the Shamoon attacks in the Gulf region. In one stroke, 35,000 computers were wiped and disabled within a matter of hours. [...]
Data watchdog launches new code to protect children’s privacy online January 22, 2020 Social media firms will be required to tighten up their privacy settings for children using their platforms as part of a new code outlined by the data watchdog. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) today unveiled its age appropriate design code, which sets out 15 standards for online services. It is aimed at companies responsible for [...]
Jeff Bezos reportedly hacked by Mohammed bin Salman January 21, 2020 Billionaire Amazon boss Jeff Bezos reportedly had his phone hacked in 2018 after receiving a Whatsapp message from the crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman. An encrypted message from the number used by the de facto Saudi ruler included a malicious file that infiltrated Bezos’ phone, The Guardian reported. It said digital forensic [...]
Netflix beats fourth-quarter revenue estimates as subscribers jump January 21, 2020 Netflix added more subscribers than analysts had expected at the end of last year, despite the debuts of several rival streaming services. The streaming giant added 8.76m paid subscribers globally in the three months to December, compared with analysts’ average estimate of 7.63m, thanks to hits such as the Irishman and the third season of [...]