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Apple loses director of machine learning over its office return policy
Apple has reportedly lost director of machine learning Ian Goodfellow over its return-to-office policy.
More than 800 Activision Blizzard employees call for CEO Bobby Kotick to resign
'We, the undersigned, no longer have confidence in the leadership of Bobby Kotick,' a petition reads.
Microsoft employees ask the company to end contracts with Seattle police
Hundreds of Microsoft employees are calling on the company to cancel its contracts with the Seattle Police Department.
40 music festivals pledge not to use facial recognition
40 of the world's largest music festivals -- including Coachella, Bonnaroo and SXSW -- have said they won't use facial recognition at their events. Now, artists who put pressure on the companies behind those festivals are claiming a victory.
Amazon employees will reportedly walk out over climate change inaction
More than 900 Amazon employees plan to protest the company's lack of action around climate change. In an internal petition, the employees have pledged to walk out on September 20th at 11:30AM PT. They've outlined three demands: that Amazon stop donating to politicians and lobbying groups that deny climate change, that the company stop working with oil and gas companies on fossil fuel extraction and that Amazon achieve zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Spotify ditches its Android homescreen widget
Spotify's latest Android update has riled some of its loyal users. The update removes the homescreen widget from Spotify's Android app. Now, to control functions like play, pause and skip, users must drag down the notification shade. While this may seem like a minor change to some, widgets are a prized Android feature, and nearly 2,000 users have petitioned the widget removal.
Amazon plans new solar and wind farms in Ireland and Virginia
Months after Amazon shareholders turned down a plea by employees to do more about climate change, the company announced two new renewable energy projects. Today, Amazon shared plans for a wind farm in Ireland and a solar farm in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. When completed sometime in 2020, these projects are expected to generate a combined 168,000 MWh of clean energy annually, helping Amazon reach its goal to power 100 percent of its operations with renewable power.
Google employees petition to ban the company from SF Pride
Google employees are asking the San Francisco Pride board of directors to revoke Google's sponsorship of Pride 2019 and to exclude Google from the Pride Parade on June 30th. In a letter written to San Francisco Pride, the employees say they have spent countless hours advocating for Google to improve its policies regarding the treatment of LGBTQ+ persons, and that they have been told repeatedly to wait. The letter also points to Google's recent warning that employees who protest the company at Pride must do so in their personal capacity (not near the Google float), or they will be in violation of Google's code of conduct.
Amazon employees call for a company-wide climate change plan
Amazon is the next tech giant to face mounting calls to action from its employees. A total of 3,541 employees have published an open letter asking Jeff Bezos and other leaders to adopt a shareholder resolution and release a "company-wide" climate change plan meeting their terms. Some are clarifications of existing initiatives, while others would require a significant shake-up in its existing strategy.
Anti-vaxxers are the newest threat in 'Plague Inc.'
Never underestimate the power of a viral petition -- and in this case we mean that quite literally. Strategy game Plague Inc., which sees players do their best to wipe out the world with infectious disease, is going to be given an anti-vaxxer scenario after its developers challenged fans to get a petition past 10,000 signatures. At the time of writing, the total had blown past 20,000.
Facebook introduces political petitions to your News Feed
Facebook's efforts to improve civic engagement are expanding beyond easy access to politicians and voter registration campaigns. As of January 21st, it's launching a Community Actions feature in the US that brings political petitions to the News Feed. Creators just have to write a description, tag the relevant political figures and watch the support roll in. A discussion section lets people both comment on petitions and run their own support campaigns, such as events or call-your-representative drives. You can see the number of people who've backed a petition, but you'll only see names for friends or public figures.
Google employees plan walkout over censored Chinese search engine
Just weeks after Google employees walked out of offices to protest the way the company dealt with claims of sexual misconduct, Google is bracing itself for another worldwide protest. This time, it's over Google's ominous Project Dragonfly, and human rights organization Amnesty International is throwing its whole weight behind it.
Google employees push back on censored China search engine (update)
Employees at Google are protesting the company's work on a censored search engine for China, the New York Times reports, signing a letter that calls for more transparency and questions the move's ethics. Reports of the search engine surfaced earlier this month, leaving many to wonder how the company could justify it after publicly pulling its Chinese search engine in 2010 due to the country's censorship practices. The letter, which is circulating on Google's internal communications system, has been signed by approximately 1,000 employees, according to the New York Times' sources.
Anne Frank Center asks Facebook to remove Holocaust denial pages
The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect is calling out Facebook for allowing Holocaust denial pages on its site. And the center is doing so through a petition in which it's requesting Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg take them down. "When these pages spread lies and untruths, it is veiled hatred and anti-semitism designed to cast doubt on facts," the center says in the Change.org petition. "There is a difference between providing a platform for free expression and knowingly spreading false information and lies. Denying the Holocaust causes harm."
Google employees reportedly quit over military drone AI project
Around a dozen Google employees have quit over the company's involvement in an artificial intelligence drone program for the Pentagon called Project Maven, Gizmodo reported today. Meanwhile, nearly 4,000 workers have now demanded an end to the company's participation in Maven in a petition that also calls for Google to avoid military work in the future.
Supreme Court will hear challenge to Microsoft's data privacy case
Microsoft may have won its fight to protect overseas data from American search warrants, but it can't rest easy. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Department of Justice's petition to review the case, virtually guaranteeing that the case will set the basis for how US law enforcement can access data abroad. We don't have a court date as of this writing, but the arguments on both sides are already well-established.
Have your say on the FCC's plan to lock down WiFi routers
You may know that you can replace your WiFi router's software with an open source version like DD-WRT or Tomato to make it more secure or powerful. However, the US wireless regulator (FCC) only seems to have figured that out recently, and is not happy with your ability to boost the signal power excessively on such devices. As such, it proposed changes to regulations, with one document suggesting it may ban or restrict third-party software altogether. That caught the eye of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which created an online petition asking the FCC to make changes.
White House speeds up (and opens up) online petitions
The White House's We the People site is supposed to help the government hear your calls for change, but that isn't quite how it worked out: backlogs meant that it took ages to respond to petitions. You'll be glad to hear that the service is getting a much-needed tune-up, though. As of today, the White House plans to respond to any petition that hits the 100,000-signature goal within 60 days "wherever possible." There's also a new team dedicated solely to making sure that the right people see a petition, which should help cut through some of the bureaucratic hierarchy.
EFF petitions US government to resurrect abandoned games
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a petition to the Library of Congress and the United States Copyright Office this week over the modification of abandoned games, particularly those that require an online connection to prevent piracy. The EFF is seeking a change to current laws that would deem mods that strip out authentication checks as fair use of the software after developers take those servers offline. The foundation noted Civilization 5 and Mario Kart Wii as examples in its petition, though the list of eligible abandoned games goes back many years. Should the Library of Congress approve the request, legally-acquired copies of many of those games would be open to modification so players can enjoy them on third-party servers. The petition does note that MMOs and "persistent world" games would be exempt from the change, as their "audiovisual content is primarily stored on the developer's server and not in the client." [Image: Electronic Frontier Foundation]
The Daily Grind: Are petitions to resurrect MMOs a waste of time?
We've received several tips over the last few weeks about a petition players are circulating in the hopes of resurrecting NCsoft's ill-fated MMO shooter Tabula Rasa. Even Richard Garriott himself tweeted about the campaign. But inside the Massively virtual offices, most of us just shrugged sadly. We've seen how these petitions go. Every once in a while, a sunsetted game returns from the dead, but MMO players are awash in petitions for games that never came back. Just ask the 21,845 gamers who signed the Save City of Heroes petition last autumn. So what do you think -- are petitions to resurrect or save MMOs a waste of time? Or do you sign them anyway, just in case there's a tiny chance they might work? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
