refugees
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Airbnb offers free housing for up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees
More than 300,000 people have fled the country after Russia invaded.
Airbnb doubles its pledge to house Afghan refugees
With help from hosts and donors from across the US, Airbnb announced today it's prepared to house as many as 40,000 refugees temporarily.
Airbnb says you don't need to be a host to help it house Afghan refugees
The company pledged to provide at least 20,000 refugees with a place to stay.
Google search helps refugees get official answers to their questions
Google's web search now offers UN-approved answers to refugees' questions about aid.
Homeland Security details social media collection from immigrants
The Department of Homeland Security has explained how it will demand social media info from asylum from newcomers to the US beyond visa applicants. A notice in the Federal Register makes clear that officials will ask for social network data in seven forms that asylum seekers, immigrants, refugees and "inadmissable aliens" must fill to be allowed into the country, whether temporarily or permanently. They'll have to provide five years' worth of usernames if they've used any of the same 19 sites that fall under the visa checks, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Chinese sites like Douban and Weibo.
Airbnb introduces Donations to help with temporary housing
Airbnb announced a new initiative designed to help displaced people find housing solutions. The company launched a new Donations tool that will let Airbnb hosts kick back a portion of their income to organizations designed to help people who are in need of temporary housing. Airbnb hosts will be able to select a percentage of fares that they would like to give, and 100 percent of those donations will give to nonprofits. Donors will get regular updates to let them know how their contributors have helped others find places to stay.
Detainee wins major literary prize for book written through WhatsApp
Messaging apps aren't just useful for everyday communication -- in at least one case, they've enabled an influential book. Kurdish-Iranian author Behrouz Boochani has won Australia's top literary award, the Victorian Prize for Literature, with a book (No Friend But the Mountains) he wrote using WhatsApp. He'd used the unconventional approach to ensure his message would get through. As an inmate of Australia's controversial Manus Island detention center, he was concerned guards would seize his phone and confiscate his work -- he messaged his translator, Omid Trofighian, over the course of five years to ensure his story would get out.
'Bury Me, My Love' brings a Syrian refugee's tale to your phone
After creating a big buzz within the indie gaming community, interactive dialogue-driven game Bury Me, My Love launches today on iOS and Android. Based on real life stories, the game tells the tale of Nour and her husband Majid, both caught up in the violent and dangerous Syrian conflict. Nour has decided to flee their war-torn country while Majid stays behind to care for elderly relatives. With only a smartphone to communicate with her husband, she begins her perilous journey, telling Majid a Syrian farewell saying: "Bury me, my love" (which means, in essence, "don't die before me").
Microsoft and the UN to provide digital IDs for undocumented people
It's difficult to live without identification. In many cases, you're shut out of banking, health care, voting rights and other basics. Microsoft and partners might just give those many undocumented people (1.1 billion of them, in fact) a shot at the identity they need, though. It's working with Accenture and Avanade on a United Nations-backed digital ID effort that would offer legal recognition to those who'd otherwise be lost to recordkeepers. The prototype uses blockchain technology to give people a trustworthy ID that can follow them anywhere, but still respects privacy and security.
Airbnb makes good on its promise to house the displaced
Airbnb said it would help hosts take in refugees and evacuees as a response to President Trump's attempted immigration ban, and it's following through on that promise. The home rental service has launched a promised website that lets you volunteer to host people who need temporary housing, focusing on refugees and those displaced by natural disasters. As before, it's also accepting suggestions for other groups that could benefit from the offer.
Google and the UN answer Syria queries with a poignant website
Most Syrian refugees are just families with children thrown into turmoil by an unwanted war, so it's a cruel twist that the US and other nations have slammed the door on them. To help folks better understand their plight, Google has teamed with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on a new website that answers the five most common search queries from around the world. The website will appear today on Google's home page in select countries or directly at www.searchingforsyria.org.
Germany to use voice recognition to identify refugee origins
Germany will soon use voice recognition tech to help figure out exactly where refugees came from, according to Die Welt. Though the number of asylum seekers coming to the nation in 2016 dropped significantly to 280,000 from 890,000 in 2015, there was still a backlog of 430,000 applications at the beginning of 2017. Authorities from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) are therefore hoping the technology can help dialect experts to clear that number down.
Federal judge temporarily suspends the revised travel ban
A federal judge in Hawaii has halted President Donald Trump's immigration ban targeting six majority-Muslim nations, just one day before the order was scheduled to take effect. The technology industry has been a leading voice of opposition to a proposed travel ban, and this morning 58 companies signed an amicus brief in support of Hawaii's lawsuit.
Parking ticket chat bot now helps refugees claim asylum
Joshua Browder's chat bot lawyer, DoNotPay, is clearly multi-talented -- after getting people out of parking fines, it's now helping refugees find a home in a new country. Browder has adapted the AI to offer aid to asylum seekers in the US and Canada, and asylum support in the UK. The Facebook Messenger bot turns the asylum application process into a series of simple questions. Once you've finished, you'll have a filled form ready to go. Refugees in the UK still have to apply in person, but those in the US and Canada are largely set once they've finished the conversation.
President Trump plans to order a new travel ban next week
President Donald Trump said he will sign an executive order next week that updates his contentious January 27th ban on travelers and refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries. Last week, a federal appeals court ruled to keep a stay on the president's travel ban, which has been openly opposed by leaders in the technology industry including Google and Facebook. The new executive order will address the legal pitfalls that have paused the first travel ban, Trump said at a press conference today. "The new order is going to be very much tailored to what I consider to be a very bad decision," he said. "But we can tailor the order to that decision and get just about everything, in some ways more, but we're tailoring it now to the decision."
Appeals court denies Trump's attempt to revive the travel ban
The San Francisco Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday afternoon to keep the stay on President Donald Trump's travel ban, which aims to halt people from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States. More than 100 technology companies -- including leaders Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook -- objected to the ban and filed an amicus brief in support of lawsuits against it.
The legal arguments for and against reviving Trump's travel ban
San Francisco's Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments this afternoon in the State of Washington v. Donald Trump, the lawsuit that led to the suspension of President Donald Trump's contentious immigration ban. Leading companies in the tech world, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook, have spoken out and taken legal action against the ban. Today, lawyers for the Trump administration argued to lift the injunction placed on Trump's executive order, while Washington's solicitor general fought to keep the suspension in place.
Syrian refugee sues Facebook over fake news photos
See the heartwarming moment above? That's Syrian refugee Anas Modamani taking a selfie with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as he starts a new life in the country. However, it also caused Modamani no end of grief -- fake news stories on terrorism have routinely used the photo he took, falsely connecting him to horrible attacks. And he doesn't think enough is being done to stop it. Modamani is suing Facebook to have it delete all fake news stories using his image. He did have success getting Facebook to take down some stories beforehand, but he says it hasn't been enough -- Facebook would frequently say that a photo met its standards.
Airbnb wants to house 100,000 displaced people in five years
Airbnb was one of several tech companies to take a firm stance against Trump's immigration ban last weekend, but the company has since expanded its assistance beyond just those affected at American borders. In a blog post titled #weaccept, Airbnb's founders outlined a goal to provide short-term housing for 100,000 displaced people in the next five years. It will start with refugees, disaster survivors and relief workers, and has pledged to contribute $4 million over four years to the International Rescue Committee.
The Engadget Podcast Ep 27: American Tune
Managing editor Dana Wollman and reviews editor Cherlynn Low join host Terrence O'Brien to discuss the biggest tech news of the week. First they'll debate OnePlus' benchmark scandal, then try to sort out why the ACLU is partnering with startup incubator Y Combinator and take the "artists" behind the Tinder for baby adoption Kickstarter to task. Finally it's another week of Trump talk as the panel addresses the impact of the recent immigration ban on the tech industry and how the political climate is impacting our social media habits.
