Google is investigating violations to data security policies following leaks of confidential data by a language reviewer, Product Manager David Monsees blogged Thursday. Google partners with global language experts who understand nuances and accents of a specific language to review and transcribe “a small set of queries” to better understand languages, which Monsees called a critical part of building speech technology necessary to products like Google Assistant. The company learned that one of the reviewers violated Google policy by “leaking confidential Dutch audio data,” he said, and the company is conducting a review of its safeguards “prevent misconduct like this from happening again.” Language experts review about 0.2 percent of all audio snippets, which are “are not associated with user accounts as part of the review process,” Monsees said. Reviewers are directed not to transcribe background conversations or other noises, and only to transcribe snippets that are directed to Google, he said. He added that the voice assistant only sends audio to Google after a Google Assistant-enabled device detects a user is interacting with it by saying “Hey Google” or by physically triggering the Google Assistant. Monsees acknowledged that “rarely, devices that have the Google Assistant built in may experience what we call a 'false accept,'" interpreting other words or noises to be the wake word. Protections are in place to “prevent false accepts from occurring in your home,” he said. Consumers concerned about privacy can turn off storing audio data to their Google accounts completely or choose to auto-delete data every three or 18 months, he said.

Comments are due Aug. 9 on the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s draft cybersecurity white paper concerning blockchain technology, the agency announced Tuesday. The paper outlines “standards, building blocks, and system architectures that support emerging blockchain-based identity management systems and selective disclosure mechanisms.”

The White House’s coming summit on Silicon Valley’s alleged anti-conservative bias (see 1906260070) seems like an attempt to intimidate companies into bending to the administration’s will, said Computer & Communications Industry Association CEO Ed Black Wednesday. Social media sites shouldn’t be forced to be neutral on hate or religious intolerance, he said: “If those airing grievances at this week’s meeting are unsatisfied with one company’s policy against objectionable content, there are plenty of competitors from which to choose.”

Facebook had a 50 percent increase in women in technical positions, now at 23 percent, in the past five years and a 42 percent increase in women holding senior leadership positions, to 33 percent. Blacks holding senior leadership and technical positions increased 50 percent to, respectively, 3.1 percent and 1.5 percent since 2014, the company reported Tuesday. Overall, the number of minorities at the company increased from 43 percent to 56 percent, with Asians as the largest minority group. Global Chief Diversity Officer Maxine Williams cited its initiatives and partnerships. Facebook employs more than 35,000, quadrupled from 2014, says Statista.

Seventy-nine percent of U.S. broadband homes worry about data security and privacy issues, blogged Parks Associates Tuesday. Roughly 35 percent of U.S broadband households faced a data security problem -- including identity theft, data theft or a virus or spyware infection -- in the past 12 months. “Many consumers do not trust companies with their data, nor do they believe they receive adequate value for sharing their data,” said analyst Lindsay Gafford: They'll be more comfortable with connected products when security protections are built in and companies are “more transparent about how they collect and use” their data.

President Donald Trump can't block Twitter users from his official account, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, upholding U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sued Trump for blocking users from @realDonaldTrump after they criticized him (see 1806050068). The White House claimed the account was a personal one. The 2nd Circuit disagreed, saying the account and “webpage associated with it bear all the trappings of an official, state-run account.” The opinion, by Judge Barrington Parker on behalf of himself, Christopher Droney and Peter Hall, called the account “one of White House’s main vehicles for conducting official business.” The First Amendment “does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise-open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees,” it said. The White House referred us to DOJ, which said it's exploring possible next steps. “As we argued, President Trump’s decision to block users from his personal twitter account does not violate the First Amendment,” said a spokesperson.

The amount of big tech acquisitions increased about 20 percent per year between 1987 and 2018, signaling weak antitrust enforcement, the American Antitrust Institute reported Monday. Google had the largest percentage of total acquisitions at 32 percent, averaging about 13 yearly acquisitions between 1987 and 2019. That was followed by Microsoft at 31 percent and seven yearly transactions, Apple at 15 percent and three transactions, Amazon at 11 percent and four acquisitions and Facebook at 11 percent and seven acquisitions.

Facebook was working to restore service for Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook users Wednesday, it said: “We’re aware that some people are having trouble uploading or sending images, videos and other files on our apps. We're sorry for the trouble and are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.” More than 14,000 Instagram users, 7,600 Facebook users and 1,600 WhatsApp users reported outages to Downdetector.com.

Facebook downplayed Wednesday the amount of access and control it will have over a new cryptocurrency project (see 1906190060). Lawmakers and consumer groups sought a moratorium on the so-called Project Libra. The company has done a lot to “democratize free, unlimited communications for billions of people,” and it wants to do the same with digital money, blogged Calibra Head David Marcus: The key difference this time is Facebook will “relinquish control over the very network and currency we’ve helped create.” The company created the subsidiary Calibra, a virtual wallet service integrated with Libra. Facebook will own and control Calibra but “won’t see financial data from Calibra,” Marcus wrote. Facebook also is only one of 28 founding members that include Mastercard, Visa and PayPal. All members will play a part in naming a managing director and establishing governance rules, Marcus said. The system is designed to limit the power of any single organization, he said. The company is committed to working with lawmakers, central banks and regulators as it prepares to launch the new currency, said Marcus, who will testify before the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees “in the weeks to come.” Libra's goal is to “bring the world closer together,” he said. Individuals who can’t afford traditional banking services, struggle with meeting minimum balances and can’t afford associated penalties, he said.

The FTC plans a workshop in Atlanta on truth-in-advertising basics and data security compliance, Aug. 15 at the Georgia Bar Center, 104 Marietta St. NW. Commissioner Rohit Chopra and Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr will speak. It’s the first of “Green Lights & Red Flags” event the FTC and regional partners plan in cities nationally, the agency said.