Good morning, hope you had a great weekend. Let’s jump into your Monday morning tech news briefing.
1. AFP dismantles cybercrime syndicate
Four members of an alleged cybercriminal syndicate accused of money laundering $1.7 million in stolen cash from Australian and overseas victims have been charged in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne. In a statement, the AFP alleges the syndicate orchestrated more than 15 sophisticated cybercrime incidents between January 2020, and March 2023, and set up more than 80 bank accounts with stolen identities to help transfer the money out of Australia. The AFP began the investigation in October 2021.
2. Musk reportedly values Twitter at $US20 billion
According to The Information and The New York Times (both behind a paywall, but Engadget has a summary you can access), Elon Musk reckons Twitter is worth $US20 billion – around $30 billion in Aussie terms. Regardless, it’s still less than half of the $US44 billion he paid for the blue bird site last year.
Comp increases will be based on X Corp stock. Current grants are based on a $20b valuation. Musk says he sees a “clear but difficult path” to $250 billion valuation which would mean current grants could 10x. 3/
— Zoë Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) March 25, 2023
3. U.S. judge rules Internet Archive’s digital book lending violates copyright
Over to Reuters and the publication reported that a U.S. judge ruled that an online library operated by the nonprofit organisation Internet Archive infringed the copyrights of four major U.S. publishers by lending out digitally scanned copies of their books. We detail what the case was about, and its ramifications, over here.
4. U.S. to move forward with TikTok ban
Staying in America and the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker said on Sunday lawmakers will move forward with legislation to address national security worries about TikTok, alleging China’s government had access to the short video app’s user data. This remark followed TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifying in a hearing last week. It was Chew’s first major introduction to the public, and it didn’t make for a smooth entry. Head over here for our summary of the hearing.
It’s very concerning that the CEO of TikTok can’t be honest and admit what we already know to be true—China has access to TikTok user data.
The House will be moving forward with legislation to protect Americans from the technological tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) March 26, 2023
5. Microsoft threatens to restrict search data
Bloomberg reports that Microsoft has threatened to cut off access to its internet-search data, which it licenses to rival search engines, if they don’t stop using it as the basis for their own artificial intelligence chat products. Per the report, Microsoft licenses the data in its Bing search index — a map of the internet that can be quickly scanned in real-time — to other companies that offer web search, such as Yahoo and DuckDuckGo. Microsoft just recently packed its Bing search engine with AI.
BONUS ITEM: Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, a pioneer in the semiconductor industry whose “Moore’s Law” predicted a steady rise in computing power for decades, died Friday at the age of 94. He leaves behind a massive legacy.
Honoring a few of our founder Gordon Moore’s most special moments.
— Intel (@intel) March 25, 2023
Have a great week ahead.