Hacking Humanity

Bloomberg: A look at Chinese companies making surveillance-enabling tech, which count government as a major client or investor and have spawned at least four billionaires 

Steve Lohr / New York Times: How New York City evolved into a tech hub over the last two decades, fueled by Google’s DoubleClick acquisition

Biz Carson / Forbes: Officials in Auckland, New Zealand suspend Lime’s license after a glitch in e-scooters resulted in sudden braking, causing at least 30

Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire: Sources: Amazon may be scaling down its expansion in Seattle, including subleasing offices it rented in a new skyscraper, and expanding

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica: Florida inmate sues the Florida Department of Corrections after he was told he has to repurchase $569 of music

Ryan Broderick / BuzzFeed News: After an apparently coordinated group sexualized videos of minors via comments, YouTube warns creators it may remove ads on videos

Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed News: Sources characterize Zuckerberg’s May announcement of Facebook’s Clear History tool as an example of the company’s history of prioritizing optics

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch: Epic Games commits another $100M for prizes in Fortnite competitions in 2019, announces Fortnite World Cup for July with $30M prize

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge: Verizon launches limited trial of Tech Pack, a mystery box service that sends gadgets to customers for testing and charges

Caroline O’Donovan / BuzzFeed News: 50+ Microsoft staff sign letter to Satya Nadella and Brad Smith demanding an end to a $479M US Army contract