Snippings

xxx

“Google CEO Sundar Pichai… expressed support for a national data protection law in the US, describing the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation as a ‘well-thought-out, well-crafted piece of legislation.’”

From “What Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s visit to Congress taught us (spoiler: not a lot) – MIT Technology Review”.

xxx

xxx

“The first batch of Hongkongers picked up their new smart identity cards from kiosks and collection centres around the city on Monday. The new cards, complete with updated security details such as built-in radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and higher resolution photographs to support facial recognition, will replace the standard Hong Kong identification card, required of all residents.”

From “First Hongkongers collect new smart ID cards with replacement roll-out to start soon | South China Morning Post”.

xxx

xxx

What does clean tainted bitcoin is the FBI. They did this when they auctioned off the Silk Road wallets.

From The battle over financial privacy – New Money Review.

xxx

xxx

Spanish banks have warned of the potential financial stability implications of Big Tech firms like Goolge, Amazon and Facebook entering the financial services industry. Red flags around the future roles of Big Tech firms in financial services were raised at an event organised by the University of Financial Studies (Cunef) in Madrid and the Spanish Banking Association.

Regulatory issues topped the agenda, with access to financial data expected to play a key role in the coming battle between Big Tech firms and banks. The introduction of PSD2 and the move to Open Banking is expected to upset the competitive advantage enjoyed by banks, with Big Tech firms ready to benefit from asymmetric regulation and extend their appeal to consumers.

From Spanish banks rail against Big Tech threat.

xxx

xxx

“‘Over the last five years, the replacement cycles of smartphones in the U.S. has has increased from an average of 20.6 to 24.1 months,’ says Jennifer Chan, global insight director at Kantar.”

From “Global, U.S. Growth in Smartphone Growth Starts to Decline”.

xxx

xxx

“Thieves are increasingly trying to smash or blast their way into UK cash machines – with the number of attacks on ATMs nearly doubling in four years. Attempts to steal cash have risen from 400 attacks in 2014 to 723 last year,”

From “Surge in gas and ram-raid ATM attacks – BBC News”.

xxx

xxx

The introduction of electronic identity cards would address many voters’ concerns about immigration without the need for Brexit, a report from Global Future has found.

From ID cards not Brexit ‘better at controlling immigration’ | The Week UK.

xxx

xxx

In addition to cryptocurreny custody solutions (for which, as stated elsewhere in the article, there is no demand whatsoever), State Street is also looking to a future markeplace of “tokenised” traditional assets.

From State Street studying custody for both tokenized traditional assets and cryptocurrencies, but sees no current client demand – The Block.

Why would anyone bother with 

xxx

Built by ASX-listed Perth company Fastbrick Robotics (FBR), the Hadrian X machine recently successfully completed a series of tests, proving it was capable of complying with various building requirements.

From Aussie bricklaying robot takes on tradies, building three-bed house in 72 hours – SmartCompany.

xxx

xxx

When a customer receives a call from Barclays and are concerned about the caller’s identity, they will be offered the chance to receive an alert in their app or online banking confirming the details of the employee who is calling them.

From Barclays reveals call verification system to stop phone scammers | This is Money.

xxx