
Britain says Google's online-ad commitments no longer needed
LONDON :Britain's antitrust regulator said commitments it secured from Google in 2022 related to online advertising were no longer needed after the tech company decided against a standalone prompt for third-party cookies in April.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had been concerned that Google's original plan to downgrade third-party cookies could have weakened competition in digital advertising.
In 2022 it accepted commitments from Google that addressed its concerns about its "privacy sandbox" proposals, specifically around plans to remove some third-party cookies from its Chrome browser.
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Straits Times
6 hours ago
- Straits Times
UK informed ahead of US strikes on Iran, no request for help, minister says
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds arrives for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy/File Photo UK informed ahead of US strikes on Iran, no request for help, minister says LONDON - Britain was informed of the U.S. military strikes on Iran ahead of time, but did not receive any U.S. request for their shared Diego Garcia air base in the Indian Ocean to be used, senior minister Jonathan Reynolds said on Sunday. U.S. President Donald Trump said he had "obliterated" Iran's main nuclear sites in strikes overnight, in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to reserve all options to defend itself. Reynolds said Britain had not taken part in the strikes, though it had previously moved military assets to the region and would take "all action necessary" to defend its key allies if they came under threat. He added that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was talking to Britain's allies on Sunday. "I know often because of British military assets, RAF Akrotiri (in Cyprus) or Diego Garcia, sometimes that request is made. And this was not a situation where that request was made," Reynolds, the business and trade minister, told Sky News. Diego Garcia is a strategically important UK-U.S. military base located in the Chagos Islands. Reynolds said Britain knew about the strike in advance. "I can't tell you exactly when we did know, but we were informed, as you might expect," he said. Reynolds said that the government was in "active conversations" about chartering aircraft to get people out of the region within "hours, not days", pending the possible reopening of Israeli airspace. Britain's foreign ministry said it was preparing for a charter flight "early next week", adding that British nationals and their dependants in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories who were interested should register their details. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Straits Times
16 hours ago
- Straits Times
Air India CEO's remarks after plane crash draw scrutiny
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson's remarks were criticised for being identical to one given months earlier by American Airlines CEO Robert Isom. PHOTO: ATUL LOKE/NYTIMES Mr Campbell Wilson stood before a camera last week to read a carefully worded statement about the plane operated by Air India, the company he leads, that had crashed hours earlier in Ahmedabad, India, with 242 people aboard. His remarks immediately drew criticism. Social media users said he appeared cold and lacking in empathy. Soon after that, another critique emerged: Much of Mr Wilson's speech was identical to one given five months earlier by Mr Robert Isom, CEO of American Airlines, after a deadly crash in Washington. The similarities in the two statements are striking. Mr Karthik Srinivasan, a communications consultant in Bengaluru, India, posted transcripts on social media showing that many of Mr Campbell's words had exact parallels in Mr Isom's. 'First and most importantly, I'd like to express our deep sorrow about these events,' Mr Isom said in the video published on Jan 29. On June 12, Mr Wilson began: 'First and most importantly, I would like to express our deep sorrow about this event.' 'This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines,' Mr Isom continued. Mr Wilson said: 'This is a difficult day for all of us at Air India.' Mr Isom said, 'I know that there are many questions, and at this early stage, I'll not be able to answer all of them. But I do want to share the information I have at this time.' Mr Wilson said exactly the same thing, except he didn't say 'early', and in one instance he used 'we' instead of 'I'. Many who responded to Mr Srinivasan's post expressed anger and distrust at the airline. The outcry over the remarks has added to the challenges facing Air India as investigators work to understand what caused its London-bound jet to crash moments after takeoff, killing all but one person on board and dozens on the ground. Public relations specialists said that it was common to see similar structures and elements in statements from companies dealing with crises. But they said it was surprising to see one copy another verbatim. Air India did not address the plagiarism accusations in a statement responding to criticism of Mr Wilson's remarks. But it acknowledged that it had drawn examples from other crashes. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.


AsiaOne
2 days ago
- AsiaOne
Australia social media teen ban software trial organisers say the tech works, World News
SYDNEY - Some age-checking applications collect too much data and no product works 100 per cent of the time, but using software to enforce a teenage social media ban can work in Australia, the head of the world's biggest trial of the technology said on Friday (June 20). The view from the government-commissioned Age Assurance Technology Trial of more than 1,000 Australian school students and hundreds of adults is a boost to the country's plan to keep under 16s off social media. From December, in a world first ban, companies like Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, Snapchat and TikTok must prove they are taking reasonable steps to block young people from their platforms or face a fine of up to A$49.5 million (S$41 million). Since the Australian government announced the legislation last year, child protection advocates, tech industry groups and children themselves have questioned whether the ban can be enforced due to workarounds like Virtual Private Networks, which obscure an internet user's location. "Age assurance can be done in Australia privately, efficiently and effectively," said Tony Allen, CEO of the Age Check Certification Scheme, the UK-based organisation overseeing the Australian trial. The trial found "no significant tech barriers" to rolling out a software-based scheme in Australia, although there was "no one-size-fits-all solution, and no solution that worked perfectly in all deployments," Allen added in an online presentation. Allen noted that some age-assurance software firms "don't really know at this stage what data they may need to be able to support law enforcement and regulators in the future. "There's a risk there that they could be inadvertently over-collecting information that wouldn't be used or needed." Organisers of the trial, which concluded earlier this month, gave no data findings and offered only a broad overview which did not name individual products. They will deliver a report to the government next month which officials have said will inform an industry consultation ahead of the December deadline. A spokesperson for the office of the eSafety Commissioner, which will advise the government on how to implement the ban, said the preliminary findings were a "useful indication of the likely outcomes from the trial. [[nid:705771]] "We are pleased to see the trial suggests that age assurance technologies, when deployed the right way and likely in conjunction with other techniques and methods, can be private, robust and effective," the spokesperson said. The Australian ban is being watched closely around the world with several governments exploring ways to limit children's exposure to social media.