Roundup – Employee uproar over Apple’s new working week and Britain and Ukraine talk digital trade

Britain and Ukraine launch talks on digital trade

Britain has launched talks with Kyiv over removing digital trade barriers, signalling its ongoing support of Ukraine amidst Russian’s invasion of the country.

“The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and will use trade as a force for good to help the country rebuild its modern economy after this barbaric war,” said trade minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

With British exports of digitally delivered services to Ukraine accounting for nearly three quarters in 2020, Britain will look to bolster Ukraine’s efficiency in areas such as electronic transactions, e-signatures and other technology.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/britain-ukraine-launch-talks-digital-trade-2022-08-23/

Meta reaches $37.5m settlement of Facebook location tracking lawsuit

After a lawsuit accusing Meta of violating users’ privacy by tracking their movements without permission, the Facebook owner has reached a $37.5 million settlement. The preliminary settlement, currently awaiting a judge’s approval, resolved claims that the social media company violated California law, and its own privacy policy, by collating data from users who disabled Location Services on their smartphones. The users said that Facebook inferred where they were from their IP addresses, and used that information to send them targeted advertising. Meta denied wrongdoing and it did not immediately respond on Tuesday to requests for comment.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/meta-reaches-375-mln-settlement-facebook-location-tracking-lawsuit-2022-08-23/

Google cornered by watchdog over unsolicited ad emails

Google has been accused of breaching a European Union court ruling by sending unsolicited advertising emails to Gmail users. Australian advocacy group noyb.eu filed the complaint to France’s data protection watchdog on Wednesday. The group said Google should ask users for prior consent before sending any direct marketing emails. Google and French data protection authority CNIL did not immediately respond to requests seeking a comment. Earlier this year, The CNIL – known for being one of the most vocal data privacy regulators in Europe, imposed a record fine of 150m euros ($149m) on Google for making it difficult for internet users to refuse online trackers.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2022-08-24/privacy-complaint-targets-google-over-unsolicited-ad-emails#:~:text=Aug.%2024%2C%202022%2C%20at%203%3A56%20a.m.&text=PARIS%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20Google%20has,with%20France’s%20data%20protection%20watchdog.

Apple workers push petition over return-to-office plan

With some employees of the opinion that Apple’s return-to-office three-day working week could negatively affect their well-being, they have launched a petition against the plan.

“We believe that Apple should encourage, not prohibit, flexible work to build a more diverse and successful company where we can feel comfortable to ‘think different’ together,” the petition says.

It was shared online by Apple Together, which identifies as a global solidarity union of workers from across the company. Circumstances from disabilities; family care; safety, health, and environmental concerns; financial considerations, to simply being happier and more productive, were cited by the group as “compelling reasons” to working from home.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/apple-workers-launch-petition-companys-reported-return-office-plan-rcna44156