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The data brokers who’ve made fortunes from collecting and sharing millions of people’s personal information tend to fly under the radar. Names like LiveRamp or RELX might not be familiar to most Americans, but they’re making themselves known on Capitol Hill. Collectively, data broker spending on lobbying in 2020 rivaled the spending of individual Big Tech firms like Facebook and Google. The Markup searched lobbying disclosures in the U.S. Senate’sLobbying Disclosure Act databaseand the watchdog Center for Responsive Politics’ toolOpenSecretsfor the names of companies that registered as data brokers inVermontorCalifornia....

It looks like the recent patent claims by Lodsys over apps that use in-app purchasing is having an effect on app developers in an unexpected way.Updated TUAW isreportingthat App Store apps that use in-app purchasing have been locked out of the approval process in iTunes Connect, the tool that developers use for submission of apps. The freeze in effect seems to be the result of a test account that developers have to use to try out in-app purchasing before approval being down....

While you were watching the F1 title decider between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton or excited for theSuccessionfinale, companies running the internet were scared shitless. You might not have noticed it because services like Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, and smaller ones all stayed up. But a bug in an open-source tech called Log4j was (and still is) causing panic amongst the infosec community across the world. While the bug has affected billions of devices, and companies are scrambling to apply fixes, the open-source community has a raging debate going on about funding volunteers that maintain projects like Log4j....

The long-term impacts COVID-19 will have on startups seeking capital Are VCs going to get aggressive? Sector focus Understandably, the shift of focus toward pandemic-proof business models and solutions that can help us live alongside the virus might be troubling for some businesses in the long run. Some sectors, like those involving travel or hospitality technology, are likely to face further roadblocks. Given the current situation, businesses that can sell and offer support virtually will have an obvious and immediate appeal for VCs....

On 30 July, an Air Force C-17 cargo plane touched down on a runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A massive shipping container was rolled off the craft. The precious cargo inside, revealed in an Astrotech cleanroom, was examined, and cleared by inspectors. The Lucy spacecraft had arrived safely at the space center, readying for its upcoming historic mission. This vehicle, designed by the Southwest Research Institute, will be the first to visit the Trojan asteroids which accompanyJupiteron its orbit around the Sun....