Bits: Hello From Europe!

Catch up on everything you missed from the world of tech this week. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, May 3, 2018 [For the latest updates, go to nytimes.com/bits »]( Hello From Europe! [Inside the Instagram headquarters. The company, like many other web services, has updated its privacy settings.] Inside the Instagram headquarters. The company, like many other web services, has updated its privacy settings. Christie Hemm Klok for The New York Times Each week, Kevin Roose, technology columnist at The New York Times, discusses [developments in the tech industry]( offering analysis and maybe a joke or two. Kevin is away this week, so Adam Satariano, The Times’s European tech correspondent, is stepping in. Hello! All your regular newsletter authors are writing books, taking a week off, or taking a week off when they should be writing books. Instead, you’ve got [me]( the newest member of The New York Times tech crew, covering the European tech world based in London. In what seems like an acceptable form of new-hire hazing, I’ve been asked to share some of this week’s tech news from a perspective 5,000-plus miles from Silicon Valley. Let’s get to it. The Four-Letter Privacy Law Instagram is threatening to block me and many others in Europe out of its app if I don’t acknowledge new privacy settings. I had a similar dance with Facebook and Twitter recently. The notices are a result of a European data-privacy law called the General Data Protection Regulation, known as G.D.P.R., going into effect on May 25. I won’t bore you with details. With 11 chapters and 99 subsections, [the law’s text]( is a good homeopathic cure for insomnia; it even has many well-paid lawyers confused about how it will be enforced. I’m not convinced that the regulations [will do much]( to change the current tech hierarchy, or that bombarding people with consent requests will change behavior, but I’m eager to see how new transparency rules play out. The law gives European residents stronger rights to see the information a company collects about them — such as banks, health clubs, retailers or other organizations with personal data — and to ask that it be deleted. The disclosures will provide an inside look at the dossiers companies compile about us. Privacy groups, seeing an opportunity, are planning to submit data requests on people’s behalf and file class-action-style complaints when they spot wrongdoing. As we’ve seen with the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, shame can be a more efficient method for changing a company’s behavior than any legal proceeding. If you get your data, [let me know]( what you find. (Unrelated: G.D.P.R. has inspired some wonderful nerd internet, like this [playlist]( Taxpayer-Backed Start-Ups A long-running sore spot in the European tech scene is the region’s lack of large, globally-influential technology companies to match the likes of Alphabet, Uber, Alibaba or Tencent. European governments have responded by throwing money at the problem. In the past several months, the [European Union]( [France]( and [Britain]( have announced billions of dollars worth of new financing for venture capital firms and start-ups. A little-known group backed by the European Union, called the European Investment Fund, has for years bankrolled some of the region’s top venture capital funds. People disagree on whether this is a good use of taxpayer money, but to keep up with the United States and China, particularly in areas like artificial intelligence, many European policymakers don’t think they have a choice. Cambridge Analytica Shuts Down Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm that has been embroiled in a data-harvesting scandal, said on Wednesday that it would cease operations and file for bankruptcy. But there was immediately some skepticism about the announcement. My colleagues Nicholas Confessore and Matthew Rosenberg [reported]( that executives at Cambridge Analytica and its affiliate, SCL Group, along with the family of a billionaire Republican financier, Robert Mercer, have moved to set up another British firm called Emerdata. Also involved in the new company is Erik Prince, who founded Blackwater, the private security firm that was renamed Xe Services after Blackwater contractors were convicted of killing Iraqi civilians. Cambridge Analytica said it was being punished for common practices in the online advertising industry. It’s a deflection, sure, but also not entirely wrong. Facebook said it began an investigation to find other groups that used data-harvesting tactics similar to those employed by Cambridge Analytica. If Mark Zuckerberg wants to make good on his pledge to be more open and transparent, he’ll make the findings public, even if it’s not flattering for Facebook. In Other News • The internet collectively chuckled when Zuckerberg put aside Facebook’s data-privacy troubles to introduce a [dating service]( at the company’s annual developer’s conference. The leading online-dating company, Match Group, responded by saying, essentially, “[game on]( • Apple showed its gratitude for recent corporate tax cuts in the United States by [rewarding its investorsÂ]( an eye-popping $100 billion buyback and huge dividend increase. • One of China’s largest start-ups, the smartphone and gadget maker Xiaomi, is holding an [initial public offering]( in Hong Kong. Many Chinese start-ups have struggled outside their home market, but Xiaomi said it would use the money to expand internationally, as well as to design new handsets, TVs, home speakers and other households gadgets. • Also: Amazon is [making]( dog food. Seriously. Adam Satariano is the European technology correspondent for The Times. You can follow him on Twitter here: [@satariano](. ADVERTISEMENT In Case You Missed It [Tech Giants Feel the Squeeze as Xi Jinping Tightens His Grip]( By RAYMOND ZHONG AND PAUL MOZUR The government in China, long suspicious of internet companies, now sees ambitious titans like Tencent and Alibaba as useful partners. [Tech Founders Embraced Control Over Companies. This One Is Giving It Up.]( By NICK WINGFIELD AND JACK NICAS Mark Pincus, founder of the gaming company Zynga, is reducing his voting power over the company, going against a trend where entrepreneurs lobbied for more control. [All We Want to Do Is Watch Each Other Play Video Games]( By NELLIE BOWLES Gamers are the new stars. Esports arenas are the new movie theaters. [Goldman Sachs to Open a Bitcoin Trading Operation]( By NATHANIEL POPPER While most big banks have steered clear of virtual currencies, the Wall Street giant will use its own money to trade in Bitcoin-related contracts. [Xiaomi, Chinese Gadget Maker, Opens Floodgates for Hong Kong I.P.O.s]( By ALEXANDRA STEVENSON The decision comes just days after Hong Kong’s stock exchange loosened its rules to lure Chinese companies expected to publicly list in the coming months. [Amazon Pauses Huge Development Plans in Seattle Over Tax Plan]( By NICK WINGFIELD In an unusually public spat, Amazon is rethinking some building projects in Seattle because of a new tax being considered by the City Council. [Cambridge Analytica to File for Bankruptcy After Misuse of Facebook Data]( By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE AND MATTHEW ROSENBERG The consultant, which said it would cease most operations in the United States and Britain, relied on Facebook data to profile and target voters during the 2016 campaign. [Gig Economy Business Model Dealt a Blow in California Ruling]( By NOAM SCHEIBER The state’s highest court made it much harder for companies like Uber to classify workers as contractors rather than employees. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [bits_newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:bits_newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Bits%20Newsletter%20Feedback%20223). ADVERTISEMENT LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. 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