Jason Murdock
Reporter
Jason Murdock is a staff reporter for Newsweek.
Based in London, Murdock previously covered cybersecurity for the International Business Times UK and B2B tech for V3.co.uk. Winner of The Drum's 'Digital Writer of the Year' award in 2017. Contact: j.murdock@newsweek.com
Could the U.S. Use 'Big Data' to Quarantine its Citizens
Experts say it's unlikely, but not impossible, that America will replicate the approach taken by China, which has taken full advantage of its surveillance apparatus and the murky use of "big data."
Microsoft Employees in Washington Contract Coronavirus, Put in Quarantine
The two tech company staffers, whose exact job titles have not been released, are reportedly located in Puget Sound, which is close to Microsoft's corporate headquarters in Redmond.
#RIPTwitter Trends After 'Fleets' Revealed—Is it Too Similar to Instagram?
Congregating under the hashtag #RIPTwitter, users criticized the feature as being too similar to a feature seen on rival social networks, and renewed calls for an edit button.
Microsoft, Amazon Advise Staff to Work From Home as Coronavirus Spreads
The Washington State Department of Health has confirmed 39 positive COVID-19 infections and 10 deaths, with more than 200 people under supervision. Tech companies are now feeling the impact.
South Africa's Health Department Retweets Parody Advice about COVID-19
South Africa's National Department of Health Twitter account shared a warning about the spread of fake news about COVID-19. Its next tweet was parody advice about the deadly outbreak.
China Censors Coronavirus WeChat Messages, Blacklists Keyword Triggers
Terms critical of China's government, information tied to the spread of the disease and references to the handling of the situation have been included in a keyword blacklist.
How the Coronavirus Has Disrupted Big Tech
With conferences canceled, factory schedules disrupted and workers urged to work from home, COVID-19 has quickly left its mark on an industry that typically runs like clockwork. Here's how.
83-Year-Old Woman Found 'Caked in Mud' in Cane Field After Days Missing
Barbara Marincic, 83, was spotted in a cane field by crew members of an RACQ Central Queensland rescue helicopter just before 2 p.m. on Monday—after about four days missing from her home.
Elon Musk Says He Supports Twitter's Jack Dorsey After Investor Oust Threat
"Just want [to] say that I support @Jack as Twitter CEO. He has a good heart," Musk wrote online yesterday as Twitter employees shared person messages under the hashtag #WeBackJack.
Small Dog Defends Owner During Home Invasion, Shot by 'Coward' Burglars
Footage of the incident, which took place last Tuesday at about 3 p.m., was published by the City of South Fulton Police Department after being captured on a home CCTV camera system.
Florida Man Charged After Stealing $20 Trash Can, Flooding Neighbor's Home
Jonathan Babij, 37, of Ocala, was detained by Marion County deputies and hit with multiple felony charges related to incidents that took place last year—including a stolen trash can worth $20.
Florida Man Tries to Burrow Into Gopher Tortoise Nest to Hide From Police
Justin Buchler, 36, and Justin Harris, 28, were detained this week by the Putnam County Sheriff's Office following an alleged home break-in. One suspect had a particularly strange getaway plan.
California Doctor Arrested After Allegedly Seeing Patients While on Drugs
Dr. Keith Curtis, 52, was detained by officers from the Riverside Police Department after a narcotics unit obtained information he used illegal substances during his job at a local family practice.
Plague Inc. Disappears from China App Store for Having 'Illegal Content'
"It's not clear if this removal is linked to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that China is facing. However, Plague Inc.'s educational importance has been repeatedly recognised," the team said.
Ohio Pastor Arrested As Part of Sex-Trafficking Probe
Randolph "Randy" Brown, 64, and Joyce Richmond, 21, were taken into custody Tuesday and hit with multiple felony charges in relation to the alleged exploitation of teenagers.
iBaby Monitor Can Be Hacked to Spy on Children, Leak Video Recordings
If a hacker monitored a misconfigured sever during the camera setup, they could "then stream video, take screenshots, record video, or play music using the obtained credentials," experts warned.
Apple Doesn't Let Movie Bad Guys Use iPhones, Director Rian Johnson Reveals
"Every single filmmaker that has a bad guy in their movie that's supposed to be a secret wants to murder me right now," the 'Knives Out' filmmaker said in an interview with Vanity Fair.
Louisiana Groom Tampered With Evidence to Protect Best Man's Killer: Police
Christopher Jerome Sterling was arrested this week and charged with obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact to second degree murder in connection with a 2018 wedding day killing.
Petnet Internet-Connected Animal Feeder Suffers System Outages
The Petnet SmartFeeder—which lets users automate the supply of portions of food to their cats or dogs at home with the help of a smartphone application—has been blasted on Twitter by impacted owners.
United Airlines Passenger Allegedly Threatened to 'Stab Everyone' on Plane
Dana Ghazi Mustafa, 27, was charged with assaulting a federal officer. She allegedly admitted that a story told during the flight about her family being killed by a drunken driver had been a lie.
Video Shows Frantic Rescue of Woman in Sinking Car That Plunged into Canal
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue confirmed that one patient had been transported to a local hospital after their vehicle plunged into a canal close to Military Trail and Camino Real in Boca Raton.
WikiLeaks Editor Calls Assange Extradition Arguments by U.S. 'Hollow Words'
"The words that are coming out from the United States about WikiLeaks revelations were hollow 10 years ago, and they don't increase in legitimacy as years go by," Kristinn Hrafnsson said.
Damage of Bloomberg Opposition to 9/11 Terror Trials 'Hard to Overestimate'
"It pulled the rug out from under Obama and Holder's conviction that the 9/11 trials needed to be held… on federal soil," national security expert and academic Karen Greenberg told The Daily Beast.
Trump Supporters Bring 'MAGA' Mickey Mouse Cut Out to Disney World
The large cartoon poster featured the mascot giving a thumbs-up and smiling, while wearing a hat emblazoned with the President Trump campaign slogan "Make America Great Again."
Donald Trump 2020 Campaign Buys Prime YouTube Ad Space for Election Day
Video giant YouTube, which is owned by Google, has more than two billion users and claims to reach more U.S. citizens in the 18-35 demographic than any TV network.
Find My Mobile '1' Explained—Why Galaxy Phones Received Mysterious Alert
"This was sent unintentionally during an internal test and there is no effect on your device. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused," a Samsung tweet said.
Bloomberg to Pay People $2,500 a Month to Praise Him on Social Media Feeds
The billionaire's team is reportedly now hiring more than 500 "deputy digital organizers" to work up to 30 hours a week and promote his presidential campaign's message to their friends.
MGM Resorts Hack Exposes Personal Data of 10 Million Hotel Guests
The data included names, home addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers, but does not appear to have resulted in the loss of guests' financial details, an MGM spokesperson said.
WikiLeaks Editor Says Julian Assange Extradition Is About Politics Over Law
"If it was simply a case which was decided upon with the merit of the laws, I wouldn't worry at all, but this is a political case," WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said this week.
Reddit is Down: Website Investigating 'High Volume of Errors' in New Outage
DownDetector, which tracks website outages, recorded a sharp spike in problems today, with a live map showing mounting connection issues in the U.S. and Europe.
