Apple’s dangerous path

Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review. Last week, we dove into the truly bizarre machinations of the NFT market. This week, we’re talking about something that’s a little bit more impactful on the current state of the web — Apple’s NeuralHash kerfuffle. If you’re reading this on the TechCrunch site, you can […]

Apple announces new settlement with Japan allowing developers to link to external websites  

Apple has made a settlement with Japanese regulator that it will allow developers of “reader” apps link to their own website for managing users account. The change goes to effect in early 2022. This settlement comes after the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has forced Apple to make a change its polices on the reader […]

Coral Capital closes third fund with $128M for startups in Japan

Coral Capital, a Tokyo-based venture capital firm, announced today that it has closed its third fund, Coral Capital III, raising $128 million (14 billion yen). Coral Capital’s total assets under management (AUM) is now $275 million. Limited partners in the vehicle include Mizuho Bank, Mitsubishi Estate, Shinsei Bank, Pavilion Capital, Founders Fund, Dai-ichi Life Insurance, […]

Xayn launches a desktop version of its ad-free, privacy-safe search

Berlin-based Xayn, which as we reported last year is doing ad-free, personalized, privacy-safe search as an alternative to tracking and profiling adtech giants like Google, has expanded its product offering — launching a desktop version (in beta for now). The desktop Xayn WebBeta is described as a “light web version” of the product with similar functionality […]

Korean 3D spatial data tool startup Urbanbase closes $11.1M Series B+ round

Urbanbase, a Seoul-based company that develops a 3D spatial data platform for interior planning and design, announced today it has raised $11.1 million (13 billion won) in a Series B+ round as it scales up. This round of funding was led by Hanwha Hotel & Resort, which is a subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha […]

高木浩光氏、日本版ePrivacy立法を目指すのであれば、通信の秘密の概念そのものを見直すべき

おなじみの高木浩光氏が、総務省がパプコメを募集していた「プラットフォームサービスに関する研究会 中間とりまとめ（案）[PDF]」（以下中間とりまとめ案）についての意見を上げている。中間とりまとめ案では、インターネット上の誹謗中傷への対応を念頭、インターネット上の違法有害情報への対応や利用者情報の取扱いに関して意見公募を行ったもの（高木浩光@自宅の日記）。

同氏によれば、現時点のとりまとめ案はEUで今年合意されたeプライバシー規則（案）を参考にして作られている部分があるという。日本の現行案が参考に…