James Farrell

James Farrell is the former editor-in-chief of Chiang Mai CityNews, where he wrote and managed daily news, features, op-eds and blogs on a diverse range of topics. Prior to this, in the same city of Northern Thailand where he lives, he was the longstanding deputy editor of the monthly magazine Citylife. He has written on culture, politics, travel, tech, business, human rights, for local, national, and international news services and magazines. He has a keen interest in the role technology is playing in the transformation of society, culture and politics, especially in developing nations. This is reflected in his not-so-successful first novel.

Latest from James Farrell

Meta rolls out a new ad delivery system in response to discrimination

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 4 YEARS AGO

Meta Platforms Inc. said today that after working with the Department of Justice, it’s now ready to roll out a new technology that should distribute ads on its platforms more equitably. The social media giant settled with the DOJ last year after the company admitted that its housing ads algorithm had discriminated against people based ...

Innocent man arrested after yet another facial recognition failure

EMERGING TECH - BY JAMES FARRELL - 4 YEARS AGO

An Black man spent a week in jail in Louisiana in December because of a failure of facial recognition technology, it was reported today. Such technology being used in law enforcement is already controversial, with many experts saying that it could lead to wrongful arrests and has already been proved to show a racial bias ...

As slowing economy present more challenges, Amazon secures $8 billion loan

INFRA - BY JAMES FARRELL - 4 YEARS AGO

In a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing today, Amazon.com Inc. said it has reached an agreement with several lenders for an $8 billion unsecured loan. The e-commerce giant didn’t specify at first where the money will be allocated, saying only that it will go toward “general corporate purposes.” Amazon later told Reuters, “Given the ...

US military hardware containing sensitive biometric data are being sold on eBay

SECURITY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 4 YEARS AGO

German Researchers who were conducting a study on security managed to find an old U.S. military device on eBay containing the biometric data of 2,632 people, it was reported today. According to the New York Times, which first reported the story, the researchers were taken aback when they discovered what they’d got for their $68. ...

TikTok’s parent company fired four employees for accessing data on Western journalists

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 4 YEARS AGO

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance Ltd. has fired some employees after it was discovered they had improperly accessed the personal data of U.S. journalists, news that will no doubt vindicate those U.S. politicians who have been saying the Chinese app is a threat to national security. An internal investigation at the company found that at least ...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies in court as FTC tries to block VR acquisition

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 4 YEARS AGO

Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg told a federal court Tuesday that he’s not overly concerned about using fitness apps to build his metaverse. He was there after the Federal Trade Commission hit Meta with an antitrust suit after the company tried to acquire Within Unlimited Inc., the creator of a virtual reality ...

Under Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX donated millions to politicians and organizations, and now it wants it back

BLOCKCHAIN - BY JAMES FARRELL - 4 YEARS AGO

The collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. reportedly has been trying in earnest to recoup some of the hundreds of millions of dollars it donated under founder Sam Bankman-Fried. FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, and since then, the company has had a rough time of it, with Bankman-Fried charged with fraud, among other ...

The people have spoken: Elon Musk’s poll determines he should step down as Twitter CEO

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 4 YEARS AGO

After Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk polled users on if he should quit as the boss, the results are in, and it looks as though he will step down — if he keeps his promise. On Sunday, Musk asked, “Should I step down as head of Twitter?” More than 17 million people cast a ...

Twitter suspends accounts of journalists covering Elon Musk

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 4 YEARS AGO

Twitter Inc. today caused yet another controversy when several high-profile journalists said their accounts have been suspended. It’s not certain as yet why those accounts have gone down, although the connection between them was that they had each covered Twitter’s new owner, the “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk. The daily development comes just a day ...

Twitter says there will be no more live tracking of people on the platform

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 4 YEARS AGO

Twitter Inc. boss Elon Musk took some flak today after an account that tracked his place was suspended along with two dozen or so other similar accounts, a move that some said was hypocritical given Musk’s stance on free speech. The account, @elonjet, run by a student in Florida named Jack Sweeney, had amassed about ...