Kate Conger
Kate Conger is a writer at TechCrunch, covering policy and security.
Prior to joining TechCrunch, she was the managing editor of the journalism startup Ratter. Her work has appeared in Motherboard, The Daily Dot, San Francisco Magazine, and SF Weekly.
Contact Kate at [email protected].
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Latest from Kate Conger
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Judge ruling means Uber can continue self-driving work but Levandowski barred from LiDAR
A judge has ruled in the matter of a preliminary injunction related to Uber’s use of autonomous tech, finding that Google employee and Otto founder Anthony Levandowski can no longer work on any projects that involve LiDAR technology. Uber, however, can continue its autonomous driving development work in general, and had already voluntarily removed Levandowski from his role at the head of… Read More
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Las Vegas taps AI for cybersecurity help
Hundreds of thousands of people live in the city of Las Vegas. But the city’s information security team is made up of just three employees and one intern, so the chief information officer of Las Vegas relies on artificial intelligence to keep the city’s data and tech secure. Read More
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Waymo’s claims of trade secret theft could result in criminal case
When Waymo sued Uber earlier this year, claiming that its former employee stole 14,000 documents containing trade secrets about its self-driving car project and took the documents to Uber, it was a stain on Uber’s reputation. Now, it looks like the damage could be more extensive — the judge in the civil case has referred the theft claims to the U.S. Attorney for a possible… Read More
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Waymo’s lawsuit against Uber is going to trial, judge rules
Waymo’s lawsuit against Uber, its competitor in the automated vehicle business, is going to trial. Judge William Alsup ruled that Uber could not force the lawsuit over theft of trade secrets into private arbitration. Instead, the trial will play out publicly, with evidence being presented mostly in the open. This is not the scenario that Uber wanted. Waymo, the self-driving car subsidiary… Read More
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Trump signs long-delayed executive order on cybersecurity
President Trump signed a executive order today commanding a review of the United States’ cybersecurity capabilities. Trump was initially set to sign the order shortly after his inauguration in January and held a press conference on the issue, but ultimately delayed the signing. The version of the order signed today bears some similarity to the earlier draft, but does contain some… Read More
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Trolling the patent trolls
“Don’t feed the trolls,” the popular wisdom goes. But with a new project, Cloudflare is taking things a little farther — the company is trying to starve its trolls out by taking away their revenue. Patent lawsuits against tech companies are fairly common, and most companies will simply settle with their opponents rather than fund an expensive, lengthy legal defense. Read More
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Yahoo cybersecurity lead Bob Lord is speaking at Disrupt NY
I’m very excited to announce that Yahoo’s chief information security officer, Bob Lord, will be joining TechCrunch for a fireside chat at Disrupt NY this year. Join us for this fascinating conversation. Disrupt NY runs May 15 to May 17, and Lord joins a cast of all-star speakers. Read More
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Shareholders pressure Intel over PAC spending
Intel isn’t the only tech company with a political action committee funneling money into Congress. But some of Intel’s recent donations — including to politicians known for opposing marriage equality like North Carolina Senator Richard Burr and a PAC supporting Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer — have alarmed shareholders, who are now proposing a… Read More
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Waymo case reveals Levandowski got $250 million in Uber stock for Otto
Autonomous driving company Waymo alleged today in court that the formation of rival Otto was a ruse concocted between its founder Anthony Levandowski and eventual acquirer Uber to hide the fact that he immediately went to work for the ride-hailing company after leaving Waymo’s parent company, Google. Read More
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Former NSA director explains why the spy agency will end a controversial surveillance technique
Earlier today, the NSA announced its intentions to limit a surveillance technique that had a nasty side effect of sweeping up communications to and from Americans. In a rare unprompted press statement, the NSA explained that it would halt “any upstream internet communications that are solely ‘about’ a foreign intelligence target,” restricting its surveillance to… Read More
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Uber adds privacy info and easy account deletion
Uber announced today that it will make it easier for users to delete their accounts and access their privacy settings. Now, the company will let users delete their accounts from within the app, without contacting support. The process is known internally as “Dear John,” and Uber employees said it has taken over a year to design. Once a user opts to delete their account, Uber… Read More
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Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight
Uber’s Anthony Levandowski, who founded Otto and then became head of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) once Otto was acquired by the ride-sharing company, is stepping aside from his role as head of ATG. The move comes as Uber continues a legal fight with Waymo, which began as Waymo accused Levandowski of using trade secrets stolen during his time at the then-Google… Read More
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Facebook announces plan to fight misinformation campaigns
Facebook made its most direct statements about how the platform has been used to spread misinformation in a report released today by its security team. The report acknowledges how actors created a coordinated campaign on the platform to spread misinformation during the 2016 U.S. election, and explains measures Facebook is taking to combat it. “Our mission is to give people the power to… Read More
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Cloudflare debuts a security solution for IoT
Cloudflare, the content delivery network that promises speed and security for websites, announced today that it’s moving into the internet-of-things industry with a security product called Orbit. Now, instead of just securing websites, Cloudflare wants to secure IoT devices too. Orbit has been developed over the last 18 months in response to customer demand, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Price… Read More
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Air Force launches bug bounty program
The Air Force announced today that it will launch a bug bounty next month for several of its public-facing websites, allowing hackers to seek out vulnerabilities in the sites and exchange them for cash rewards. Read More
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A Waymo filing leaks lidar tech details in Uber lawsuit
Anthony Levandowski took his seat in a conference room one sunny Friday morning in April and proceeded to read the same phrase from a sheet of paper for the next five hours. “On the advice and direction of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer. And I assert the rights guaranteed to me under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.” Read More
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Uber seeks information from Larry Page in Waymo court case
Uber is looking to get Google co-founder and Alphabet CEO Larry Page to provide a deposition in the ongoing court case between itself and Waymo. The company made the request in court today during a discovery hearing before Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, and Waymo opposed the request. Read More
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Uber must turn over to Waymo information about its acquisition of Otto, court rules
Anthony Levandowski, the engineer at the center of the legal battle between Google and Uber over driverless-car technology, has suffered a setback. Levandowski has broadly invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. However, an appeals court has denied his request to extend his Fifth Amendment rights so broadly that Uber could redact documents on Levandowski’s behalf. Read More
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Uber responds to report that it tracked devices after its app was deleted
Uber tracked former users even after they deleted the app from their iPhones, a practice that eventually earned CEO Travis Kalanick a scolding from Apple chief executive Tim Cook, the New York Times reports. Uber is pushing back on the allegations, saying that the tracking is a common industry practice used to prevent fraud and account compromise. Uber allegedly used a practice called… Read More
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Waymo accuses Uber of hiding a secret LiDAR device
In preparation for a preliminary injunction hearing next month, Waymo today filed new claims in its lawsuit against Uber, alleging that its competitor withheld information about technology Uber is using in its development of self-driving cars. Waymo is in the midst of a contentious lawsuit against Uber, in which it claims Anthony Levandowski, a former Google employee, stole confidential… Read More
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