technology
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Provident Personal Credit fined for sending 1m spam textsInformation commissioner acts after consumers are bombarded with messages promoting firm’s Satsuma Loans -
Hacked dating site Ashley Madison agrees to pay $11m to US-based usersParent company Ruby Life Inc agrees to pay settlement following class-action lawsuits from plaintiffs who allege company misrepresented level of security
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Apple marks World Emoji Day with beards, headscarves and breastfeedingNew pictograms include a bearded person, a breastfeeding woman, a sandwich, a zombie and a T-rex and will be available with iOS 11 this autumn -
Privacy campaigners criticise UK plan for age checks on porn websitesSites could reportedly be blocked for failing to follow government rules forcing users to provide credit card details as verification -
Elon Musk: regulate AI to combat 'existential threat' before it's too lateTesla and SpaceX CEO says AI represents a ‘fundamental risk to human civilisation’ and that waiting for something bad to happen is not an option
privacy
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Hospitals to receive £21m to increase cybersecurity at major trauma centresJeremy Hunt pledges funding for 27 hospitals across England after the WannaCry ransomware attack disabled NHS IT systems
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Local radio station keeps getting hijacked by song about masturbationOfcom hunting pirate who persistently overrides frequency of Mansfield 103.2 to play The Winker’s Song by Ivor Biggun
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opinion & analysis
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Genius or hubris? Why turning down Facebook may be Snapchat's big mistakeTurning down a $3bn offer made Snapchat famous for its bold vision. But now Facebook is catching up, leading some to predict a ‘long and painful death’
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Australia's plan to force tech giants to give up encrypted messages may not add upMalcolm Turnbull says the ‘law of Australia’ will prevail over the ‘laws of mathematics’ in new legislation on encryption. But he is on shaky ground
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Ajit Pai: the man who could destroy the open internetThe FCC chairman leading net neutrality rollback is a former Verizon employee and whose views on regulation echo those of broadband companies
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Why the net neutrality protest mattersCompanies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon will band together for a day of action against a threat to the open internet. So what’s the big deal?
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Sports Direct buys 26% stake in Game DigitalMike Ashley swoops on video games retailer after profit warning forced by shortage of Nintendo Switch consoles
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30 years of Final Fantasy: a cult of devotion, and the music still soarsThe Distant World philharmonic orchestra is celebrating three decades of the classic game with a rousing and nostalgic world tour
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Big in Albania … countries that gave film flops a second lifeThe superheroes saved by Mexico, the video-game spinoff that became China’s 12th biggest movie ever, and the British comedian worshipped by a secretive communist nation. We remember the films somebody else loved
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The 11 greatest video game objects – in picturesFrom Sonic’s rings to Portal’s Companion Cube, here are the most memorable items we’ve collected, shot or hit someone with. Add your favourites below
inside Silicon Valley
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Facebook village? Social media giant to build 'social housing'The tech giant aims to build 1,500 apartments at Menlo Park after being criticised for helping to deepen the Silicon Valley housing crisis
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Sexual harassment in Silicon Valley: have we reached a tipping point?In an industry where money rules and male investors are treated like demigods, more and more women are speaking up. But will it work?
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Tech has become another way for men to oppress womenWe act as if technology were neutral but it’s not. The challenge now is to remove the gender bias, says human rights lawyer and writer Lizzie O’Shea
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She took on Tesla for discrimination. Now others are speaking up. 'It's too big to deny'A female engineer who came forward with claims of harassment says she was fired in retaliation. But now other women have voiced similar concerns
reviews
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The City Is Ours review – will vertical forests and smart street lights really save the planet?Museum of London
By 2050, some 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities. How will we cope? This maddeningly random show weighs up some inspired solutions -
Radical Technologies by Adam Greenfield review – luxury communism, anyone?A tremendously intelligent and stylish book on the ‘colonisation of everyday life by information processing’ calls for resistance to rule by the tech elite
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devices
in depth
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How can we stop algorithms telling lies?Algorithms can dictate whether you get a mortgage or how much you pay for insurance. But sometimes they’re wrong – and sometimes they are designed to deceive
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How Guardian readers arrange the icons on their smartphones