Would life be happier without Google? I spent a week finding out

People had to get by without the search engine giant before it was launched in 1998. But is it possible to live your life – and do your job – without it these days?

Halfway through my week without Google, my wife mentions that she would like to go out to see a film that evening, and I agree to deal with the logistics. In what I initially think is an inspired move, I drop by the local cinema on the way home and scribble down all the film times in my notebook. Then my wife insists on going to a different cinema.

“Can I do this by phone?” I ask her. “Is 118 still a thing?”

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Australia passes social media law penalising platforms for violent content

Labor supports legislation in response to Christchurch shooting that threatens jail for executives, despite media companies’ concerns

The Australian parliament has passed legislation to crack down on violent videos on social media, despite furious reaction from the tech industry, media companies and legal experts.

The Labor opposition combined with the ruling Liberal-National Coalition to pass the law on Thursday, despite warning it won’t allow prosecution of social media executives as promised by the government. Tech giants expressed the opposite concern that it may criminalise anyone in their companies for a failure to remove violent material.

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Google staff call out treatment of temp workers in ‘historic’ show of solidarity

More than 900 employees sign letter criticizing abrupt firing of contractors, who make up 54% of Google’s workforce

More than 900 Google workers have signed a letter objecting to the tech giant’s treatment of temporary contractors, in what organizers are calling a “historical coalition” between Google’s full-time employees (FTEs) and temps, vendors and contractors (TVCs).

In March, Google abruptly shortened the contracts of 34 temp workers on the “personality” team for Google Assistant – the Alexa-like digital assistant that reads you the weather, manages your calendar, sends a text message, or calls you an Uber through your phone or smart speaker.

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Google revealed as unlikely go-between to help Trump-Cuba relations

Tech firm has acted as US-Havana intermediary as memo says Cubans trust Google more than Trump administration

Google has worked as an intermediary between the Trump administration and the Cuban government as it has sought a deal to improve internet access on the island, according to private remarks by Google’s manager in Havana.

Related: Apple Arcade v Google Stadia: which is the future for video games?

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Google’s Gmail and Drive suffer global outages

Users in Australia, the US, Europe and Asia report problems with various applications for several hours

Google has been hit by outages in a host of countries around the world, with users reporting issues with Gmail, Google Drive, Hangouts and Google Maps for several hours.

Various websites that track Gmail problems and outages, showed a spike in users reporting problems with the email service from about 1pm AEDT (2am GMT).

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Google paid former executive $35m after sexual assault allegation

Former search executive Amit Singhal was reportedly forced to resign after an employee claimed he groped her at an off-campus event

Google paid the former search executive Amit Singhal $35m in an exit package when he was reportedly forced to resign after a sexual assault investigation, according to court documents released on Monday.

Details of the exit package were revealed as part of a shareholder lawsuit against the company, one that followed a published report of payouts Google made to executives accused of sexual misconduct.

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Elizabeth Warren is right – we must break up Facebook, Google and Amazon | Robert Reich

The titans of the new Gilded Age must be busted and the idea has bipartisan support. It’s time big tech was brought to heel

The presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren announced on Friday she wants to bust up giants like Facebook, Google and Amazon.

America’s first Gilded Age began in the late 19th century with a raft of innovations – railroads, steel production, oil extraction – but culminated in mammoth trusts run by “robber barons” like JP Morgan, John D Rockefeller, and William H “the public be damned” Vanderbilt.

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Facebook withholding data on its anti-disinformation efforts, EU says

Commissioners demand hard numbers from firm ahead of European parliament elections

Facebook has repeatedly withheld key data on its alleged efforts to clamp down on disinformation ahead of the European elections, the EU’s executive has said.

Related: Anti-vaxx propaganda has gone viral on Facebook. Pinterest has a cure

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The Guardian view on vaccination: a duty of public health | Editorial

The anti-vaxx movement arises from mistrust but threatens the physical health of society

The latest World Health Organization report on measles epidemics shows that cases jumped by 50% last year. In one of the poorest and least connected countries in the world, Madagascar, nearly a thousand children are reported to have died after a measles outbreak in the countryside. The real figure is likely to be much higher, because of difficulties of reporting. An emergency programme of vaccination seems to have contained that epidemic for the moment but it is a reminder of how devastating the disease can be against unprepared populations. In the rich world, meanwhile, previously prepared populations are having their defences dismantled from the inside.

The discovery of ad campaigns against vaccination on Facebook that are carefully targeted at pregnant women is unusually worrying. It shows how the widespread availability of sophisticated advertising techniques is going to give considerable power to people who previously had no way of getting their message across to large numbers. In the most recent US campaigns against vaccination, 147 different advertisements have been used and some viewed more than 5m times. There is an arms race under way, whether we like it or not.

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Google fined record £44m by French data protection watchdog

CNIL found that company failed to offer users transparent information on data use

The French data protection watchdog CNIL has fined Google a record €50m (£44m) for failing to provide users with transparent and understandable information on its data use policies.

For the first time, the company was fined using new terms laid out in the pan-European general data protection regulation. The maximum fine for large companies under the new law is 4% of annual turnover, meaning the theoretical maximum fine for Google is almost €4bn.

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Google shifted $23bn to tax haven Bermuda in 2017, filing shows

Firm used Dutch shell company in move known as ‘double Irish, Dutch sandwich’ that cuts its foreign tax bill

Google moved €19.9bn ($22.7bn) through a Dutch shell company to Bermuda in 2017, as part of an arrangement that allows it to reduce its foreign tax bill, according to documents filed at the Dutch chamber of commerce.

The amount channelled through Google Netherlands Holdings BV was about €4bn more than in 2016, the documents, filed on 21 December, showed.

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iPhone slump: the rivals taking a bite out of Apple

As firm’s stock falls over sales warnings, it has competition in bid to be the best smartphone

As Apple’s shares tumble after its cut in forecasts, the company is laying the blame squarely on the economic slowdown in China. But that is only part of the problem.

Never before has Apple faced such fierce competition from a multitude of rivals from around the globe, all vying for a slice of the lucrative premium smartphone market. Matching or exceeding Apple’s iPhone on hardware quality, these phones are arguably more capable, often cheaper and, perhaps crucially for China, made by local firms, not only those from the US and South Korea.

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Google quizzed over delay in disclosing vulnerability

Three influential Republican U.S. senators has asked Google to explain why it delayed disclosing vulnerabilities with its Google+ social network. Google said this week it would shut down the consumer version of Google+ and tighten its data sharing policies after revealing that the private profile data of at least 500,000 users may have been exposed to hundreds of external developers.

Sundar Pichai, Google CEO, to meet with Republicans to discuss alleged bias, China

Google's chief executive, Sundar Pichai, will meet privately with Republican lawmakers on Friday in the face of lingering questions involving its operations in the U.S. and abroad. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, has scheduled a meeting with Mr. Pichai for the end of the week, The Wall Street Journal first reported Monday.

Lawmakers question Google over kids’ privacy on YouTube

Google says YouTube isn't for children under 13, which is why it created a separate app for them, YouTube Kids. Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, a Nebraska Republican, sent a letter this week to Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai asking for more details about how the service collects data.

Congressmen question Google over kids’ privacy on YouTube

Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, a Nebraska Republican, sent a letter this week to Google CEO Sundar Pichai asking for more details about how the service collects data. Their letter comes months after privacy advocates filed a complaint about YouTube with the Federal Trade Commission.

The Latest: Foreign hackers target US senators, aides’ Gmail

A Google spokesman says the company has notified an unspecified number of senators and aides that their personal email accounts continue to be targeted by state-backed foreign hackers. Spokesman Aaron Stein would not disclose further details such as who was behind the attempted break-ins, their timing or who was targeted.

Responding to leaks, Google denies political bias

Breitbart on Wednesday published leaked video of a town-hall-style meeting with employees shortly after the 2016 election, in which Google executives appeared dismayed at President Trump's win. Google co-founder and Alphabet President Sergey Brin described the results as "pretty upsetting," while Google Senior Vice President of Global Affairs Kent Walker described a global political environment of "tribalism."

Senators Want To Question Google About Their Plans To Relaunch In China

For almost a decade, Google has been conspicuously absent from China. This includes all of Google's products and services such as search, Gmail, and so on, and to a certain extent even Android where Android devices in China are essentially forked versions of Android with Google's services stripped from it.