Activision Blizzard has become the first major North American video game company where workers have voted to form a union, the Game Workers Alliance. The vote, which took place over the last few weeks, passed 19 to 3, affecting 28 quality-assurance employees at the company’s Wisconsin-based Raven Software subsidiary, which works on “Call of Duty” game development. Results were tabulated by the National Labor Relations Board on Monday. Activision has a week to lodge formal objections. The Communications Workers of America says it hopes the development “serves as inspiration for the growing movement of workers organizing at video game studios.” Continue reading Unions a Gaming Hot Button as Activision Blizzard Organizes

Apple will no longer allow human contractors to listen in on users’ Siri recordings to “grade” them, and will not resume the program until it has completed a “thorough review.” The company also stated that, as part of a future update, users will be able to opt out of the quality assurance program. Apple told users that Siri data might be used to improve their experience, but not that humans would be listening to it. Most of the compromised confidential information was recorded via an accidental trigger of Siri. Continue reading Apple Ends Practice of Humans Monitoring Siri Recordings

News site 9to5Mac reported that Apple’s FaceTime app, which places audio/video calls over the Internet, had a significant bug: an iPhone user could call another iPhone user and eavesdrop on that person’s conversation through the phone’s microphone — even if the call recipient doesn’t answer the call. The bug was actually discovered a full week before Apple disabled Group FaceTime and stated that it was working to fix it. In that gap, a developer discovered the bug, which was reported in 9to5Mac. Security researchers have dubbed the glitch FacePalm. Continue reading Experts Question Apple’s Security in Light of FaceTime Bug