10 things in tech you need to know today

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday.

1. British lawmakers seized internal Facebook documents to try and find out what led to the Cambridge Analytica scandal after Mark Zuckerberg refused to answer MPs’ questions. Politician Damian Collins invoked an obscure parliamentary mechanism to compel a the founder of a software company to hand over the papers.
2. Elon Musk told Axios that Tesla very nearly died earlier this year. “Tesla really faced a severe threat of death due to the Model 3 production ramp,” Musk said in an interview on Sunday.
3. Scammers are changing the contact details for banks on Google Maps to defraud people. The app lets users edit and update listings, so the fraudsters are changing banks’ phone numbers to their own.
4. Thousands of Amazon workers across Europe went on strike on Black Friday over warehouse working conditions. Strikes took place across in Italy, Spain, France, and Germany, and the Italian press reported that managers were having to pack boxes to meet demand.
5. Amazon left police in Spain “dumbfounded” by asking them to intervene in a mass warehouse strike and patrol worker productivity. Spanish newspaper El Confidencial reported that Amazon asked the police to force employees to “go to their respective jobs and ensure their performance was identical to that of a normal working day.”
6. Google settled a racial discrimination case with a contractor who was treated like a “terrorist” while having to surreptitiously gather information about WiFi areas in shopping centers. “There was a complete disregard for the safety and interest of contractors,” he told The Guardian.
7. Facebook won’t say if it will sever ties with Elliot Schrage, the outgoing top exec who took responsibility for linking critics to George Soros. Business Insider asked Facebook four times if it will retain Schrage’s services after the Definers affair, but the company has refused to answer the question.
8. A superstar ex-Facebook and Google exec is trying to upend a $24 billion industry with devices that spot disease sooner, and she’s already testing it on animals. A brush with death inspired ex-Facebook and Google executive Mary Lou Jepsen to embark on her latest initiative as the founder of a San Francisco-based startup called Openwater.
9. Ohio is the first US state to allow people to pay their tax bills with cryptocurrency. The move doesn’t grant Bitcoin any legal status, but it does lend it legitimacy, The Wall Street Journal reports.
10. Cards Against Humanity is selling used cars, medieval weapons, TVs, and even $100 bills for 99% off on Black Friday. The company’s cofounders have not been shy with their hatred of Black Friday and have pulled off incredibly successful pranks in the past to commemorate the holiday.

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