Yahoo’s struggle continues as Verizon demands a 1-billion-dollar discount from their acquisition bid following Yahoo’s historic data breach. Sources close to the $4.8bn deal state that Verizon are unhappy with Yahoo’s recent scandals, which include the hack of over 500 million user accounts and the controversial scanning of email content alongside the US government. Verizon is now taking the opportunity to lower their initial offer but Yahoo are holding fast on the previously agreed price. Time will only tell as to whether the enormous breach will effect Yahoo’s final sale price.

Surprisingly, last week’s parliamentary inquiry into banks had us on the edge of our seats as data sharing practices amongst Australia’s big four banks held the spotlight. Both Westpac and NAB publicly affirmed their intent to innovate and remain competitive through well-governed data sharing processes. While neither were ready to commit to bringing the UK’S open data regime to Australia – the openness with which the banks are approaching data innovation spells a shift in dialogue around data sharing practices in Australia.

In other news….

Infrastructure Partnerships Australia has teamed up with Uber to release the first collation of aggregated trip data from Uber drivers across Australia. The data shows travel times in and around Australia’s major cities. And it’s no surprise that commuters in Sydney and Melbourne suffer the most traffic delays. The data sharing scheme offers significant insights for both the government and public on the impact of infrastructure projects.

Uber General Manager, David Rohrsheim, said, “We’re excited to see how sharing high-level data and trends with governments can help show how cities move over time”.

A Japanese component and medical equipment manufacturer, Omron, has developed small, easily available infra-red sensors which could make it easier for autonomous vehicles to scan drivers to check driver alertness or illness before handing over control of the vehicle. Anyone else nervous about HAL’s second coming?

Finally,  our CTO Ryan Peterson discusses organizational data sharing practices – and why your business is likely already sharing data with third-parties.

Until next time.