As we say goodbye to 2018 it's time for CNet to look back on the year's biggest tech stories.
Facebook has faced multiple scandals tied to politics in user data with one of the most noteworthy being the data breach tied to Cambridge Analytica where 87 million Facebook users had their personal info harvested.
Facebook's problems left folks questioning whether the network needs government regulation.
The European Union implemented general data protection regulation, or GDPR for short.
The rules give EU citizens more control of their personal data and companies must promptly report when there is a data breach.
As some companies have applied these transparency standards to customers globally.
After GDPR took effect reports of data breaches increased dramatically.
Several corporate mergers will change our tech and media landscape.
AT&T finalized its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner.
Disney is buying up the rights to own 20th Century Fox film and TV studios for $71.3 billion, becoming the majority owner of Hulu.
And T-Mobile and Sprint may finally get together with a $26 billion deal, arguing that together they can be stronger to invest in a 5G network.
But the FCC is still examining the transaction.
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This was the year of the Notch.
After more of the phone manufacturers added the dark cut-out at the top of their phone screens.
The newest members of the Notch Club include the LGG7, the [UNKNOWN] eight, Asus' ZenPhone Live, and the Google Pixel 3XL.
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And one tech creation that may change the way we talk on the phone is Google Duplex, a human sounding artificially intelligent system that calls businesses to book appointments for you.
Duplex is currently in limited testing, but in 2019, you may need to start questioning if the caller on the other line is a real human or a robot.
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