Antitrust, Competition Law, and Consumer Protection
Big Data, Cybersecurity, Digital Economy, Strategy, and Privacy
All Things Tech
The European Parliament’s Scientific Foresight Unit has released a study and an annex on The impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on artificial intelligence
Bogus ideas have superspreaders, too. Internet companies should treat people with big followings differently
Amazon spent 6 years and tens of millions of dollars making a huge new game that flopped and was pulled from stores weeks after its launch
Amazon backtracks from demand that employees delete TikTok. TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has been under scrutiny as a potential national security threat.
Quit Chrome. Safari and Edge are better browsers for you and your computer. Switch from Google’s browser to one from Apple or Microsoft, and you’ll notice immediate improvements in performance, battery and privacy
The Economist says the tech cold war is hotting up
And EU’s Vestager vows to continue tax fight after Apple setback
Europe and US can still compete with Chinese tech. The first step should be easy: create a transatlantic technology detente
All data is not created equal: The case for government-wide disclosure modernisation. Dean Ritz, board member at the Data Foundation, breaks down a policy paper he authored that provides an overview of why machine‐readable data matters, with theoretical and practical
Antitrust, Competition Law, and Consumer Protection
Federal Trade Commission considering deposing top Facebook executives in antitrust probe. Facebook officials have prepared for potential depositions
Blockchain technology complements anti-trust laws, say Buterin and Schrepel
Competition in Ad Tech: A Response to Google by Damien Gerardin is on SSRN
Big tech funds a think tank pushing for fewer rules for them. Google, Amazon, and Qualcomm finance a George Mason University institute teaching a hands-off approach to antitrust regulators and judges.
Antitrust hearing with CEOs of Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple rescheduled to 29 July 2020. The hearing was moved to allow members of Congress to pay respects to the late Rep. John Lewis.
The tech antitrust hearing is shaping up to be one for the ages. What’s at stake for Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Tech is about power, and these four moguls have too much of it.
With Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos, and Tim Cook set to testify in the near future before the House Antitrust Sub-Committee, Economic Liberties’s new report is useful reading: “Understanding Amazon: Making the 21st-Century Gatekeeper Safe for Democracy.”
After the congressional hearing…
Big Tech bosses told they have ‘too much power.’ Bezos, Zuckerberg, Cook and Pichai endure five-hour grilling on Capitol Hill [Financial Times]
Lawmakers, united in their ire, lash out at big tech’s leaders. The chiefs of Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook faced withering questions from Democrats about anti-competitive practices and from Republicans about anti-conservative bias [New York Times]
Big Tech’s Power Comes Under Fire at Congressional Antitrust Hearing. The CEOs of Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google faced criticism at the hearing from Democrats and Republicans alike [Wall Street Journal]
’Too much power': Congress grills top tech CEOs in combative antitrust hearing [The Guardian]
Big Tech’s leaders squirm as documents reveal their power. Congress lands precise blows on Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook [Financial Times]
The video of the hearing is on YouTube
Big tech antitrust probe report from US Congress likely by early fall 2020
Rana Foroohar says antitrust is changing from the ground up. Local battles against big companies are set to go national if the Democrats win
Big Data, Cybersecurity, Digital Economy, Strategy, and Privacy
A Congressional Democrat has written to Apple and Google to prevent smartphone apps from compromising national security by sharing data with foreign entities “including China and Russia”
Twitter hack revives concerns over its data security. Alleged perpetrator called himself ‘Kirk,’ was part of a subculture where hackers trade in coveted social-media accounts
Canada's out-of-date online privacy rules aren't protecting you
Reproductive surveillance in India: The loss of privacy and autonomy
Turkey: Governments should protect residents' data on digital platforms. Social media, internet have great effects, but there should be criteria for ill-usage, expert says
Safeguarding data privacy during the new normal: 5 major privacy regulations you need to know about
How GDPR has spawned a global data law revolution. Nations including the US, South Africa and the UAE have taken inspiration from the EU's General Data Protection Regulation in introducing new laws. But this is just the beginning, lawyers say
[Max] Schrems II - Guidance for the TRANSFER OF PERSONAL DATA BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE UNITED STATES
Privacy Shield revocation greatly complicates international data transfers; Is a grace period in the works?
Stephen Lynch, the Democratic congressman who chairs the House oversight subcommittee for national security, has urged Apple and Google to curb foreign app data sharing. Call for companies to protect app data from ‘unlawful foreign exploitation’ comes as TikTok finds itself in political crosshairs
Google involved in yet another illegal app tracking privacy lawsuit
Books
20 books to read in quarantine this summer. The Atlantic’s picks for immersive, escapist, or nostalgic reading—wherever you are
David Mitchell’s Utopia Avenue — the band who fell to Earth. Bowie, Hendrix and other rock icons pop up in this story of a fictional 1960s pop group
Capital Wars, by Michael Howell. The fractious interdependence of China and the US
Whatever happened to the party of Reagan? Republican stalwarts John Bolton and David Frum long for a return to pre-Trump principles. Does the GOP stand a chance?
Covid-19 has discredited an Anglo-American world order that has prized small government and capitalism, says Pankaj Mishra in the London Review of Books
Companies
After Wirecard: is it time to audit the auditors? The industry’s failure to spot holes in the accounts of several collapsed companies (like Enron) has led to clamour for reform
US government contractors told to prove they have no Huawei ties. Rule requires companies to show they do not use certain Chinese groups’ products
Where did it all go wrong for Intel? The US chipmaker has suffered a series of blows this summer, from losing Apple to being outvalued by Nvidia
Also, Intel’s decline makes rival chipmaker TSMC the world’s 10th most valuable company
Race to be world’s first $2tn company is still on. Big tech faces threat from economic slowdown and regulation but rally unlikely to be derailed for long
We have a question for Jeff Bezos and other billionaires. Will you finally let your workers unionize?
Despite the congressional hearings and COVID19, tech companies – Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and to a certain extent, Google – haven’t done badly in the last quarter
Corporate Governance
U.K. audits get worse, falling shorter of regulator’s standards. Two-thirds of audits of 2018 financial statements were good or needed little improvement, according to the Financial Reporting Council, down from 75%
e-Commerce
Google ramps up competition against Amazon, drops e-commerce commission fees. Amazon's individual seller plan costs $0.99 per unit sold
Why payment companies are the key players in the great e-Commerce war
Technology, consumer appetites fuel e-commerce rise during the pandemic. A supercharged e-commerce market left traditional retail stores wanting during these unusual times
In India, government notifies new rules for e-Commerce, make ‘country of origin’ label must for e-commerce platforms
Economics
US heads for fiscal cliff as stimulus fades. Economists worry that political stand-off over extension of aid could damage recovery as pandemic rages
Economics journals faulted for neglecting studies on race and discrimination. Some editors defend their records, while others agree they need to do more to diversify their ranks and think differently about race-related work
Alphabet Economics: Why the old rules of recoveries may not apply. Economists have long used letters of the alphabet like V and U to describe economic recoveries. But the coronavirus downturn is so different from past recessions that economists are coming up with new shapes to describe the potential recovery
Education
Meet the 3 spacecraft heading to mars this summer. Three missions are setting out on a journey of millions of miles. Bound for Mars, the trio carry an array of state-of-the-art instruments to explore the red planet.
Entertainment
The Atlantic’s recommends 20 undersung crime shows to binge-watch. Propulsive thrillers, slow-burn procedurals, and more for your every quarantine mood
The 50 Best Movies on Netflix Right Now
Global
Pandemic crushes garment industry, the developing world’s path out of poverty. When the coronavirus shut stores in the U.S. and Europe, clothing factories closed across Asia, and hundreds of thousands of workers, a vast majority of them women, lost jobs
This year’s Hajj will be limited to only 1,000 people
Saudi Arabia holds modest Hajj in Mecca amid coronavirus worries. World’s biggest gathering of Muslims is limited to fewer than 10,000 people, compared to the more than two million that normally attend the pilgrimage
Health and Nutrition
The maps that show just how disastrous the US’s coronavirus outbreak is. More than half of Americans would be locked down if the US followed Germany’s Covid-19 rules.
Anthony Fauci: ‘We are living in the perfect storm.’ The straight-talking scientist on keeping the peace with Trump and the hunt for a Covid-19 vaccine
WHO struggles to prove itself in the face of Covid-19. Donald Trump’s rejection of UN body highlights problems over politics, science and funding
Life Hacks
Seven rules of Zoom meeting etiquette from the pros
Bob Sutton in a podcast on how to deal with jerks, bullies, tyrants, and trolls. He (literally) wote the book(s) on such people!
Gift suggestions for coffee lovers
Management and Leadership
The U.K. government’s Open Government Playbook provides guidance and advice to help policy officials follow open government principles when carrying out their work
The pandemic’s opportunity to improve government procurement. The emergency has underlined outdated procedures and rules that hamper effective, efficient public purchasing. There are principles for creating better systems that can outlast the current crisis
The mindsets of innovators in government. A series of Interviews with high achievers reveals some surprising things about what it takes to get things done in the bureaucracy
The 9 strategies of emotionally intelligent leadership
Music
How to Tell a Real 1959 Gibson Les Paul Guitar From a Fake: A Missing Notebook Holds the Key. Guitar-maker Gibson is launching a hunt to find vanished ledger, with a $59,000 reward
Taylor Swift, a pop star done with pop. On “Folklore,” a quarantine album made largely with Aaron Dessner from the National, she swerves away from her last few releases, embracing atmospheric rock — and other characters’ points of view.
People of Interest
Wall Street starts to picture Joe Biden in the White House. Strategists consider shifts in portfolios, assuming Democrats win big in November
David Brooks on the national humiliation we need. July 4 and America’s crisis of the spirit
Claude Shannon, the “Bit Player” who changed the world. Also recommended is James Gleick’s book, The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood
Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, Google face free-speech test in Hong Kong. New national-security law means authorities can ask companies to delete users or their content. Tech giants at forefront of east-west decoupling. Companies face difficult choice over Hong Kong’s new security law. Time for tech companies to Zoom out of Hong Kong? Beijing’s new national security law for the territory is already posing big questions for US tech giants
Civil rights groups bemoan ‘disappointing’ Facebook meeting. Top executives including Mark Zuckerberg fail to quell concerns that sparked advertising backlash. The boycott got Facebook’s attention, but a real fix is nowhere in sight. Facebook has bigger problems than a handful of advertisers pulling ads, and there’s no easy fix for critics’ demands
Facebook has caused ‘serious setbacks’ for civil rights, report finds. Social media giant made ‘vexing and heartbreaking’ decisions over past nine months, audit reveals
Will Facebook’s salary-by-location move set precedent for tech? Cuts for staff working from home in cheaper areas could change supply-and-demand dynamics
Ad boycotts alone will not curb Big Tech. It will take more to convert social concerns into an equitable distribution of Silicon Valley’s wealth
Society
Trump Regime to International Students: You Depart or We Will Deport
How to ask if everything is OK when it’s clearly not.
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