Tech

Essential tech industry news & intel to start your day.
April 20, 2021
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As Tech Faces Washington Crackdown, Consumers Still Trust Their Brands 

 

It’s a common argument among tech proponents that it’s not worth breaking up the larger tech industry players because consumers still see their value: They like the deals they get on Amazon, the connections on Facebook and the ease of using certain Google and Apple products. 

 

And Morning Consult’s Most Trusted Brands report backs that argument, with survey respondents in not only the United States, but also Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom putting the most trust in Big Tech companies like Google (No.1) and Microsoft Corp. (No.3). 

 

The data is based on the average net trust rating for each company, or the share of adults who say they trust the brand minus the share who distrusted it, from surveys conducted throughout March. Dive into the report here

 

Have thoughts, musings, fun stories (or tips) to share? I’m here.

 

Top Stories

  • Apple Inc. is allowing Parler to return to the App Store after the conservative social media platform suggested sufficient “proposed updates to its app and the app’s content moderation practices,” the tech giant told Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) in a letter about the issue. (CNN)
  • Jonathan Kanter, a longtime critic of Google and a progressive favorite for the Justice Department’s top antitrust post, is seen as being a more favorable pick for the position among Senate Republicans than his key competitor, Obama administration alum Jonathan Sallet, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions on Capitol Hill. While President Joe Biden has yet to nominate anyone to the role, having at least some Republican backing could help bolster a nominee’s odds of confirmation. (Protocol)
  • Anne Neuberger, Biden’s deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, said the administration is “standing down” two coordinated efforts across several federal agencies that were formed in response to the monthslong Solar Winds hack and vulnerabilities in Microsoft Corp.’s Exchange Server, citing the “vastly increased patching and reduction in victims.” (The Hill)
  • The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union officially filed objections with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that Amazon.com Inc. violated the terms of the union election in Bessemer, Ala., and tried to coerce, frighten and intimidate workers. (Wired)
 

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Events Calendar (All Times Local)

 

What Else You Need to Know

General
 

A Global Tipping Point for Reining In Tech Has Arrived

Paul Mozur et al., The New York Times

China fined the internet giant Alibaba a record $2.8 billion this month for anticompetitive practices, ordered an overhaul of its sister financial company and warned other technology firms to obey Beijing’s rules. Now the European Commission plans to unveil far-reaching regulations to limit technologies powered by artificial intelligence.

 

U.S. agencies probe fatal Tesla crash believed to be driverless

David Shepardson, Reuters

Two U.S. agencies on Monday said they were investigating a Tesla crash in Texas on Saturday that left two dead and which local police said appeared to have occurred with no one in the driver’s seat. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which regulates vehicle safety, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) both said they would investigate the crash.

 

This Company Monitors Prisoners In Xinjiang. It Won An “Innovation” Award At An Event Sponsored By Amazon.

Megha Rajagopalan and Alison Killing, BuzzFeed News

With an Amazon logo behind him and luminaries from Shanghai’s booming venture capital scene in front of him, the executive onstage delivered his pitch. His company, Renwei Electronics, helps authorities in China track prisoners and detainees — alerting guards to their movements and even fitting them with heart rate monitors. Renwei deploys its “smart prison” system in China’s Xinjiang region, where more than 1 million Muslim minorities have been locked up.

 

Amid US strains, China’s Xi warns against ‘unilateralism’

Joe McDonald, The Associated Press

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for more equitable management of global affairs and, in an implicit rejection of U.S. dominance, said governments shouldn’t impose rules on others. Xi’s speech at an economic forum comes amid rising tension with China’s neighbors and Washington over its strategic ambitions and demands for a bigger role in making trade and other rules.

 
Antitrust and Competition
 

Google, Apple executives to testify in app store hearing on Wednesday

Reuters

Senior executives with Alphabet’s Google and Apple will testify on Wednesday about antitrust concerns related to their app stores along with executives of three companies which rely on those online stores, the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel said on Monday.

 

The ascent of Lina Khan, tech antitrust icon

Ashley Gold and Margaret Harding McGill, Axios

A Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday for Lina Khan’s appointment to a commissioner’s seat on the Federal Trade Commission will mark a watershed moment in federal efforts to rein in big tech companies. Why it matters: Khan, who has helped define broad new ways to think about how antitrust law should apply to modern technology companies, has had temporary government roles before.

 

After Australia, the wrangle between publishers and Big Tech has reached new levels

Jonathan Keane, CNBC

Weeks after the furor between Facebook and the Australian government, the ripple effects are being felt across the world as other governments consider similar legislation. Facebook had quarreled with the Australian government over its News Media Bargaining Code and at one point instituted a news blackout in the country.

 
Telecom, Wireless and Internet Access
 

Those Annoying Loud TV Commercials to Get Scrutiny From the FCC

Todd Shields, Bloomberg

Here’s something to do if that TV commercial is too loud: complain to the feds, who just might do something about it. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Monday asked for public help to determine whether to update rules to prevent broadcast, cable and satellite providers from sending commercials that are louder than the programming they accompany.

 

Amazon gets 9 ULA satellite launch vehicles for broadband internet program

Reuters

Amazon.com Inc said on Monday it had secured nine satellite launch vehicles from United Launch Alliance (ULA) to support the initial deployment of its broadband internet initiative, Project Kuiper. Atlas V launch vehicles from ULA, a joint rocket venture between Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, is the first of many vehicles which will be used to deploy Amazon’s satellite constellation to orbit.

 

GOP Leaders Warn FCC’s Rosenworcel Against ‘Stringent’ Net Neutrality Regs

John Eggerton, Multichannel News

House Republicans have fired a shot across the net neutrality regulation bow before that ship has sailed. According to a copy of a letter to FCC acting chair Jessica Rosenworcel provided to Multichannel News, Energy & Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta (R-Ohio), joined by the Republican E&C members, warned against imposing “stringent net neutrality regulations” that could result in subs “losing their internet offerings.”

 
Mobile Technology
 

Why the Chip Shortage Is So Hard to Overcome

Eun-Young Jeong and Dan Strumpf, The Wall Street Journal

The world’s leading suppliers of semiconductors are pushing to overcome the prolonged chip shortage that has hampered production of everything from home appliances to PCs to autos. Chip makers are trying to eke out more supply through changes to manufacturing processes and by opening up spare capacity to rivals, auditing customer orders to prevent hoarding and swapping over production lines.

 

Global Chip Rush Drives Taiwan’s Export Orders to Record

Raymond Wu and Samson Ellis, Bloomberg

Global demand for semiconductors, fueled by 5G and high-performance computing, showed little sign of easing off as Taiwan’s searing pace of export orders continued for a fifth straight month. Export orders grew 33.3% to $53.7 billion in March, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Tuesday.

 
Cybersecurity and Privacy
 

Facebook calls for data portability laws as it expands the types of info users can transfer to other services

Lauren Feiner, CNBC

Facebook is renewing its calls for Congress to create guidelines about how online services should make users’ data available to transfer to other platforms as it expands its own feature to do just that. Facebook announced Monday it’s expanding a tool that allows users to transfer their data to other services.

 

Geico admits fraudsters stole customers’ driver’s license numbers for months

Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch

Geico, the second-largest auto insurer in the U.S., has fixed a security bug that let fraudsters steal customers’ driver’s license numbers from its website. In a data breach notice filed with the California attorney general’s office, Geico said information gathered from other sources was used to “obtain unauthorized access to your driver’s license number through the online sales system on our website.”

 

Why a U.S. hospital and oil company turned to facial recognition

Paresh Dave and Jeffrey Dastin, Reuters

Deployments of facial recognition from Israeli startup AnyVision show how the surveillance software has gained adoption across the United States even as regulatory and ethical debates about it rage. The technology finds certain faces in photos or videos, with banks representing one sector that has taken interest in systems from AnyVision or its many competitors to improve security and service.

 
Social Media and Content Moderation
 

Facebook Pushes Into Audio to Compete With Clubhouse, Twitter

Kurt Wagner, Bloomberg

Facebook Inc. is moving more aggressively into audio products, trying to compete with rivals such as Twitter Inc. and popular upstart Clubhouse. The social network on Monday is building a series of new audio-focused products, including virtual rooms where users can host live discussions, and a feature called “soundbites” that lets users post short audio snippets to their feed like they would a photo or video, according to Fidji Simo, head of the Menlo Park, California-based company’s main service.

 

Facebook to remove some anti-Floyd posts ahead of verdict in Derek Chauvin trial

Reuters

Facebook Inc said on Monday it will remove content that praises, celebrates or mocks George Floyd’s death, as it prepares for an expected verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin – the former Minneapolis police officer facing murder charges for his death. The company said it is looking for potential threats on both Facebook and Instagram to protect peaceful protests and will limit content that could lead to civil unrest or violence.

 

Democrats push Twitter, Facebook to remove vaccine ‘disinformation dozen’

Rebecca Klar, The Hill

Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Ben Ray Luján (N.M.) are asking Facebook and Twitter to take action against a dozen accounts identified in a recent report as spreading the majority of anti-vaccine content on their platforms. Klobuchar and Luján wrote a letter to the two company CEOs urging them to address the “Disinformation Dozen” named in a recent report published by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).

 

Dollars flow to live audio as moderation problems loom

Sara Fischer and Ina Fried, Axios

The social audio craze that exploded during pandemic-driven lockdowns looks like it is here to stay, thanks to big investments from Silicon Valley. Driving the news: Clubhouse said Sunday it closed a new Series C funding, valuing the buzzy live audio app at $4 billion, sources tell Axios. That’s an astonishing number for an app that’s still in beta and has no revenue.

 
Tech Workforce
 

Amazon faces a union fight in Staten Island, where warehouse workers are energized by the failed drive in Alabama

Isobel Asher Hamilton, Insider

Amazon has another union fight on its hands. A group of workers at the tech giant’s warehouse in Staten Island, New York, announced Monday they were starting a union movement. It comes after a failed union vote at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.

 

Drivers’ conditions in focus as battle to organise Amazon workers moves on

Dave Lee and Taylor Nicole Rogers, Financial Times

US labour movement recalculates after warehouse employees rejected unionisation.

 
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
 

We Need Updated Rules From Congress to Make It Easier for People to Move Their Data

Bijan Madhani (Global Privacy Manager, Facebook), Morning Consult

While the internet is a force for social and economic empowerment, it is operating under a set of rules that were written 25 years ago, when people used fax machines rather than smartphones to share and communicate. That’s why Facebook has called for updated rules for the internet to meet today’s challenges.

 

Here’s how to fix online harassment. No, seriously

Tracy Chou, Wired UK

A common fallacy in thinking about content moderation is the mere practice of isolating and identifying the problem as such. It is enticing, especially to software engineers and computer scientists, to reduce the issue to a black box classification question, where we merely have to design a system that can take as input each piece of content and produce as output the answer to the question: “Is this OK or not?”

 

There’s a Big Gap in Our Cyber Defenses. Here’s How to Close It.

Glenn S. Gerstell, Politico

The foreign hackers behind the massive cybersecurity failures dominating recent headlines had one critical strategy in common – they leased computers in the United States to burrow into their victim’s networks. Because U.S. cybersecurity systems don’t regard domestic connections as inherently suspect, the attackers were able to hide in plain sight. 

 

America’s Amazon Problems

Ross Douthat, The New York Times

In 1986 an item in the New Republic decreed that “Worthwhile Canadian Initiative,” a headline that appeared on this very Op-Ed page, was “possibly the most boring headline ever written.” Seeking a different sort of reaction, I briefly considered titling this Op-Ed “Worthwhile Josh Hawley Initiative,” a headline that I suspect would elicit fury rather than boredom from many readers of this page.

 
Morning Consult