• President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order today that would push federal agencies to increase scrutiny over mergers of large tech companies and ask the Federal Trade Commission to write rules that would limit how these companies use consumer data. The executive order would also call on the Federal Communications Commission to reinstate Obama-era net neutrality regulations that were rolled back during the Trump administration. (The New York Times)
• Instacart named Facebook Inc. executive Fidji Simo to replace current Chief Executive Apoorva Mehta, who will take on the role of executive chairman on the board, starting on Aug. 2. (TechCrunch)
• New York City opened its real-time cybersecurity defense center, the first of its kind for a major U.S. metropolitan area, and is working with 282 partners including Amazon.com Inc., IBM Corp. and the Federal Reserve to share intelligence on possible cyberthreats. (The Wall Street Journal)
• The Government Accountability Office said in a new report that the FCC should re-evaluate its rules for minimum broadband speeds, noting that the current minimum speeds of 25 megabits per second for file downloads and 3 megabits per second for uploading are too low for small businesses to run their operations efficiently. (The Verge)

Ransomware demands are digital extortion: don’t pay
Financial Times

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Silicon Valley continues its 2021 funding hot streak with a second straight quarter over $20 billion
Margaux MacColl, Insider

The tech community has debated for months: Will Silicon Valley retain its status as center of the tech world post-pandemic? New data from CB Insights suggests the Bay Area is stronger than ever, with quarterly funding in the region up 93% year-over-year.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak: ‘It’s time to recognize the right to repair’
Michelle Toh, CNN

Woz is throwing his weight behind the “right to repair” movement.

The future of online retail looks a lot like QVC, with live streams of influencers, including dogs, doing the hawking
Abha Bhattarai, The Washington Post

Live-streamed shopping events — part entertainment, part ad blitz — have become the latest frontier in online shopping. Retailers and brands as varied as Walmart, Amazon, Gucci and L’Oréal are experimenting with new streaming formats to sell a growing array of beauty products, clothing, electronics and home furnishings. The events take place on such platforms as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, but they’re increasingly on retailers’ own websites.

In Las Vegas, “driverless” cars arrive via remote control
Joann Muller, Axios

A new ride-hailing service in Las Vegas is targeting people who are curious about autonomous vehicles but aren’t yet ready to climb into the back seat and let a robot drive.

Epic Games vs. Apple: Fortnite maker wins appeal in Australia
Daniel Van Boom, CNET

In November, Epic brought the issue to Australia, initiating proceedings against Apple by arguing that the iPhone-maker’s practices contravene Australia’s Competition and Consumer Act. Apple was able to appeal against the suit in April, arguing that the case should be settled in the US District Court. 

Experts say it’ll take more than just breaking up Facebook to rein in Big Tech and protect your data
Katie Canales, Insider

A potential forced break up of Facebook has been discussed for years, and that conversation has only been re-ignited as Congress mulls five new bills designed to rein in Big Tech. But what would that implosion mean for the mountain of personal data Facebook has already collected on its hundreds of millions of users? According to experts, not much.

FCC to mull cellphone blocking options for state prisons
Meg Kinnard, The Associated Press

Federal regulators are considering allowing state prisons across the country more technological options to combat contraband cellphones, which prison officials have long said represent the greatest security threat behind bars.

NCTA: FCC Must Give New Entrants Fair Shot at 12 GHz
John Eggerton, Multichannel News

Cable broadband operators are telling the FCC that if it opens up the 12 GHz band for sharing between direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial 5G, it should not put a thumb on the scale for incumbent users. Satellite-TV provider Dish Network is the most prominent advocate for getting that expanded access.

Uber insiders say the company’s cheapest rides are being quietly killed off because they lost so much money
Tom Dotan, Insider

The fate of Uber’s popular shared-ride service, UberPool, is in the balance — and even after the pandemic subsides, the product will be a shadow of its former self, according to people familiar with the matter.

Apple approved an app to buy weed
Chris Morris, Fortune

The company has approved an app from cannabis delivery service Eaze that will let people buy pot from their phones.

Advocacy groups urge school administrators to ban eproctoring
Rebecca Klar, The Hill

A coalition of 19 advocacy groups are urging school administrators to ban the use of “eproctoring” apps over concerns that the systems are invasive and can be harmful for students. 

A new government report shows that 60% of agencies still fall for one of the most basic scamming techniques — and the repercussions are potentially devastating
Jeff Elder, Insider

Nearly six out of 10 government agencies and critical infrastructure facilities fell victim to phishing attacks in testing, new research from the federal government’s lead cybersecurity agency has found. 

‘Barely able to keep up’: America’s cyberwarriors are spread thin by attacks
Kevin Collier, NBC News

“We’re getting calls from organizations almost every single day,” Carmakal, the chief technology officer at the cybersecurity giant Mandiant, said in a phone call. “We’re barely able to keep up.”

How REvil evolved into a ransomware collective capable of extorting Kaseya, JBS
Tim Starks, CyberScoop

Before claiming responsibility for a breach at the software company Kaseya, which has resulted in breaches at perhaps thousands of other businesses and newfound attention from the White House, the group accounted for less than 10% of known ransomware victims, according to the threat intelligence firm Recorded Future. Now, it accounts for 42%.

QAnon has receded from social media — but it’s just hiding
Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press

On the face of it, you might think that the QAnon conspiracy has largely disappeared from big social media sites. But that’s not quite the case.

Facebook accidentally lost a piece of its moderation policy for three years
Adi Robertson, The Verge

Instagram accidentally banned a post criticizing solitary confinement because Facebook had misplaced the policy allowing it, according to a new Facebook Oversight Board (FOB) decision.

Facebook Finds Itself in Strange Faceoff With Faceparty Founder
Malathi Nayak, Bloomberg

Andrew David Bamforth, the co-founder of Faceparty, a British site that enjoyed a brief heyday in the early 2000s, claims he was mentally incapacitated for 12 years, including in 2008 when he signed a trademark rights agreement that Mark Zuckerberg’s company relied on to build the world’s biggest social network.

How Vietnam’s ‘influencer’ army wages information warfare on Facebook
James Pearson, Reuters

Force 47, as the Vietnamese army’s online information warfare unit is known, consists of thousands of soldiers who, in addition to their normal duties, are tasked with setting up, moderating and posting on pro-state Facebook groups, to correct “wrong views” online.

An automated tool to police offensive language
Bryan Walsh, Axios

A startup has developed an AI tool that can copyedit written text with an eye toward specific corporate style and potentially offensive language.

Google’s ‘hypocritical’ remote work policies anger employees
Richard Nieva, CNET

As the company sorts out who will work where and how much they’ll be paid, Google employees say tension has broken out over office transfers, compensation adjustments and remote work. The competition for transfers and the prospect of pay cuts has provoked growing anger, they say.

Microsoft is giving employees a $1,500 pandemic bonus
Tom Warren, The Verge

Microsoft is gifting its employees a $1,500 pandemic bonus. In an internal memo seen by The Verge, the software giant says this one-time bonus “is in recognition of the unique and challenging fiscal year that Microsoft just completed.”

West Virginia is Trading Trump for Tech Workers
Mackenzie Mays, Politico Magazine

In a hotel just off of West Virginia University’s campus in early June, drowsy night shift workers from the local pharmaceutical plant filed through a poorly lit suite, filling out unemployment paperwork, applying for supplemental health insurance and cracking jokes about the breathtaking advertisements for a new state program that will pay you to move to a place many of them are considering leaving.

Why I’m Suing Big Tech
Donald J. Trump, The Wall Street Journal

One of the gravest threats to our democracy today is a powerful group of Big Tech corporations that have teamed up with government to censor the free speech of the American people. This is not only wrong—it is unconstitutional. To restore free speech for myself and for every American, I am suing Big Tech to stop it.

Legally, Trump’s tech lawsuit is a joke. But it raises a serious question.
Fred Hiatt, The Washington Post

It just doesn’t feel right, in other words, that company CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai get to decide which politicians Americans can hear and which ones we can’t. Everyone mocking Trump’s misreading of the First Amendment would be foolish to dismiss that feeling.

Google App-Store Antitrust Suit Is Right Target, Wrong Idea
Tae Kim, Bloomberg

How can you argue about a Google app store monopoly when you aren’t forced to use its app store? This freedom means developers can circumvent Google Play’s fee structure and payment system, making much of the government’s points moot.