Chip shortage 

• Due to the global chip shortage, carriers are seeing internet router order delays as long as 60 weeks, which is more than twice as long as normal, according to people familiar with the matter — indicating that the crisis has now started to impact broadband providers. While no carrier has run out of routers yet, an official at a Taiwan-based router maker said that the supply chain could be strained for at least the next six months. 

• The Alliance for Auto Innovation, which represents most major automakers that have U.S.-based factories — such as General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG — warned in comments to the Commerce Department that the global semiconductor shortage will lead to 1.28 million fewer vehicles being built in 2021 and will disrupt auto production for at least six more months. 

• General Motors and Ford will temporarily halt production lines at additional factories in North America due to the global semiconductor shortage, with the shutdowns impacting about 10,000 GM workers, according to a spokesman.  

Supreme Court

• The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-2 vote that Google didn’t violate copyright law when it used code from Oracle Corp. to create its Android mobile operating system, marking the end of a decade-long court battle between Oracle and Google. 

• The Supreme Court also dismissed a case over whether former President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked people from his personal Twitter Inc. account, saying there was nothing left to discuss after the social media platform banned him in January, and tossed out an appeals court ruling that found the practice did violate the First Amendment because it silenced his critics.

Amazon

• Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said in a statement that the company supports President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan, including a “rise in the corporate tax rate” from 21 percent to 28 percent, making Amazon the first major corporation to publicly support the increase in corporate tax rates.

• A majority of Amazon employees at a warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., voted not to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, though both the union and Amazon have a week to contest the results before the National Labor Relations Board certifies the vote. The union is expected to allege that the e-commerce giant violated the rules governing unionization campaigns.

• The NLRB determined that Amazon illegally retaliated against two former employees, Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, who were fired last year after publicly calling on their employer to address concerns about its environmental policies and working conditions among its warehouse workers, according to correspondence from the labor board that Cunningham shared with a reporter. The NLRB also told the two women that if the company doesn’t settle its case, the board plans to follow through with charges that Amazon engages in unfair labor practices.

• A collection of merchant groups, including the National Grocers Association, the American Booksellers Association and the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding, launched a new coalition called Small Business Rising to push for stricter antitrust laws to take on Amazon, including federal legislation that would prohibit a dominant online marketplace from also selling its own products on its e-commerce platform and tougher enforcement of competition laws.

• As Amazon prepares to fight claims in Washington that it participates in anti-competitive behavior, the company has hired at least 10 former federal antitrust attorneys and economists, according to a review of LinkedIn and report from the nonprofit watchdog The Revolving Door Project, including five high-profile hires in a four-month period last year who have a combined 44 years of experience at the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission. Amazon also has several job openings currently for economists focused on anti-monopoly issues, as well as antitrust attorneys.

Antitrust

• Apple Inc. plans to focus its court arguments against Epic Games Inc.’s antitrust suit on an internal project at Epic called “Project Liberty” that details the video game software developer’s plans to pick antitrust fights with both Apple and Google over their app store policies, according to a recent court filing, while Epic will argue in the May 3 trial that the 30 percent commission fees are stifling and developers should be allowed to accept payments outside of Apple’s systems.

• The United Kingdom officially launched the Digital Markets Unit, a new regulatory body designed to tackle anti-competitive behavior among the largest technology companies like Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc. — though the agency can’t levy fines until Parliament approves rules for how to govern its oversight power, which should happen by next year.

Data privacy and cybersecurity

• A Facebook spokesman said it doesn’t plan to notify the more than 530 million users whose information was leaked online last weekend after it was scraped during a 2019 breach, noting that users cannot fix the issue and the company is not confident it can identify all of the users who would need to be told. 

• Privacy activist Max Schrems, known for legal challenges that led to the dissemination of data transfer pacts between the United States and European Union, has filed a complaint with France’s data protection watchdog regarding Google’s Android advertising tool, alleging that the system creates an advertising identifier without the user’s knowledge or consent.

• The Government Accountability Office is investigating the State Department’s cybersecurity practices and its capacity to protect its systems and networks after a number of cyberattacks at the agency over the past decade, according to a letter from a GAO official to the chief information officer at the State Department. The letter said the inquiry began in October at the request of the top two members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

• The Senate and House are in session

• The Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday to discuss the Endless Frontier Act, which would provide more funding for the National Science Foundation and other programs to boost American innovation. Kelvin Droegemeier, former director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and acting director of the NSF, is among the witnesses testifying.The Consumer Technology Association will host a virtual innovation policy summit on Wednesday and Thursday, featuring appearances from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and key policy leaders at Verizon Communications Inc. and Samsung Electronics America.

• The Federal Communications Commission’s next open commission meeting is April 22. Tentative agenda items include an order about spectrum allocation for commercial space launches and proposed rulemaking for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.