The U.S. Department of Justice has announced a new and broad review of on-line tech companies to investigate if their activity is violating antitrust laws. The DOJ announcement explains: “Review Focuses on Practices that Create or Maintain Structural Impediments to Greater Competition and User Benefits.” According to the Wall Street Journal, “The new antitrust inquiry […]
DOJ Secures Jurisdiction for Potential Apple Investigation…
The Department of Justice (DOJ) will take the lead in any future investigation of Apple’s market power, as regulators move toward a wider review of Silicon Valley’s antitrust concerns, Reuters reported on Monday. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the two agencies tasked with antitrust enforcement, reached an agreement in recent weeks […]
Facebook, Google Regulatory Woes Erode $137 Billion From FANGs…
A wave of antitrust probe headlines on Facebook Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc. just yanked about $137 billion from FANG stocks’ market values. Some $41 billion evaporated from Facebook on Monday as a person familiar with the matter said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission will oversee antitrust scrutiny into whether the firm’s practices harm […]
FTS Secures Authority to Open Antitrust Probe Into Facebook…
The Federal Trade Commission will be in charge of any antitrust investigations into Facebook, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal Monday. It’s part of an arrangement that permits the Justice Department to investigate Google while handing over Facebook and Amazon to the FTC. On Friday, reports surfaced that the Justice Department […]
Trump Declares War on Silicon Valley: DoJ Launches Google Anti-Monopoly Probe…
Once shielded by the logic of Silicon Valley’s relentless churn of innovation – which dictated that no reigning tech empire could rule for long before going the way of Yahoo and AOL – tech giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google have been subjected to intensifying anti-trust pressure – Elizabeth Warren’s “Break up Big Tech”s billboard […]
Privacy Experts, Senators Demand Investigation of Amazon’s Child Data Collection Practices…
Last year, a coalition of privacy advocates and child psychologists warned against putting an Amazon Alexa speaker anywhere near your child on the fairly reasonable grounds that developing minds shouldn’t befriend always-on surveillance devices, no matter how cute the packaging. Now, a group of privacy researchers, attorneys, and U.S. senators are calling on the Federal […]
Fraudsters Stole More Than $1B from Americans in 2018…
More Americans reported losing money to fraud and scams in 2018 when compared with the year prior. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in a recent report that it received 3 million consumer complaints, including more than 1.4 million fraud reports – with people claiming to have lost money in about one-quarter of those reports. […]
The FTC and Facebook Negotiating a Multi-Billion-Dollar Fine for the Company’s Privacy Violations…
The Federal Trade Commission and Facebook are negotiating over a multi-billion dollar fine that would settle the agency’s investigation into the social media giant’s privacy practices, according to two people familiar with the probe. The fine would be the largest the agency has ever imposed on a technology company, but the two sides have not […]
FCC Plans Total Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules…
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will reveal plans to his fellow commissioners on Tuesday to fully dismantle the agency’s Obama-era net neutrality regulations, people familiar with the plans said, in a major victory for the telecom industry in the long-running policy debate. The commission will vote on the proposal in December, some seven months…
U.S. Senator on Equifax Hack: ‘Somebody Needs to Go to Jail’…
Thirty-six U.S. senators on Tuesday called on federal authorities to investigate the sale of nearly $2 million in shares of credit bureau Equifax Inc (EFX.N) by company executives after a massive data breach, and one compared their actions to insider trading. The lawmakers signed a letter asking the U.S. Department of Justice…