The Senate, now under the control of the Democrats, is escalating efforts to reform antitrust law to target anticompetitive behavior by major tech companies. While the reform effort does not address the problem of big tech’s political interference and censorship, which overwhelmingly favors Democrats, it does include major reforms to competition law aimed at preventing Google and other tech companies from colluding to keep out competitors. The bill , named the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act, targets Big Tech’s exclusionary conduct, adding even more enforcement against the practice than provided by Section 2 of the Sherman Act. “Exclusionary conduct” refers to business activity that creates or maintains monopoly power by disadvantaging and harming competitors. It is a critical concept in determining whether a company is behaving in an anticompetitive or monopolistic manner, a determination that, under U.S. law, is not made by analysis of market share alone. The tech giants are regularly accused of engaging in exclusionary conduct. For example, Oracle has accused Google of such behavior, in a long-running legal battle that is now before the Supreme Court. via Forbes : The Supreme Court is currently reviewing a case, Google v. Oracle, which deals with how Google appears to have copied thousands of lines of application programming interfaces (APIs) from Oracle’s Java without a license, in violation of IP law, to create its mobile operating system Android. “In the ensuing years, mobile search has surpassed desktop. Android now enjoys a duopoly on smartphones in the U.S. and controls 75% of the global market, and Google started paying Apple billions of dollars to become the default search engine. Google has used Android to favor other verticals as well, like YouTube, Gmail, and Google Maps. In addition, Android ruthlessly invades consumer privacy—greatly strengthening Google’s data monopoly. Android’s rise was ...
Tech
Dr. Drew Pinsky: It Is ‘Wrong and Bizarre’ for Big Tech to Censor Doctors
Celebrity doctor Drew Pinsky recently stated on social media that one of his YouTube videos received a strike from the Google-owned platform and was removed. Dr. Drew alleges that non-medical professionals at the Big Tech Masters of the Universe are now deciding what qualifies as accurate medical advice. He posed this question on social media: “Do you trust a 23yr old computer coder with your life?” In a recent series of tweets, Dr. Drew revealed that one of his YouTube videos in which he talked with another medical professional received a strike and was removed by the platform. Dr. Drew stated that he believes the decision to remove the video was not made by a medical professional but rather by a random employee at YouTube — a prospect he finds worrying. Last week, YouTube struck down my video with another physician. Youtube is presumably allowing non-medical professionals to dictate the accuracy of medical information, which violates their own policy and CDA 230. Do you trust a 23yr old computer coder with your life? — Dr. Drew (@drdrew) February 15, 2021 Drew called for a “#RationalRevolution” which would encourage physicians and medical professionals to speak openly about their work. Physicians are easily frightened, whether by liability, ruined reputation, and now they’re frightened to even talk about their own profession! We must return to openly discussing medicine and science. That’s what science is all about! #rationalrevolution — Dr. Drew (@drdrew) February 15, 2021 ReclaimTheNet reported that in a recent interview on the Rubin Report alongside another doctor, Zubin Damania, and lawyer Viva Frei, Dr. Drew discussed censorship by big tech firms. He was asked about the period of time when his YouTube channel was demonetized and revealed that he was suspended for a week and threatened with permanent suspension. Dr. Drew alleged that he received a list of YouTube policies that he must respect but they were not relevant to his ...
Big Tech Backflip: Facebook Drops Australian News Ban, Bows to Government Regulation
In an extraordinary backflip, Facebook announced Tuesday it will reverse its block on Australian users sharing news on its site and accept proposed government media bargaining laws that force it to pay for content. The capitulation came after Prime Minister Scott Morrison called Facebook “arrogant,” warning against “Big Tech companies who think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them.” Discussions between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg have now delivered a result in the government’s favor and stemmed the fierce public backlash against the media giant. “Mark Zuckerberg said to me today [restoring pages] will occur in coming days,” Frydenberg said, the ABC reports . Frydenberg added Australia had been a “proxy battle” for the rest of the world on the regulation of Google and Facebook. “I have no doubt that so many other countries are looking at what is happening here in Australia, because of this innovative code the Morrison government is now pursuing, so Facebook and Google have not hidden the fact that they know that the eyes of the world are on Australia, and that is why they have sought to get a code here that is workable,” he said. The result was immediately applauded across the Australian media landscape and in government circles: Australia 1 // Facebook 0 https://t.co/zwmmM7QZW3 — Dave Sharma (@DaveSharma) February 23, 2021 Facebook initially argued it had been forced to block Australian news in response to the proposed legislation, objecting to having to negotiate and set up a “fairer” negotiation process between the tech giants and news companies over the value of news content. Morrison very quickly made clear his conservative coaliton government would set the terms and Facebook would have to comply as part of the long-running dispute. Australia is Not. Backing. Down. against extreme-Left Big Tech! Australian lawmakers will proceed with world-first legislation ...
Tech Entrepreneur: ‘A Second Internet Is Needed for American Survival’
Martin Avila, the CEO of IT infrastructure company Right Forge, which provides digital services for center-right businesses and groups, recently published an op-ed arguing that a second internet must be created to maintain digital freedom. In a recent op-ed published in Newsweek titled “A Second Internet is Needed for American Survival,” Marvin Avila, the CEO of Right Forge, argues that American survival is dependent on reigning in Big Tech firms and the possibility of the creation of a new type of internet. Right Force is “a full-service technology infrastructure company,” according to Avila, and provides IT services to brands including Beteran, RE Factor Tactical, and Tier 1 Concealed. In his op-ed, Avila notes that in the last six months major tech firms have censored newspapers , de-platformed Parler , and banned former President Trump from almost every major social media platform. Avila discusses how these tech firms differ from American companies in years gone by, writing: The multinational corporations that make up big tech do not at all resemble the great American companies of the past. Yes, those companies sought profit like any other private enterprise with a bottom line. But they were supportive of the American middle class and of advancing our national sovereignty. And along the way, they were unabashedly dedicated to—and successful in—defeating the twin tyrannies of fascism and communism. Some will claim we’re exaggerating the situation by pointing out big tech’s monopolistic behavior. Those who possess only a cursory grasp of the past deny connections between yesteryear and the present because they’re looking for precisely the same actors. As Mark Twain advised, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does often rhyme.” Twain was implying that we won’t find exact mirror images—because they don’t exist. So we need to think more critically about the arc of history, to read between the lines to locate key trends and patterns. ...
Report: Facebook Wants to Build Facial Recognition Tech into ‘Smart Glasses’
A recent report from BuzzFeed News alleges that social media giant Facebook is considering building facial recognition technology into its upcoming smart glasses product. In a recent report titled “Facebook Is Considering Facial Recognition For Its Upcoming Smart Glasses,” BuzzFeed News writes that the social media giant Facebook is discussing building facial recognition into its upcoming smart glasses product and has been weighing the legal implications of the tech according to executives at an internal meeting this week. BuzzFeed News writes: During a scheduled companywide meeting, Andrew Bosworth, Facebook’s vice president of augmented and virtual reality, told employees that the company is currently assessing whether or not it has the legal capacity to offer facial recognition on devices that are reportedly set to launch later this year. Nothing had been decided, he said, and he noted that current state laws may make it impossible for Facebook to offer people the ability to search for others based on pictures of their face. “Face recognition … might be the thorniest issue, where the benefits are so clear, and the risks are so clear, and we don’t know where to balance those things,” Bosworth said in response to an employee question about whether people would be able to “mark their faces as unsearchable” when smart glasses become a prevalent technology. The unnamed worker specifically highlighted fears about the potential for “real-world harm,” including “stalkers.” Following publication of this story, Bosworth wrote on Twitter that “we’ve been open about our efforts to build [augmented reality] glasses and are still in the early stages.” “Face recognition is a hugely controversial topic and for good reason and I was speaking about was how we are going to have to have a very public discussion about the pros and cons,” he said. Bosworth reportedly told employees on Thursday: “The real question is whether we will be able to recognize any faces at ...
