Wednesday, 26 August 2020

Report: Facebook Chose Not to Take Down Militia Group That Brought Guns to Kenosha Protests

Facebook received reports in advance about the Kenosha Guard, a self-proclaimed militia that urged gun owners to “defend” Kenosha, Wisconsin against Black Lives Matter protesters on Tuesday. It chose not to do anything, according to a report by the Verge, until nine hours after one of the armed vigilantes that swarmed…

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Congressman Leading Tech Antitrust Investigation Says July Hearing Confirms 'Deeply Disturbing Behavior'

The antitrust hearing that Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos participated in back in July confirmed that all of the companies are engaging in "behavior which is deeply disturbing and requires Congress to take action," according to Representative David Cicilline, the chairman of the House antitrust panel leading the inquiry.


Cicilline made the remarks in an interview with Bloomberg, where he said that the investigation has confirmed that Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook are all abusing their market power to the detriment of consumers.
"The kind of common theme is the abuse of their market power to maintain their market dominance, to crush competitors, to exclude folks from their platform and to earn monopoly rents."
Cicilline said that he is prepared to deliver recommendations as soon as next month, and that Congress must act urgently to protect consumers. Cicilline did not go into detail about the recommendations the panel would deliver, but he says he's working with Republicans to find common ground on "biggest, boldest ideas."

According to Bloomberg, Cicilline did mention the possibility of a Glass-Steagall law for technology platforms, which would prevent tech companies from both running a platform and competing on it at the same time.
"That's a big idea," he said about separating the two functions. "It would be one way to try to separate out what is a relationship fraught with conflicts that I think is promoting tremendous market dominance and bullying behavior by Amazon, as an example."
The antitrust committee's report will address four areas: changes to current antitrust laws, reforms aimed at the tech sector, strengthening private antitrust litigation by plaintiffs, and ensuring the DoJ and FTC have the resources to do their jobs.

The U.S. House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee has been investigating Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook since July 2019, culminating in a hearing with the CEOs of all of the companies.

For Apple, the subcommittee has focused on the company's App Store policies and fees, specifically instances where it has rejected apps and changed App Store rules to its apparent benefit, such as when it began rejecting some parental control apps for using Mobile Device Management after the release of the Screen Time feature.

As the antitrust investigation has unfolded, Apple has been involved in some public battles over ‌App Store‌ policies and fees, first with the "Hey" email app and currently with Epic Games.
This article, "Congressman Leading Tech Antitrust Investigation Says July Hearing Confirms 'Deeply Disturbing Behavior'" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Hurricane Laura Forecast Goes From Bad to Catastrophic

Gulf Coast residents are waking up to a nightmare on Wednesday. Hurricane Laura has ballooned in size and strength, becoming the Atlantic’s first major hurricane of the season. The storm is forecast to keep intensifying up until landfall and is poised to be a massively destructive Category 4.

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Deals: AirPods With Wired Charging Case Return to Low Price of $129.00 on Amazon ($30 Off)

Today you can get the AirPods with Charging Case (Wired) for $129.00, down from $159.00 on Amazon. This is about $1 shy of the lowest price that we've ever tracked for a new pair of Apple's regular AirPods, and it's currently the best price online.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

These AirPods include the Wired Charging Case, meaning they don't support Qi wireless charging and will need to be charged using a Lightning cable. However, the headphones do support other typical AirPods features, like "Hey Siri" and quick connection to Apple devices using the Apple H1 chip.

$30 OFF
AirPods w/ Wired Charging Case for $129.00


We track sales for every model of the AirPods in our Best AirPods Deals guide, so be sure to bookmark that page while you shop around for the wireless headphones. Other sales this week include deals on AirPods Pro at Amazon and B&H Photo, where the noise-cancelling headphones are available for $219.99.
Related Roundup: Apple Deals

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Korea to Investigate Apple and Google's In-App Purchase Practices

Last week, multiple startup companies in Korea called for an investigation into Apple and Google's in-app purchase practices. Now, The Korea Herald has confirmed that the Korean Ministry of Science and ITC will launch an investigation to look into the two companies' "excessive commissions."



The investigation will examine platform fees, payment systems, and whether Apple and Google have violated Korean laws that prohibit technology service operators from obstructing users to choose services.

Apple and Google made up 87.8 percent of the Korean app market in 2019, and the issue is effectively an antitrust investigation. The original petition submitted by an alliance of app developers and small companies argued that platform operators are using their immense market share to give developers no choice but to submit to high commission fees.

They explained that Apple has been forcing developers to use their specific in-app purchase system since 2011, through which Apple takes a 30 percent commission. Google demands game apps in Korea use its own in-app purchase module and adds an additional 30 percent game-only commission. Google reportedly plans to expand restrictions on developers, and demand a 30 percent commission on webtoons, music streaming, and e-books.

"[The ministry] will carefully monitor and prepare policies that can cope with the increasing influence of platform providers," a Ministry of Science and ITC spokesperson said. "The ministry will also mediate between developers and platform operators to secure user rights."


The ministry laid out plans to collect opinions from local app developers and smaller market sources to see if the companies' platform fees are unfairly hindering business operators and in turn raising prices for consumers.

The outcome of the investigation could be sweeping amendments to Korea's new Telecommunications Business Act, which takes effect in January.
This article, "Korea to Investigate Apple and Google's In-App Purchase Practices" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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