Brussels Set to Put 20 of the World’s Biggest Tech Companies Onto Regulatory 'Hit List' - Report

Calls for reining in Big Tech has been getting louder on both sides of the Atlantic. This summer in the US, the heads of major tech firms testified before Congress, and the House Judiciary Committee’ recently produced a major report calling for the breakup of some of the biggest tech behemoths.

EU regulators are seeking to impose stricter regulatory controls on tech giants, including companies such as Facebook, Google, and Apple, in a bid to reduce their market power, according to the Financial Times.

Under the proposals, the tech giants will also be forced to share data with rivals and be more transparent around how they collect information. The tech companies will be also forced to follow tougher regulations than their smaller competitors, the FT reported.

Criteria for inclusion on the list will focus on metrics such as market share and total number of users, according to the FT. Companies so powerful that rivals cannot compete without using their platforms could also be added to the list, the report said.

The move comes after the European Commission opened a probe into the Internet of Things sector in July led by European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager.

In the United States, lawmakers are also seeking to reduce Big Tech’s market dominance.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel recently published a list of proposals that aim to curb the “monopoly power” of the so-called Big Four tech companies: Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook.

In a 449-page report issued last week, they recommended closer scrutiny of future technology mergers and highlighted the possibility of splitting up dominant platforms like Apple, which is claimed to hold an unfair advantage in the distribution of apps via its iPhones.

Similarly, the Committee recommended that Amazon halt any preferential promotion of its own products via its own online marketplace.

A number of other investigations into tech companies are also ongoing in the US, most notably an anti-trust case involving the Justice Department and moves to investigate Google involving almost every state in the union.

https://sputniknews.com/business/202010121080751852-brussels-set-to-put-20-of-the-worlds-biggest-tech-companies-onto-regulatory-hit-list-report/

Grenell on Bartiromo: “Russian collusion hoax and KNOWN to be a hoax by career intelligence officials…CIA FOJ FBI. They were convinced Hillary would win & didn’t want to challenge Goliath”

https://twitter.com/M2Madness/status/1315297614422839296

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/grenell-on-bartiromo-russian-collusion-hoax-and-known-to-be-a-hoax-by-career-intelligence-officials-cia-foj-fbi-they-were-convinced-hillary-would-win-didnt-want-to-challenge-goliath/

The World's First Fully Driverless Vehicle Ready To Hit The Roads

Waymo just announced its plans to deploy vehicles without backup safety drivers, making a major milestone in a sector that has witnessed many ups and downs and stops and starts. The company, the self-driving unit of Google’s parent Alphabet, said it will soon expand its driverless ride-hailing service to include the general public in Phoenix, Arizona.

“Beginning today, October 8, we’re excited to open up our fully driverless offering to Waymo One riders. Members of the public service can now take friends and family along on their rides and share their experience with the world,” the company said in a blog post.

For now, Waymo’s service will still be limited to Phoenix, but the company hopes for that to change in the future. Waymo, and other autonomous vehicle developers, chose Arizona for testing due to an apparent lack of restrictions and regulatory hurdles.

Still, offering rides to all customers is a huge advantage over its competitors. Being first always helps with reputation - and revenue. Waymo’s competitors are still in the testing phase.

The company’s CEO John Krafcik said in a statement that Waymo is looking for the opportunity to bring its driverless services to the company's home state of California next.

Waymo started its driverless car development in 2017.

The following year, the company joined with carmaker Jaguar and announced a deal that included up to 20,000 Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles in its upcoming autonomous fleet.

The partnership, worth up to $1.5 billion, is a further mark of Waymo’s ambition in the race against time to beat Uber to the definitive self-driving finish line for a driverless ride-hailing service. Jaguars are set to join the Chrysler Pacifica, which has already been used extensively in testing for the company’s autonomous driving technologies.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Worlds-First-Fully-Driverless-Vehicle-Ready-To-Hit-The-Roads.html

Democrats Move To Redefine Court-Packing

In the face of Judge Amy Coney Barrett's seemingly inevitable confirmation to the Supreme Court, leading Democrats are offering a novel definition of "court packing" as many party faithful push for adding justices to the Court.

This new Democratic rhetoric charges that Republicans have effectively been packing the courts for years through procedural gamesmanship. Adding new judgeships would return a nonpartisan balance to the judiciary, the Democrats say.

A once-fringe group of activists and intellectuals began agitating for major judicial reforms after Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation, making these precise arguments. A June memo that environmental and civil rights groups circulated to Democrats and progressive allies summarized those views.

Speaking Monday morning on MSNBC, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Republicans have effectively been packing the courts for years by holding open seats that President Donald Trump eventually filled, most notably Justice Antonin Scalia's on the Supreme Court.

Senate Republicans also held open dozens of vacancies on the lower federal courts after assuming control of the chamber in 2014, he said. Some of those vacancies were on the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal court that struck down a portion of the Affordable Care Act in January.

"The Fifth Circuit, the very circuit that decided to get rid of the ACA, they held back … all these [vacancies] when Obama was there, and then they appointed right-wingers," Schumer said. "This idea that Democrats are packing the Court—[Republicans] have already done it."

The only Trump appointee on the three-judge panel Schumer referenced, Judge Kurt Engelhardt, was confirmed with bipartisan support. Judge Jennifer Elrod, who authored the opinion in question, is a George W. Bush appointee. The Senate confirmed her by voice vote in 2007.

Other lawmakers, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), argue that reforming the High Court by adding seats or term limits would actually depoliticize the institution.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D.), who is running for Senate, leaned on that argument in a Saturday debate with GOP Sen. Steve Daines.

"We need to figure out the ways to actually get the politics out of the Court," he said. "That's anything from a judicial standards commission, or we’ll look at any other thing that might be suggested, including adding justices."

https://freebeacon.com/courts/democrats-move-to-redefine-court-packing/

>>11043796

>Barr

>>11043840

Notable

And fucking bullshit