The state attorneys in more than a dozen states are preparing to begin an antitrust investigation of the tech giants, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported Monday, putting the spotlight on an industry that is already facing federal scrutiny. The bipartisan group of attorneys from as many as 20 states is expected Read more about States to launch antitrust investigation into big tech companies, reports say[…]

Amazon constantly scans rivals’ prices to see if they’re lower. When it discovers a product is cheaper on, say, Walmart.com, Amazon alerts the company selling the item and then makes the product harder to find and buy on its own marketplace — effectively penalizing the merchant. In many cases, the merchant opts to raise the Read more about Amazon Squeezes Sellers That Offer Better Prices on Walmart[…]

America’s trade watchdog has officially told millions in the US not to apply for the $125 it promised each of them as part of the deal it struck with Equifax – and instead take up an offer of free credit monitoring. In a memo on Wednesday, FTC assistant director Robert Schoshinski said the regulator has Read more about FTC blames applicants for getting hacked by Equifax, won’t pay out settlement figure because they fined Equifax too little[…]

The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it was opening a broad investigation of major digital technology firms into whether they engage in anticompetitive practices, the strongest sign the Trump administration is stepping up its scrutiny of Big Tech. The review will look into “whether and how market-leading online platforms have achieved market power and Read more about Big Tech faces broad U.S. Justice Department antitrust probe[…]

Tinder joined a growing backlash against app store taxes by bypassing Google Play in a move that could shake up the billion-dollar industry dominated by Google and Apple Inc. The online dating site launched a new default payment process that skips Google Play and forces users to enter their credit card details straight into Tinder’s Read more about Tinder Bypasses Google Play, Revolt Against App Store “Fee” (30% monopolistic arm wrench)[…]

Microsoft Corp. agreed to pay $25 million to settle U.S. government investigations into alleged bribery by former employees in Hungary. The software maker’s Hungarian subsidiary entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and a cease-and-desist order with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Microsoft said in an email to employees from Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith that Read more about Microsoft Bribes U.S. gov with $25 Million to End U.S. Probe Into Bribery Overseas[…]

Faced with continued rumbles of discontent from its reseller network on the eve of its Inspire conference, Microsoft has climbed down from plans to pull free software licences from its channel chums. Doubtless fearful of a keynote sabotaged by a baying mob of angry resellers, Microsoft corporate veep for commercial partners Gavriella Schuster was tasked Read more about Microsoft tells resellers: ‘We listened to you, and we have acted’ (PS: Plz keep making us money)[…]

More than 2,500 resellers and integrators have signed a petition opposing Microsoft’s intention to remove free software licences granted to members of the channel to run their business.The changes are described here:Effective July 1, 2020, we will retire the internal use rights (IUR) association with the product licenses partners receive in the Microsoft Action Pack Read more about Microsoft Action Pack software no longer for all sellers of MS products, reseller rebellion[…]

Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), [is] a trade group representing the likes of Walmart, Target, Dollar General, Coca Cola and other world-swallowing corporations […] RILA, as it turns out, is feeling just as freaked out by the dominance of a handful of tech giants as the rest of us, and in a letter today to Read more about RILA (big retailers) Calls to Break Up Big Tech[…]

3 July 2019: The CMA has launched a market study into online platforms and the digital advertising market in the UK. We are assessing three broad potential sources of harm to consumers in connection with the market for digital advertising: to what extent online platforms have market power in user-facing markets, and what impact this Read more about UK Gov launches study into Online platforms and digital advertising market and possible monopolies antitrust[…]

However, I recently met other open source developers that make a living from donations, and they helped widen my perspective. At Amsterdam.js, I heard Henry Zhu speak about sustainability in the Babel project and beyond, and it was a pretty dire picture. Later, over breakfast, Henry and I had a deeper conversation on this topic. Read more about Software below the poverty line – Open Source Developers being exploited[…]

The man heading up any potentially US government antitrust probes into tech giants like Apple and Google used to work for… Apple and Google. In the revolving-door world that is Washington DC, that conflict may not seem like much but one person isn’t having it: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) this week sent Makan Delrahim a Read more about Anyone else find it weird that the bloke tasked with probing tech giants for antitrust abuses used to, um, work for the same tech giants?[…]

In an interview this week with CNN, Google CEO Sundar Pichai attempted to turn antitrust questions around by pointing to what they say is the silver lining of size: Big beats China. In the face of an intensifying push for antitrust action, the argument has been called tech’s version of “too big to fail.” “Scale Read more about Facing Antitrust Pressure, Google Starts Spinning Its Own Too Big to Fail Argument[…]

The investigation will include a series of hearings held by the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law on the rise of market power online, as well as requests for information that are relevant to the investigation. A small number of dominant, unregulated platforms have extraordinary power over commerce, communication and information online. Based on Read more about House Judiciary Committee aims guns at Big Tech and antitrust laws[…]

The company sought to completely change how we interact with computers, but now Leap Motion is selling itself off. Apple reportedly tried to get their hands on the hand-tracking tech, which Leap Motion rebuffed, but now the hyped nine-year-old consumer startup is being absorbed into the younger, enterprise-focused UltraHaptics. The Wall Street Journal first reported Read more about Leap Motion sold to UltraHaptics[…]

Just 376 people hold a third of all Ether, the cryptocurrency that powers the Ethereum blockchain, according to new research by Chainalysis Inc. Large holders are known in the crypto market as “whales,” which Chainalysis defines as individuals who hold their assets in digital wallets and not on an exchange, Kim Grauer, a senior economist Read more about One-Third of Ether Held by 376 People – Bloomberg[…]

The company’s mistakes — the sloppy privacy practices that dropped tens of millions of users’ data into a political consulting firm’s lap; the slow response to Russian agents, violent rhetoric and fake news; and the unbounded drive to capture ever more of our time and attention — dominate the headlines. It’s been 15 years since Read more about Facebook co-founder pleading to break it up in long letter to NYT[…]

These marketing statistics have been divided across seven key trends, both in the infographic below and in the list that follows it, helping you zero in on your primary marketing channel of interest. On the other hand, like most modern marketers, if your campaign strategy involves multiple channels, this division should help you update your Read more about 7 Trends You Must Know For a Successful Digital Marketing Campaign – loads of statistics infographic[…]

March 11, a Vice President at Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud computing behemoth, published a blog post announcing the release of its own version of Elasticsearch, a powerful open-source software search engine tool. Elastic is a public company founded in 2012 that is currently worth over $5 billion; the vast majority of its revenue is Read more about Amazon Has Gone From Neutral Platform to Cutthroat Competitor, Say Open Source Developers[…]

March 11, a Vice President at Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud computing behemoth, published a blog post announcing the release of its own version of Elasticsearch, a powerful open-source software search engine tool. Elastic is a public company founded in 2012 that is currently worth over $5 billion; the vast majority of its revenue is Read more about Amazon behaving as a monopoly is really affecting open source development and their income models, leading to changes in open sourcing (finally, but in the wrong way). An example from Elasticsearch which Amazon calls a kettle.[…]

Last night, Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney tweeted that his company would end its controversial exclusivity agreements if Steam raised its revenue cut for developers. It’s a strong statement, even if there are reasons to be skeptical of Sweeney’s position. “If Steam committed to a permanent 88% revenue share for all developers and publishers without Read more about Epic Games Boss Says They’ll Stop Doing Exclusives If Steam Gives Developers More Money because some people seem to be happy to live with a Steam monopoly[…]