JBTL News Roundup: Week of October 29, 2018

October 29, 2018November 4, 2018 jbtlete News Roundup AI, facebook, network, news, pharmacy, security, social media, USGS, valeant

Below please find a roundup of business and technology news from the past week.

The Washington Post discusses a recently-released inspector general’s report concerning malware in the U.S. Geological Survey’s network. A government employee infected the network after viewing over 9,000 pages of pornography on his work computer; some of those sites contained malware that spread to the agency’s network.
Reuters reports that a former executive at Valeant Pharmaceuticals and the former head of a mail-order pharmacy startup were sentenced to one year in prison each today after being found guilty of defrauding Valeant using an illegal kickback scheme.
A not-very-good-looking painting, “The Portrait of Edmund de Belamy,” has sold for $432,500 at celebrated auction house Christie’s. Why the big price tag for a blurry painting? NBC News points out that it’s the first piece of art sold at auction created with artificial intelligence.
NBC News also reports that Facebook’s stocks seem to be stabilizing after a tumultuous few months, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg reports in a press release that the social media network now boasts over 2 billion monthly active users. These results, CNN points out, may be lower than analysts expected.
Finally, The New York Times explores antisemitism and other hate speech on social media.

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JBTL strives to provide its readers with updates regarding recent news and analysis at the intersection of law and technology. Check out JBTL Online for weekly updates regarding recent developments and subscribe to get updates right in your inbox.

JBTL News Roundup: Week of October 15, 2018

October 15, 2018October 17, 2018 jbtlete News Roundup arabia, blockchain, cryptocurrency, data, davos, facebook, fidelity, kmart, saudi, sears, walkout

Below please find a roundup of business and technology news from the past week.

Reuters reports on Facebook’s latest data breach, this one affecting 29 million of its users.
The Washington Post describes a “western walkout” of the business leaders’ meeting touted as “Davos in the desert,” as reports grow more detailed regarding allegations of the torture and murder of Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi. Relatedly, the UK’s Guardian newspaper asks: How much damage can Saudia Arabia do to the global economy?
Also from Reuters, retailer Sears has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and plans to close 142 stores as the company and its subsidiary, Kmart, hopes to restructure its debts.
Finally, CNBC discusses Fidelity Investments’ new cryptocurrency arm, Fidelity Digital Asset Services. Fidelity Digital Asset Services is a new and separate company from Fidelity Investments and will oversee custody for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, handling trades on multiple exchanges.

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JBTL News Roundup: Week of October 8, 2018

October 8, 2018October 10, 2018 jbtlete News Roundup aetna, amazon, bug, cvs, dow, fox, google, jones, merger, minimum wage, privacy, ticketmaster, trump

Below please find a roundup of business and technology news from the past week:

Staff editor Kevin Redden has flagged some great analysis from The Washington Post regarding Google+’s data privacy scandal. A vulnerability in the code animating Google+ left the data of 500 million users vulnerable to hacking. This article comes at the story from a unique angle, discussing the idea of digital “junk” that users create and then forget about. (Google kept the bug secret for months before effectively shutting down Google+.)
Reuters reports that the proposed $69 billion merger between CVS and mega-insurer Aetna has won antitrust approval from the Department of Justice. This merger will afford the merged corporation significant control over health care costs for customers–time will tell if those costs go up, down, or stay static.
Last week’s roundup noted that Amazon had raised its minimum wage to $15. The Associated Press reports that lost in the fine print of that announcement was the company’s plan to simultaneously eliminate bonuses and stock options for those same workers.
CNN reports that on Wednesday morning, the Dow fell 400 points as investors grow concerned about rising interest rates. Tech companies’ stocks have been hit particularly hard by this slump.
CBC News went undercover at a ticket company convention and revealed that Ticketmaster may be complicit in assisting scalpers. By doing so, it has a dual effect of raising ticket prices and allowing Ticketmaster to profit from fees on selling the tickets originally, and then again if the scalper uses Ticketmaster’s website to re-sell them.
Media industry news outlet Variety discusses former White House communications director Hope Hicks’ move to head communications at Fox News, announced this week. Hicks’ move is the latest in a series of lateral moves between the White House or Trump campaign and major television news stations.

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JBTL News Roundup: Week of October 1, 2018

October 1, 2018October 2, 2018 jbtlete News Roundup amazon, bernie sanders, congress, constitution, data, elon musk, facebook, minimum wage, nafta, sec, tesla, trump, union

Below please find a roundup of business and technology news from the past week.

CNBC reports that, after years of harsh criticism, Amazon has agreed to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour. While this move has been praised as a positive step by workers’ rights advocates like Senator Bernie Sanders, as JBTL’s resident union expert Mike Shier pointed out last week, Amazon remains staunchly anti-union. For context, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the richest man in modern history.
President Trump said this week that he has struck a deal with both Canada and Mexico on a trade agreement that would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This new trade agreement will be called the United States, Mexico, and Canada Agreement (USMCA). The Washington Post explores the potential “winners and losers” of the new agreement.
ABC News reports that Elon Musk has reached a $40 million settlement agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which also requires Musk to resign as chairman of the board at Tesla for at least three years. Musk will stay on as CEO of the company. The SEC filed suit against Musk late last week over what the agency described as misleading tweets about a proposed Tesla buyout.
Gizmodo details Facebook’s latest data scandal: users provided Facebook with their phone numbers to enable two-factor authentication, and Facebook then provided those phone numbers to advertisers. This new scandal opens up a further conversation about the power and scope of hyper-targeted advertising.
Finally, NPR reports that a federal judge in D.C. has ruled that Democratic members of Congress do have standing to sue President Trump over what they argue are violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution. The plaintiffs contend that the President’s continued profits (often from visiting foreign governments) from his hotels and properties around the world, paired with his decision to not divest his interest in those properties, constitute unlawful gifts or payments from foreign governments. The Justice Department’s argument, by which the federal judge was not persuaded, was that only the body of Congress as a whole, and not its individual members, have standing to sue over the emoluments clause.
Gizmodo reports that Amazon’s anti-union training video for their managers has been leaked. The video gives a glimpse at how aggressive Amazon has been at attempting to keep unions from organizing their employees.

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JBTL News Roundup: Week of September 24, 2018

September 24, 2018September 30, 2018 jbtlete News Roundup 5G, alibaba, breach, data, FCC, jack ma, roundup, sirius, snapchat, starbucks, uber

Below please find a roundup of business and technology news from the past week.

The Verge reports that Sirius XM has acquired music streaming service Pandora Radio for $3.5 million. The buyout comes as a relief to Pandora, who lost $200 million in the first half of 2018 after struggling against competitors like Spotify and Apple Music.
TechCrunch notes that Snapchat is rolling out a feature allowing users to take pictures of products and then purchase those products on Amazon. Snap has declined to disclose the financial details of the partnership with Amazon.
NBC News reports that Chinese billionaire and Alibaba CEO Jack Ma stated that the growing trade war between the U.S. and China has made it impossible for Ma to follow through on a promise to create one million jobs in the United States. Ma also stated that in his estimation, the trade war could last decades.
The Washington Post reports that the future of 5G cell service in America may hinge on FCC regulations regarding how much companies should pay to access public utility poles. The agency is likely to vote on this issue this week. From the article: “The proposal by the Federal Communications Commission would establish new limits on the fees that cities and towns can charge wireless carriers as the companies set up their new 5G data networks. And it would require local officials to make decisions more quickly on carriers’ permit applications.”
Finally, Bloomberg reports that Starbucks is planning significant restructuring, including layoffs at top corporate levels.
The October 2018 issue of the ABA Journal has a great piece on the tension between law enforcement’s interest in curtailing crime and consumers’ interests in maintaining privacy. It’s worth a read!
The Washington Post reports that today, Uber reached a $148 million dollar settlement with all fifty states and the District of Columbia to settle allegations that the company violated data breach laws by waiting one year to disclose to customers a breach of 57 million people’s data, and by paying the hackers $100,000 to keep the breach quiet. This settlement is the largest multi-state penalty laid down for a data breach.

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JBTL News Roundup: Week of September 17, 2018

September 17, 2018September 19, 2018 jbtlete News Roundup apple, cannabis, china, coca-cola, fema, forbes, google, iphone, moonves, presidential, trump

Below please find a roundup of business and technology news from the past week.

On Thursday, FEMA will be testing its new “Presidential Alert” system, allowing the president to text cell phones across the country in case of an emergency. These alerts will function much like existing text messages sent to American phones in cases of Amber alerts or flood warnings. Consumers cannot opt out of this alert.
Reuters reports that Coca-Cola is considering the possibility of expansion into the emerging market of cannabis-infused beverages.
NBC News reports that CBS head Leslie Moonves is out at the network amid six new allegations of harassment as reported by Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker.
The Washington Post provides analysis from cardiologists on Apple Watch’s heart-tracking feature, newly approved by the FDA.
Also from the Post, last week Apple announced its new batch of iPhones, some of which carry a base price of over one thousand dollars. Yahoo News expresses concern about the company’s transition into a luxury brand.
Finally, staff editor Kevin Redden has flagged this piece from Forbes, discussing Google’s planned search engine expansion into China. In addition to limiting search terms, Google’s China-based search engine will also reportedly link searches to individuals’ cell phone numbers.

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JBTL News Roundup: Week of September 3, 2018

September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 jbtlete News Roundup amazon, bezos, canada, censor, election, facebook, google, mexico, models, nafta, net neutrality, trump, twitter, wal-mart

Below please find a roundup of business and technology news from the past week.

CNBC notes that Twitter’s stock has fallen six percent today, as CEO Jack Dorsey testifies before Congress about the social media giant’s knowledge of the foreign use of its platform to improperly influence the 2016 election. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, is also testifying. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, was also invited to testify but declined.
Reuters reports that trade talks with Canada are set to resume later today. President Trump hopes to replace NAFTA, the trade agreement currently binding the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Last week, the United States and Mexico reached a preliminary agreement on at least some trade provisions.
The Washington Post reports that the Department of Justice, at President Trump’s urging, will look into allegations of censorship of conservative voices on social media. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will meet with state attorneys general later this month. DOJ spokesperson Devon O’Malley also noted that an antitrust argument may be on the horizon, as one of the topics of discussion on the agenda for this meeting is whether these platforms “may have harmed competition.”
The Post also discusses Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ newly-introduced bill, the “Stop BEZOS Act” (Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act), that would require corporate employers like Amazon and Wal-Mart to reimburse the federal government for food stamps, public housing, Medicaid, and other federal assistance received by their workers. At a news conference, Senator Sanders explained the bill’s purpose: “[T]he taxpayers of this country would no longer be subsidizing the wealthiest people in this country who are paying their workers inadequate wages. . . . Despite low unemployment, we end up having tens of millions of Americans working at wages that are just so low that they can’t adequately take care of their families.”
NBC News reports that California lawmakers have passed a state-level net neutrality bill, which now heads to the desk of Governor Jerry Brown’s desk. Brown has not disclosed whether he plans to sign the bill.
Finally, the UK’s Independent reports on high-fashion house Balmain’s decision to use a lineup of completely 3D-rendered models as the “virtual army” for its latest campaign. Critics of the use of these cyber-models argue that the move pushes out flesh-and-blood models, particularly models of color, in favor of automating the fashion industry’s workforce.

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JBTL News Roundup: Week of August 27, 2018

August 30, 2018August 30, 2018 jbtlete News Roundup disney, e-sports, elon musk, jbtl, madden, minimum wage, nafta, sprint, t-mobile, tesla, trump, twitch

Below please find a roundup of business and technology news from the past week.

President Trump asserted today that Google’s algorithm discriminates against conservative news media, and says the issue “will be addressed.” Larry Kudlow, an economic adviser to the President, has said that the White House will follow up.
The Washington Post reports that Disney parks employees, after a year of tense talks, have struck a deal with their employer for a $15 per hour wage.
The Guardian discusses today’s stock uptick after President Trump’s assertion that he has struck a new preliminary trade deal with Mexico that the President hopes will replace NAFTA, the current free trade agreement the United States has with Canada and Mexico. Talks with Canada are ongoing.
Polygon reports that streaming site Twitch is removing all video containing footage of this week’s mass shooting at a Madden e-sports tournament in Jacksonville, Florida. At least some similar videos on YouTube and Twitter will likely remain.
Reuters reports that U.S. cable TV provider Altice has filed an opposition to the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint.
The Washington Post discusses Elon Musk’s decision to keep Tesla public.

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JBTL News Roundup: Week of August 20, 2018

August 24, 2018August 24, 2018 jbtlete News Roundup blockchain, crab, driverless, elon musk, henry ford, law, roundup, tech, trump

The Washington Post reports on the troubles crab houses have had this summer on Maryland’s eastern shore. Reaching output goals may be difficult, as crab houses were not able to secure the number of visas they usually rely upon for seasonal workers. American workers are not replacing those temporary workers. It’s an interesting take on how immigration policy changes might affect industries here in Maryland.
CNBC compares Elon Musk to Henry Ford. The thesis: One man can’t run a car company.
Also from The Washington Post, President Trump has floated the idea of changing SEC filing requirements from quarterly reporting to six-month reporting. On the one hand, six-month reporting would allow companies to look further into the future and save time on reporting requirements. On the other hand, six-month reporting allows companies to be less transparent to investors and the public at large.
NPR reports that Wyoming farmers are using blockchain technology to track cattle.
Reuters reports that grocery behemoth Kroger is testing driverless grocery delivery in Arizona.