Uber CEO Says Its Service Will Probably Shut Down Temporarily in California if It’s Forced To Classify Drivers as Employees

Uber would likely shut down temporarily for several months if a court does not overturn a recent ruling requiring it to classify its drivers as full-time employees, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an interview. From a report: “If the court doesn’t reconsider, then in California, it’s hard to believe we’ll be able to switch our model to full-time employment quickly,” Khosrowshahi…

What Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s VP Pick, Means For Tech

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: After months of speculation, Joe Biden has picked California Sen. Kamala Harris to be his vice-presidential running mate in the race for the White House. The choice fulfills a pledge from Biden, the Democrats’ presumptive nominee for president, to name a woman to his ticket as he seeks to unseat Donald Trump in…

New York Unveils Landmark Antitrust Bill That Makes It Easier To Sue Tech Giants

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: New York state is introducing a bill that would make it easier to sue big tech companies for alleged abuses of their monopoly powers. Bill S8700A, [The Twenty-First Century Anti-Trust Act] now being discussed by New York’s senate consumer protection committee, would update New York’s antiquated antitrust laws for the 21st century,…

Facebook Must Better Police Online Hate, State Attorneys General Say

Twenty state attorneys general on Wednesday called on Facebook to better prevent messages of hate, bias and disinformation from spreading, and said the company needed to provide more help to users facing online abuse. From a report: In a letter [PDF] to the social media giant, the officials said they regularly encountered people facing online intimidation and harassment on Facebook. They…

Arizona Leads Multi-State Probe Into Older iPhones Slowing, Shutting Down

Arizona is leading a multi-U.S. state probe into whether Apple’s deliberate slowing of older iPhones violated deceptive trade practice laws, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing documents. From a report: Last week, a separate document released by a tech watchdog group showed the Texas attorney general might sue Apple for such violations in connection with a multi-state probe, without specifying charges. In the…

Judge Urged To Release Documents About Google’s Cellphone Tracking

Eight weeks ago Arizona’s attorney general sued Google for allegedly deceiving users about when location data would be collected from their phones, tracking them without their clear consent. . Now an Arizona congressman and more than two dozen researchers from institutions including Yale, MIT, and Cornell are urging a judge to publicly release the documents collected during that investigation: The documents…

States Probe Apple For Potential Consumer Protection Violation

Texas is among a group of states whose attorneys general are probing Apple over potential violations of a consumer protection law, according to a document obtained by the Tech Transparency Project through an open records request and shared with CNBC. From the report: The document, sent in March and first reported by Axios, states that the Consumer Protection Division of Texas’…

California Investigating Google For Potential Antitrust Violations

California has opened its own antitrust probe into Google, leaving just one state that has yet to do so. “In September, attorneys general from 48 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia announced an antitrust investigation into Google focused on the company’s dominance of the advertising technology market,” reports Politico. “Over the past 10 months, that investigation — led by…

MIT and Harvard Sue DHS and ICE Over International Student Rule

Shag writes: Two days after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said international students must leave the US if their fall classes will be taught entirely online, MIT and Harvard are suing ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. “ICE is unable to offer the most basic answers about how its policy will be interpreted or implemented,” said former international student…

Are Uber Drivers Employees? Uber Faces Two Big Court Challenges

Strider- (Slashdot reader #39,683) shares a story from Reuters:
Canada’s Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a driver in a gig economy case that paves the way for a class action suit calling for Uber Technologies Inc to recognize drivers in Canada as company employees. UberEats driver David Heller had filed a class action suit, challenged by Uber, aiming to…