Amazon will not have to pay the UK’s new digital services tax on products it sells directly to consumers but small traders who sell products on its site will face increased charges. From a report: The tax, which aims to get tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook to pay more tax in the UK, is forecast to eventually bring…
Tag: Conservative
He Called it a ‘Scamdemic’ – Then Saw His Family Getting Sick
A remarkable first-person story in today’s Washington Post: I used to call it the “scamdemic.” I thought it was an overblown media hoax. I made fun of people for wearing masks. I went all the way down the rabbit hole and fell hard on my own sword, so if you want to hate me or blame me, that’s fine. I’m doing…
Netflix Indicted By Texas Grand Jury Over ‘Lewd’ Depiction of Children In ‘Cuties’
A Texas grand jury indicted Netflix for the “lewd” representation of children in the controversial French film “Cuties.” The Hill reports: The Sept. 23 indictment shows the Tyler County Grand Jury charged the popular streaming site for “promotion of lewd visual material depicting child” for its drama about a young girl who is torn between her conservative Muslim family’s values and…
Is Boeing’s ‘737 Max’ Safe Now?
America’s Federal Aviation Administration “laid out the proposed fixes for the design flaws in the MAX’s automated flight controls,” reports the Seattle Times, “starting a clock that could see Boeing get the green light sometime next month — with U.S. airlines then scrambling to get a few MAXs flying by year end.” But the newspaper also asks two big questions. “Is…
White House Announces Creation of AI and Quantum Research Institutes
The White House today detailed the establishment of 12 new research institutes focused on AI and quantum information science. Agencies including the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have committed to investing tens of millions of dollars in centers intended to serve as nodes for AI and quantum computing study. From a…
GOP Congressman Turns Antitrust Hearing Into Personal Tech Support Session
An anonymous reader quotes a report from VICE News: We all have trouble with our email sometimes. We don’t typically get to harangue the CEO of Google about why, say, Dad’s Gmail is acting up, though. You have to be a member of Congress to pull that. Rep. Greg Steube, Republican from Florida, went there during Wednesday’s high-profile congressional hearing about…
Misleading Virus Video, Pushed By the Trumps, Spreads Online
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: In a video posted Monday online, a group of people calling themselves “America’s Frontline Doctors” and wearing white medical coats spoke against the backdrop of the Supreme Court in Washington, sharing misleading claims about the virus, including that hydroxychloroquine was an effective coronavirus treatment and that masks did not slow…
Trump and Biden Attack Social Media – By Running Ads on Social Media
In 100 days the U.S. will vote on whether Donald Trump, Joe Biden or somebody else should be America’s president. But both candidates are also running political ads attacking social media — on social media. “They’re shooting the messenger while giving it lots of money,” reports the Associated Press: Biden has focused on Facebook, with a #MoveFastFixIt campaign that admonishes Facebook…
Yahoo Disables All Article Comments
Yahoo has replaced the comments section under its articles with a survey. Now, there’s a message that reads: “Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting. In the meantime, we welcome your feedback to help us enhance the…
To Keep Trump From Violating Its Rules…Facebook Rewrote the Rules
“Starting in 2015 Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook rewrote their rules in order to not sanction then-candidate Donald Trump,” writes Rick Zeman (Slashdot reader #15,628) — citing a new investigation by the Washington Post. (Also available here.) After Trump’s infamous “the shooting starts” post, Facebook deputies contacted the White House “with an urgent plea to tweak the language of the post or…