“A rebellion against the high cost of a bachelor’s degree, already brewing around the nation before the coronavirus, has gathered fresh momentum as campuses have strained to operate in the pandemic,” reports the New York Times. “Who wants to pay $25,000 a year for glorified Skype?” one incoming freshman tells them: Incensed at paying face-to-face prices for education that is increasingly…
Tag: lawsuits
Why a fight over Fortnite could decide the future of big tech
Apple and Google have long held firm control over which apps can be sold on their devices, but lawsuits from the developer of the mega popular game Fortnite could change that Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2251930-why-a-fight-over-fortnite-could-decide-the-future-of-big-tech/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
To Head Off Regulators, Google Makes Certain Words Taboo
As Google faces at least four major antitrust investigations on two continents, internal documents obtained by The Markup show its parent company, Alphabet, has been preparing for this moment for years, telling employees across the massive enterprise that certain language is off limits in all written communications, no matter how casual. From a report: The taboo words include “market,” “barriers to…
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,…
Will Elon Musk License Tesla’s Technology To Other Automakers?
Audi’s CEO “willingly admits that Tesla is two years ahead of the industry in some critical areas of building electric vehicles,” reports Electrek. But where will that lead? “Earlier this week, Musk made a subtle comment on Twitter that could majorly upend the auto industry,” reports Inc. magazine: In response to an article in Teslarati highlighting German automakers’ attempts to bridge…
Trump Administration Rescinds Rule on Foreign Students
Facing eight federal lawsuits and opposition from hundreds of universities, the Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the pandemic. From a report: The decision was announced at the start of a hearing in a federal lawsuit in Boston brought…
US Senate Amends EARN IT Act — To Let States Restrict Encryption
Long-time Slashdot reader stikves reminded us that a committee in the U.S. Senate passed an amended version of the “EARN IT” act on Thursday. And this new version could do more than just end personal end-to-end encryption, warns Engadget: The other major concern opponents of the EARN IT Act raise has to do with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act,…
Justice Dept. Urges Rolling Back Legal Shield for Tech Companies
The Justice Department released recommendations on Wednesday to pare back the legal shield for online platforms that has been crucial to their growth since the earliest days of the internet, taking a direct shot at companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube that have come into the cross hairs of the Trump administration. From a report: In a 25-page recommendation, the agency…
Google Sues Sonos in Escalation of Wireless Speakers Fight
Google escalated a fight with Sonos over the wireless home-speaker market, filing a lawsuit that alleges patent infringement. From a report: The conflict between the two companies, which had been collaborating on incorporating some Google features in Sonos’s speakers, erupted in January when Sonos sued Google for infringing its patents. The speaker maker is facing increased competition from tech giants such…
After 10 Years, Hidden $1M Treasure Chest Finally Found
89-year-old Forrest Fenn had a secret, reports the Guardian. He’d hidden a treasure chest worth over $1 million somewhere in America’s Rocky Mountains: For more than a decade, he packed and repacked his treasure chest, sprinkling in gold dust and adding hundreds of rare gold coins and gold nuggets. Pre-Colombian animal figures went in, along with prehistoric mirrors of hammered gold,…