Japan will join forces with the United States and Europe to take on any market abuses by the four Big Tech companies, the new head of its antitrust watchdog said on Monday, a sign Tokyo will join global efforts to regulate digital platform operators. From a report: Kazuyuki Furuya, chairman of Japan’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC), also said Tokyo could open…
Tag: nations
Stupid Russian Disinformation Campaign Targets Oxford Vaccine
The Times of London reports that “a Russian disinformation campaign designed to undermine and spread fear about the Oxford University coronavirus vaccine has been exposed by a Times investigation.” Pictures, memes and video clips depicting the British-made vaccine as dangerous have been devised in Russia and middlemen are now seeking to “seed” the images on social media networks around the world….
Chilling Report Suggests 1 Out of 5 Countries Could Be Headed For Ecosystem Collapse
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ScienceAlert: A new insurance index from the Swiss Re Institute has found just over half of all global GDP — nearly 42 trillion US dollars — is dependent on goods and services provided by the natural world. In many places around the world, however, that sturdy foundation is turning to sand. The report, referred…
James Webb Space Telescope passes environmental testing
The James Webb Space Telescope – successor to the Hubble – just passed a series of environmental testing trials, designed to simulate the rigors of its anticipated launch in 2021. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/james-webb-space-telescope-passes-environmental-testing…
Countries that backed renewables over nuclear power have cut more CO2
Countries that embraced renewable sources of energy have significantly cut their carbon emissions, but nations pursuing nuclear power failed to do so, researchers have found Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2256123-countries-that-backed-renewables-over-nuclear-power-have-cut-more-co2/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Some Coronavirus Vaccine Trials Resort To Pen and Paper After Ransomware Hits Software
A software company supporting hundreds of clinical trials — including coronavirus vaccine trials — has been hit by a ransomware attack that “has slowed some of those trials over the past two weeks,” reports the New York Times. Employees “discovered that they were locked out of their data by ransomware…” eResearchTechnology (ERT) said clinical trial patients were never at risk, but…
Are We Headed For 200 Separate Nationally-Controlled Internets?
Roger Cochetti directed internet public policy for IBM from 1994 through 2000 and later served as Senior Vice-President & Chief Policy Officer for VeriSign and Group Policy Director for CompTIA. This week he warned about signs “that the once open, global internet is slowly being replaced by 200, nationally-controlled, separate internets.” And, while these separate American, Chinese, Russian, Australian, European, British,…
China Blocks Wikimedia Foundation’s Accreditation To World Intellectual Property Organization
China this week blocked the Wikimedia Foundation’s application for observer status at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations (UN) organization that develops international treaties on copyright, IP, trademarks, patents and related issues. As a result of the block, the Foundation’s application for observer status has been suspended and will be reconsidered at a future WIPO meeting in 2021….
First measurements of radiation levels on the moon
In the coming years and decades, several nations are planning to send astronauts to the moon. But on the lunar surface, space radiation poses a significant risk. The Apollo astronauts carried so-called dosimeters with them, which performed rudimentary measurements of the total radiation exposure during their entire expedition to the moon and back again. In the current issue of the journal…
China’s 2060 carbon neutral pledge is a big deal but is it big enough?
China surprised the world yesterday when president Xi Jinping told the United Nations general assembly that the country would achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2255178-chinas-2060-carbon-neutral-pledge-is-a-big-deal-but-is-it-big-enough/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…