Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called for a state net neutrality law as part of his 2020 legislative agenda, joining states like California in proposing a law to ensure his state’s internet users have access to a free and open internet. CNET reports: Cuomo’s plan comes two years after the Federal Communications Commission repealed Obama-era net neutrality protections, which…
Tag: New York State
Judge Strikes Down NYC Law Limiting Uber, Lyft Driver Cruising Time
A New York judge ruled on Monday that a state law designed to control how much time ride-hailing drivers can spend looking for passengers was “arbitrary and capricious.” Engadget reports: Had the law gone into effect, it would have limited the amount of time Uber and Lyft drivers could spend searching for passengers in Manhattan south of 96th Street to 31…
Remains of Earth’s oldest forest found in New York
Scientists found fossilized root systems of ancient trees – from what’s now Earth’s oldest known forest – near Cairo, New York. They looked “surprisingly modern,” the scientists said. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/oldest-forest-new-york-fossil-trees…
The New Payday Lender Looks a Lot Like the Old Payday Lender
Apps promising to “advance” a user’s wages say they aren’t payday lenders. So what are they? From a report: Earnin does not call its service a loan. Rather, it’s an “advance”: Users are borrowing from their own paychecks — not from the app. It does not require a credit check, and promises no hidden fees or additional financing charges, even if…
Uber Sues New York City Over ‘Cruising Cap’ Rule
Reuters: Uber Technologies sued New York City on Friday over a new rule limiting how much time its drivers can spend in their vehicles in Manhattan without passengers, saying the rule threatens to undermine the company’s ride sharing model. In its complaint filed in a New York state court in Manhattan, Uber called the “cruising cap” rule adopted last month “arbitrary…
New York Attorney General is Investigating Facebook For Possible Antitrust Violations
New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced Friday she is launching a multistate investigation into Facebook for possible antitrust violations. From a report: Attorneys general of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and the District of Columbia will join the probe, according to the announcement. It will focus “on Facebook’s dominance in the industry and the potential anticompetitive…
Is Silicon Valley Building a Chinese-Style Social Credit System?
schwit1 shared this thought-provoking article from Fast Company:
Many Westerners are disturbed by what they read about China’s social credit system. But such systems, it turns out, are not unique to China. A parallel system is developing in the United States, in part as the result of Silicon Valley and technology-industry user policies, and in part by surveillance of social media activity…
New York State Lawmakers Agree To Pass a Sweeping Climate Plan
New York lawmakers have agreed to pass a sweeping climate plan that could help the state achieve a net-zero economy in which all energy is drawn from carbon-free sources by 2050. “The bill would require New York to get 70 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, and by 2050, the state would have to cut emissions by at…
New York Schools Will Test Facial Recognition On Students Despite Objections From State
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed News: A New York school district will move forward with its facial recognition pilot program next week, despite an explicit order from the New York State Education Department that it wait until a standard for data privacy and security for all state educational agencies is finalized. On Friday, the Lockport school district said…
The Giants at the Heart of the Opioid Crisis
Civil suits filed by three states accuse pharmaceutical distributors of flooding the country with opioids while devising systems to evade regulators. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/health/opioids-lawsuits-distributors.html?partner=rss&emc=rss…