US Drops Digital Tax Demand, Opening Door To Global Deal

The U.S. has dropped a key demand in negotiations over digital taxation of technology companies such as Alphabet’s Google and Facebook, lifting a barrier that had raised transatlantic trade tensions and prevented an international deal. From a report: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told her counterparts at a virtual meeting of Group of 20 finance officials that the U.S. is no longer…

Twitch Suddenly Mass-Deletes Thousands of Videos, Citing Music Copyright Claims

“It’s finally happening: Twitch is taking action against copyrighted music — long a norm among streamers — in response to music industry pressure,” reports Kotaku. But the Verge reports “there’s some funny stuff going on here.”
First, Twitch is telling streamers that some of their content has been identified as violating copyright and that instead of letting streamers file counterclaims, it’s deleting…

Tech Firms Like Facebook Must Restrict Data Sent From EU To US, Court Rules

The European Court of Justice has ruled that the “Privacy Shield” data transfer agreement, which had allowed tech companies to transfer EU user data to the US, failed to adequately protect Europeans’ data from US surveillance and security laws and was therefore invalid. What this means is companies like Facebook “could be prevented from sending data back to the US,” reports…