Surveillance Capitalism

FEE: Public School Enrollment Falls as Covid Keeps Schools Closed

November 11, 2020

Shutdowns of public schools across the United States due to the Covid-19 pandemic have led to a significant decrease in public school enrollment, down by thousands in many places, revealing that parents are opting for private education options, a trend that will most likely continue after the virus fades.
As China’s Surveillance System Grows so does the Backlash

November 04, 2020

This week, Hangzhou, a city in eastern China that's home to Chinese tech giant Alibaba, published a draft law that would ban property managers from deploying facial recognition cameras in residential compounds without permission from local residents, evidencing growing citizen concern of the technological intrusion that has grown in China over the last ten years by 1,900%.
Huawei Challenges 5G Bans in Poland and Romania

November 02, 2020

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has sent a letter of complaint to top European lawmakers accusing Poland and Romania, who have put a ban on 5G technology, of violating EU law, potentially leading to court battles over new telecom security policies.
TikTok used to Turn out Youth Vote for U.S. Election

November 02, 2020

As the U.S. Election Day approaches, TikTok is the latest political battlefield, with groups on the left and right, as well as nonpartisan civic organizations, putting money behind TikTok creators to turn out the youth vote.
U.S. DOJ and State AG's Sue Google under the Sherman Act

October 28, 2020

Relying on the 1890 Sherman Act, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and 11 state attorneys general have sued Google in federal court, alleging that Google has cornered the search engine and online advertising markets by effectively becoming the “gatekeeper of the Internet.”
FB blocks 120,000 posts and Rejects 2.2 Million Ads Related to U.S. Election

October 21, 2020

Using artificial intelligence tools and thousands of employees focused on election-based content, Facebook removed 120,000 posts from its platforms for attempting to obstruct voting and blocked 2.2 million ads for failing to complete its authorization process to target U.S. audiences.
U.S.J.D. Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google

October 21, 2020

The U.S. Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google accusing the company of abusing its dominance over smaller rivals.
Talgo: Big Tech's assault on free speech

October 21, 2020

Writing in The Hill, Chris Talgo argues that Big Tech's unprecedented control over political expression is exacerbating the public’s perception, highlighted in a 2018 Pew Research Center study, that social media platforms actively censor political views that those companies find objectionable.
Jonsson and Owen: Policy Makers Must Reign in Big Tech

October 21, 2020

According to Oscar Jonsson and Taylor Owen writing for the Project Syndicate, the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few global digital firms who shape national and international policies and outcomes justifies the global governance of the digital economy, including global data governance, standards and regulation of online content, and taxation.
FORBES: The U.S. and Other Nations Ask Tech Companies To Build Backdoors To Encrypted Communications

October 13, 2020

Member nations of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance—which includes the United States, Japan and India published a statement on Sunday calling on tech companies to allow law enforcement to gain backdoor access to communication that uses unbreakable end-to-end encryption arguing that it poses “significant challenges to public safety”, including the safety of sexually exploited children and terrorism.