State-of-the-art technology in the limelight at Capitol Hill

[ad_1]

Silicon Valley will be very active in Washington, DC, this week, as major technology companies prepare to be in the limelight. Several high-profile congressional hearings are scheduled this week.

On Tuesday, July 16, lawmakers will hold the first hearing on Libra (Facebook's cryptocurrency offer), four major technology companies will appear before an antitrust committee of the House and a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Google.

This is because lawmakers on both sides are increasingly monitoring the technology giants – in terms of data privacy, antitrust issues and partisan censorship charges.

<p class = "canvas-atom-text-canvas Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Friday, the & nbsp;Wall Street Journal reported& nbsp; the FTC has accepted a $ 5 billion settlement with Facebook (FB) on his false steps in matters of privacy. "data-reactid =" 34 "> On Friday, the Wall Street Journal announced that the FTC had accepted a $ 5 billion settlement with Facebook (FB) for its fake privacy.

Hearings of the Libra

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "David Marcus, & nbsp;Facebook Calibration Managera, will answer questions from lawmakers of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. "Data-reactid =" 36 "> David Marcus, president of Calibra for Facebook, will answer questions from lawmakers of the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Last week, the legislators of both committees expressed their concerns about Libra & nbsp;as they questioned& nbsp; Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Last week, lawmakers from both committees expressed concerns about Libra when they were questioning Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

The two hearings began with a question on Libra and Republican and Democratic legislators questioned Powell on how the Fed will approach the cryptocurrency project.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Powell said that Libra raised" serious concerns " and that initiative & nbsp;could not go from the front& nbsp; until these concerns are resolved. "data-reactid =" 39 "> Mr. Powell said that Libra raised" serious concerns "and that the initiative could not go ahead until these concerns were resolved.

Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Maxine Waters (D-CA), asks Facebook to suspend the project until legislators and regulators have time to review it. She told Yahoo Finance that nothing in what Facebook could say at the next hearing will change on this point.

Waters said Washington knew too much, but she hopes to have answers to the hearing.

"We will start this discussion. We will unveil what they do, how they go, who gets involved and where they hope to go with all that, "Waters said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. "I think we need some time. I think I would like them to support a moratorium, but we need to know exactly how much progress they have made at this point. There is a lot we do not know. "

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Skepticism about & nbsp;Balance is bipartisan. After Powell's comments, President Trump & nbsp;weighed in, tweeting that he's not a crypto-currency fan and that Libra will have "little value or reliability." "data-reactid =" 43 "> The skepticism about the Libra is bipartisan.After Powell's comments, President Trump made a comment, tweeting that he was not a crypto-fan Currencies and Libra will have "little status or reliability."

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), the largest Democrat on the Banking Committee, has called on the Fed to protect consumers from Facebook's "Monetary Monopoly".

The representations of the virtual currency are displayed in front of the Libra logo in this illustration, June 21, 2019. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration

<h3 class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Technical Antitrust Hearing"data-reactid =" 65 ">Technical Antitrust Hearing

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Tuesday afternoon, Facebook, Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOGL) and Apple (AAPL), the representatives will go to the Antitrust Subcommittee of the House of Representatives of the Judiciary. This is the second hearing of the antitrust panel's bipartite investigation. "Data-reactid =" 66 "> Tuesday afternoon, representatives of Facebook, Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOGL) and Apple (AAPL) ) will appear before the House Judiciary antitrust court, the second hearing of the bipartite antitrust investigation into advanced technologies.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Rep. David Cicillin (D-RI) is directed the audience and promised a "thorough examination" of the potentially anticompetitive behavior of large companies in the technology sector.urged the FTC& nbsp; investigate Facebook. "Data-reactid =" 67 "> Representative David Cicilline (D-RI) leads the audience and promised a" thorough review "of the potentially anti-competitive behavior strategy. He also urged the FTC to investigate Facebook.

Experts from Yale and Columbia Universities are also ready to testify at the hearing.

When asked to comment before the hearing, Amazon told Yahoo Finance that the retail market is "extremely competitive". The company claims that it competes not only with other retailers, but also physical stores.

Amazon claims that it accounts for only 1% of global retail trade and 4% of US retail sales.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Nevertheless, Amazon's online sales should to reach more than $ 221 billion in the US this year, nearly 40% of total online sales in the US, according to & nbsp;eMarketer. That's significantly more than the $ 35.89 billion eBay or the $ 27.47 billion Walmart. "Data-reactid =" 71 "> Nevertheless, online sales of Amazon are expected to reach more than 221 billion US dollars this year, nearly 40% of the US total. EMarketer is good more than the $ 35.89 billion eBay or the $ 27.47 billion Walmart.

<p class = "web-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "The antitrust group held a hearing to examine the technologies of tip & nbsp;impact on journalism& nbsp; last month. Company executives will likely be called to testify at some point in the investigation. "Data-reactid =" 72 "> The antitrust group organized a hearing devoted to the impact of big tech on journalism last month, to be called to testify at some point in the investigation.

Facebook, Google and Apple have not commented.

Google Audience and Censorship

A Senate Judiciary Subcommittee holds a hearing on Tuesday afternoon titled "Google and Censorship via Search Engines".

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will be leading the Audience has always & nbsp;argued& nbsp; that technology companies are censoring conservative voices. "data-reactid =" 80 "> Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) will lead the audience and Cruz has always argued that technology companies are censoring conservative voices.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Cruz, the chairman of the subcommittee on the Constitution, held a censorship hearing with Facebook and Twitter (tWTR) in February – but at the time, the committee & nbsp;refused a witness& nbsp; Google, because the company did not offer enough senior officials. "Data-reactid =" 81 "> Cruz, the chairman of the subcommittee on the constitution, organized a censorship hearing with Facebook and Twitter (TWTR) in February – but at the time, the committee refused a Google's witness because the company did not offer enough senior officials.

Karan Bhatia, Google's vice president of public policy, is scheduled to testify on Tuesday. Andy Parker, gun control lawyer and father of Allison Parker – a local television journalist killed during a live broadcast – is also expected to testify.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Dennis Prager, from the conservative media organization PragerU, is PragerU attended an event at the White House last week, presented as a "social media summit"(Presenting far-right Internet personalities, conservative think tanks and social media critics – but no major social media company.)" Data-React = "83"> Dennis Prager, of the conservative media organization PragerU is also on the witness list PragerU attended an event at the White House last week, touted as a "social media summit" (featuring internet personalities from the far right, conservative think tanks and social media critics – but no major social media company).

US President Donald Trump (left) embraces US social media personalities — President Donald Trump (left) embraces US social media personalities "Diamond and Silk" at the Presidential Social Media Summit at the White House in Washington, DC on July 11, 2019. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)

During the event, President Trump criticized social media companies, claiming that they had a bias against the Conservatives. The president complained about not winning enough subscribers on Twitter.

Technology companies have repeatedly denied having a bias for a political party and have insisted on ignoring political affiliation when deciding to remove user content from their platforms.

"I have never seen any evidence of bias against the Conservatives. If anyone wanted to show me empirical data, instead of the paranoid claims of a right-wing member, I would appreciate it. In the meantime, it would be good for President Trump to seriously attack antitrust laws, "said Cicilline in a statement.

Trump told reporters that he was planning to invite major social media companies to the White House sometime next month. He said that a date had not been decided yet.

A major working group on judicial technology in the Senate

Spokeswoman Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told Yahoo Finance that the Senate's large technical working group of the judiciary would be operational this week. The spokesperson would not explain the task force's plans, but said Blackburn would lead it.

In an interview last month, Blackburn told Yahoo Finance that the technology working group would provide a learning opportunity for Senators – and warned that Senators should not begin the process with predefined ideas like the dissolution of big tech companies.

"We have to go where the facts will lead us," she said.

<p class = "web-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called for & nbsp;to break up& nbsp; Facebook, Amazon and Google. "data-reactid =" 112 "> Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called for the dissolution of Facebook, Amazon and Google.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Blackburn is expressed on the need for data federal privacy legislation, introducing a bill called & nbsp;Navigator Act,& nbsp; which would give users more control over their data. She told Yahoo Finance that the bill was a starting point, but the working group will continue to explore other ways Congress can take data privacy. "Data-reactid =" 113 "> Blackburn emphasized the need for federal legislation on data privacy., By introducing a bill called the BROWSER Act, which would give users more control over their data. She told Yahoo Finance that the bill is a starting point, but the task force will continue to explore what Congress needs to do about privacy.

"Looking at the very first question we have to answer: Who owns the" virtual you ", ie you and your online presence, who owns your data? It should be the consumer, "Blackburn said.

Blackburn recently met Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes to talk about data privacy, and Yelp's CEO to talk about Google and anti-competitive behavior.

.@JAPPER CEO @jeremys came to talk to me about his concerns @Google prioritizes its own content compared to Yelp's. Thank you for coming and I look forward to continuing this important discussion on anti-competitive behavior. pic.twitter.com/j5MVHcQOXd

– Senator Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) July 11, 2019

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Blackburn was also at the event of the House Blanche Thursday Elle & nbsp;tweeted& nbsp; after "Big Tech MUST BE held responsible". "data-reactid =" 118 "> Blackburn was also at the White House event on Thursday. tweeted then, "Big Tech MUST be held accountable".

CALENDAR OF THE HEARINGS TO COME:

Tuesday, July 16th:

Senate Committee on Banks and Banks Holds Balance Hearing at 10:00
The Antitrust Subcommittee of the House of Representatives of the Courts holds a large hearing at 2 pm
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution holds its hearing on Google at 2:30 pm

Wednesday, July 17th:

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Jessica Smith is a Yahoo Finance reporter based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @ JessicaASmith8."data-reactid =" 128 ">Jessica Smith is a Yahoo Finance reporter based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @ JessicaASmith8.

Powell: Libra" can not go forward "without addressing serious concerns

2020 Presidential Candidates Criticize Trump's Position on China

John Delaney: 70% of the United States would support this climate plan

A new bill would force Big Tech to reveal the value of your data

[ad_2]

Source link