HiTechEdge

Tag: Reuters

  • EU Wants to Crack Open Apple’s Walled Garden Even More

    EU Wants to Crack Open Apple’s Walled Garden Even More

    The EU has its sights set on Apple once again, with the bloc looking to force Apple to open its walled garden.

    Apple is famous for its tightly controlled ecosystem. The company has already weather legal challenges within the US to its closed ecosystem, but the EU appears poised to issue further challenges, especially after forcing the company to adopt USB-C instead of its own Lightning port.

    According to Reuters, EU industry chief Thierry Breton met with Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA is the EU’s sweeping legislation aimed at reigning in Big Tech, especially so-called “gatekeeper” companies that control entire platforms.

    “The next job for Apple and other Big Tech, under the DMA (Digital Markets Act) is to open up its gates to competitors,” Breton told Reuters.

    “Be it the electronic wallet, browsers or app stores, consumers using an Apple iPhone should be able to benefit from competitive services by a range of providers,” he said.

    Only time will tell if anything more comes from Breton’s comments, but the EU is certainly not a jurisdiction to be trifled with when it comes to its efforts to regulate Big Tech.

  • Crypto Exchanges Scrambling to Deal With Chinese Ban

    Crypto Exchanges Scrambling to Deal With Chinese Ban

    Cryptocurrency exchanges are scrambling to deal with the fallout of China’s recent ban on all crypto transactions and mining.

    China stepped up its war against crypto, announcing a near total ban just days ago. With all transactions and mining banned, it creates real problems for the crypto industry since the vast majority of mining occurs within the country.

    According to Reuters, crypto exchanges are trying to cut ties with Chinese users, lest they get caught up in China’s campaign.

    “On the very day we saw the notice, we started to take corrective measures,” Du Jun, Huobi Group co-founder told Reuters.

    It remains to be seen how widespread the fallout will be, but the action being taken by the exchanges would seem to indicate it could be significant.

  • Amazon Bans Facial Recognition for Police Use Indefinitely

    Amazon Bans Facial Recognition for Police Use Indefinitely

    Amazon has extended a ban on the use of its facial recognition tech by police until further notice amid ongoing privacy concerns.

    Last year, amid a wider backlash against police use of facial recognition, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM announced they would no longer sell their technology to police departments. Clearview AI had already been drawing scrutiny for its shady privacy practices, scraping social media platforms and websites to amass a database of billions of photos it used in its facial recognition platform. The death of George Floyd was the final straw, forcing tech companies to evaluate how their technology was being used.

    Facial recognition, in particular, has struggled to ensure fairness and equality. Studies have shown that facial recognition software often has racial biases that unfairly impact people of color. There have been published examples of Black individuals wrongly accused of a crime after being misidentified by facial recognition.

    Amazon had initially put a one-year hold on sales of its tech, but is now extending that ban until further notice, according to Reuters. Amazon did not comment on the reasons for the move, but its decision has already been met with support.

    “Face recognition technology fuels the over-policing of Black and Brown communities, and has already led to the false arrests and wrongful incarcerations of multiple Black men,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, a deputy project director at the American Civil Liberties Union.