Monthly Archives: February 2021

Keeping a major bank going during the pandemic: Interview with Kate Platonova, Chief Data and Architecture Officer, HSBC – www.computing.co.uk

Posted: February 8, 2021 at 11:05 am

Kate Platonova, Chief Data and Architecture Officer, HSBC

Those organisations who were more invested in cloud tended to fare better at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. One example is HSBC, which uses a range of cloud technology to provide "scalability, resilience and innovation," in the words ofKate Platonova, Chief Data and Architecture Officer at the bank.

She told Computing that the organisation uses as hybrid cloud model.

"We use a hybrid cloud model, so we have strategic partnerships with all three of the major public cloud providers; Google, AWS and Azure. We also consume a range of Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions from a mix of providers. Whichever cloud provider we use, we maintain the same high level of standards for security and resilience."

The choice around which platform to use for each need is made on a case by case basis.

"We select the cloud providers and services based on the best strategic fit for the particular workload. Our priorities are to always ensure we provide a secure environment, protect customer data, maintain service continuity and comply with all relevant policies and regulations globally," said Platonova.

Whilst, like everyone else HSBC was unable to predict the pandemic, it did manage to roll out the tools to enable remote collaboration at a rapid pace.

"At the beginning of 2020, 64 per cent of HSBC's global workforce were able to work remotely - and in a matter weeks our IT teams increased this to 85 per cent. To better support virtual meetings, Zoom was rolled out in 12 weeks - and in January 13 million people attended 4.3 million HSBC meetings on Zoom. 63,000 users in the UK, US and Hong Kong are finding it easier to collaborate using Microsoft Teams and last year over 20,000 laptops were delivered to colleagues at home."

Platinova adds that regular communication has been key to ensuring staff wellbeing, as well as productivity.

"Throughout the pandemic, the wellbeing of our people has been our paramount concern. We have taken steps to enable our front-line colleagues to do their jobs safely and effectively. For all our colleagues, we have maintained a regular flow of communication and listened closely to their needs (including through a specific wellbeing survey to identify priority areas to address), providing the support and flexibility to help them manage their lives during the pandemic."

Another common concern during these times of mass remote working has been security, with potentially compromised personal devices connecting to corporate networks in numbers never seen before. HSBC has used a number of strategies to mitigate these risks, in part sending out secure devices to staff.

"212,000 secure HSBC laptops and desktop PCs are currently being used by colleagues working remotely. And 60,000 colleagues are working using HSBC Virtual Connect - allowing them to securely connect in a number of ways, including from personal Windows and Mac devices. Our BYOD mobile service allows colleagues to securely access their work email, calendar and join Zoom meetings from any supported mobile device."

Stepping away from the pandemic, the organisation continues to invest in the future, with its sights firmly set on exploiting quantum computing.

"We are excited about the potential benefits of quantum computing in banking for solving resource intensive problems and improving customer experience. We think applications could include risk analytics, machine learning and cybersecurity. We're part of the European NEASQC (Next Applications of Quantum Computing) project to explore potential applications for quantum computing within the banking industry."

Computing's Deskflix virtual conference on Hybrid and Multi Cloud takes place on the 10th February. Register now!

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Keeping a major bank going during the pandemic: Interview with Kate Platonova, Chief Data and Architecture Officer, HSBC - http://www.computing.co.uk

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Microsoft Scientists Build Chip That Can Handle Thousands Of Qubits – Analytics India Magazine

Posted: at 11:05 am

Scientists and engineers at the University of Sydney and Microsoft Corporation have developed a device that can handle thousands of qubits. To put things in perspective, the current state-of-the-art quantum computer can control only 50 qubits at a time.

Scaled-up quantum computers require control interfaces to manipulate or readout a large number of qubits, which usually operate at temperatures close to absolute zero (1 Kelvin or -273 degrees celsius).

The complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology has its limitations due to high thermodynamic dissipation, leading to heating of the fragile quantum bits. Overheating of quantum bits compromises its quantumness, the property of being in two states at the same time (also called superposition).

The current architecture uses multiple connections as every qubit is controlled by external circuitry with a separate electrical connection, generating a lot of heat.

The scientists from the University of Sydney built a CMOS interface between the qubits and the external circuitry, in such a way that the CMOS chip can generate control pulses for multiple qubits, with just four low-bandwidth wires, at 0.1 Kelvin, a temperature 30 times colder than deep space, with ultralow power dissipation.

The interface consists of four low-bandwidth wires at room temperature to provide input signals to the chip, which then configures 32 analogue circuit blocks to control the qubits that use dynamic voltage signals.

Analogue circuit boards use the low leakage of the transistors to generate dynamic voltage signals for manipulating qubits, consuming significantly less power.

Quantum computers are at a similar stage that classical computers were in their 40s when machines needed control rooms to function.

However, this chip, according to the scientists, is the most advanced integrated circuit ever built to operate at deep cryogenic temperatures.

The quantum computers that we have now are still lab prototypes and are not commercially relevant yet. Hence, this is definitely a big step towards building practical and commercially relevant quantum computers, said Mr Viraj Kulkarni, But I think that we are still far away from it.

This is because of the Error Correction. Any computing device always has errors in it and no electronic device can be completely perfect. There are various techniques that computers use to correct those errors.

Now the problem with quantum computing is that qubits are very fragile. Even a slight increase in temperature, vibrations, or even cosmic rays can make qubits lose their quantumness, and this introduces errors. So the key question of whether we can really control these errors is still relevant.

Nivedita Dey, research coordinator at Quantum Research and Development Labs, said the qubit noise is still a roadblock in developing quantum computers.

One of the biggest challenges in implementing a quantum circuit in this Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) era is qubit noise, which causes hindrance in commercial availability of fault-tolerant full-scale quantum computers, said Ms Dey.

This approach can be well suited for practical quantum applications and might reduce the number of error-correcting qubits to be associated with noisy qubits, she added.

If quantum computing does prove to be commercially viable, it will open up completely new avenues.

A plane is not just faster than a car, it can also fly, said Mr Kulkarni, drawing an analogy between quantum computers and conventional computers. The idea is that quantum computers are not just faster, but at the same time will provide us with solutions that are better, especially in AI.

Hence, many applications in AI including complex mathematical equations, drug discovery by enabling chemical simulations, or building financial applications to come up with a better strategy will be solved in a faster and efficient way.

In the end its a tool, so any function a conventional computer can achieve, quantum computers will be able to do it faster and better.

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Want a goat to stand in for you on Zoom? Itll cost you around R102 for 5 minutes – SowetanLIVE

Posted: at 11:04 am

With the global Covid-19 pandemic forcing many people to stay home and participate in endless Zoom meetings, one farm in the UK is hiring out goats to stand in for you.

Unfortunately, the animals dont know how to unmute themselves nor how to switch on the camera.

Cronkshaw Fold farm in Lancashire made headlines this week when its Goats on Zoom programmewent viral.

In a description on their website, the farm said it can help ascertain whether your colleagues, friends and family are paying attention during the call.

There are several goats to choose from, each with its own personality- so they can fit right in - and cost around 5 (about R102) for five minutes.

The goats are savvy in Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Blue Jeans, Skype, Google Hangouts, Jitsi, Go To Meeting and Ring Central. Want to use a different platform? Message us, the website advertised.

From Zoom-bombing to live kidnappings during calls, bored participants have been doing the most during the pandemic.

At least with a goat, you know the boss wont catch you working in a towel.

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Keeping mindfulness and employee health at the forefront: app reviews – Tech Wire Asia

Posted: at 11:04 am

Figures available worldwide are painting a gloomy picture of peoples mental health and wellbeing during the current Coronavirus epidemic. Apart from worry and grief over the loss of, or potential loss of loved ones, the main effects are the feelings of loneliness and isolation that lockdown brings.

As businesses and organizations begin to act proactively to counteract their employees failing mental (and physical) health, at Tech Wire Asia, we are looking at different ways that technology can help support remote workers.

The poorly-fitting appsMany pages of the technology press Tech Wire Asia included have been dedicated in recent months to examining the ways that collaboration and communication software is helping the remote worker and the businesses employing them. But in most cases, the applications that we all now use daily were conceived and written for only occasional use. Just a few short months ago, we called remote workers road warriors, individuals who worked from airport lounges, hotel rooms, and in the corridors outside conference halls.

Solutions like Webex, Zoom, Jitsi, and Teams were designed to connect working groups: a few remote workers, a body of specialists in one office with a meeting room full of others in another.

With a workforce thats been forced to go remote, these tools simply arent making up the differences between working together in person, and working together remotely.

All the comms solutions lack the human touch: even video conferencing software tends to flatten out features and compress information so that facial micro-gestures are lost. Typically, too, much of a persons body language is also missed out because of the position of the average webcam on a laptop or monitor.

The specialist applications

Both the Apple App Store and Google Play are full of apps that help users meditate, become more mindful, calm down, and concentrate. These activities are highly beneficial, but like collaborative and comms apps, they are not explicitly focused on helping people during their working day.

Embedding this type of positive, habitual reinforcement of awareness, stillness, and mindfulness into work-focused applications is not anything that we at Tech Wire Asia have seen previously (until now see below).

Therefore as part of a new series on mental health in the APAC region during these times of COVID, we focus on ways that employees can boost their overall wellbeing while working from home.

LIFEWORKSThe first app we are considering is LifeWorks, a platform that delivers a broad range of employee-focused wellbeing-focused training, activities, and media.

The levels of support and different content types are as varied or directed as required. That ranges from standard EAP (Employee Assistance Program) fare such as work-focused training and gamification of work success, right through to offering 24/7 access to counseling and support services, either live or as snackable clips.

Mindfulness and meditation guidance sits alongside physical wellbeing programs on the latter score, the app integrates with employees Fitbits or smartwatches to track exercise and daily activity, if desired.

The appeal of LifeWorks is that all resources are available for the employee in complete confidence: as the employer, you receive no personalized information about who is accessing what. Employers do get analysis and figures regarding uptake and engagement, allowing leaders to build their teams better. Whats trending and proving popular will help decision-makers push their employees health and wellbeing successfully, with positive outcomes for all parties in the long-term.

LifeWorks can be used as an adjunct to existing HR solutions or as a standalone, wellness, and health-oriented app. It is uniquely positioned, we feel, between traditional HR technology and personal development apps.

You can read a deeper dive into the LifeWorks offering right here on this site.

SMILING MINDThe second app we are considering is Smiling Mind, created by a non-profit organization and entirely free. (Many mindfulness apps need users to either pay upfront or subscribe somehow.)

Smiling Mind focuses on the different areas in which people can gain significantly: in their sleep, developing mindful practices, in their relationships, and especially relevant here in the workplace. The latter area of focus has around 40 dedicated sessions, designed specifically to reduce stress and conflicts.

Most of the sessions range in length from just a few minutes (perfect for coffee breaks) to nearly an hour.

And for those of us whose attention might wander during Zoom meetings, there are dedicated sessions on tap where users are taught tactics to re-steer their minds back onto other peoples speech. In fact, the focus of mediation can actually be other people talking: perfect for those long sessions where its easy to let attention wander from critical information.

As a bonus, the app also has specialized programs designed for educators, children and teenagers, so those juggling homeschooling kids and working at home can help promote positivity for themselves and their charges.

Finally, as well as iOS and Android versions, Smiling Mind is also available on the web, so those stuck to their laptops for hours each day can intersperse spreadsheet sessions with a few minutes in which to develop a smiling mind of their own!

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Inside job: Why Zoombombing isnt as random as you might think – Digital Trends

Posted: at 11:04 am

OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

Last year wasnt exactly short of threats facing humanity, but Zoombombing was an especially 2020 kind of disruption, one that sought to hijack one of the most prominent means of communication by which people stayed in touch with everyone from co-workers to friends and family during lockdown.

Zoombombing, for those unfamiliar with it, works like this: An unwanted participant or participants access a Zoom call without being invited, against the wishes of the participants, and cause problems. One Massachusetts-based high schools Zoom session was hijacked by an individual who screamed profanities and then shouted the teachers home address. On social media, some users reported that their Zoom session had been taken over and used to show pornographic content.

Zoom, whose usage exploded during the pandemic, was suddenly at the center of what appeared to be a glaring vulnerability problem: It was as if the leading manufacturer of front door locks revealed a high failure rate during a home invasion epidemic.

But researchers from Binghamton University in New York say theres more to this story than meets the eye. According to a worlds-first study they have carried out, the majority of Zoombombing incidents are actually inside jobs. To draw an analogy with creepy campfire stories about terrified babysitters: The calls are coming from inside the house. Well, kind of.

There were a lot of people that thought that maybe this was some kind of clever hacking, or else [the result of attackers] finding people that would accidentally post Zoom links on social media or sending out email blasts, Jeremy Blackburn, an assistant professor of computer science at Binghamton University, told Digital Trends. [People figured it was] these outsiders who were randomly showing up, somehow finding a link to a meeting. It was an act of attack that the Zoombombers were perpetuating, just by themselves.

Blackburns major research interest, his university website profile notes, involves understanding jerks on the internet, from toxic behavior and hate speech to fringe and extremist web communities. He was intrigued by the rise of Zoombombing as a phenomenon, but also not entirely convinced by the theories.

How were they getting in? They could be brute-forcing the call IDs, but given the size of the search space, it seemed unlikely that they would be able to consistently find active calls to target. And while human error was certainly possible, in terms of people leaving Zoom links lying around, this also seemed improbable.

To quote Sherlock Holmes popular aphorism: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, must be the truth. Or, in this case, if people arent breaking into Zoom calls on their own, someone on the call must be willfully letting them in.

As it turns out, what we found is that Zoombombings were perpetuated by people that were legitimately in the call, Blackburn said. What would happen is that [a member of the call] would go ahead and share the meeting link on some fringe websites and say, Hey guys, show up and, you know, say the N-word or whatever in the call. Pretty much every time, it was a student asking people to come [and] Zoombomb lectures. They would also do things like say, Hey, use this name when you connect, because thats the name of somebody else in the class.'

To reach this conclusion, the researchers scoured tens of millions of social media posts, uncovering more than 200 calls for Zoombombing between Twitter and 4chan during the first seven months of 2020 alone. Between January and July that year, they identified 12,000 tweets and 434 4chan threads that discussed online meeting rooms, then used thematic qualitative analysis to identify the posts calling for Zoombombing. As Blackburn noted, the majority of the calls for Zoombombing in their dataset targeted online lectures, with evidence of both universities and high schools being the most heavily targeted groups.

In addition to Zoom, they also found evidence of similar bombing attacks on other popular communication platforms including Hangouts, Google Meet, Skype, Jitsi, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, BlueJeans, and StarLeaf.

[For a company like Zoom], unless they perform the type of investigation we did, on their end it seems really difficult to detect this type of thing, Blackburn said. Because its not really a technical vulnerability. Its kind of a sociotechnical vulnerability If they were just looking at traffic [or whatever other] metrics they have, Im not sure it would be possible to purely detect this. You would need a study like ours that goes out and specifically tries to understand how this sociotechnical problem is unfolding.

(Digital Trends reached out to Zoom for comment, and we will update this story when we hear back.)

The results pose a challenge for communication platforms like Zoom. Their ease of use makes them appealing. Just click a link and youre suddenly talking to your friends or joining the morning huddle at work. But this also necessitates lowering security measures that could eradicate this behavior.

Anything involving security is always kind of a trade-off between ease of use and the robustness of the security, Blackburn said. I dont think people [would want to] go through a whole process of registering individual users and creating one-time links [in a more time-intensive manner]. Its much easier, and much more straightforward for non-tech-savvy people, to just have a link, click it, and it opens the program. That is certainly a big reason that Zoom gained the type of adoption it did. If it would have had a much more complicated, but secure, registration system, I would imagine something else would have [become] the dominant application.

Zoom does offer passwords as a login option. However, given the complicity of users, they would seem unlikely have to blocked Zoombombers with the right advanced knowledge. The same is true for waiting rooms, in which the host must manually approve people for entrance. While this would seem to be a more secure option, they are insufficient if the Zoombombers name themselves after people in a class in order to confuse the teacher or lecturer. (Thanks to a recent update, hosts can, however, pause their meetings to manually remove troublesome participants.)

Blackburn describes Zoombombing behavior as raiding, and says that it has always been a part of online life. Now, its using Zoom, but if you go back even to the IRC days (read: Internet Relay Chat, an early text-based chat protocol created in 1988), there were [online] wars where people would try and take over different channels, he said. Any time you have computer-mediated communication on the web [thats] instant and semi-anonymous, youre going to have people that get into conflict and attempt to disrupt things. In that sense, its not new, its the same basic sociotechnical problem with the internet. If theres an available mechanism to cause trouble, somebodys going to cause trouble.

In addition to Blackburn, other researchers on the project include Chen Ling, Utkucan Balc, and Gianluca Stringhini. A paper describing the work, titled A First Look at Zoombombing, is available to read online.

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New antitrust legislation targets Apple, other tech giants – AppleInsider

Posted: February 6, 2021 at 9:02 am

A new bill being proposed will give the US government greater power to prevent mergers, and potentially penalize companies like Apple for antitrust practices at up to 30% of the income generated from the actions.

Apple, Facebook, and Google have been the target of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee in recent antitrust investigations. They all make the claim that their businesses are lawful and not monopolies, but the government is fighting back.

Now that the Democratic party has majority control of the House and Senate new bills will be introduced to combat antitrust cases. One new bill introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar will give the government more power to penalize anti-competitive practices and prevent unlawful mergers.

According to Protocol the "Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act of 2021" offers sweeping reforms to antitrust laws, but are not as extreme as some have expected. Other legislators have called for a breakup of Facebook or other extreme action.

Klobuchar's bill would make it harder for powerful firms with substantial market power to acquire smaller companies and forbid mergers that present "appreciable risk of harming competition." It would place the burden of proof on the large companies, making them show that the acquisition won't disrupt the market.

The bill will also give legislators more power to penalize companies that do not follow antitrust law. Right now penalties range in the millions of dollars, pocket change for large companies like Facebook or Apple. The proposal suggests that US companies pay 15% of US revenue or 30% of their US revenue in an affected market upon proof of violation.

The legislation could also affect Apple's App Store. It calls for aggressive action against "monopsonies" which are markets dominated by a single buyer. This type of legislation could prevent platform holders from doing business on their own platform.

While the Democratic Party has the majority, it is only slight. The bill will need Republican support in order to make such sweeping changes, and Republicans do not want to break up large businesses in the same way.

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Tech giants open up about their algorithms – Axios

Posted: at 9:02 am

Google, Facebook, TikTok and others are starting to talk more about how their algorithms work in a bid to win trust.

Yes, but: It's hard to know what isn't being revealed.

Be smart: While these efforts to be transparent are helpful, they don't usually provide the full picture about how the platforms' algorithms work, in part because they don't want their systems to be gamed by bad actors.

The big picture: Around the world, regulators are beginning to question whether the algorithms used to drive billions of dollars of internet commerce and content are biased towards certain demographics, philosophies or viewpoints.

Between the lines: Republicans and Democrats have both cited transparency into content moderation as a goal of changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

What to watch: Competition regulators around the world are starting to dive into whether and how Big Tech algorithms harm consumers or competitors.

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Google will wind down game development studios as tech giants struggle to break into gaming – GeekWire

Posted: at 9:02 am

(Stadia Images)

Both Google and Amazon have more than enough tools and resources that theyd need to stake a claim in the market. The problem is that both seem to want to simply win by showing up, and thats not something you can do in video games.

Its been a rough few days for the gaming arms at the tech giants, which are suffering setbacks in their attempts to break into the industry.

Bloomberg last week delved into the internal culture at Amazon Game Studios. The goal was to explore why, in Amazons staffers own words, Amazons game development efforts have floundered. Eight years later, with several billion dollars spent, Amazon has little to show for its efforts, and the answer appears to come down to mismanagement at an executive level.

Just a few days later, on Monday morning, Google announced its sudden withdrawal from the games development business.

Despite a high-profile launch and hiring a wide swath of industry talent for its Stadia project, Googles Phil Harrison wrote today that the company will stop investing in first-party content, and will shutter its two internal dev studios. The reasons behind the decision, as per Harrison, include the high investment costs and time requirements of creating best-in-class games from the ground up.

Stadia was the first strictly cloud-based gaming service to reach the market. As a subscription service, offered alongside a custom-made gamepad, Stadia could be used with a web browser or a Chromecast device to let players run video games in high definition straight off of Googles cloud servers. On paper, any device with a strong internet connection and a screen could be used to play the latest games at their highest settings.

Whats held Stadia back, however, is that it initially shipped without all its promised features, such as YouTube integration, and a pricing plan where players bought their games individually at or near full retail price. Subscribers to the full service, Stadia Pro, would get free games each month as well as access to a variety of flash sales. This was controversial at the services launch nobodys really keen on the idea of paying to own a product that only lasts for as long as Google chooses to support it and competing services have capitalized on that, such as Amazons Luna and Microsofts Project xCloud.

Going forward, Googles plans for Stadia are seemingly to treat it solely as a publishing platform. In 2021, were expanding our efforts to help game developers and publishers take advantage of our platform technology and deliver games directly to their players, Harrison wrote. We see an important opportunity to work with partners seeking a gaming solution all built on Stadias advanced technical infrastructure and platform tools.

Stadia Games & Entertainment (SG&E) had an unspecified number of projects in developmen. While a few of the ones that were closest to complete may yet debut on Stadia, the rumor is that anything that fell outside of a potential 2021 release window has been unceremoniously canceled.

SG&Es two studios were located in Los Angeles and Montreal. The Montreal studio was the result of Google acquiring a newly-founded indie developer, Typhoon, back in late 2019; Typhoons only game before the Google merger was the well-regarded indie Metroidvania Journey to the Savage Planet. In an unfortunate coincidence, Journey actually premieres on Stadia today.

Overall, SG&Es closure is reported to affect around 150 employees. As part of the announcement, Harrison has said that most of that team will be moving on to new internal roles within Google, and will be supported by the company in the process.

One of the higher-profile developers at Stadia, however, is leaving Google entirely. Jade Raymond, who became famous in the industry in the 2000s as the producer of the first couple of games in Ubisofts mega-popular Assassins Creed franchise, had joined Google in early 2019 as the head of the Stadia Games and Entertainment department. Harrison noted in his blog post that Raymond has left to pursue other opportunities in the wake of SG&Es imminent closure.

This doesnt necessarily mean the writings on the wall for Stadia itself, but its hard not to think about the infamous Google Graveyard. The company had made a lot of big moves during the run-up to Stadias official release, including hiring some major names such as Raymond. Harrison himself is a well-known face in the industry, as a former member of both Sonys PlayStation team and the Interactive Entertainment department at Microsoft.

With that kind of experience on tap, one wouldve expected Google to realize that if it was ever going to make best-in-class games for the Stadia, it was going to cost money and itd take more than two years before they started seeing results. Unless there were significant internal issues that Google hasnt divulged, shuttering its development efforts this quickly is like forfeiting a football game after the first quarter. In conjunction with the generally unfinished state of Stadias launch back in late 2019, it paints a picture of Google as not realizing, or choosing not to realize, what it would actually need to do in order to be competitive in the modern games industry.

This isnt necessarily the end of the road for Stadia, however. Harrison is still the head of the project at Google, and Stadia is planned to continue to exist for the time being, now specifically as a publisher for third-party games. For current Stadia and Stadia Pro consumers, its business as usual.

Were committed to the future of cloud gaming, and will continue to do our part to drive this industry forward, Harrison wrote. Our goal remains focused on creating the best possible platform for gamers and technology for our partners, bringing these experiences to life for people everywhere.

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HD Media Takes on Tech Giants Google & Facebook – Editor And Publisher Magazine

Posted: at 9:02 am

Listen to the audio

E&P Reports Video/Podcast

Editors Note: E&P was the first tobreak the newsabout the historic lawsuit on Friday, Jan. 29.

HD Media, the West Virginia-based publisher of the Pulitzer Prize-winningCharleston Gazette-Mailand theHerald-Dispatch, is making its own news with the recent announcement that they have filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Google and Facebook. Hopefully, the purpose is to help the entire industry receive some form of compensation from the 70% plus of local advertising revenue these tech giants make from the content they exploit.

In this segment of E&P Reports, Publisher Mike Blinder has an in-depth conversation with lawsuit co-council Paul T. Farrell Jr. and HD Medias VP of news and executive editor, Lee Wolverton, to uncover how the lawsuit started and what they want to happen as a result of their actions. Farrell and Wolverton also speak to how they feel about the need for local journalism and how this suit is not just about ad dollars but also the survival of the news industry.

Related links:

E&P Exclusive Feature: HD Media Takes on the Tech Giants https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/hd-media-takes-on-the-tech-giants,185454

Download a copy of the class action lawsuithttps://www.scribd.com/document/492607988/Complaint-HD-Media-Co-LLC-v-Google#from_embed

Investigation of Competition in Digital Markets House Judiciary Committee October 2020 Report on antitrust and anticompetitive conduct by Google and Facebookhttps://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/competition_in_digital_markets.pdf?utm_campaign=4493-519

HD Media Wikipedia pagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_Media

Paul T. Farrell Jr. Wikipedia pagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_T._Farrell_Jr.

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House Republicans urge Democrats to call hearing with tech CEOs | TheHill – The Hill

Posted: at 9:02 am

Top Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday called on their Democratic colleagues to hold a hearing with the CEOs of Silicon Valley giants amid GOP criticism of companies' platform management.

The Republicans wrote to committeeChairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) urging bipartisanship in holding the tech giants accountable and reissuing a push for a hearing with the CEOs of Twitter, Google, Facebook and Apple.

Big Tech is increasingly becoming a destructive force. Our sincere hope was that Big Tech would take seriously the significant role they play in our society and do better to responsibly manage their platforms, Republicans wrote.

Last Congress, we requested you hold a hearing with several Big Tech CEOs to get answers and push them to improve their practices. Unfortunately, Big Techs behavior has increasingly worsened. It is clear this Committee must take leadership and act.

The letter is signed by ranking member Cathy McMorris RodgersCathy McMorris RodgersHouse Republicans urge Democrats to call hearing with tech CEOs Republicans rally to keep Cheney in power Hillicon Valley: Raimondo wades into 230 debate | Google cuts donations to election result deniers | House GOP unveils tech plan MORE (R-Wash.), as well as three subcommittee chairs: Reps.BobLatta (R-Ohio), Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) and Morgan GriffithHoward (Morgan) Morgan GriffithHouse Republicans urge Democrats to call hearing with tech CEOs Democrats to levy fines on maskless lawmakers on House floor READ: The Republicans who voted to challenge election results MORE (R-Va.).

A Democratic spokesperson for the committee said they are looking to schedule a hearing with the CEOs of the companies.

Weve been in communication with the social media companies for weeks now working to schedule a date for the CEOs to testify before the Committee and hope to have something to announce soon, the spokesperson said in a statement.

In the letter, Republicans note their Big Tech Accountability Platform, which Rodgers released last week.

The plan indicates Republicans continuing to push forward with allegations that tech platforms are censoring conservative voices with an anti-conservative bias. For example, Rodgers singled out Twitters decision to permanently ban former President TrumpDonald TrumpChamber of Commerce CEO to leave: reports Fox News Media cancels Lou Dobbs's show GOP lawmakers call for Pelosi to be fined over new screenings MORE.

The allegations have not been substantiated. A report released earlier this week from New York University concluded there is no evidence to back up these claims and stated the claims themselves are a form of disinformation.

A spokesperson for committee Democrats was not immediately available for comment.

Although Democrats are likely to widely disagree with Republicans over their push to cast tech giants as anti-conservative, the members of the majority party have voiced their own concerns about content moderation policies.

In wake of the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Democrats have pushed for tech companies to further crack down on content moderation.

Updated 11:17 a.m.

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House Republicans urge Democrats to call hearing with tech CEOs | TheHill - The Hill

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