Monthly Archives: May 2021

The First Amendment and Social Media The Tack Online – BVU The Tack Online

Posted: May 3, 2021 at 6:55 am

The New York Times recently reported that the The Supreme Court vacated a ruling that Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking people on Twitter. Even though I dont support Trump, I have to say theyre not wrong.

The First Amendment does govern the right to freedom of speech, but hiding that speech from a person is not any violation, especially on a place like the Internet. The Internet and its websites, even if it is a Made in America site, are not only in America. Why should users around the world have to subscribe to the American Constitution when they are not in the United States? The First Amendment has no overlap with the Internet, and should not govern the World Wide Web.

Think of the Internet like the real world. Existing in this digital world the World Wide Web, if you want to truly see how logical this comparison is is a series of different countries. Each country is a website, living at its own address (aka web addresses). From there, each country presents its Constitution in the form of Terms and Conditions. By agreeing to it, you are following their rules. Therefore, the developers of that site are like the Supreme Court, and are allowed to enforce their own rules, even if they dont bend to the needs of the American Constitution. This is their land that they discovered. So if Twitter allows Donald Trump to block people, thats okay.

Theres also the issue of App Store policies. In a way, the App Store is like a boat to these countries (websites). Essentially, the Apple App Store is a quicker way to get you to Facebook, rather than you firing up Safari and typing in the URL to Facebook. If these boats dont like that countrys policies, they can stop their traveltake it off their App Store. The rise of Parler brought forth a unique problem to the digital age: Apple taking it off the App Store for not agreeing with Parlers Constitution. Its Terms and Conditions allowed hateful, racist, discriminatory content on the App Store, according to Bloomberg. (Parler also helped spread word of a small insurgence, if you havent heard, that actually attacked the U.S. Capitol.) Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, issued a 24-hour warning to improve its guidelines, or the App Store would reduce travel-by-boat to Parler. So, Apple pulled the plug on that conservative trade route.

Cook actually appeared on Fox News in January, where he was asked about Parler. He said, We obviously dont control whats on the internet, but weve never viewed that our platform should be a simple replication of the internet. We have rules and regulations, and we just ask that people abide by those. What he means is the Internets guidelines rely on its founders, creators, and developers not a central power from the real world. Cook did say in an interview with The New York Times that he is open to Parlers return to the App Store, as long as they abide by Apples rules. Parler responded by firing three employees that worked on their iOS development team, a signal that says they no longer plan to rerelease applications for the App Store.

So does online censorship further or deter the First Amendment? JSTOR.org writes, Because it is easier for digital platforms to apply a uniform set of rules across their global operations, the strictest rules become the global norm. Essentially, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution is allowed to limit the United States government. It cannot limit private entities, even if they are based in the United States, because the Internet is a global resource. Why should people in court wearing robes dictate a realm created by nerds and developers?

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Justices Appear Poised to Strike Down California Law in Case with Potential to Allow More Dark Money in Politics – Law & Crime

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The Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in the consolidated cases of Americans for Prosperity v. Becerra and Thomas More Law Center v. Becerraon Monday. The cases raise First Amendment challenges to aCalifornia law requiring charities to submit to the state a list of the names and addresses of their major donors to the IRS. The Courts decision has potential to affect an array of disclosure laws, and in particular, campaign finance laws or regulations against so-called dark money.

Conservative watchdog groups filed lawsuits arguing that the policy violates the First Amendment, specifically by depriving donors of their privacy in association. According to the plaintiff petitioners, California has no need to compel this sensitive donor information to serve any law-enforcement goal, and the state virtually never uses any of the information for law-enforcement purposes.

Election law expert Rick Hasen predicts that its clear that California will not win this case, and explained that there are multiple roads to such a loss.

The Ninth Circuit applied exacting scrutiny an intermediate level of legal scrutiny and sided with California; petitioners now ask SCOTUS to reverse, arguing that the case is unconstitutional on its face, and that the Court should apply a higher level of scrutiny to the analysis.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrettall seemed receptive to the petitioners argument that compulsory disclosure of donor lists has some potential to chill speech.

Derek Shaffer conducted oral arguments on behalf of Americans for Prosperity, and he found a likely ally in Justice Thomas, who opened with an innocuous-sounding hypothetical before raising the specter of cancel culture.

How would it affect your analysis if the organization involved didsomething that was not controversial, such as provide free dog beds, or taking care of stray puppies or something like that? asked the justice.

Shaffer quickly responded that the justices hypothetical facts would not alter his analysis in any way, and pointed out that PETA was one of the many organizations that filed an amicus brief supporting his position in the case.

Justice Thomas continued, raising a line of questioning he would repeat each time he spoke during arguments: What does Californias law mean for donors who might be seen as contributing to a controversial charity?

In this era, there seems to be quite a bit of loose accusations about organizations for example accused of being a white supremecist organization, or racist, or homophobic and as a result become quite controversial. Do you think that sort of labeling would change your analysis? queried Thomas.

Its part of the problem, agreed Shaffer. Precisely because there is such intensity of views and such a proclivity to vilify perceived enemies in your time, it raises the stakes.

It was Justice Stephen Breyer, however, who raised the question about how the Courts decision in this case might affect campaign finance rules.

If you win in this case, it will have been because the interest of the donors in maintaining privacy of their giving to a charity outweighs the interest of the state in having a law on the books that even if it never is actually enforced frightens people into behaving properly, predicted Breyer.

But if we hold that, the elder justice continued, can we distinguish campaign finance laws where the interest is even stronger in people being able to give anonymously? Later in arguments, Breyer questioned whether this case is a stalking horse for campaign finance.

When it was time for Justice Elena Kagan to take her first turn at telephonic questioning, she and Shaffer engaged in a sharp colloquy.

Kagan asked Shaffer to assume that a very substantial number of donors in a very substantial number of charities are not concerned about disclosure, and in fact, they rather like public disclosure of their generosity. Then Kagan asked how such facts would affect the legality of the disclosure regulation. Shaffer refused to concede any potential truth to Kagans hypothetical and the two jousted until Kagan said, lets just take my facts as a given.

Justices Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor were the most skeptical, leaving open the possibility of finding that the petitioners rights were violated but still refusing to strike down the law. As Professor Hasen pointed out, both justices might only agree that the law was problematic on an as applied basis.

Justice Alito departed from the world of hypotheticals, and pressed the attorneys on Californias actual history of using the disclosed information.

Do you doubt that donors to organizations that take unpopular positions on hot-button issues have reason to fear reprisal if those donations are made public? Do you think thats a legitimate fear in our current atmosphere? Or do you think its paranoid? asked Alito.

Acting Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar responded that such a result is certainly possible, but that there is no indication in the record that it is a widespread issue affecting the average donor to the average charity.

Justice Kavanaugh quoted from the ACLUs amicus brief multiple times, raising the argument that a critical aspect of First Amendment protection is the right to keep association confidential. Such a focus is a possible indication that Kavanaugh would vote to strike down the law not because of the potential chilling effects related to speech, but rather, because of its effect on free association.

Justice Barretts involvement in this case has been controversial from the start, many arguing that she should have recused herself because a group related toAmericans for Prosperity spentmillions on advertisingsupporting Barretts confirmation.

As if to rehash Kagans earlier exchange with petitioners, Barrett asked Schaffer whether a law prohibiting all speech on a state university campus would be illegal even if no one complained about it. When she turned to Prelogar, Barrett pressed the attorney on the level of tailoring required in the case a likely indication that Barrett would support abandoning exacting scrutiny for the more demanding strict scrutiny.

Chief Justice John Robertstake on the case was somewhat harder to pin down, though some have suggested that Roberts will use the exacting scrutiny standard of review, only to redefine that standard in a manner so strict as to strike down most campaign finance laws.

[image via Erin Schaff/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]

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A close call this time, but lawmakers have a bad attitude on openness | Cotterell – Tallahassee Democrat

Posted: at 6:55 am

Bill Cotterell, Capital Curmudgeon Published 3:14 p.m. ET May 1, 2021

Bill Cotterell(Photo: Democrat files)

We in the news media tend to treat every proposed exemption from Floridas open-meetings and public-records laws with a skepticism bordering on hostility, even contempt.

More: Want public records? So sue me seems to be states attitude, First Amendment experts say

Some information in the hands of government, some proceedings involving public officials, must be secret for obvious reasons of public safety and security. Still, news outlets will take cases to court whenever a public document is withheld or a meeting is closed, unless there is a specific statutory authorization for such secrecy. If we didnt, theyd probably close Cabinet meetings and legislative sessions some day.

Were as uncompromising on the First Amendment as the National Rifle Association is on the Second. But while elected officials will go to extremes to mollify the NRA, theyre not so skittish about infringing on the states vaunted Government in the Sunshine law.

In fact, sometimes their attitude seems to be that people can have any public information theyre willing to sue to obtain.

So it was good to see the failure of a bill that would have allowed executive search committees to hide the names of people applying for the presidency of state colleges and universities. The House passed the exemption in mid-April by 101-16 vote but it failed 25-14 in the Senate just one vote short of the two-thirds majority it needed.

At least 14 new exemptions were enacted in the past session and eight old ones were renewed. Maybe some were worse than others, but the won-loss bottom line shows what legislators think of open government.

Thats discouraging. It means most legislators are just dandy with secrecy for lists of applicants wanting to be college or university presidents. Under the failed bill (HB 997/SB 220), names of finalists for a campus presidency would have become public three weeks before a final selection vote would have been scheduled.

It can be helpful to find out early if theres something especially bad, or good, in an applicants record. Maybe a faculty member or student will know something that doesnt show up in an applicants resume.

Thats not the reason for openness, though. It really is the principle of the thing. Exemptions should be guarded jealously, granted for only the most serious reasons when some real harm would result from disclosure. Confidentiality is not just a favor given for the convenience or comfort of big shots in academe.

Yes, top-level administrators and managers the deans and provosts, nationally known professors, top corporate leaders or university presidents may not want their boards of regents to know theyre seeking sunnier climes. Well, if they dont get the Florida job, theyll get over it. Sorry if it makes things a little chilly around the faculty lounge or a while.

Football players enter the transfer portal when it suits them. Head coaches change jobs all the time.The way universities treat football, are we to pretend a university president has a position of higher dignity than the sunburned guy with a whistle and a ball cap?

Credit for the narrow escape goes to the Florida First Amendment Foundation. Pamela Marsh, the FAF president and a former U.S. Attorney for northern Florida, wrote an opinion piece last year, when the same bill was up, noting how the state Supreme Court ruled in 1983 that the purpose of the Sunshine Law is to protect the public from closed door politics.

Thats particularly important in higher education.

Foundation board member Bob Shaw, a longtime Capitol reporter for the Miami Herald and former editor at the Tallahassee Democrat and Orlando Sentinel, probably knows more about open government than the legislators who voted on the confidentiality bill.

He sent out an alert urging FAF members to contact legislators in opposition to the bill.

Floridas colleges and universities have soared in the rankings, led by presidents selected in the sunshine, Shaw wrote. If a person wants to hold such a job that requires the highest levels of leadership, experience, confidence in decision-making, and financial responsibility, that person should be prepared to be vetted thoroughly and must not fear public scrutiny.

As this is written Thursday night, theres one day left in the legislative session. The bill doesnt look likely to be revived this year, although rabbits get pulled out of hats in the closing hours of a session. But we know where legislators minds are, regarding open government, so we will see this unneeded exemption again next year.

Bill Cotterell is a retired Tallahassee Democrat Capitol reporter who writes a twice-weekly column. He can be reached at bcotterell@tallahassee.com

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Googles new Heads Up safety feature for its Digital Wellbeing Android app: Heres how to use – The Indian Express

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Google is releasing a new feature called Heads Up, which has started rolling out to its Digital Wellbeing Android app. When you turn on Heads Up, your smartphone will periodically display an alert that will remind you to keep your head up when the app detects youre walking and using your phone at the same time.

According to XDA Developers, the new feature is being rolled out to Google Pixel devices. Google has been known to test new features on its Pixel smartphones before making the features more widely available with other Android phones. The feature will most probably work the same on other devices when it is available. Heres how it works.

1. Open the Settings app on your phone

2. Scroll down until you locate the Digital Wellbeing & parental controls option and then tap it

2. Scroll to the bottom of the various settings until you locate a new Heads Up option, just above the toggle switch to add an app icon for Digital Wellbeing to your app drawer.

4. Tap on Heads Up and follow the setup prompts.

It is important to note that you will need to grant Digital Wellbeing, permission to view your physical activity so the app can identify when youre walking. The app will also allow you to give app permission to view your current location at all times. When enabled the app should be able to identify when youre inside.

With the new feature enabled, you will get an alert whenever you use your smartphone while walking and the app detects the same.

Google Pixel device users who are unable to see the Heads Up feature, can join the Digital Wellbeing beta program, which should enable the new feature on their Pixel device. Users can join the beta program by visiting the apps Play Store listing and installing it.

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Googles new Heads Up safety feature for its Digital Wellbeing Android app: Heres how to use - The Indian Express

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Vodafone and Google Cloud to Develop Industry-First Global Data Platform – Yahoo Finance

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- The two companies sign six-year strategic partnership to build powerful new integrated data platform and distributed system for Vodafone, supporting the creation of new digital products and services for customers

- Vodafone to host its SAP environment and all big data and business intelligence workloads on Google Cloud

SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vodafone and Google Cloud today announced a new, six-year strategic partnership to drive the use of reliable and secure data analytics, insights, and learnings to support the introduction of new digital products and services for Vodafone customers simultaneously worldwide.

Google Cloud Logo (PRNewsfoto/Google Cloud)

In a significant expansion of their existing agreement, Vodafone and Google Cloud will jointly build a powerful new integrated data platform with the added capability of processing and moving huge volumes of data globally from multiple systems into the cloud.

The platform, called 'Nucleus', will house a new system - 'Dynamo' - which will drive data throughout Vodafone to enable it to more quickly offer its customers new, personalised products and services across multiple markets. Dynamo will allow Vodafone to tailor new connectivity services for homes and businesses through the release of smart network features, such as providing a sudden broadband speed boost.

Capable of processing around 50 terabytes of data per day, equivalent to 25,000 hours of HD film (and growing), both Nucleus and Dynamo, which are industry firsts, are being built in-house by Vodafone and Google Cloud specialist teams. Up to 1,000 employees of both companies located in Spain, the UK, and the United States are collaborating on the project.

Vodafone has already identified more than 700 use-cases to deliver new products and services quickly across Vodafone's markets, support fact-based decision-making, reduce costs, remove duplication of data sources, and simplify and centralise operations. The speed and ease with which Vodafone's operating companies in multiple countries can access its data analytics, intelligence, and machine-learning capabilities will also be vastly improved.

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By generating more detailed insight and data-driven analysis across the organisation and with its partners, Vodafone customers around the world can have a better and more enriched experience. Some of the key benefits include:

Enhancing Vodafone's mobile, fixed, and TV content and connectivity services through the instantaneous availability of highly personalised rewards, content, and applications. For example, a consumer might receive a sudden broadband speed boost based on personalised individual needs.

Increasing the number of smart network services in its Google Cloud footprint from eight markets to the entire Vodafone footprint. This allows Vodafone to precisely match network roll-out to consumer demand, increase capacity at critical times, and use machine learning to predict, detect, and fix issues before customers are aware of them.

Empowering data scientists to collaborate on key environmental and health issues in 11 countries using automated machine learning tools. Vodafone is already assisting governments and aid organisations, upon their request, with secure, anonymised, and aggregated movement data to tackle COVID-19. This partnership will further improve Vodafone's ability to provide deeper insights, in accordance with local laws and regulations, into the spread of disease through intelligent analytics across a wider geographical area.

Providing a complete digital replica of many of Vodafone's internal support functions using artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. Called a digital twin, it enables analytic models on Google Cloud to improve response times to enquiries and predict future demand. The system will also support a digital twin of Vodafone's vast digital infrastructure worldwide.

In addition, Vodafone will re-platform its entire SAP environment to Google Cloud, including the migration of its core SAP workloads and key corporate SAP modules such as SAP Central Finance.

Johan Wibergh, Chief Technology Officer for Vodafone, said: "Vodafone is building a powerful foundation for a digital future. We have vast amounts of data which, when securely processed and made available across our footprint using the collective power of Vodafone and Google Cloud's engineering expertise, will transform our services, to our customers and governments, and the societies where they live and serve."

Thomas Kurian, CEO at Google Cloud, commented: "Telecommunications firms are increasingly differentiating their customer experiences through the use of data and analytics, and this has never been more important than during the current pandemic. We are thrilled to be selected as Vodafone's global strategic cloud partner for analytics and SAP, and to co-innovate on new products that will accelerate the industry's digital transformation."

Technical Note to Editors

All data generated by Vodafone in the markets in which it operates is stored and processed in the required Google Cloud facilities as per local jurisdiction requirements and in accordance with local laws and regulations. Customer permissions and Vodafone's own rigorous security and privacy by design processes also apply.

On the back of their collaborative work, Vodafone and Google Cloud will also explore opportunities to provide consultancy services, offered either jointly or independently, to other multi-national organisations and businesses.

The platform is being built using the latest hybrid cloud technologies from Google Cloud to facilitate the rapid standardisation and movement of data in both Vodafone's physical data centres and onto Google Cloud. Dynamo will direct all of Vodafone's worldwide data, extracting, encrypting, and anonymizing the data from source to cloud and back again, enabling intelligent data analysis and generating efficiencies and insight.

NUCLEUSVodafone maintains vast troves of valuable business data, and it needs to be able to extract and blend data from one system with data from another, and to move data between multiple business systems.

Nucleus is Vodafone's global integrated data platform with a standard data model and common processes, data sourcing and data products.

Google Cloud and Vodafone are co-developing this entirely new platform to help Vodafone reinvent its approach to data, analytics and business intelligence. It will make business insights available more quickly and empower informed decision making. Nucleus will use data that can be trusted, thanks to clear lineage and robust data governance capabilities from Google Cloud.

DYNAMODynamo is the part of Nucleus that extracts and manages data from source systems and distributes the data to where it is used. This market-first hybrid data integration system will help Vodafone reduce costs, re-use data artefacts, and simplify and centralise operations across its global footprint.

It uses the latest hybrid cloud technologies to facilitate the movement of data in a standard format using a single technology that runs as one system in Vodafone and Google data centres.

Key benefits include:

Encouraging re-use of data and compliance with standards across multiple markets by basing all the user interfaces on common API's and strong security and compliance protocols.

Supporting the movement of 5,000 data feeds per day to the cloud the equivalent of 50 terabytes per day or more than 10 petabytes each year and growing.

Avoiding duplication of data extraction efforts by building reusable connectors to systems like SAP etc and reusable data pipelines, halving the time taken to extract data and reducing the time taken to generate insights.

Increasing the speed at which new data pipelines are built by 25%. These pipelines move the data from the source where it is generated to a warehouse or data hub for storage and analysis.

Automatically controlling the capacity of a data pipeline depending on time of day and demand.

Improving zero-touch automation with smart alerts and self-healing capabilities.

NEURONLeveraging Google Cloud's data and analytics technologies like BigQuery and Dataproc, the platform, called Neuron, enables Nucleus. Announced in November 2019, Neuron is now operational in multiple Vodafone markets.

SAP Google Cloud's scalable, reliable, and secure infrastructure will underpin Vodafone's SAP environments, enabling Vodafone to augment its SAP systems with Google Cloud's analytics and AI capabilities, and helping to derive more value out of its SAP data. Accenture will act as Vodafone's SAP migration partner, helping Vodafone seamlessly transition business critical SAP environments onto Google Cloud.

About Google CloudGoogle Cloud provides organizations with leading infrastructure, platform capabilities and industry solutions. We deliver enterprise-grade cloud solutions that leverage Google's cutting-edge technology to help companies operate more efficiently and adapt to changing needs, giving customers a foundation for the future. Customers in more than 150 countries turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to solve their most critical business problems.

About VodafoneVodafone is a leading telecommunications company in Europe and Africa. We are the largest mobile and fixed network operator in Europe and a leading global IoT connectivity provider. Our M-Pesa technology platform in Africa enables over 45m people to benefit from access to mobile payments and financial services. We operate mobile and fixed networks in 21 countries and partner with mobile networks in 48 more. As of 31 December 2020, we had over 300m mobile customers, more than 27m fixed broadband customers, over 22m TV customers and we connected more than 118m IoT devices.

For more information, please visit http://www.vodafone.com, follow us on Twitter at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone.

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Google Photos will now allow you to create themed movies: Heres how it works – The Indian Express

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Google Photos will now allow users to create different themed movies. The feature relies on Googles identification of people and things in photos. Google Photos is considered to be one of the most popular photo apps for managing and sharing your photos, as the platform offers a host of features and AI-based functionality.

The app comes pre-loaded on most Android phones and users can also download it on iOS devices. Google Photos allows users to make custom movies that make use of Googles AI by choosing different images and videos and automatically creating a clip for you.

Google Photos will now offer options to create themed movies including selfie movies, Mothers Day movies, memorial day movies, and movies on cats and dogs, among others.

1. Open Google Photos.

2. Tap on Library at the bottom right-hand side of your screen.

3. Tap on Utilities and then select the Movie option on your screen.

4. In the Movie option youll find Meow Movie, Doggie Movie, and selfie movie among others. Select the kind of movie you want Google to create.

5. Google will then ask you to select a person, people, or animal, as appropriate.

6. The movie will be created in the background and once its completed, you will get a notification

Google Photos allows you to edit the automatically created movie. When you play the movie on the app, theres an edit option at the bottom of the page. This will allow you to change the soundtrack, add or remove images and change the order of images.

Note: To create a themed movie you will have to have a number of photos in your Google Photos collection that are recognised. For example, if you only have one picture of your cat its not going to work. You will also need to update the Google Photos app to the latest version.

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Can you still watch YouTube TV on your Roku? What the channel removal means for users – USA TODAY

Posted: at 6:54 am

Roku said it has removed the app for Google's streaming service YouTube TV after its contract to carry it expired.

The company said current subscribers to YouTube TV will continue to have access to the app unless Google chooses to fully remove it from Roku devices.

Roku spokesperson Dallas Lawrence told USA TODAY in an email the company is "disappointed" Google has allowed the contract to lapseand has not sought additional financial consideration to renew its deal.

"It is well past time for Google to embrace the principles that have made streaming so popular for millions of users by giving consumers control of their streaming experience, by embracing fair competition and by ceasing anticompetitive practices," said Lawrence.

The Roku Ultra.(Photo: Roku)

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Roku plans to email customers about the removal of YouTube TV.

In a blog post published Friday, Google claims the company wanted to renew its deal with Roku under current conditions, but Roku sought to renegotiate a separate deal expiring in December involving its main YouTube app.

"Despite our best efforts to come to an agreement in the best interests of our mutual users, Roku terminated our deal in bad faith amidst our negotiation," reads the statement. "Unfortunately, Roku has often engaged in this tactic with other streaming providers."

Earlier this week, Roku warned its users recent negotiations over YouTube TV had broken down over "unfair terms" from Google that the company believed could harm its users.

YouTubeTV spokesperson Mariana De Felice told USA TODAY in a statement emailed Monday the servicehas been working in good faith with Roku on a deal that benefits its viewers and Roku customers.

"Were disappointed that they chose to make baseless claims while we continue our ongoing negotiations," she said. "All of our work with them has been focused on ensuring a high quality and consistent experience for our viewers."

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

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Ikea meets Lego: Google redesigns its office space. – The New York Times

Posted: at 6:54 am

Before the pandemic, Googles sprawling campus of airy, open offices and whimsical common spaces set a standard for what an innovative workplace was supposed to look like.

Now, the company is creating a workplace for the Covid era, with a concept perhaps best described as Ikea meets Lego.

Instead of rows of desks next to cookie-cutter meeting rooms, Google is designing Team Pods. Chairs, desks, whiteboards and storage units on casters can be wheeled into various arrangements, and in some cases rearranged in a matter of hours. It is building outdoor work areas to respond to concerns about the coronavirus.

At its Silicon Valley headquarters, it has converted a parking lot and lawn area into a camp, with clusters of tables and chairs under open-air tents. The area is a fenced-in mix of grass and wooden deck flooring about the size of four tennis courts with Wi-Fi throughout.

David Radcliffe, Googles vice president for real estate and workplace services, said that while moving more than 100,000 employees to virtual work last year was daunting, now it seems even more daunting to figure out how to bring them back safely.

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How to Turn a Rotary Phone into Google Assistant with Raspberry Pi – Tom’s Hardware

Posted: at 6:54 am

I have some old telephones lying around - few of them fully functional anymore. I was going to throw out one of them when I realized I could replace the inner wiring with a Raspberry Pi, and have the Google Assistant running on it.

While its certainly easier to call hey google across the room, theres something fun about picking up the phone, asking it a question, and having it immediately respond. This is how to install the Google Assistant on an old rotary telephone with a Raspberry Pi Zero.

This Raspberry Pi project is quite extensive and can take a bit of time, so Ive split it up into four distinct parts:

Before we use a Raspberry Pi as a Google Assistant, we must register the device with Google. This process can be a bit confusing if youve never used Google Cloud Platform before, but the steps should be easy enough to follow.

1. Clone this repository to your raspberry pi.

2. Navigate to https://console.actions.google.com in your browser. This site allows us to manage Google Assistant Actions, as well as register custom Google Assistant devices.

3. Click New Project and fill in the required information. The name doesnt matter - just pick something you can remember.

4. In a new tab, visit this link to Google Cloud Platform, and confirm that the name of the project you just created appears in the top bar - if not, select it. Then, click the Enable button to turn on the API.

5. In your original tab, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Are you looking for device registration? Click here

6. On the next page, click Register Model.

7. Fill in the required information and copy down the Model ID to file - you will need it later.

8. Click Download OAuth 2.0 credentials to download the credentials file your Raspberry Pi will use to make requests.

9. Rename the downloaded file to oauth_config_credentials.json and transfer it to your pi. Place it into the repository folder you cloned in step 1.

10. Back in the browser, after downloading and renaming the credentials, click the Next button.

11. On the Specify traits tab, click Save Traits without adjusting any settings to complete the setup.

Weve now registered a device with Google. Next, its time to authenticate this device so it has access to our Google account and personalized assistant.

1. Navigate to https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials/consent ensuring that the project matches the name you decided in Step 3 of Registering With Google.

2. Select External and click the Create button.

3. Fill in an App name. Once again, this doesnt really matter - but to keep it simple I went with the same name as before.

4. Select your email from the dropdown in User support email. This is in case any users of your app need to contact you, but since we wont be making the app public, theres no need to worry.

5. Add that same email under Developer contact information and click Save and Continue.

6. On the next page, click Add or Remove Scopes to bring up the scopes sidebar.

7. Search for Google Assistant API in the search bar, and check the /auth/assistant-sdk-prototype scope. Then click update, followed by Save and Continue at the bottom of the page.

8. On the next page, click Save and Continue to skip Optional Info.

9. With the setup complete, click OAuth Consent Screen in the sidebar to refresh the page - then Add User under Test Users.

10. Add your Google accounts email, and click save.

11. Next, on your pi navigate to the downloaded repository and run the following command:

12. Follow the link it gives you and complete the Authentication process in your browser. Once the process is complete, copy the code and paste it back in your terminal.

13. If successful, youll see a message indicating credentials saved: followed by a path to the credentials. Use this path to move the credentials into the current directory. Transfer these credentials to your repositorys root directory

Depending on your rotary phone, this process will vary widely. These are the steps that I used, but likely this will require a fair bit of trial and error on your part. Make sure you use a phone you dont care about, as it wont be able to work normally after this.

1. Take the cover off the telephone. You may need to loosen a screw on the bottom.

2. Find and strip the wires connected to the hook switch. Well connect these wires to the pis GPIO pins to determine if the receiver has been picked up or set down.

3. Connect the hook switch wires to GPIO Board pin 18 and ground. You may need to solder the wires from the hook switch to jumper wires to connect them easier, or just attach them together with a bit of electrical tape.

4. Connect your USB audio adapter to the raspberry pi zero. You will need a USB-micro to female USB-A adapter to do this.

5. Solder the microphone and speaker in the handset to two separate 3.5mm cables. These will carry the signal from the pi to the speaker, and from the microphone to the pi. You should be able to connect these within the phone case and use the original handset cord. This will take a bit of trial and error to determine which wires belong to the speaker, and which to the microphone.

6. Connect the 3.5mm cables to the USB audio adapter being mindful to connect them in the proper order.

7. Tuck the pi into the phone, and close up the cover - or keep it open while you debug setting up the assistant. Run the power adapter connected to the pi out the back of the case where the original telephone wire would go.

1. Run the installation script. Itll take care of base and python requirements. If you have a Raspberry Pi Zero, the compilation process can take hours and will appear stuck on a step installing grpc (it just moves very slowly). Id recommend leaving it running over night.

2. Configure your USB audio by running the following command. It will take care of editing your alsamixer config, setting your USB card as your default audio output, and setting volumes for the speaker and microphone.

3. Test and adjust your volumes by running the following command, speaking, and listening through your phones handset. If your volume is not high enough on your microphone or speaker, set it with the alsamixer command.

4. Export your project ID to an environment variable. You can retrieve your project ID by visiting this URL, selecting your project, clicking the three dots next to your profile photo in the top right, and clicking Project Settings

5. Export your model ID from the Registering With Google steps to an environment variable.

6. Run the make run command. It will take care of registering this device, and saving the configuration to disk so you wont need the environment variables in the future.

7. Test your assistant by picking up the phone, and asking it a simple question, like What is the capital of Canada? If all goes well, youll see some logs in the terminal, and the assistant will respond. To ask another question, hang up the receiver and pick it up again.

8. Finally, run the following command to configure the assistant to run on boot.

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How to Turn a Rotary Phone into Google Assistant with Raspberry Pi - Tom's Hardware

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Google tax: American IT and steel lobbies back action against India – Business Standard

Posted: at 6:54 am

Americas top tech lobby Internet Association has backed retaliatory tariff action against India, if New Delhi does not roll back the unilateral and discriminatory equalisation levy or Google Tax.

It has also urged the US to help build a global consensus around developing a modern, fair, and global approach to taxing digital services to prevent such unilateral measures from countries like India.

The Steel Manufacturers Association in the US has also strongly backed imposition of retaliatory tariffs against India to address concerns related to unfair trade practices by Indian steel producers. It sought inclusion of over 200 additional tariff lines related to the steel sector in the retaliatory tariffs proposal.

Meanwhile, jewellers and jewellery associations in India and the US have strongly opposed a US proposal to impose tariff, arguing that this will result in diversion of trade to China besides having a major impact on small and medium enterprise and artisans.

In its comments to the US Trade Representative (USTR) over the retaliatory tariffs proposal, the association, which represents over 40 of the worlds leading internet companies, including LinkedIn, Netflix, Microsoft, and Google, expressed hope that the central government will roll back this discriminatory tax before any escalation occurs.

The Biden administration has threatened India with retaliatory tariffs of up to 25 per cent ad valorem on a slew of Indian products, including shrimp, basmati rice and gold, among others, over the 2 per cent equalisation levy on e-commerce operators introduced in April 2020. It is applicable on non-resident digital entities with a turnover of ~2 crore. It had invited comments on the proposal on retaliatory tariffs.

It is the goal of the digital industry for India to end its discriminatory tax before any additional duties would enter into force. Thus, the proposed duties will not have to be put into place, the association said in the comments to USTR s proposal, the window for which closed on April 30. The public hearing on the matter is on May 10.

Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has, in its comments, objected to the proposed tariffs on the sector arguing that it will cause severe harm to Indian and US businesses.

About 17 of the 40 product lines in the proposed tariff list pertain to the gems and jewellery sector.

Our sector had earlier been significantly impacted with the abrupt withdrawal of the generalised source of preference (GSP) benefits. We are now deeply disturbed with the threat of further action against our niche sector, the association said. It urged the USTR to remove all 17 heads related to the gems and jewellery sector from the proposed tariffs list. This would help prevent diversion of trade to other countries especially to China.

SEEPZ Gems & Jewellery Manufacturers Association said that the proposed action will impact Indias and US economies. The only beneficiary would be China, it said.

American jewellery, leather, apparel and footwear associations have also opposed retaliatory tariffs against India as it will make imports expensive, impacting their businesses.

The 40 sub-heads proposed for tariffs include Rattan furniture (a type of furniture) and parts, precious stone articles, gold rope necklaces and neck chains, cultured pearls, yarn, cigarette paper, and corks and stoppers.

India's collection from equalisation levy nearly doubled to ~2,035 crore in 2020-21 from ~1,138 crore in the previous year.

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Google tax: American IT and steel lobbies back action against India - Business Standard

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