Another week, another industry-shaking antitrust bill from Senate Judiciary: This time, it’s the Open App Store Act, and Mark MacCarthy reports that it’s got more bipartisan support than the last one. Perhaps that is because Apple and only two loser are involved. This bill would end Apple’s monopoly on the app store. Apple claims it would result in less privacy or security for its users. Mark agrees with that assertion, Bruce Schneier disagrees. Bruce is the majority of the panel. Apple’s true contribution to this debate is its enormous middle finger to regulators who are trying to limit Apple’s app-store fees.
Megan Stifel reports Anne Neuberger is the cyber deputy national security adviser. She has been on a European tour to boost our allies cyber defenses against a Russian attack in Ukraine. Unsurprisingly, there are few details about what she is doing.
Europe has begun to understand the implications of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. It turns out that the entire internet, as we all know, is illegal within the EU. Belgian data protection officials brought down huge amounts of money when they held the IAB responsible for the adtech bidding process it deemed to be in violation the GDPR. And a German court fined some poor website for using Google fonts, which are downloaded from Google and tell that company (located in *gasp* America) a lot about every user who goes to the website. Nick Weaver describes how this technology works. I argue that the logical consequence is that it’s illegal for one site to give out an IP address to get data from another site – which is kinda how the internet functions. Nick doesn’t think the harm can be done to surveillance capitalism or Facebook.
As Facebook’s revenue model is scrutinized by regulators (Apple, TikTok Google), liberals and conservatives as well as Google and TikTok Google), we can have a deeper discussion on Facebook’s woes. Meanwhile, subscriber growth slows. This is not pretty. So I remind listeners of Baker’s Law of Evil Technology: “You won’t know how evil a technology can be until the engineers who built it begin to fear for their jobs.”
Megan and me discuss the lawsuit by American Airlines against The Points Guy. We are discussing an app which syncs frequent flyer information. I think American will lose – and that it should.
Mark and me discuss recent content moderation incidents, including Rogan’s Spotify article and Rogan’s Gofundme funding of the Canadian protest convoy. Mark flogs his Forbes article, and I flog my latest Cybertoonz commentary on tech-enabled content moderation. Mark advises me to be calm, there is more moderation coming.
Megan tells Megan the tale of PX4, an individual who hacks North Korea after it has hacked his phone. This is the type of moxie I like, and it’s what appeals to my senses. However, this effort felt a bit amateurish, and unfocused.
Nick and Nick debate ID.me in faster hits. I also try to refute claims that face recognition is biased. Megan describes the quick fuss that Megan made about a bill that would have allowed Treasury to regulate cryptocurrency faster and more efficiently. Mark discusses the Senate’s EARN IT bill in its latest form, which continues to shrink. It is surprising that Facebook allows illegal immigrants to the US to seek help from traffickers, and also puts the policy into writing.
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