Amazon, Facebook and Google turn to deep network of political allies to battle back antitrust probes Tony Romm Washington Post June 10, 2020
The tech giants have funded a bevy of political groups, including those producing positive polling, and engaged in other fingerprint-free tactics designed to deter regulators
How Google went from providing information about its users in the aggregate to collecting a vast number of bits of information about you from the use of its services, using this information to sell ads that focus directly on you, and selling the information to others as well which, in combination with other information, can provide others with specific information about you, including your name and address.
Google’s 4,000-word privacy policy is a secret history of the internet Charlie Warzel and Ash Ngu New York Times July 10, 2019 (Opinion)
If advertisers are doing it, can the U.S. (and other) governments be far behind? ‘Fingerprinting’ to track us online is on the rise. Here’s what to do. Brian X. Chen New York Times July 3, 2019 “Advertisers are increasingly turning to an invisible method that pulls together information about your device to pinpoint your identity. “
Having only one or a few buyers of a good or service enables that buyer to pay a lower price. Joan Robinson was the first economist to describe this power clearly. It is an important part of the harm that may be done by some internet companies such as Apple and is now being discussed.
Apple’s scary buying power and the woman who named it Greg Rosalsky NPR June 18, 2019
The Supreme Court’s Apple ruling gives tech titans reason to be nervous Editorial Board Washington Post May 15, 2019
“By determining that consumers can have a direct purchasing relationship with a platform even when they are buying third-party products, the court blurs the line that companies have held so far: that they are neutral intermediaries. And the additional acknowledgment that the third parties might also bring a case for any harm that Apple causes them in its role not as a dominant supplier of apps but as a dominant buyer — a “monopsony” rather than a monopoly — opens up another front for litigation. “
In stores, secret surveillance tracks your every move Michael Kwet New York Times June 14, 2019
Photo caption: Demonstration in front of Google headquarters on August 13, 2010 as Google seemed to shift away from its strong stance in favor of net neutrality. Google has since dropped its “don’t be evil” clause from its code of conduct. The harm that Google and other internet companies may doing is coming under increasing scrutiny. Credit: Steve Rhodes ©©
We read 150 privacy policies. They were an incomprehensible disaster. Kevin Litman-Navarro New York Times June 12, 2019
Google made $4.7 billion from the news industry in 2018, study says Marc Tracy New York Times June 9, 2019