Big Tech

Democracy is at risk from companies like Facebook that behave like digital gangsters. And, in fact, there are many similarities between Facebook’s behavior and recent violations and the way that “traditional gangsters” act.

Big tech companies are pushing for watered-down privacy regulations that would largely permit them to continue doing business as usual. There is reason to suspect that these tech companies now view federal privacy regulations as a way to construct barriers and moats around their core business.

California is putting a proposal on the table to force big tech to create a digital dividend fund to share revenue from any personal data monetization. Will this address increased demand for income inequality and government involvement in wealth redistribution?

Data privacy came into public consciousness in 2018. Yet, even with new regulations to protect personal privacy, it’s clear that there is still a long way to go in 2019 before personal data is truly protected.

The days of federal privacy laws coming to Silicon Valley may happen sooner than you think. In a much-publicized keynote speech given at the 40th ICDPPC in Brussels, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave his full-throated support for laws that would be at least as stringent as the EU GDPR.

Apparent trend toward heavy government regulation of personal data collection has tech industry titans discussing support for a federal privacy law so that the industry-supported legislation contains terms that are as friendly to them as possible.

California once again takes the lead with new data privacy law. While tech companies are not delighted and will continue to fight, it is still a better alternative to the November ballot which would have been more problematic.

GDPR may have a huge impact on small businesses but may not stop government surveillance or cool the unfair advantage of tech giants over smaller industries and smaller players. Are there real improvements to consumer privacy?

While the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal has created its share of problems for Facebook, it’s clear that the scale and scope of the scandal extends to every corner of Silicon Valley. After all, most tech giants are collecting staggering amounts of user data and comprehensive new privacy regulations seem imminent.

In the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, many have suggested that Facebook be regulated, fined and perhaps even broken up. After all, if the FTC were to invoke its full power, it could theoretically levy hundreds of millions of dollars of fines, crippling Facebook. But is a big tech company too big to fail?