Thursday, June 27, 2019

"Big Tech must be regulated now, Bill Gates says" (GOOG)

If you were wondering about the apparently harsh tone taken by the former Google honcho towards Mr. Gates in the post immediately below:
Asked specifically about Mr. Gates’ $10 billion gift to provide vaccines for people in Africa, Schmidt said, “Gates is an ass who doesn’t know how to dress, and everyone knows it.”
This may have something to do with it.
From CNN Business: 
Updated 1244 GMT (2044 HKT) June 25, 2019
Bill Gates says the US government must step up its regulation of big tech companies, whose influence in culture, business and all areas of life is becoming more pervasive.

"Technology has become so central that governments have to think: What does that mean about elections? What does that mean about bullying? What does it mean about wiretapping authorities that let you find out what's going on financially or drug money laundering, things like that," the Microsoft (MSFT) founder said at the Economic Club of Washington, DC, on Monday. "So, yes, the government needs to get involved."
Gates discussed everything from the early days of Microsoft to his investments in clean energy during the talk. But his thoughts on government interference in the tech sector were particularly relevant given recent government scrutiny of the size, influence and privacy practices of tech companies such as Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) by both antitrust enforcement agencies and political candidates. 
Gates said he expects "there will be more regulation of the tech sector," particularly as it relates to privacy issues. The protection of user privacy and use of user data has been a flashpoint especially for Facebook, which has been criticized for multiple data scandals

"The fact that now this is the way people consume media has really brought it in to a realm where we need to shape it so that the benefits need to outweigh the negatives," he said....MORE