Regulation Episodes

Legal and regulatory news and rumors for tech companies.
Dec. 15, 2020

Tue. 12/15 – Europe’s Big New Rules for Big Tech

Europe’s big new regulatory regime for big tech. More fallout from what looks like the biggest hack our government has ever seen. The FTC asks basically everyone in tech how they get their data. A ‘faraday fabric’ that can s…
Dec. 10, 2020

Thu. 12/10 – The Big Facebook Antitrust Cases, Explained

I try to give you the outlines of the Facebook antitrust thing, and what it might mean for tech. Airbnb makes its market debut. Crunchyroll finds a safe home away from AT&T. I bet folks at HBO are jealous. Boston Dynamics fi…
Nov. 4, 2020

Wed. 11/04 – Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, et al Win In California

Californians pass Proposition 22, and voters in Massachusetts strike a blow for the right to repair. You no longer need a phone to listen to Spotify on your watch. And why Walmart might partner with Comcast to make TVs, coun…
Oct. 7, 2020

Wed 10/07 – The House Antitrust Report

The House has released its big antitrust report on big tech. Facebook has banned Qanon everywhere it can. DDR5 chips are finally here. Shogun is an interesting raise. And could a VR infinity treadmill be the next home workou…
Sept. 21, 2020

Mon. 09/21 – ByteDance Says It Won. Trump Says Not So Fast. TikTok Continues… For Now.

It looked like we had a TikTok deal the president liked. Then ByteDance went and pointed out they still had control. Now, I dunno where we’re at. Microsoft buys Bethesda. The founder of Nikola steps down in murky circumstanc…
Sept. 18, 2020

Fri. 09/18 – WeChat Officially Banned On Sunday. TikTok Only Kinda Banned.

The Commerce Department officially has brought the hammer down. WeChat is banned on Sunday. TikTok banned on Sunday too, but it’s complicated. PayTM is banned from the Google Play Store in India. Facebook decides that Facebo…
Sept. 4, 2020

Fri. 09/04 – Ad-Pocalypse (Not) Now

The Attorney General seems to want an antitrust case against Google within weeks. Apple has delayed the Ad-pocalypse. Why the games industry is where Epic has all the leverage against Apple. Will a new display tech bridge th…
Aug. 21, 2020

Fri. 08/21 - Uber’s Former CSO Charged With Obstruction of Justice

Uber’s former CSO charged with obstruction of justice, becoming the first tech executive ever charged for a security incident. A legend of the Amazon C suite is leaving next year. Epic Games continues to gleefully poke Apple…
Aug. 20, 2020

Thu. 08/20 – Lyft Ends Service In California At Midnight

Facebook has removed tons of stuff from what it calls US-based militia organizations. Airbnb has filed for its IPO. Cobalt is an interesting raise. But also, some new tech might remove cobalt for better batteries. DoorDash l…
Aug. 17, 2020

Mon. 08/17 – Why Regulatory Change For Big Tech Is Maybe Inevitable

Why I think regulatory impact for Big Tech is maybe inevitable. Amazon seems to be sniffing around Rackspace. The first “mass produced” smartphone with a camera underneath the display? An ex-Googler says Google Cloud’s depre…
Aug. 7, 2020

Fri. 08/07 – The Executive Order To Ban TikTok and WeChat

The President officially signs an order to block ByteDance AND Tencent. Apple confirms the reasons why xCloud and Stadia aren’t coming to iOS any time soon. Uber is now, officially, more burrito delivery company than taxi co…
Aug. 6, 2020

Thu. 08/06 – Will The US’s “Clean Network” Plan Break The Internet?

Will the US Government’s “Clean Network” plan lead to the definitive fracturing of the Internet we’ve all feared? Nintendo is killing it thanks to Covid and Animal Crossing. Are Samsung’s new earbuds actually Cool Beans? You…
Aug. 3, 2020

Mon. 08/03 – The TikTok, Microsoft, Trump Ban Saga Explained

TikTok has not been banned by Trump, but it came close this weekend. Microsoft almost walked away from buying TikTok this weekend, but it looks like it’s back on board and might buy non-Chinese TikTok operations soon. Google…
July 30, 2020

Thu. 07/30 – A Comprehensive (8-Minute) Rundown of the Big Tech Congressional Testimony

A comprehensive rundown of the big tech testimony in Congress yesterday. Don’t worry. I tried to keep it brief. Are seller fees quietly twice as big a business for Amazon as AWS is? There’s a new king of the smartphone hill …
July 29, 2020

Wed. 07/29 – Big Tech CEO’s Testimony Before Congress

A rundown of what the big tech CEO’s told Congress this afternoon. Are Samsung and Google about to get a lot more integrated? The biggest news in the ongoing streaming media transformation of Hollywood. Buying out TikTok is …