MIT Technology Review: Google slammed with $5 billion antitrust fine

JMIT Technology Review    
07.18
 
The Download

Good morning! Here are today's most important stories in emerging technology.
Google’s just been hit with Europe’s biggest ever antitrust fine

The European Union’s trustbusters want the search giant to cough up $5 billion as a penalty for using its Android mobile operating system to stifle competition.
The charge sheet: The EU alleges Google uses Android, which powers 80 percent of the world’s smartphones, to unfairly favor its own search engine and mobile apps by:

    forcing phone makers into contracts that require them to pre-install its search service and web browser in return for access to the Google Play app store and other products.
    making payments to large manufacturers and mobile network operators to get them to pre-install Google’s search engine exclusively on their phones.
    threatening to block phone makers’ access to its app store and search engine if they run versions of Android known as “forks” that haven’t been approved by the company.

What’s next: Announcing the EU’s decision, Margrethe Vestager, its antitrust chief, said Google must cease its anti-competitive behavior within 90 days or face additional penalties. Expect Google to challenge the EU’s ruling in court. The search behemoth has repeatedly claimed it faces stiff competition, from Apple in particular. It’s pointed to the fact that phone makers often install competing apps as well as its own as proof it isn’t suppressing competition.
Why this matters: The power of giant tech companies is a huge concern, as we recently highlighted. So far, Europe has led the way in challenging what it considers abuses of that power. It remains to be seen whether US trustbusters will follow its lead.

—Martin Giles

This company is giving away face recognition software to K-12 schools

RealNetworks launched a website yesterday that allows schools in North America to download and implement its face recognition software for free.
The trial: Called SAFR, the tech is currently being tested at a school in Seattle that the founder, Rob Glaser’s, kids attend.
What it does: The program monitors who is coming onto campus. For the Seattle trial, parents of students at the school register their faces with the software, which allows them to unlock a gate by smiling at a surveillance camera.
The controversy: Glaser sees his software as a way to improve safety in schools that circumvents the touchy subject of gun control legislation. But it’s likely to find itself in the middle of another debate, over whether the deployment of face recognition tech needs to be regulated. Glaser told Wired: ”In a country where there have been so many tragic incidents in schools, technology that makes it easier to keep schools safer is fundamentally a good thing.”

A new report says AI will replace as many jobs as it kills
The consulting firm PwC anticipates that AI will add as many jobs to the UK economy as are lost to the technology.
The predictions: The paper forecasts that about 20 percent of UK jobs will be automated by 2037—but 20 percent more jobs will also be created. Strictly speaking, the report suggests about 7 million will be lost and 7.2 million gained.
But… Take results like this with a big grain of salt. Job predictions that look nearly 20 years into the future make a lot of assumptions. As the authors write, “There are many uncertain factors that could tip the balance towards more optimistic or pessimistic scenarios.”
The takeaway: Companies, researchers, and consultancy groups disagree like crazy over how many jobs will succumb to automation. Reports from reputable groups help predict general trends, but instead of seeking out specific numbers related to technology-induced job loss, we need to figure out how to deal with it.

Coinbase is starting to look a lot like a traditional big tech company
The cryptocurrency exchange is growing up fast—and becoming more like the kind of company that cryptocurrency was supposed to circumvent.
Two big news items: Coinbase has announced that it's “exploring the addition” of five new crypto-tokens. Just as important, Bloomberg reported that Coinbase has the “green light” from US securities regulators to make three acquisitions that will pave the way for it to become one of the first licensed platforms for trading “tokenized” versions of traditional investments, like company shares.
A contentious backdrop: Landing on a big exchange like Coinbase boosts a crypto-token’s perceived value, so there is a lot of money is on the line. Complicating things is a lack of clarity from regulators regarding which coins are commodities, which are securities, and which may be something different altogether.
This looks familiar: Coinbase, which may be worth as much as $8 billion, has been in rapid expansion mode lately. Some have called it a budding “Google of crypto.” But isn’t that antithetical to the decentralized ideal to which many cryptocurrency enthusiasts adhere? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
—Mike Orcutt

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Ten Fascinating Things

Our roundup of today's top tech news to get you thinking and debating.
1
  

Laying down the rules of the road for self-driving cars
Analytics firm Inrix has created a tool that helps cities organize all the rules it expects humans to follow to help train self-driving cars. (Wired)
+ ZOOX is building self-driving cars from the ground up rather than outfitting existing vehicles. (Bloomberg)
2
  

WhatsApp has fueled more than two dozen killings in India
False rumors spread through the app about child kidnappers are to blame. (NYT)
3
  

BMW is challenging Uber in Seattle
It is combining car-sharing and ride-hailing into one app. (GeekWire)
4
  

Supersonic travel is getting a second chance
Companies are hoping customers will pay top dollar for a fast trip. (WSJ)
+ NASA will test quieter supersonic booms over Texas this year. (TR)
5
  

Facebook doubles down on AI research
It will be expanding its AI staff and creating new university partnerships. (Washington Post)
6
  

If you take a DNA test, you might be in for a shock
People are discovering their parents aren’t who they thought they were. (The Atlantic)
7
  

Netflix continues to grow, but not fast enough
The company’s stock drop has prompted debate over whether current tech valuations are sustainable. (Axios)
8
  

A new VR horror game wants to make sure you’re scared
If you heart rate isn’t fast enough, it ramps up the fright level. (Digital Trends)
9
  

Britain is suffering from a lack of wind
And when the wind stops blowing, turbines stop spinning. (New Scientist)
10
  

Insect-bots on a plane
Rolls Royce is developing cockroach-sized robots to fix jet engines (CNBC)

Quote of the Day

“The fight to keep the internet open belongs in Congress, not at the Federal Communications Commission.”

—Republican congressman Mike Coffman from Colorado, the first Republican to sign a petition to force a vote on net neutrality.
Erin Winick
  

Top image credit: PAWEL CZERWINSKI | UNSPLASH

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Follow me on Twitter at @erinwinick. Thanks for reading!
—Erin
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