1. Monthly archive
  2. December 2019

December 2019

Apple suppressed competitors in its App Store — until it got caught, a lawsuit alleges

An email app developer says it has uncovered new data that suggests Apple has long been suppressing the rankings of apps in the App Store that compete with Apple’s own offerings, according to new court filings by the developer, which sued Apple in October for patent infringement and antitrust violations. Blix, which developed the BlueMail app, made the discovery only when Apple’s rankings suddenly changed in its favor.

What We Learned About the Digital Divide in 2019

There was no "Mr. Watson, come here – I want to see you" moment; instead, 50 years ago in 1969, there was an attempt to login on ARPANET that ended after "lo" because of a system crash. That inauspicious moment led to our connected world of 2019, a time when more than 4 billion people have internet access, and the number of devices connected to internet networks is more than double the global population. But for all the internet's impact, for all those devices, and even though so many have access, too many people remain unconnected.

Weekly Digest

What We Learned About the Digital Divide in 2019

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Friday, December 20, 2019

Google fined ~$166 million by France over search ads

Autorité de la concurrence, France's competition authority, fined Google €150 million ($166 million) for abusing its dominant position in online advertising. At issue are the ads that appear next to search results. France's competition authority says that Google rules governing how and when advertisers can show their ads next to search results are applied in an "unfair and random manner."

Chairman Pai Appoints New Chief Technology Officer

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced his appointment of Dr. Monisha Ghosh to serve as the agency’s Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Ghosh will advise Chairman Pai and the agency on technology and engineering issues, and will work closely with the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology. The FCC’s chief technology officer serves as the senior technology expert in the agency. Dr. Ghosh will be housed in the Office of Engineering and Technology. She replaces Dr. Eric Burger, who has been serving at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy since October.

From smartphones to social media, tech use has become the norm in the last decade

As of 2019, nine-in-ten U.S. adults say they go online, 81% say they own a smartphone and 72% say they use social media. Growth in adoption of some technologies has slowed in recent years, in some instances because there just aren’t many non-users left, especially among younger generations.

Digital isolation: The vulnerable people left behind

Whether it's banking, food delivery or a local taxi company, finding out your favourite services are available online is normally a happy moment -- it's often faster and more convenient.

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