Category: DOJ

Amid worker and regulator complaints, Google is facing a turning point

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By any measure, Google is a colossus of the tech industry, with a market capitalization of nearly $1.5 trillion , a massive army of lobbyists , and elite academics at its disposal . But lately, its reputation has been hurt by a highly publicized feud with well-respected ethical AI researchers, and revelations about its toxic workplace, previously hidden under NDAs , are roiling the tech giant’s PR-spun Disneyland-like facade. Now, it’s facing a multitude of challenges including talent attrition, resistance from an increasingly influential union, and increased public scrutiny. Privacy-centered competitors are nipping at its ankles, antitrust regulations loom on the horizon, and user interest in de-Googling their online activities is mounting. These headwinds are threatening the tech giant’s seemingly unassailable industry dominance and may bring us closer to a “de-Googled” world, where Google is no longer the default. At war with its workers In December 2020, the tech giant dismissed eminent scholar Timnit Gebru over a research paper that analyzed the bias inherent in large AI models that analyze human language—a type of AI that undergirds Google Search. Google’s whiplash-inducing reversal on ethics and diversity as soon as its core business was threatened was not entirely surprising. However, its decision to cover this up with a bizarre story claiming that Gebru resigned sparked widespread incredulity. Since Gebru’s ouster, Google has since fired her colleague Margaret Mitchell and restructured its “responsible AI” division under the leadership of another Black woman , now known to have deep links to surveillance technologies. These events sent shock waves through the research community beholden to Google for funding and triggered much-needed introspection about the insidious influence of Big Tech in this space . Last week, the organizers of the Black in AI, Queer in AI, and Widening NLP groups announced their decision to end their sponsorship relationship with Google in response. While the prestige and lucrative compensation that comes from working at Google is still a huge draw for many who don’t consider these issues a dealbreaker, some, such as Black in AI cofounder and scholar Rediet Abebe , were always wary. As Abebe explained in a tweet, her decision to back out of an internship at the tech giant was triggered by Google’s mistreatment of BIPOC, involvement with military warfare technologies, and ouster of Meredith Whittaker , another well-known AI researcher who played a lead role in the Google Walkout in 2018 . Abebe is not the only one who has decided to walk away from Google. In response to this latest AI ethics debacle, leading researcher Luke Stark turned down a significant monetary award , other talented engineers resigned , and Gebru’s much-respected manager Samy Bengio also left the company. A few years back this level of pushback would be unimaginable given Google’s formidable clout, but the tech giant seems to have met its match in Gebru and other workers who refuse to back down. Even with its formidable PR machinery spinning out an announcement touting an expanded AI ethics team, the damage has been done, and Google’s misguided actions will hurt its ability to attract credible talent for the foreseeable future. More ex-employees are also coming out with details of their horrifying experience s, adding fuel to the rising calls for better employee protections. These disclosures have renewed support for tech workers as hundreds of Google employees unionized after many years of activism, despite union-busting efforts by their employer. Read More …

Facebook reveals new watch-like controllers for its future AR glasses

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While other tech companies tend to keep their R&D under a blanket of secrecy, Facebook is opening its labs and showing the world how it’s developing its future augmented reality (AR) glasses. The company held the second in a series of its “Inside the Lab” media roundtables on Tuesday and introduced new technology that would enable users to control their AR glasses using their fingers. AR glasses project light onto the eyes and seem to overlay the real world with digital imagery. As you’re looking through the glasses at a statue, for instance, the glasses might display a label with helpful information right next to it. Many people in tech circles believe AR glasses, in some form, will eventually replace the smartphone as our go-to personal computing device. In this week’s roundtable, company executives, starting with chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer, showed off wrist wearables that detect the movement of the glasses wearer’s fingers. The wearable uses a technology called electromyography (EMG), which intercepts the electrical signals the brain uses to direct finger movements. It then translates the electrical pulses into digital commands that can control functions of the device functions. For example, if the user is looking directly at a big blue button within the AR display on their face, they might “push” the button by making a tapping motion with their index finger. [Photo: Facebook] It also might be possible to train the bracelet to interpret the electrical signals the brain sends to the fingers to hit specific keys on a (virtual) keyboard. [Photo: Facebook] The Facebook wrist wearable prototypes can also generate a tactile signal (like a buzz or knock or squeeze) to acknowledge that the wearable computer has received a command. Or it might give the user a tactile signal to prompt them to do some action. There are other ways to interact with AR glasses, including voice commands, or using some form of handheld device like a smartphone or a game controller. Facebook says voice commands might be subject to eavesdropping and could be a threat to privacy if they’re used in public. A handheld device, Facebook’s engineers believe, would only “put a layer of friction” between the user and the AR technology. “As we explored the possibilities, placing an input device at the wrist became the clear answer,” Facebook engineers wrote in a blog post Thursday. “The wrist is a traditional place to wear a watch, meaning it could reasonably fit into everyday life and social contexts,” they added. Read More …

Google’s former ad chief is challenging its search engine monopoly

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The government is getting its antitrust game on this year after leaving it mostly dormant for the better part of two decades, and its sights are set squarely on Big Tech. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota is leading Congress’s powerful Senate Judiciary antitrust committee. “We’ve got to look at everything when it comes to putting rules in for tech,” she says Read More …

Watch a popular bag maker roast Amazon for ripping off its design in this clever video

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For years, merchants on Amazon have accused the company of ripping off their ideas and selling much cheaper versions under the Amazon Basics brand, but no one’s made the case quite like Peak Design. In a new YouTube video , the San Francisco-based bag designer points out the many similarities between its popular camera bag and Amazon’s, both of which are called the Everyday Sling. They have similar shapes, aesthetics, and pockets, and even their logos are in the same place. A key difference, though, is that Peak Design’s sling starts at $55 , while Amazon’s version currently sells for $21. The video then pretends to look in on the “crack team at the Amazon Basics department,” wearing googly-eye glasses and marveling at Peak Design’s sales before resolving to “Basic this bad boy.” Amazon Basics straight up ripped off the @peakdesignltd Everyday Sling (they even stole the product name). I know Basics does this all the time, but this is basically a carbon copy (minus quality). https://t.co/pGJmBZYn6C — Justin Duino (@jaduino) March 3, 2021 Of course, the two bags are not exactly the same. In the video, Peak Design calls out the areas where Amazon’s version falls short—plastic buckles instead of aluminum, cheaper zippers, floppy dividers—while also pointing to its own bag’s recycled materials, lifetime warranty, carbon neutrality, and “fairly paid factory workers.” “If you’re tired of supporting companies who innovate, and just not willing to pay for responsibly made products, don’t,” the video says, warning that “you’ll get exactly what you pay for.” Peak Design is the latest in a long line of product makers who say Amazon has copied their products and undercut them on price. As Bloomberg reported in 2016 , a company called Rain Design said sales of its popular laptop stand slipped after Amazon started selling a look-alike at about half the cost. In a 2019 interview with Fast Company , the shoe maker Allbirds accused Amazon of copying its Wool Runner shoe, but without the same sustainable design practices . A Wall Street Journal report last year also documented how Amazon would use data from third-party vendors to track popular items and launch its own versions. Those included a car-trunk organizer similar to one sold by a small startup called Fortem, and an office chair seat cushion from a company called Upper Echelon Products. Amazon had previously told Congress that it didn’t track data from third-party sellers when deciding which products to make under the Amazon Basics brand. Regulators have started to step in. Read More …

The end of unlimited Google Photos storage is part of a bigger pivot

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There are two ways to look at Google’s recent announcement that it will discontinue unlimited Google Photos storage starting next June. The first is Google’s official explanation: People are uploading a lot more photos and videos than they used to, making the service harder to sustain for free. “When we launched Google five years ago, the upload velocity that we had then, versus today’s mobile world, is a lot different,” Google Photos VP Shimrit Ben-Yair told me recently. But there’s another explanation that Google didn’t make quite as explicit: The end of unlimited Google Photos storage marks a pivot of sorts for the search giant, away from being so overwhelmingly dependent on targeted ads as its dominant business model. The future of Google could be as much about subscription revenue as advertising, with Google Photos’ push for paid cloud storage as the centerpiece of those efforts. Beyond the ad business Google’s shift away from an ad-centric model isn’t entirely new. While advertising made up nearly 90% of the company’s revenues in 2015, that share has since fallen to 83.9% last year and 80.6% over the first nine months of 2020. Nonadvertising revenue comes from the apps and media people buy from the Google Play Store, sales of devices such as Pixel phones and Nest speakers, subscriptions to services such as YouTube TV, and Google’s enterprise business, which includes cloud computing services and business-class productivity tools. Still, there are signs that Google may be accelerating those nonadvertising efforts, with subscription revenue as the focal point. Last month, for instance, Google discontinued unlimited cloud storage for business users as part of its rebranding from G Suite to Google Workspace . Instead of getting unlimited storage for $12 per user per month, teams with at least five members will get 2 TB of storage per user at that price. Companies must pay $18 per month per user for 5 TB of storage, and Google doesn’t even advertise the price of unlimited storage, which it only offers through its sales department. Google also sharply increased the price of its YouTube TV streaming bundle over the summer, from $50 per month to $65 per month. While other live TV services have also raised prices, and TV networks deserve most of the blame for making pay TV too expensive, the price hike shows that Google’s become more intent on making the service profitable. Google’s also added a few new subscription services over the last year or so. In September 2019, it launched Play Pass , a $5-per-month bundle of Android apps and games from the Google Play Store. A couple of months later, it got into the cloud gaming business with Stadia . And just last month, Google started selling Pixel phones on a subscription basis to customers of its Google Fi wireless service, helping to ensure that they stay connected to the company’s cellular plans over the long haul. All of this suggests that Google isn’t feeling as confident in the advertising business as it used to, and for good reason: Threats to its longstanding cash cow are everywhere Read More …