Margrethe Vestager (previously) is the EU competition commissioner who handed out a bouquet of multibillion-dollar fines to US-based Big Tech companies; she had resigned herself to being ousted after her previous term but in a last-minute surprise she has been granted another turn in office, with a new mandate to create a "Europe fit for the digital age." Vestager's heart is definitely in the right place, even if she has effectively taken forced breakups off the table, judging that the ensuing legal wrangle will do more harm than good, even if it might put Big Tech's execs on notice that bad behaviour has real consequences.
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8:53 am Wed
Sep 11, 2019
The EU's top trustbuster gets a surprise re-appointment
Catalan independence movement declares a general strike in Barcelona
The cause of Catalan independence surged in October 2017, when voters defied Madrid and voted in a banned independence referendum despite indiscriminate violence and rubber-bullet fire from police, who had earlier seized the ballot boxes (the independence movement had wisely procured a backup set of boxes just in case. The referendum led to a declaration […]
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Relatives and cronies of Cambodia's dictator have bought "golden passports" from Cyprus and exfiltrated millions
Cambodia's long-serving dictator Hun Sen nearly lost power in 2013 when an opposition party mobilized over Facebook (Hun Sen recovered by mastering Facebook and using it to crush the opposition, whose leaders are now exiled.
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Podcast: False Flag
In my latest podcast (MP3), I read my Green European Journal short story about the terrible European Copyright Directive which passed last March, False Flag. Published in December 2018, the story highlights the ways in which this badly considered law creates unlimited opportunities for abuse, especially censorship by corporations who've been embarassed by whistleblowers and […]
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5 innovative massage guns that can blast your aches away
Got some aches that a lazy rubdown won’t put a dent in? Give your muscles an early Christmas with these massage guns. If you’ve never tried one, they’re all designed to bring deep tissue relief, and they’re all at Black Friday prices now. JAWKU Muscle Blaster V2 Cordless Percussion Massage Gun This cordless massager exerts […]
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Go from installation to system admin with this Linux training bundle
Just about everybody from small-time app developers to big database administrators loves Linux. But just because it’s open-source doesn’t mean its secrets are open to everybody. For that, you need a comprehensive training program like the Complete Linux System Administrator Bundle. If you’re chasing any kind of career in coding, this is the online regimen […]
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Break into Android app development with this Jetpack training bundle
If you want to be an app developer for Android, there’s never been a better time. Languages like Kotlin are tailor-made for functionality, and the Jetpack suite of tools makes the whole process easier. The only hurdle is learning your way around these tools, and that’s where the Android Jetpack & App Development Certification Bundle […]
