Tech Week In Review: Google Lawsuit, Right-to-Repair, Consumer Data Privacy

Google Hit with Another Multistate Lawsuit:

A bipartisan group of attorneys general from 36 states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging its Android app store, Google Play, is in violation of antitrust laws. The suit specifically targets the 30 percent commission Google intends to charge all developers who sell apps on Google Play, where, the suit also claims, 90 percent of Android apps are sold.

“Google must be held accountable for harming small businesses and consumers,” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R), one of the leaders of the multi-state suit, said in a statement. “It must stop using its monopolistic power and hyper-dominant market position to unlawfully leverage billions of added dollars from smaller companies, competitors and consumers beyond what should be paid.”

In a blog post Google called the lawsuit “meritless” and pointed out that rival app stores and developer sites impose more restrictions than it does.

“So, it’s strange that a group of state attorneys general chose to file a lawsuit attacking a system that provides more openness and choice than others,” said the post by Wilson White, the company’s senior director of Public Policy.

Google is also facing other multi-state lawsuits over its dominance of the mobile search and advertising markets. But the latest suit comes just over a week after a federal judge dismissed an FTC antitrust lawsuit against Facebook on the grounds that the agency failed to prove Facebook is a monopoly. (POLITICO, CNET)

Biden to Call for ‘Right-to-Repair’ Rules:

President Biden intends to direct the FTC to draft new rules stopping manufacturers from restricting consumers’ ability to repair products themselves or have repairs done at independent shops. The scope of the rules will ultimately be decided by the agency, but the president’s “right-to-repair” directive is expected to specifically mention mobile phones. Companies like Apple have long imposed limits on who can repair their products, often citing intellectual property concerns. (BLOOMBERG, CNET)

CO Enacts Consumer Data Privacy Law:

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed legislation (SB 190) making the state the third - after California and Virginia - to enact a comprehensive consumer data privacy law. The law will allow Colorado residents, starting in July 2023, to opt out of having their data collected by websites and require companies to specify what data they collect, how long they keep that data and what they do with it. (DENVER POST)

Judge Green-Lights Google Privacy Lawsuit in CA:

A federal judge in California has given the go-ahead for a lawsuit accusing Google of recording the conversations of users of its digital assistant and using those recordings to provide targeted advertising to those users even when the users activated the assistant unintentionally. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Judge Beth Freeman rejected Google’s contention that its privacy policy allows it to use information recorded in such inadvertent activations, saying the policy doesn’t make that sufficiently clear to device owners. (CNET)

Trump Sues Facebook, Google, Twitter over Bans:

Former President Trump said he has filed lawsuits against Facebook, Google and Twitter and the companies’ CEOs, alleging they violated the First Amendment when they banned him from their platforms after the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack. Lawsuits challenging social media company user bans and post removals on First Amendment grounds have repeatedly been rejected by courts across the nation. (CNET)

Pentagon Scraps $10B Microsoft Cloud Computing Contract:

The U.S. Defense Department announced the cancelation of its $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) contract with Microsoft Corp., which was awarded during the Trump administration. The contract had been held up by a lawsuit from Amazon alleging the former president improperly pressured military officials to give the contract to a company other than Amazon. (REUTERS)

FTC Accuses Broadcom of Monopolization:

The FTC voted to file charges against computer chip supplier Broadcom for illegally monopolizing the market for semiconductor components. The Commission also voted to accept a proposed consent order for public comment. That order would prohibit Broadcom from entering into exclusivity or loyalty contracts with certain customers, conditioning access to chips on exclusivity or loyalty agreements, and retaliating against customers who work with its competitors. (CNET)

— Compiled by KOREY CLARK