Tech Roundup - July 16, 2021

Fri, 07/16/2021

Welcome to ‘Tech Roundup,’ where we highlight some of the most significant/thought-provoking news items from the world of tech, especially at the nexus of law and technology. We are particularly interested in foregrounding tech news that is happening in Nebraska, and our region more broadly. If you have a news item you would like to see in the Roundup, please email neil.rutledge@unl.edu.


 

Local/Regional 

Google appears to be company behind Lincoln data center

Lincoln Journal Star

  • Google appears to be the company behind a massive data center project in Lincoln proposed for 600 acres of land north and west of the 56th Street exit along Interstate 80.
  • Local officials who are familiar with the project all have signed confidentiality agreements that prevent them from discussing details.
  • When (construction might begin) is unclear. In the original planning application, Agate (the company that initially filed the planning application) listed a timeline that had construction potentially starting as early as last year. It's likely that the project's timeline was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Advocates Fault Nebraska for Outdated State Rail Plan

Nebraska Public Media

  • Nebraska’s statewide rail plan was last updated in 2003, making it the most out-of-date plan in the country, and rail advocates say that has held Nebraska's railroads back.
  • The document lays out a state’s vision for rail development and projects, while also summarizing facts and details about railroads in the state.
  • While a state rail plan is not required by the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, it is highly encouraged by the U.S. Department of Transportation. But, without it, Nebraska, which has nearly 3,500 miles of track, may be losing out on grants and other federal money for passenger and regional rail, according to experts and advocates.

 

Uptick in tick-borne diseases spurs Cristiano’s summer research

Nebraska Today

  • Dominic Cristiano is directing his research to better inform the public about potential risks of tick-borne diseases across the Cornhusker State.
  • A graduate student in applied ecology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Cristiano is using data from a larger Tick Tag Go project to map tick locations statewide. Ultimately, he plans to use the data to compare Nebraskans’ perceptions of tick risks to the actual threat the blood-sucking arachnids pose.

 

"Air Park Farm" to sustain local food production

Nebraska Public Media

  • A Lincoln nonprofit is finding a sustainable, and unique way to increase local food production. Community Crops is leasing a 12-acre piece of property from the Lincoln Airport Authority to put in cover crops, create habitat for pollinators, and give new farmers a chance to get started The “Air Park Farm” will be the first urban agriculture plot of its kind in Lincoln.
  • The rest of the land will be used for cover crops, a conservation farming practice used to increase soil health.

 

State Legislature's Cryptocurrency Bill Designed to Regulate the New Financial Sector

Nebraska Public Media

  • Signed into law in late May, LB 649, or the Nebraska Financial Innovation Act, will create “Digital Asset Depositories,” or banks, that trade cryptocurrency in the state. Also, existing banks in Nebraska have the opportunity to create a department that works with cryptocurrency. The new financial sector will be supervised by the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance, with other regulations on the way.
  • The Bill passed 46-2 on final vote, and Governor Ricketts signed it into law on May 25 -- making Nebraska the second state to allow banks to hold cryptocurrency behind Wyoming.

 

Appeals Court Reversal Bad News for Nebraska Ethanol Producers

Nebraska Public Media

  • The ruling by the U-S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rolls-back ethanol rules that had allowed the year-round sale of gasoline with 15% ethanol since 2019. The ruling late last week said the EPA over-reached in allowing the waiver to sell E-15 in the summer. Petrochemical manufacturers had sued to block the use of E-15 year-round.
  • Jan Tenbensel is the chairman of the Nebraska Ethanol Board and said he’s more worried about the long-term effects of the ruling. “A retailer that sees this sort of gamesmanship or messing around, they’re not going to want to make the investment to make the change in their business models to move to E-15,” Tensensel said. “That’s what I’m really concerned about. It’s not the current retailers because they’re going to be okay, but it’s adding additional retailers.”

 

Local Startup Spotlight

Retail Aware

  • “Helping retail manufacturers and their supply chains optimize merchandising and increase sales. Our proprietary Sense platform measures audience, dwell, and engagement in relation to a product or area in a physical environment. Learn more at www.retailaware.com.”

 

National/International

 

U.S. Plans to Counter Ransomware Attacks Through Crypto Tracing

Bloomberg Law

  • The Biden administration intends to crack down on the use of cryptocurrencies in ransomware attacks through more rigorous tracing of proceeds paid to hackers behind the disabling of companies, organizations and government agencies around the world, according to people familiar with the matter.
  • Deputy National Security Adviser Anne Neuberger said that the White House had created a ransomware task force and that the administration’s strategy involved efforts to disrupt ransomware operations, confront the use of cryptocurrencies in attacks and work with allies to encourage other nations not to harbor attackers, the people said.

 

After Didi Fiasco, China Imposes Cybersecurity Reviews on Foreign IPOs

Lawfare

  • Chinese ride-sharing giant, Didi Chuxing, launched on the New York Stock Exchange on June 30, quickly raising $4.4 billion—the largest initial public offering (IPO) of a Chinese company since Alibaba in 2014. But the launch apparently surprised Chinese regulators, who reportedly thought they had put the brakes on by warning the company not to move ahead with the IPO.
  • When Didi’s stocks began trading as scheduled, Beijing reacted quickly, announcing that it was cracking down on the company’s cybersecurity practices and prohibiting the company from accepting any new users in its mostly China-based market.
  • This latest move lends credence to a growing consensus that Chinese regulators are keen to keep their monopoly and control over the user data collected by their homegrown companies. Viewed through that lens, the new cybersecurity reviews are a continuation of Chinese regulators’ broader crackdown on “platform” companies, whose currency is Chinese user data.

 

Challenges in Combating Terrorism and Extremism Online

Lawfare

  • Terrorists and other bad actors exploit a variety of social media platforms, taking advantage of their different capabilities and trying to find weak areas in which they can operate. Social media companies have begun to cooperate more against this danger, but their efforts are plagued by many problems.
  • Erin Saltman of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism describes the many problems facing the industry when they try to fight extremism and assesses some of their efforts to improve cooperation among companies.

 

Intel CEO’s Chip-Building Plan Has a $50 Billion-Plus Price Tag

The Wall Street Journal

  • Intel (plans) to not only make its own semiconductors but also become a so-called foundry, a maker of chips for others—underwritten with more than $50 billion in financial commitments, if Intel’s exploratory talks to acquire chip-making specialist GlobalFoundries come to fruition. The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported Intel is considering an acquisition that would value GlobalFoundries at roughly $30 billion.

 

Surveillance in Spotlight Amid Ongoing EU-U.S. Data Privacy Rift

Bloomberg Law

  • U.S. government surveillance remains in the spotlight one year after the European Union’s top court struck down a main mechanism that Facebook Inc. and about 4,000 other companies used to transfer data across the Atlantic.
  • Surveillance is expected to be the focus of proposals for revamping the so-called EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, which was invalidated in a July 16, 2020, ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union.

 

Cambridge data shows Bitcoin mining on the move

BBC News

  • New data shows Bitcoin mining in China was already in sharp decline before the latest crackdown by the government.
  • The research by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) found China's share of mining fell from 75.5% in September 2019 to 46% in April 2021.
  • The CCAF's Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index shows that at time of writing Bitcoin consumed almost as much electricity annually as Colombia.

 

Senators Warn Telecom Lobbyists Against Obstructing Hotline

Bloomberg Law

  • Democratic senators are accusing telecom’s lobbying arm of obstructing Congress’ efforts to establish a three-digit code for a suicide prevention hotline by pressuring state legislatures to explore fewer fees that could be collected to support the hotline.
  • Congress established (in the National Suicide Designation Act) a three-digit code—988—for callers to easily reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Veterans using the code also will be redirected to the Veterans Crisis Line for more specific support, according to the law. Lawmakers want the code to be fully implemented nationwide by no later than July 2022.

 

Home broadband adoption, computer ownership vary by race, ethnicity in the U.S.

Pew Research Center

  • Black and Hispanic adults in the United States remain less likely than White adults to say they own a traditional computer or have high-speed internet at home, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Jan. 25 to Feb. 8, 2021.
  • Eight-in-ten White adults report owning a desktop or laptop computer, compared with 69% of Black adults and 67% of Hispanic adults. Eight-in-ten White adults also report having a broadband connection at home, while smaller shares of Black and Hispanic adults say the same – 71% and 65%, respectively.
  • By contrast, there are no statistically significant racial and ethnic differences when it comes to smartphone or tablet ownership. Roughly eight-in-ten or more White, Black and Hispanic adults say they have a smartphone, and about half or more in each group say they have a tablet.

 

Odd Couple Unites in Action Against Big Tech

The Wall Street Journal

  • Ken Paxton is an outspoken Texan and Christian conservative who has become a legal champion of the right. Dina Srinivasan is a Bay Area-based independent whose scrutiny of big business has made her a rising star for the left. Despite differing worldviews, they have united against a common enemy: Big Tech.
  • The duo are key players in an antitrust lawsuit filed last year on behalf of a group of states against Google, which claims that the Alphabet Inc. subsidiary uses its control over ad exchanges to favor its own businesses and to levy fees on websites that rely on it for revenue.

 

What We Are Reading

Kyle Langvardt, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law and First Amendment scholar suggested this article for the Roundup:

Gaming insiders spooked by pay-for-engagement plans

Axios

  • Google's announcement of a plan to pay some game developers based on how much their games are played has stirred concerns among industry insiders about the downside of game subscription economics.
  • The concern over engagement-based payments is that they incentivize developers to make games that are artificially longer or that pressure their players to keep coming back.
  • Johan Toresson, a talent scout for acclaimed indie-friendly publisher Raw Fury, told Axios that engagement-based payments incentivize the creation of games that press players to "log in every day, put every waking hour into the game" he said.

Langvardt offered this perspective:

Here's a news development to watch--could send habit forming game design into overdrive.

 

 

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