This is the TechSummit Rewind, a daily recap of the top technology headlines.
Justice Department files antitrust suit to block AT&T/Time Warner merger
The US Justice Department has filed a lawsuit to block the proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner, saying that the combination of AT&T’s distribution networks and Time Warner’s news and entertainment products would harm competition. Time Warner is the parent company of CNN, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, and HBO, among other properties.
“AT&T/DirectTV would hinder its rivals by forcing them to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more per year for Time Warner’s networks, and it would use its increased power to slow the industry’s transition to new and exciting video distribution models that provide greater choice for consumers. The proposed merger would result in fewer innovative offerings and higher bills for American families.”
The US Justice Department, in a complaint
In a press conference, AT&T’s executive leadership gathered in New York to rebuke the DOJ lawsuit and defend the merits and legality of the proposed $85 billion merger. According to AT&T CEO Randall Stevenson, the lawsuit “stretches the very reach of antitrust law beyond the breaking point,” but he suggested that he’s looking for a way forward.
“As we head to court we will continue to offer solutions that allows this transaction to close.”
AT&T CEO Randall Stevenson, in a press conference
However, Stevenson said that selling CNN is off the table.
High-profile media lawyer Daniel Petrocelli was also at the press conference, defending AT&T and the merger.
“The DOJ has to prove that this merger will harm competition, that this merger will harm consumers. It’s a burden that they have not met in a half a century and it’s one that they cannot and will not meet here.
“Under basic principles of law and economics, combining these two non-competing companies should pose no problem. The TV bill will not go up, and the combined company will not keep CNN, TNT, HBO, or any other network to itself. Simply put, the theories in the DOJ’s complaint filled about an hour ago simply have no proof and make no sense in the real business world. We are confident that the law and facts will prevail and that this merger will be allowed to proceed.”
Uber to buy up to 24K SUVs from Volvo equipped with autonomous technology from 2019-2021
Uber plans to buy up to 24,000 self-driving cars from Volvo. According to a statement from Volvo, it’ll provide Uber with its flagship XC90 SUVs equipped with autonomous technology as part of a non-exclusive deal from 2019 to 2021.
“Our goal was from day one to make investments into a vehicle that could be manufactured at scale.”
Uber head of automotive alliances Jeff Miller
According to Miller, a small number of cars would be purchased with equity and others would be bought with debt financing.
AWS launches Secret Region for intel agencies and their partners working with classified data
Amazon has announced that its AWS cloud computing service now offers a new region that’s specifically designed for the workloads of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The AWS Secret Region can run workloads up to the “secret” security classification level, and will complement the service’s existing $600 million contract with the CIA and other agencies for running Top Secret workloads on its cloud.
“The U.S. Intelligence Community can now execute their missions with a common set of tools, a constant flow of the latest technology, and the flexibility to rapidly scale with the mission. The AWS Top Secret Region was launched three years ago as the first air-gapped commercial cloud and customers across the U.S. Intelligence Community have made it a resounding success. Ultimately, this capability allows more agency collaboration, helps get critical information to decision makers faster, and enables an increase in our Nation’s Security.”
Amazon Web Services worldwide public sector vice president Teresa Carlson
The original, air-gapped Top Secret cloud, which AWS operates for the intelligence community, was limited to intelligence agencies. The new Secret Region is available to all government agencies and is separate from the earlier work done with the CIA and other agencies, along with the existing Amazon GovCloud.
DJI threatens legal action after researcher reports bug
An essay written by security researcher Kevin Finisterre explains that DJI’s bug bounty program isn’t off to a good start after launching in August.
Finisterre describes his interactions with DJI before and after he reported problems with the drone-maker’s security. Before getting too deep into it, he checked with DJI to see if their servers were included in the scope of the bug bounty program and DJI confirmed that they were on the table. After some digging, Finisterre put a 31-page report together that detailed what he and his colleagues found. That included the private key to DJI’s SSL certificate, which was leaked on GitHub, allowing Finisterre to see customer data stored on DJI’s servers.
Finisterre turned in the report and DJI said that the information warranted a $30,000 reward. After a series of negotiations over the terms of the deal focused mostly on what Finisterre could or could not say, he was advised by a number of lawyers that the agreement was risky at best and “likely crafted in bad faith to silence anyone that signed it.” He abandoned the deal after being sent a letter stating that he had no authority to access DJI servers and the company was reserving its right of action under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
“DJI asks researchers to follow standard terms for bug bounty programs, which are designed to protect confidential data and allow time for analysis and resolution of a vulnerability before it is publicly disclosed. The hacker in question refused to agree to these terms, despite DJI’s continued attempts to negotiate with him, and threatened DJI if his terms were not met.”
Uber adds live location sharing, expands beacon program
Uber has added a few features that should make getting a ride a tad easier, including live location sharing that’ll let your driver see your location once you tap the gray icon on the bottom right of the screen. This can be helpful when you’re walking to your pickup location so your driver isn’t left in the dark.
Beacons are also being expanded to New York, Chicago, and San Francisco to help you identify your ride in a sea of Ubers. The company’s guest hailing feature has also been updated, letting you hail rides for friends and family and communicate with the driver via text message. Tap “where to,” and you’ll be able to see a different rider at the top of the screen.
Lastly, Uber has added in-app gifting, so you can send Uber credits to your friends without leaving the app.
All of these features are available today.
Tencent becomes first Chinese tech firm valued over $500B
Tencent has become the first Chinese company to be valued at over $500 billion.
Shares of the 19-year-old company, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, rallied to reach HK$418.80 ($53.62) to give it a market cap of HK$3.99 billion ($510.8 million).
Entry into the half-a-trillion dollar club comes a week after Tencent posted a profit of $2.7 billion on revenue of $9.8 billion for Q3 2017. Overall profit was up 69 percent year-over-year and revenue rose by 61 percent thanks to the company’s games business.
Uber fined $8.9 million by Colorado for allowing drivers with felony convictions, driver’s license issues
Colorado regulators have given Uber an $8.9 million penalty for allowing 57 people with past criminal or motor vehicle offenses to drive for the company, according to the state’s Public Utilities Commission.
According to the Commission, the drivers should have been disqualified. They had issues ranging from felony convictions to driving under the influence and reckless driving. In some cases, drivers were working with revoked, suspended, or cancelled licenses. A similar investigation done of Lyft found no violations.
“We have determined that Uber had background-check information that should have disqualified these drivers under the law, but they were allowed to drive anyway. These actions put the safety of passengers in extreme jeopardy.”
Colorado Public Utilities Commission director Doug Dean, in a statement
“We recently discovered a process error that was inconsistent with Colorado’s ridesharing regulations and proactively notified the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). This error affected a small number of drivers and we immediately took corrective action. Per Uber safety policies and Colorado state regulations, drivers with access to the Uber app must undergo a nationally accredited third-party background screening. We will continue to work closely with the CPUC to enable access to safe, reliable transportation options for all Coloradans.”
Uber spokesperson Stephanie Sedlak, in a statement
Uber handed the PUC over 107 records, and said that they removed those people from its system.
The PUC cross-checked the Uber drivers with state crime and court databases, finding that many had aliases and other violations. While 63 were found to have issues with their driver’s licenses, the PUC focused on 57 who had additional violations, because of the impact on public safety.
“What [Uber] calls proactively reaching out to us was after we had to threaten them with daily civil penalties to get them to provide us with the [records]. This is not a data processing error. This is a public safety issue.
“They said their private background checks were superior to anything out there. We can tell you their private background checks were not superior. In some cases, we could not say they even provided a background check.”
The fine is a civil penalty assessment based on a citation of $2,500 per day for each disqualified driver found to have worked. Among the findings, 12 drivers had felony convictions, 17 had major moving violations, 63 had drivers’ license issues, and three had interlock driver’s licenses, which is required after a recent drunken driving conviction.
Uber has 10 days to pay 50 percent of the $8.9 million penalty or request a hearing to contest the violation before an administrative law judge. Afterwards, the PUC will continue making audits to check for compliance. The penalty could rise if more violations are found.
“Uber can fix this tomorrow. The law allows them to have fingerprint background checks. We had found a number of a.k.a.’s and aliases that these drivers were using. That’s the problem with name-based background checks. We’re very concerned and we hope the company will take steps to correct this.”
PayPal partners with Acorns to help you invest your money
PayPal has launched a number of integrations with microinvestment platform Acorns.
Acorns rounds up your purchases once you connect your bank card to the app to the nearest dollar. Users can also set up recurring investments or make an one-time payment of up to $50,000 that will be invested on their behalf.
PayPal can now be used to fund an Acorns account for round up, recurring, and one-off investments.
PayPal users can also monitor or manage their Acorns investments in the PayPal app.
The new integrations are available now for “select” PayPal customers in the US, though it will open to everyone in the U.S. in early 2018.
FanDuel CEO and co-founder Nigel Eccles leaving to start an eSports company
FanDuel CEO and co-founder Nigel Eccles is leaving the company and stepping down from the company’s board, where he was chairman.
Eccles internally announced that he’s leaving to start an eSports company. Monday was his last day.
Matt King, who served as FanDuel’s CFO until the end of 2016, will replace Eccles as CEO. He then left and spent a year at insurance broker Cottingham & Butler. King is also taking a board seat.
FanDuel is also adding two more people to the board. Former Dish Network vice chairman and president Carl Vogel is joining as chairman, and former Fox Sports executive David Nathanson is also joining the board.
Today: Salesforce, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP report earnings
Thursday-Sunday: No TechSummit Rewinds
Seattle-based startup Pixvana announced a $14 million Series A investment led by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital with participation from new investors like Raine Ventures, Cisco Investments, and Heart Ventures.
Health IQ, a startup that collects data to let health-conscious people save an average of $1,238 a year on their life insurance premiums, has raised another $76 million in venture capital.
Bloomberg’s Twitter network will launch on Dec. 18 with six founding partners: Goldman Sachs, Infiniti, TD Ameritrade, CA Technologies, AT&T, and CME Group.
Southeast Asia-based startup aCommerce, which helps brands get into e-commerce and digital media in the region, has raised $65 million in new funding led by Emerald Media.
According to Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, Xiaomi will invest up to $1 billion in 100 Indian startups over the next five years.
TechSummit Rewind 206 This is the TechSummit Rewind, a daily recap of the top technology headlines. Justice Department files antitrust suit to block AT&T/Time Warner merger…
