Tag: democrats’
BREAKING Democrats keep control of the Senate after Catherine Cortez Masto wins in Nevada
: Midterm elections: Democrats hold Senate as Republicans fewer than 10 wins away from House control
Liberal Democrats: Give struggling homeowners £300 a month
: Bad news for Democrats ahead of the midterm elections: Voters worry about a recession and declining living standards
House, Senate Democrats ask FTC to fight Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot (updated)
Amazon might face some political opposition in its bid to acquire iRobot. Democrats including Senator Elizabeth Warren and House Representatives Jesus Garcia, Pramila Jayapal, Mondaire Jones, Katie Porter and Mark Pocan have asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to oppose the purchase of the Roomba creator. iRobot is a “powerful” incumbent in robot vacuums, according to the politicians’ letter, and Amazon would allegedly reduce competition with the resources it could pour into the market.
The members of Congress pointed to Amazon’s history of technology buyouts to support their case, arguing that the company snaps up competitors to eliminate them. Amazon killed sales of Kiva Systems’ robots after the 2012 acquisition and used them exclusively in its warehouses, for instance. The 2017 and 2018 acquisitions of Blink and Ring reportedly helped Amazon dominate US video doorbell sales, while the internet retailer has also faced multiple accusations of abusing third-party seller data to launch rival products and promote them above others.
We’ve asked Amazon for comment. The online shopping giant frequently denies anti-competitive practices, and has even called for the recusal of FTC chair Lina Khan in Amazon-related cases over claims she’s biased against the company.
The Commission hasn’t said if it will take action against the iRobot deal. Reports circulated that the FTC reviewed Amazon’s purchase of MGM, but didn’t challenge it. Khan didn’t have a party majority at the time, however, and movie studios aren’t the same as robot vacuum makers. iRobot is estimated to have 75 percent of the American robovac market by revenue, according to Statista. It’s already difficult for challenges like Shark and Eufy to thrive, and it wouldn’t get easier with Amazon involved.
Update 9/30 1:40PM ET: An Amazon spokesperson claimed the politicians’ letter had a “number of falsehoods,” and that it would “cooperate” with regulators in a deal it felt would encourage competition. It wouldn’t elaborate the allegedly false claims on-record.
House Democrats debut new bill to limit US police use of facial recognition
A group of House Democrats has unveiled a new bill that aims to put limits on the use of facial recognition technologies by law enforcement agencies across the United States. Dubbed the Facial Recognition Act, the bill would compel law enforcement to obtain a judge-authorized warrant before using facial recognition. By adding the warrant requirement, […]
House Democrats debut new bill to limit US police use of facial recognition by Zack Whittaker originally published on TechCrunch
Democrats are getting comfortable clowning on Republicans online
There’s only a few weeks until the midterms, and President Joe Biden is starting beef on Twitter.
Earlier this week, Biden announced that the federal government would cancel up to $20,000 worth of federal student loans for millions of borrowers. While the internet’s reaction to the news was typical, the White House’s response to that reaction was not.
On Thursday, the White House’s official Twitter account called out Republican lawmakers who spent the last few days criticizing the administration’s student loan forgiveness plan. In a series of tweets, the White House name-dropped Republicans like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA) and Matt Gaetz (FL) for taking out business loans during the pandemic that were later forgiven by the federal…