All posts tagged: Big Tech

What is an encyclical? Inside Pope Leo’s urgent warning about AI and the ‘culture of power’

What is an encyclical? Inside Pope Leo’s urgent warning about AI and the ‘culture of power’

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Like the encyclicals of his predecessors across the last 135 years, Pope Leo XIV’s “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,” addresses the Roman Catholic Church to a present crisis facing all of humanity. Leo reminds us that the church “walks alongside humanity” and so the church cannot be “a stranger to the forces shaping society.” For these reasons, Magnifica Humanitas comes not just as a message for Catholics but, just as popes before him have offered their encyclicals, as a reflection for “all men and women of goodwill.” For Catholics, an encyclical letter is an official teaching document. An encyclical defines doctrine, the things that Catholics believe. Popes have been writing them for centuries. Initially, encyclicals were letters directed only to bishops and they were intended to bind the whole Catholic Church together under a coherent, shared teaching. Often, the teaching related to internal theological matters such as the duties of bishops or the interpretation of Scripture. With Pope Leo XIII in 1891, the church began …

EU agreement on US trade deal within reach, says top lawmaker – POLITICO

EU agreement on US trade deal within reach, says top lawmaker – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Although the two sides shook hands on the trade deal at Trump’s Scottish golf resort last July, Brussels still hasn’t passed legislation to keep its side of the bargain by scrapping duties on U.S. industrial goods. The accord, criticized by many in Europe as one-sided, foresees a 15 percent U.S. duty on most European exports. Lange, a German Social Democrat, has pushed to add strong safeguards in case Trump intimidates the EU again, as the U.S. president did earlier this year when he threatened to annex Greenland, a Danish territory.  In an interview on Thursday, Lange said he was confident a deal would be reached at the next negotiating round being held either on May 12 or 19. That would pave the way for a plenary vote in the European Parliament in June — one of the final steps before a law can take effect. “I guess there will be a conclusion at the next meeting,” Lange said. While parliamentary groups were still discussing when to hold a third and possibly final round of talks, …

It’s still hooked – POLITICO

It’s still hooked – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Unions and opposition politicians echo this sentiment: Labor union ver.di warned of a “high workload” and “insufficient training,” while Kianusch Stender, the Social Democratic Party’s regional spokesperson for digital affairs, argued the rollout was rushed and poorly prepped because of “time pressures,” technical shortcomings and a lack of consultation. “Employees, representatives from the justice and police departments reported limited workability, missing functions, incompatible specialist applications and a high level of additional effort in their daily work,” said Stender. For Schrödter, the lesson to be learned is this: “The challenge in making the switch is not that the solutions are not available, but mainly the question of political will to take responsibility,” he said, calling on Berlin to follow suit. Dutch Digital Minister Willemijn Aerdts, who said “the U.S. is still a valued ally, but we want to be able to make choices”, looks on during a debate in parliament in The Hague in February 2026. | John Beckmann/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images Indeed, the German federal government also started trying sovereign alternatives to power its …

Europe should regulate Big Tech instead of banning kids from social media, Estonia says – POLITICO

Europe should regulate Big Tech instead of banning kids from social media, Estonia says – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Banning kids from social media won’t “actually solve the problems” and “kids will find very quickly the ways to go around and to still use social media,” the Estonian minister said. “The way to approach this, to me, is not to make kids responsible for that harm [stemming from social media platforms] and start self-regulating,” said Kallas, speaking at POLITICO’s European Pulse Forum in Barcelona. The “responsibility is on the governments and on the corporation side,” she said. “Europe pretends to be weak when it comes to big American and international corporations,” but that’s a “pretense,” Kallas said. She called on the EU to “actually take this power and start regulating the big American corporations.” Australia, the first country to implement a ban for kids having social media accounts below 15, has noted significant gaps in the way platforms implement the measures. Sonja Rijnen contributed reporting. Source link

Europe watches as Trump’s threats escalate – POLITICO

Europe watches as Trump’s threats escalate – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Donald Trump’s threats to wipe out Iran’s “whole civilization” shocked the world. On the podcast today, host Zoya Sheftalovich and Ian Wishart, POLITICO’s senior EU politics editor, discuss the European reaction as the conflict in the Middle East spirals. Plus, NATO chief Mark Rutte is in Washington to meet the U.S. president, but what does he hope to achieve with so little consensus within the alliance? Next, we obtained documents that reveal the extent to which Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán is deepening ties with Russia. An agreement signed between the two countries last year includes cooperation in a diverse range of areas from energy to circus arts. Zoya and Ian discuss what implications, if any, these revelations could have for the upcoming election in Hungary. Finally, Australia has been trying to limit the use of social media for the under-16s — and it wants Brussels’ help to get Big Tech to comply. If you have questions or comments, you can reach us on our WhatsApp here or by dialing +32 491 05 06 29. Source …

Australia says it can’t go it alone on social media ban for kids – POLITICO

Australia says it can’t go it alone on social media ban for kids – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“Over time, international community concern is what will produce substantive, enduring change globally to the algorithms and a change to the design behaviours of big tech companies,” Angus Campbell, Canberra’s envoy to the EU, told POLITICO.  “If it was just Australia, tech companies could work with the carrots [positive enforcement mechanisms] and absorb the penalties, to some national benefit, but if progressively, it becomes the wider community of the world demanding change, I think you will see significant positive change,” Campbell said. His comments come as multiple European countries work to introduce social media bans for young people. France leads the pack with a draft law to come into effect as soon as September, while the European Parliament has also urged the European Commission to propose an EU-wide system. That’s despite the fact that Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said in an assessment last week that Australia’s measures have not yet succeeded in keeping most kids away from platforms, and neither have reports of online harms dropped discernibly. It found significant gaps in enforcing the ban, including platforms allowing and even encouraging kids to try age-assurance methods several times until they got around them. …

Tech firms enter legal limbo over child abuse scanning – POLITICO

Tech firms enter legal limbo over child abuse scanning – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The reactions to the political deadlock have been furious: European home affairs commissioner Magnus Brunner said it was “hard to understand,” and child rights group the Internet Watch Foundation called it an “abject political failure.” Despite the lack of a legal fix, tech firms could very well continue to scan for child sexual abuse. Google, Meta, Microsoft and Snapchat’s parent company Snap said in a joint statement late on Friday that they “will continue to take voluntary action” to scan messages. “We call on EU institutions to conclude negotiations on a regulatory framework as a matter of urgency,” the tech companies said. One senior industry official involved in decisions on scanning, granted anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly, said their view is that, though the end of the law makes the legal picture murky, it does not make it unlawful to scan. Firms faced a similar gap in 2020, when they fell without a legal basis to scan for content. All companies scanning for CSAM, with the exception of Meta, said they did not …

SEC eyes shift to twice-yearly earnings reports

SEC eyes shift to twice-yearly earnings reports

Published by skeptic

The SEC is working on a proposal to allow public companies to release earnings reports twice a year instead of quarterly, per the WSJ.  Chatter about making the 50-plus-year-old quarterly requirement optional has picked up steam in the past year, as companies lament the cost and burden of preparing for quarterly earnings. The requirement is also thought to be one reason why some companies choose to stay private longer.  Those in favor of change hope that a semiannual requirement will encourage more companies to go public by making it easier to maintain public company status. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and President Trump have both voiced support for the idea. The Journal reports that the SEC has already begun discussions with exchanges about potential next steps, though any change is still a long way away.  If the SEC releases its proposal — which could come within the next few weeks — it will be subject to a public comment period and then a vote. There is precedent for this rule, notes the Journal. Both the European …

‘Be the one in control’: Why are more countries leaning towards banning social media access for kids

‘Be the one in control’: Why are more countries leaning towards banning social media access for kids

Published by Sam Flores

Shafinaz said regulators were increasingly prioritising a “precautionary approach” when it comes to the social media landscape. “For example, I think even MCMC would rather be accused of over-regulating than failing to act while all of these harms continue,” she said, referring to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. In response to CNA’s question on whether Meta’s teen accounts feature would be enough to make governments reconsider blanket bans, Chua said the company shares a “common purpose” with regulators. “But there’s definitely, I think, more conversations to be had about how you can pursue the common intent,” he said. “The conversations that we have with regulators is to figure out how we can keep people safe online, not just in a small number of apps that are actually perhaps more invested in safety than unregulated or newer apps.” Chua reiterated Meta’s calls for age verification to be introduced at the base level of app stores, saying that this would be more efficient than requiring age verification for each of the dozens of apps that teens …

EU loses patience following Trump’s latest tariff threat – POLITICO

EU loses patience following Trump’s latest tariff threat – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

BRUSSELS — The European Union is pushing Washington to clarify how the United States will proceed after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, the EU executive said on Sunday. “The European Commission requests full clarity on the steps the United States intends to take following the recent Supreme Court ruling on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA),” the Commission said in a strongly worded statement issued after Trump announced Saturday he wants to impose a new global tariff rate of 15 percent. “The current situation is not conducive to delivering ‘fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial’ transatlantic trade and investment,’” the Commission said. EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Saturday, as the EU grapples with the uncertainty of whether its trade agreement struck in Scotland last summer still applies in light of Trump’s latest tariff threats. The quickly evolving situation pushed a senior EU trade lawmaker to urge the European Parliament to postpone a vote on legislation …