Advocacy groups urge Biden to keep big tech out of the White House
A collection of advocacy groups has called upon President-elect Joe Biden to prevent tech companies like Apple from influencing the administration, over accusations the tech giants are a threat to democracy in the United States.
![Joe Biden [Via Wikipedia/Gage Skidmore, CC 2.0]](https://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/39091-74744-joe-biden-wikipedia-gage-skidmore-l.jpg)
Joe Biden [Via Wikipedia/Gage Skidmore, CC 2.0]
Published on Monday, the joint letter from 33 groups urges Biden to "reject the influence" of "Big Tech" corporations by excluding "executives, lobbyists, lawyers, and consultants from your administration." The group also looks towards working with the administration "to address the harms posed by Big Tech."
Naming Apple alongside Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, the letter accuses the group of representing "serious threats to privacy, democracy, innovation, and Americans' economic well-being." The companies are all claimed to have "developed predatory business practices that harvest user data for profit," before asserting that Facebook and Google "irresponsibly wield immense influence over democratic elections, without oversight or accountability."
"Despite the myth that Silicon Valley is rife with entrepreneurs and small businesses capable of disrupting entire industries, these companies have killed, rather than fostered innovation," the letter continues, before accusing Amazon of taking advantage of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic by "tripling their profits on price-gouged essential goods."
The group insists the Biden Administration must "confront the threats" posed by the companies, "however we can only bring these companies to account if you do not rely on affiliates of these very companies to make up your government." Existing efforts to influence Washington are highlighted, including increased lobbying and campaign spending, with Facebook and Amazon each said to be spending "more on lobbying than any other company in the country."
The "tide is turning" according to the group, citing a Pew Research Center poll showing almost half of Americans want tech companies to be more regulated, as well as the House Antitrust Subcommittee's investigation into tech companies, and the US Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against Google.
"We believe that eliminating the decades-old revolving door between Silicon Valley and your administration will only help your cause," the letter concludes.
The letter is signed by groups including Public Citizen, Demand Progress Education Fund, the American Economic Liberties Project, the Awood Center, Future of Music Coalition, the Progressive Democrats of America, and Take on Wall Street.
Joe Biden [Via Wikipedia/Gage Skidmore, CC 2.0]
Published on Monday, the joint letter from 33 groups urges Biden to "reject the influence" of "Big Tech" corporations by excluding "executives, lobbyists, lawyers, and consultants from your administration." The group also looks towards working with the administration "to address the harms posed by Big Tech."
Naming Apple alongside Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, the letter accuses the group of representing "serious threats to privacy, democracy, innovation, and Americans' economic well-being." The companies are all claimed to have "developed predatory business practices that harvest user data for profit," before asserting that Facebook and Google "irresponsibly wield immense influence over democratic elections, without oversight or accountability."
"Despite the myth that Silicon Valley is rife with entrepreneurs and small businesses capable of disrupting entire industries, these companies have killed, rather than fostered innovation," the letter continues, before accusing Amazon of taking advantage of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic by "tripling their profits on price-gouged essential goods."
The group insists the Biden Administration must "confront the threats" posed by the companies, "however we can only bring these companies to account if you do not rely on affiliates of these very companies to make up your government." Existing efforts to influence Washington are highlighted, including increased lobbying and campaign spending, with Facebook and Amazon each said to be spending "more on lobbying than any other company in the country."
The "tide is turning" according to the group, citing a Pew Research Center poll showing almost half of Americans want tech companies to be more regulated, as well as the House Antitrust Subcommittee's investigation into tech companies, and the US Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against Google.
"We believe that eliminating the decades-old revolving door between Silicon Valley and your administration will only help your cause," the letter concludes.
The letter is signed by groups including Public Citizen, Demand Progress Education Fund, the American Economic Liberties Project, the Awood Center, Future of Music Coalition, the Progressive Democrats of America, and Take on Wall Street.
Comments
On the other hand, ridding our country of these so-called advocacy groups would be plus.
Our government should partner with our big tech companies to promote American business, increase employment opportunities, etc.
Other countries seem to understand that aiding and abetting their own companies is in their best interests. Our Democrats appear not to get it.
Do you really think that's practical or realistic? Lobbyists and advocacy groups exist because it isn't.
From Apple's point of view, their users are actual customers that they are trying to create products to sell to. In Google and Facebook's models, the users are the product being sold to advertisers. Google and Facebook aren't a search engine and social media platform respectively. They are advertising platforms, that use search histories and social media to create digital profiles of all their users that advertisers can use to target their products (99% of which is crap). We "users" have no real say in how our information is used; we don't get a vote. No one except the engineers at Google and Facebook get access to the algorithms they use or have a say in their design and implementation.
Another major difference is that Apple has put customers' privacy and security at the foundation of everything they design and implement. Google, Facebook and Amazon have no such interest. In fact, they want us "users" to reveal as much about ourselves as possible to better optimize their algorithms for their purposes.
In other words, the government(s) and the public are definitely right in being suspicious of Google/Facebook/Amazon's methods, intentions, and practices. And certainly Apple should adhere to proper legal and ethical standards, but they are not in the same area of concern as G/F/A... They are by no means a monopoly, and they are not playing fast and loose with customers' privacy and security.
Yeah, nothing in this article explains the group’s argument against Apple. None of the issues mentioned seem appropriate. Right now, my complaints with Apple have to do with their own internal culture and business practices that result in never fixing existing bugs, while introducing new ones that get added to the list for future refusal to fix.
I assume you mean "are dwarfed by" rather than "dwarfs."