Congress poised to come down hard on tech companies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fascinating scoop by Mike Allen at Axios. Apparently, both parties are aiming to crack down on major tech companies in the name of national security.

In addition, the GOP thinks this is something they can run on in 2018 by portraying tech companies as beholden to "open borders" and "liberal policies"

https://www.axios.com/both-parties-to-move-on-facebook-and-other-tech-giants-2486665876.html

Any local DCUM'ers have the scoop on what's happening behind the scenes? This will be a big lobbying fail for the tech companies.

But please, Jeff Bezos, give us your jobs!!!!

average tech worker is 29, average tenure is 1 year.

yeh, those are great f'cking jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How come Congress isn't similarly cracking down on the almost criminally negligent (actually maybe it is) poor cybersecurity by Experian?

I am a liberal who works in tech, and I have no problem with acknowledging that the big tech companies (where I refuse to work) need to be reigned in. I am doubtful that Congress has the ability to do so in the best interests of the average American...but stranger things have happened. But the Experian hack is truly ridiculous, and they seem to be terrible actors in all this.

I think you mean Equifax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fascinating scoop by Mike Allen at Axios. Apparently, both parties are aiming to crack down on major tech companies in the name of national security.

In addition, the GOP thinks this is something they can run on in 2018 by portraying tech companies as beholden to "open borders" and "liberal policies"

https://www.axios.com/both-parties-to-move-on-facebook-and-other-tech-giants-2486665876.html

Any local DCUM'ers have the scoop on what's happening behind the scenes? This will be a big lobbying fail for the tech companies.

Zuckerberg should be stopped from firing older workers. To be fair, that quote about old losers is from way back in 2007, when Zuck was but a grown child of 22 and not yet media trained. That was when Zuck said: “Young people are just smarter.”

Another dirty little secret in all this is that the H-1B program is an enabler of rampant age discrimination in the tech industry. Age is actually one of the core issues in H-1B. Mind you, we are talking about age 35 as being “old” here, not 55. Almost all the H-1Bs are young, and younger is cheaper. And young H-1Bs are even cheaper than young Americans. Age gives employers an excuse to shun American applicants, on the grounds that a given job opening requires only three to five years of experience, rendering the Americans “overqualified.” Or the employer will load the job description with unnecessary requirements, making the Americans simultaneously under- and overqualified. That doesn’t leave much room, does it?

A former manager at Oracle accused the firm of justifying underpayment of an H-1B by saying, ‘It’s good money for an Indian.’

We have a surplus of computer science PhDs; 11.3 percent of them are involuntarily working in a non-computer science field.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-h-1b_us_5890d86ce4b0522c7d3d84af

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, so the GOP benefits from wildly illegal Russian money on social media platforms and now wants to crack down? And pin it on the liberals?

WTF

The companies, including most of Silicon Valley’s most prominent tech giants, filed an amicus “friend of the court” briefing with the nation’s highest court Monday asking justices to strike down Trump’s second attempt at the ban on immigrants from Syria, Libya, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, and Sudan.

“It hinders the ability of American companies to attract talented employees; increases costs imposed on business; makes it more difficult for American firms to compete in the international marketplace; and gives global enterprises a new, significant incentive to build operations—and hire new employees—outside the United States,” the filing reads.

We have more tech workers than jobs in US. yet somehow these companies need high tech software developers from Yemen.

Yeh right. it is more in your face, push push push, to get more cheap disposable H1Bs to replace US citizens. These are your liberal tech companies at work.

http://www.insidesources.com/google-facebook-161-tech-companies-ask-supreme-court-to-strike-down-trump-travel-ban/

And the leaders of these companies have land in new zealand, just in case the entire system goes south. they will head out in a second. But in recent years survivalism has expanded to more affluent quarters, taking root in Silicon Valley and New York City, among technology executives, hedge-fund managers, and others in their economic cohort.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/doomsday-prep-for-the-super-rich

[Anonymous]

Sen Franken, where have you been?

In an article for the Guardian, which was posted following the event on Wednesday, Sen. Franken added, “It doesn’t require an antitrust lawyer to understand that these companies’ dominance in the market of information gives them tremendous power to dictate terms with journalists, publishers, and authors and to control the information available to consumers.”

Last month, Axios claimed Breitbart News Executive Chairman Steve Bannon, a supporter of regulating Big Tech, “is railing against the ‘Lords of Silicon Valley,'” while it was also reported that Google, Facebook, and Twitter have been spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress following the increased threat of regulation.

According to CNBC, “Google spent $4.17 million lobbying Congress this most recent quarter,” while, “Facebook spent $2.85 million,” and “Twitter spent $120,000.”

In October, the CEO of a popular advertising company called Google a “dictator” in the ad market, while a Vice News report announced Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to “influence American politics for generations to come.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/08/al-franken-big-tech-facebook-amazon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have way too damn many H1-B visas working here, being used to undermine and underpay American tech workers. This needs to be drastically reduced.

Which tech workers are "underpaid"? The people I know make great salaries.

Salaries have been flat since 2000. Are you on crack or just hiding under a rock?

Millions of older IT workers have been replaced by young, cheaper guest workers.

Maybe for small office LAN manager. Everything else has been going up.

[Anonymous]

I work in high tech and agree with Congress! While yes we are Capitalists, these companies owe US citizens protection of our democracy and protection of our sensitive data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fascinating scoop by Mike Allen at Axios. Apparently, both parties are aiming to crack down on major tech companies in the name of national security.

In addition, the GOP thinks this is something they can run on in 2018 by portraying tech companies as beholden to "open borders" and "liberal policies"

https://www.axios.com/both-parties-to-move-on-facebook-and-other-tech-giants-2486665876.html

Any local DCUM'ers have the scoop on what's happening behind the scenes? This will be a big lobbying fail for the tech companies.

So they're going to censor content because it's "too liberal"? That's great. Incredible. What happened to this country? Are there that many backwoods f*cks who hold retrogressive views like Roy Moore want to stifle progressive thought? Maybe truth just has a progressive bias and that's why there is generally more news and posts about it on Facebook. Maybe we don't want your f*cked up nationalist, anti-immigration, anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-reproductive choice, anti-sense views all over social media. We are literally living in "interesting times" where nazi-like ethno nationalism and fascism based on the premise of fake patriotism is on the rise. So is Poland and a lot of other places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fascinating scoop by Mike Allen at Axios. Apparently, both parties are aiming to crack down on major tech companies in the name of national security.

In addition, the GOP thinks this is something they can run on in 2018 by portraying tech companies as beholden to "open borders" and "liberal policies"

https://www.axios.com/both-parties-to-move-on-facebook-and-other-tech-giants-2486665876.html

Any local DCUM'ers have the scoop on what's happening behind the scenes? This will be a big lobbying fail for the tech companies.

So they're going to censor content because it's "too liberal"? That's great. Incredible. What happened to this country? Are there that many backwoods f*cks who hold retrogressive views like Roy Moore want to stifle progressive thought? Maybe truth just has a progressive bias and that's why there is generally more news and posts about it on Facebook. Maybe we don't want your f*cked up nationalist, anti-immigration, anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-reproductive choice, anti-sense views all over social media. We are literally living in "interesting times" where nazi-like ethno nationalism and fascism based on the premise of fake patriotism is on the rise. So is Poland and a lot of other places.

Most citizens agree with you. I am not worried this is the last gasp of the crazy GOP. The numbers are not there to support them anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anything that can hurt people needs to be regulated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How come Congress isn't similarly cracking down on the almost criminally negligent (actually maybe it is) poor cybersecurity by Experian?

I am a liberal who works in tech, and I have no problem with acknowledging that the big tech companies (where I refuse to work) need to be reigned in. I am doubtful that Congress has the ability to do so in the best interests of the average American...but stranger things have happened. But the Experian hack is truly ridiculous, and they seem to be terrible actors in all this.

You may have noticed that only Dems seem to care about holding big businesses accountable. I haven't heard much from Rs about the Experian hack or the Wells Fargo scandal. Actually, seems like Rs, lead by Trump, want to remove regulation to make it easier for big businesses to cheat consumers.

So, I think Rs are hypocrites here. The Experian hack should be a national security concern.

Who said it’s not a big security concern? Call Zuckerberg at cnn, he’s too focused on fake news to provide you actual information...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, so the GOP benefits from wildly illegal Russian money on social media platforms and now wants to crack down? And pin it on the liberals?

WTF

holy cow, you've got to be completely down the alt-left inter-galactical wormhole to think like this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have way too damn many H1-B visas working here, being used to undermine and underpay American tech workers. This needs to be drastically reduced.

? What does this have to do with OP's post?

So I'll play along.... we have too many damn H2B visas, especially since Trump increased it by another 15K in his first few months in office. And we have too many R business owners hiring illegal immigrant workers. The R congress should increase the pentaly for hiring illegal immigrants to $10K/person if they are serious about cracking down on illegal immigration (but they will never do this because it's the R business owners who benefit from it, and contribute to these politicians' backpockets).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fascinating scoop by Mike Allen at Axios. Apparently, both parties are aiming to crack down on major tech companies in the name of national security.

In addition, the GOP thinks this is something they can run on in 2018 by portraying tech companies as beholden to "open borders" and "liberal policies"

https://www.axios.com/both-parties-to-move-on-facebook-and-other-tech-giants-2486665876.html

Any local DCUM'ers have the scoop on what's happening behind the scenes? This will be a big lobbying fail for the tech companies.

Zuckerberg should be stopped from firing older workers. To be fair, that quote about old losers is from way back in 2007, when Zuck was but a grown child of 22 and not yet media trained. That was when Zuck said: “Young people are just smarter.”

Another dirty little secret in all this is that the H-1B program is an enabler of rampant age discrimination in the tech industry. Age is actually one of the core issues in H-1B. Mind you, we are talking about age 35 as being “old” here, not 55. Almost all the H-1Bs are young, and younger is cheaper. And young H-1Bs are even cheaper than young Americans. Age gives employers an excuse to shun American applicants, on the grounds that a given job opening requires only three to five years of experience, rendering the Americans “overqualified.” Or the employer will load the job description with unnecessary requirements, making the Americans simultaneously under- and overqualified. That doesn’t leave much room, does it?

A former manager at Oracle accused the firm of justifying underpayment of an H-1B by saying, ‘It’s good money for an Indian.’

We have a surplus of computer science PhDs; 11.3 percent of them are involuntarily working in a non-computer science field.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-h-1b_us_5890d86ce4b0522c7d3d84af

you again.... we have an abundance of low skilled workers, but Trump keeps hiring foreign H2B workers, and even increased the visas by another 15K. If Trump can do it, so can Z.