DOJ Opens Sweeping Anti-Trust Probe Into Big Tech Firms
This could be the start of something big. We have witnessed a lot of abuse at the hands of Big Tech, specifically Google, Facebook, and Twitter. These three companies have engaged in an all-out assault on free speech in America for the last three years. Moreover, companies like Google and Facebook have become notorious for their over-the-top violations of individual privacy rights. There is a simple rule to remember when you use one of these apps: "if they are not selling a product, YOU are the product!" Google, Facebook, and Twitter make a lot of money (a. lot. of. money) by harvesting the information and data of their users and selling it. Big Tech makes money through Big Data. This will be a case to follow with interest.
The Department of Justice is opening a sweeping anti-trust review to determine whether the country’s leading technology firms are stifling competition in violation of federal law, it announced Tuesday.“Without the discipline of meaningful market-based competition, digital platforms may act in ways that are not responsive to consumer demands,” Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Antitrust Division said in a statement announcing the remarkably broad probe. “The Department’s antitrust review will explore these important issues.”The Antitrust Division will work to determine whether companies such as Facebook, Google, and Apple have “reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers” as they’ve grown dramatically in recent years and begun expanding into various industries by acquiring smaller potential competitors. The Federal Trade Commission is conducting a separate, more limited investigation into potential monopolistic abuses by Facebook and Amazon.
Logos Bible Software & the Kindle Fire
I am learning to use my new Kindle Fire. My favorite Android app so far is Logos Bible Software. This, after all, is the reason I purchased the Fire. I’ve had mobile access of my Logos library for a year or more via my iPad, but as much as I love the iPad, it’s not my favorite reading device. When it is time to do some casual reading, the Kindle is my device of choice. I’ve owned a Kindle 3 for just over a year. If there were books in my Logos library I wanted to read on my Kindle, I had to export the text from Logos for Windows or Mac to a .rtf file, and then send it to my Kindle via Amazon’s free document service. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.
When I saw the introduction of the Kindle Fire in September, I pre-ordered one on the spot. (It is an early Christmas gift.) I had two motives for purchasing the Fire: 1) access to my Logos library on a Kindle-like device; 2) the added benefit of reading with a touch screen rather than e-ink, which requires a light.
If I keep those two objectives in mind, then I am very satisfied with my Kindle Fire. In my opinion, the Kindle Fire is not an iPad killer. I don’t think Amazon designed it to be an iPad killer. The device is clearly built to consume media, and it does this very well.
With the addition of the Logos Bible Software app in the Amazon App Store, I am now set for reading nearly any book in my library. Unfortunately, the current development of the Logos app limits its value as a study tool. Before I can read a Logos book for serious research or study using any mobile device, the Android or iOS apps will need the capability to highlight text, create notes, and have my notes and highlights sync with my desktop version of Logos Bible Software.
According to the good folks at Logos, these features are on the way, but there is no mention of a timeline.
Free Clipart, Photo Websites & Copyright Issues
Photo courtesy of morgueFile.com
Teachers and writers are always on the hunt for appropriate images to enhance their instruction or articles. Clearly, the Internet has simplified this process tremendously, but at the same time the legal issues surrounding copyright and fair use have become more complicated.
Yvon Prehn over at Effective Church Communications provides a free webinar on sites that provide free clipart and stock photography. She also highlights issues surrounding copyright and provides some good links to help you use many of the resources on the Internet and still stay within the law.
Watch the free webinar and make sure to download the companion handouts with links to all of the sites Yvon references during her presentation. The webinar is less than 30 minutes long and worth your time.
NOTE: the image above is a free photo compliments of morgueFile.com. I learned about morgueFile.com while participating in Yvon’s webinar.
Protecting Your Own Material
Perhaps you are on the other side of the issue, and you are concerned about protecting your own material on the web. As Yvon points out during her webinar, you do not need to do anything to copyright your intellectual property. Simply creating it and printing it or posting it on the Internet will qualify it as copyright protected.
Still, holding the copyright to your latest masterpiece and protecting your intellectual property online are two different matters. Michael Hyatt provides eight ways you can protect your copyrighted material in today’s copy & paste world. These include:
- Understand copyright law
- Publish an official copyright notice
- Create an explicit permission policy
- Give the benefit of the doubt
- Request that they remove your post
- Demand that they take down your content
- Notify the infringer’s hosting service
- Hire an attorney and take action
What sources to you use for clipart and images (free or paid)?