Financial Times
EU demands major concessions from Google over Fitbit deal (Financial Times)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Thu, 07/23/2020 - 14:47Apple wins landmark court battle with EU over €14.3bn of tax payments
European Union judges have quashed a European Commission order for Apple to pay back €14.3 billion in taxes to Ireland in a landmark ruling that deals a big blow to Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s efforts to crack down on low-tax regimes in the bloc. The ruling hands a big legal victory to Apple and reduces the prospect of opening up other low-tax arrangements for multinationals around the EU to state aid scrutiny by Brussels. The EU’s second-highest court said that Brussels did not succeed in “showing to the requisite legal standard” that the tech giant had received an ille
Africa/internet access: the cloud above
Floating 12 miles above the earth, high above commercial aircraft, internet balloons offer the possibility of online connection for hundreds of millions of people living in emerging markets. Loon, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, has launched its first commercial project in Kenya. Success will lead more countries to seek a deal. Loon has already proved that its polyethylene, solar-powered helium balloons work by providing internet access to hurricane-hit Puerto Rico. Kenya is a test of whether the service can be profitable.
Opinion: The pandemic has accelerated society’s shift to a more digital world (Financial Times)
Submitted by benton on Sun, 07/12/2020 - 10:26Internet access is both a human right and a business opportunity
Access to the internet is a basic human right, the United Nations declared in 2016. But, as the Covid-19 crisis has highlighted, it is a right that is still denied to billions of people at a time when connectivity has never been more important. For professional classes in rich countries with good internet access and the ability to work from home, the crisis has been made infinitely easier thanks to Zoom video calls and Amazon deliveries. It has been a far more precarious existence for those who have manual jobs and children at home with no internet access.