Nuked The Senate Judiciary Committee heads towards passing legislation that could loosen big tech’s grip on consumers. Apple and Google have written letters opposing new pieces of legislation, while a coalition of smaller tech companies have voiced their support.
Outcry comes in response to two pieces of proposed legislation. American innovation and choice online act prevents big tech from favoring their services over others. Open app markets act aims to promote competition on app stores.
Apple’s senior director of government affairs, Tim powderly, wrote a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin. powderly says the bills would be detrimental to the safety of the app store, as it would allow users to sideload apps, also known as downloading an app from a third-party source. Since these apps exist outside of the Apple ecosystem, they are n’t subject to the same safety and security standards that apps must meet.
‘it would be ironic if Congress responded by making it much harder to protect the privacy and security of Americans’ personal devices,’ says powderly.
Apple’s app tracking transparency (ATT) policy lets users choose the kinds of data that apps are allowed to track. Last year, CEO Tim Cook said sideloading’undermines security and puts people’s data at risk’.
Apple currently collects a 15 to 30 percent commission on in-app purchases on apps downloaded from its app store. Apple recently conceded to the Dutch government to allow dating app developers to include other payment options.
The American innovation and choice online act would prevent Google from prioritizing its own services ahead of others. The company claims it may not be able to offer the’best’ online experience.
The company says the legislation could harm’us technological leadership’. Google also claims it would prevent the company from integrate security features into its apps by default.
‘breaking our products would n’t address any of these issues,’ says the president of global affairs. Instead, it would eliminate helpful features, expose people to new privacy and security risks, and weaken America’s technological leadership’.
Dozens of states filed lawsuits against the company last year, citing that the practice violated antitrust policies. Epic games also sued Google in 2020, claiming that the company’s payment restrictions on the play store constitute a monopoly.
Companies including Wyze, Yelp, DuckDuckGo, and the Tor project have urged chairman Durbin and ranking Republican Grassley to vote’yes’. The companies say that big tech’s dominance and’gatekeeper status’ have prevented them’from competing on the merits’.
‘these tactics not only harm competition, but also deprive consumers of the innovative offerings a vibrant market would yield,’ letter states.
