giants

Deezer Applauds Antitrust Fine Against Apple but Accuses Tech Giant of “Deceptive” DMA Response

Deezer App
Streaming music service Deezer is joining Spotify in cheering the European Union’s €1.84 billion fine imposed on Apple for breaking antitrust rules in the streaming music market. Apple’s new DMA rules, introduced in January, are a complicated means of providing a path forward for app developers to distribute apps from alternative app marketplaces. Deezer is among those developers who drafted an open letter to the EC last week, claiming Apple was making a “mockery” of the DMA. So far, we’ve only heard from MacPaw, the maker of a subscription service for apps, Setapp, which announced it was switching to Apple’s DMA terms last week. However, larger developers, like Apple critics Spotify and Epic Games, as well as tech companies like Meta, Mozilla, and Microsoft have criticized Apple’s new rules.

Database leak reveals 2FA codes for global tech giants

Dripping 2fa
The Asian technology and internet company YX International manufactures cellular networking equipment and provides SMS text message routing services. YX International claims to send five million SMS text messages daily. But codes sent over SMS text messages are not as secure as stronger forms of 2FA, such as an app-based code generator, since SMS text messages are prone to interception or exposure — or in this case, leaking from a database onto the open web. TechCrunch found in the exposed database sets of internal email addresses and corresponding passwords associated with YX International, and alerted the company to the spilling database. YX International would not say for how long the database was exposed.

“Sneak Peek: UK’s Digital Markets Regulator Unveils Revamped Regulations for Big Tech”

Three Hammers
Interoperability could also be imposed on designated tech giants, the CMA suggested, as well as mandates that they trade on fairer terms. Algorithmic transparency could be another demand made of them by the new digital markets regulator. As a consequence the UK has slipped behind peers like the European Union — which adopted its own flagship digital competition reform last year. The deadline for in-scope tech giants’ compliance with that regime is looming in early March. A German ex ante digital competition reform has also been operating since early 2021.