| Hi all, it's Eric. In the U.S., technology executives don't seem to pay much attention to government officials. A recent example is Elon Musk, who this week opened a Tesla Inc. factory in Fremont, California, in violation of an order from local health officials. Musk tweeted that he hoped authorities would only arrest him, not his employees. Unsurprisingly, no one has been arrested at all. Officials eventually gave Tesla permission to do what it was already doing. Technology companies have felt entitled to decide which rules they follow. Take Uber Technologies Inc., which had a policy of operating in legal gray areas from the beginning, and went on to become one of the most valuable startups of all time. Its founders became billionaires, and the only person who has faced any real legal consequences was Anthony Levandowski, a onetime Uber engineer who pled guilty this year to stealing trade secrets. He might have gotten away with it too, if his former employer—Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Waymo—hadn't sued Uber and helped law enforcement officials build their case. Uber has tried to establish itself as a more law-abiding institution lately, but it still doesn't seem particularly afraid of the government's wrath. When California passed a law last year whose proponents intended to define Uber drivers as employees, the company argued the law didn't actually apply to it. Now, the state of California is suing Uber, along with Lyft Inc., likely setting off a lengthy legal process. Tech executives know the legal system can't keep up with them. It takes years to produce consequences, and legal inquiries and angry statements from politicians usually aren't precursors to much of anything. In cases where officials would need to stand up for the government's authority and fight publicly with a popular public figure like Musk, they often seem unwilling to take a stand. There has been a lot of talk recently about a new, more aggressive approach to large tech companies. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representatives David Cicilline and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all Democrats, have called for new rules preventing many mergers during the coronavirus pandemic. They've criticized Uber's overture to buy rival food delivery company Grubhub Inc. But the idea has provoked hostility from Republicans and is unlikely to produce actual legislation. It's easy to get headlines chastising technology companies, it's much harder to take action against them. Regulators have more teeth in the European Union, where they've levied billions in fines against Google for antitrust violations. France is now forcing Google to start paying news outlets for linking to their stories, and the government won't just let Google abandon its news offering in retaliation. Australian officials are taking similar action. Part of the difference can be attributed to American governmental dysfunction. But it's also a reminder that the very idea of government power over corporate interests has been largely delegitimized in the U.S. Business leaders here sometimes act not only as if they don't have to listen to the government, but as if they are the government. Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, for instance, said he would personally fund the World Health Organization after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would stop doing it. Gates has also been trying to get his fellow billionaires to donate to help address the coronavirus pandemic. Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, "If only there were some public fund billionaires could pay into along with everyone else that helps fund our infrastructure, hospitals, and public systems all at once." Ocasio-Cortez is one of the key faces in a newly assertive generation of government officials. She already helped scare Amazon away from New York. Maybe they'll finally convince the giants of industry they can't be ignored.—Eric Newcomer | 
Post a Comment