Namibia’s National Assembly passed the Access to Information Law to give citizens the right to know about government activity, as long as security is not jeopardized. The law also obligates public and private entities to make information available proactively. It now goes to the National Council for review then to the president to sign.
Russia doesn’t want its data processed and stored overseas and has begun to levy fines in an escalation against Big Tech. The 18 million ruble ($301,255) fine against WhatsApp is the second in a year, while Tinder, Snap and Hotels.com were fined more than 1 million, and Spotify, which in March closed its Russian office, was fined 500,000 rubles.
IBM Security’s Cost of Data Breach Report brings us the not-surprising-but-still-disappointing news that consumers are once again made to pay for company inaction. Eighty-three percent reported having more than one data breach, yet 79% of critical infrastructure organizations didn’t deploy a zero-trust architecture. The report showed cost at an all-time high, but 60% of the companies surveyed addressed their shortfall by increasing the cost of goods or services to their customers.
There’s probably no limit to Amazon’s greed – because capitalism – but there are constraints as governments regulate BigTech more aggressively and, just maybe, the free market works its wonders. Amazon cited “seller sentiment related to the fee” in its statement pulling back from its planned 2% fee on sellers who don’t use its Prime fulfillment services. But looming antitrust cases likely had something to do with it.