Month: June 2020

India bans TikTok, dozens of other Chinese apps

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

India bans TikTok, dozens of other Chinese apps

The Indian government on Monday evening said it was banning 59 apps developed by Chinese firms over concerns that these apps were engaging in activities that threatened “national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India” in what is the latest standoff between the world’s two most populated nations.

Related:

Stopping Import of APIs, Medical Devices from China Will Lead to Shortage of Covid-19 Drugs in India: Official

Gilead’s coronavirus treatment remdesivir to cost $3,120 for U.S. insured patients

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Gilead’s coronavirus treatment remdesivir to cost $3,120 per U.S. patient with private insurance

The drugmaker said it will sell remdesivir for $390 per vial to governments “of developed countries” around the world, and the price for U.S. private insurance companies will stand at $520 per vial. In the U.S., that means Gilead will charge a lower price for government programs like Medicare and a higher price for privately insured people.

Wonder how many insurance companies will approve it?!

Sloppy journalism and a weak apology

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Sloppy journalism and a weak apology

Richard Yuan is not alone as a Chinese-Australian businessman slandered by the mainstream media. Because it is in the nature of Chinese people not to engage in public arguments, and not to fight back when attacked, the media will continue to target them.

There is an assumption in the media that Chinese-Australians can easily be linked to impropriety, wrongdoing and allegations of improperly attempting to exert influence. That attitude is far too prevalent in major newsrooms, it’s not only biased it is racist.

Taking on a major media outlet for defamation can be a bruising, emotionally and financially draining experience. The one clear truth that’s emerged from the Yuan case is when sloppy journalists make false assumptions that are put to a legal test they can, and do, fail.

All EFF’d Up: Silicon Valley’s astroturf privacy shakedown

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

All EFF’d Up: Silicon Valley’s astroturf privacy shakedown

But that’s what EFF is all about: it’s a Silicon Valley corporate front group, no different than the rest. The only thing unique about it is how successful it’s been in positioning itself as a defender of the people—so successful, in fact, that even the people who work for it believe it. The fact that EFF has been able to pull it off of for so long shows the kind of immense power that Silicon Valley wields over our political culture. When we think about technology and the Internet, there’s no left or right. There’s just Google and Facebook.