Articles by Quandary Peak Research - Software Expert Witness and Source Code Review

August 14, 2019 • by Quandary Peak Research

Data’s Role in Big Tech’s Antitrust Fight

The era of minimal oversight for the biggest technology companies appears to be ending. The Justice Department and FTC will split oversight of Google and Amazon, and the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead to a long-simmering antitrust suit against Apple. Taken together, it is becoming clear that lawmakers are poised to take…

Inside the Business of Ransomware

Cybercrime is an increasingly prevalent – and costly – concern for organizations around the world. Information loss represents 43 percent of an average $2.4 million cost for malware victims. Cybercrime damage is projected to reach $6 trillion annually by 2021. It is especially common in heavily internet-connected countries like the United States,…

Justice Department and FTC to Split Oversight of Google and Amazon

Big Tech is part of everyday people’s lives in ways that were once the province of fantasy. Companies like Google and Amazon are ubiquitous around the world, and the products and services they offer are relied on by millions. Unfailingly ambitious (and extraordinarily profitable), it would appear that things have never better…

California Judge Rules that Qualcomm Violated American Antitrust Law

In 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged semiconductor and telecommunications equipment giant, Qualcomm, with anticompetitive behavior. After a protracted legal battle, Judge Lucy Koh of the District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the company had indeed violated antitrust law, creating potentially seismic repercussions for the chipmaker’s business…

Supreme Court Allows Apple Antitrust Suit to Move Forward

A long-simmering lawsuit has been given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court. Apple Inc. v. Pepper, a major antitrust suit with enormous implications for how the tech giant does business, was allowed to proceed in a 5-to-4 vote from the highest court in the land. While antitrust cases are typically long, protracted…

Lawsuits Alleges U.S. Cellphone Carriers Sold Customer Location Data

New class-action lawsuits have been filed against major US cellphone carriers AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint in US District Court in Maryland. Each suit alleges violation of Section 222 of the US Communications Act in mostly identical terms via (in the words of the AT&T suit) the real-time “collection of geolocation data…

Legislation Emerging to Curb Violent Posts on Social Media

Social media has accumulated remarkable power. Large companies like Facebook have aggressively expanded into new territories, further fueling growth and revenue – Facebook has a staggering 2.38 billion monthly active users as of March 31, 2019. But growth at all costs has come at a price. Facebook has taken its share of…

May 1, 2019 • by Quandary Peak Research

Researchers Questioning Amazon’s Facial Recognition Technology

Artificial Intelligence technology is transforming previously unfathomable ideas into concrete realities on a daily basis. One flagship application is facial recognition technology, which has been embraced by law enforcement for identifying suspects – a development that has its detractors but remains touted for its crime prevention potential. For all its potential, however,…

Inside the Obscure Practice of “Cybersquatting”

The ‘wild west’ days of the internet may be over, but the current infrastructure is by no means devoid of controversy. Net neutrality, copyright issues, privacy concerns, and others remain hot-button issues. Less publicized, but still of major concern, is the issue of cybersquatting. In this post, we’ll take a closer look…

Huawei vs. US Government: A Primer

The race for 5G technological supremacy is on. US technology companies are competing against Chinese counterparts – namely telecom giant Huawei – for dominance of the next wave of wireless network technology. That competition has led to a United States government crusade against Huawei that continues to grow in intensity. Keeping tabs…