Federal Prosecutors Want Google Punished For ‘Withholding’ User Data

Google argued that because user data sought by prosecutors is stored on an overseas server, the U.S. government lacks authority to seize the records under the Stored Communications Act.

Nicholas Iovino
By Nicholas Iovino
GoogleWeb

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday urged a judge to slap Google with higher sanctions for failing to comply with a court order that it hand over emails and other data the technology giant claims are beyond the reach of the U.S. government. “The sanction itself needs to have significant teeth in order to compel Google, a $600 billion company, to

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Microsoft Enters The Cannabis Business

The tech giant has createed software to help legal marijuana sellers keep track of their product.

Mirror
By Mirror
Uruguay Marijuana feature photo

Microsoft has built a new type of software that tracks marijuana 'from seed to sale' in various states in the US. Working alongside Los Angeles-based weed company Kind, the tech giant has created the software product to help facilitate and track sales. Think of it as a joint partnership. “We do think there will be significant growth,”

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“Fig Leaf” Law Chips Away at Public Campaign Financing

A law to boost government support for pediatric cancer research while eliminating funding for political party conventions looks good — but critics say that’s about it.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron

WASHINGTON --- President Barack Obama has signed a law that aims to increase government support for research into pediatric cancer while eliminating public funding for political party conventions. The bill, which was spearheaded by the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives, received remarkably little political opposition despite

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SCOTUS Ruling Reflects Shifting Role Of Money In Politics

The Supreme Court overturns aggregate limits on campaign contributions, further opening the political arena to corruption and making it harder for party outsiders to get elected.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese
lobbyist

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, to overturn the aggregate limits on campaign contributions, further opening the door Citizens United unlocked in 2010. By effectively removing the limits on the combined amount of money a single individual can give to political campaigns, parties and political action committees, the ruling threatens

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Apple And Microsoft Among US Tech Giants Reaping Interest Payments On Offshore Cash

‘If a US multinational puts its offshore cash into a US bank and uses the money to buy US treasuries, stocks and bonds, those funds ought to be treated as having been repatriated and subject to US tax’
– Senator Carl Levin

Nick Mathiason
By Nick Mathiason
The CIA tool purportedly relies on Microsoft Office to track leaked documents and the whistle-blowers that release them.

The US government makes vast interest payments to technology giants including Apple and Microsoft on the billions of dollars they shelter from tax offshore. A trawl of Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosures shows that Apple, Microsoft, Google and Cisco Systems hold $163 billion in US government debt, earning these companies

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Obama Chooses SOPA Lobbyist To Negotiate Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty

Many of the corporations and groups poised to benefit most from TPP are traditional Democratic supporters or major donors to the president’s election campaigns.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese
Robert Holleyman

President Barack Obama nominated Robert Holleyman as deputy U.S. trade representative on Thursday. Holleyman is the former president of the Business Software Alliance, a trade organization that counts Apple, IBM, Microsoft and other top software firms among its members. During his two decades at the helm of the alliance, he was influential in

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