Displaying items by tag: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

Australian news businesses that are arguing for a news media code to ensure that digital platforms pay for their content are trying to turn back time and make the Internet much less open and its business models less diverse, the Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, a Google vice-president and Internet Evangelist, claims.

With Parliament having just another eight days to sit this year, the bosses of Australia's media organisations have sought to pressure politicians into getting the promised news media code passed before they rise for the year on 10 December.

After a long silence, Google has once again spoken up on the news media code that is expected to be finalised by 10 December, reiterating that it will only accept a code that is "fair, principled and technically feasible".

Researchers from the Monash Business School have made a presentation to the European Commission and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, saying that Google should not be allowed to acquire US-based fitness company Fitbit.

Digital identity provider ForgeRock has launched tools to give banks and financial service providers an economical wat to build and test consumer data rights systems, and claims these utilities can reduce compliance costs by two-thirds.

Search company Google has reiterated its objection to the proposed Australian mandatory news media code, repeating that it would put on hold any plans to implement its so-called news showcase in Australia until the matter of the code is resolved.

A decision by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to cut the price of the Mobile Terminating Access Service from 1 January 2021 from 1.7 cents per minute to 1.19 cents per minute will bring down the wholesale price of mobile voice services.

Google has held out a nice, juicy carrot overnight, hoping that Australia will bite and agree to the terms that it wants for the media code that is being negotiated with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Sundar Pichai, the head of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has announced that the company will put up US$1 billion (A$1.39 billion) for an initiative called the Google News Showcase, which would "pay publishers to create and curate high-quality content for a different kind of online news experience".

Canada has dropped a hint that it may be next in line to create a media code for digital platforms, with the Liberal Government making mention of this in the annual throne speech delivered by the governor-general.

Australia’s competition regulator the ACCC has moved to ensure access to reliable and efficient energy supplies is maintained during the COVIDQ-19 crisis, by authorising cooperation between the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO and gas and electricity industry operators.

About 155,000 vehicles with defective Takata airbags are still running on Australian roads, the Australian Completion and Consumer Commission has warned, adding that there are only six months left for the manufacturers to complete the recall of these automobiles.

The Webcentral Group, the firm once known as Melbourne IT and later as the Arq Group, has entered into a deal for its Web hosting assets to be acquired by the Florida-based Web.com for a sum of $12.2 million.

Google appears to be reluctant to offer comments from its Australia managing director Mel Silva to any other publication after she went on the record with The Australian to clarify that the news initiative announced by the company on Thursday would not be about offering cash to Australian publishers for the use of news snippets in search results.

The Australian Government has asked the competition watchdog to develop a mandatory code of conduct before the end of July to make digital companies pay for the use of news from local publications.

The launch of the Consumer Data Right (CDR) in the banking sector has been delayed until July 2020.

The Federal Government will provide $26.9 million for the Australian competition watchdog to keep an eye on competition issues arising with digital platforms, with the ACCC to set up a special unit for this purpose.

Melbourne-based app developer Snap Send Solve has paid $12,600 to settle an infringement notice issued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Improvements to customer loyalty schemes and broader legislative reforms are required to protect consumers using loyalty schemes, according to a report from Australia’s competition and consumer regulator, the ACCC.

The NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's broadband network, has questioned the need for any regulatory intervention into its wholesale service standards at this time as, in its view, the ACCC's draft decision on these aspects had not provided any evidence of market failure.