When the European Parliament voted in favor of making USB-C the common charging standard in the region, it was pretty obvious which company was going to be the most affected by the mandate. Apple, of course. While the tech giant already has iPad models with USB-C ports, its iPhones still require a lightning connector. Now, in an interview at Wall Street Journal'sTech Live event, Apple's SVP of worldwide marketing Greg Joswiak has confirmed that the tech giant will be transitioning to USB-C connectors to comply with the EU's regulation. 

"Obviously, we’ll have to comply." Joswiak responded when asked by WSJ's Senior Personal Technology Columnist, Joanna Stern, whether Apple is moving to USB-C. But not before talking about the company's history with regulation compliance, such as making its phones compatible with hearing aids and how it had to come up with its own solution because existing technology at the time didn't work. 

Joswiak also talked about how the EU has been pushing for the adoption of micro-USB 10 years ago. Since part of the EU's concern was that people had to have several adapters with different connectors, Apple made cables detachable so that people can easily switch them out. The executive said the move allowed over a billion people to continue using their lightning cables instead of throwing them out and giving rise to a "bunch of e-waste."

"We have no choice as we do around the world but to comply to local laws," Joswiak said. However, he didn't say whether Apple is only making a different variant for the European market while continuing to sell phones with lightning connectors elsewhere. He also that Apple thinks the approach would have been better environmentally and better for its customers to "not have a government be that prescriptive." 

Apple also previously cited environmental concerns for not selling power adapters with new devices. The tech giant said that doing so will save 861,000 tons of metal and will also save fuel, since more iPhones can fit in shipping containers. Not everyone was convinced with the company's explanation, though, and Apple has gotten fined several times in Brazil for removing adapters from iPhone packages. 

Under the new EU mandate, Apple will have to ship iPhones and iPads with USB-C ports in the region by the end of 2024.

A group of workers at YouTube Music Content Operations, an Alphabet subcontractor, have filed with the National Labor Relations Board for union recognition and bargaining power after a supermajority of the 58-strong group signed union cards. "As a part of the YouTube Music Content Operations team, workers ensure music content is available and approved for YouTube’s 2.1 billion monthly active users worldwide," the Alphabet Workers Union-Communications Workers of America (AWU-CWA) said in a statement.

The workers, who are based in Austin Texas, were already paying AWU-CWA dues and are now seeking bargaining rights. The AWU-CWA says those rights would force Alphabet to recognize the union as the workers' bargaining unit. The NLRB has scheduled a hearing for November 14th. The union, which was formed in January 2021, now counts nearly 1,200 Alphabet workers as members, including full-time employees as well as temporary, vendor and contract workers.

The AWU-CWA says it "won't stop organizing until all Alphabet workers (full-time, temporary, vendor and contract workers) have dignity on the job, the pay and benefits we deserve, and a seat at the table." Earlier this year, a group of Google Fiber workers in Kansas City voted to unionize with the AWU-CWA. This month, the AWU filed complaints with the NLRB, accusing the company of firing Google data center workers in retaliation for union activity. The union says Google fired two workers who attempted to discuss pay and working conditions.

“We are honored to welcome the workers of the YouTube Music Content Operations team as members of the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA," Google software engineer and AWU-CWA executive chair Parul Koul said. "Google platforms like YouTube have largely been a success thanks to the labor and efforts of the thousands of contract workers that ensure quality content while being denied their fair share. We’re excited to see these workers bring Alphabet to the bargaining table and use their power to win the quality pay, benefits and rights on the job they deserve.”

Engadget has contacted Google for comment.

Two spies from the People's Republic of China attempted to interfere in a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice into a prominent Chinese telecommunications company, US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Wednesday. The two agents, Guochun He and Zheng Wang, were working for the benefit of Huawei, reports Bloomberg. According to a complaint seen by the outlet, He and Wang attempted to bribe a law enforcement employee to provide them with information on the Justice Department's investigation.     

Developing...

The Republican National Committee is suing Google. According to Axios (via The Verge), the organization filed a lawsuit with California’s Eastern District Court on Friday. The complaint accuses Google of sending “millions” of RNC campaign emails to Gmail spam folders in an extension of the company’s “discriminatory” filtering practices.

“At approximately the same time at the end of each month, Google sends to spam nearly all of the RNC’s emails,” the complaint claims. “Critically, and suspiciously, this end of the month period is historically when the RNC’s fundraising is most successful.”

The lawsuit comes after Google launched a controversial program to appease GOP lawmakers concerned about its filtering practices. In June, after a study found that Gmail was more likely than competing email clients to filter emails from Republican campaigns, the company said it would work with the Federal Election Commission to pilot a system designed to prevent political messages from ending up in spam folders. The concession came after Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that sought to ban email platforms from using algorithms to route campaign messages automatically.

According to a recent report from The Verge, the Republican National Committee is not taking advantage of the program Google built to address the party’s concerns. The organization’s complaint doesn’t explicitly mention the pilot. Instead, it points to a training session the RNC attended on August 11th, the same day the FEC approved Google’s program.

“This discrimination has been ongoing for about ten months — despite the RNC’s best efforts to work with Google,” the organization claims. Google did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. “As we have repeatedly said, we simply don't filter emails based on political affiliation," the company told Axios, adding that Gmail’s spam filters reflect user actions.

Adrian Kwiatkowski, a hacker from Ipswich in England who stole two unreleased songs by Ed Sheeran, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, according to the BBC. Kwiatkowski sold Sheeran's tracks, along with 12 other songs by American rapper Lil Uzi Vert, for cryptocurrency worth £131,000 (US$148,000) on the dark web. UK prosecutors said Kwiatkowski got his hands on the unreleased tracks by hacking into their cloud-based accounts. They didn't specify which cloud services those were, but he stole from a lot more artists, because authorities found 1,263 unreleased songs in his possession. 

American authorities launched an investigation back in 2019 after several musicians reported to the New York District Attorney's office that someone using the name Spirdark had hacked their accounts and was selling their content online. Investigators eventually linked Kwiatkowski to the email address Spirdark used with the cryptocurrency account involved in the case. Further, his UK address was linked to an IP address that was found in relation to one of the hacked devices. 

When he was arrested, London police found seven devices that contained 1,263 unreleased songs by 89 different artists. Authorities found more incriminating files in his hard drive, including a document where he detailed the method he used to hack into the victims' accounts. They also found his Bitcoins, which he admitted to receiving in return for the songs. In all, he pled guilty to 19 charges that included copyright infringement and possessing criminal property, enough to put him away for a year-and-a-half.

Google is facing another fine for allegedly misusing its control of Android to suppress competition. CNETreports India's Competition Commission has fined Google the equivalent of $161.9 million for supposedly giving its Android apps an edge using restrictive terms. The company imposes an "unfair condition" on phone makers by requiring that they preinstall Google apps as part of agreements, according to officials. That, in turn, is said to discourage companies from developing heavily modified Android variants that rely less on Google services.

The Commission also maintains that Google is wielding its "dominant position" to squeeze out competitors in search, app stores, web browsers and video services. Historically, Google has required that phones with the Play Store installed also include apps like Chrome and YouTube, often with prominent placement on the home screen. While you can always install alternatives like Firefox and Vimeo, they're not included out of the box. Brands can use the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) if they want more flexibility, but they lose access to the Play Store in the process.

The regulator has issued a cease and desist order barring Google from requiring a "bouquet" of preinstalled apps. Companies have to be given the choice of which apps they want. Google also isn't allowed to deny access to the Play Services framework, to include "anti-fragmentation" clauses that bar Android forks, or to offer incentives in return for exclusive search deals. Third-party app stores must be allowed to distribute through the Play Store. Users, meanwhile, must have the power to choose their search engine on setup and to uninstall Google apps they don't want.

Google has declined to comment until it receives the official Commission order. The investigation began in 2019, but didn't determine that Google had abused its dominance until September 2021.

The fine is tiny for Google, which made about $257.6 billion in worldwide revenue last year. The order could force it to significantly alter its deals with Android manufacturers, however, and comes after South Korea, the European Union and others have demanded similar changes. And Google can't afford to ignore India — it's the second-largest smartphone market on Earth with about 606.6 million users. A forced withdrawal would significantly damage Google's bottom line, not to mention clout in the mobile industry.

Amazon could soon go to court over its use of the Buy Box that highlights shopping deals. The Guardianreports that lawyers are filing a class action lawsuit with the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal over claims the Buy Box "tricks" shoppers into paying more than they should. Consumer advocate Julie Hunter says the section favors either Amazon's own products or sellers who use the company's logistics, not the best price or quality of service. A better deal might be buried lower on the page or even tucked into an "obscure corner" on the site, Hunter adds.

Co-leading lawyer Lesley Hannah contends that users rely heavily on the Buy Box, with up to 90 percent of purchases going through that space. "Millions" of buyers have likely overpaid as a result. Supposedly, the practice also violates competition requirements by stifling sellers with better deals.

The lawsuit seeks damages of £900 million (about $1 billion). It covers any UK resident who has made purchases since October 2016, and doesn't require that you opt in.

Amazon tells The Guardian in a statement that it believes the lawsuit is "without merit." It maintains that it supports all the sellers in its UK marketplace, and that "more than half" of physical good sales in the country go through independent sellers. It didn't directly address the purported Buy Box manipulation. The firm has lately asked sellers to oppose antitrust legislation meant to prevent tech giants from giving their services an unfair advantage.

There's no guarantee the lawsuit will force Amazon to alter the Buy Box. However, it comes as the company faces multiple accusations that it misuses its dominant position to stifle third-party sellers. California recently sued Amazon over assertions that it punishes sellers who offer cheaper prices elsewhere, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating Amazon for misusing seller data to launch competing products.

The office of Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Thursday that it has filed a lawsuit against Google over the company's alleged years-long practices to capture and use of biometric data from, "millions of Texans without properly obtaining their informed consent to do so." This is allegedly a violation of the state's Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act of 2009. 

The AG argues that Google used features in its Photos and Assistant apps, as well as through Nest Hub Max hardware, to scan and store the facial and voice data without first acquiring user consent. Furthermore, Paxton alleges, Google then leveraged that data for commercial gain by using it to train the company's machine learning algorithms.

“Google’s indiscriminate collection of the personal information of Texans, including very sensitive information like biometric identifiers, will not be tolerated,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in the Thursday press release. “I will continue to fight Big Tech to ensure the privacy and security of all Texans.”

This is far from the first time that Paxton, who is up for re-election in November, has targeted Alphabet and its subsidiaries. His office filed a suit in January, "for engaging in false and misleading practices in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices—Consumer Protection Act," and then again less than a week later for, "systematically misleading and deceiving Texas consumers in violation of Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act."

Paxton's office is asking the court for a permanent injunction in the case. This would prohibit Google from "capturing, maintaining, or using in any way the biometric identifiers captured in Texas" or "performing voice or facial recognition in Texas" without the informed consent of the relevant individual as well as invoke a $25,000-per-infraction fine against the search company. 

Trevor Milton, the founder and former executive chairman of Nikola, has been found guilty on three counts of fraud for misleading the electric vehicle company’s investors about its business and technology.

In total, he was found guilty on one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud. He was acquitted on one charge of securities fraud. His sentencing has been scheduled for January 27th. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Milton was indicted by a federal grand jury on the charges last year, with prosecutors citing numerous alleged lies, including many made on Twitter, in podcast interviews and other media appearances. Prosecutors alleged he had lied about “nearly all aspects of the business” in an effort to boost the stock of the EV maker.

The SEC began investigating the company in 2020, after Hindenburg Research publicly accused Nikola of staging an “elaborate ruse” to mislead the public about the status of its electric semi, Nikola One. While the company had published a video purporting to show the truck “cruising on a road at a high rate of speed,” Hindenburg said the truck had actually been “towed to the top of a hill on a remote stretch of road and simply filmed it rolling down the hill.” The company ultimately paid $125 million to settle civil charges with the SEC in 2021.

During the trial, Milton’s defense lawyer argued that the video was merely “special effects” and that “it’s certainly not a crime to use special effects.” But prosecutors raised several other false claims by Milton, who was extremely active on Twitter. According to The Times, prosecutors said Milton also lied about having “binding contracts with trucking companies” that in reality were cancelable reservations for vehicles. Prosecutors also cited Milton's claims about making “green hydrogen” when the company had not yet produced any.

Apple keeps on losing court battles in Brazil over its decision to stop shipping iPhones with a charger. The São Paulo state court has ruled against the tech giant and slapped it with a 100 million real ($19 million) fine in a lawsuit filed by the Brazilian Consumers' Association, a group of borrowers, consumers and taxpayers. In addition, the court has ordered Apple to supply all customers in Brazil who purchased the iPhone 12 or 13 over the past couple of years with a charger, as well as to start including them with all new purchases. Apple, as you'd expect, told the news organization that it will appeal the decision. 

According to Barron's, the judge in charge of the case called the non-inclusion of chargers in phone purchases an "abusive practice" that "requires consumers to purchase a second product in order for the first to work." Apple has been at odds with Brazilian authorities over the issue for a while now. In 2021, São Paulo consumer protection agency Procon-SP fined Apple around $2 million for removing the power adapter from the iPhone 12, telling the company that it was in violation of Brazil's Consumer Defense Code.

This September, the country's Ministry of Justice issued an order that bans Apple from selling iPhones that don't come with a charger. It also fined the company another $2.38 million and ordered the cancelation of iPhone 12's registration with Brazil's national telecoms agency. The tech giant is also appealing that decision. 

Apple stopped bundling its iPhones with power adapters back in 2020 with the release of iPhone 12. The company cited environmental concerns for removing chargers with every purchase of the device and claimed that the decision will save 861,000 tons of copper, zinc and tin. The Brazilian Ministry of Justice remained unmoved by that reasoning, telling Apple that it could help the environment in other ways, such as giving its devices USB-C support. In Europe, Apple has a couple of years to do just that after the European Parliament voted to make USB-C the common charging standard in the EU. Mobile devices like the iPhone sold in the region will have to come with USB-C charging posts by the end of 2024.