Good to Know: Happy 2020, ya’ll! Many of you have either set or are setting resolutions. This year, we’re staying away from being specific. It’s all about one-word themes to set the tone for the year and just living our best lives possible. 2020 is all about alignment and our overall well-being.
The Skinny
When You’re Busy But Make Time … The current U.S. Administration is … busy these days. But, it’ll still have a strong showing at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (this mega tech conference in Vegas every year around this time).
When You Wanna Know Who’s Gonna Be There … Over 150 U.S. government officials will be there including Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios. White House adviser Ivanka Trump is giving the keynote. You may have heard about that on Twitter.
When You Want to Know What to Expect … There’ll be a lot going on and tech policy issues from self driving car policies to the “administration’s national strategy for artificial intelligence” will be top of mind. Should be interesting.
What Else Is Going On?
When It’s New Year, New Law… On, Jan. 1, 2020, California rang in the new year by putting its new privacy law into effect. It’s called the California Consumer Privacy Act. The main point of it all? To give California online users’ more rights over their personal data (e.g., right to know what info is being collected, if the info is being sold and to whom, and the right to say nah to the sale of your info). Privacy law experts say the law has more problems than benefits. All of these changes will cost companies about $55 billion. And where there are challenges, there are opportunities. Startups like TerraTrue Inc. are cropping up to help businesses comply with these privacy law changes.
When You’re Tracking … In 2019, France said it’s had enough of large Internet companies not paying their fair share in taxes. So, it put in place a digital tax of 3 percent on Internet companies pulling in at least 750 million euros ( $875 million) and 25 millie in digital sales in the country. See, Internet companies have been able to skirt the whole tax thing by claiming domicile in one country but moving money around to others. France’s digital tax law is tryna put an end to all of that by focusing on where online users are based instead. A significant number of American Internet companies are impacted by this. Neither they nor the U.S. government are here for any of this. France said if the U.S. tries them on this, it’s going straight to the World Trade Organization. BTW, Italy passed a similar law that’s also in effect as of Jan 1 of this year.
The Streets Are Talking …
Netflix bested the field in movie production last year. This year, the company’s going after the Oscars. (Bloomberg)
Former HBO exec Richard Plepler launched a new production company, Eden Productions, and it’s getting into business with Apple TV Plus for new content. While we’re on streaming … Turns out our streaming and online time isn’t doing the environment any favors. Canadian tech firms are looking into how we can manage data usage in a greener way.
For Funsies …
One member of the Virtual Skinny community put us onto veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway‘s Pivot podcast. We binged listened over the holidays. What are ya’ll listening to? Tell us!
Spread the Word & Hit Us Up!
Wishing you a happy and productive week! Tell your friends about us. We’d love for them to sign up and join the community! Also, got feedback for us? Is there something you want to see but aren’t? Let us know! Drop a note at virtualskinnynews@gmail.com. Can’t wait to hear from you!