The European Commission will examine whether the big tech companies are preventing developers from steering customers away from controlled app stores, which could be anti-competitive.

The investigation comes under powers introduced in the Digital Markets Act (DMA) which was a landmark piece of legislation aimed at curbing the power of big tech and the commission is accusing companies of non-compliance with the act and a failure to provide a fairer and more open digital space for European citizens and businesses.

Should the investigation conclude that there is lack of full compliance with the DMA, gatekeeper companies could face heavy fines.

Designated as ‘gatekeepers’ by the DMA, Google owner Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, TikTok owner ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft have special responsibilities because of their dominance of key mobile technologies.

These companies are accused of steering developers away from competitor platforms and imposing various restrictions and limitations on their use.

The big tech companies are facing a growing legal backlash and last month Apple was fined over its iOS ecosystem and business practices by the EU.

Whether this case succeeds of not, it’s interesting to note the growing willingness of the authorities to take these tech giants to court.

About time, according to some critics.

Source: New Electronic

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“Today, the Commission has opened non-compliance investigations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) into Alphabet’s rules on steering in Google Play and self-preferencing on Google Search, Apple’s rules on steering in the App Store and the choice screen for Safari and Meta’s ‘pay or consent model,’” the European Commission said in a statement.

The first two probes focus on Alphabet and Apple and relate to so-called anti-steering rules. Under the DMA, tech firms are not allowed to block businesses from telling their users about cheaper options for their products or about subscriptions outside of an app store.

“The way that Apple and Alphabet’s implemented the DMA rules on anti-steering seems to be at odds with the letter of the law. Apple and Alphabet will still charge various recurring fees, and still limit steering,” the E.U.’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, said Monday at a news conference.

Apple has already fallen foul of the E.U.’s rules. This month, the company was fined 1.8 billion euros ($1.95 billion) after the European Commission said it found that Apple had applied restrictions on app developers that prevented them from informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app.

In a third inquiry, the commission said it is investigating whether Apple has complied with its DMA obligations to ensure that users can easily uninstall apps on iOS and change default settings. The probe also focuses on whether Apple is actively prompting users with choices to allow them to change default services on iOS, such as for the web browser or search engine.

The commission said that it is “concerned that Apple’s measures, including the design of the web browser choice screen, may be preventing users from truly exercising their choice of services within the Apple ecosystem.”

Apple said it believes it is in compliance with the DMA.

“We’re confident our plan complies with the DMA, and we’ll continue to constructively engage with the European Commission as they conduct their investigations. Teams across Apple have created a wide range of new developer capabilities, features, and tools to comply with the regulation,” an Apple spokesperson told CNBC on Monday.

The fourth probe targets Alphabet, as the European Commission looks into whether the firm’s display of Google search results “may lead to self-preferencing in relation to Google’s,” other services such as Google Shopping, over similar rival offerings.

“To comply with the Digital Markets Act, we have made significant changes to the way our services operate in Europe,” Oliver Bethell, director of competition at Alphabet, said in a statement.

“We have engaged with the European Commission, stakeholders and third parties in dozens of events over the past year to receive and respond to feedback, and to balance conflicting needs within the ecosystem. We will continue to defend our approach in the coming months.”

Alphabet pointed to a blog post from earlier this month, wherein the company outlined some of those changes — including giving Android phone users the option to easily change their default search engine and browser, as well as making it easier for people to see comparison sites in areas like shopping or flights in Google searches.

Meta investigation

The fifth and final investigation focuses on Meta and its so-called pay and consent model. Last year, Meta introduced an ad-free subscription model for Facebook and Instagram in Europe. The commission is looking into whether offering the subscription model without ads or making users consent to terms and conditions for the free service is in violation of the DMA.

“The Commission is concerned that the binary choice imposed by Meta’s ‘pay or consent’ model may not provide a real alternative in case users do not consent, thereby not achieving the objective of preventing the accumulation of personal data by gatekeepers.”

Thierry Breton, the E.U.’s internal market commissioner, said during the news conference that there should be “free alternative options” offered by Meta for its services that are “less personalized.”

“Gatekeepers” is a label for large tech firms that are required to comply with the DMA in the E.U.

“We will continue to use all available tools, should any gatekeeper try to circumvent or undermine the obligations of the DMA,” Vestager said.

Meta said subscriptions are a common business model across various industries.

“Subscriptions as an alternative to advertising are a well-established business model across many industries, and we designed Subscription for No Ads to address several overlapping regulatory obligations, including the DMA. We will continue to engage constructively with the Commission,” a Meta spokesperson told CNBC on Monday.

Tech giants at risk of fines

The commission said it intends to conclude its probes within 12 months, but Vestager and Breton during the Monday briefing stressed that the DMA does not dictate a hard deadline for the timeline of the inquiry. The regulators will inform the companies of their preliminary findings and explain measures they are taking or the gatekeepers should take in order to address the commission’s concerns.

If any company is found to have infringed the DMA, the commission can impose fines of up to 10% of the tech firms’ total worldwide turnover. These penalties can increase to 20% in case of repeated infringement.

The commission said it is also looking for facts and information to clarify whether Amazon may be preferencing its own brand products on its e-commerce platform over rivals. The commission is further studying Apple’s new fee structure and other terms and conditions for alternative app stores.

This month, the tech giant announced that users in the E.U. would be able to download apps from websites rather than through its proprietary App Store — a change that Apple has resisted for years.

The E.U.’s research into Apple and Amazon does not comprise official investigations.

Source: NBC News

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We have released our special report into the London Borough of Haringey, uncovering a ‘culture of apathy’ at the landlord that has led to a distinct lack of ownership, accountability, and intrinsic motivation when handling […]

We have released our special report into the London Borough of Haringey, uncovering a ‘culture of apathy’ at the landlord that has led to a distinct lack of ownership, accountability, and intrinsic motivation when handling complaints.

Where shortfalls are identified, there was no evidence of learning to prevent failings reoccurring, and little evidence of contrition or a resolution-focused approach to complaints handling.

The investigation was initiated by concerns about the landlord’s approach to leaks, damp and mould where more than three-quarters of cases were upheld determined since 1 April 2021 where leaks, damp and mould formed part of the investigation. The landlord also featured in the Ombudsman’s 2021 report Spotlight on damp and mould: It’s not lifestyle.

The special report also followed the Ombudsman issuing a Complaint Handling Failure Order to the landlord in December 2022 regarding its approach to compensation, compliance with Ombudsman orders, and handling of complaints.

The special report is formed of 32 individual investigations and engagement with the landlord over the last six months. The Ombudsman made 77 findings across the cases, 18 of which involved severe maladministration, mostly for major repairs, damp and mould and complaint handling. The overall uphold rate was 82%.

Among the cases investigated, the landlord withdrew all services from a resident for a period of 12 months after reports of unacceptable behaviour. The resident disputed this, and the landlord could not provide supporting evidence, yet it continued to withdraw all services including not carry out repairs works.

We identified eight key themes and set out a series of recommendations:

Leaseholders – The handling of leaseholder complaints involving repair issues has been extremely poor. It has also been slow to support residents with insurance claims and placed undue onus on the resident to facilitate these, resulting in financial detriment to leaseholders. The Ombudsman has recommended a new policy for leaseholder complaints to encourage improved redress.

Disrepair – There were unreasonable delays in the landlord’s response to reports of disrepair. It would delay before inspecting a property after the resident reported a problem, then delay in carrying out necessary repairs, and would be unable to adequately explain the reasons for these.

Damp and mould – Despite featuring in the Ombudsman’s 2021 damp and mould report, the landlord did not introduce a new policy until April 2023. Whilst this new policy adheres to the report’s recommendations, internal guidance is still lacking in many areas and the Ombudsman has recommended the landlord reviews this guidance to ensure it is consistent with its policy.

Vulnerabilities – The landlord does not always adhere to its own Vulnerable Residents Policy. Despite being mentioned in the policy, there was no evidence of either enhanced support or repair service for vulnerable residents, or indeed any consideration at all of vulnerability within repairs or associated complaints handling. The Ombudsman recommended a review of policies in these areas and to produce vulnerability and safeguarding procedures for housing management and staff.

Unreasonable behaviour policy – Aims to deal with customers fairly, proportionately, impartially and in an open manner is not reflected on the ground. The Ombudsman recommends a new policy is created for this and a new monitoring process introduced to track progress.

Knowledge and Information Management – There was a concerning lack of key documents, jobs being raised and then left open, and a lack of learning. Underpinning the landlord’s handling of information, data and records, was a cultural acceptance of poor practice. This includes a lack of ownership, professional pride and accountability. The Ombudsman has recommended the landlord self-assess against the Spotlight report on Knowledge and Information Management.

Complaint handling – The landlord’s complaint handling exposes residents to delay, confusion, uncertainty, and unfair treatment. Additionally, its complaints handling is not in line with the Complaint Handling Code. The landlord does not keep records of complaints at stage 3, which undermines learning. The Ombudsman has recommended it updates its complaints policy, including the removal of ‘stage 0’ and a review of stage 3.

Compensation – The landlord is routinely not offering compensation as part of its complaints handling, despite clear evidence of service failure and the associated time, trouble, distress and inconvenience. The Ombudsman has recommended a creation of a new compensation policy that is in line with the Complaint Handling Code and related guidance.

Source: Housing Ombudsman

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The excise policy – 2021-22 came under the scanner after Delhi LG Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in its implementation. Former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia has already been arrested by CBI in this case.

he top foreign policy aide to Turkish presidential challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has told Newsweek he is hopeful that a new Turkish parliament will approve Sweden’s delayed accession to NATO before alliance members meet for their next summit this summer—if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan loses next month’s election.

Ünal Çeviköz told Newsweek that the six-party opposition bloc, which is headed by long-time Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kılıçdaroğlu, is “optimistic” on Sweden’s proposed accession, which has been stuck in limbo for several months amid heated disputes between Stockholm and Erdogan.

Kılıçdaroğlu is running slightly ahead of Erdogan in public opinion polls ahead of the May 14 election, raising the possibility that the latter’s 20 years in power might soon come to an end.

Kılıçdaroğlu has said he plans to revitalize Turkish relations with NATO allies and European Union partners which have suffered under Erdogan, who critics say has increasingly turned to authoritarianism tinged by Islamist populism to retain power.

“I hope it will be realized before the NATO summit in Vilnius, but it might fall a little bit short,” Çeviköz said of Sweden’s proposed accession to the alliance.

“It simply depends upon the post-electoral period, the functioning of the parliament, the formation of the new government.”

Swedish Saga

Any new government and new parliament are expected to be in place by mid-June, around a month before the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital. With Finland already having joined in April, NATO members are hopeful that the July 11-12 meeting will serve as a formal celebration of the alliance’s expansion to 32 members, including Sweden.

Turkey is still refusing to approve Sweden’s bid, and is demanding Stockholm crack down on the activities of Kurdish political and militant groups operating within its territory. Sweden has long been a center for exiled Kurdish activists, and a fundraising hub for Kurdish groups fighting in Syria and elsewhere.

Some of those groups are linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long guerrilla campaign in Turkey. The U.S. and EU both list the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Sweden has already passed new legislation to clamp down on militant organizations. It also lifted a 2019 arms embargo on Turkey put in place after Ankara’s incursion into Syria targeting the Syrian Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG), a militia that is linked to the PKK and forms the core of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which has fought alongside American troops against Islamic State militants.

But this was not enough for Erdogan, who also demanded extradition of Kurdish terror suspects and those accused of links to the failed 2016 Turkish coup, which Ankara blames on U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gülen. More than 300,000 people have been arrested in Turkey since 2016 for suspected ties with Gülen.

The standoff has toxified public opinion in both countries. Turks were especially outraged in January when a far-right Danish activist burned a Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

Sweden is now waiting for further anti-terror legislation to come into force on June 1. A Turkish government source told the Daily Sabah this week that the bill would not guarantee an end to Ankara’s opposition.

Çeviköz, though, told Newsweek that a new government led by Kılıçdaroğlu would look kindly at the new law.

“We are reassured by Swedish counterparts that the introduction of that new law will, in a way, appease the expectations of Turkey as far as Sweden’s combat against terrorism is concerned,” he said.

“This law will enable Sweden to pay tribute to the sensitivities of Turkey as far as the PKK terrorist issues are concerned. Once this happens, it will be a process which will remove all the basic hurdles in front of Swedish membership in NATO. And it will allow the next government to look in a better and an optimistic manner on their membership of NATO.”

The Russia Problem

Çeviköz said that a Kılıçdaroğlu-led government will generally look to build foreign “trust and confidence” in Turkey, which under Erdogan has often been a source of intra-NATO tensions and disputes with the EU.

He said a new government would continue Turkish efforts to mediate between Ukraine and Russia in the ongoing war, and maintain Ankara’s role in overseeing the Black Sea grain export deal.

“To find an overall development for peace between Russia and Ukraine, it’s a matter of European security architecture and it is not only Turkey,” Çeviköz said.

Though a NATO member, Turkey has somewhat straddled the growing gulf between Moscow and its EU-NATO adversaries. Turkey is heavily dependent on Russian energy—state-owned Gazprom provided some 45 percent of all Turkish domestic gas demand in 2021—and Russia is, in the words of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, “one of the most important trade partners.”

Amid the Western sanctions offensive on Moscow, Turkey has seen its trade with Russia increase by 87 percent.

Though he said a new government would not mirror EU sanctions against Russia, Çeviköz did say that a Kılıçdaroğlu-led administration would adopt more intense scrutiny of Turkish firms accused of helping Russia bypass the measures and source dual-use goods.

“We are also trying to take the necessary measures not to allow this to happen,” he said. “We will be certainly looking at it more carefully.”

Çeviköz said an opposition-led Turkey would look to “to diversify and to diminish the dependence on a certain source” when it comes to energy.

Still, Çeviköz said Turkey will not be off-limits to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “If a presidential visit is considered from either party to the other, then we will certainly be looking at it,” he said.

The recent International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Putin, he added, is not relevant to Turkey as the country is not a party to the agreement. “There is not anything to be discussed on that level,” he said.

‘Trust’ in Turkey

Çeviköz said the combined opposition is “quite confident” of success in the looming elections. But what if Erdogan wins again? “We don’t consider this as a possibility,” Çeviköz replied.

“The paradigm, not only in Turkey, but overall in the world is the confrontation between democratic forces and authoritarianism,” he said. “Turkey is going to prove that the authoritarian tendencies could be defeated by a democratic and free elections […] Democracy will prevail. And if it doesn’t, then it will be a dark hole in the region.”

A Kılıçdaroğlu-led administration, Çeviköz said, will be looking to make peace with those so often rankled by Erdogan’s foreign policy over the past two decades, starting with historic rival Greece. Athens and Ankara have been involved in multiple territorial disputes in the eastern Mediterranean, with huge reserves of undersea oil and natural gas at stake.

Turkish and Greek vessels have clashed at sea, and Erdogan even warned in December that Turkish missiles can reach Athens.

“One of the priorities will be certainly in relations between Turkey and Greece,” Çeviköz said, suggesting a recent thaw in ties following the February earthquake that devastated parts of eastern Turkey and northern Syria gives some hope for improved bilateral ties. “I think there is a very optimistic opportunity there,” he said.

Long-term, Çeviköz said the Turkish opposition also has an eye on renewed EU accession talks, which have been frozen since 2018 amid democratic backsliding under Erdogan.

“It is a very long-term process,” Çeviköz said of Ankara’s EU ambitions. “First, we have to create the trust and confidence of Turkey, with the international community […] Once this happens, certainly further developments and progress will follow.”

Turkey under Kılıçdaroğlu will also be looking to revive ties with neighboring Syria, whose dictatorial leader Bashar al-Assad has—with extensive Russian and Iranian help—all but won the brutal civil war against a variety of domestic and foreign-backed rebel groups.

Turkey occupies a swath of northern Syria it says is required to protect the southern Turkish border, but Çeviköz said an opposition administration would be willing to re-evaluate its military presence there if there is a détente with Damascus. The return of some four million Syrian refugees now living in Turkey is a top priority across party lines.

“It is the intention of the next government to incentivize the voluntary return of Syrians,” Çeviköz said. “Dialogue is absolutely necessary between Ankara and Damascus.”

The EU and U.S. are still cold on Assad, refusing to re-establish ties after more than a decade of trying to oust the dictator. “I don’t think that it’s going to damage the Turkish relations with the U.S.” Çeviköz said of a potential thaw between Ankara and Damascus.

“If we can achieve that kind of reassurance and confidence between the two countries, certainly, there will be a time when there will not be a necessity for reassuring Turkey’s security by presence of Turkish armed forces in the Syrian territory,” he added.

Source: The HIndu

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At 11:38 a.m., an Elizabeth Metis Settlement resident called Cold Lake RCMP to report an unwanted man on an ATV. The caller said that he had told the man he was not welcome, and the man then pointed a gun at him.

Responding officers located the man and the ATV at a residence approximately one hour later. The man drove the ATV into a nearby forested area and became stuck in the snow and trees. Officers approached the man on foot and, amid the resulting interaction, one of the officers discharged his firearm. The ATV was struck, but the man was not. Officers then arrested the man and found a loaded firearm in the ATV.

Firearm located in the ATV

ASIRT’s investigation will examine the use of force. No additional information will be released.

As part of its ongoing investigation, ASIRT is continuing efforts to identify people who may have witnessed aspects of the confrontation between the man and police. ASIRT is asking anyone who may have been in the area and may have witnessed these events and/or may have video to contact investigators at 780-644-1483.

ASIRT’s mandate is to effectively, independently and objectively investigate incidents involving Alberta’s police that have resulted in serious injury or death to any person, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.

Source: Alberta

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