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In The First Months of Trump Era, Facebook And Apple Spent More On Lobbying Than They Ever Have (buzzfeed.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: According to federal lobbying disclosures filed Thursday, Facebook and Apple set their all-time record high for spending in a single quarter. Facebook spent $3.2 million lobbying the federal government in the first months of the Trump era. During the same period last year, Facebook spent $2.8 million (about 15% less). The company lobbied both chambers of Congress, the White House, and six federal agencies on issues including high-tech worker visas, network neutrality, internet privacy, encryption, and international taxation. Facebook was the 12th-highest spender out of any company and second-highest in tech. [...] Apple spent $1.4 million, which is just $50,000 more than during the final months of the Obama presidency, when it set its previous record, but the most it has ever spent in a single quarter. Apple lobbied on issues including government requests for data, the regulation of mobile health apps, and self-driving cars. Google, once again, outspent every other technology company. It was 10th overall, tallying $3.5 million.
Their gravy train of cheap labor is coming to an end.
also the next time apple is asked unlock a phone will apple put up a fight?
This source is utter $h1t
If by "fight" you mean they'll undress, get on all fours, put their head on the ground and pull open their ass cheeks, yes.
Buzzfeed seems to only link their own articles in their stories, so it's not convenient to fact-check them. I would have prefered some other information on this subject and since there is none in the TFA, I will provide you with some more info on this lobbying dollout:
https://www.wired.com/2016/11/...
https://www.theguardian.com/us...
http://www.cbronline.com/news/...
From an obnoxious website that I won't link because of how totally obnoxious their javascript is; you may wish to read this anyway:
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
.. In to the pockets of the rich.
Trump: A loser president, supported by losers, elected by losers.
Now I'm wondering if Facebook's "Did you vote yet?" campaign last November was a last gasp of thinking that the system is actually democratic before just knuckling down and paying for favorable treatment or if by then they were already participating as part of the system that keeps the People cowed into thinking that their vote is a symbol of freedom rather than one of control.
Perhaps as these companies broaden out to be real multi-nationals and they gain experience with governments around the world, they're becoming astutely aware of how commonplace bribery and corruption is and that helps them lift the veil on the reality of DC politics.
We can not like it and not blame them for doing what it takes to survive at the same time. "Blame the system, not the player," as they say.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
No more of these dime a dozen problems caused by cheap bribery, I only want to deal with massive high dollar issues caused by bribery!
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
So many pockets to fill, so little time.
Only the best government your money can buy!
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
If corporations have to increase their spending that means it's gotten harder for them. The low rates of the previous adminstration obviously don't work anymore.
Also, Buzzfeed? Really?
I bet the next time Apple is asked to unlock a phone the government won't ask nicely this time.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
The reality is that we now have the least transparent administration in a very long time.
FTFY - The Trump Administration is discarding 40+ years of post-Watergate reforms.
Seems like the entire spine of the executive branch is open to making deals and being persuaded. Getting in there first to his brain and setting the boundaries of the conversation going forward was very smart. No wonder the president thinks he's such an easy to get along with guy. If you paint a picture of a dark world, and present the lightbulb as the only way to brighten it, you're a genius in his world.
At least be honest about it. It's bribery legalized.
Alternative way to look at this is that Apple and Facebook are no longer getting the favoritism they did under Obama and their money isn't going as far as it used to.
Given the relative differences between how much the Clinton & Trump campaigns spent on the election (http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-campaign-spending), it seems as if the idea of buying votes is not as easy as once thought.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
Please stop it. There are plenty of places to express your political point of view - slashdot is not one of those.
They are talking about the obvious issues but I think the end game for Facebook anyway, is to get connected to battle against tough anti trust enforcement. Ditto for Goog. Say what you will about trump, but he did talk about monopolies in the campaign and he has a history with it having won an abuse of monopoly suit against the NFL in the 80s. (The award was $1 so basically a win on paper only).
"When it comes to policy decisions, it will do the right thing, and lobbying won't have any real impact."
Yeah, this is the part people seriously doubt.
When lobbying is no longer effective, you have moved into far darker territory, where now, there is only 3 manners of decision making: Nepotism, whims, and ideological bent of the person in charge.
Dictatorships are also relatively immune to lobbying. Do we really want to end up there? Lobbying is bad, limiting access to your government is worse, since now it is completely clear the government will do whatever it wants, consequences be dammed.
If you need to pay money to get your congressman to not be a retard and vote the way you want them to, then the entire system is corrupt.
Lobbying is essentially bribery, except legal.
Not sure that article is a clear indicator on how much was spent or by whom. It only says what Trump CLAIMS to have spent. (and he's not the most honest individual out there as his business ventures have shown)
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
This, in my opinion, has less to do with a Trump Presidency and more to do with both houses of Congress being held by the same majority. Where there previously was gridlock, there now is a hope for legislation actually passing at a decent volume. Why spend money on a locked congress getting next to nothing done, wait until there is some ability for action.
That being said, I do also think the content of legislation comes into play as well (tax code, H1-B).
"Corrupt rich people can't be corrupted" is a very stupid argument. How do you think they got rich in the first place?
The benefit of having government made up of rich, corrupt people is that they're already corrupted, so the little dance around ethical barriers can be dispensed with from the get-go and you can go straight to the quid pro quo.
You are welcome on my lawn.
When lobbying is no longer effective, you have moved into far darker territory, where now, there is only 3 manners of decision making: Nepotism, whims, and ideological bent of the person in charge.
So wait. Adding 'whatever Comcast and Facebook paid them to decide' to the list somehow makes it better?
"Sure the president doesn't give one good goddamn about us, but at least they passed a bill which lets Comcast claim 256kbit/s is high-speed broadband!"
Being rich != Corrupt
Caution: Contents under pressure
most companies revamp lobbying when the administration changes.
Why do you think that's the case?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
There's ample evidence that in late-stage capitalism, being rich does indeed equal being corrupt.
You are welcome on my lawn.
From the last sentence of the summary:
Google, once again, outspent every other technology company. It was 10th overall, tallying $3.5 million.
Why was this not in the title?
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
He's making America great again, like it was 40 years ago.
Like everything was 40 years ago...
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Why don't we call this what it really is?
Lobbying is nothing more than legalized bribing and needs to be outlawed.
Unfortunately that would involve those that make the laws, and I'm sure they'd be bribed/lobbied to not make that law.
Linking to Buzzfeed a known fake news, highly partisan churnalist website? We should go a step above on this website and only link to Actual Journalists who are not trying to push a narrative. But that may difficult to find in this day and age
... at least its all out in the open now.
It doesn't mean its less effective if its more expensive. It just means the companies have more money to spend, or the issues are more important to them.
It should be expensive by having to pay fines of a percentage of a companies net worth if they get caught doing it. Only 3rd rate countries have such institutionalized corruption.
A few executions wouldn't go astray to discourage the practice either.
Democracies are far more immune to lobbying by corporations. Maybe you should try that instead for your country.
Where Obama was fairly forward-looking and Hillary appeared to have a similar outlook; 45 is overtly hostile towards the technology sector and its interests in general; and the Bay Area and Silicon Valley in particular. Given said hostility on the part of the executive branch, it does make sence that Google, Facebook, Apple, and company, would look to buying themselves some congresscritters as a defensive move. Perilous times, and all that.
It's very far from an ideal situation. But tech has suffered in the past from not playing "the game". For example, in the 1990s, tech lobbying was minimal, allowing the RIAA and MPAA to blindside them by buying the DMCA. How much time and money, would you guess, has been wasted in tech complying with the copyright cartel on that one law alone? How many tech companies did their lot outright put out of business? It wasn't just Napster by a long shot. You can hardly blame tech for determining not to make the same mistake a second time.
Imagine all the people...
A few million is nothing to these companies, like getting a cup of coffee! If lobbying is so cheap then why don't citizens band together and create their own lobby? A quick search shows they have, this being the biggest/most popular citizens lobby http://citizensclimatelobby.org
Maybe they should have spent that money on training all of the workers they deem unqualified so they don't have to rely on hiring non-citizens. You know, invest in the nation and it's people rather than themselves.
Aren't our elected officials supposed to be working for us?