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#mehta

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Now that Judge #Amit #Mehta has found #Google is a #monopolist
-- lawyers for the Department of Justice have begun proposing solutions to correct the company’s illegal behavior and restore competition to the market for search engines.

In a new 32-page filing, they said they are considering both “behavioral and structural remedies“

That covers everything from applying ♦️a consent decree to keep an eye on the company’s behavior
to ♦️forcing it to sell off parts of its business, such as Chrome, Android, or Google Play.

"Similarly, Plaintiffs are considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features — including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence — over rivals or new entrants. "

But the first problem cited in the filing is 💥Google’s control of search distribution, 💥and the amount of money it pays to be the default option on platforms like Apple’s iPhone.
The DOJ lawyers write that “rivals cannot compete for these distribution channels because Google’s monopoly-funded revenue share payments disincentivize its partners from diverting queries to Google’s rivals.”
♦️Other fixes the DOJ is considering include things that affect user behavior,
like 🔸requiring “Google to provide support for educational-awareness campaigns that would enhance the ability of users to choose the general search engine that suits them best.”

In a response on its blog late Tuesday, Google claimed the proposed framework “goes well beyond the legal scope of the Court’s decision about Search distribution contracts,”
and that “[s]plitting off Chrome or Android would break them.”
Google claims that billions of people get online thanks to Chrome and Android existing as free products,
and that “[f]ew companies would have the ability or incentive to keep them open source, or to invest in them at the same level we do.”
theverge.com/2024/10/8/2426583

The Verge · A Google breakup is on the table, say DOJ lawyersBy Richard Lawler

For three long years, a group of #police #officers and U.S. #lawmakers who have ⭐#sued Donald Trump in his private capacity for his conduct on Jan. 6 ⭐️have awaited trial

The "domino effect" of the 🔸Supreme Court’s presidential #immunity #ruling 🔸now seems poised to #disrupt the case again and potentially irk a judge who plainly expressed his desire to get the case tried before autumn.

The consolidated case is 🌟Lee v. Trump, 🌟and it is before U.S. District Judge #Amit #Mehta, a former public defender and appointee of former President Barack Obama.

Law&Crime attended the remote status conference on Tuesday and learned that the parties have continued to engage in several rounds of negotiations over evidence in discovery and that they have also issued subpoenas to entities like the U.S. Secret Service and Metropolitan Police Department for records pertinent to Jan. 6.

But according to attorneys for the plaintiffs as well as attorneys for Trump, ♦️neither the Secret Service nor the Metropolitan Police Department ♦️have yet responded to subpoenas sent more than five weeks ago.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs told Mehta that the deadline they put on response for their subpoenas sent earlier this year was June 18.

A spokesperson for MPD declined to comment on pending litigation and a request for comment to the Secret Service was also declined to Law&Crime on Friday.

Mehta found this lack of responsiveness curious,
and on Tuesday he said he would reach out to the D.C. Attorney General’s Office to determine whether the subpoenas were #lost in the mail
or if the Secret Service or the MPD’s custodian of records were being #nonresponsive.

While concerned, the judge appeared 🔹determined to keep moving the civil case down the tracks 🔹and ordered the parties to disclose the names of those individuals they intend to depose or obtain declarations from
💥no later than Aug. 23.

As Law&Crime reported, 👉 it was in April when Mehta set down a Sept. 11 deadline for the parties to complete discovery specific to immunity issues Trump may want to raise.

“I do want to get to summary judgment briefing this fall and get this done,” Mehta said Tuesday.

Much of the discovery is publicly sourced material and so far, according to attorneys for the National Archives who attended the status conference,
♦️the National Archives has produced 1,500 of 4,700 total documents flagged for the matter. ♦️

The records pertain to Trump’s🔹 “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse,
🔹official communication between government officials about that rally,
🔹the logistics for how Trump got to the Ellipse and left,
🔹and communications about his speech.

✅No concerns over privilege issues are expected by Trump’s lawyers or the plaintiffs.

During the status conference, it was also revealed by federal prosecutors that they have ✅received roughly 1,650 pages of records from the Interior Department
so far and that the department is on track to finish this production by Aug. 19.

Mehta has spent months holding fast to the Sept. 11 deadline,
but ⚠️with so many competing deadlines in the weeks ahead,
as Law&Crime explores in every venue where Trump is charged below,
the federal judge may soon find himself woefully disappointed and, along with the plaintiffs, waiting yet again.

lawandcrime.com/high-profile/t

Law & Crime · Trump Docket: Dominoes from SCOTUS immunity may irk Jan. 6 judge who wants to 'get this done'Law&Crime takes a look at key legal developments in every venue where Donald Trump is facing civil or criminal charges.
Continued thread

Tech executives and investors said they were invigorated by Harris

“It’s democracy time, people,” Roy #Bahat, an investor at Bloomberg Beta, posted on LinkedIn.
Aaron #Levie, the chief executive of Box, a cloud storage company, wrote on X that Mr. Biden had shown “amazing leadership,” adding, “Now let’s go!”

The energy was a far cry from the dismay felt in tech circles recently as some of the industry’s most influential voices declared they were for Mr. Trump.
The rejuvenation could blunt the momentum of pro-Trump conservatives in Silicon Valley and entice more wealthy tech executives to throw their support — and money — behind the Democratic ticket.

Just last week, the political winds in Silicon Valley appeared to be blowing to the right.
On Tuesday, Mr. #Andreessen 😨and Mr. #Horowitz😨, founders of the influential investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, argued in a 90-minute podcast that Mr. Trump was the best candidate for start-ups, with plans to donate millions to his campaign. Days earlier, Mr. #Musk 😨had also endorsed Mr. Trump.
They had been preceded by David #Sacks 😨and Chamath #Palihapitiya, 😨two tech investors who had hosteda $12 million fund-raiser for Mr. Trump in June. Doug #Leone 😨and Shaun #Maguire 😨of Sequoia Capital, a top investment firm, had also said that they would vote for Mr. Trump.

Yet despite the growing sense of a MAGA takeover, not everyone in tech moved toward Mr. Trump.
“You have people with the loudest voices claiming to speak for the broader community, and the views don’t match,” said Katie Jacobs #Stanton, founder of Moxxie Ventures, a venture capital firm.
“By no means do they line up with the thousands of founders and employees and investors who live and work in Silicon Valley.”
John #Coogan, a start-up founder, wrote in a blog post in June that media coverage of Silicon Valley’s support for Mr. Trump was “at odds with reality.”
Top venture capitalists had given four times more money to Democrats than Republicans in the first part of the year, he argued.

“Trump is very unpopular in Silicon Valley in general,” Mr. #Khosla said, adding that those who were pro-Trump were “only a small constituency.”
Now liberals in tech are rejuvenated.
Mr. #Mehta said that some of his WhatsApp chats, particularly those that included Indian people in tech, exploded with excitement for Kamala Harris, whose mother is from India.
To show support for the vice president, some implored people to make small donations, while others discussed potential fund-raisers, he said.
Mr. #Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn and a prominent Democratic donor, emphasized in essays, videos and social media posts that Mr. Trump was a danger to the rule of law and democracy.
“You can’t use business justification as your cloak, as your rationalization, for being supportive of Trump,” he said.

Mr. #Levie of Box said he had spoken to a dozen other tech and business people on Sunday who were now optimistic about the election in November.
He said he was hopeful that Democrats could deliver a positive message on issues that the tech industry cared about, including A.I., entrepreneurship and immigration reform for high-skilled workers.
“We have a chance to get excited and rally around someone,” he said.

On Sunday, Mr. #Hoffman endorsed Ms. Harris, while Mr. #Khosla called for an open process at the Democratic convention.
Mr. #Suster said his phone blew up with a collective message of “thank god.”
He estimated that three-quarters of the people he interacted with in tech were happy about Mr. Biden’s withdrawal and would not support Mr. Trump.