You're listening to all the top tech all the time. This is the week in Review for March 22, March 24, 2023. “
CBS News has confirmed that the Justice Department is investigating Chinese owned Bytedance, the parent company for TikTok, for spying on U.S. citizens, including journalists. Bytedance confirmed that two employees of their company did access users' data inappropriately. The federal government has already banned TikTok on government issued devices.
Tiktok's CEO is scheduled to testify before the House lawmakers this Thursday, and former President Donald Trump has been reinstated to Facebook and YouTube after a two year ban. Facebook stated they would reinstate Trump's access to his accounts, saying that the public should be allowed to hear from politicians, but heightened penalties would be applied for further violation of its rules.
Trump founded the social media program True Social. In response to being banned from Twitter and Facebook, the former president was suspended for praising rioters who stormed the US Capitol on January six, 2021. Google began on Tuesday to release its chat GPT competitor the Barred A.I. system previously only available to developers. Barred has been said to be boosting their productivity, accelerating their ideas, and really fueling their curiosity.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has proposed a law that would ban central bank digital currencies. This law would prohibit the use of a KDB currency in the state of Florida. DeSantis said this would stifle innovation and promote government sanctioned surveillance. It is said the law would also prohibit the use of CBDCs from any overseas country and Florida as well.
And Florida Polytechnic University has been working on a 3D surgery simulator for weight loss. Two professors have been working on the simulator to emulate the look and feel of the endoscope when performing bariatric surgery. The IRS is looking at Nfts to see if they can be taxed as capital gains. A spokesman said they are currently looking for comments from the US public to see how NFTs could be taxed as capital gains at a rate as high as 28%.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz introduced a bill that would prohibit the Federal Reserve from adopting a central bank digital currency. Cruz said in a statement that unlike Bitcoin, CBDCs are issued and backed by a government and transacted on a centralized blockchain. Cruz also said that not only would this Cbdc model centralize American's financial information, leaving it vulnerable to attack, but it could also be used as a direct surveillance tool in the private transactions of Americans.
Big tech services giant Accenture has lowered its annual revenue and profit forecast and began laying off 19,000 jobs, another indication that the tech sector's future is looking bleak. Accenture said on Thursday that most layoffs will occur in its non billable corporate function. The SEC has notified Coinbase that they may be facing a lawsuit. A Wells notice from the SEC indicates that they may be under investigation and would be able to respond to potential charges.
CEO Brian Armstrong wrote that Coinbase is right on the law and confident in its facts. Cryptocurrency Miners in Texas are not worrying about rising power demands. The Texas Blockchain Council noted that 21 megawatts of state power supplies were used, which is an increase of 75% from last year. Crypto mining is facing a proposed federal regulation of a 30% tax on electricity usage.
Bitcoin is up to 28,400 and Etherium at 820. For more tech news, visit TopTechTalkShow.com - I'm Chuck Palm.