Competition authority Antitrust Office targets Apple

As of: June 21, 2021 2:46 p.m.

The Federal Cartel Office is now also investigating Apple. Above all, the US group’s business conduct in the App Store wants to investigate. Similar proceedings are in progress against other large tech companies. The Federal Cartel Office initiates investigations against the technology group Apple. The authority wants to find out whether the US group with parts of its business a “cross-market importance” has in competition. Cartel Office President Andreas Mundt said: “We will now examine whether Apple has built a digital ecosystem across several markets around the iPhone with the proprietary iOS operating system.” After all, the US group also produces tablets, computers, headphones and watches and sells them at the same time “a range of device-related services and services”. The Group’s Services division includes the App Store, iCloud, technical support at AppleCare, the Apple Music music service, the range of games in front of Apple Arcade, the Apple TV + streaming service and other services.

EU sees unfair competition

During its investigation, the Cartel Office will also examine Apple’s technical and financial resources as well as access to data, according to Mundt. One focus of the investigation will be on the operation of the app store, as this enables the group in many cases to influence the business activities of third parties.

Apple’s app store system is already being investigated by the EU Commission, which accuses the group of unfair competition with other providers of music streaming services. Among other things, it is controversial that 15 to 30 percent of the digital revenues in the App Store go to Apple. “We look forward to discussing our approach with the Federal Cartel Office and engaging in an open dialogue about any concerns”it said in a response from Apple. The group is “proud to be an engine for innovation and jobs”. The iOS platform alone supports more than 250,000 workplaces in Germany.

Cartel office can intervene earlier

The background to the investigation is a reform of the Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB) in January. A central component is the modernization of abuse control. The supervisory authorities can now intervene earlier in the event of suspected violations by large digital corporations and prohibit anti-competitive practices.

This also makes it easier for the Cartel Office to take action against large digital companies that are important to competition across borders between different market areas. This has already had consequences: the last time the Bonn authority was against the online network Facebook and in May against the mail order company Amazon and against the internet company Google Investigation started.

According to the cartel office, an expansion of the investigation against Apple is imminent. The authority intends to “to take a closer look at Apple’s specific behavior in a possible further procedure”. The Office has received various complaints against potentially anti-competitive practices

After that, other fanpages of VOV1, VOV2, VOV TV channel… also received hundreds of similar comments consecutively. Subjects used many different accounts to “review” on Google Maps to reduce the reputation of Radio Voice of Vietnam. Photo: VOV According to VOV, the reporters who made this series of articles were also subjected to a series of strange nicks sending abusive, insulting and threatening messages. Not stopping there, the target group also searched for the phone number and social network of the VOV.VN reporter’s wife or husband to terrorize them in the form of messages. On the morning of June 13, on a fanpage called “Steel Fan Sister Hang” posted the entire so-called “how” to hack the content management software (CMS) of VOV Electronic Newspaper. “From the morning of June 13, accessing the VOV.VN address was very difficult and intermittent. At 13:00 on the same day, VOV’s electronic newspaper was hacked, making it impossible for readers to access it for many hours after that,” VOV said. VOV Electronic Newspaper has also contacted functional units of the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Information and Communications to coordinate in solving and handling the violations of extremists when deliberately attacking the technical platforms of a company. national media. Previously, on June 12, 2021, VOV Electronic Newspaper published articles: “I can’t give myself the right to insult anyone online” and “Mrs Phuong Hang with deviant livestreams: It’s time to take action. strict reason” Talking to the press, the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05) – Ministry of Public Security said that professional units are investigating and clarifying the group of attackers. VOV electronics. The Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05) said that it had previously received a dispatch from VOV and understood this issue. Currently, professional units are investigating and clarifying. A05 affirmed that this is the responsibility of the unit and investigated and clarified this issue.

Distinguishing between Trump and Biden In an article published in March 2020, CNN posted an image of former President Trump crossing out the word “Corona” and changing it to “Chinese” before the word virus in a note at a meeting with the task force against COVID-19. The American newspaper at the time asserted that this was an attempt by the President and some in the administration to distract the public from his failure to control the spread of the COVID-19 disease in the US. At the same time, many other American newspapers quoted a series of statements from the White House public health advisers asserting that it is inappropriate and inaccurate to associate SARS-CoV-2 with the name Wuhan virus. “Ethnicity is not the cause of the virus that causes COVID-19” , Forbes quoted Alex Azar – US Secretary of Health and Human Services at that time said. A photo shows the word “Corona” removed and replaced with “China” in Trump’s COVID-19 announcement. Sheet Vox Trump’s association with COVID-19 by geographical location is dangerous because it arouses xenophobia. CBS News stressed that the US leader’s statements related to the “Chinese virus” only fueled a wave of discrimination against Asian Americans. According to statistics from the database website Factbase, Trump used the phrase “Chinese virus” more than 20 times between March 16 and March 30. Before a series of criticisms from the media and public opinion, he did not mention this phrase but never “reduced” when he asserted that there was evidence that nCoV escaped from the Wuhan laboratory many months later. Unlike his predecessor, not long after taking office, President Biden signed an executive order banning COVID-19 contacts by geographical location. A few weeks ago, the hypothesis that COVID-19 leaked from the Wuhan laboratory became hot again when the Wall Street Journal It was reported that 3 researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized for treatment in early November 2019. The American newspaper confirmed that these people had “symptoms similar to COVID-19 disease”. A few days after the information Wall Street Journal Posted, President Biden directed the US intelligence community to intensify efforts to investigate the origin of COVID-19 and report to him within 90 days. This move of the American leader was welcomed by the US media. A series of American newspapers began to seriously analyze the possibility of the virus escaping the laboratory, citing experts who emphasized the need for a scientific investigation into this matter. CBS News Quoting former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, it was a mistake to prematurely dismiss the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan. While New York Times said many scientists welcomed President Biden’s call for a more extensive investigation of the Wuhan lab. Many other newspapers are racing to publish information about the report of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, USA on the origin of COVID-19 which emphasizes the hypothesis that the SARS-CoV-2 virus leaked from a laboratory. China’s experiment in Wuhan is correct and needs further investigation. The same problem, but at two times, the way the American media reported under two presidents seemed different. Although compared to 1 year ago, the hypothesis that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan laboratory is only one more episode like Wall Street Journa l posted. Intelligence agencies around the world, including in the US, have yet to make any official conclusions about the origin of nCoV. Trump supporters criticize American media. Many opinions say that anti-Trump sentiment makes many newspapers lose their objective view when they only focus on going against what the US leader claims. The US has never given up investigating the origin of COVID-19 Even under Trump or Biden, the US has never given up on the investigation into the origin of COVID-19. Washington criticized China for denying international investigators access to the Wuhan lab and for failing to explain some of the inconsistencies in the hypothesis that the virus jumped from animals to humans. The Wuhan Institute of Virology became the focus of the investigation into the origin of COVID-19. (Image: Shutterstock) According to the sheet DW of Germany, the United States is taking every opportunity to remind the world that China is responsible for the entire current world mayhem. Whether it’s Trump or Biden, they want the American people to believe that the disease that has claimed more than 600,000 American lives originated in China and they have done everything to find the truth that Beijing hides. Blaming China also alleviated people’s dissatisfaction with the government’s shortcomings in putting in place anti-epidemic measures. It is undeniable that China has fought COVID-19 well and soon brought the epidemic under control. Beijing is also busy promoting its success story and drowning out international criticism for its “leaving” nCoV to the world. But China’s lack of transparency has also fueled speculation that Beijing is hiding something. This provides fertile ground for conspiracy theories. “Unfortunately, we are experiencing a situation in which the question of the origin of COVID-19 and different strategies in fighting the pandemic becomes the subject of a propaganda war between the US government and the US government. and China” , said German scientist Felix Wemheuer. Experts say that while trying to refer to China as an irresponsible country that spreads the disease but consistently denies it, the US has built itself as a leader in finding the truth, ready to stand up for justice. The US claims to blame China for COVID-19 are also against Beijing’s propaganda efforts that the virus did not originate in the country. After successfully controlling the epidemic, China began to shift public opinion from criticism aimed at the country to Beijing’s contributions in the pandemic. Beijing once hypothesized that the virus may not have originated in China after a study published in 2020 showed that antibodies against COVID-19 or a variant were detected in Italy in 2019. China also called called WHO to investigate the hypothesis that the virus leaked from laboratories around the world, referring to the possibility that the pathogen may have been brought by US military personnel to Wuhan, China in October 2019. If it is proven that COVID-19 came from a laboratory in Wuhan, the US will destroy the image that China has built and pressure Beijing to shoulder the burden of vaccination for the world. The US accusations against China may also give other countries a stronger voice in demanding an investigation into the origins of COVID-19 under the umbrella of US protection. In fact, British intelligence recently suddenly changed its opinion, from thinking that the virus theory leaked from the laboratory “unlikely” to saying this hypothesis is “absolutely possible”. For the US, an investigation into the origin of the epidemic could become a lever to increase pressure on China and be part of a competition for influence between China and the West. If it can obtain evidence of Beijing’s cover-up of the pandemic, Washington can use that as leverage in negotiations. Is the investigation being politicized? Under pressure from the US, China and WHO officials repeatedly called on Washington to stop politicizing and “poisoning” the investigation into the origin of COVID-19. Experts fear the US-China blame game for the origin of the epidemic threatens scientific investigations. (Photo: SCMP) “US efforts to politicize research on the origins of COVID-19 seriously undermine international cooperation and create difficulties and obstacles for efforts to combat the virus and save lives.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed. According to the DW The fact that the US is using COVID-19 as a “scapegoat” as well as the way China is not really transparent about providing information at the beginning of the outbreak are turning science into a political victim of the pandemic. . The world’s two largest economies are stuck in a blame game, fueled by theories about the origins of COVID-19. Experts fear this could distort the investigation into the origin of the epidemic, which is expected to be based on science. “Analysts are under political pressure to stick to the theory that the virus leaked from the lab,” he said. analyst Jeffery Wright said. Dr Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s health emergencies programme, once affirmed that “science needs to be central and science will find the answer”. Unfortunately, the WHO’s statements seem to be losing some weight due to earlier accusations by the Trump administration that the WHO is a “puppet of China” and that the organization is China-centric. Doubts with the WHO also increased when the organization’s investigation into the origin of COVID-19 in March did not come to a clear conclusion. The investigative report mentions the theory that the virus leaked from the laboratory but claims this scenario is “extremely unlikely”.

After the investigation process, the Military Bank (MB) said that MB discovered an individual working at this bank to leak customer information, this individual had seriously violated the regulations of the Bank. Bank. MB’s announcement emphasized that, in the spirit of respecting the law, the Bank is committed to taking strict measures to ensure absolute compliance with the provisions of the law on protecting customer information. MB transferred the profile of the person who leaked Hoai Linh’s account information to the investigating agency At the same time, there will be appropriate disciplinary measures for individuals who disclose/leave information, fail to comply with professional ethics regulations, and do not comply with Laws and regulations of the bank. Currently, MB has suspended the work of the above violator and will organize disciplinary action with the highest form of the violator, and at the same time, the bank has transferred the file to the investigation agency for handling. MB confirmed that the above information disclosure was not caused by a breakdown in the bank’s information technology system or a hacker attack. Because the bank’s IT system is built on the most advanced technology and security platforms in the world today, the bank’s online transaction rate reaches 90% with 100 million safe transactions. For example, for the APP MB product, the bank has brought financial experiences beyond expectations to customers. MB’s representative also emphasized that transaction information at MB is protected by 3 layers of fences, including: First, the eMB application protection system with the feature of refusing to install with unsafe devices; anti-decompile and lock protect sensitive data; The second layer of encryption protects when the application transmits information to the service server at the bank, ensuring data integrity and inviolability; The final barrier of protection is built on each feature provided by Ebank (when applying Smart eKYC technology to identify customers, additional AI is used for face and voice authentication; using Generation Digital OTP. 3.0 with the addition of Dynamic Key security technology being used by the Singapore government…). Along with that, “In order not to let similar incidents happen again, in order to secure information and transaction data of customers, MB has also reviewed the working processes, strictly decentralized and tightened more work discipline” – MB representative confirmed.

In the spirit of respecting the law, the Bank commits to take strict measures to ensure absolute compliance with the provisions of the law on protecting customer information; take appropriate disciplinary measures for individuals who disclose/leave information, do not comply with professional ethics regulations, do not comply with the provisions of law, regulations of the bank. Specifically, the Bank has suspended the work of individual violators and will organize disciplinary action with the highest form of violators, and at the same time transfer the file to the investigating agency for handling. Information to the press, MB confirmed that the disclosure of information was not due to a breakdown in the bank’s information technology (IT) system or a hacker attack. The bank’s IT system is built on the most advanced technology and security platforms in the world today, the bank’s online transaction rate reaches 90% with 100 million safe transactions. For example, for the APP MB product, the bank has brought financial experiences beyond expectations to customers. Transaction information is protected by 3 layers of fences including: The first is the eMB application protection system with the feature of refusing to install with unsafe devices; anti-decompile and lock protect sensitive data; The second layer of encryption protects when the application transmits information to the service server at the bank, ensuring data integrity and inviolability; The final barrier of protection is built on each feature provided by Ebank (when applying Smart eKYC technology to identify customers, additional AI is used for face and voice authentication; using Generation Digital OTP. 3.0 with the addition of Dynamic Key security technology being used by the Singapore government…). “In order not to let similar incidents happen again, in order to secure the information and transaction data of our customers, we have also reviewed the working processes, strictly decentralized and tightened the working discipline. more work”- MB emphasized.

MB confirmed that this information disclosure was not caused by a breakdown in the bank’s IT system or a hacker attack The Bank’s handling method for violators: The Bank has suspended the violator’s work and will organize disciplinary action with the highest form of violators, and the bank has transferred the file to to the investigating agency for handling. MB confirmed that the above information disclosure was not caused by a breakdown in the bank’s information technology system or a hacker attack. The bank’s IT system is built on the most advanced technology and security platforms in the world today, the bank’s online transaction rate reaches 90% with 100 million safe transactions. For example, for the APP MB product, the bank has brought financial experiences beyond expectations to customers. Transaction information is protected by 3 layers of fences including: First, the eMB application protection system with the feature of refusing to install with unsafe devices; anti-decompile and lock protect sensitive data; The second layer of encryption protects when the application transmits information to the service server at the bank, ensuring data integrity and inviolability; The final barrier of protection is built on each feature provided by Ebank (when applying Smart eKYC technology to identify customers, additional AI is used for face and voice authentication; using Generation Digital OTP. 3.0 with the addition of Dynamic Key security technology being used by the Singapore government…). “In order not to let similar incidents happen again, in order to secure the information and transaction data of our customers, we have also reviewed the working processes, strictly decentralized, and tightened the working discipline. more work” – MB representative confirmed.