For several years, Airbnb insisted that its product is nothing more than a platform that connects hosts with guests. Several Silicon Valley companies, such as Airbnb, Uber, and Facebook, have insisted on their role as platform providers, often as a means of skirting regulations that otherwise apply to the industries they seek to disrupt. Users […]
Walmart, Patagonia and Lyft Make Push to Increase Voter Turnout
As the midterm elections draw near, approximately 150 companies, including Walmart, Patagonia and Lyft, have come together to form the Time to Vote campaign. This initiative is aimed at increasing voter turnout at the midterm elections. The companies involved in Time to Vote are taking different steps to achieve this goal. Some are focused on […]
Silicon Valley Startups: Caught in the Crossfire of the U.S.-China Trade War
President Trump has announced new tariffs on Chinese imports, further escalating the ongoing trade war between the United States and China. On September 17th, the administration released a sprawling list of Chinese products, ranging from food items to industrial machinery. In total, the slew of goods (everything from tuna to fertilizer to cranberries to steam […]
Provision Designed to Protect Consumers from Unreasonable Airline Fees Dropped by Congress
The American airline industry celebrated this past Saturday as Congress decided to drop a provision that would have given the Department of Transportation the authority to determine if airline fees were “reasonable and proportional.” Congress will be voting on the measure this week, before the September 30 deadline. The “reasonable and proportional” fee provision had […]
Amazon’s Trillion-Dollar Question: Monopoly or Not?
Last week Amazon became the second U.S. company in history to climb to one trillion dollars in market value. The feat underscores Amazon’s continued upward trajectory as well as the sheer magnitude of its business. Nevertheless, this unprecedented growth might bring with it an increased risk of regulatory scrutiny. The question of whether or not […]
Theranos and Startup Culture: Vision or Fraud?
As ravaged startup giant, Theranos, begins dissolution after a series of lawsuits alleging “massive fraud” and a default on its last $65 million loan, spectators all seem to be asking the same question: how did a company fraudulently raise $700 million before finally being unmasked? Theranos promised to revolutionize the diagnostic-lab industry by delivering one […]
Nike Leans into Controversy and Wins Big
Nike’s stock has reached a record high a week after unveiling its new ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback best known for protesting racial injustice by kneeling during the National Anthem ceremony preceding NFL games. Nike unveiled the ad on September 3rd, releasing a portrait of Kaepernick’s face overlaid with, […]
Venture Capitalists Seek “Safe Harbor” for Virtual Currencies
In the wake of further developments by the SEC, many key players in the industry are currently combining efforts to petition federal authorities to see certain virtual currencies in a “different light.” The Venture Capital Working Group is led by Andreessen Horowitz, which includes another significant VC firm, Union Square Ventures, and lawyers from Cooley […]
U.S. Top Court Rules That Microsoft Email Privacy Dispute is Moot
Microsoft Corp. v. United States is a recent data privacy case concerning the extraterritorial reach of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act’s (of 1986) Stored Communications Act (the “SCA”). In 2013, the US federal government issued Microsoft a warrant, asking it to turn over the email of a target who was being investigated in a drug-trafficking […]
PayPal Attempts to Enter the Traditional Banking World
PayPal, a leading global payment company, has recently announced that it is piloting some banking service models similar to those that traditional banks typically provide to customers. In addition to its primary money transfer service, the new feature services will be made available through the PayPal digital wallet. Under this scheme, PayPal is offering the […]