Hillicon Valley: Amazon reportedly used seller data to create competing products | Voting machine companies under pressure over sanitization | Democrat proposes merger ban during pandemic

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THAT ISN’T A GOOD LOOK: Amazon employees used data from independent sellers on the platform to develop competing products, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

That would go against the online retail giant’s oft-repeated assertion that it does not use information from third-party sellers when it makes and sells Amazon products.

The Journal, citing interviews with 20 former employees of Amazon’s private-label business and a review of documents, found that is not the case.

Amazon reportedly used the information from other sellers to price items, determine which features to copy or whether to enter a product segment based on its earning potential.

Amazon pushes back: The company said in a statement that it “strictly prohibits” employees from using nonpublic information when developing other products.

“Like other retailers, we look at sales and store data to provide our customers with the best possible experience,” Amazon told the The Hill. “However, we strictly prohibit our employees from using nonpublic, seller-specific data to determine which private label products to launch.”

Amazon began making its own products in 2007, starting with the Kindle e-reader.

Its private-label business now includes more than 45 brands with roughly 243,000 products, from AmazonBasics batteries to Stone & Beam furniture.

Read more here.

STOP THE SPREAD: The top U.S. voting machine manufacturers are being pushed to produce videos and information on how their products can be sanitized to enable Americans to safely vote in-person during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

Six leading voting equipment manufacturers were sent a letter Thursday by nonprofit group Free Speech for People, which raised concerns that voting machines could become a “major disease vector” for spreading the coronavirus during upcoming primaries and the general election.

As a result, the group asked the manufacturers to produce videos detailing how to properly clean voting equipment and post them online, along with allowing third-party groups to examine whether the steps to clean the equipment were effective and safe. 

“We make these requests because we are deeply concerned about the health risk that electronic voting machines pose to voters,” Free Speech for People wrote. 

Companies have taken some steps forward: All six of the voting machine equipment vendors — including the three largest, Election Systems and Software, Hart InterCivic, and Dominion Voting Systems — have produced written guidelines around how to sanitize their products due to the outbreak of COVID-19. 

But the nonprofit argued that these written steps are not enough, particularly in light of findings that the virus can survive on certain surfaces for days. 

“We are concerned that effective sanitization of each voting machine may create delays, resulting in voters being forced to wait in line to vote, increasing the possibility of person-to-person transmission of the virus,” the group wrote. 

Read more about their concerns here. 

NO MORE MERGERS: Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), chairman of the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, on Thursday proposed a ban on most merger activity amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“As millions of businesses struggle to stay afloat, private equity firms and dominant corporations are positioned to swoop in for a buying spree,” the Rhode Island lawmaker said during a tele-conferenced speech at an event held by the Open Markets Institute. “Our country can leave room for merger activity that is necessary to ensuring that distressed firms have a fresh start through the bankruptcy process or through necessary divestitures while also ensuring that we do not undergo another period of rampant consolidation.”

Cicilline said he and several other lawmakers are pushing for a moratorium on merger activity as part of the upcoming stimulus package.

“Megamergers and corporate takeovers that were permitted during the last economic crisis led to the firing of millions of workers, the slowing of investment and innovation, and huge increases in executive compensation,” he said. 

The Department of Justice has asked Congress for more time to review mergers during the pandemic.

Read more here. 

WE’LL BE MONITORING YOU: Police in Westport, Conn., will test a “pandemic drone” they say is capable of monitoring residents’ temperatures from nearly 200 feet as well as detecting coughing and sneezing.

The police department said it’s testing the technology in cooperation with drone manufacturer Draganfly.

The company said the drone will feature sensors that can detect fever temperatures and heart rates as well as sneezing and coughing in crowds, according to a local NBC affiliate.

“One of the major problems for cities and towns like Westport in managing and responding to a pandemic like the COVID-19 virus, is finding out who could be infected and how widespread the disease has spread,” Westport First Selectman Jim Marpe said in a statement.

“One way to do this is to look for underlying symptoms. By teaming up with Draganfly and the UniSA team led by Defense Chair of Sensor Systems Professor Javaan Chahl, we are able to remotely look at valuable lifesaving data and better manage current and future health emergencies,” he added.

Police said in a statement that the technology will not be used on private land and that the drones are not equipped with facial recognition technology.

“Using drones remains a go-to technology for reaching remote areas with little to no manpower required. Because of this technology, our officers will have the information and quality data they need to make the best decision in any given situation,” Westport Police Chief Foti Koskinas said in a news release.   

Read more about the initiative here. 

Lighter click: Oldie but a goodie

An op-ed to chew on: Where is Big Data when we need it most?

NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB: 

Inside Bird, the electric scooter startup with big workplace problems (Verge / Julia Black)

Want to Find a Misinformed Public? Facebook’s Already Done It (The Markup / Aaron Sankin)

Startups are struggling to get PPP money. Now a Fed rule may freeze them out of loans, too. (Protocol / Emily Birnbaum and Biz Carson)

FCC Widens Wi-Fi Airwaves Access in Win for Facebook, Google (Bloomberg / Todd Shields)