House Republicans hold a panel to grill Big Tech about allegations of censorship and government collusion, bosses giving workers bogus managerial titles to avoid paying overtime, and US after ‘computer glitch’ Flights in and out of the U.S. are delayed or canceled.
All these technology related news are trending right now. Welcome to trending hashtags. It’s Thursday, January 12th and I’m your host, Sameera Balsara.
Gizmodo reports that US House Republicans may soon launch an investigative panel, called the Select Subcommittee on the Armaments of the Federal Government, to look into the way federal government agencies collect information on US citizens. The main, long-standing allegation to be addressed and which will see committee members grilling Big Tech pertains to conservative censorship and government collusion. The ‘armament’ committee may demand copies of emails, memos and other communications with the White House from tech platforms such as Meta and Twitter as part of the probe to uncover alleged collusion. Reportedly, the committee’s interest in tech companies partly stems from alleged internal documents revealed by Elon Musk in the so-called ‘Twitter Files’.
source: gizmodo
A new study finds that companies of all sizes and types are giving employees fake managerial titles to avoid paying overtime, which researchers are treating as an exploitation of federal labor laws, Vice reported. The Fair Labor Standards Act set overtime pay rules to discourage overwork, encourage hiring, and allow workers to benefit from logging in extra hours. But it also allowed firms to avoid paying overtime to salaried managers whose wages exceeded a specified threshold. The creation of the law was influenced by the fact that managers were a special class of employees who influenced the success of the company. However, many such employees are managers in name only, and the national cap is just $455 a week, or less than $24,000 a year, Vice reported. It seemed to the researchers that there was a systemic problem at play. It appeared that companies were often giving fancy-sounding titles to salaried employees and then paying them enough to legally avoid overtime rules.
source: vice president
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was working to restore its Notice to Air Mission (NOTAM) system, which alerts pilots to potential hazards along a flight path, as 4948 in or out of the US Flights have been delayed while 868 were canceled yesterday. Since then, air traffic operations have gradually resumed across the US. The FAA claimed that the NOTAM failed due to a computer malfunction. Presidential press secretary Joe Biden said there was no evidence of a cyberattack behind the disturbance, but the president has ordered a full investigation into the cause.
source: sky News
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Moderna is considering increasing the price of its COVID-19 vaccine by 400 percent – from $26 per dose to $110 to $130 per dose. The plan, if realized, would match the previously announced value. The hike for Pfizer’s rival COVID-19 vaccine. Ars Technica reported that now that the federal government is pulling back on distribution of vaccines, their manufacturers are going to the commercial market with price adjustments. Lawmakers have already condemned the steep price hikes by Pfizer and Moderna. The revelation that Moderna could match Pfizer’s price hike comes just a day after Moderna announced that sales of its COVID-19 vaccine in 2022 were about $18.4 billion.
source: Ars Technica
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