Civic – Page 30 of 59

Seattle plans to tax Uber and Lyft rides to raise $133M for affordable housing and transit

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan plans to introduce a new tax of 51 cents per Uber and Lyft ride to fund… Read More

Bill Gates: Breaking up Big Tech isn’t the answer

Bill Gates believes calls to break up Big Tech are misguided. The Microsoft co-founder said that approach to mitigating the… Read More

Gates Foundation identifies a tech ‘trinity’ to bolster digital inclusion around the world

Bank accounts, cell phones and biometric identification could help spread resources more efficiently and equitably in developing nations, according to… Read More

Seattle plans minimum wage and new tax on Uber and Lyft, adding to ride-hailing’s regulatory woes

It’s been a rough month for ride-hailing companies, and Seattle is about to put another bump in the road. As… Read More

Tech industry warns US immigration policy hurts American competitiveness in AI

A trade group representing some of the world’s largest technology companies is urging governments to rethink their immigration policies or… Read More

Q&A: Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman on using tech to keep elections secure

Election security vaulted to the top of public officials’ concerns in the U.S. following the attempted intervention by Russian hackers… Read More

Warren slams Bezos over Amazon’s decision to cut medical benefits for part-time Whole Foods workers

Amazon is once again in Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s crosshairs, this time for its decision to cut medical benefits for part-time… Read More

Senators scrutinize Amazon Delivery Service Partners program after reports of accidents and labor law violations

Three U.S. Senators are demanding answers from Amazon about its Delivery Service Partners program, the network of independent delivery companies… Read More

Cybersecurity advice: How local government entities and employees can avoid costly hacks

What is the most popular password in the Pacific Northwest? Seahawks12, or some variation thereof, according to federal cybersecurity advisor… Read More

This island town is building a public broadband network. Is it a model for bridging digital divide?

Anacortes, Wash., is a picturesque town on Fidalgo Island, 90 minutes north of Seattle. Best known for its marina, it’s… Read More

Can Uber and Lyft survive regulations that force them to treat drivers like employees?

California is poised to enact a law that would force Uber and Lyft to treat drivers like employees as part… Read More

Airports and airlines embrace facial recognition technology amid debate over privacy and bias

Technologists, travel executives, civil rights activists, and ethics experts met Tuesday in Seattle to debate expanding facial recognition technology at… Read More

50 US states and territories launch antitrust probe into Google’s ‘potential monopolistic behavior’

Attorneys general from 50 U.S. states and territories launched an investigation into Google to find out whether the tech giant… Read More

More than 900 Amazon employees plan climate change walkout in solidarity with youth activists

Hundreds of Amazon employees are planning a walkout on Sept. 20 as part of the Global Climate Strike. The youth-driven… Read More

Amazon takes heat from senator over Ring’s ‘troubling’ relationship with police

News reports detailing the relationship between Amazon-owned Ring and police departments are raising eyebrows in Washington D.C. and at least… Read More

Seattle explores on-street bike and scooter parking to clear up cluttered sidewalks

As cities across the country embrace new mobility services like bike and scooter-share, sidewalks are getting awfully crowded. The growing… Read More

We persisted through Elizabeth Warren’s four-hour selfie marathon to ask about Amazon and big tech

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren notched a tech milestone during her Seattle campaign stop Sunday afternoon — posing for the 50,000th… Read More

In campaign stop near Amazon, Elizabeth Warren avoids confronting tech giant on breakup plan

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called for stronger antitrust enforcement and a wealth tax at a Seattle rally, drawing cheers from… Read More

How tech keeps Seattle’s transit system running — and why more innovation could be coming

Amid a sea of green rectangles on a computer monitor, one had turned red. A RapidRide bus — the red… Read More

Report reveals new details about Bezos’ influence on Amazon bid for Pentagon cloud contract

Amazon’s bid to build the Pentagon’s war cloud has been mired in accusations of favoritism since the beginning. But a… Read More

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee exits presidential race, vows to continue climate change fight

Update, Aug. 22: Less than 24 hours after announcing his exit from the presidential race, Inslee said he will pursue a… Read More

Why this sustainability-focused real estate developer is taking a cue from Steve Jobs

Green Canopy doesn’t fit neatly into one box. It’s an innovator but not a tech company. It’s an environmental organization… Read More

Seattle officials reveal launch date for scooter-share pilot program

Seattle’s scooter plans are moving forward. The city launched a six-month due diligence process Tuesday to prepare for a scooter-share… Read More

Amazon HQ2 becomes nation’s most competitive region for home buyers as Seattle market cools

Amazon hasn’t broken ground on its first HQ2 building in Northern Virginia yet but its plans to build a 25,000-person… Read More

Amazon passes French digital tax on to sellers as Trump admin investigates toll on tech industry

Amazon is raising the fees it charges third-party sellers in France by 3 percent in direct response to the country’s… Read More

Dramatic footage of exploding Lime bike battery highlights safety issues

Video footage of a Lime electric bike spewing flames on the University of Washington campus in Seattle this week is… Read More

Car2go adds new ‘zone-based pricing structure’ in Seattle to get more vehicles into the urban core

Car2go is implementing a new pricing structure in Seattle next month to encourage drivers to leave cars in the busiest… Read More

Clean tech entrepreneurs head to Burning Man to model a post-fossil fuel future

In many ways, Burning Man is an eco-urbanist paradise. It is a (mostly) car-free city designed around pedestrians and cyclists,… Read More

FCC moves to greenlight T-Mobile merger with Sprint despite pending lawsuit

T-Mobile and Sprint crossed another checkpoint Wednesday on their path to merge and create a $146 billion wireless company. The… Read More

Civil rights activists up in arms over Amazon update adding fear detection to facial recognition tech

Amazon’s latest update to its Rekognition software is renewing an outcry from civil rights groups over facial recognition technology. Amazon… Read More