In a decision that ricocheted around the world this month, the European Commission announced it had blocked the $8 billion Illumina-Grail merger. Arguing that Illumina’s acquisition of Grail, a cancer-testing company, would stifle innovation, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager appeared to be harking back to a theory of harm that was the talk of the town back in the late 2010s, when the Dow-Dupont and Bayer-Monsanto deals were making headlines. More importantly, though, the European Commission’s decision leaves the EU out of sync with the US, where a court has overturned a regulator’s attempt to block the deal.

Illumina-Grail decision sees the European Union lean in to "innovation"

This week's RA Podcast marks something of a debut for Infinity Division, the new solo project from Canadian artist Ash Luk, best known as one half of EBM-techno duo Minimal Violence. (Minimal Violence had itself been a solo project since last year, when cofounder Lida P left the group.) Getting his start in Vancouver's punk scene as part of the band Lié, Luk's approach to dance music is informed not only by those origins but by Western Canada's long history with industrial music and techno (spot Skinny Puppy and Tunnel Canary in the tracklist).  

Minimal Violence first impressed us with their hardware-focused house and techno, a harder-edged version of the sound that was sweeping Vancouver at the time, before moving on to Ninja Tune sub-label Technicolour and then Tresor for a series of records that saw their sound become more expansive, sharper and more melodic, incorporating not just techno and punk influences but also trance, EBM and more. These are the genres that feed into Infinity Division, and Luk's RA Podcast hurtles through everything from old Prodigy, '90s German hard trance, Canadian breakcore and new tracks from his project. This is heavy dance music that's also heavy on melody, unafraid of huge crescendoes that hit that sweet spot between punishment and euphoria. Buckle up.

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/852

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RA.852 Infinity Division

Věra Jourová is a Czech politician and lawyer who has been European Commissioner for Values and Transparency since 2019. She previously served as the EU’s Justice Commissioner. More recently, she has added digital duties after the EU’s digital commissioner Margethe Vestager took a leave of absence. Jourová is now responsible for the enforcement of the Digital Services Act, the EU’s landmark content-moderation legislation. The tragic events unfolding in the Middle East and social-media platforms’ role in spreading disinformation has been the first test for the DSA. Jourová is also focused on the AI Act, which is another initiative that has caught global attention. In an extended conversation with MLex reporters Matthew Newman and Sam Clark, Jourová goes over how she handles meetings with some of the biggest leaders of Silicon Valley to ensure they follow the EU’s new rules.

EU digital chief Jourová tells Big Tech bosses to improve content moderation amid Israel-Hamas war

Australian merger laws are facing a revamp, amid concerns that the voluntary-notification system was being gamed by global dealmakers. But while there’s broad agreement that the voluntary component of the existing regime needs to be scrapped, there are divisions about which model Australia should embrace. The antitrust regulator is campaigning for a formal but speedy model; lawyers are campaigning for a US-style model that would give their clients ready access to the Federal Court of Australia. MLex has covered all the twists and turns of the debate and spoken to key players in the process, including Chief Adviser to the Competition Taskforce Marcus Bezzi and Australian Competition & Consumer Commission Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

Clash over Australia’s new merger laws focuses on future role of Federal Court

Even as it surpasses a database of 40 billion faces to train its algorithms, the founder and chief executive of Clearview AI told MLex in an exclusive interview that it isn't going back to doing business in Europe, the UK, Canada or Australia, where the controversial facial-recognition startup has faced regulatory opposition. In the US, however, Clearview has put many of its most thorny legal problems behind it, according to Hoan Ton-That.

Clearview AI founder Hoan Ton-That on weathering a global regulatory storm, and the road ahead

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen talks about the regulatory and legal fallout that followed her release of documents to the press that detailed internal studies about how Facebook’s algorithm worked. She’s now using her nonprofit Beyond the Screen to push for regulatory change as the company is fighting hundreds of lawsuits for allegedly harming its youngest users for big profits.

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen on the fallout from her decision to come forward

Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar talks about his country's steps to reverse eight years of policies by the previous government. Bodnar, a former human rights commissioner, wants to show European Union officials that Poland has turned the page from the Law and Justice Party. Restoring ties with the EU — and unblocking EU funds that were suspended over a rule-of-law dispute — are top priorities.

Poland's Justice Minister Bodnar makes closer EU ties a top priority

As 5,000 lawyers, regulators, academics and technologists convened for the International Association of Privacy Professionals Global Privacy Summit 2024, a team of MLex journalists were in Washington DC to chronicle the most important yearly gathering of the world’s privacy community. Covering GPS panels on artificial intelligence, data transfers and an array of privacy issues, and interviewing key regulators on the sidelines of the conference, the MLex team gathered after the conference to share their insights on the event.

MLex’s IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2024 roundtable recap

In April, MLex Chief Global Digital Risk Correspondent Mike Swift sat down with Benjamin Wiseman, the US Federal Trade Commission's Associate Director, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, for a deep-dive discussion of pressing privacy issues for 2024—including child privacy and addictive algorithms, healthcare data, personal data autonomy and unfair use of AI.

Privacy Matters: Navigating Enforcement & Risks in 2024

Listen in as MLex expert contributors discuss some of the most important developments in regulatory risk and opportunity worldwide.

Illumina-Grail decision sees the European Union lean in to "innovation"

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