In November, on the day Amazon announced the winners of its contest for a second headquarters, I suggested that the company had fatally misunderstood the current relationship between tech giants and public opinion: It’s hard not to feel today as if the company misread the room — overestimating the public’s appetite for a billion-dollar giveaway to one of the world’s biggest companies, and underestimating the public’s ability to raise hell on- and offline. Amazon may yet feel that pain, in the long run. Today, the long run arrived. In a move that had been foreshadowed by an earlier report in the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post, Amazon said today that it would abandon its plans for a New York regional office. Public sentiment had, indeed, killed the deal: “After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens,” Amazon wrote in a statement this … [Read more...] about What Amazon got wrong about New York City
Adam entous
A company run by former Israeli spies reportedly tried to influence a local US election — and courted Trump’s campaign
Benjamin Goggin, provided by Published 11:01 pm PST, Monday, February 11, 2019 Ron Jenkins/Getty Images An Israeli private spy company attempted to influence a local US election as part of a larger attempt to infiltrate American politics, according to a report from The New Yorker. They used fake websites, social-media posts, and staged interactions as part of an effort to influence the public perception of specific targets, the report said. The group tried numerous times to work with Donald Trump's campaign in 2016 and engaged in other efforts that targeted the US State Department, the report said. Psy-Group, a defunct private intelligence agency staffed with former Israeli spies, attempted to influence at least one local US election and other domestic affairs, according to a report from The New Yorker's Adam Entous and Ronan Farrow. The company even courted President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and is now under investigation by the special counsel Robert Mueller, the … [Read more...] about A company run by former Israeli spies reportedly tried to influence a local US election — and courted Trump’s campaign