Zoom-Layoff CEO is Back | Bill Bans Targeted Ads | More FAA 5G Stupidity

Welcome to The Long View—where we peruse the news of the week and strip it to the essentials. Let’s work out what really matters.

This week: The return of the CEO who fired 900 staff on a Zoom call, Capitol Hill has a bill to kill ads, and a last-minute hiccup in the FAA/FCC 5G truce.

1. Better.com CEO will Try to Do Better

First up this week: Better.com, the DevOps-led mortgage lender, has its old CEO back. You probably remember Vishal Garg—he was the character who laid off 9% of his company on an open Zoom call.

Analysis: Can leopards change their spots?

Mr. Garg is being asked to help build “a respectful workplace.” But the famously combative CEO recently called investors “sewage,” threatened remaining employees with a “bloodbath,” and allegedly told a former business partner he would “burn him alive.”

Riley de León: Better founder Vishal Garg … returns as CEO

The move comes less than two months after Garg came under fire for laying off roughly 900 employees, or 9% of its workforce, via Zoom and subsequently stepped back at the request of Better’s board of directors. … According to an internal memo: … “CEO Vishal Garg has been taking a break from his full-time duties to reflect on his leadership, reconnect with the values that make Better great and work closely with an executive coach. … We are confident in Vishal and in the changes he is committed to making to provide the type of leadership, focus and vision that Better needs.”
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The memo also reveals that board members Raj Date and Dinesh Chopra have resigned, though “not because of any disagreement with Better.” … Garg [had] cited market efficiency, performance and productivity as the reason behind the firings. [He later] accused the employees of “stealing” from their colleagues and customers by being unproductive and only working two hours a day.
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In May, Better announced that it would go public. … Since then, multiple outlets have reported that Better has delayed its listing plans amid ongoing scrutiny.

With a reminder, here’s Emma Goldberg:

“If you’re on this call you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off,” Mr. Garg told his workers [via Zoom]. “Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.”
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Better.com has since conducted a “thorough, independent” review of its culture [and is] recruiting a new chairman for the board, a president and a chief human resources officer. … Some of the additional measures … include a training program on building “a respectful workplace” and a new ethics and compliance committee, reporting directly to the board.

Don’t hold back—tell us how you really feel, @PCSAemilianus:

What an utter pile of bull**** from this guy. He knew damn well what he was doing and didn’t care. You don’t “reflect” on that.

2. Banning Surveillance Advertising Act

Dems want to ban targeted ads. A new bill would outlaw the sort of adtech that Google and Meta/Facebook have turned into an art form. It would also put the kibosh on data brokers’ business models.

Analysis: Expect Google and Facebook to fight like Spartans

This will be an uphill battle. But it’s one that’s worth fighting: Surveillance capitalism has gotten normalized, but if consumers fully understood the extent of the privacy invasion, they’d rise up with flaming pitchforks in hand.

Taylor Hatmaker: New privacy bill would put major limits on targeted advertising

The Banning Surveillance Advertising Act, introduced by Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) in the House and Cory Booker (D-NJ) in the Senate, would dramatically limit the ways that tech companies serve ads. … Targeting based on “protected class information, such as race, gender, and religion, and personal data purchased from data brokers” would be off-limits.
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Sen. Booker called the targeted advertising model “predatory and invasive.” … Rep. Eshoo said, “This pernicious practice … fuels disinformation, discrimination, voter suppression, privacy abuses, and so many other harms.”
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The bill would empower the FTC and state attorneys general to [levy] fines of up to $5,000 per incident for knowing violations.

Trying to scan the bill, it’s Sam Biddle:

A federal ban on surveillance advertising sounds like an extremely radical long shot. But I think the only people who would genuinely oppose it are the relatively small sliver of the population who make their money conducting the surveillance.
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If it goes anywhere, get ready for a barrage of “this will literally murder small business owners” propaganda from FB/Google/et al. [It] is orders of magnitude more significant than any of the wishy washy We Can Reform Facebook! proposals you’ve seen in recent years, in terms of privacy and countering the power of big tech.

Yay. Go GoTeam:

Exactly! It’s the government’s job to secretly track us, not advertisers!(?)

3. Last-Minute Hiccup in FAA/FCC 5G Truce

A couple of weeks ago, I told you the FAA backed down in its opposition to 5G NR band 77. Well, a lot can happen in two weeks. It seems the airlines weren’t happy and demanded extra interference-mitigation from the mobile carriers at the last minute.

Analysis: FAA vs. FCC: A plague on both their houses

The various industries involved—and their regulatory agencies—have had years to sort this out. And it smells very much like the FAA is the one failing in its duty.

Theo Leggett: Mobile firms agree another 5G delay at US airports

The much-hyped expansion of 5G networks in the US has been chaotic, to say the least. The rollout has been delayed twice — and now AT&T and Verizon have bowed to intense pressure, agreeing to defer opening some parts of the network near airports.
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There was clearly time to come up with a mitigation plan — and other countries have been able to do just that. The question is, why were US regulators, telecoms operators, airlines and airports apparently unable to come up with a workable solution?

The FAA is “incompetent,” says David Von Drehle:

5G — the long-promised next step in cellular technology. … It wasn’t a secret. … Yet it seems to have caught the FAA by surprise. … Various compromises and delays [have been] offered by the wireless industry — all met with last-minute panic-mongering by the FAA.
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The FAA’s foot-dragging raises a red flag over the agency’s competence. … If a challenge as slow-moving and widely publicized as 5G can catch the FAA unprepared, it’s hard to be hopeful about smooth landings in … other areas … such as keeping up with pandemic health measures, battling unruly travelers and finding the next generation of pilots, flight attendants and air traffic controllers.

Is there any doubt? No, opines @K0LWC:

There is no doubt this is a colossal screw up by the FAA, and less so, the FCC. The 5G rollout and the bands being bid on were not a surprise.