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Today’s Storystream

A child sexual abuse survivor has sued Apple, accusing the company of neglecting its proposed system to detect CSAM on iCloud. The plaintiff alleges Apple’s inaction enables the spread of abusive images, compounding victims’ trauma. Apple, which shelved the system over privacy concerns, faces demands for accountability as the lawsuit represents over 2,600 potential victims. Apple says it continues to innovate against CSAM without compromising user privacy.

AI cloud provider Nscale has raised $155M in Series A funding led by Sandton Capital Partners. The funds will fuel Nscale’s expansion across Europe and North America, supporting its greenfield data centers and upcoming public cloud launch in 2025. With a focus on AMD-based GPUs and sustainable infrastructure, Nscale aims to deliver cost-effective, enterprise-grade AI solutions, unlocking new AI capabilities globally.

Microsoft finds itself at the center of a significant legal dispute in the UK, as competition lawyer Maria Luisa Stasi has filed a case alleging that the tech giant’s licensing practices unfairly inflate costs for businesses using rival cloud platforms like Amazon, Google, and Alibaba.

The legal claim, filed with the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal, could result in damages exceeding £1 billion ($1.27 billion) for affected British businesses.

At the heart of the case are allegations that Microsoft’s licensing terms for products such as Windows Server penalize companies opting for competitor cloud services. Stasi argues that the pricing structure deliberately steers customers toward Microsoft Azure, diminishing competition and consolidating Microsoft’s dominance in the cloud computing sector.

This lawsuit arrives against the backdrop of a broader investigation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into the cloud computing market, which scrutinizes major players including Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. The CMA’s findings, expected soon, could intensify pressure on Microsoft’s licensing strategies.

Microsoft’s licensing changes, introduced in 2020, have faced widespread criticism for incentivizing Azure over third-party platforms. CMA data reveals that these policies have significantly bolstered Microsoft’s customer base. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the US Federal Trade Commission has also launched an antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s cloud practices, echoing concerns raised in Europe and Ireland.

French provider OVHCloud and other European firms have criticized hyperscalers for bundling software with cloud services, limiting compatibility on competing platforms. Microsoft recently settled an antitrust complaint with the Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe (CISPE) for €20 million ($21 million) and has faced new accusations from Google of leveraging licensing terms to lock customers into its ecosystem.

The ongoing legal and regulatory scrutiny highlights growing concerns over shrinking competition in a rapidly expanding market. While the global cloud industry flourishes, smaller providers face challenges. Between 2017 and 2022, European providers’ market share fell from 27% to 13%, despite the market growing fivefold to €10.4 billion ($11 billion), according to Synergy Research Group.

As the CMA prepares to release its findings, the outcome of this case and regulatory investigations could reshape cloud computing policies and redefine the balance of competition in the industry.

CloudZero has launched CloudZero Intelligence, an AI-powered system driving its free CloudZero Advisor tool. Designed for DevOps and engineers, it answers complex cloud efficiency questions in minutes, predicts infrastructure costs, and benchmarks spending against industry peers. Built on eight years of cloud insights, the platform offers actionable solutions for cloud optimization, enabling businesses to cut costs and enhance performance with data-driven precision.

Google’s PaliGemma 2 AI model claims to identify emotions from images, stirring concern among experts over its ethical implications and scientific validity. While Google touts extensive bias testing, critics argue that emotion detection remains subjective and culturally nuanced. Regulators and researchers warn the technology could exacerbate discrimination in areas like law enforcement and hiring, raising fears of misuse and real-world harm despite its touted safeguards.

Grab has named AWS its preferred cloud provider to drive innovation and enhance user experiences for over 41.9 million monthly users. By leveraging AWS Graviton2 processors, Inferentia chips, and Elastic Kubernetes Service, Grab boosts cost efficiency and scales AI-powered services like Catwalk, deploying 1,000+ AI models. With AWS, Grab processes 200TB daily, ensuring seamless, secure operations in mobility, delivery, and financial services.

MoonQube has partnered with OpenMetal to power its cloud hosting services with on-demand private cloud infrastructure. This integration enhances scalability, security, and performance, enabling MoonQube to deliver faster, cost-efficient solutions. With enterprise-grade hardware and OpenMetal’s hands-on support, MoonQube is redefining cloud hosting, passing on significant cost savings and unmatched reliability to its global clients. The collaboration solidifies MoonQube’s competitive edge in the cloud industry.

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