☕️ Why the U.S. is suing Apple

Happy Monday.

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I’ve got 10 seconds

Quote of the day

“The Prince and Princess are both enormously touched by the kind messages from people here in the UK, across the Commonwealth and around the world in response to Her Royal Highness' message.”
Kensington Palace in a statement after Kate Middleton revealed that she has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing preventative chemotherapy.

Stat of the day

452,055
The number of people who attended the F1 Australian Grand Prix over the weekend in Melbourne. This is a record crowd for the event.

Today in history

1807
The British Parliament abolished the slave trade.

I’ve got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

• The Liberal Party in Tasmania will again form government in the state after its election on the weekend. However, it did not form enough seats to form a majority government, meaning it will need to work with cross-benchers and minor parties to pass laws. According to the ABC, the Liberal Party is expected finish with between 14 and 16 seats, short of the 18 needed to govern in majority. Premier Jeremy Rockliff said: “I look forward to discussions over the course of the coming week, I have already reached out to potential independents.”

• Islamic State has taken responsibility for an attack in Moscow that killed more than 130 people, and injured 140 others. Eleven people have been detained over the attack at a concert hall, which is the deadliest attack inside Russia in 20 years. U.S. intelligence reportedly warned of a possible attack, though Russian authorities claimed the intelligence lacked specific detail.

I’ve got 1 minute

The U.S. is suing Apple, claiming it has an 'illegal monopoly' over smartphones

The U.S. Justice Department, along with 16 states, are suing tech giant Apple for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive behaviour by making people too reliant on iPhones.

Apple has responded to the lawsuit saying it “threatens who we are”.

Lawsuit

The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Apple in the U.S. State of New Jersey last week. It has accused Apple of violating the country’s antitrust laws, which tries to ensure consumers get fair choices in all industries.

The suit alleges the $US2.66 trillion company has a “monopoly power in the smartphone... markets”, which has drowned out competitors like Samsung.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said this practice “hurts both consumers and developers”.

Garland said Apple has safeguarded its position in the market "not by making its own products better, but by making other products worse”.

For example, the Justice Department alleges that Apple’s dominance has resulted in users of other smartwatch devices receiving poorer quality apps.

It also said messaging between Apple and non-Apple phones is poor – with messages not being encrypted, videos turning pixelated and grainy, and features like message editing not being possible.

Apple’s response

In a statement provided to TDA, Apple said: “This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets.

“If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple – where hardware, software, and services intersect.”

The company said it will “vigorously” defend itself against the claims. After the announcement of the lawsuit, Apple’s stocks were down 4%.

I’ve got 2 minutes

Gay conversion practices are now banned in NSW

The NSW Parliament has officially banned LGBTQA+ conversion practices across the state.

It means practices aimed at changing or suppressing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity are now illegal.

Evidence suggests survivors of these practices commonly experience complex trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Anyone found providing conversion practices (sometimes known as “conversion therapy”) could face up to five years in prison.

Conversion

Conversion practices have historically been used as an attempt to suppress or change the identity of LGBTQA+ people.

Around 10% of LGBTQA+ Australians are vulnerable to conversion practices, according to a 2018 report by the Human Rights Law Centre and La Trobe University.

Earlier this month, NSW introduced legislation to outlaw the practice.

NSW ban

Independent MP Alex Greenwich tried to legislate a ban on LGBTQA+ conversion practices last year before the Government introduced its own legislation on the matter.

Labor said it consulted widely with victim-survivors of conversion therapies, along with concerned faith-based groups.

The Government’s laws passed the NSW Legislative Council (upper house) last week, banning conversion practices under civil and criminal law — meaning penalties can include fines or jail time.

Exemptions

The legislation includes exemptions to ensure medical professionals can continue providing gender-affirming treatment to transgender people.

There are also exemptions for some religious settings. NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley said it doesn’t stop people from seeking advice “within their faith”, but that any guidance within a religious setting should not lead to sustained efforts to change someone’s gender or sexual identity.

Opposition and crossbench members in the Legislative Council sought to change the legislation with several amendments.

For example, One Nation’s Tania Mihailuk wanted parents or close relatives found practising conversion on an underage person to be exempt from the legislation.

Mihailuk and others’ amendments were ultimately unsuccessful.

Reaction

Upper house Labor member Penny Sharpe said the bill reflected the community’s attitude that “there is nothing broken about anyone in the LGBTIQ community and there is nothing that needs to be fixed”.

NSW Liberal Chris Rath said the bill “sends a powerful message... a message I wish I heard back when I was 18”.

Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown called on all jurisdictions to fully ban conversion therapies “no matter where they occur, including in religious settings”.

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The Government asked the Australian Law Reform Commission to review federal anti-discrimination laws in light of a years-long debate about religious freedoms.

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Give me some good news

Australia’s women’s relay team just broke a national record over the weekend.

Led by Australia’s fastest woman, 19-year-old Torrie Lewis, the 4x100m relay team broke a record that had stood for 24 years at the Sydney Track Classic on Saturday evening.

The team completed the race in 42.94 seconds, which was five hundredths of a second quicker than the previous national record.

"I think we make a great team and the relay is so fun to do,” Lewis told the ABC.

"So now a final [at the Olympics] in Paris hopefully."

TDA tidbit

Two men in Canada who were swapped at birth have received a formal apology from the local government. They were born in the same hospital in 1955, but their parents were sent home with the wrong babies.

One grew up thinking he was Indigenous, the other believed he was Ukrainian, until the mix-up came to light through DNA testing four years ago.

Nearly 70 years after the swap, the men were formally acknowledged in the Canadian Province of Manitoba’s Legislative Assembly.

The Premier of Manitoba apologised for “actions that harmed two children, two sets of parents and two families across many generations".

TDA asks