Adam Kovacevich

Adam Kovacevich

@adamkovac.bsky.social

Founder and CEO, Chamber of Progress. Pro-tech Democrat. Ex: Google, Lime.

1,365 Followers 2,261 Following 322 Posts Joined Apr 2023
2 months ago

I'm not a fan of most of what Trump is doing, but one thing his Admin has gotten right is standing up for US workers and businesses against Europe's blatant discrimination.

Europe would cry foul too if we did this to them.

x.com/adamkovac/s...

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2 months ago
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The DMA has been such a disaster for Europeans that you'd think other countries would steer clear of it.

Unfortunately, EU bureaucrats spend a lot of time and $ traveling around the world evangelizing their regulations to other countries - in order to validate the EU's approach.

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2 months ago
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EU officials like to think of themselves as insulated from public opinion.

But a survey of 5000 European consumers found that a majority of people are finding search and travel booking harder post-DMA.

www.nextradegroupllc.com/impact-of-t...

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2 months ago

This was entirely predictable, because advocates (including @ProgressChamber) warned about it at the time. But EU officials dismissed the likely negative effects - and are still denying them.

x.com/KayJebelli/...

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2 months ago
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Europe's Digital Curtain - Chamber of Progress Touted as a catalyst for European innovation and competition, the Digital Markets Act has done the opposite: isolating European consumers from the full potential of the digital age.

My colleagues @KayJebelli @hopelledford published a report calling the DMA "Europe's Digital Curtain."

The DMA was touted as a catalyst for Euro innovation. But its effect has been the opposite: turning Europeans into second-class digital citizens.

thedigitalcurtain.eu/

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2 months ago
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Anti-American Antitrust: How Foreign Governments Target U.S. Businesses | House Judiciary Committee Republicans

The @JudiciaryGOP is holding a hearing Tuesday looking at how Europe's discriminatory Digital Markets Act is spreading around the world.

The DMA has resulted in:
- Degraded services for European consumers
- Less safe apps
- Some apps not even launching

judiciary.house.gov/committee-a...

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2 months ago
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It makes sense that rideshare costs more in higher-cost-of-living cities.

But four US cities in particular - Las Vegas, L.A., Seattle, and NYC - vastly exceed even the rideshare costs you would expect to see in those cities.

medium.com/uber-under-...

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3 months ago
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Ignore the Revolving Door Project. Voters Want Business Leaders in the Administration I view the Biden Administration staffing choices as an absolutely vital part of understanding the relationship between Democrats and the technology community.

My colleague @DaveV15's new post shares new voter polling that contradicts @revolvingdoorDC's anti-business purity tests.

Normie voters like and value people w/ business experience serving in presidential administrations.

pub.bluehorizonproject.org/p/voters-wa...

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3 months ago
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It's true that Dem partisans tend to prefer Admin officials drawn from govt, unions, academia, or nonprofits.

But independent swing voters consider a biz background as the most positive attribute an appointee could have.

The next Dem prez should appoint businesspeople.

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3 months ago
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Ignore the Revolving Door Project. Voters Want Business Leaders in the Administration I view the Biden Administration staffing choices as an absolutely vital part of understanding the relationship between Democrats and the technology community.

Link:
pub.bluehorizonproject.org/p/voters-wa...

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3 months ago
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The @revolvingdoorDC's whole schtick is to bully Democrats into stocking their Admins with only people from academia, nonprofits, and govt - and blocking business people.

But voters *like* that business people will help presidents grow the economy.

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3 months ago
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It's a real upside-down moment when Republicans are siding with Pornhub. But they like @JohnJamesMI' ASAA bill too.

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3 months ago

...Because it puts responsibility back on them.

But unlike Meta's bill, POPA respects minors' privacy, covers virtual reality and the open web, and is bipartisan.
x.com/RepAuchincl...

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3 months ago

This ⬇️ is the project that Meta created and funded to advance app store legislation to:
- Hurt its rivals Google and Apple;
- Shift liability from itself to app stores; &
- Move from defense to offense

That's also why it hates @JakeAuch's POPA bill...

x.com/DigiChildAl...

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4 months ago
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Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow’s NPCs: Non-Player Consumers: - Chamber of Progress In video games, non-player characters (NPCs) are coded to advance the plot by dutifully delivering their scripted lines, oblivious to what’s happening around

Wu and Doctorow see themselves as speaking up for people against elites.

But their disdain for consumers' agency and judgment couldn't be more elite.

Tech consumers aren’t NPCs. They’re informed, adaptive, and vocal.

Link:
progresschamber.org/insights/ti...

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4 months ago
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MY LATEST: @superwuster and @doctorow's new books claim to defend consumers -- but they're really looking down on them.

They treat people like NPCs: Non-Player Consumers.

Passive, duped victims of Big Tech.

That says more about Wu & Doctorow than it does about tech.

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4 months ago
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How Elizabeth Warren Scared the Biden Administration Into Not Meeting with Tech Leaders When California Governor Gavin Newsom sent prepaid “burner” cell phones to roughly 100 top executives of California-headquartered companies, he was not simply distributing novelty gifts.

This was a huge mistake, which deprived the Biden admin of connections to, and intel from, the US economy's most important companies.

It happened b/c Biden's senior staff didn't send a clear signal to talk with industry.

My colleague @DaveV15 with more:
pub.bluehorizonproject.org/p/warren-sc...

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4 months ago
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One of the things I hear a lot from tech co's is that they don't love everything Trump is doing, but they genuinely appreciate that they can get a meeting w/ his staff.

In contast, Biden's WH ended up adopting @SenWarren's view that Dems should never meet with companies.

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4 months ago
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It's silly to me that Dayen says we're a "front" group. Since I founded the group in 2021 we have listed our corporate partners on our website.

Wow, a real gotcha there.

x.com/ddayen/stat...

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4 months ago
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And of course, we didn't ask Trump to "block" lawsuits - he can't do that. But the Administration can file amicus briefs to express its view - just like the Biden DOJ in the Epic v. Apple antitrust case.

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4 months ago
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‘Progressive’ Tech Group Asks Trump to Block AI Copyright Cases - The American Prospect The Chamber of Progress’s campaign to promote fair use, which they have created a campaign around called “Generate and Create,” comes as at least three of the nonprofit organization’s past or current backers are being sued over copyright claims.

Dayen's article is the perfect encapsulation of how the "anti-monopolists" are really just "anti-big tech", and how they will reject pro-competition principles in order to stick it to Google and Meta.

prospect.org/2025/10/31/...

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4 months ago

A masks-off moment for the "anti-monopolists" when they side with Hollywood studio monopoly rights over fair use -- a pro-competition legal principle that helps AI startups compete vs incumbents.

Weaken fair use and you only entrench Big Tech 🤷‍♂️

x.com/ddayen/stat...

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5 months ago

The most galling thing about this "movement" is that it claims to speak for consumers when it's actually disdainful of consumers' choices.

Because millions of consumers are choosing "obviously" awful co's like Amazon & Google, consumers must be clueless!

Ivory tower populism.

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5 months ago

It's no wonder that the anti-corporate populist crowd love "Enshittification."

It endorses their world view that consumers are ignorant and unable to choose alternatives, and that technology markets are static with no new entrants or innovation.

x.com/ChopraUSA/s...

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5 months ago

In Doctorow's world, an unhappy Amazon user is incapable of shopping at Target or Walmart.

An unhappy Google search is incapable of using ChatGPT.

And yet, Doctorow himself promotes decentralized alternatives to Twitter...

x.com/doctorow/st...

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5 months ago
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And Doctorow's "policy solutions" are all deeply anti-consumer ideas that would raise prices for consumers, and force Amazon packages to be delivered less slowly.

That would all make Amazon's alleged "enshittification" worse!

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5 months ago
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220M people worldwide belong to Amazon Prime, but Doctorow can't imagine that people actually value the service. In his view, all it sells is "low-quality, high-priced junk."

Apparently those 220M people are mindless idiots, incapable of assessing the true value of Prime.

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5 months ago

In Doctorow's world, consumers aren't choosy - they're fools. They stand by idly while services and products get worse, without pursuing alternatives.

If they still like the service, they're "prisoners of neoliberal mind palace."

x.com/doctorow/st...

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5 months ago
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Cory Doctorow's @doctorow"Enshittification" really ought to have been called "Ensheepification."

It claims to be pro-consumer, but in truth it perpetuates an elite view of consumers as mindless sheep incapable of judging quality/value for themselves.

x.com/linamkhan/s...

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5 months ago

Angwin developed an acute case of Google Derangement Syndrome years ago, which looks increasingly out of touch with the competitive Internet of today as well as the AI revolution. This op-ed reads like something from ten years ago - not at all relevant today.

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