| The technology industry is one of the least regulated collection of businesses in the world, especially given its impact on society. That's about to change, as I report in an article in the new issue of Fortune, published online this morning. Big Tech, aptly dubbed "the behemoths" by new (and old) Attorney General William Barr, are under attack on multiple fronts by regulators, legislators, antitrust watchdogs, consumer advocates, journalists, and assorted others creeped out by the power Silicon Valley has amassed. Until recently regulating the biggest technology companies was more of an abstraction—or the purview of regulation-loving European bureaucrats. Now an assortment of measures has begun to move through Washington as well as multiple state and international capitals. At the heart of the efforts is the realization that while preaching the virtues of connecting with one's friends (Facebook), making the world's information easily accessible (Google), and making everything cheaper for consumers (Amazon), these and other behemoths have done considerable harm. They have trafficked in the personal data of their users, cheapened the value of intellectual property they didn't create, and crushed the businesses of competitors near and far. The regulation of the tech industry will take several forms. Privacy legislation has a real chance of passing in politically divided Washington this year, if for no other reason than industry wants to pre-empt a hated privacy law set to take effect next year in California. Antitrust action is slower but becoming a real possibility. It's also possible, if not likely, that Congress will remove the exception Internet "platforms" enjoy from being liable for the information they publish. That last change would inflict real damage on companies like Facebook and Google—and might be the only way to truly rein them in. *** I was off last week and return with three recommendations of outstanding articles to read, all from The New Yorker: * Ian Frazier's masterful profile of the oil-field "pumper" Rachael Van Horn is many things. It is a work of social commentary, a window into the life of an emotionally scarred veteran, a subtle and tasteful work of political theory, and more. At its heart, this divinely written article is about the critical job one woman performs, a task—caring for temperamental oil wells—that will never be replaced by artificial intelligence. * "Deception, Inc." by Adam Entous and Ronan Farrow is a harrowing tell of disgusting, unscrupulous, former intelligence agents who use social media and other under-regulated tools (see above) to lie, cheat, and confuse on behalf of their clients. * Sheelah Kolhatkar's compelling account of a whistleblower's quixotic effort to expose Medicare fraud at an insurance company will make you angry, shocked, and inspired all at once. The article is both specific about a single case and general in its condemnation of fraud across the healthcare industry. I plan to ask industry executives their thoughts on the subject at Fortune's Brainstorm Health conference in San Diego in early April. | 
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