CRYPTOZOOLOGY

Could this be the cause of the Loch Ness Monster sightings?

Sarah Hooper
 December 1, 2024

Alan McKenna believes ‘standing waves’ could be mistaken for the mythical creature (Picture: Pen News)

A natural phenomenon could be behind countless sightings of the elusive ‘Loch Ness Monster’ over the years, an expert has said.

Alan McKenna, founder of Loch Ness Exploration (LNE), believes ‘standing waves’ might explain alleged sightings of the mythical monster.

He said: ‘A standing wave occurs when two boat wakes of the exact same frequency and amplitude are moving in opposite directions on the loch surface. When the two boat wakes finally meet and interfere with one another the results have the potential to create a standing wave.’

The peaks of these standing waves, rising above the otherwise calm waters, could be mistaken for ‘humps’ above the surface.


Footage captured by Mr McKenna shows the phenomenon occurring where a river meets the loch on its southern shore, at Fort Augustus.

But capturing a standing wave caused by boat wakes out on the open water is a greater challenge.

One of the most famous photos of ‘Nessie’ was taken in 1934 (Picture: Getty)

Alan said: ‘The waves and the boat wake need to be identical. So with all that in mind, there’s now a lot more to consider here such as the boat itself, its size, the direction of travel and its current speed.

‘A small boat with a smaller engine will most definitely produce a wake different from a much larger boat. It’s a complex procedure, especially in open water, but it can happen.’

Mr McKenna now hopes to record the phenomenon happening out over the deep heart of the loch.

He said: ‘Ali Matheson, skipper of Deepscan, frequently reports standing waves, but more so in the small marina within Urquhart Bay also known as Temple Pier. That’s all fine and well, but it’s more difficult to capture a standing wave in open water.

‘We know that standing waves exist and they have been reported but what we don’t have is the footage showing a natural standing wave in motion.’

Mr McKenna helped to launch LNE, and follows daily reports by locals to find out what’s behind the sightings.

Standing waves in the lake could easily be mistaken for something else 

(Picture: Pen News)

When it comes to the existence of the fabled beast, however, Alan is keeping an open mind.

The 37-year-old said: ‘If there are any unknown animals in Loch Ness then they certainly don’t play by the rules. It’s the perfect habitat for a shy animal with 23 miles of cold dark water and around 750ft deep.

‘You could be swimming next to a 200ft submarine below the surface and not even notice it right in front of you, it’s that dark!’

Over the years, some have believed giant eels, long-necked seals, Greenland sharks, large sturgeons and other animals could be mistaken for ‘Nessie’.

Mr Mckenna said: ‘Truth be told, none of us have the correct answer and that’s what keeps this mystery going.’

LNE is an independent voluntary research group focused on Loch Ness, its natural environment, and its ecology, as well as the mythical monster.

CRYPTOZOOLOGY

Loch Ness monster hunters probe 'significant find' detected on latest cruise

Jody Harrison
Wed 9 October 2024 

-Credit: (Image: No credit)

Nessie hunters who have been searching the loch for the mythical beast say they have made a "significant finding" on its latest cruise.

The Loch Ness Centre has been probing the dark waters of the loch from its Deepscan cruise - which employs advanced radar technology to search the depths. Earlier this month, the radar system recorded a sizeable reading which has sparked speculation among researchers.

The radar system, specifically designed to detect underwater objects and formations, identified a "distinct anomaly" in the loch on Thursday 3rd October. While the exact nature of these readings remains under investigation, the Loch Ness Centre's analysis suggests they could represent substantial underwater presences or potentially large aquatic creatures inhabiting the loch, with the reading indicating there was a disturbance on the loch bed.

Nagina Ishaq, General Manager of The Loch Ness Centre, said: "These radar readings have raised many questions about what lurks in the depths of Loch Ness. Our Deepscan cruise has consistently aimed to deepen our understanding of the loch's ecosystem, and this finding shows that there are still many unknows about the loch.

The Loch Ness Centre has been probing the dark waters of the loch from its Deepscan cruise -Credit:No credit

"We are currently working with Loch Ness researchers to conduct further analysis of these readings which hopefully mark a major milestone in the search for Nessie."

The Deepscan cruise uses cutting-edge technology to investigate the unique underwater environment of Loch Ness.

With the use of sonar and radar systems, a hydrophone and most recently a state-of-the-art holographic camera, Deepscan has been able to provide some of the most detailed picture of the loch to date.

CRYPTOZOOLOGY

I found Loch Ness monster on ship’s sonar, claims captain

By Mark Macaskill
Daily Telegraph UK·
4 Oct, 2024 


Sloggie claims the image picked up on his sensors resembles a plesiosaur at the bottom of Loch Ness.

A captain has claimed he found the Loch Ness monster using the sonar system on his boat.

Shaun Sloggie, 30, was preparing his Spirit of Loch Ness pleasure boat to sail last month when a large object was spotted on the vessel’s underwater sensors.

The outline, which was detected nearly 100m beneath the surface of the Highland loch, bears an eerie resemblance to a plesiosaur, which many have speculated could be the reptile group the fabled Loch Ness Monster belongs to.

The footage has reignited speculation that Nessie, the creature alleged to inhabit the large body of water near Inverness, might really exist.

“I said: ‘What the hell is that?’” recalled Sloggie of the sighting on September 22.
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“It was bigger than anything else I’ve ever seen. We’ve seen all sorts of fish that shouldn’t be here, but this? This was different. You should have felt the chills on the boat.”

Speaking to the Daily Mail, he added: “I’ve worked here for nine years and never seen anything like it.

“And sonar doesn’t lie, the boat hasn’t been on five whisky distillery tours before going out on the loch, it’s just doing its job.”
Object remained visible for two to three minutes

Sloggie, who works for Cruise Loch Ness, said the object remained visible for two to three minutes and that he and maritime pilot Liam McKenzie, 29, were able to take a screenshot before it disappeared from the dashboard.

He said it appeared in different colours, which are thought to indicate pockets of air and heat signatures suggesting the object was alive.

A previous sonar image captured on Loch Ness in 2020 was said to be the most “compelling” evidence yet of the existence of Nessie.

Sloggie said the previous image was believed to show a creature “eight to 10 metres long and one metre wide” but speculated that the new object was “a lot bigger than that”.

The image was captured while the boat was close to the mouth of the loch, which Sloggie said was the ideal location for a large predator to catch salmon and other fish going in and out.

“There are fish in the loch that shouldn’t be here. There are prehistoric creatures living in the loch and unknown codes of DNA, so there is room for mystery,” he said.

“This could change the angle of science on the loch. But how do you find out what it is? I’ve always known there’s something there. What it is, is a mystery. But it definitely springs open people’s imaginations. It’s not just about tourism, there’s real science in studying the loch.”

Discover more

'Loch Ness monster' spotted in tourist's photo
Loch Ness mystery: Is Nessie a giant eel?
Did Rhys Darby just prove the Loch Ness Monster exists?
'Incredible' photos emerge during largest Loch Ness hunt in 50 years

With a depth of almost 243m and a length of about 38km, Loch Ness has the largest volume of freshwater in Great Britain. It is thought to be about 10,000 years old and was formed at the end of the last Great Ice Age.

An official register of sightings has now logged 1157 reports – including webcam images – from records and other evidence stretching back through the centuries.

On May 2, 1933, the Inverness Courier carried a story about a local couple who claimed to have seen “an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface”.

Another famous claimed sighting is a photograph taken in 1934 by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson.

It was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged.

Other sightings include James Gray’s picture from 2001 when he and his friend Peter Levings were out fishing on the loch, while namesake Hugh Gray’s blurred photo of what appears to be a large sea creature was published in the Daily Express in 1933.

United Methodists endorse change that could give regions more say on LGBTQ and other issues

Peter Smith
Published Apr 25, 2024 •

Bishop Tracy Smith Malone surveys the results of a delegate vote in favor of a worldwide regionalization plan as she presides over a legislative session of the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., on April 25, 2024. The proposal needed a two-third majority vote to pass. PHOTO BY PAUL JEFFREY /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Article content

United Methodist delegates have overwhelmingly endorsed a constitutional amendment seen by advocates as a way of defusing debates over the role of LGBTQ people in the church by giving rule-making autonomy to each region of the international church.

Delegates voted 586-164 on Thursday for the “regionalization” proposal on the third day of their 11-day General Conference, the legislative body of the United Methodist Church, meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.

'Nessie' photo at Scotland's Loch Ness puts Canadians in media spotlight

The plan would create multiple regional conferences — one for the United States and others covering areas ranging from the Philippines to Europe to Africa.

Existing regions outside the United States — known as central conferences — already have the flexibility to adapt church rules to their local contexts, but the jurisdictions in the United States do not. This constitutional change would give the U.S. church that flexibility, while defining autonomy more closely for all of the regions.

The vote total easily passed the two-thirds majority required for an amendment to the United Methodist Church’s constitution. To become official, however, it will require approval by two-thirds of its annual conferences, or local governing bodies.

If ratified, one effect of the change is that it could allow for the American church — where support has been growing for the ordination of LGBTQ people and for same-sex marriage — to authorize such rites, even as international churches with more conservative positions on sexuality would not.

“The big change this petition brings is really for our brothers and sisters here in the United States, where you would finally be given the right to decide things which only concern you among yourselves, the same right that we have enjoyed for a long time,” said Christine Schneider-Oesch of Switzerland, a member of the committee proposing the changes.

The measure comes during the first General Conference since one-quarter of U.S. congregations left the denomination over the past four years — most of them conservative churches reacting to the denomination’s failure to enforce rules against same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination.

Advocates hailed the proposal as a way of decolonizing a church some say is too focused on U.S. issues, though one opponent, a Zimbabwean pastor, said the details of the plan are reminiscent of colonial-era divide-and-conquer strategies.

LGBTQ issues weren’t central to the debate on Thursday, but they are expected to arise in the coming days at the General Conference. Some proposals would lift the current bans on ordaining LGBTQ people and on same-sex marriage.

“I believe that the values upon which worldwide regionalization is rooted will give renewed strength, life and vitality to the church,” said the Rev. Jonathan Ulanday of the Philippines. He said it gives autonomy while maintaining connection to the worldwide denomination, which he noted has been helpful in areas ranging from disaster relief to aiding Filipinos working abroad.

But the Rev. Forbes Matonga of Zimbabwe said the plan actually perpetuates colonial structures by creating multiple regional conferences in Africa along national lines, compared with a single one in the United States. He noted that many African national borders were created arbitrarily by European colonial mapmakers.

“It is this divide and rule,” Matonga said. “Create a region for Africans. Creates a platform for Africans so that we speak as a continent and not as small colonies.”

The Rev. Ande Emmanuel of Nigeria said he has been to multiple General Conferences and that many of the discussions are “U.S.-centric,” not relevant to African delegates. Regionalization would let each area of the church manage such issues, he said. “We are not here to control the Americans,” he said. “Neither are our brothers from America here to control us. We are trying to build a platform that is mutual. We’re trying to build an understanding that would move our church together.”


___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

 

Cadeler’s Massive Wind Turbine Installation Vessel is Launched

Wind Peak was launched from the building dock on Januar 3 (Cadeler)

PUBLISHED JAN 5, 2024 9:01 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

The first of the two new massive wind turbine installation vessels ordered by Cadeler was floated out at the Cosco Shipyard in China. The vessels are part of the company’s future fleet and with an increased size are designed to improve the efficiency of installation projects and handle the largest wind turbines.

The first of the vessels, Wind Peak, was floated out at the Cosco yard in Qidong, China on January 3. Cadeler highlights it as a milestone after two years of engineering work and 18 months of construction. The hull of the vessel is complete and it will now begin the final phase of construction which will include installing the jacking legs and cranes. The construction timetable calls for the vessel to undergo sea trials in mid-2024 and be delivered in the third quarter of this year.

The Wind Peak rivals Jan De Nul’s massive jack up vessel Voltaire which was billed as the largest ever for the offshore wind sector. The specs for the Wind Peak highlight that she has a maximum payload of over 17,600 tons compared to the rated 16,000-ton payload for the Voltaire. Wind Peak’s cranes have a 2,600-ton lift capacity to Voltaire’s 3,200-ton capacity although the actual capacity varies based on the jack up height and other factors.

Cadeler highlights its new vessel is designed to operate at some of the most difficult sites. Its increased transit capacity with 5,600 square meters of deck space means it will make fewer transits decreasing installation time and the associated costs. It will be able to transport and install seven complete 15 MW turbine sets at a time or five sets of the newest 20-plus MW turbines.

 

Wind Peak will have the largest capacity permitting it to carry more turbines to the site at one time (Cadeler)

 

Dimensions on the vessel are a length of 531 feet (162 meters) and it can operate water depths greater than 230 feet (70 meters).  It has accommodations for 130 people and a nod to the drive to decrease emissions the vessel has a 5.4 MW battery and can also use shore power in port. It is also being built ready to adapt to future fuels.

Cosco highlights that it using new construction processes for the vessel which has permitted it to reduce dock time during construction by approximately a third. They also note the vessel’s advanced design means that it could also be used in dismantling projects and for recycling worn-out parts or installations. 

The Wind Peak will be followed by a sister ship the Wind Pace which is scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2025. In addition, having completed the acquisition of Eneti through the merger, Cadeler also gains the Nessie and Siren, the two large installation vessels that Eneti ordered from the shipyard that is now Hanwha Ocean in South Korea. These two vessels will also each have 5,400 square meters of deck space and a maximum crane capacity of 2,600 tons. 

The combined company says when it completes these four new builds plus two wind foundation installation vessels also ordered by Cadeler, it will have the largest dedicated wind installation fleet. The company will have six newbuilds as well as four existing vessels for a total of 10, after Eneti sold off its oldest vessels which had been acquired with the acquisition of Seajacks. 

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Amazon punished its own sellers to limit Walmart's reach, FTC says

Thu, November 2, 2023 



By Siddharth Cavale and Arriana McLymore

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc punished its own sellers to limit Walmart's reach as Walmart got into e-commerce, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

In addition to making $1 billion by using a secret algorithm called "Project Nessie" to push up the prices that U.S. households pay, Amazon may have also succeeded in curbing Walmart's ambitions.

In 2014, the arrival of Jet.com triggered fear at Amazon that Jet.com would be able to offer shoppers lower prices online, the FTC said on Thursday, kick-starting Amazon's strategy of removing sellers’ offers from the Buy Box if shoppers could find the same products at lower prices on Jet.com. The Buy Box is the button that allows shoppers to make a purchase directly from a seller.

Walmart acquired Jet.com in 2016.

"Given Amazon's size and a scale, their quantitative analytical might, and particularly, against the background that they had not made a profit on (Amazon.com) for the first 20 years, it's not surprising that they would resort to such tactics against competitors," retail consultant Burt Flickinger said.

Like Amazon, Walmart operates a third-party online marketplace, with merchandise from thousands of independent sellers. On Amazon, millions of independent merchants currently sell goods its marketplace. Both Walmart and Amazon collect fees and commissions from the merchants on their platforms.

By not collecting seller commissions, Jet.com could offer prices that were 10% to 15% lower than what Amazon advertised, the FTC said in a less-redacted version of a previous complaint against Amazon. This, Amazon realized, could result in sellers passing on those savings to customers, the FTC said.

To hamstring Jet.com, Amazon removed some third-party sellers' offers from its Buy Box. The complaint cites one Amazon seller who adopted a policy of making "absolutely sure that our products are not priced lower on Walmart than they are on Amazon" because of pressure from Amazon.

Amazon also deployed what the FTC described as anti-competitive algorithms against Jet.com's most popular products leading to Jet revising its strategy to match the lowest prices elsewhere, the FTC said.

Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said the FTC "grossly mischaracterizes" the pricing tool and the company stopped using it several years ago.

Walmart shut down Jet in 2020 and incorporated it into its wider e-commerce business.

Walmart declined to comment as it was not part of the FTC litigation, a spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale and Arriana McLymore in New York; Editing by Vanessa O'Connell and Lisa Shumaker)

Amazon Boosted Junk Ads, Deleted Messages to Thwart Antitrust Probe, FTC Says

Leah Nylen and Matt Day
Thu, November 2, 2023



(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. doubled the number of junk ads to boost profits and deleted internal communications to thwart a federal antitrust probe, according to fresh details released by the US Federal Trade Commission in a less redacted complaint against the online retail giant Thursday.

Amazon’s founder and former Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos personally ordered executives to accept more ads, even ones the company had internally labeled as “defects,” indicating they weren’t relevant to user searches, according to the new version of the complaint.

The FTC alleges that Amazon’s increased use of ads boosts profits while it harms sellers and consumers, making it harder for shoppers to find products they are searching for. “We’d be crazy not to” increase the number of advertisements shown to shoppers,” the FTC quoted Amazon executives as saying.

One executive compiled a number of the defective ads showing “buck urine” showing up in response to searches for “water bottles” or T-shirts for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team in response to queries for the Seattle Seahawks football team merchandise.

In third quarter 2023 earnings announced last week, Amazon reported advertising revenue of $12.1 billion, making the company’s ad unit its fastest-growing business.

Amazon said its search results consider a number of factors and users can easily refine their results.

“Amazon works hard to make it fast and easy for customers to find the items they want and discover similar options by providing a mix of organic and sponsored search results,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said. He also cited a study by a London marketing firm that found consumers find Amazon ads relevant and useful.

In an email later Thursday, he added: “The claim that Amazon leadership directed employees to accept more advertising defects that would degrade the customer experience is grossly misleading and taken out of context, and does not reflect Amazon’s longstanding dedication to continually improving the customer experience.”

‘Disappearing Message’

The FTC also alleged that the company deleted internal communications using the “disappearing message” feature of Signal and destroyed more than two years’ worth of such communications, from June 2019 to at least early 2022.

Amazon denied that its employees deleted messages, saying the company informed the FTC about the Signal usage, “painstakingly collected Signal conversations from its employees’ phones, and allowed agency staff to inspect those conversations.” Some executives began to use the encrypted communications app after Bezos disclosed in 2019 that his phone had been hacked and alleged the National Enquirer tabloid sought to publish his intimate photos and texts.

The agency sued Amazon in September, accusing the e-commerce giant of monopolizing online marketplace services and stifling competition. The complaint alleges the company illegally forces sellers on its platform to use its logistics and delivery services in exchange for prominent placement and punishes merchants who offer lower prices on competing sites.

Amazon has said it will challenge the lawsuit in court, adding that it “radically” departs from the agency’s mission of protecting consumers and is “wrong on the facts and the law.”

The original complaint was heavily redacted, blacking out information about Amazon’s operations, including details about the company’s scale, its Prime subscriber base and a pricing algorithm called “Project Nessie” that the agency said foisted higher costs on shoppers, belying the company’s claim to prioritize the welfare of its customers.

Over the ensuing weeks, the FTC and Amazon wrangled over what details could be publicly shared, with the company determined to protect information that could provide competitors insights into its e-commerce strategy and business metrics.

Seller Fulfilled Prime

According to the FTC’s new complaint, 98% of Amazon sales occur directly from the so-called “Buy Box” where the company selects one featured offer from among the sellers hawking a specific product.

The FTC alleges that Amazon has illegally tied use of its marketplace with its logistics service – Fulfillment by Amazon – where merchants pay to have Amazon take care of warehousing and shipping. Using the logistics service helps ensure a merchant’s products qualify for Amazon’s Prime subscription service and the featured offer in the “Buy Box.”

Amazon began offering a program called Seller Fulfilled Prime in 2015 that allowed merchants to qualify for the speedy shipping promise without using the company’s logistics service, the FTC alleged. At its peak, 15,000 sellers were using it, according to the FTC. Amazon worried internally that the program was “[s]trategically risky” and could damage the company’s own logistics service, the FTC alleged, with a senior executive saying he was “losing [his] mind” after United Parcel Service Inc. was advertising to merchants that it could fulfill orders.

In 2019, Amazon stopped accepting new merchants into the program.

“Amazon decided to prioritize excluding rivals and foreclosing competition, even if it came at a cost to Amazon’s customers,” the FTC alleged.

In a statement, Amazon said the FTC cited “misleading figures” and its original program didn’t meet “the high standards and expectations our customers have for Prime.”

‘Project Nessie’

The FTC alleged that Amazon created an algorithmic tool, nicknamed Project Nessie, that generated more than $1 billion in additional profits for the company by raising prices in its marketplace.

Amazon and many other online retailers use automated tools to match pricing to what competitors are charging. Realizing that many websites set their pricing tools to correspond with Amazon’s marketplace, the company created Nessie to raise prices on products that other retailers would match, the FTC alleged.

“The FTC claims that an old Amazon pricing algorithm called Nessie is an unfair method of competition that led to raised prices for consumers,” Amazon said in a statement responding to the new details in the less redacted complaint. “This grossly mischaracterizes this tool. Nessie was used to try to stop our price matching from resulting in unusual outcomes where prices became so low that they were unsustainable.”

Bloomberg Businessweek

Unredacted documents in the FTC's Amazon lawsuit shed light on the company's secret price-gouging algorithm

"Project Nessie" is a series of algorithms that Amazon allegedly used to raise prices by over $1 billion in just two years.

Stephanie Barnes
·Contributing Writer
Thu, November 2, 2023 


It looks like Amazon is hellbent on keeping its spot as the biggest online retailer — even if that means hurting both sellers and customers. In September, the FTC filed a long-expected antitrust lawsuit against Amazon over its alleged use of illegal strategies to stay on top. Details of the suit were previously withheld from the public, but today a mostly unredacted version was released, including details about Amazon's secret pricing tool, known as Project Nessie. These algorithms helped Amazon increase prices by over $1 billion over two years, the FTC alleges.

As Amazon would argue, Amazon's dominance of the online retail space has helped small businesses reach more consumers. But the FTC would argue that over the years, Amazon has become exploitative in its approach. The company continues to increase third-party seller fees, which are taking a toll on smaller businesses and even causing bankruptcy for some. Amazon previously said these claims were baseless, but the documents revealed today show otherwise.

According to the The Wall Street Journal, the internal documents cited in the original complaint show that Amazon executives were well aware of the effects of the company's policies. In the documents, Amazon executives acknowledged that these policies, which included requiring Amazon sellers to have the lowest prices online or risk consequences, had a “punitive aspect.” One executive pointed out that many sellers “live in constant fear” of being penalized by Amazon for not following the ever-changing pricing policy.

The FTC also alleges that the company had been monitoring its sellers and punishing them if they offered lower prices on other platforms, which the agency says is a violation of antitrust laws. The unredacted documents indicate that Amazon has increased prices by over $1 billion between 2016 to 2018 with the use of secret price gouging algorithms known as Project Nessie. It was also revealed that the "take rate" — aka the amount Amazon makes from sellers who use the Fulfillment By Amazon logistics program — increased from 27.6 percent in 2014 to 39.5 percent in 2018. It's unclear if that has changed in more recent years since those numbers remained redacted.

And Amazon isn't just ruining its sellers’ experience. The complaint also revealed Amazon's increased use of ads in search results. Several ad executives at the company acknowledged that these sponsored ads were often irrelevant to the initial search and caused “harm to consumers" and the overall experience on the site.

The FTC alleges that these policies were the brainchild of Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and former chief executive, to increase the company's profit margins.

“Mr. Bezos directly ordered his advertising team to continue to increase the number of advertisements on Amazon by allowing more irrelevant advertisements, because the revenue generated by advertisements eclipsed the revenue lost by degrading consumers’ shopping experience,” the FTC complaint alleges.

Unredacted FTC suit shows 'Project Nessie' price-raising algorithm made Amazon $1.4B



Devin Coldewey
Thu, November 2, 2023 

Image Credits: FTC


The mysterious "Project Nessie," hinted at in what little was not redacted in the FTC's lawsuit against Amazon, is indeed an algorithmic pricing scheme that raised prices where it could do so safely, generating some $1.4 billion for the company during its years of operation. No wonder Amazon wanted to keep it under wraps!

The FTC's allegations of anti-competitive behavior cover a number of different practices, among them price manipulation. And the poster child for this practice was Project Nessie.

Unfortunately, when the lawsuit was filed, it was full of redactions, and Nessie was clearly the biggest risk, with every mention and entire pages of the section dedicated to it blocked by black bars. But the process in court is that these redactions must be first honored and then defended — and clearly the argument of public interest won out over Amazon's preference.

And so the newly unredacted lawsuit is sporting far fewer stripes, though the occasional proprietary or internal figure is still blocked out. But most importantly, we have a full account of Project Nessie:

Alongside these anti-discounting tactics, Amazon also goes a step further and hikes prices directly and outright. Amazon created a secret algorithm internally codenamed “Project Nessie” to identify specific products for which it predicts other online stores will follow Amazon’s price increases. When activated, this algorithm raises prices for those products and, when other stores follow suit, keeps the now-higher price in place.

Essentially, Amazon observed that other stores tended to follow the Amazon price on some products, but others didn't. Say Amazon raised the price of a sheet set from $25 to $30. Perhaps Bed Bath & Beyond would raise their price too, but Walmart stood tough at $25. That's not great for Amazon because it meant that customers might find that lower price and shop there instead.

But take another situation, where Amazon raises the price of a keyboard from $30 to $40. Perhaps the maker of that keyboard is the only other place that sells it, and they had matched Amazon's price so as not to lose sales. So now they can safely raise it to $40 too. Bonanza! Amazon gets an extra $10, and no one can find a cheaper price anywhere. Of course, the customer loses $10.

By systematically analyzing which products and which competitors resulted in "safe" price increases like the latter, Amazon could arbitrarily raise prices and extract additional profit from customers like you and me. (For the record, the feature is in fact what I guessed it was from the little we could see in the original redacted document.)

The FTC just hit Amazon with a major antitrust lawsuit

Now, Amazon disputes this characterization of Nessie. In a comment issued to The Wall Street Journal when the outlet reported some of this information last month, they said the tool was intended to "try to stop our price matching from resulting in unusual outcomes where prices became so low that they were unsustainable. The project ran for a few years on a subset of products, but didn’t work as intended, so we scrapped it several years ago."

The documents cited by the FTC paint a different picture. The project ran for five years, and whatever intentions Amazon had for it, it generated about $1.4 billion in additional profits. Amazon is quoted as deeming Project Nessie "an incredible success," which somewhat contradicts their more recent statement. And if it was strictly about preventing "unsustainable" low prices, it doesn't make sense that it would only target retailers that would match Amazon's markups.

That it was "scrapped" is also questionable, since in 2022 the CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores Doug Herrington suggested turning on "our old friend Nessie, perhaps with some new targeting logic" to boost retail profits. Nessie has indeed slipped under the waters, but the FTC is clear that it could just as easily emerge again if Amazon liked. Now that the heat is on, however, that seems unlikely.

I asked Amazon about these seeming contradictions and the company declined to comment beyond its original statement. They may, however, have more detailed refutations in store in their own court filings, though on this matter of Nessie, they may well decide that discretion is the better part of public opinion.

Skelmorlie's Pennywise-style clown is back with a 'message and a game for the nation'

Sky News
Updated Tue, 24 October 2023 



A clown that has been stalking the streets of a Scottish village is back and has a "message for the nation".

The masked character, wearing a Pennywise-style outfit, has created a game "for the country to play in" after previously leaving riddles and clues for the villagers of Skelmorlie in North Ayrshire to solve.

In a video uploaded to Facebook at the weekend, the clown has highlighted a number of landmarks across Scotland and is urging people to visit them and take pictures of their "scariest faces".

The snapshots should then be shared online with the hashtag #Skelmorlieclown.

The Duke of Wellington statue in Glasgow - which is well known due to the iconic traffic cone on its head - is one of the hotspots singled out by the clown.

Edinburgh Castle, The Kelpies sculptures in Falkirk and Loch Ness were also mentioned. And for those more adventurous, the clown is challenging people to take a picture at the top of Ben Nevis - the highest mountain in Scotland at 1,345m (around 4,413ft).

The clown rhymed: "I have a message addressed to the nation. I've created a game for the country to play in.

"Robert Burns cottage, where the legend was from. The Bannockburn monument, where our king won.

"In the Loch Ness, home to our Nessie. In Falkirk the horses that go by the Kelpies.

"In Glasgow the man with the cone on his head. At Edinburgh Castle where kings and queens met.

"In Largs at the Pencil, where Vikings fought. And climb Ben Nevis right to the top.

"Skara Brae from times of old. And at the Calanais Standing Stones.

"All of these landmarks from the east to the west make up the country we know is the best.

"Your game is quite simple, at each of these places... go take a picture with your scariest faces.

"Post it online so your pic can be found and use the hashtag #Skelmorlieclown."

Read more from Sky News:

Florida's killer clown shooting case ends

The horrific crimes of Killer Clown and the Candy Man

The clown made headlines across the globe earlier this month for their "message to the media" and cheeky "dare" for the police to catch them - although there is no suggestion any crime has been committed.

Residents in Skelmorlie recently teamed up to solve one of the clown's riddles which led them to the village's community garden.

A small black cash box awaited their discovery. But instead of treasure inside, the villagers were greeted with their own reflection via a mirror that had the word "clown" written on it.

Isy Agnew was one of the villagers who solved the riddle after waking up on Friday 13th to find a red balloon and box that included a key outside her front door.

Ms Agnew told Sky News she loved the "clever" joke and said the clown's Halloween appearances "bring the community together".

The clown's games are expected to run up to Halloween.

The joker is dressed similarly to Pennywise the Dancing Clown from Stephen King's It.

The character stalks the streets of Derry in Maine, where he kills children roughly every 27 years.

The 1986 horror novel was made into a two-part mini-series in 1990 with Tim Curry in the role. Bill Skarsgard then played the villain in the Hollywood adaptations in 2017 and 2019.

A Facebook account for the Skelmorlie clown has been set up with the name Cole Deimos. The profile says the character "studied at Clown School" and lives in Skelmorlie.

Those that know the identity of the clown - who seemingly first appeared in the village two years ago - are so far keeping their lips sealed as to who's behind the mask.

Addressing their identity in the latest video, the clown rhymed: "Many have tried and all have failed. The Skelmorlie clown will never be unveiled."

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M
Amazon deprives competitors of critical mass: FTC Chair Lina Khan

Amazon’s antitrust suit culmination of years of work from FTC’s Khan


Alexis Keenan
·Reporter
Wed, September 27, 2023 

A day after the US Federal Trade Commission and 17 states filed a landmark antitrust case against online retail giant Amazon (AMZN), the agency’s chair Lina Khan said Amazon.com is depriving online superstore competitors of the critical mass needed to compete.

“In short, Amazon has a policy that punishes sellers or retailers that lower their price anywhere other than Amazon,” Khan said in an interview Wednesday with CNBC. “At the same time, Amazon is also steadily hiking the fees the seller pays. Sellers have to inflate their price not just on Amazon, but also across the rest of the internet.”

The novel argument is expected to be a tough one for the agency.

FTC filed an antitrust case against Amazon on Tuesday. (Paul Sakuma/AP Photo)

Antitrust law, designed to protect consumers through open competition, regards low prices as evidence that consumers' interests are served. While the agency admits that Amazon's policies push sellers to offer their products at the lowest prices on Amazon, it argues Amazon’s prices never dip as low as they would in a genuinely competitive market.

The company’s scale, the FTC claims, ensures that some sellers must sell on Amazon.com to survive. And with the market cornered, it slowly increased fees charged to sellers for each sale, according to the agency.

“The consequences of that are very serious for sellers who now pay one out of every $2 to Amazon,” Khan told CNBC. “So this is effectively a 50% tax that businesses pay to Amazon to reach shoppers. And that, in turn, leads prices and it inflates prices across the internet.”

The FTC says Amazon is illegally monopolizing two markets: online superstore retail — where consumers shop for products — and online superstore retail services — where sellers list, sell, and ship their items.

Amazon responded to the FTC’s complaint saying the agency's theory is wrong.

“The practices the FTC is challenging have helped to spur competition and innovation across the retail industry, and have produced greater selection, lower prices, and faster delivery speeds for Amazon customers and greater opportunity for the many businesses that sell in Amazon’s store," David Zapolsky, Amazon senior vice president of global public policy and general counsel, said in a statement.

"If the FTC gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers, and reduced options for small businesses — the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do.”

At Amazon's request, portions of the FTC's claims were redacted from the publicly filed version of its lawsuit. In her interview on Wednesday, Khan said the complaint contains direct evidence of Amazon hiking prices and steadily increasing fees charged to its third-party sellers.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.

Judge assigned to US antitrust case against Amazon recuses himself

Reuters
Wed, September 27, 2023 



(Reuters) - The judge assigned to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.com has recused himself from the case, according to a court document filed on Wednesday.

Senior Judge John Coughenour was assigned to the case on Tuesday, when the antitrust lawsuit was filed against Amazon in federal court in Seattle. Coughenour, an appointee of Republican former President Ronald Reagan, did not cite a reason for dropping off the case in the court filing.

The case has been re-assigned to U.S. District Judge John Chun based on rotation, according to the document.

Chun was nominated by President Joe Biden last year. He was previously a judge for the Washington State Court of Appeals.

The FTC in its lawsuit accused Amazon of abusing its power in the retail market as an ecommerce giant by unfairly giving preference to its own products and punishing merchants that want to sell products for lower prices on other platforms.

Amazon is facing a series of similar but smaller private consumer cases filed in recent years that are pending in the same U.S. federal court with Judge Ricardo Martinez and the FTC has argued its case should be assigned to the same judge to avoid duplication or conflict.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy and Mike Scarcella; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Factbox-Amazon antitrust lawsuit latest in US efforts to rein in big firms' clout

Reuters
Wed, September 27, 2023 


(Reuters) - U.S. antitrust regulators on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com accusing the online retailer of harming consumers with higher prices, the latest in a long history of tough action against monopolies that can be traced back to the breakup of Standard Oil.

More recently, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulators have targeted Big Tech including Alphabet's Google and Meta Platforms' Facebook.

Here is a list of attempts by regulators to split up big companies:

Standard Oil (1911)- Regulators alleged John Rockefeller's Standard Oil held the monopoly in the oil business by using aggressive pricing to eliminate competition. Standard Oil was broken up into 34 companies. Some of these independent firms now include ExxonMobil and Chevron.

Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) (1945)- The Justice Department charged Alcoa with illegally monopolizing the aluminum market and demanded the company be dissolved. The case lasted years and the government sold aluminum production plants built during the war to Reynolds Aluminum and Kaiser Aluminum, creating a competitive market.

Paramount Pictures (1948) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a landmark antitrust case, also known as "Paramount case" or the "Hollywood antitrust case," that film studios could not legally own their own theaters, hitting the vertical integration of companies. It forced Paramount to cleave theaters from the studios.

IBM (1982) - The U.S. government initiated an antitrust investigation into the dominance of IBM that lasted for 13 years. The case was later withdrawn and the IT software and services provider remained intact.

AT&T (1984) - In 1974, the U.S. government filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T because it had a monopoly on telephone lines. After eight years of litigation, the two sides reached a settlement that led to AT&T giving up control of its regional operating companies, or "Baby Bells".

Microsoft (2001) - A U.S. District Judge ordered a breakup of the company over antitrust claims but appellate judges rejected it. The Justice Department and Microsoft reached a settlement in November 2001.

Meta Platforms (2023) - An appeals court ruled in favor of Meta by refusing to revive a lawsuit filed by states against its Facebook unit over alleged antitrust law violations.

Both the FTC and the states had asked the court in 2020 to order Facebook to sell Instagram, which it bought for $1 billion in 2012, and WhatsApp, which it bought for $19 billion in 2014.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Josie Kao)

Factbox-FTC's Amazon complaint zeros in on seller prices, logistics

Reuters
Wed, September 27, 2023 


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com that accused the online retail giant of overcharging customers and independent sellers on its platforms as the $1 trillion company sought to illegally maintain monopoly power.

These are the specific allegations included in the FTC's 172-page complaint:

ONLINE SUPERSTORE, SERVICES MONOPOLIES

*The agency alleged that Amazon had a monopoly in an online superstore market. In 2021, Amazon had 77% of the market, Walmart had 13% and Target 2%.

*The agency also said that Amazon had a monopoly in the online marketplace for services, where Amazon has more than 70% of the market. The FTC said that more than 160 million people in the United States visit Amazon's website each month.

PUNISHES SELLERS FOR LOWER PRICES ELSEWHERE

* The complaint alleged Amazon uses a sophisticated network of web crawlers that identify which of its sellers offer their products more cheaply on other platforms. Amazon allegedly punishes those sellers, who make up about 60% of Amazon's sales, by making them harder to find on its platform.

"Because Amazon's anti-discounting conduct punishes sellers who offer lower prices at rival online stores with lower fees, many sellers set their price on Amazon- high fees and all - as the price floor across the internet," the FTC said in the complaint.

REQUIRES USING AMAZON LOGISTICS

* Amazon requires sellers under Amazon's Prime feature to use the company's logistics and delivery services even though many would allegedly prefer to use a cheaper service or one that would also service customers from other platforms where they sell.

CHARGES HIGH FEES

*The complaint alleges Amazon raised average fulfillment fees to sellers about 30% between 2020 and 2022, as well as requiring them to pay for referrals and advertising. The FTC alleged that between sellers paying for search placement, fulfillment and other charges that Amazon takes nearly half of what sellers make on their sales.

MONITORING PRICES

* Amazon used the Project Nessie pricing system as an unfair method of competition. A description of Project Nessie was heavily redacted. An Amazon blog described it as "a system used to monitor spikes or trends on Amazon.com."

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Jamie Freed)

The FTC just hit Amazon with a major antitrust lawsuit


Taylor Hatmaker
Tue, September 26, 2023

Image Credits: Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images

The Federal Trade Commission made its big move against online shopping giant Amazon on Tuesday, accusing the company of illegally stifling competition on its way to becoming a ubiquitous retail presence and one of the world's most valuable companies.

Attorneys general from 17 states joined the FTC in the lawsuit, alleging that Amazon leverages a "set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies" to maintain a monopoly. The states that signed onto the FTC's action are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

"The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them," FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said. "Today’s lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition."

Amazon predictably pushed back against the FTC's allegations, which could amount to an existential threat to the company's market dominance.

"If the FTC gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers and reduced options for small businesses — the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do," Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky said. "The lawsuit filed by the FTC today is wrong on the facts and the law, and we look forward to making that case in court.”

The FTC and its state partners allege that Amazon has violated antitrust law in two distinct areas: its vast online storefront for shoppers and its seller-side marketplace. Amazon's practice of punishing sellers that offer lower prices away from Amazon and its strategy of aggressively funneling sellers toward obtaining Prime status for their goods are among the anti-competitive tactics the FTC named in the lawsuit.

"Amazon is a monopolist that uses its power to hike prices on American shoppers and charge sky-high fees on hundreds of thousands of online sellers," Deputy Director of the FTC Bureau of Competition John Newman said. "Seldom in the history of U.S. antitrust law has one case had the potential to do so much good for so many people."

The FTC accuses Amazon of 'monopolistic practices' in long-expected antitrust suit

It claims the retailer prevented vendors from selling products for less elsewhere.

Will Shanklin
·Contributing Reporter
Tue, September 26, 2023


The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon today in Western Washington district court, with 17 states joining the federal agency. The case isn’t surprising (the FTC was reportedly nearly ready to file in late August), but its specifics weren’t yet known.

The FTC accuses the online retailer of monopolistic practices, including preventing merchants from offering lower prices on other platforms and forcing them to use Amazon’s logistics service if they wanted to be included in customers’ Prime shipping perks. Those anticompetitive practices allegedly led to higher prices and an inferior shopping experience.

The suit describes “Amazon's one-two punch of seller punishments and high seller fees” that forces vendors to “use their inflated Amazon prices as a price floor everywhere else.” The complaint reads, “Amazon's punitive regime distorts basic market signals: one of the ways sellers respond to Amazon's fee hikes is by increasing their own prices off Amazon.”

“Today’s lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition,” said FTC chair Lina Khan, according to The New York Times.



“Amazon is a monopolist,” the lawsuit reads. “It exploits its monopolies in ways that enrich Amazon but harm its customers: both the tens of millions of American households who regularly shop on Amazon's online superstore and the hundreds of thousands of businesses who rely on Amazon to reach them.”

The 17 states joining the FTC include New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

The FTC has had its eye on Amazon for several years. This is the fourth action the agency has taken against the company this year. Amazon settled a previous lawsuit (for $30.8 million) filed in May over Alexa children’s privacy concerns and snooping with Ring cameras. In June, the FTC sued the retailer again, claiming the company tricked customers into signing up for Prime subscriptions and then made it hard to cancel them.

Amazon claimed that the FTC’s actions are out of line. “Today’s suit makes clear the FTC’s focus has radically departed from its mission of protecting consumers and competition,” said David Zapolsky, Amazon's Senior Vice President of Global Public Policy and General Counsel. “The lawsuit filed by the FTC today is wrong on the facts and the law, and we look forward to making that case in court.”

The media’s narrative about the suit will likely frame it as a long-awaited title bout between Khan and Amazon. The FTC chair gained prominence by publishing a 2017 Yale Law Journal paper arguing US antitrust laws fell short of adequately reining in the tech giant. That helped begin a national conversation about whether the nation’s anti-monopoly laws were prepared to handle modern Silicon Valley behemoths.

But more important than one-on-one championship fight framing, the showdown will serve as a test for Washington regulators and Amazon, as the federal agency tests its authority and the retailer faces its most consequential political fight to date.

FTC, 17 states file antitrust suit against Amazon

Clarissa Hawes

FreightWaves
Tue, September 26, 2023 


The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general filed suit against Amazon.com on Tuesday, alleging the e-commerce giant used its monopoly power to “inflate prices, degrade quality and stifle innovation for consumers and businesses.”

The 172-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleges Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) engages in a course of exclusionary conduct that prevents current competitors from growing and new competitors from emerging.”

The FTC lawsuit, which follows a four-year investigation into the Seattle-based company, states that it’s not the size of Amazon that violates the law, but the the company’s alleged “anticompetitive conduct” — which includes its “online superstore market that serves shoppers and the market for online marketplace services purchased by sellers.”

“Our complaint lays out how Amazon has used a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them.”

In the suit, the FTC alleges Amazon has harmed its competition by requiring sellers who want their products to be Prime-eligible to use its logistics platform, Fulfillment by Amazon, which it claims makes it substantially more expensive for sellers on Amazon to also offer their products on other platforms.

Another issue outlined in the FTC suit alleges that Amazon engages in anti-discounting conduct, which “algorithmically punishes sellers” if Amazon discovers they are offering lower-priced goods elsewhere.

“Amazon can bury discounting sellers so far down in Amazon’s search results that they become effectively invisible,” the FTC said.
Amazon responds to FTC suit

In a statement, Amazon denied the allegations outlined in the FTC’s lawsuit.

“Today’s suit makes clear the FTC’s focus has radically departed from its mission of protecting consumers and competition,” David Zapolsky, Amazon’s senior vice president of global public policy and general counsel, said in a statement. “The practices the FTC is challenging have helped to spur competition and innovation across the retail industry, and have produced greater selection, lower prices and faster delivery speeds for Amazon customers and greater opportunity for the many businesses that sell in Amazon’s store.”

In his statement, Zapolsky said: “If the FTC gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers and reduced options for small businesses — the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do. The lawsuit filed by the FTC today is wrong on the facts and the law, and we look forward to making that case in court.”

The company has about 500,000 independent businesses selling goods on its platform in the U.S., which have created 1.5 million jobs, Zapolsky said.

He said that since Amazon opened its business model nearly 20 years ago to include third-party sellers, more than 60% of the company’s sales are from independent sellers, consisting mostly of small and medium-size businesses.

“The FTC’s allegation that we somehow force sellers to use our optional services is simply not true,” Zapolsky said. “Sellers have choices and many succeed in our store using other logistics services or choosing not to advertise with us.”

The states included in the lawsuit are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

Click here to read more articles by Clarissa Hawes.


Amazon has deep bench of defense lawyers to fight US FTC lawsuit

Amazon faces FTC antitrust suit alleging anticompetitive practices


Tue, September 26, 2023 
By Andrew Goudsward and Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s monopoly lawsuit against Amazon.com filed on Tuesday poses perhaps the biggest legal test so far for the platoons of lawyers who have defended the technology giant for years against allegations of antitrust and consumer protection violations.

The long-awaited FTC case against Amazon, joined by 17 state attorneys general, accuses the company of abusing its dominance as an online retailer to thwart competitors and harm sellers and customers that rely on its platform. The company vowed to fight the lawsuit, saying its practices have spurred competition and innovation.

Kevin Hodges, a partner at law firm Williams & Connolly, was the first member of Amazon's defense team identified in a court document in the case. His partner Heidi Hubbard will lead the team, which also includes attorneys from law firm Covington & Burling, according to a person familiar with the hires.

Hubbard and Hodges, who is a former managing partner of the Washington-headquartered firm, are also representing Amazon in an ongoing antitrust lawsuit by California's attorney general accusing the company of forcing artificially high prices on consumers.

Williams & Connolly, known for its focus on litigation, in April successfully defeated a separate private lawsuit accusing the company of curbing competition for shipping and fulfillment services.

Hodges represented state attorneys general who joined the U.S. Justice Department's historic antitrust case against Microsoft in the 1990s and defended BP in lawsuits following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, according to court records and his firm's website. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Williams & Connolly is also a lead defense firm in another major antitrust case targeting Big Tech. Partner John Schmidtlein heads a team comprised of several big law firms defending Alphabet's Google in an ongoing landmark trial over the company’s alleged monopoly power in online search.

An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about its legal team. The company is likely to rely on multiple law firms to defend the FTC case.

Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky, a 24-year veteran of the company's legal department, can turn to a stable of top outside law firms that already represent it.

Covington & Burling, another major Washington firm, worked with Williams & Connolly in 2021 in an unsuccessful attempt to force FTC Chair Lina Khan, a vocal critic of Amazon, to recuse from matters involving the company. Thomas Barnett, co-chair of the firm’s antitrust practice and a former senior Justice Department official, was involved in the effort.

Covington is also representing Amazon in another pending lawsuit brought by the FTC accusing the company of enrolling customers into its paid Amazon Prime service without their consent and making it difficult for them to cancel. The company has denied the allegations.

Covington advised Amazon in two consumer privacy settlements with the FTC in May related to the company’s Alexa voice assistant and Ring home security service.

A Covington spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether the firm is defending Amazon in the FTC antitrust case.

Amazon has also turned to U.S. law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to navigate government scrutiny. Paul Weiss secured the dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit brought by Washington, D.C.’s attorney general. An appeal remains pending.

The firm joined Covington in negotiating a $25 million Alexa child privacy settlement with the FTC.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Mike Scarcella in Washington; Editing by David Bario, Matthew Lewis and Marguerita Choy)

CRYPTID/CRYPTOZOOLOGY
Second ‘sighting’ of Loch Ness monster in same week


Simon Johnson
Fri, 1 September 2023 

The photograph taken by Charlotte Robinson in August 2018 - PETER JOLLY/NORTHPIX

A girl has claimed to have spotted the Loch Ness monster in the same week other newly released photographs were taken allegedly showing the legendary beast.

Charlotte Robinson, 12, from Leeds in Yorkshire, was recorded in the official sightings register as having seen the mythical creature emerge from the loch around 50ft away.

She said that it had a “a neck and head was in the shape of a hook” and that it disappeared, before reemerging elsewhere for about a minute.


She took a picture on her mobile phone that appears to show something protruding from the loch’s surface, although it is unlikely to settle the decades-long debate over whether a serpent-type creature is living in its waters.

Charlotte Robinson on the shores of Loch Ness, where she believes she took a photograph of the creature in 2018 - PETER JOLLY/NORTHPIX

Charlotte’s picture was taken on Aug 17, 2018, four days after other images that were hailed as the “most exciting ever” when they emerged this week.

Chie Kelly, a translator, who took those photographs, said she had witnessed the creature moving at “steady speed” on the banks of the loch while she was holidaying there.

Her images were only published this week as she feared public ridicule at the time.

Ms Kelly was eventually persuaded to release them by Steve Feltham, who has spent more than 30 years searching for Nessie.

The photos taken by Chie Kelly - Chie Kelly/Peter Jolly/Northpix

‘I couldn’t believe it’

Charlotte’s sighting came on the first day of her holiday at Loch Ness Highland Lodges at Invermoriston with her parents.

“There was something in the water about 50ft from the shore. I took a photo. It had a neck and head was in the shape of a hook,” she said.

“I just took what I saw. It was black – I just don’t know how far it was out of the water. I’m not good at judging distances. But after about a minute it disappeared and then came back up again in a different place.

“It was up for less than a minute the second time. I kind of believed in Nessie, but I wanted to see the proof. I always imagined her as having a long neck and flippers. I have seen something but I’m not sure what.”

Her mother Kat, a business intelligence data analyst, told reporters at the time: “Charlotte said she had taken a photo of a creature in the loch and I said ‘right, sure you have!’ For weeks she’s been going on about seeing the Loch Ness monster.

“But when I saw the picture, I couldn’t believe it. Something’s there. With all the sightings over the years there must be something in the loch.”

Charlotte’s sighting was accepted by the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register, while Ms Kelly’s four days earlier has just been added.
‘Extraordinary week’

Gary Campbell, the keeper of the register, said: “It was some extraordinary week because as well as Charlotte’s sighting there were three others of an unexplained creature.

“It appears that the creature was moving between Dores and Fort Augustus. These pictures by Ms Kelly and Charlotte are the best of Nessie ever taken and are totally baffling. It all adds to the evidence that is definitely something unexplained in Loch Ness.”

Mr Feltham said the photographs taken by Ms Kelly were “the most exciting surface pictures I have seen” and “vindication for all the people who believe there is something unexplained in Loch Ness”.

The first recorded sighting of the Loch Ness monster was made in 564 but the legend captured the public imagination in the 1930s.

It followed Mrs Aldie Mackay, a hotel manager, reporting seeing a “whale-like fish” in the waters of Loch Ness on April 14 1933, which was featured in the Inverness Courier. The story was quickly followed up by the national press.

The Surgeon’s Photo from 1934

The following year, the most famous image of the monster, known as “The Surgeon’s Photo”, was captured and published in the Daily Mail. For decades it was seen as evidence of the monster’s existence.

However, it was described as a fake by The Telegraph in 1975, and is now believed to have been created as part of an elaborate hoax.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for LOCH NESS