Big Fines and Big Pipes

Happy Monday.

First off, a hearty congratulations to the European team Ryder Cup victors. They left the U.S. team babbling in Le Golf National’s dust from which U.S. captain Jim Furyk couldn’t see the forest for the fescue.

Meanwhile, tech-related news hardly stopped just because there was a not-so-exciting golf tournament going on outside Paris.

Remember that August Tweet Tesla’s Elon Musk sent about taking his company public at $420?

Yeah, well, he paid for that one when the SEC fined both he personally, and Tesla the company, $20 million apiece over the weekend.

Though Musk admitted no guilt, he did have to resign as chairman of Tesla for three years, as well as appoint two new independent directors. He will also be required to have his communications monitored, including his social media activity, ongoing.

We also learned that the state of California is being sued by the Trump Administration in an effort to block what some have described as the toughest net neutrality law ever enacted in the United States.

On Sunday, California became the largest state to adopt its own rules requiring internet providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon to treat all web traffic equally.

Only hours after California’s proposal became official did senior Justice Department officials tell the Washington Post they would take the state to court on grounds that the federal government, not state leaders, has the exclusive power to regulate net neutrality.

That is the lowdown of the showdown in preparation for the big pipes throwdown.