Welcome to Axis ProRata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision

of tech, business, and politics.

Sponsored by TSX Broadway.

I'm Dan Premack.

On today's show, the Harry Potter effect on Silicon Valley.

And President Trump is sort of getting another television program.

But first, the tech lash.

President Trump's nominee for Attorney General,

William Barr, had his confirmation hearings this week. And as we mentioned yesterday, he was asked

a bunch about big tech companies from the perspective of competition and antitrust law. But he was

also asked a lot about big tech in areas like compliance and privacy. In the words Facebook and Google were regularly on the

lips of U.S. senators. Now, Barr himself declined to get too specific, but he did acknowledge

that reviewing both the size and activities of tech giants would be on his to-do list if

confirmed. Now, none of this is probably too surprising in the tech lash era, but it is worth

remembering how new this all is.

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified in front of many of the same senators just two years ago, and such issues were not raised.

In fact, the transcripts don't show a single mention of Amazon or Facebook, with Google only mentioned in the context of Googling something.

So to get a better sense of how we got here, in 20 seconds, we'll go deeper with Dean Garfield,

who has spent the past decade as CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council,

and who soon will lead global policy for Netflix.

But first, this.

Imagine watching your favorite performer live from one of the most highly traffic corners of the United States, Times Square.

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