Welcome to the tech meme ride home for Friday, April 16th, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough today.

The biggest semiconductor companies in the world warn that the global chip shortage might roll on for years.

Could that recent batch of Facebook accounts showing up on the dark web lead to the dreaded

maximal GDPR action?

Apple says it pays artists more than Spotify does, but is that really true?

Depends on how you run the numbers.

And of course, the weekend long read suggestions.

Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. President Biden held high-level talks about this

this week. More headlines crossed the transom this week about major automakers

being forced to take actual losses because

of reduced car production and now the heads of Intel, Invidia, and T.S.C have in

various interviews this week basically said the global chip shortage

sucks for everybody and they don't expect things to get better until at least

2022 and maybe 2023 quoting Arse Technica.

How many years will the ongoing chip shortage affect technology firms across the world?

This week multiple tech executives offered their own dismal estimates as part of their usual public financial

disclosures with the worst one coming in at a couple of years.

That nasty estimate comes from Intel CEO Pat Gessinger who offered that vague time frame to the Washington Post in an interview on Tuesday.

He clarified that that was an estimate for how long it would take the company to quote build capacity

to potentially address supply shortages.

The conversation came as Intel offered to step up for two supply chains, particularly pinched by the Silicon

drought, medical supplies, and in-car computer systems.

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