Lauren Feiner

26 groups including Public Knowledge and the Tech Oversight Project are raising alarms as Congress considers cuts to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s budget. Language in the appropriations bill would “unravel” a recent law that allowed enforcers to raise money from merger filing fees, according to the letter shared exclusively with The Verge. It comes as the DOJ fights Google in two separate cases and is reportedly nearing the end of its probe into Apple.

The 19 groups — including the Demand Progress Education Fund, Open Markets Institute, and Electronic Privacy Information Center — urged federal antitrust enforcers to probe Walmart’s proposed acquisition of TV-maker Vizio. In a letter shared exclusively with The Verge, they warn the deal risks “privacy dangers” and “could lock in captive buyers to Walmart advertising and content channels for good.”

He explained that the veto was “because the Legislature is about to produce a different, superior bill.” The Florida governor added that he expects that new bill “will be signed into law soon.”

The Washington Post describes how law enforcers have gotten companies like Google to hand over data associated with push notifications. Investigators use the code to track down child predators, even through encrypted apps, per the Post, but law enforcement around the world could use the tactic to track down activists and others too.

Fourteen Amazon employees can no longer access the European Parliament building without an invitation, WIRED reported Wednesday. And it’s all because they skipped a hearing about working conditions in its fulfillment centers and declined to let policymakers tour them (Amazon blamed the busy holiday period, WIRED said).

The White House says memory safety bugs are “one of the most pervasive classes of vulnerabilities.” But, coding with memory safe languages “can eliminate most memory safety errors.”