14/12/2016 BBC Business Live


14/12/2016

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This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.

:00:00.:00:07.

America's Central Bank prepares to raise the cost of borrowing

:00:08.:00:12.

We'll assess what a hike would mean for America

:00:13.:00:16.

Live from London, that's our top story on Wednesday, 14th December.

:00:17.:00:44.

Markets have factored in the rate rise already -

:00:45.:00:49.

We'll assess the impact on economies around the globe.

:00:50.:00:53.

Our Asia business hub will update us on what could be a lucrative

:00:54.:00:57.

Markets in Europe are headed down slightly today, but traders across

:00:58.:01:07.

Europe's key financial centres will be looking to Wall Street.

:01:08.:01:10.

Bringing fast internet to the masses.

:01:11.:01:13.

That's the promise of 5G connectivity but with many areas

:01:14.:01:18.

struggling to get just a slow, basic service,

:01:19.:01:20.

We'll get the inside track from the man charged with speeding

:01:21.:01:24.

And small businesses say they're "very confident" about next year.

:01:25.:01:31.

So we want know - are you expecting next year to be

:01:32.:01:33.

The world's most powerful central bank today makes a decision that

:01:34.:01:54.

could have reverberations around the globe.

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The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to announce that it's

:01:58.:02:00.

raising interest rates for only the second time in ten years.

:02:01.:02:07.

It comes amidst signs the US economy is strengthening.

:02:08.:02:09.

The move would make the cost of borrowing more

:02:10.:02:12.

expensive for Americans, but will also have an impact

:02:13.:02:15.

elsewhere especially in developing economies.

:02:16.:02:16.

Our correspondents around the world explain.

:02:17.:02:22.

Here in Singapore and around South East Asia, expectations have been

:02:23.:02:26.

rising that the US will hike interest rates. That's led to money

:02:27.:02:31.

flowing out of Asia and into the US dollar which has resulted in sharp

:02:32.:02:36.

declines in Asian currencies. One of the worst affected is Malaysia. It

:02:37.:02:40.

has seen its currency fall to record lows in recent weeks and this is

:02:41.:02:45.

coming at a time when many Asian companies have to start paying back

:02:46.:02:49.

their debts. Much of that is in US dollars and it will be far more

:02:50.:02:53.

expensive to do that now than it has been in the past.

:02:54.:03:02.

In Brazil, Brazilians feel any move by the US Fed. Also Brazil relies

:03:03.:03:10.

heavily on commodities sold in US dollars so the country and its

:03:11.:03:13.

companies are generating less revenue in real terms. That means a

:03:14.:03:20.

slower growth and a weaker economy. In India the stock markets have been

:03:21.:03:25.

volatile ahead of the Fed's meeting. A rate hike in the US could lead to

:03:26.:03:29.

a cash flight here in India with foreign investors selling off their

:03:30.:03:33.

stocks and equities and that could weaken the Indian rupee as well, but

:03:34.:03:38.

compared to other emerging markets, the impact is expected to be

:03:39.:03:40.

limited. Mike Bell is global

:03:41.:03:56.

market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management joins us

:03:57.:03:58.

in the studio. Mike, why a US rate rise now? The US

:03:59.:04:06.

economy is heating up. Consumers are feeling better about the outlook and

:04:07.:04:11.

the number of homes being built is increasing. The US is in a place

:04:12.:04:14.

where it can with stand a higher rate of interest. Is it too late?

:04:15.:04:18.

They should have put rates up earlier, but I think they waited and

:04:19.:04:21.

now they're going to go, I think. What is the danger that if they

:04:22.:04:26.

don't do it today, what happens to the economy? You talked about the

:04:27.:04:28.

picture looking good. Unemployment is coming do you think and price

:04:29.:04:31.

stability on track, what does it mean if they don't do it now, there

:04:32.:04:35.

is a danger the economy overheats? Precisely. The unemployment rate is

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so low that you would expect wages to start picking up. And if they

:04:40.:04:44.

don't put interest rates up now and in the coming months over next year,

:04:45.:04:48.

then it could lead to an overheating of the economy which means they

:04:49.:04:51.

would have to put interest rates up faster later which would be

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negative. What about about maybe said following the announcement of

:04:56.:04:58.

the rate increase, assuming that does happen. Everyone wants to know

:04:59.:05:02.

what the steer is going to be? It is unlikely that they will give that

:05:03.:05:05.

much away. They have been saying for sometime now that they will put

:05:06.:05:08.

interest rates up twice next year. That's in line with our forecast.

:05:09.:05:13.

Until recently, the market didn't believe them, but you have seen

:05:14.:05:16.

since the election the markets moving to price in two rate rises

:05:17.:05:20.

next year. On the issue of the election, are we expecting the Fed

:05:21.:05:24.

to give us any indication about what they might happen as a result of a

:05:25.:05:28.

Trump presidency. It maybe not so clear, but could they talk about the

:05:29.:05:32.

economic impact or what may happen as a result of the Trump presidency?

:05:33.:05:35.

In a word, no. I think they're unlikely to comment on that. They

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will probably talk about the fact that even beside that, the economy

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is heating up. You're seeing that prior to any fiscal stimulus from

:05:45.:05:48.

the Trump administration, but they will want to see what actually gets

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passed rather than speculate about what he might do. What is your view

:05:53.:05:57.

on what the Trump boost maybe like. Some are saying there will be a

:05:58.:06:00.

short-term boost, but although unemployment is very low, wages are

:06:01.:06:04.

also remaining very low. People haven't really got that extra bit of

:06:05.:06:08.

money to spend therefore, the economy won't be boosted much? We

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expect wage growth to pick up and the tax cuts to be helpful for the

:06:14.:06:20.

economy and they could add 0.5% to US GDP next year and the year after

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that, but helpful, but not an enormous stimulus. Mike Bell, thank

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you. Michelle and Samira will be across

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that later on in the United States where they are based.

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It is a big day at scandal-hit Mitsubishi Motors.

:06:42.:06:44.

Shareholders are expected to approve Carlos Ghosn as chairman

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He currently runs rivals Nissan and Renault.

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They will also vote on whether to triple

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the annual pay packages of Mitsubishi Motors'

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Mr Ghosn is taking over the reins of Mitsubishi after Nissan

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bought a controlling stake earlier this year.

:07:04.:07:05.

The US bank Wells Fargo has been hit with restrictions

:07:06.:07:07.

after failing to fix its bankruptcy contingency plan.

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Banks labelled "too big to fail" must have a so-called "living will"

:07:11.:07:13.

that would allow them to close down without the help of public money.

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Wells Fargo will be barred from opening international branches

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and buying non-bank companies until it satisfies the regulators.

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Let's take you to the Business Live page. It makes a change that we're

:07:31.:07:37.

talking about a firm taking on staff! You will know we're talking

:07:38.:07:40.

about tech firms particularly laying off staff, but there is a story here

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that, ahead of Trump meeting IBM promises a hiring spree. It says it

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will hire 25,000 staff in the United States over the next four years.

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Quite a few big names in technology are expected to be headed to Trump

:07:57.:08:01.

Tower to meet the president including the likes of Tim Cook, the

:08:02.:08:05.

head of Apple and other big tech chiefs. It will be interesting to

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see how that set of meetings goes. The golden elevator moment! Trump

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has fired warning shots at tech firms recently about where they make

:08:17.:08:19.

things and their tax arrangements. It would be nice to be a fly on the

:08:20.:08:21.

wall there, I think! Shares in some of the world's

:08:22.:08:24.

biggest gambling firms have rallied after the legalisation of casinos

:08:25.:08:27.

in Japan moved a step closer. Tim, this is an important move

:08:28.:08:36.

because a lot of people there like gambling, it is fair to say? Yes,

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well, I mean, Japan has been traditionally reluctant to go down

:08:42.:08:44.

this path and opponents in Japan have more or less the same worries

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as opponents everywhere, that's gambling addiction and one party in

:08:49.:08:52.

the Prime Minister's ruling coalition has expressed doubts. So

:08:53.:08:57.

it is fair to say the Bill is controversial, but casino gambling

:08:58.:09:02.

is looking likely. Backers hope it will attract billion in new

:09:03.:09:05.

investment and Japan is already a gambling nation, of course, but not

:09:06.:09:10.

in casinos, people bet on horse races and it has its home-grown

:09:11.:09:15.

gaming machines which are popular. Maybe that's why Japan is seen as a

:09:16.:09:19.

huge untapped market for casino operators. It could be a $40 billion

:09:20.:09:27.

industry. Foreign casino operators will be keeping a close eye on it.

:09:28.:09:34.

The news wasn't positive for gambling linked companies which

:09:35.:09:37.

rallied earlier in the day, but closed lower.

:09:38.:09:41.

A quick look at how markets are faring.

:09:42.:09:45.

We are off a little. Yesterday, the markets in Europe closed, some of

:09:46.:09:53.

them up over a 1% higher. So a little bit of profit taking perhaps

:09:54.:09:56.

going on in Europe. I don't know if we can show you Asia as well, but

:09:57.:10:01.

Japan up slightly at the close. Hong Kong was down. Again, some profit

:10:02.:10:05.

taking going on in Asian markets. We haven't got the figures for you

:10:06.:10:09.

there. That's Europe again, clearly. But just to say that in Japan, we

:10:10.:10:19.

had a survey out and news from the Bank of Japan.

:10:20.:10:20.

Joining us is Mike Amey, managing director and

:10:21.:10:22.

Let's pick up on the Fed. We've touched on it at rt start of the

:10:23.:10:36.

programme. A big day? Yes, it is a big day. The last time they raised

:10:37.:10:40.

rates was December last year. They will be pleased to get this one

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through and hopefully get a relatively calm market reaction.

:10:45.:10:46.

They are trying to make it as clear They are trying to make it as clear

:10:47.:10:50.

as you can do that they are going to do it and you hope that the event

:10:51.:10:55.

doesn't create volatility. They want to tell everyone that it is going to

:10:56.:10:59.

happen, so when it does happen, you get a tame market response, but we

:11:00.:11:02.

never know and it is a big day. So we will wait and see. Are you with

:11:03.:11:05.

the other Mike in the programme who says another two rate hikes next

:11:06.:11:09.

year? That's a reasonable expectation. We probably say two to

:11:10.:11:15.

three and the Fed has indicated two. So we would say that there is a risk

:11:16.:11:20.

that they will do more than that. What crucially we don't think is

:11:21.:11:24.

going to happen is a very sharp rise in interest rates simply because of

:11:25.:11:31.

fiscal policy and a big pump from Donald Trump. Explain what the Bank

:11:32.:11:39.

of Japan announced. Because they are in the opposite? The dark art of

:11:40.:11:48.

banking in Japan. They focussed not just on short-term interest rates,

:11:49.:11:51.

but longer term interest rates as well. So they've capped out ten year

:11:52.:11:56.

interest rates at 1% and then if you go out further, longer rates have

:11:57.:12:00.

been going up and they have been trying to temper that down, they are

:12:01.:12:04.

trying to manipulate not just short-term interest rates, but every

:12:05.:12:07.

interest rate that they can. A snapshot of what the UK is doing. We

:12:08.:12:12.

had inflation data yesterday and unemployment data today? The

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inflation tells us tell us that we had low inflation. We think it will

:12:18.:12:21.

go up next year, probably the high twos because of the effect of

:12:22.:12:25.

sterling, it will take time for imported goods to go up in price.

:12:26.:12:30.

The labour data has been good. Employment levels are high, but we

:12:31.:12:34.

have the problem of wages. People have got a lot of jobs, but they are

:12:35.:12:36.

not getting paid particularly well and that's really what we would like

:12:37.:12:39.

to see to get the economy going again.

:12:40.:12:43.

Mike, we'll return. Thank you, Mike.

:12:44.:12:46.

The need for speed 5G promises superfast internet on the move

:12:47.:12:49.

but with many countries still struggling with

:12:50.:12:51.

We ask who's winning and what needs to be done

:12:52.:12:59.

You're with Business Live from BBC News.

:13:00.:13:03.

Train bosses and unions will start formal talks this morning

:13:04.:13:06.

in an effort to resolve the Southern Rail dispute.

:13:07.:13:08.

The operator has advised its 300,000 daily passengers not to travel,

:13:09.:13:16.

after ASLEF and RMT members walked out from midnight yesterday.

:13:17.:13:19.

Southern Rail and the unions have agreed to meet at the conciliation

:13:20.:13:24.

service ACAS this morning as services are cancelled

:13:25.:13:26.

Our reporter Andy Moore is at ACAS this morning.

:13:27.:13:33.

Well, a lot of people will be pinning their hopes on the talks.

:13:34.:13:38.

They are due to get under way between the two sides in the dispute

:13:39.:13:43.

at 10am this morning. We now know there were some informal talks

:13:44.:13:47.

yesterday, but they are moving to a more formal basis today. We don't

:13:48.:13:53.

know if there are any new proposals to break the deadlock. There have

:13:54.:13:57.

been lots of talks in the past here at ACAS in the long running dispute

:13:58.:14:00.

and they never got anywhere. The dispute is over who operates the

:14:01.:14:04.

doors on the trains, whether it is the driver or the guard. As you say

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we are in the second day of this dispute, 2200 train services

:14:12.:14:16.

cancelled, more than a third of a million people affected and unless

:14:17.:14:19.

there is a solution here today, the strike action will go on. There is a

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24 hour strike that is planned for Friday. More industrial action

:14:26.:14:31.

before Christmas and a six day long strike is planned for next year

:14:32.:14:34.

unless something happens at the talks today.

:14:35.:14:40.

More detail on that, of course, I want to take you to the business

:14:41.:14:48.

pages. This net migration story is worth a

:14:49.:14:54.

read. That's an employers group calling on

:14:55.:14:58.

the Government to abandon an immigration target which was set by

:14:59.:15:03.

David Cameron. You will see HSBC closing a quarter of its branches.

:15:04.:15:08.

You will know if you looked at your local High Street of late that a

:15:09.:15:13.

number of branches have disappeared. An investigation by Which? Says the

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bank closed a quarter of UK branches over the last two years. It adds up

:15:18.:15:22.

to 1,000 closures altogether. If your high street is look ago little

:15:23.:15:25.

empty, it maybe because one of those branches has disappeared.

:15:26.:15:30.

Business Live, all the data you need to know as it comes in to us at the

:15:31.:15:32.

BBC. The world's most-powerful central

:15:33.:15:35.

bank today announces The US Federal Reserve is expected

:15:36.:15:40.

to hike the cost of borrowing. It would be just the second time in

:15:41.:15:56.

the last decade that it has done that. We will be right across the

:15:57.:15:58.

story. A new report from the National

:15:59.:16:03.

Infrastructure Commission says the UK ranks 54th in the world

:16:04.:16:06.

for 4G connectivity. Yes, according to the league table,

:16:07.:16:10.

Britain's coverage falls behind country's such as Romania,

:16:11.:16:12.

Albania and Panama. South Korea is planning to have 5G

:16:13.:16:20.

rolled out by 2020. The Commission is calling on the UK

:16:21.:16:24.

to focus its investment on its 5G infrastructure instead,

:16:25.:16:27.

and get it rolled out seamlessly Lord Adonis is the chair of the

:16:28.:16:29.

National Infrastructure Commission. There is a lot to talk about. It is

:16:30.:16:43.

interesting, if you make the comparison with speeds in the UK

:16:44.:16:48.

against elsewhere, we are lagging behind. But it into context. We were

:16:49.:16:56.

slow in introducing 4G, slower than the United States, which had a

:16:57.:17:01.

five-year march. Coverage is poor. We 54th in terms of the quality of

:17:02.:17:06.

coverage. For a typical user, how much of the time can you get 4G

:17:07.:17:11.

connectivity, it is barely half the time. We need to make big further

:17:12.:17:17.

investments to raise our game, and a lot of the infrastructure for 4G can

:17:18.:17:22.

then be moved across to 5G, which needs to happen as early as possible

:17:23.:17:28.

so we are not behind. People say if they are struggling to get 4G at the

:17:29.:17:37.

moment, why are we talking about 5G? The investment we need is in 4G, to

:17:38.:17:40.

get the current state-of-the-art service. Putting that investment in

:17:41.:17:48.

place, amongst the worst coverage is on the trunk, train and road

:17:49.:17:54.

systems, where they are not covered by existing targets. There should be

:17:55.:17:58.

proper provision in place with highways England and Network Rail

:17:59.:18:02.

setting a standard and getting the private sector to deliver. And then

:18:03.:18:06.

that can be transferred across to 5G. This is not either or. Getting

:18:07.:18:13.

decent quality coverage for today is essential to being ahead of the game

:18:14.:18:18.

tomorrow. This matters, because we have nearly 2 billion rail users a

:18:19.:18:23.

year, hundreds of people travelling to work, if they can get on a train,

:18:24.:18:28.

and they use it as their office. If they can't get connected, it is a

:18:29.:18:34.

huge productivity problem. When I am not connected and I tried to get

:18:35.:18:38.

somewhere and I need my 4G to tell me how to get there, I get lost,

:18:39.:18:44.

because there is no connectivity, so I am following a map and it stops

:18:45.:18:49.

working. In the Autumn Statement Philip Hammond announced money for

:18:50.:18:55.

this, ?1 billion to boost the UK digital connectivity. Is that

:18:56.:19:01.

enough? That is very welcome. It will enable us to do big pilot

:19:02.:19:07.

rejects for 5G, selecting towns and cities and putting the

:19:08.:19:11.

infrastructure in place early so you can start looking at applications,

:19:12.:19:15.

what you can do in terms of connected vehicles are sending data

:19:16.:19:19.

to people much faster, which will encourage new companies to come in.

:19:20.:19:24.

But most investment will not come from the Government, it comes from

:19:25.:19:27.

the private sector, paid for through bills. That will be billions. When

:19:28.:19:36.

will 5G be reality in the UK? In 2019 the international standards are

:19:37.:19:42.

likely to be set. Once that starting gun has been fired, the question is

:19:43.:19:47.

who can move fastest. With 4G we were very slow, the regulator was

:19:48.:19:51.

behind the curve, which is part of the reason why we are still 54th in

:19:52.:19:55.

the world. We cannot allow that to happen again this time, and

:19:56.:20:00.

especially after Brexit, this really matters. When it comes to

:20:01.:20:05.

priorities, we look at big spending on HS2, the high-speed rail line

:20:06.:20:11.

from London to the north-west, and says, I live in central London, I

:20:12.:20:17.

have poor Internet connectivity, why would 5G make a difference? It is

:20:18.:20:22.

all well and good getting on a train quicker, but if you can work on that

:20:23.:20:25.

train, it would not matter if it took 20 minutes longer. I started

:20:26.:20:33.

HS2, the big argument for it is a similar argument for 5G, capacity,

:20:34.:20:38.

as the population rises, as travel requirements increase, we need

:20:39.:20:44.

significant extra capacity over and above the Victorian railway lines,

:20:45.:20:47.

because the lines we depend upon were built 150 years ago. That is

:20:48.:20:54.

the argument for HS2. If you are going to build these things, you do

:20:55.:20:58.

it to modern standards, it would be ludicrous to build a new railway

:20:59.:21:03.

line like the Victorians did. It is about prioritising what is

:21:04.:21:07.

important. They are both forms of connectivity, it is mobile

:21:08.:21:13.

connectivity, which is vital, downloading large and stuff, and it

:21:14.:21:18.

involves getting from a to B and getting goods from a to B. Both are

:21:19.:21:23.

important. The idea that a modern country can't have both things is

:21:24.:21:31.

laughable. That is not what they say in the United States or Asia. We

:21:32.:21:34.

need to get real and prioritise these investments, some will be born

:21:35.:21:39.

by the taxpayer, some will be born privately. This needs to be worked

:21:40.:21:49.

out, and done. Best of luck with the project, a lot of people will be

:21:50.:21:53.

well connected to this story. From the global bosses we talk to,

:21:54.:21:57.

their frustration when they come here about the fact they are

:21:58.:22:00.

travelling and they can't stay connected. It is a scandalous

:22:01.:22:04.

situation, it needs to be sorted out.

:22:05.:22:08.

In a moment we'll take a look through the business pages,

:22:09.:22:10.

but first here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us.

:22:11.:22:15.

Our web page is where you can stay ahead, but all of the braking

:22:16.:22:20.

business news. We will keep you up-to-date with the latest details,

:22:21.:22:25.

with insight and analysis from our team of editors around the world. We

:22:26.:22:30.

want to hear from you as well, get involved on our web page. We are on

:22:31.:22:42.

Twitter and Facebook. On TV and online, whenever you need to know.

:22:43.:22:45.

Joining us is Mike Amey, managing director and

:22:46.:22:47.

I love this one in the Washington Post, it is rare that we talk about

:22:48.:22:57.

a business but says it is very confident, these are small

:22:58.:23:00.

businesses that say 2017 is good for them. It is nice to hear such

:23:01.:23:10.

positivity. Therein lies one of the reasons why things like American

:23:11.:23:15.

equities are high. A lot of the policies that Donald Trump is

:23:16.:23:20.

talking about art pump priming the American economy. That is why do

:23:21.:23:27.

seeing this positive response. This is American small businesses, to

:23:28.:23:32.

make that clear. They employ half of the American workforce, which is

:23:33.:23:35.

pretty significant. We ask viewers to get in touch to say how they are

:23:36.:23:42.

feeling. Hayden says, we are being -- seeing signs that things are

:23:43.:23:44.

improving, hopefully it will continue. It will be interested to

:23:45.:23:50.

see what small and medium-sized businesses thinking here. There are

:23:51.:23:55.

surveys, they don't necessarily split down between small and large

:23:56.:24:03.

businesses. So far the Brexit hit has been quite subdued, and people

:24:04.:24:10.

are looking forward to the future. There is a great story in the

:24:11.:24:18.

Independent, it says Uber employee 's use the app to spy on people. It

:24:19.:24:23.

is to do with a version of the app that staff can access. Uber can

:24:24.:24:30.

track you with the phone, assuming you have the collectivity! If you

:24:31.:24:34.

don't want to be tracked, go down the trunk roads! Uber has an app,

:24:35.:24:43.

where they can follow you, if it is that appropriately, so there is an

:24:44.:24:47.

issue there. But Uber, they want to know where people are going, but it

:24:48.:24:51.

is about who has access to that information. Uber want to know where

:24:52.:24:55.

people go so they can optimise where their cars. There is a good business

:24:56.:25:01.

reason for it, the issue is, who has access? The access may be more

:25:02.:25:09.

widespread. It was called the godly mode, and they have changed the name

:25:10.:25:12.

to something else. Heaven view. Both idea. It is one of those... Uber is

:25:13.:25:26.

growing and growing. I guess you have to think about your HR

:25:27.:25:30.

policies, that they are in line with the growth, and sometimes they are

:25:31.:25:34.

way behind. You have to think about the number of people who have access

:25:35.:25:37.

and the information they have access to. If it is a small company, it is

:25:38.:25:40.

a different operation.

:25:41.:25:46.

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