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A24 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 23 OcTOber 2018
Facebook recruits EU veteran to help with tougher scrutiny

By DANICA KIRKA tary David Miliband moved
LONDON (AP) — Facebook to New York to become
has hired former U.K. Depu- CEO of the International
ty Prime Minister Nick Clegg Rescue Committee. Tech
to head its global policy companies have been
and communications poaching British talent for
teams, enlisting a veteran years as well, though Clegg
of European Union politics appears to be the highest-
to help it with increased ranking departure to date.
regulatory scrutiny in the re- Steve Hilton, a former direc-
gion and snowballing chal- tor of strategy to ex-Prime
lenges to its reputation. Minister David Cameron,
Clegg, 51, will become a decamped to California
vice president of the social and now hosts a Fox news
media giant, and report show. Tim Chatwin, another
to Chief Operating Officer Cameron aide, now works
Sheryl Sandberg. He de- for Google, as does Theo
scribed the new job Friday Bertram, who worked in
as "an exciting new adven- Downing Street for Labour
ture," after 20 years in British Party Prime Ministers Tony
politics. Blair and Gordon Brown.
Clegg will particularly Clegg led the Liberal Dem-
be called upon to help ocrats from 2007 to 2015,
Facebook grapple with a including five years in the
changing regulatory land- coalition government with
scape globally. EU regula- the Conservatives. He lost
tors are interested in reining In this Tuesday, April 28, 2015 file photo, Nick Clegg, then leader of Britain's Liberal Democrat his seat at last year's gen-
in mostly American tech party, speaks at a press conference in London. eral election. Before that,
giants who they blame for Associated Press he was a member of the
avoiding tax, stifling com- European Parliament from
petition and encroaching cratic process; the tensions questions - not by acting clarity on the inner work- 1999 to 2004.
on privacy rights. between local cultures alone in Silicon Valley, but ings of government. After In recent months, he has
In a post on his Facebook and the global internet; by working with people, or- wrapping up his work as been an active campaign-
page, Clegg described the balance between free ganizations, governments president of the European er for a second referendum
the company as being not speech and prohibited and regulators around the Commission, Jose Manuel on Brexit, in hopes of pre-
just part of many people's content; the power and world to ensure that tech- Barroso joined Goldman venting Britain's departure
lives, "but also at the heart concerns around artificial nology is a force for good," Sachs as non-executive from the EU. Clegg argued
of some of the most com- intelligence; and the well- he wrote. chairman in 2016. Former that supporters of Brexit
plex and difficult questions being of our children. It's not the first time a major German chancellor Ger- failed to explain the sacri-
we face as a society: the "I believe that Facebook corporation or non-profit hard Schroeder went on to fices that will follow an exit,
privacy of the individual; must continue to play a role has poached a former chair oil company Rosneft; but he said it was nonethe-
the integrity of our demo- in finding answers to those political leader to offer former U.K. Foreign Secre- less time for him to go.q

Medtronic co-founder who

created wearable pacemaker dies

died Sunday at his home in — to alleviate pain, restore sota, the pioneer of one
Hawaii, Medtronic said in a health, and extend life." of our strongest industries,
statement. It didn't give a Bakken, who led the com- and really stood for all
cause of death. pany for 40 years, was fit- the values that Minnesota
Bakken and his brother- ted for his own pacemaker stands for."
in-law, Palmer Hermund- in 2001 and a replacement Bakken and Hermundslie,
slie, formed Medtronic in in 2009. who was married to the sis-
1949 and turned it from a One of the men who fol- ter of Bakken's wife at the
struggling company they lowed Bakken as chief ex- time, formed Medtronic to
ran out of the Hermundlie ecutive, Harvard manage- repair and modify hospital
family's Minneapolis ga- ment professor Bill George, equipment. The company
rage into a multinational said Bakken made sure mixed fixing TVs and selling
medical technology pow- that Medtronic's future other companies' medi-
In this Dec. 13, 2010 photo, Earl Bakken, an electronics repair-
man who started one of the world's largest medical device erhouse. leaders followed the com- cal devices with its most
companies in 1949, poses at the Medtronic World Headquar- "The contributions Earl pany's original values, important work: custom-
ters in Fridley, Minn. made to the field of medi- which are laid out in its mis- made medical devices.
cal technology simply can- sion statement. In 1958, University of Min-
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Earl largest medical device not be overstated," said "He was a remarkable hu- nesota heart surgeon Dr.
Bakken, an electronics companies, Medtronic, Medtronic's chairman and man being, a visionary 25 C. Walton Lillehei asked
repairman who created has died. He was 94. CEO, Omar Ishrak. "His spirit years ahead of his time," Bakken to make a battery-
the first wearable exter- Bakken, who also commer- will live on with us as we George told the Star Tri- powered pacemaker that
nal pacemaker and co- cialized the first implant- work to fulfill the mission he bune. "He was a graduate could keep babies with ir-
founded one of the world's able pacemaker in 1960, wrote nearly 60 years ago of the University of Minne- regular heartbeats alive.q