Austria’s Blackshark to Draw Dynamic Map of Saudi Arabia’s Space Industry

Michael Putz, co-founder and CEO of the global Austrian company Blackshark. (Photo by: Yazid Al-Samrani)
Michael Putz, co-founder and CEO of the global Austrian company Blackshark. (Photo by: Yazid Al-Samrani)
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Austria’s Blackshark to Draw Dynamic Map of Saudi Arabia’s Space Industry

Michael Putz, co-founder and CEO of the global Austrian company Blackshark. (Photo by: Yazid Al-Samrani)
Michael Putz, co-founder and CEO of the global Austrian company Blackshark. (Photo by: Yazid Al-Samrani)

Co-founder and CEO of the international Austrian company Blackshark Michael Putz said the company has contributed to maximizing the space industry and strengthening the space economy in Saudi Arabia, by drawing a complete dynamic map of the Kingdom on an area estimated at more than one million square kilometers.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Putz said the programs proposed by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, in Vision 2030 constituted an incentive for his company to explore cooperation opportunities in the field of the space industry.

He explained that the programs of the Saudi vision, which aim to position the Kingdom as a leading global player in the advanced space economy, were a major stimulator for international companies.

Putz noted that Blackshark was ready to provide its services to support the portal that is dedicated for international companies looking for projects in the space sector in the Kingdom, and to facilitate the identification of the appropriate opportunities through the Saudi Technical Development and Investment Company Taqnia, owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

“In just 90 days of completion, we supported the Saudi Taqnia company, by building a solution to draw a dynamic map of the entire Kingdom, on an area estimated at more than one million square kilometers, in a few hours,” he said.

“This first achievement in the world became possible, thanks to the technological solution we provide, which enabled Taqnia to create its own artificial intelligence models, with the support of young Saudi GIS engineers,” he added.

The achievement ensures that intellectual property in the Kingdom remains on the safe list, generates local jobs, and positions Saudi Arabia as a leading center for dynamic space mapping, he stressed.

Putz stated that the company is developing programs that allow drawing dynamic maps of the Earth’s surface, indicating that Blackshark’s directions coincide with the Vision 2030 strategy regarding the space industry.

“Our journey began with video games, and in 2016, Microsoft contacted us to help create the new Microsoft Flight Simulator,” he remarked.

Putz pointed out that the success of Microsoft Flight Simulator presented a great opportunity to market the technology in industries far beyond the traditional gaming sphere.



US Supreme Court Tosses Case Involving Securities Fraud Suit against Facebook

A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)
A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)
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US Supreme Court Tosses Case Involving Securities Fraud Suit against Facebook

A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)
A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)

The US Supreme Court sidestepped on Friday a decision on whether to allow shareholders to proceed with a securities fraud lawsuit accusing Meta's Facebook of misleading investors about the misuse of the social media platform's user data.
The justices, who heard arguments in the case on Nov. 6, dismissed Facebook's appeal of a lower court's ruling that had allowed a 2018 class action led by Amalgamated Bank to proceed. The Supreme Court opted not resolve the underlying legal dispute, determining that the case should not have been taken up. Its action leaves the lower court's decision in place, Reuters reported. 
The court's dismissal came in a one-line order that provided no explanation. The Facebook dispute was one of two cases to come before the Supreme Court this month involving the right of private litigants to hold companies to account for alleged securities fraud. The other one, involving the artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia, was argued on Nov. 13. The Supreme Court has not ruled yet in the Nvidia case.
The plaintiffs in the Facebook case claimed the company unlawfully withheld information from investors about a 2015 data breach involving British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica that affected more than 30 million Facebook users. They accused Facebook of misleading investors in violation of the Securities Exchange Act, a 1934 federal law that requires publicly traded companies to disclose their business risks. Facebook's stock fell following 2018 media reports that Cambridge Analytica had used improperly harvested Facebook user data in connection with Donald Trump's successful US presidential campaign in 2016. The investors have sought unspecified monetary damages in part to recoup the lost value of the Facebook stock they held.
At issue was whether Facebook broke the law when it failed to detail the prior data breach in subsequent business-risk disclosures, and instead portrayed the risk of such incidents as purely hypothetical.
Facebook argued that it was not required to reveal that its warned-of risk had already materialized because "a reasonable investor" would understand risk disclosures to be forward-looking statements. President Joe Biden's administration supported the shareholders in the case.
US District Judge Edward Davila dismissed the lawsuit but the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals revived it.
The Cambridge Analytica data breach prompted US government investigations into Facebook's privacy practices, various lawsuits and a US congressional hearing. The US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2019 brought an enforcement action against Facebook over the matter, which the company settled for $100 million. Facebook paid a separate $5 billion penalty to the US Federal Trade Commission over the issue.
The Supreme Court in prior rulings has limited the authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency that polices securities fraud.