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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: ‘We need smart networks, not dumb pipes’
After cancelling his CES 2018 appearance in January, reportedly due to death threats, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today attended a panel at MWC 2018 in Barcelona. During the event, titled "The Future of the Industry: Transatlantic Digital Policy and Regulation," Pai discussed his plans for 5G connectivity and, of course, his decision to repeal net neutrality in the US. He said that, despite public perception on the moves he's made since taking over the FCC as part of President Trump's administration, the internet will remain open and free and that "no one gets a pass." The "no one" he mentions is likely a reference to the idea that certain companies, particularly network carriers like Verizon, will get special treatment after net neutrality ends on April 23rd.
Obama-era plans to ‘zap’ Russian trolls collapsed under Trump
Before departing office, Barack Obama ordered US spy agencies to plan operations to combat Russian cyberthreats, according to the The Washington Post. But, more than a year into Trump's tenure, his administration remains reluctant to pursue those counter-measures, claims the report.
EPA plans to repeal Obama-era Clean Power Plan
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Scott Pruitt, announced today he would sign a proposed rule that would withdraw the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan (CPP). "Here's the president's message: The war on coal is over," Pruitt said today during a speech given in Hazard, Kentucky.
Obama's science advisors are reportedly still hard at work
The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), a group meant to provide the president and White House officials with scientific and technological analyses and advice, has largely emptied out since Donald Trump took office. But as STAT News reports, a fair amount of Obama-era OSTP staffers have kept up their work. "It is certainly true that MANY of the former OSTP staffers are working, in a variety of ways, to fill the void," John Holdren, the OSTP director under Obama, told STAT.
Trump’s cybersecurity order delivers nothing but more surveillance
Remember that cybersecurity executive order we anticipated from the Trump administration, which seemed to quietly disappear in January? The already-delayed deadline for Trump's EO on "the cyber" and his promise to create a cyber-review team passed last month. Many were wondering if it would fade off into oblivion like a tyrant's hairline -- or show up suddenly to drop cyber-bombs on someone's vacant cyber-tarmac.
The White House reveals proposals to research and fund AI
President Barack Obama's administration believes that artificial intelligence can be a positive force in the United States, vastly improving specialized areas within health care, transportation, education and policing over the coming decades. In two reports released today, one day ahead of the White House Frontiers Conference, the Obama administration calls for long-term investments in AI research and a broad range of investigation into the ethics, security and uses of AI.
New policy demands 20 percent of federal code be open source
For years, the Obama Administration has been pushing for greater transparency and parity between federal agencies and the general public. After months of negotiations and discussions, the Office of Management and Budget is easing open federal computer code for inspection. The OMB revealed its finalized requirements for the Federal Source Code policy on Monday, which demand federal projects make at least 20 percent of their computer code open source. What's more, agencies will be expected to share all internally-developed code with one another.
White House refuses security clearance for Ashkan Soltani
Last month White House CTO Megan Smith announced that Ashkan Soltani would be joining her staff as a senior advisor, after leaving his post as the FTC's chief technologist. Today, Soltani revealed he will not be able to take the job, after being informed by the Office of Personnel Security that he is not receiving the necessary security clearance. There's no explanation as to why that is, but as The Guardian mentions and many are speculating, it could be a result of Soltani's participation in Pulitzer-winning reporting for the Washington Post covering the Edward Snowden revelations. We've contacted the White House and the Office of Science and Technology Policy but have not received any response.
White House secretly expands NSA power to collect US internet data
The Obama administration expanded the NSA's ability to collect Americans' internet data in 2012, with absolutely no notice to the public, The New York Times reports. The Justice Department issued two memos, in secret, to the NSA allowing the agency to gather and search Americans' international internet traffic without a warrant, ostensibly to find foreign hackers or malware. The secret memos allowed the NSA to track IP addresses and cybersignatures that could be tied to foreign governments. However, documents provided to the Times by Edward Snowden show that the NSA tried to target hackers that weren't tied to any foreign authority.
United States planning legislation to offer Europeans the same privacy rights as US citizens
The United States government intends to offer European citizens the same privacy rights extended to US citizens. Exactly how it will do that is yet to be determined, but US attorney general Eric Holder this week told European leaders of the Obama administration's intention to create legislation offering EU citizens "the same right to seek judicial redress for intentional or willful disclosures of protected information and for refusal to grant access or to rectify any errors in that information." Holder made the announcement at a US-EU home affairs and justice ministers meeting in Greece this past Wednesday. The news comes in the wake of a strained 12 months in US-EU relations; information revealed by former security/cryptography expert Edward Snowden showed that the US government spied on a variety of EU leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Holder's lack of specificity left EU leaders wanting for more. "Words only matter if put into law," EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding told The Guardian. "We are waiting for the legislative step."
Obama administration making the case for immigration reform with Nobel-winning STEM leaders
Nobel-winning biochemist Thomas Südhof isn't necessarily a household name, but he is an incredibly accomplished gentleman with a delightful German accent. Südhof took up citizenship in the United States, he says in a video released by the White House (seen below), because he was "looking for opportunities to contribute." As such, he's banded together with a crew of other Nobel Prize winners from STEM fields -- Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics -- to support immigration reform. So, why are these Nobel Laureates working with the White House on immigration reform? Biologist Randy Schekman sums it up nicely at the top of the video: "close to one-third" of the membership of the National Academy of Sciences is made up of folks who came to the United States from abroad. In so many words, many of the US' top STEM leaders weren't born in the US, but later came to embrace US citizenship. These Nobel Prize winners -- and the White House -- believe the immigration reform bill that's waiting for the House of Representatives to vote on will entice even more STEM leaders to move to the US.
White House proposes formation of a cybersecurity insurance market
Back in February, President Obama signed an executive order aimed at beefing up cybersecurity measures and established a 240 day deadline for the administration to hammer out the details. Today, the White House took to its blog to put forth a rather loosely defined set of incentives designed to convince private companies to adopt the voluntary aspects of its so-called "Cybersecurity Framework." At the top of the list is a proposed cybersecurity insurance market, which calls for the adoption of risk-reducing measures and risk-based pricing models. Beyond those broad brushstrokes, the White House has provided few details, stating that specifics would be developed in the coming months. Also included in the incentives are federal grants for companies taking part in the program, preferential treatment for some existing government services, liability limitations and public recognition. Essentially, the blog post acts mainly as a preview for the Voluntary Program set to launch in early 2014. The details are more than a bit fuzzy at the moment, but we'll keep you updated as we learn more.
Samsung's market value plummets following US presidential veto
Over the weekend, the Obama administration vetoed the US International Trade Commission's import ban pertaining to older generation iPhones and iPads. The move marked the first time since the '80s that a US president vetoed an ITC ruling. While Apple is of course thrilled with the Obama administration stepping up to protect FRAND rights, the same can't be said for Samsung, or its investors. In the wake of the ITC veto, Samsung's market value dropped by over US$1 billion. Also expressing concern regarding the veto was the South Korean government itself, which on Monday issued a statement exclaiming that the veto will have a negative impact on patent property rights. Reuters reports: "We express concerns about the negative impact that such a decision would have on the protection of patent rights," the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, said in a statement. The ministry called on the U.S. trade body and the Obama administration to make "fair and reasonable decisions" as Samsung faces a decision on Friday as to whether some of its phones and tablets infringed on Apple's patents and should be banned from imports into the United States. As the legal drama between Samsung and Apple continues to evolve, the ITC will issue another ruling on Friday, this time regarding whether or not it should ban Samsung products that Apple alleges infringe upon its own intellectual property.
Electronic Frontier Foundation sues NSA, calls surveillance programs unconstitutional
Earlier today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the Obama administration over concerns surrounding the NSA's extensive surveillance programs, just weeks after the ACLU did the same. Filed on behalf of human rights, religious and environmental activist groups, the suit argues that the federal government's so-called Associational Tracking Program is inherently unconstitutional because it threatens stipulations found in the Bill of Rights, like freedom of speech and the right to assembly. The list of plaintiffs is extensive, and the suit has united groups with varying mission statements, like Human Rights Watch, Greenpeace and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. To read the complaint in full, head on over to the source link below.
Editorial: We, the digitally naked
The iPhone 5. It is taller, and has incremental improvements under the hood, and is shiny. (I'm staying away. Typing on glass is wrong.) Of more import, the smartphone you carry is more than a communication device; it is potentially a government surveillance enabler. To whatever extent that is the case (depending on whose public pronouncements you believe), latent digital snooping was reinforced on the same day as the iPhone event. Two days after that, Google announced its intention to build a "Do Not Track" option into the Chrome browser, giving users some shielding from a different type of rampant surveillance -- the type that creepily delivers knowingly targeted ads. The two issues differ in seriousness, but are related as privacy concerns. As our mobile and desktop devices get sexier, we become increasingly naked.
Obama cracks down on Iran and Syria's surveillance of dissidents
President Obama may be quite cozy with tech -- what with his predilection for the iPad and those town hall meetings on Facebook -- but he's well aware of its dark side, too. Today he announced that the US will freeze assets and cancel the American visas of Iranian and Syrian agencies tracking dissidents and pro-democracy groups via satellite, computer and phone networks. Among the entities getting the blacklist treatment are the Syrian cellphone company Syriatel, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian internet provider Datak Telecom. Amid election-year pressure to confront Iran, Obama addressed the ongoing threat of the country acquiring nukes, but also paid lip service to social media's role in democracy. "These technologies should be in place to empower citizens, not to repress them," he told an audience of 250 people, according to Reuters. Still, given the limited impact of previous sanctions against Iran, it remains to be seen just how much of an effect Washington's actions have on the human rights situation in either country.
White House appoints Todd Park as new Chief Technology Officer
The White House hasn't wasted any time replacing the vacancy left by Aneesh Chopra, who recently stepped down as our nation's first appointed Chief Technology Officer. Following in his well-accomplished footsteps is Todd Park, a federal employee who's no stranger to the position at hand given his former role as CTO of the US Department of Health and Services. Park is credited with the launch of HealthCare.gov and is now tasked with "applying the newest technology and latest advances to make the Federal government work better for the American people." While we're sure those tasks don't include setting up Sasha and Malia's personal Pinterest accounts, he certainly has a long road ahead, dragging 'ol Pennsylvania Avenue kicking and screaming into our digital age.
First White House Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, steps down
He was appointed with a fair bit of fanfare as the United States' first Chief Technology Officer back in May of 2009, but it looks like Aneesh Chopra has decided that it's now time to make room for the nation's second CTO. The White House confirmed today that Chopra is stepping down from his position, noting that he has amassed a "dizzying array of accomplishments." Among those are his contributions to the Obama administration's national wireless strategy, a set of internet policy making principals, and a number of efforts related to the President's open government strategy, including the Data.gov platform. No word on his successor just yet, nor is there any official word on what Chopra plans to do next -- although The Washington Post reports that he's expected to run for lieutenant governor of Virginia.
The White House joins Google+, invites you to Hangout
President Obama may have been on Google+ since November, but the administration is now stepping up its presence on the social network even further in anticipation of next week's State of the Union address and the forthcoming presidential campaign. It now has an official White House Google+ page, where it plans to post the usual news, photos and videos, and also host regular Hangout video chats. There's no promises yet that the President himself will take part, but the White House says it will regularly have administration officials and policy experts take part in the conversations, which will also be streamed on YouTube and WhiteHouse.gov. Those interested can click the link below to add the page to their Circles.
White House responds to SOPA petition as hearing is delayed, DNS blocking on the outs
It's turned out to be a big weekend for those concerned about the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act. Yesterday came word that a key House hearing originally scheduled for Wednesday will be delayed until there is a "consensus" on the bill, and today the White House has issued an official statement on SOPA (and the Protect IP Act, its counterpart in the Senate) in response to a petition that drew thousands of signatures. While it doesn't go quite as far as to issue a firm veto threat from the President, it does lay out the administration's position in the clearest terms yet, including the condition that any proposed law "must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System." That follows word late last week that Representative Lamar Smith and Senator Patrick Leahy would indeed pull the DNS provisions from SOPA and PIPA. The White House statement is less specific in other respects, but it broadly states that the administration will "not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet." In related news, the planned blackouts to protest SOPA and PIPA only seem to be increasing, with the popular xda-developers forum recently announcing that it will go dark at 8AM on January 18th, and return either at 8PM or as soon as it's able to get 50,000 people to sign a pledge to contact their local Senator or Representative.
