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Senators demand answers over Juniper Network's 2015 backdoor incident
Senators want answers by July 10th.
US senators ask Amazon why it keeps firing COVID-19 whistleblowers
A group of nine senators, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, want to know why Amazon keeps firing COVID-19 whistleblowers.
TSA bans employees from making TikTok videos
The Transport Security Administration (TSA) is the latest US government organization to ban the use of TikTok. The decision comes after New York Senator Chuck Schumer sent a letter to TSA administrator David Pekoske, in which he flagged a number of security concerns about China-owned app.
Senators want to know if TikTok is a national security risk
To most, TikTok is an innocent platform full of cute and/or funny videos. But to political leaders, it's a potential national security risk. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) have formally asked the Intelligence Community to assess whether TikTok and other China-owned content platforms pose a threat.
US Senators ask the FCC to review licenses with China-owned telecoms
Two US Senators want the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to review whether two Chinese state-owned telecoms should be permitted to operate in the US. In a letter to the FCC, Democratic leader Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) ask the Commission to review licenses that give China Telecom and China Unicom the right to use networks in the US. According to The New York Times, the Senators are concerned that the companies may use that access to carry out espionage.
Senators have questions for Facebook over in-game payment policies
Recently unsealed court documents revealed that Facebook employees were aware children were running up massive tabs spending money on games. Now lawmakers have some questions for the social networking giant. Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg looking for more details about how Facebook handled game payments.
Senators demand investigation into carrier location-selling scandal
Several senators are calling on the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate how carriers share customers' real-time phone location data, following a Motherboard report this month suggesting it's a cinch for bounty hunters to snag that information. A group of 14 Democrats (including Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, who are running for their party's presidential nomination) and independent senator Bernie Sanders signed a letter addressed to the agencies.
Senators want FTC to investigate Google's location data collection
In December of 2017, the office of US Senator Richard Blumenthal sent Google's CEO a letter asking for a detailed explanation of the company's privacy practices around location services. Based on a report at Quartz, the senator's letter had 12 specific questions about how Google deals with location data. In January, Google responded to all of the issues in a lengthy letter signed by Google's VP of public policy, Susan Molinari. Now, apparently unsatisfied with the response, Senators Blumenthal and Edward J. Markey have sent a written request to the FTC to investigate Google's location services, along with "any deceptive acts and practices associated with the product."
Senate Democrats plan to force vote on net neutrality May 9th
Democrats in Congress have been against the FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules from the beginning. They've had the signatures in favor of restoring the rules since January, along with a companion House bill (with 80 co-sponsors). Senator Edward J. Markey also introduced a formal Congressional Review Act "resolution of disapproval" in February. Now, Markey tweeted that Democrats will force a floor vote restore the rules on May 9th.
Mark Zuckerberg got grilled by Congress. Was it worth it?
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Zuckerberg gave testimony to Congress in response to his company's role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Russian election interference and his website's utter nightmare of data privacy. He impressed people by wearing his absolute nicest human suit.
32 senators want to know if US regulators halted Equifax probe
Earlier this week, a Reuters report suggested that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) had halted its investigation into last year's massive Equifax data breach. Reuters sources said that even basic steps expected in such a probe hadn't been taken and efforts had stalled since Mick Mulvaney (pictured above) took over as head of the CFPB late last year. Now, 31 Democratic senators and one Independent have written a letter to Mulvaney asking if that is indeed the case and if so, why.
Equifax stock sales prompt DOJ investigation for insider trading
Things are about to get even worse for Equifax, and rightfully so. According to reports from Bloomberg, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened a criminal investigation into Equifax officials' stock sales just before the announcement of the security breach that exposed data from 143 million US consumers. Equifax CFO John Gamble, President of US Information Solutions Joseph Loughran and President of Workforce Solutions Rodolfo Ploder dumped nearly $1.8 million in stock just after the company discovered the breach and about a month before it was announced. Equifax has maintained that the three didn't know about the breach when they sold the stock.
Senate to Americans: Your security is not our problem
The Senate Intelligence Committee just released a draft of long-awaited legislation to tackle the problem authorities have with encrypted communications. Namely, because encryption is so secure, it interferes with court orders in the same way private property poses problems for police who just want to get things done.
Senators urge Apple to pull DUI checkpoint apps
A group of senators from four different states sent a message to Apple yesterday to pull any apps from the App Store that supposedly alert drivers of drunk driving checkpoints. The letter, which was also sent to Google and RIM, stated that "giving drunk drivers a free tool to evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk, is a matter of public concern," and mentioned just one such app, called PhantomALERT. The CEO of the company that makes that app claims it's completely legal, saying that police often advertise the same checkpoint locations before they're set up, warning drivers to be careful in certain areas and never to drink and drive. A police officer in Oregon, according to ComputerWorld, is pretty indifferent to the whole argument. "If things like these apps increase awareness on the part of drivers to slow down and drive to the signs posted and the conditions," he said, "that helps people stay alert and drive safely." So, it seems like much ado over something that's not a huge issue. Of course, if people are using these apps to dodge checkpoints, that could be a problem, but if police are advertising these things ahead of time anyway, it's hard to see why these apps are under fire.
Senators pushing for more limitations on internet / satellite radio recording
It seems that satellite radio just can't catch a break, as the RIAA and its indirect constituents apparently have a perpetual target set on crippling services associated with recording content. Yet again satellite radio (along with internet radio) is under fire, and this time a number of senators are pushing "rules embedded in a copyright bill, called the Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act," which could "restrict listeners' ability to record and play back individual songs." Furthermore, the act calls for streams to be laced with "reasonably available copy-protection" so that timeshifting material becomes next to impossible (and illegal, too), and that portable recording devices such as the much-debated XM Inno and Sirius S50 would no longer allow "automatic recording." The reasoning stems from a belief that satellite / internet radio should still be a "passive experience," presumably forcing us to look backwards rather than forward in radio technologies, and proponents of the agenda somehow insinuate that enforcing these rules will curb "music theft." Unsurprisingly, the RIAA "applauded the effort and urged Congress to make passing the legislation a top priority this year," while most everyone else on the planet (including spokespersons for XM and the Home Recording Rights Coalition) is balking at what would potentially make satellite / internet radio less accessible to desiring consumers. While we've no idea how quickly action will be taken on these newly surfaced guidelines, we can all rest assured that our representatives will devote every waking hour to this here issue until it's finalized and implemented, at least if the RIAA has anything to do with it.
