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Marco Rubio proposes a totally uninspiring data privacy bill
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) announced Wednesday a new privacy bill aimed at protecting personal data of American consumers from being sucked up indiscriminately by tech giants, according to Axios. The American Data Dissemination Act would ask the Federal Trade Commission to recommend potential rules and regulations that Congress would finalize. The rules created under the proposed law would preempt any state laws, which runs the risk of stripping states of their power to protect citizens.
Senators demand answers over Chinese 'spy chip' fears (updated)
Apple may have tried to reassure Congress that there's no evidence of China tampering with servers to spy on data traffic, but it didn't do much to quell doubts. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marco Rubio have sent a letter to Super Micro demanding answers around allegations of Chinese spy chips. The duo wants to know if Super Micro has monitored and investigated its supply chain for signs of tampering, and is particularly interested in February 2017 statements to The Information that it had independent auditors look over its "process" and make changes following Apple's claims of security holes. If Super Micro conducted an investigation, the senators asked, what were the results?
The US government comes for Google, Facebook, and Twitter
Facebook, Twitter, and Google were threatened by lawmakers from three distinct quarters on Wednesday. A leaked email from the largest US telecom lobbying group tells us where this is headed. One threat came during testimony from Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter's Jack Dorsey to Congress when Senator Mark Warner told the pair of executives that "Congress is going to have to take action here. The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end."
Senator says Russia has ‘penetrated’ Florida election systems
Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) told the Tampa Bay Times today that Russian operatives have "penetrated" Florida election systems. "They have already penetrated certain counties in the state and they now have free rein to move about," Nelson said. The remarks reportedly caused a stir among the state's election officials, who are busy preparing for midterm elections in November. Because despite today's statements and ongoing concerns over election security, state leaders don't appear to be keeping election officials in the loop. "There has been no current communication with anyone about any breach or problem," Okaloosa Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux told the Tampa Bay Times.
Huawei says concerns over US research funding are ignorant
Last week, over two dozen Republican and Democratic members of Congress, led by Representative Jim Banks (R-IN) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), sent Education Secretary Betsy DeVos a letter, urging her to investigate a university funding program put forward by Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. In the letter, the lawmakers requested that she collect information from US universities involved in any research partnerships with the company and put together a working group "to understand how the People's Republic of China attempts to gather US technology on US university and college campuses and to develop recommendations (especially for those institutions that receive any kind of federal funding) for protecting the US technology advantage." Now, Reuters reports, Huawei Chairman Eric Xu has called Rubio and Banks "closed-minded and ill-informed."
US lawmakers urge Google to reconsider Huawei partnership
In the wake of national security concerns over Huawei's interest in entering the US market, legislators from both the Senate and the House sent a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai urging him to reconsider working with the Chinese phone maker, who made Google's Nexus 6P.
No, postcards won’t solve our Russian interference problem
We just learned all the ways Russian propaganda agents fooled American social media companies, thanks to the recent indictments of Russian nationals by Team Mueller. After years of these companies forcing us to adhere to their contrived "community safety" policies and made-up rules to police our identities (which they swore was for our own good), their failures are rather spectacular.
Where Trump and Clinton stand on tech and science
I know what you're all thinking: "Thank god this election is almost over." Regardless of your political affiliation I think we can all agree November 8th can't come fast enough. But in the final days it can't hurt to make sure you're pulling the lever for the candidate that best reflects your beliefs and priorities. So take a few minutes and check out Engadget's election guide to see where Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson stand on the most important tech and science issues for 2016 and beyond. We pored over their records, speeches, etc... and laid out the candidate's positions in their own words and then gave them a grade based on their demonstrated knowledge of the subject matter. If you have questions about how we grade or need a quick primer on the issues, check out this quick rundown. Obviously there are plenty of other issues to consider too, but we're willing to bet few other guides to the issues will spill as many words on cyber security and broadband infrastructure. Click here to see all the candidates' report cards.
Google grants presidential hopefuls a digital podium
Google is giving this year's crop of US presidential candidates a pretty big stump to stand on: Search results. Mountain View is opening up a new platform, dubbed "Google Posts," that hopefuls for the highest office in the land can use to publish everything from text to photos and videos. These brief bits will appear in search results whenever you look for one of them by name, just above official tweets. From there, the posts can be shared via your social media platform of choice.
Cram for Super Tuesday with Engadget's election guide
On March 1st Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia will cast their votes in the primaries and caucuses. Plus Alaska and Wyoming are having Republican caucuses and American Samoa is getting in on the action with its own Democratic caucus -- there's a reason they call it "Super Tuesday." And from here on out things start moving pretty fast. In the next seven days nearly two dozen states and territories will have their say in who should be the nominee for the two major parties. Yes Primary season is really hitting it's stride. But don't think you're done with the debate drama. Thursday, March 3rd, the Republican candidates still hanging on after Super Tuesday will face off in Detroit. You can watch that showdown at 9PM ET either on Fox News or at foxnews.com. Then on the 6th, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will face off in Flint, Michigan, site of the disastrous water contamination scandal that has put the local government under sharp criticism. The two remaining Democrats will take the stage at 8PM ET on CNN and at CNN.com. And, of course, before those showdowns kick off, make sure to get caught up on the candidates positions on the most pressing tech and science issues of 2016 in our election guide. And make sure to join in the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Ello, Google+, BBS or semaphore using the hashtag #engadgetelectionguide.
The 2016 presidential race according to Facebook 'likes'
The data-minded folks over at FiveThirtyEight have teamed up with Facebook to find out what parts of the country support which candidate via an interactive map. While FiveThirtyEight stresses that this is in no way a representative sample (Facebook users skew heavily younger, low-income and female, for instance), it's still interesting to see where candidates stack up in terms of page likes.
Prep for the debates and primaries with Engadget's election guide
Last week Iowa voted and there were surprises all around. Ted Cruz became the front runner in the Republican race and Marco Rubio made an excellent showing by coming in a close third. Plus Hillary Clinton only narrowly avoided an upset from Larry David impersonator Bernie Sanders. Add to that the rather contentious (and meme-inspiring) debate between the Republicans on Saturday and this week is looking to be a decisive one for the Candidates.
How to watch this week's presidential primary debates
Primary season is officially underway, but don't think that the deluge of debates is over. There will be many, many, many, more chances for the candidates to face off on stage. Tonight at 9pm ET Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will follow up their razor thin race in Iowa by bringing their sales pitches to New Hampshire. With Martin O'Malley officially out of the race, it will be down to just the two front runners. You can watch the debate live on MSNBC and at MSNBC.com. Saturday night, at 9pm ET, its the Republicans turn to put on a debate for the citizens of New Hampshire. You'll be able to watch that on your local ABC affiliate or online at abcnew.go.com/live. And, of course, before those showdowns kick off, make sure to get caught up on the candidates positions on the most pressing tech and science issues of 2016 in our election guide. And make sure to join in the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Ello, Google+, BBS or semaphore using the hashtag #engadgetelectionguide.
Prep for the Iowa caucuses: Check out the Engadget Election Guide
Tonight the process of selecting the nominees for president from the Democratic and Republican parties officially gets underway in Iowa. The citizens of the Hawkeye State will gather and physically organize themselves into groups supporting each of the candidates. And at the end of the night delegates will be awarded to the candidates accordingly. As the first contest of the primary season the Iowa caucuses garner a lot of attention. They have not always, however, been a reliable indicator of who the eventual nominee would be. That being said, they can give candidates an early boost in the polls. If you're wondering exactly how a caucus works and how it's different from a primary, check out the excellent video from CPG Grey after the break. But before you go out and cast your vote tonight, make sure to read up on the candidates' positions on the most important tech and science issues facing America this election year.
Watch tonight's Republican debate with Engadget
Tonight, the field of Republican candidates for president will face off again on the debate stage. This is the last time the whole band will get together before the Iowa caucuses on February 1st. Well... almost the whole band. Professional blowhard Donald Trump will not be in attendance because Fox News refused to remove Megyn Kelly as one of the moderators. (Presumably he's somewhere hiding and wondering why the mean lady asked him so many questions.) Of course, with Trump out, there should be more time for the other candidates to make their voices heard. And ideological, libertarian favorite Rand Paul has regained his seat at the big boy table this evening. If you want to watch the undercard, featuring Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Jim Gilmore tune in to Fox News or to FoxNews.com at 7pm ET. But the main event will kick off at 9pm ET, with Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Rand Paul.
How to watch tonight's Republican debate with Engadget
Tonight the Republican candidates for president of the United States square off once again in the art of debate. The main event, which begins at 9PM ET on Fox Business, will feature Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Chris Christie. If you're one of those fancy cord-cutters, you can tune it at FOXBusiness.com for a live stream. Unlike some previous debates, this evening's event will not focus on particular topic. Instead it'll cover a number of subjects in the realm of economic, domestic and international policy.
Engadget's guide to the 2016 presidential election
In 2016 America will elect a new president. After eight years in office Barack Obama will move out of the White House and take a long overdue break from the stresses of running the country (or at least attempt to). But, before someone new sets up shop in the Oval Office, he or she will have to convince America that they deserve to be president. At Engadget we're firm believers in the power of an informed electorate, so to help you find the candidate right for you, here is a look at the contenders and where they stand on a swath of issues related to science and technology. We'll be updating this guide throughout the election season to reflect current polling numbers and new comments from the candidates regarding the issues. Click here to see all the candidates' report cards.
