rnc2016
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Trump wants Russia to hack the US government (updated)
Late last week, thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee were released by WikiLeaks, the contents of which have caused plenty of controversy at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week. The FBI is investigating and Russia is believed to be a prime suspect in the hack that led to these emails getting leaked. Naturally, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has had plenty to say about the hack and some of the messages themselves. But what he said today is yet another level of crazy from an already audacious candidate. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said today, reports The New York Times. "I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." By "find," it's pretty clear Trump was advocating for another hack to uncover more emails, specifically those from Hillary Clinton's private email server when she was Secretary of State. Regardless of whether those emails were on a private server or not, hacking emails sent while she was Secretary of State would amount to hacking the US government. The emails in question were deemed personal and private and deleted by Clinton.
The 2016 RNC was celebratory and friendly, both online and off
Donald Trump has, whether knowingly or not, tapped into some deep-seated bigotry still lurking just beneath the surface of this country. I do not know if Trump agrees with the openly racist people he retweets or if he's merely aping the language and memes of the alt-right for political gain. As many have discovered, though, Trump's most vocal supporters on Twitter are often unabashedly anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist and racist. The question for me as I prepared for the 2016 Republican National Convention was, would these newly invigorated hate groups suddenly feel as safe expressing themselves face-to-face as they do online? I'm happy to report the answer is no -- mostly, anyway. The 2016 RNC certainly wasn't without incident or ugliness, but by and large the crowds were peaceful and respectful, and the hate groups did not find the Republican Party waiting for them with open arms in Cleveland.
GOP and industry agree: Tech has a messaging problem
The government and the technology industry agree: They need to do a better job educating the public. During a policy forum hosted by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) at the Republican National Convention this week, members of Congress and several industry veterans admitted they have not done enough to dispel myths around technology, nor have they found the proper way to push Americans toward degrees in STEM fields. Congressman Blake Farenthold from Texas said "everyone still wants an MBA," even though you'd probably make more money with a degree in engineering.
Republican platform highlights the importance of privacy
In the wake of countless scandals, from Bush-era warrantless wiretaps to Obama-age metadata collection, the Republican party has decided to put renewed focus on citizen privacy. Multiple sections of the party's platform, which lays out its agenda for the next four years, call for strengthening privacy protections both against the government and private businesses. It even particularly calls out the need to protect the information of farmers and ranchers in the age of "big data." On the specific challenges around encrypted data and communication, however, the GOP leaves itself plenty of wiggle room when it comes to accessing such information.
Republican party embraces next-gen wireless and IoT
In 2012 the GOP's official platform didn't say much about broadband. In fact, in the 62-page, roughly 30,000-word document detailing the party's various policy stances, the word "broadband" only appeared once. In 2016, things are a little different. The platform dedicates far more space to talk of expanding internet access. It even calls for reforms that would help the Internet of Things "thrive."
GOP platform praises NASA's ability to foster innovation
The Republican party has officially adopted its platform (warning: PDF) for the 2016 election season. And inside is some slightly surprising praise for NASA and talk of investing in it as a means to foster innovation. Specifically the GOP called the agency (along with the Department of Defense) critical to maintaining the country's edge in space. Of course, the specifics of the language are very carefully chosen. The platform doesn't whole-heartedly embrace a government-driven path to space-based dominance. Instead it calls out the agencies, as well as their public-private partnerships with the likes of SpaceX, that it claims have saved tax payers money.
BuzzFeed and Washington Post turn to robots for RNC coverage
Both the Washington Post and Buzzfeed have sent robots to cover the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Call it forward thinking, call it a gimmick, inventive, desperate... doesn't matter. But it's happening, and both outlets couldn't be prouder of their efforts to modify their news gathering process and bring additional interactivity to their reporting.
