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Lawmakers still want details from Amazon on its facial recognition tech
In July, three members of Congress -- Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), Representative Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) and Representative Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) -- sent Amazon and CEO Jeff Bezos a letter requesting information about the company's facial recognition software, Rekognition. The lawmakers expressed their concern about Rekognition and asked Amazon to answer a list of questions regarding any bias assessments Amazon has performed, if it can recognize when children's data have been uploaded, the agencies that have used the software and whether Amazon conducts audits of those that use Rekognition. Amazon sent a response to the lawmakers in August, but the lawmakers found the company's reply to be insufficient. So they've sent a second letter.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai will testify in Congress on December 5th
Republican politicians, most notably US President Donald Trump, have strongly criticized Google for bias against conservatives. "There's a lot of interest in their algorithm, how those algorithms work, how those algorithms are supervised," said outgoing committee member Bob Goodlatte in September. To counter that, CEO Sundar Pichai is scheduled to appear on December 5th before the House Judiciary Committee to dispel any idea of bias in its all-powerful search algorithms, according to the Washington Post.
Senate bill takes aim at illegal robocalls
Three senators have proposed new legislation aimed at deterring robocall scams. The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act, or TRACED, Act would give the FCC broader authority to penalize those that violate telemarketing restrictions, give the commission a longer window in which to act and establish an interagency working group that would explore additional actions that might deter robocall scams going forward. "As the scourge of spoofed calls and robocalls reaches epidemic levels, the bipartisan TRACED Act will provide every person with a phone much needed relief," Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), a cosponsor of the proposed legislation, said in a statement. "It's a simple formula: call authentication, blocking and enforcement, and this bill achieves all three."
Senators call for FTC investigation into ads in children’s apps
Last month, a study published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics described just how prevalent advertising is in apps geared towards children, and its findings have now led three Senators to ask the FTC to investigate. Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Tom Udall (D-NM) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to the commission today, citing the study's findings and urging the FTC to act. "The FTC has a statutory obligation to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive advertising practices. That responsibility is all the more urgent when the potential victims of such practices are children," they wrote. "As parents increasingly permit kids to engage in online games and apps for entertainment and fun, it is imperative to ensure that these playtime options are compliant with existing laws."
Apple told Congress it found no evidence of server tampering
In a letter to Congress, Apple reiterated that it found no evidence of microchip-based server tampering by Chinese agents that was reported by Bloomberg Businessweek. The company, along with Amazon and server manufacturer Super Micro, had previously released forceful denials of suspicions that its servers contained malicious components. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and UK cybersecurity officials had also chimed in, saying they have no reason to doubt Amazon and Apple's denials.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai will meet US officials to discuss censorship
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, will appear at a private meeting with Republican lawmakers on the Capitol Hill on Friday, September 28th, following recent allegations that the company had previously censored search results. In addition to that, Pichai is scheduled to attend a public hearing at a House Judiciary Committee in November after the midterm elections.
US lawmakers are concerned about deepfake technology
Three US Representatives have sent a letter to the Director of National Intelligence asking for a report on deepfake technology, how it could be used to harm the US and any countermeasures that can be taken to detect and deter nefarious use of the technology. While deepfakes gained notoriety when Reddit users began swapping celebrity faces onto porn stars, the potential for the technology's use in misinformation campaigns has generated a fair amount of concern. "Forged videos, images or audio could be used to target individuals for blackmail or for other nefarious purposes," the lawmakers said in their letter.
Congress wants to know if Google plans to relaunch search in China
A cross-party group of congresspeople have asked Google if it plans to launch a censored version of its search engine in China, as has been rumored. In their letter to Google, the 16 Democrats and Republicans wrote they had "serious concerns" over the possible move, according to Reuters. A group of senators, including Marco Rubio and Ron Wyden, previously sought answers from Google over its reported return to China.
Are Facebook and Twitter scared enough to work together?
The last time a bunch of social media execs testified before congress the hearings ended with US House Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) calling it a "dumb" and "stupid" sideshow. He said there were more important matters for Congress to be discussing the "content-filtering practices" of internet companies, and that Facebook, Twitter and Google can't have user posts be regulated because of the First Amendment anyway. Still, members of the Senate and House are keen on finding ways for Silicon Valley giants to keep their services safe, particularly from foreign interference and other bad actors trying to create discord among Americans. But rather than get into a battle with Congress over potential federal regulation, which would likely cause some controversy, Facebook and Twitter seem willing to work together on solutions for these issues in order to avoid that path.
Twitter wants to ‘increase the health of public conversation’
Twitter doesn't only want to be more transparent about the toxic content on its site, it also wants to be more proactive about removing it altogether. Speaking to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce today, as part of a hearing titled "Twitter: Transparency and Accountability," CEO Jack Dorsey said that his company's singular objective is to "increase the health of public conversation." But he said this isn't just about spotting and removing abusive content like harassment, or blocking suspicious accounts. It's also about doing so in a timely, more proactive manner. As it stands, Dorsey said, Twitter relies heavily on users reporting others' bad behavior and that simply needs to change.
Sandberg’s ‘alternative facts’ comment won’t help Facebook’s cause
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, addressing social media's role in election meddling and their platforms' efforts to combat it. When discussing misinformation, Sandberg described Facebook's use of fact checkers, saying that once third-party fact checkers mark a story as false, the platform then shows related articles next to the original in order to provide readers with additional and more factual coverage. But her choice of words was rather telling. "If it's marked as false we dramatically decrease the distribution on our site, we warn you if you're about to share it, we warn you if you have shared it, and importantly we show related articles next to that so people can see alternative facts," she said (emphasis added).
Twitter is keeping 500,000 bots from logging in every day
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is currently testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee and in response to questions from Representatives Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Gene Green (D-TX) about bots, Dorsey said that the platform is keeping around 500,000 bot accounts from logging in every day. He also reiterated that every week, Twitter's systems are challenging between eight and ten million accounts that are suspected of misusing automation or disseminating spam.
Bernie Sanders bill would tax Amazon and others over low wages
Critics have frequently accused Amazon of underpaying warehouse employees to the point where staff must live on food stamps and other government subsidies, and there's now a Senate bill that puts some added weight behind that criticism. Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act (aka the not-so-subtle Stop BEZOS Act), a measure that would place a 100 percent tax on the government assistance workers receive at companies with over 500 employees. If an Amazon staffer had to live in public housing, for instance, the internet giant would have to either foot the bill or pay the person well enough that they didn't need help.
Twitter's shadow banning bug 'unfairly filtered' 600,000 accounts
Twitter's supposed account shadow banning, which the company says was a bug, was "unfairly filtering 600,000 accounts, including some members of Congress" in search auto-complete and results. CEO Jack Dorsey confirmed the figure during his opening statement to the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday; he shared the statement in a thread of tweets.
Twitter is considering a transparency report on suspended accounts
As part of his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, in a hearing titled "Foreign Influence Operations' Use of Social Media Platforms," Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said that his company is exploring the idea of a transparency report for suspended accounts. He said that, while details of what this document would look like or what information exactly it could include are still being worked out, it's something that's heavily on his mind. Twitter already has a bi-annual transparency report which discloses how many accounts it removes for promoting terrorism, and Dorsey said doing something similar for suspended accounts would only be a matter of figuring out its implementation.
Google shares ‘testimony’ for Senate hearing it won’t attend
Tomorrow, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee to discuss election meddling and security. Google was invited to send a representative as well and it offered Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker, but the committee rejected Walker as a witness, insisting that higher-level leaders like Alphabet CEO Larry Page or Google CEO Sundar Pichai would be more appropriate. Now, however, Walker has released the company's "testimony" online even though it appears that no one from Google will be at the hearing to deliver it.
What to expect when Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies to Congress
Nearly five months after Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress, it is now turn for Twitter boss Jack Dorsey to do the same. On September 5th, he will take the witness stand twice on Capitol Hill, first in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee and then the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Dorsey will be alongside Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg for the Intel Committee's "Foreign Influence Operations' Use of Social Media Platforms" hearing, followed by a solo appearance in the Energy and Commerce Committee's own, entitled "Twitter: Transparency and Accountability."
Facebook tells Senate it needs help stopping election interference
Facebook has been scrambling to fight election meddling ahead of the 2018 midterms, but it doesn't want to go alone. The social network has released COO Sheryl Sandberg's prepared testimony ahead of her Senate appearance on September 5th, and she uses the presentation to call for more government help in battling interference from countries like Russia. Facebook's staffers "can't stop interference by ourselves," she said, noting that Facebook doesn't have "all the investigative tools" of government and can't always identify perpetrators or their motivations.
Jack Dorsey: Twitter isn’t guided by ‘political ideology’
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will be testifying before Congress tomorrow and today he released a prepared statement he'll make during his House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. The CEO will touch on a number of timely and important topics including conversational health on the platform, Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election and recent activity on Twitter linked to Russian and Iranian groups, but Dorsey also addresses accusations of political bias. "Let me be clear about one important and foundational fact: Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules," said Dorsey.
Watch tomorrow's Jack Dorsey congressional hearings right here
Another round of social media congressional hearings is upon us. This time, it's Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's turn, who will be testifying alongside Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg before the Senate Intelligence Committee on September 5th. But that hearing, which will focus on foreign election interference, won't be the only one of the day for Dorsey. He's also set to testify alone in a hearing from the House Energy and Commerce Committee entitled "Twitter: Transparency and Accountability." There, he'll be asked questions about how the company's algorithms work to filter out abuse, as well as its decision-making process when it blocks certain content (and accounts) from appearing on its site.
