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White House dumps 'cyber czar' advisory position
Today the White House confirmed there will be no replacement for Rob Joyce as cybersecurity coordinator. Joyce was Trump's first pick for this position created by the Obama Administration and spent 13 months as the "cyber czar" coordinating security efforts across government. Now the new national security advisor John Bolton is eliminating the position, as Politico reports that an email sent to staffers said the intent is to "streamline authority" within the National Security Council, which has two senior cyber policy directors. Not everyone agrees, however, as Senate Intelligence ranking member Mark Warner (D-VA) tweeted "We also need to articulate a clear cyber doctrine. I don't see how getting rid of the top cyber official in the White House does anything to make our country safer from cyber threats." Representative Jim Langevin (D-RI), said: "It is an enormous step backwards to deemphasize this growing challenge." Joyce will return to his post at the NSA. Meanwhile, Trump signed an executive order intended to give CIOs at federal agencies more hiring authority and control over budgets. Without the "cyber czar" agencies will have to find ways to coordinate with each other and foreign governments on matters like election security and data breaches without a single person managing the efforts. This should work out just fine.
US and Chinese presidents work to get ZTE 'back into business'
ZTE's future is currently grim in light of the revived US export ban, but is it guaranteed to wither and die? Not necessarily. President Trump has tweeted that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping are "working together" to give ZTE a "way to get back into business." Just how that would happen wasn't clear, but he told the US Commerce Department to "get it done."
AT&T confirms payment to Trump's personal lawyer for 'insight'
The story of a $130,000 payment from President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen to Stephanie Clifford, professionally known as the adult film actress Stormy Daniels, took another turn tonight and it involves AT&T. Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti tweeted earlier claiming the President and Cohen "have a lot of explaining to do," linking to a document detailing "suspicious financial transactions" involving the Essential Consultants LLC that Cohen formed in 2016 (PDF) to pay Daniels.
NHTSA proposal would override California's tougher emissions rules
The Trump administration hasn't been shy about wanting to roll back emissions and fuel economy guidelines, but there's been a key obstacle to that: California. It has a waiver permitting it to apply tougher emissions standards, and that (combined with support from 12 other states) effectively dictates the rules for automakers across the US. Officials may soon force California to honor looser federal standards, however. The Wall Street Journal has learned of an NHTSA proposal that would not only freeze increases on fuel emissions standards between 2020 and 2026, but would include "scenarios" that would let it override or even eliminate California's authority to maintain its own increases.
DNC sues Russia, Trump campaign and WikiLeaks over 2016 hack
While Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election continues, the Democratic National Committee has decided to take action of its own. According to the Washington Post, the DNC this morning filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit accusing (among others) the Russian government, WikiLeaks and key officials inside Donald Trump's presidential campaign of computer fraud, racketeering, data theft and more, all in hopes of swaying the outcome of a presidential election.
A look at the ad-targeting tools AggregateIQ left exposed online
Throughout discussions about Cambridge Analytica, parent company Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) and how they came to obtain information on some 87 million Facebook users, you've probably also heard the name AggregateIQ. The Canada-based data firm has now been connected to Cambridge Analytica operations as well as US election campaigns and the Brexit referendum. Now, cybersecurity firm UpGuard has discovered a large code repository that AggregateIQ left exposed online, and through that we're getting a better look at the company, what it does and how it does it.
Trump signs controversial FOSTA-SESTA bill into law
Donald Trump has signed the controversial FOSTA-SESTA bill into law, as he was widely expected to do. While touted as a way to crack down on sex trafficking in the US, many are concerned that the law will give way to online censorship and make sex workers less safe. The bill's many detractors included the Department of Justice, the ACLU, the EFF, anti-trafficking groups and sex worker organizations. It has been backed by the Internet Association as well as high profile individuals like Amy Schumer and Seth Meyers.
Cambridge Analytica tries to shoot down Facebook data sharing claims
Cambridge Analytica is facing incredible pressure over the Facebook data sharing scandal -- and not surprisingly, it's determined to share its version of events before Mark Zuckerberg testifies in congressional hearings. The company has posted a "series of facts" that challenge some of the allegations made against the company. Not surprisingly, it started by insisting that it didn't do anything illegal: GSR "legally obtained" the data about Facebook users, and "did not illegally or inappropriately" scoop up and share data. Later on, it maintained that it "only collects data with informed consent."
Consumer tech lobbyist calls China tariffs a 'poison pill'
The White House might argue that its proposed tariffs on Chinese tech would punish the harvesting of American intellectual property while preserving the US economy, but don't tell that to the Consumer Technology Association's Gary Shapiro. The industry lobbying group CEO has issued a statement describing the tariffs and the likely Chinese response as a "poison pill" to production, the "innovation economy" and customers' wallets. Instead, he suggested that the US slap China-style requirements (not necessarily joint ventures) on foreign companies while pushing for greater transparency, competition and respect for patents.
Congress just legalized sex censorship: What to know
One week ago, the worst possible legislation curtailing free speech online passed and sex censorship bill FOSTA-SESTA is on its way to be signed into law by Trump. Hours after the announcement, everything from the mere discussion of sex work to client screening and safe advertising networks began getting systematically erased from the open internet. Thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of women, LGBTQ people, gay men, immigrants, and a significant number of people of color lost their income. Pushed out of safe online spaces and toward street corners. So were any and all victims of sex trafficking that law enforcement might've been able to find on the open internet.
Let’s stop pretending Facebook cares
The really great thing to come out of the Cambridge Analytica scandal is that Facebook will now start doing that thing we were previously assured at every turn they were doing all along. And all it took was everyone finding out about the harvesting and sale of everyone's data to right-wing zealots like Steve Bannon for political power. Not Facebook finding out because they already knew. For years. In fact, Facebook knew it so well, the company legally threatened Observer and NYT to prevent their reporting on it, to keep everyone else from finding out.
Trump's Chinese tariffs could have a big impact on the tech industry
Trump has shouted about weaponizing trade since the campaign trail, but this year he's put it to action, committing to solar tariffs back in January that endangered US jobs. This afternoon, Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum to enact tariffs on up to $60 billion worth of imports from China, including products in the tech sector. It is "the first of many" actions, Trump reportedly said as he signed it. China immediately fired back by claiming it would retaliate and "defend its legitimate rights and interests" if the US imposes those restrictions, according to a Ministry of Commerce statement.
Democrats aim to subpoena Apple, Twitter over private chats
The House of Representatives' investigation into Russia's election interference may have ended, but Democrats are still discussing what they'd like to do if and when they regain a House majority -- and it could have significant repercussions for the tech industry. Their recently published memo in the aftermath of the investigation calls on the House Intelligence Committee to subpoena Apple, Twitter and WhatsApp for info regarding encrypted chat apps and private messages. The Democrats want to know which apps key actors in the 2016 US election used, and what they said.
Facebook suspends Trump-linked data firm Cambridge Analytica (update: response)
Late Friday night, Facebook has announced it's suspending Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) from its site. While you may not have heard of SCL, its political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica has made headlines in the last few years due to work for the Trump campaign and the Brexit initiative. According to former US Magistrate and current Facebook Deputy General Counsel Paul Grewal, this move is occurring because an app "thisisyourdigitallife" pulled in personal information of the 270,000 people who used it as well as information from their friends. While this is allowed under its policy, its creator -- a Cambridge psych professor named Dr. Aleksandr Kogan -- passed the data onto other parties including Cambridge Analytica.
Rex Tillerson gets his bad news just like we do: on Twitter
Donald Trump tweeted today that Rex Tillerson will no longer be serving as Secretary of State and will be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo. However, according to State Department Under Secretary Steve Goldstein, Tillerson didn't find out about his removal from the president and it appears that he may have heard the news through Trump's tweet. "The Secretary did not speak to the President and is unaware of the reason, but he is grateful for the opportunity to serve, and still believes strongly that public service is a noble calling," Goldstein said in a statement. Tillerson just returned from a week-long trip in Africa and the New York Times reports that there had been no sign that Tillerson was set to be fired while he was on that trip. This isn't the first time a Trump-appointed official has found out about their removal through an announcement rather than a conversation with the president. Ex-FBI Director James Comey reportedly thought he was being pranked when he learned about his firing through the news last year.
London Mayor: Tech companies aren't above the law
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, kicked off his SXSW 2018 keynote with some jokes that sparked a deafening laugh and applause from the audience. He first talked about how he was shocked by the amount of hipsters here in Austin, Texas, followed by a comment that he's excited to be on almost the same time zone as President Donald Trump. Just in case Number 45 decides to feud with him on Twitter. But Khan didn't come to SXSW for his comedy, though his sense of humor was certainly appreciated by those in attendance. Once he got to his real message, London's mayor mainly focused on discussing the impact of social media and technology as a whole on the world.
Trump blocks Broadcom's attempted takeover of Qualcomm
Broadcom's hopes of acquiring Qualcomm might have been quashed for good. President Trump has issued an order blocking Broadcom's proposed takeover and anything "substantially equivalent" to it over concerns that it might "impair the national security" of the country. The order also disqualifies all 15 of Broadcom's proposed directors for Qualcomm. The move follows a letter from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US warning the companies that it believed the takeover would pose too great a security risk.
Trump's video game meeting may not lead to any further action
Early this week, Trump at last announced that he would meet with leaders of the video game industry. Not to discuss the rising frustration with loot boxes, but to rehash the exhausted and research-debunked notion that playing games causes people to become more violent. Predictably, Trump invited zero scientists or respected researchers to the summit, instead stacking it with outspoken video game critics and a trio of Republican lawmakers. And surprising nobody, the hour-long meeting produced very few actionable results.
Judge suggests Trump should mute followers instead of block them
Last year, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sued Donald Trump, then White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and White House Director of Social Media Daniel Scavino claiming that the president's blocking of individuals on Twitter is a violation of their First Amendment rights. The group argues that Trump's account constitutes a public forum and therefore, blocking US citizens from accessing it is unconstitutional.
Trump spurns experts for his video game meeting
Donald Trump is hosting a meeting today, which, according to a White House spokesperson, has been set "to discuss violent video-game exposure and the correlation to aggression and desensitization in children." CNN's Jake Tapper tweeted the list of attendees earlier today and it includes members of the video game industry as well as outspoken critics of violent video games. However, as Rolling Stone points out, there aren't any scientists included in the meeting -- a glaring omission if you're interested in having a truly representative discussion about video games and real-world violence.
