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Senate committee asks Facebook, Google and Twitter to testify on privacy
The list of people that want to hear from social media giants in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal keeps getting longer. Senator Ron Wyden wants to know how the data collection happened in the first place, and Facebook talked to Congressional staffers last week. The FTC is investigating the whole debacle, as well. Mark Zuckerberg is predictably sorry. Now the Senate Judiciary Committee has invited the CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter to testify on April 10th over data privacy procedures.
Facebook plans to brief Congress on the Cambridge Analytica scandal
Facebook is obviously in some very hot water in regards to Cambridge Analytica's use of its users' data. US Congress, the UK Parliament and even the FTC are looking for answers and Facebook is now agreeing to answer them. A company spokesperson has told us that Facebook representatives will be in Washington DC today and tomorrow meeting with staffers for the House and Senate Intel Committees, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Senate Commerce Committee and the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. Bloomberg reports that details on committee briefings are being worked out.
Congress wants answers from Facebook about Cambridge Analytica
You knew it was just a matter of time before Congress joined those investigating Facebook's data sharing debacle, even if it's only in a tentative way. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg asking him to explain how Cambridge Analytica ended up with data on 50 million people, most of them without permission. In addition to details of the incident itself, Wyden wants to know why Facebook didn't drop Cambridge Analytica when it learned of the collection in 2015, whether the data was used for targeted ads and how this could happen despite the FTC decree limiting Facebook's data collection and sharing activities.
Senate set to approve bill that would make credit freezes free
In the aftermath of last year's Equifax data breach, a handful of Senators led by Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill that would allow consumers to freeze their credit at any time for free. Now the Senate appears to be set to approve a broader banking bill that includes that stipulation, the Wall Street Journal reports. Currently, eight states and Washington DC require credit-reporting agencies like Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to provide credit freezes at no cost to the consumer while the other 42 states allow those companies to charge fees in most cases. But this bill, on track to be approved by the Senate next week, would make it so all consumers across the country could request and end a credit freeze without having to pay any fees to do so.
The Senate has its own insincere net neutrality bill
Now that the House of Representatives has floated a superficial net neutrality bill, it's the Senate's turn. Louisiana Senator John Kennedy has introduced a companion version of the Open Internet Preservation Act that effectively replicates the House measure put forward by Tennessee Representative Marsha Blackburn. As before, it supports net neutrality only on a basic level -- and there are provisions that would make it difficult to combat other abuses.
Senate officially introduces resolution to restore net neutrality
Last week, the FCC officially published its net neutrality rollback plans, which were voted on back in December. Today, the next stage of the battle begins. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) has introduced his Congressional Review Act "resolution of disapproval" that would begin the process of undoing the FCC's vote.
Equifax breach may have exposed more data than first thought
The 2017 Equifax data breach was already extremely serious by itself, but there are hints it was somehow worse. CNN has learned that Equifax told the US Senate Banking Committee that more data may have been exposed than initially determined. The hack may have compromised more driver's license info, such as the issuing data and host state, as well as tax IDs. In theory, it would be that much easier for intruders to commit fraud.
Tumblr, Sonos among those backing another net neutrality day of action
A number of organizations and websites are planning an online day of action meant to garner more support for a Senate vote that would reverse the FCC's removal of net neutrality protections. The Senate is currently one vote away from overturning the FCC's decision and the day of action aims to convince one more Senator to vote in favor of protecting net neutrality. Taking place on February 27th, Operation: #OneMoreVote is already backed by companies like Tumblr, Etsy, Vimeo, Medium, Imgur, Sonos, Namecheap and DuckDuckGo.
Facebook: Russian trolls created 129 event posts during 2016 election
On Thursday the Senate Intelligence committee released information from Facebook, Google and Twitter responding to Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election. In its statement, Facebook noted that Russian "Internet Research Agency" (IRA) troll accounts set up 129 events across 12 pages, that were viewed by over 338,000 accounts, with 62,500 saying they were going. What isn't known is how many people actually went to these events, many of which were set up to inflame opposing groups on topics such as Black Lives Matter or immigration.
US government will investigate fake net neutrality comments
In December, a number of US Representatives sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) asking it to investigate fraudulent comments submitted to the FCC's proposal to repeal net neutrality. Multiple groups found evidence that millions of the comments submitted during the FCC's public comment period were linked to fake email addresses, were fraudulently posted under others' names and addresses and were even attributed to people known to be dead. Congressional leaders, attorneys general and even FCC commissioners called for the FCC to delay its vote on the proposal while the extent of the fake comments could be properly investigated, though as we well know, the FCC went ahead with the vote anyway. Now, Ars Technica reports, the GAO has agreed to investigate the issue.
Senate votes to extend NSA’s warrantless surveillance program
Last week, the US House of Representatives voted to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a law that lets the National Security Agency monitor communications of non-US citizens living outside of the US. Today, the Senate has also voted in favor of renewing the law for another six years.
Democrats are just one vote shy of restoring net neutrality (Update)
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer now says Democrats in the Senate are a single vote away from restoring net neutrality. According to the senator from New York, they now have a total of 50 votes for a Senate resolution of disapproval that would restore the Open Internet Order of 2015 and deliver a stiff rebuke to Ajit Pai and other Republican members of the FCC. It would also prevent the agency from passing a similar measure in the future, all but guaranteeing Net Neutrality is permanently preserved.
New bill seeks to ban Huawei from any US government contracts
Mere days since Huawei lost a deal with AT&T to sell its flagship phones in the US due to security concerns, the Chinese tech company faces a new challenge to its US expansion plans. Congress has just proposed a bill that prohibits any government agency from working with Huawei (and another Chinese tech firm, ZTE). The bill, titled H. R. 4747: "Defending U.S. Government Communications Act," cites several intelligence reports that these telecommunications companies are "subject to state influence."
US Senate and Navy computers tied to revenge porn site
The Daily Beast reports today that a number of users of revenge porn site Anon-IB appear to be connecting from government computers. Einar Otto Stangvik, a security analyst with Norway's VG newspaper, was able to pull IP addresses from the website and they showed that a number of Anon-IB commenters and posters were logging on through IP addresses belonging to the US Navy, the US Senate, the Department of Energy and the Executive Office of the President.
Facebook and Google will testify to Senate over terrorist content
It's not just European countries who aren't satisfied with internet giants' ability to curb online terrorist content. The US Senate has summoned Facebook, Google (or rather, Alphabet) and Twitter to testify at a January 17th Commerce Committee hearing that will "examine the steps" social networks have been taking to fight the spread of online extremist material. All three have agreed to testify and will send their policy leaders. We've asked them if they can comment on the upcoming testimony and will let you know if they can hint at what they'll say.
Huawei's AT&T deal may have failed due to political pressure
Just yesterday, a deal between Huawei and AT&T to sell the Chinese company's flagship phones through the carrier's US stores was reported to have fallen through. According to The Information, the plan was scrapped over political pressure from US lawmakers who saw Huawei as a security threat.
Senate bill would help guard against election hacks
American election security is a mess. Many voting systems are vulnerable, but replacing machines is expensive -- and then there's the lack of coordination between different levels of government. The country needs a lot of help if it's going to prevent a repeat of Russia's 2016 interference, let alone full-fledged tampering. Some new legislation might sort things out, however. A bipartisan group of senators has introduced the Secure Elections Act, a bill that would support state election systems with resources and expertise that could help fend off hacking attempts.
Senators make last ditch effort to halt the FCC's net neutrality vote
The FCC is set to vote this Thursday on its proposal to remove net neutrality protections put in place in 2015 and while it's all but certain that the commission will vote in favor of the proposal, some still haven't given up trying to convince the commissioners to change their minds. The Hill reports today that 39 senators signed a letter addressed to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai requesting that he reconsider. "We write to urge you to abandon your reckless plan to radically alter the free and open internet as we know it," the Democrats wrote. "Your proposed action will amount to the largest abdication of the Federal Communications Commission's statutory responsibilities in history."
Proposed Senate bill could send execs who conceal breaches to jail
A re-introduced Senate bill is addressing a timely topic, by making it a crime -- punishable by up to five years in prison -- if companies knowingly conceal a breach of customer information. After a slew of cyber attacks (like the one on Equifax) and news that Uber concealed a breach impacting some 57 million people, Sen. Bill Nelson, the ranking Democrat on the commerce committee, is reviving a bill he tried to pass during the last session called the "Data Security and Breach Notification Act (PDF)."
EFF tool tells your members of Congress to fight for net neutrality
The FCC may be bent on killing net neutrality, but that doesn't mean you have to stay silent or offer mostly symbolic protests. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has created a web tool that makes it easy to ask your members of Congress to fight for an open internet. All you have to do us plug in your address, personalize your message (if you like) and hit "submit" -- your representatives and senators will receive your concerns and hopefully do something about it.