whitehouse
Latest
US Surgeon General orders tech companies to reveal sources of COVID-19 misinformation
The US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has formally called on tech companies to provide information on sources and the scale of COVID-19 misinformation
US signs act that opens government data to the public into law
POTUS has signed a bill into law that includes the OPEN Government Data Act, following approvals (and amendments) from the Senate and then by the House of Representatives. The sweeping legislation is aimed at making public data released by the government easier to access via smartphones and other electronic devices. It essentially requires that federal agencies publish any "non-sensitive" info in a "machine-readable" format (meaning in a file type that a phone or laptop can process, rather than a raw data dump).
Secret Service will test facial recognition around the White House
Like it or not, facial recognition is creeping into more public spaces. The US Secret Service has quietly started testing the technology in and around the White House grounds, including nearby parks and streets, to see if it can "biometrically confirm" the identities of volunteer Secret Service employees. The pilot program will only retain images if there's a match and won't share information with other agencies, but the ultimate goal is to spot known "subjects of interest" (read: potential threats) before there's a run-in with law enforcement.
White House to host innovation talk with tech CEOs
The White House is set to host a roundtable discussion next week that will include a number of tech CEOs, the Wall Street Journal reports. A White House email says those attending will discuss "bold, transformational ideas" that "can help ensure US leadership in industries of the future," and they'll do so December 6th. Among those reportedly participating are Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf, Blackstone Group CEO Steve Schwarzman and Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian.
China and Russia reportedly eavesdrop on Trump's cellphone calls
President Trump's reported decision to ignore phone security advice may have had serious consequences. Current and former officials talking to the New York Times said that Trump has refused to stop making calls on his iPhones (two official ones, one personal) despite intelligence officials warning that China and Russia are eavesdropping on his conversations. Officials have succeeded in pushing Trump to use the White House's secure landline more often, but they've allegedly resigned themselves to hoping that he won't discuss classified material when chatting with friends on his smartphones.
Google CEO to attend White House meeting on social media
Following the meeting he had last week with Republican lawmakers in Washington, DC, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has agreed to attend a meeting of social media companies hosted by the White House. The Trump administration is also hoping that representatives from Facebook and Twitter will attend as well, Bloomberg reports. Larry Kudlow, the White House economic advisor, was among those who met with Pichai last Friday to address claims of bias, and he said today that the discussions went well.
White House downplays talk of executive order targeting internet bias
Is President Trump looking at an executive order that would investigate internet companies over his accusations of political bias? Not officially... although the government isn't strictly denying the claims, either. After Bloomberg reported the existence of a draft order, deputy White House press secretary Lindsey Walters issued a statement that the document was "not the result of an official policymaking process." It's not saying the story is wrong, as such -- it is, however, downplaying the prospect of such an order becoming a reality.
White House sanctions quicker response to foreign cyber attacks
This week, the White House approved a new policy that allows the military to undertake actions that fall below the "use of force" threshold. This frees up military organizations to engage in more day-to-day "cyber operations" against foreign countries in order to protect US networks and systems, according to The Washington Post.
White House reportedly working on federal data privacy policy
The Trump administration is working on a set of data privacy protections, the Washington Post reports, and according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, officials have held 22 meetings with more than 80 companies and groups since last month. Companies like Facebook, Google, AT&T and Comcast have been involved, according to four Washington Post sources familiar with the matter. The short-term goal is to deliver a data privacy proposal -- including how data should be collected and handled and what rights consumers have regarding that data -- which could serve as a guide for lawmakers as they consider legislation.
Fundraiser to reunite immigrant families is largest in Facebook history
In the last six weeks, the Trump administration's strategy to separate children while criminally prosecuting parents for attempting to cross the southern US border illegally has led the government to take almost 2,000 youth from their families to camps and foster homes across the country. This has ignited a furor over the last week, and people have voted with their wallets. A Facebook fundraiser dedicated to reuniting these families is the largest in the social media platform's history and has raised $10.5 million to date since launching on June 16th.
Senate votes to reinstate ZTE ban in the US
The Trump administration's decision to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping to bring ZTE back to business didn't sit well with lawmakers from both sides. A group of Senators from the Republican and Democratic parties recently amended the National Defense Authorization Act to include language that reinstates the sanctions against ZTE. Now, the Senate has overwhelmingly voted in favor (85-10) of restoring those sanctions, going against the president's wishes to save the Chinese tech giant. It will undo the agreement between the US and China to remove those trade sanctions if ZTE pays a $1 billion penalty and adds a US-picked compliance department.
US targets Chinese tech with a 25 percent tariff
Donald Trump has slapped a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, significantly ramping up trade tensions between the nations. The tariff applies to "industrially significant" goods in sectors like aerospace, information tech, robotics and machinery, but not on consumer goods like smartphones or TVs. "The United States can no longer tolerate losing our technology and intellectual property through unfair economic practices," Trump said in a statement.
White House confirms its chief of staff was hacked
A personal email account of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly was hacked, according to an email obtained by Buzzfeed via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. "As we discussed ... my folks are nervous about the emails you send and ask that you no longer include them on any postings," Kelly wrote. "Then there is hacking which one of my own personal accounts has suffered recently. I do almost everything now by phone or face-to-face comms."
Donald Trump really wants to be allowed to block people on Twitter
If there's one thing President Donald Trump has made clear during his time in office so far, it's that he's a big fan of Twitter. And that includes -- as recent legal battles demonstrate -- blocking users that disagree with his views. And even though last month a federal judge ruled that doing this constituted a violation of the First Amendment, it seems it's a pretty important feature for Trump, as the US Justice Department now says it will appeal that ruling.
The bogus expert and social media chicanery of DC’s top cyber think tank
Like viruses, cybersecurity charlatans are incidental guests in the body of infosec. These men sell false expertise, conspiracy theories, and invisible security potions and they are as unintentionally hilarious as they are alarming. Case in point: BuzzFeed's exposé of James Scott, cofounder of Washington DC's big cybersecurity think tank, ICIT (Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology).
Trump administration tells Congress it has deal to save ZTE
The US government should soon act on its promise to give ZTE another chance following its revived export ban. The New York Times has learned that the Trump administration has informed Congress of a Commerce Department deal that would let ZTE take American exports as long as it accepted new penalties. It would have to pay a "substantial" fine, shake up its management team and hire American compliance officers to keep it on the straight and narrow.
In time for hacking season, the US has no cybersecurity coordinator
Picture the scene: John Bolton stands proudly against a backdrop of an American flag, smiling beneath his pruriently confrontative mustache, dusting his hands off as befits a man who's just completed a task of wistfully virile middle-management. John Bolton just eradicated the White House positions (and people) who would stand between the United States and cyberattacks against our voting processes, our infrastructure and the tatters of our democracy. John Bolton grips his red stapler. John Bolton is in his happy place.
Trump administration takes a hands-off approach to AI
The Trump administration has a simple approach to regulating artificial intelligence: developers pretty much have free reign to experiment. At a meeting with representatives of 40 companies including Google, Facebook and Intel, White House science advisor Michael Kratsios said the administration will avoid AI regulations for the foreseeable future, Bloomberg reported.
Amazon, Google and Microsoft to attend White House AI summit
The Trump administration hasn't exactly been receptive to AI -- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin once said it was "not even on [his] radar screen." However, it's warming up. The White House is holding a summit on May 10th where representatives from 38 companies (including Amazon, Facebook, Google and Intel) will discuss how the government can fund AI research and alter regulations to advance the technology. A Washington Post source said the government was also mulling proposals that could include providing more data for AI research.
The White House's anti-cyberbullying campaign copied an old FTC pamphlet
First lady Melania Trump has launched a new anti-cyberbullying campaign called "Be Best," and the White House has released a pamphlet to go with it -- one that's not quite as new. As BuzzFeed News has pointed out, the campaign's "Talking with Kids About Being Online" brochure copies an Obama-era FTC document for its "Net Cetera" program back in 2014. If you look at the documents side by side, the covers are almost identical, with slight changes to the smartphone graphics to make them look less like a Samsung Galaxy S3 and more like an iPhone X.
