The end-of-the-year funding package for FY 2021 is stuffed with technology policy changes. At the tail end of the calendar year 2020, Congress and the White House finally agreed on FY 2021 appropriations and further COVID-19 relief funding and policies, much of which implicated or involved technology policy. As is often the practice, Congressional stakeholders … Continue reading FY 2021 Omnibus and COVID Stimulus Become Law
The top U.S. intelligence official admits the PATRIOT Act has been used to surveil a website and its visitors. This admission could result in a narrowing of FISA to stop this and related practices. In a follow-on letter to correct his previous letter the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) acknowledged the Federal Bureau of Investigation … Continue reading IC Concedes PATRIOT Act Used To Collect Browsing
Further Reading “Social media superspreaders: Why Instagram, not Facebook, will be the real battleground for COVID-19 vaccine misinformation” By Isobel Asher Hamilton — Business Insider. According to one group, COVID-19 anti-vaccination lies and misinformation are proliferating on Instagram despite its parent company’s, Facebook, efforts to find and remove such content. There has been dramatic growth … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (10 December)
Further Reading “ICE, IRS Explored Using Hacking Tools, New Documents Show” By Joseph Cox — Vice. Federal agencies other than the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Intelligence Community (IC) appear to be interesting in utilizing some of the capabilities offered by the private sector to access devices or networks in the name of … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (11 November)
Further Reading “Harris target of more misinformation than Pence, data shows” By Amanda Seitz — Associated Press News. Given the hostile treatment women and minorities in the United States face on social media, it is not a surprise that Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) has faced a barrage of sexist, racist, and xenophobic invective online.“The Untold … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (2 November)
Further Reading “Cyberattacks hit Louisiana government offices as worries rise about election hacking” By Eric Geller — Politico. The Louisiana National Guard located and addressed a remote access trojan, a common precursor to ransomware attacks, in some of the state’s systems. This may or may not have been the beginning stages of an election day … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (29 October)
The U.S. and UK announced Russian hacking, including attempts to derail the last few Olympic Games. The EU also announced unrelated cyber sanctions. The United Kingdom’s Government Communications Headquarters’ (GCHQ) National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) unveiled the Russian Federation’s military hacking of past Olympics and the scheduled but delayed Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Even though … Continue reading Russian Hacking Uncovered
U.S. security services called out Russian and Iranian efforts to hack and disrupt the U.S. election. There was a split between the DNI’s view and those in the intelligence agencies, however. The United States (U.S.) government announced that the Russian Federation and Iran have undertaken operations to disrupt and undermine next month’s U.S. election. The … Continue reading U.S. Alleges Russian and Iranian Election Interference
Further Reading “The Man Who Speaks Softly—and Commands a Big Cyber Army” By Garrett Graff — WIRED. A profile of General Paul Nakasone, the leader of both the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) and Cyber Command, who has operated mostly in the background during the tumultuous Trump Administration. He has likely set the template … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (14 October)
The U.S. tries to lay out the reasons why data can still be transferred from the EU The Trump Administration has released a crib sheet they are hoping United States (U.S.) multinationals will have success in using to argue to data protection authorities (DPA) in the European Union that their Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) and … Continue reading Commerce White Paper on Schrems II
Michael Kans 