Further Reading “Why the Russian hack is so significant, and why it's close to a worst-case scenario” By Kevin Collier — NBC News. This article quotes experts who paint a very ugly picture for the United States (U.S.) in trying to recover from the Russian Federation’s hack. Firstly, the Russians are very good at what … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (11 January 2021)
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 “DHS, State and NIH join list of federal agencies — now five — hacked in major Russian cyberespionage campaign” By Ellen Nakashima and Craig Timberg — The Washington Post; “Scope of Russian Hack Becomes Clear: Multiple U.S. Agencies Were Hit” By David E. Sanger, Nicole Perlroth and Eric Schmitt — The New York … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (15 December)
Further Reading “Facebook failed to put fact-check labels on 60% of the most viral posts containing Georgia election misinformation that its own fact-checkers had debunked, a new report says” By Tyler Sonnemaker — Business Insider. Despite its vows to improve its managing of untrue and false content, the platform is not consistently taking down such … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Development, and Coming Events (8 December)
Further Reading “How the U.S. Military Buys Location Data from Ordinary Apps” By Joseph Cox — Vice’s Motherboard. This article confirms the entirely foreseeable: the Department of Defense and its contractors are obtaining and using personal information from smartphones all over the world. Given this practice is common in United States’ (U.S.) law enforcement agencies, … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (17 November)
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)
A number of tech ballot initiatives were considered. There were a number of significant technology measures put before voters in states in yesterday’s election. The most significant were in California as voters agreed to replace the “California Consumer Privacy Act” (CCPA) (AB 375) with a new privacy bill, voted for another technology-related ballot initiative, and … Continue reading Tech Election Results
Further Reading “How Facebook and Twitter plan to handle election day disinformation” By Sam Dean — The Los Angeles Times; “How Big Tech is planning for election night” By Heather Kelly — The Washington Post; and “What to Expect From Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on Election Day” By Mike Isaac, Kate Conger and Daisuke Wakabayashi … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (3 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 “The Police Can Probably Break Into Your Phone” By Jack Nicas — The New York Times. So, about “Going Dark.” Turns out nations and law enforcement officials have either oversold the barrier that default end-to-end encryption on phones creates or did not understand the access that police were already getting to many encrypted … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (27 October)
Michael Kans 