It’s not clear who will end up where, but new Senate chairs will change focus and agenda of committees and debate over the next two years. With the victories of Senators-elect Rafael Warnock (D-GA) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA), control of the United States Senate will tip to the Democrats once Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (D) … Continue reading Preview of Senate Democratic Chairs
Further Reading “Microsoft Says Russian Hackers Viewed Some of Its Source Code” By Nicole Perlroth — The New York Times. The Sluzhba vneshney razvedki Rossiyskoy Federatsii’s (SVR) hack keeps growing and growing with Microsoft admitting its source code was viewed through an employee account. It may be that authorized Microsoft resellers were one of the … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Development, and Coming Events (4 January 2021)
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
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 “Facebook steps up campaign to ban false information about coronavirus vaccines” By Elizabeth Dwoskin — The Washington Post. In its latest step to find and remove lies, misinformation, and disinformation, the social media giant is now committing to removing and blocking untrue material about COVID-19 vaccines, especially from the anti-vaccine community. Will the … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Development, and Coming Events (7 December)
Further Reading “Trump fires top DHS official who refuted his claims that the election was rigged” By Ellen Nakashima and Nick Miroff — The Washington Post. As rumored, President Donald Trump has decapitated the United States’ (U.S.) Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Director Christopher Krebs was fired via Twitter, after … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (18 November)
A long awaited bill to revamp how the U.S. government secures its IOT is on its way to the White House. Last night, the Senate agreed to a House passed bill that would remake how the United States (U.S.) government buys Internet of Things (IOT) items, with the idea that requiring security standards in government … Continue reading Bill To Reform IOT Security in U.S. Passes Congress
Further Reading “Facebook bans ‘STOP THE STEAL’ group Trump allies were using to organize protests against vote counting” By Tony Romm, Isaac Stanley-Becker and Elizabeth Dwoskin — The Washington Post. A significant portion of the online activity among those on the right wing alleging that the Biden Campaign and Democrats have stolen the election is traceable to right-wing … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (9 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 