Harvard Project Encourages Steps to Prevent Election Hacking

A bipartisan Harvard University project aimed at protecting elections from hacking and propaganda will release its first set of recommendations on how U.S. elections can be defended from hacking attacks. The 27-page guidebook calls for campaign leaders to emphasize security from the start and insist on practices such as two-factor authentication for access to email and documents and fully encrypted messaging via services including Signal and Wickr.

FCC to Unveil Rules Reversing Obama Rules on Net Neutrality

Federal regulators are expected to unveil their plans for reversing Obama-era rules that require Internet-service providers to treat all web traffic equally, a move that could fundamentally reshape the internet economy and consumers’ online experience. The changes, expected to be adopted at the Federal Communications Commission meeting in mid-December, would open the door to a wide range of new opportunities for internet providers, such as forming alliances with content firms to serve up their webpages or video at higher speeds and quality than those without such deals.

Texas Ranger Gets Search Warrant for Church Shooter's iPhone

Texas Rangers investigating the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs have served a search warrant on Silicon Valley giant Apple Inc. and are seeking digital photos, messages, documents and other types of data that might have been stored by gunman Devin Patrick Kelley, who was found with an iPhone after he killed himself. Court records obtained by the San Antonio Express-News show Texas Ranger Kevin Wright obtained search warrants on Nov. 9 for files stored on Kelley’s iPhone, a second mobile phone found near his body and for files stored in Kelley’s iCloud account -- Apple’s digital archive that can sync iPhone files.

Tech Companies Increase Lobbying After Hearings on Russia

Major tech companies are beefing up their lobbying amid scrutiny from Congress over their handling of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter testified before lawmakers this month about Russian actors using their platforms to influence the vote and tried to reassure them they were taking steps to address the issue.

Germany’s Telecommunication Agency Bans Smartwatches for Kids

Germany’s telecommunication agency, the Bundesnetzagentur, has banned smartwatches for kids, and is asking parents to destroy them. According to Bleeping Computer, (via Gizmodo) the regulators have deemed smartwatches targeted at kids “prohibitive listening devices” and are asking parents to destroy any smartwatches their kids have and advising schools to pay closer attention to kids with them.

FCC Chair Plans Final Vote on Reversing Net Neutrality Order

The head of the Federal Communications Commission is set to unveil plans for a final vote to reverse a landmark 2015 net neutrality order barring the blocking or slowing of web content, two people briefed on the plans said. In May, the FCC voted 2-1 to advance Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to withdraw the former Obama administration’s order reclassifying internet service providers as if they were utilities.

Amazon Warns Merchants About Changes to Sales Tax Collections

Amazon recently warned its sellers that the company, as of Jan. 1, would be collecting sales tax from merchants who ship orders to its home state, Washington, as it seeks to comply with a state law signed in July. That will be the first time Amazon has collected a state sales tax for the merchants known as marketplace sellers on its site.

White House Releases Rules for When to Disclose Cyber Security Flaws

The Trump administration publicly released its rules for deciding whether to disclose cyber security flaws or keep them secret, in an effort to bring more transparency to a process that has long been cloaked in mystery. The move is an attempt by the U.S. government to address criticism that it too often jeopardizes internet security by stockpiling the cyber vulnerabilities it detects in order to preserve its ability to launch its own attacks on computer systems.

Tech Trade Groups Concerned About Copyright in NAFTA Talks

The technology industry is mobilizing to push the Trump administration over concerns on copyright matters in discussions to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Top technology trade associations, which lobby on behalf technology firms’ political interests, say in a letter they’re concerned that NAFTA renegotiation discussions are going in the wrong direction on copyright provisions.

Trump Adviser Insists Tech Companies Engaging with White House

A top adviser to President Trump says that despite appearances, technology firms are actually interacting with the administration more than they let on. Reed Cordish, who advises Trump on tech policy, said that even though the administration has decreased its “photo opportunity ‘council meetings,’” with top firms, businesses are still talking one-on-one meetings to advise the president on specific policy issues.

YouTube Confirms Change in Policy on Removing Extremist Videos

Alphabet Inc’s Google in the last few months has begun removing from YouTube extremist videos that do not depict violence or preach hate, YouTube said, a major policy shift as social media companies face increasing pressure from governments.The new policy affects videos that feature people and groups that have been designated as terrorist by the U.S. or British governments but lack the gory violence or hateful speech that were already barred by YouTube.

Court Limits Justice Dep't in Viewing Data on Facebook Protesters

A court in Washington, D.C., has moved to limit the scope of search warrants obtained by federal investigators for Facebook data in connection with an ongoing investigation into criminal rioting on Inauguration Day. As a result of the order, the Department of Justice will be blocked from viewing identifying information on innocent third-party Facebook users who interacted with a page used to organize protests against President Trump on Jan. 20. 

ADL Launches Center for Technology and Society to Fight Hate Online

The Anti-Defamation League is making another move to enlist the tech industry in its efforts to curb hate online. The civil rights organization said it's opened the Center for Technology and Society, complete with an advisory board stacked with notable names like Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, Facebook Vice President of Product Guy Rosen, and Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe.

  • Read the article: CNET

YouTube Begins Blocking Videos from Extremist Anwar al-Awlaki

Under growing pressure from governments and counterterrorism advocates, YouTube has drastically reduced its video archive of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American cleric who remains the leading English-language jihadist recruiter on the Internet six years after he was killed by a United States drone strike. Using video fingerprinting technology, YouTube now flags his videos automatically and human reviewers block most of them before anyone sees them, company officials say.

Missouri Attorney General Opens Consumer Protection Probe of Google

Missouri’s attorney general has launched a broad investigation into whether Google is violating the state’s consumer-protection and antitrust laws, a new front in the Internet giant’s regulatory battles. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said he issued an investigative subpoena to probe Google’s collection of user data, its use of other sites’ content, and its alleged manipulation of search results to favor its own services.

Google Supports New Disclosure Rules for Online Political Ads

Google said that it would support the Federal Election Commission (FEC) implementing new disclosure rules for online political ads. In a filing submitted to the FEC, the Internet giant argued that advertisers and online platforms could use clearer regulations for what information needs to be disclosed on political ads and what types of ads qualify for the disclosures.

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