Biden Advisers Ride on Pegasus Spyware
By: The American Prospect July 21, 2021 The NSO Group, now part of a Washington Post exposé, has for years enlisted powerful consultants to save its reputation. A new investigation by The Washington Post and a consortium of 16 international news outlets reveals that software from an Israeli company named NSO Group has spied on […]
Biden to Appoint Big Tech Critic to DOJ Antitrust Role
By: The Hill July 20, 2021 President Biden plans to appoint lawyer Jonathan Kanter as the head of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust division, the White House announced Tuesday, another sign of the administration’s intention to take on Big Tech. Kanter has been a favorite pick of progressive organizations pushing for the DOJ […]
Beijing’s Costly Plans for Cybersecurity ‘Self-Sufficiency’
By: Protocol July 20, 2021 Amid China’s multipronged efforts to command and secure its wealth of data, as well as hacking allegations being flung between the country and an alliance of Western nations and bodies including the U.S., the EU, Japan and NATO, Chinese regulators have announced plans to grow the country’s cybersecurity industry as much as fourfold […]
Tech Executives Increased Political Donations Amid Lobbying Push
By: The Hill July 16, 2021 Executives at the nation’s largest tech companies made huge donations to key lawmakers in recent months as Congress debated legislation that would reshape the industry. The influx of donations came in as the tech industry urged lawmakers to abandon antitrust legislation that could make it easier for regulators to break […]
Israeli Spyware Firm Linked to Fake Black Lives Matter and Amnesty Websites – Report
By: Guardian July 15, 2021 Researchers say web domains masquerading as activist, health and media groups are used by governments to hack targets An Israeli company that sells spyware to governments is linked to fake Black Lives Matter and Amnesty International websites that are used to hack targets, according to a new report. […]
Twitter Seeing More Government Requests to Remove Journalists’ Content: Report
By: The Hill Jul 14, 2021 Twitter has reported that it has seen an increase in the number of legal demands by governments to have journalists or news outlets take down content in the second half of 2020, according to the social media’s transparency report published on Wednesday. The social media company noted that 199 accounts […]
Inside Facebook’s Data Wars
By: New York Times July 14, 2021 One day in April, the people behind CrowdTangle, a data analytics tool owned by Facebook, learned that transparency had limits. Brandon Silverman, CrowdTangle’s co-founder and chief executive, assembled dozens of employees on a video call to tell them that they were being broken up. CrowdTangle, which […]
Racist Abuse of Black Footballers Reignites Debate Over Social Media Policing
By: Financial Times July 13, 2021 The torrent of racist abuse targeted at black England footballers in the wake of the team’s loss in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday has reignited the national debate over the policing of social media platforms, with Boris Johnson urging tech bosses on Tuesday to “up their game”. […]
How New Biden Rules Could Make It Easier To Buy Hearing Aids Or Fix Your Phone
By: NPR July 9, 2021 President Biden unveiled a new plan on Friday taking aim at powerful industries where a handful of players have so much market clout that they can drive up prices, depress wages and make it hard for small companies to break in. “We know we’ve got a problem, a […]