On Monday, AT&T confirmed the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to sue in order to block the company’s plans to purchase Time Warner for $85.4 billion. Earlier reports suggested that the DOJ would move against the deal if AT&T did not intend to sell CNN. CNN has a famously fraught relationship with the Trump administration which has gone out of its way to attack the… Read More
Category: Government
AWS launches a Secret region for the U.S. intelligence community
Amazon today announced that its AWS cloud computing service now offers a new region that’s specifically designed for the workloads of the U.S. intelligence community. This new AWS Secret Region (that’s really its name) can run workloads up to the “secret” security classification level and will complement the service’s existing $600 million contract with the CIA… Read More
UK report calls out “dubious” gig economy practices, urges law reform
Pressure is mounting on the UK government to close loopholes in employment law to protect people working in the gig economy from being underpaid and otherwise exploited. Read More
View More UK report calls out “dubious” gig economy practices, urges law reformVoting machine makers explain what they do (and don’t do) to make sure no one hacks the vote
As the House and Senate continue to examine the wave of disinformation around the 2016 presidential election, concerns around the security of voting systems examine something even more germane to the U.S. democratic system. Read More
View More Voting machine makers explain what they do (and don’t do) to make sure no one hacks the voteStudy: Russian Twitter bots sent 45k Brexit tweets close to vote
Research conducted by a group of data scientists looking at how information was diffused on Twitter around the June 2016 EU referendum vote suggests more than 150,000 Russian accounts were involved in tweeting about #Brexit. Read More
View More Study: Russian Twitter bots sent 45k Brexit tweets close to voteFacebook says Russia did try to meddle in Brexit vote
BuzzFeed has obtained a statement from Facebook in which the tech giant admits, for the first time, that some Russia-linked accounts may have used its platform to try to interfere in the UK’s European Union referendum vote in June 2016. Read More
Facebook says Russia did try to meddle in Brexit vote
BuzzFeed has obtained a statement from Facebook in which the tech giant admits, for the first time, that some Russia-linked accounts may have used its platform to try to interfere in the UK’s European Union referendum vote in June 2016. Read More
In major policy change YouTube is now taking down more videos of known extremists
A spokeswoman told us YouTube has broadened its policy for taking down extremist content: Not just removing videos that directly preach hate or seek to incite violence but also removing other videos of named terrorists, unless the content is journalistic or educational in nature — such as news reports and documentaries. Read More
Tampa offers first demo of its connected vehicle technology project, launching with 1,600 cars in 2018
Tampa’s goal to become a smart city was on display on Monday, as the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority hosted the first public demonstration of a connected vehicle technology research project that will launch into pilot testing in 2018. The project involves outfitting a fleet of 1,600 privately owned vehicles. Read More
Senate Democrats press FEC to expand disclosure requirements to online political advertising
A group of 15 top Democratic senators are pushing the Federal Election Commission to expand disclosure requirements on political ads to include commercials distributed online. Read More
View More Senate Democrats press FEC to expand disclosure requirements to online political advertisingSenate plans disastrous tax on vesting that could kill stock compensation
A proposed tax that charges people as their startup equity vests instead of when they cash it out and actually have money to pay the taxes could wreck how tech companies recruit talent. And the industry doesn’t have much time to mobilize to get this tax changed. The U.S. Senate released its proposed tax reform bill late last week under the aggrandized “Tax Cuts and Jobs… Read More
Bike-share platform Spin poaches Seattle transit regulator and launches in a dozen new cities
Spin, one of several bike-sharing companies now vying for dominance in a number of U.S. cities, has a new weapon to wield against its competitors: Kyle Rowe, the architect of Seattle’s permissive and apparently successful bike-share permit system, who is joining the company to work on government partnerships. In addition, Spin is gearing up to launch in a dozen or so new cities. Read More