Legislators so far are reacting along party lines to NTIA’s petition (see 2007270070) that the FCC help crack down on social media. Even GOP lawmakers who were somewhat supportive cautioned regulators not to run afoul of the First Amendment.
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
Face recognition algorithm accuracy declines substantially with masked faces, the National Institute of Standards and Technology reported Monday. For the most accurate algorithms tested, authentication failure rates increased from 0.3% for unmasked individuals to 5% when scanning digitally masked faces, NIST said.
There's no grace period for companies to continue transferring data from Europe to the U.S. without assessing its legal basis, the European Data Protection Board said in FAQs published Friday. Some stakeholders were hoping for a grace period after the European Court of Justice invalidated Privacy Shield (see 2007160002).
The FTC received at least two complaints through July 13 in response to President Donald Trump’s May 28 social media executive order (see 2007100052). The filings, which we obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, allege “deception/misrepresentation” by Facebook and Twitter.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee advanced two bills by voice vote Wednesday targeting tech threats from China. One seeks to address Chinese theft of American research and intellectual property, and the other would ban federal employees from using the social media app TikTok on government-issued devices.
Amazon began additional checks for certifying Alexa’s voice-control capabilities, or skills, a spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. In a presentation before the FTC that day, Clemson University Graduate Research Assistant Christin Wilson described Alexa’s certification process as “improper and disorganized." The agency held PrivacyCon, a conference with researchers meant to help identify consumer risks and better target enforcement efforts, Consumer Protection Bureau Director Andrew Smith said.
The technology modernization fund (TMF) is grossly underfunded and a contributing factor to government’s ill-equipped information technology systems, said House Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and witnesses at a hearing Monday. Response to COVID-19 exposed federal and state government weaknesses, especially with legacy IT systems that are sometimes 30-40 years old, Connolly said, hosting a hybrid virtual and in-person hearing. IT systems have been inadequate in processing the Small Business Administration’s small business loans and grants and the Internal Revenue Service’s payment of stimulus checks, he added. The TMF “remains chronically underfunded,” Connolly said. Ranking member Jody Hice, R-Ga., urged focus on improving the TMF to help the government replace legacy systems, saying the U.S. needs to get more agile and up to date. Draft legislation for the TMF sought $3 billion annually, but it was never funded at more than $25 million, and most years there’s been zero funding, testified MeriTalk founder Steve O’Keeffe. The Alliance for Digital Innovation supports a significant increase to the TMF, said Executive Director Matthew Cornelius. Every federal agency should have a top technology official who can inject that experience into policies, testified New America Director of Strategy-Public Interest Technology Hana Schank. Congress should adopt policies that enable easier use of commercial products and services, that provide security, agility and scalability that supports the demand for digital services and data, said Information Technology Industry Council Senior Vice President-Policy Gordon Bitko.
Twitter’s human-enabled hack is another example of why the White House needs a national cyber director and the Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s (CSC) recommendations should be implemented (see 2007150065), said House Cybersecurity Subcommittee members during a hearing Friday. “It doesn’t take much imagination to see what chaos one could sow with such access on election day if a bad actor was pushing out disinformation,” said Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., of the Twitter hack.
Twitter, among social media and tech companies under public and policymaker scrutiny, faced additional skepticism after a hack of high-profile accounts. Legislators from both parties expressed concerns Thursday. After those who had verified accounts couldn't post new tweets Wednesday, the problem seemed fixed later that day. The company didn't comment.
A bipartisan group of House Oversight Committee members urged support Wednesday for creating a White House national cyber director. Republican opponents questioned the need for creating additional bureaucracy and duplicating cyber authorities, during a virtual hearing. Proponents cited COVID-19 as an example that the federal government isn’t prepared to respond to global threats.