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Military Vaccine Mandate Is in GOP’s Sights + More
Military Vaccine Mandate Is in GOP’s Sights
The military’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement could end if Republican senators succeed in amending the National Defense Authorization Act that’s expected to pass in the coming weeks, Grace reports.
The Senate bill will likely come to the floor soon, and the GOP will try to amend it. The House passed its version of the defense bill in July, leaving the mandate intact. A conference committee must reconcile them before final enactment.
Bills sponsored by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, could form the basis for amendments. Recruiting shortfalls: Blackburn wants to lift the mandate when the military isn’t meeting its “end strength” target — the number of troops in the force — which is the case right now.
The Army missed its recruitment goal by almost 10,000 soldiers for fiscal 2022, and defense officials aren’t optimistic about 2023. The vaccine mandate isn’t helping. The armed services have discharged 8,000 active-duty troops since Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin first directed service members to get vaccinated in August 2021.
Big Tech Bleeds Tens of Thousands of Jobs After Pandemic Heyday
Major technology companies that saw an explosion of growth during the early part of the coronavirus pandemic are bleeding thousands of jobs as high interest rates and a slowing economy turn against the industry.
Amazon, Meta, Twitter, Stripe and a slew of other Big Tech firms have announced layoffs over the past month, all citing a decline in revenue and a deteriorating outlook for the global economy.
Silicon Valley powerhouses saw their stock prices and payrolls soar throughout most of the past two years. Propelled by low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve and a glut of pandemic stimulus, tech companies rode a steady wave of consumer spending in online retail, streaming services and other products to major stock gains.
But the heyday for Big Tech has come crashing down, along with the values of some its high-flying stocks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite is down 28% on the year after reaching record highs before the Fed began hiking rates in March.
Security Expert Reveals the TikTok Setting That Exposes Your Data — and How to Turn It off
If you’re one of the more than 1 billion monthly TikTok users, one cybersecurity expert is warning that without proper settings in place, the app can collect data about your contacts, browser history, location — and even personal health information.
“This application has access to those things on your phone that you might hold dear to you: your contacts, your location, your buying intent, your shopping history, your browser history, everything that we probably want to keep private,” SideChannel CEO and former Department of Defense cybersecurity leader Brian Haugli said on “Mornings with Maria” Wednesday.
According to Haugli, TikTok users unknowingly agree to the app’s terms and conditions, granting permission for the app to build a “full profile” about that individual — what area they live in, the accounts they interact or message with, even their dog’s name.
“I don’t think we’re doing enough. We have the opportunity to be able to put pressure on Google and Apple to remove this application from its store,” Haugli argued. “We have an opportunity to be able to build better regulation within the United States and actually set up infrastructure that could block access to this data or this data leaving our environment. It’s not something that the U.S. has set up today, and it’s something that I think we very much need.”
Haugli claimed that once you’ve deactivated your TikTok profile and deleted the app from your phone, your information is “scrubbed” from TikTok’s database. For those who choose to keep using the popular platform, he recommends going into your Apple or Android settings and switching “off” TikTok’s access to contacts, location services and tracking.
Telehealth Sites Put Addiction Patient Data at Risk
While mobile health options have been celebrated by doctors and advocates as a way to expand treatment for substance use disorders, there has been persistent concern over how private the websites offering treatment and support really are — especially now that the U.S. Supreme Court’s toppling of Roe v. Wade has reignited the national conversation about how far medical privacy protections extend online.
The Opioid Policy Institute (OPI) and Legal Action Center (LAC) today released the findings from a 16-month analysis of a dozen major substance-use-focused mHealth websites, revealing details of how much data is shared with third parties. While the sharing of any kind of patient information is often strictly regulated or outright forbidden, it’s even more verboten in addiction treatment, as patients’ medical history can be inherently criminal and stigmatized.
All 12 websites included technologies that collect, identify and share information about users with third parties and had ad trackers that are used for advertising purposes. The average number of these trackers “generally” increased over the 16 months, researchers found.
Furthermore, 11 of the sites used third-party session cookies that identify visitors and track them across other websites to serve ads, and four of the 12 used session recording, which monitors the behavior of visitors to the sites, from their mouse movements and clicks to their scrolling and typing, even if the text input is never submitted. Half of the websites used Meta Pixel to send user data to Facebook, 10 used Google Analytics (which can track user metrics) and all 12 sent some data to ad tech companies that buy and sell user data for advertising.
Minneapolis School Board Removes District’s Staff COVID Vaccine Mandate
Minneapolis Public Schools will no longer require employees, contractors or volunteers to get the COVID-19 vaccination or file for an exception. The school board voted unanimously Tuesday night to lift one of the last remaining local government vaccine mandates in the Twin Cities.
The majority of Minnesota students went into fall without having to wear a mask or distance socially at school. The Minnesota Department of Health is still monitoring COVID-19 case counts across the state and updating its weekly dashboard to advise the state’s residents on which public health precautions to take.
The EU Ignores Pushback, Plots Digital ID for 2024
The European Union is preparing to launch the EU digital wallet by 2024. The wallet will allow residents to store digital identification documents, like driver’s licenses and national IDs.
The EU’s Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy member Romana Jerkovic said that, for the bloc to stick to the schedule, it plans to publish specifications and standards before 2023.
The initiative has been criticized by digital rights groups, some tech companies, and industry groups. The pushback could result in the delay of the launch.
Earlier this year, there was a controversy about the use of unique identifiers as they could be used for tracking purposes, some noting that they would be illegal in countries like Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.
FBI Is ‘Extremely Concerned’ About China’s Influence Through TikTok on U.S. Users
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers Tuesday that he is “extremely concerned” about TikTok’s operations in the U.S.
“We do have national security concerns at least from the FBI’s end about TikTok,” Wray told members of the House Homeland Security Committee in a hearing about worldwide threats. “They include the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users. Or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations if they so chose. Or to control software on millions of devices, which gives it opportunity to potentially technically compromise personal devices.”
Wray’s remarks build on those from other government officials and members of Congress who have expressed deep skepticism about the ability of the Chinese-owned video platform to protect U.S. user information from an adversarial government. TikTok has maintained it doesn’t store U.S. user data in China, where the law allows the government to force companies to hand over internal information.
Nvidia Says It Is Working With Microsoft to Build ‘Massive’ Cloud AI Computer
U.S. chip designer and computing firm Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) on Wednesday said it is teaming up with Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) to build a “massive” computer to handle intense artificial intelligence computing work in the cloud.
The AI computer will operate on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, using tens of thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs), Nvidia’s most powerful H100 and its A100 chips. Nvidia declined to say how much the deal is worth, but industry sources said each A100 chip is priced at about $10,000 to $12,000, and the H100 is far more expensive than that.
In addition to selling Microsoft the chips, Nvidia said it will partner with the software and cloud giant to develop AI models. Buck said Nvidia would also be a customer of Microsoft’s AI cloud computer and develop AI applications on it to offer services to customers.
Don’t Download Qatar World Cup Apps, EU Data Authorities Warn
A message to football fans from Europe’s data protection chiefs: Qatar’s World Cup apps pose a massive privacy risk, so don’t download them.
European data protection regulators have been lining up to warn about the risks posed by Qatar’s World Cup apps for visitors, with Germany’s data protection commissioner being the latest. In a statement Tuesday, the Germans said data collected by two Qatari apps that visitors are being asked to download “goes much further” than the apps’ privacy notices indicate.
The Norwegian regulator on Monday said it was “alarmed” by the extensive access the apps require. “There is a real possibility that visitors to Qatar, and especially vulnerable groups, will be monitored by the Qatari authorities,” it said.
The French agency said fans should take “special care” with photos and videos, and recommends that travelers install the apps just before departure and delete them as soon as they return to France.
NBA Is Sued by Fired Referees Who Refused COVID Vaccines + More
NBA Is Sued by Fired Referees Who Refused COVID Vaccines
The National Basketball Association has been sued by three longtime referees who say the league fired them this year after they refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 over religious objections.
In a complaint filed on Saturday in Manhattan federal court, Kenny Mauer, Mark Ayotte and Jason Phillips said the league improperly forced compliance with its “hygienic norms,” and wrongly concluded that their sincere religious objections fell short of its “high standard” against being vaccinated.
The plaintiffs said the NBA’s “jab or job ultimatum” led to their suspensions for the 2021-2022 season when the league required COVID vaccinations for all employees other than players.
They said the league refused to reinstate them despite lifting the vaccine requirement for the 2022-2023 season, consistent with the ban on vaccine mandates under its new seven-year collective bargaining agreement with referees.
Novak Djokovic Granted Visa to Play at Australian Open Despite Being Unvaccinated
Novak Djokovic is returning to Australia in 2023. After getting a three-year ban from the country just days before the 2022 Australian Open, the Serbian tennis player, 35, is reportedly being granted a visa to compete in next year’s competition, held January 16-29, 2023.
The Australian Broadcasting Corp. confirmed reports Tuesday that Andrew Giles, the new immigration minister, overturned Djokovic‘s ban. According to the Associated Press, Giles’ office declined to comment on the visa status update on grounds of privacy.
In January, the then-reigning champ attempted to get an exemption for Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement to enter the country, arguing that he had recently recovered from the virus. After a 10-day legal saga, Djokovic’s exemption was denied and he was deported from Australia on the eve of the 2022 tournament.
Djokovic has been locked out of other tournaments due to his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Ahead of the 2022 Australian Open, he was ranked first in the world. But despite winning Wimbledon in July — where he was able to compete because there was no COVID vaccination requirement — his ranking dropped from missing Australia and then he was not permitted to compete in the U.S. Open in August, putting him in eighth.
Mental Health Apps Are Not Keeping Your Data Safe
Imagine calling a suicide prevention hotline in a crisis. Do you ask for their data collection policy? Do you assume that your data are protected and kept secure? Recent events may make you consider your answers more carefully.
Mental health technologies such as bots and chat lines serve people who are experiencing a crisis. They are some of the most vulnerable users of any technology, and they should expect their data to be kept safe, protected and confidential. Unfortunately, recent dramatic examples show that extremely sensitive data has been misused.
Our own research has found that, in gathering data, the developers of mental health–based artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms simply test if they work. They generally don’t address the ethical, privacy and political concerns about how they might be used. At a minimum, the same standards of healthcare ethics should be applied to technologies used in providing mental healthcare.
Politico recently reported that Crisis Text Line, a not-for-profit organization claiming to be a secure and confidential resource to those in crisis, was sharing data it collected from users with its for-profit spin-off company Loris AI, which develops customer service software. An official from Crisis Text Line initially defended the data exchange as ethical and “fully compliant with the law.” But within a few days, the organization announced it had ended its data-sharing relationship with Loris AI, even as it maintained that the data had been “handled securely, anonymized and scrubbed of personally identifiable information.”
Amazon Clinic Launches Ahead of Reported Mass Layoffs
Amazon has launched Amazon Clinic, a virtual healthcare provider that will allow users to get online help and order medication for “more than 20 health conditions.” These conditions include allergies, acne and hair loss, Amazon said in a press release, and the service is initially available in 32 states in the U.S.
Amazon Clinic works as follows: Users first select their condition, then answer some questions about their symptoms and health history. Users may also be required to share photos of their symptoms via smartphone camera or webcam, and provide a photo ID. After that, a licensed clinician will review that data and send users a message with a personalized treatment plan.
In an FAQ for the new service, Amazon says it has stringent customer privacy policies in place and is in compliance with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) as well as “other applicable laws and regulations.”
The news comes hours after The New York Times report that Amazon is about to lay off roughly 10,000 employees. The cuts will reportedly affect employees in Amazon’s retail division, human resources and teams working on Alexa and Amazon’s devices.
Ex-WSU Coach Nick Rolovich, Fired After Refusing COVID Vaccine, Reportedly Files Suit
Former Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich, who was fired on Oct. 18, 2021, for refusing to comply with the state mandate that state employees be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Washington State University, Gov. Jay Inslee and WSU athletic director Pat Chun.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura reported Monday that Rolovich had filed the lawsuit, according to his lawyer, Brian Fahling.
According to the ESPN story, the lawsuit was filed Friday and includes “breach of contract, discrimination against religion, wrongful withholding of wages and violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as well as the First and 14th Amendments.” The lawsuit was filed in Whitman County Superior Court.
A lawsuit had been expected as Rolovich filed a tort claim against the university in August seeking $25 million for wrongful termination. A tort claim is a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit against a state agency.
COVID Vaccine Mandates in the Spotlight at the AMA’s Interim Meeting — Sobriety Criteria for Liver Transplant Patients Also Discussed
Should states be encouraged to require COVID-19 vaccination for public school and college students once FDA fully approves the vaccines? Members of the American Medical Association (AMA) were divided Sunday on the question.
“By the time these vaccines are fully FDA-approved, that is when we should have a mandate,” Frank Dowling, MD, an Islandia, New York psychiatrist who was speaking for the New York delegation, said at a reference committee hearing during the interim meeting here of the AMA’s House of Delegates.
But Ross Goldberg, MD, of Phoenix, a delegate from the American College of Surgeons who was speaking for himself, said that now was not the right time to be pushing a vaccine mandate.
“In the great state of Arizona, we actually passed a law earlier this year [making it] illegal to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for schools,” Goldberg said, noting that he has been appearing on local media to advocate in favor of vaccination.
Chaotic Scenes in Southern Chinese City as COVID Curbs Fuel Unrest
Crowds in the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou have crashed through lockdown barriers and marched onto streets in a rare outburst of public anger about COVID restrictions days after the Chinese government announced that it was easing them.
According to videos widely shared on Twitter, hundreds cheered as they charged through the streets in Haizhu district in chaotic scenes in southwestern Guangzhou on Monday night. In one piece of footage, protesters overturned a police car.
Guangzhou, home to nearly 19 million people, has been the center of COVID outbreaks in China, with the number of cases surging in recent days. Daily infections of COVID-19 in the city have topped 5,000 for the first time, leading to speculation that localized lockdowns could widen.
‘More Than Enough Time’: Ted Cruz Calls for Release of Big Tech Privacy Report
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is calling for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to release its privacy report on social media and streaming services. Cruz, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, sent a letter to the FTC to demand the report’s release after more than 22 months.
The letter comes as the FTC is expected to soon announce new privacy rules for online businesses, with the comment period for the new regulations ending on Nov. 21, according to Cruz’s statement.
“The social media and video streaming investigation was initiated in December 2020,” Cruz added in the letter. The FTC investigation sought information from tech companies like Amazon, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on how they collect and track personal information, how ads are determined, whether the companies apply algorithms or data analytics to privacy information, how user engagement is measured and how practices impact children and teenagers.
Europe’s Spyware Scandal Is a Global Wakeup Call
Multiple European governments are using advanced surveillance tools to spy on their own people, according to a damning new European Parliament report. “EU Member States have been using spyware on their citizens for political purposes and to cover up corruption and criminal activity,” the report reads. “Some went even further and embedded spyware in a system deliberately designed for authoritarian rule.”
The European Parliament launched this inquiry after the 2021 publication of the Pegasus Project, a spyware investigation led by 16 media outlets around the world. Reporters found that governments had targeted more than 50,000 phone numbers worldwide using the surveillance tool Pegasus, made by the Israeli company NSO Group. Individuals on the list included editors and reporters at CNN, The New York Times, Reuters and France 24 as well as human rights activists, lawyers and people close to Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist the Saudi Arabian government murdered in 2018.
The report makes it clear that though we hear most often about this technology being used by authoritarian governments like China and Iran, democracies engage in spyware abuses, too. Curtailing surveillance harm around the world requires confronting this reality and pushing democracies to uphold a higher standard of behavior.
Exclusive: Russian Software Disguised as American Finds Its Way Into U.S. Army, CDC Apps
Thousands of smartphone applications in Apple’s (AAPL.O) and Google‘s (GOOGL.O) online stores contain computer code developed by a technology company, Pushwoosh, that presents itself as based in the United States but is actually Russian, Reuters has found.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States’ main agency for fighting major health threats, said it had been deceived into believing Pushwoosh was based in the U.S. capital. After learning about its Russian roots from Reuters, it removed Pushwoosh software from seven public-facing apps, citing security concerns.
The U.S. Army said it had removed an app containing Pushwoosh code in March because of the same concerns. That app was used by soldiers at one of the country’s main combat training bases.
The FBI Came Very Close to Deploying Spyware for Domestic Surveillance + More
The FBI Came Very Close to Deploying Spyware for Domestic Surveillance
The FBI came very close to using commercial spyware to aid in its domestic criminal investigations, the New York Times has reported. The spyware was developed by the NSO Group, the notorious surveillance vendor from Israel whose products have been tied to spying scandals all over the world.
In January, the Times broke the news that the FBI had been considering procuring a surveillance system called “Phantom” from NSO that could reportedly hack any phone in the United States. The tool was a variant of NSO’s more well-known malware Pegasus and had the ability to comprehensively infiltrate mobile devices and monitor their activities. At the time, it was reported that the FBI was considering using it in criminal investigations. However, not long after news of the potential deal broke, privacy concerns were raised, and the government found itself on the defensive.
At a congressional hearing earlier this year, FBI Director Chris Wray claimed that the government’s contacts with NSO had been part of a “counterintelligence” operation, implying that the bureau had never actually intended to use the spyware tool. Officials made it sound like they were conducting research on how such tools could be used by bad actors but seemed to imply that they, themselves, had no interest in using them.
New documents uncovered by the Times seem to suggest that the government was very much interested in using the tools for their own criminal investigations. The documents, retrieved via a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, include a number of internal FBI PowerPoint presentations, created throughout 2020 and 2021, that discuss how the bureau could deploy the hacking tools.
Google Agrees to $392 Million Privacy Settlement With 40 States
Google agreed to a record $391.5 million privacy settlement with a 40-state coalition of attorneys general on Monday for charges that it misled users into thinking they had turned off location tracking in their account settings even as the company continued collecting that information.
Under the settlement, Google will also make its location tracking disclosures clearer starting in 2023.
The attorneys general said that the agreement was the biggest internet privacy settlement by U.S. states. It capped a four-year investigation into the internet search giant for violating the states’ consumer protection laws.
States have taken an increasingly central role in reining in the power and business models of Silicon Valley corporations, amid a vacuum of action from federal lawmakers.
NYPD Spent $3 Billion on Surveillance but Critics Say Details Are Vague Despite New Disclosure Law
The NYPD spent nearly $3 billion on surveillance technology in a 12-year stretch but continues to flout the law requiring it to reveal details of each contract, according to two advocacy groups.
The money spent was opaquely listed as “special expenses” in the police budget until 2020, when the City Council passed, over the NYPD’s objections, the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology, or POST, Act.
The law requires the NYPD to explain each contract — from drones to facial recognition software to license plate readers and beyond — and to reveal which other law enforcement agencies have access to the data. But advocacy groups say the NYPD is not meeting the law’s disclosure requirements.
Microsoft helped build the NYPD’s Domain Awareness System, which collects data from different surveillance methods and links the data to people and addresses. Constitutional and racial concerns have been raised about the system, and the Surveillance Oversight Project, known as STOP, has said immigration authorities are tracking undocumented immigrants using data collected by it.
Teach the Constitution: Democrat Attorney Who Halted Hochul’s Quarantine Camp Regulation
In what she has called a David versus Goliath battle, New York real estate lawyer Bobbie Anne Cox sued Governor Kathleen Hochul for issuing directives mandating quarantine for people exposed to or infected with highly contagious diseases such as COVID-19. The directives, dubbed “quarantine camp regulations,” have been compared to laws that relocated Japanese during World War II without due process. Cox won the lawsuit on the grounds that Hochul’s regulation was unconstitutional.
“The constitution is not perfect, but it’s brilliant,” Cox said. Schools should require learning about the U.S. Constitution, “from the little kids all the way up through high school, into college. The constitution was written to keep the government in check. The constitution wasn’t written to keep the people in check.”
It is tyrannical for a government to take power to which it is not entitled, Cox explained. During the pandemic, state and federal governments gave themselves powers the constitution did not give them.
State governors are part of the executive branch of government. As such, she said, “they’re supposed to enforce laws, and their agencies beneath them are supposed to help them enforce laws. They’re not supposed to make laws.” When a governor such as Hochul takes on powers that properly belong to the legislature, “that’s tyranny,” Cox reiterated.
HHS to Launch New Push to Get Americans Updated COVID Booster Shots Before the Holidays
U.S. News & World Report reported:
The Biden administration on Monday will launch its latest push to get more Americans vaccinated with the updated COVID-19 booster shots ahead of the holidays and an expected coronavirus wave in the fall and winter.
The Department of Health and Human Services on Monday will kick off its “Countdown to Thanksgiving Vax Up America Tour” which aims to get more shots in arms ahead of the holiday. The agency will work with national and community-based organizations, among others, to bring pop-up vaccine sites to large community events.
The agency and its partners will also offer COVID-19 vaccines at football games at historically Black colleges and universities in an effort to reach Black communities. The agency expects to reach thousands of Americans at each location, which includes Alcorn State University, the SWAC Championship Game in Jackson, Miss., and the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta. A list of upcoming events will be available on the agency’s “We Can Do This” website.
In Zero-COVID China, a Different Death Toll Emerges
In the lead-up to China’s Communist Party Congress last month, watercooler chatter in many offices here focused on a single question: Will the Congress abandon its zero-COVID policy?
It didn’t take long for an answer. In his opening speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to zero COVID — a stance made all the more inviolable since securing his unprecedented third term.
I can confirm that zero COVID is alive and well. In the weeks since Xi’s speech, I’ve had dozens of nucleic acid tests, canceled a domestic work trip and seen multiple colleagues hauled off to quarantine hotels or locked down at home. (On Friday, China announced a limited easing of some measures — though no mention of when the changes would take effect.)
Students in many cities in China are back to remote learning. My 5-year-old daughter is on her second week off school after her kindergarten closed due to restrictions related to COVID-19. At this point, she has spent more time at home in 2022 than in the classroom.
While I fully agree that China’s hard-line approach to COVID-19 containment has saved lives, the policy’s impacts are beginning to seem worse than the disease. Economically speaking, all is not well in China, and the situation is at least partially to blame on China’s uncompromising stance on COVID-19.
Apple Sued for Tracking Users’ Activity Even When Turned off in Settings
Over the past couple of years, Apple has centered its focus on user privacy. The iPhone maker has sparred with other Big Tech companies, most notably Facebook owner Meta, about the issue. Apple’s efforts to protect users’ data has cost platforms like Facebook billions of dollars in revenue.
But, as it turns out, Apple has been collecting user data itself, even if its customers had explicitly changed their settings to stop the company from doing so. Now, Apple is being sued.
A class action lawsuit was filed on Thursday claiming that Apple’s actions violate the California Invasion of Privacy Act. The lawsuit doesn’t focus so much on the fact that Apple is collecting this data. The suit hones in on Apple’s settings, such as “Allow Apps to Request to Track” and “Share Analytics,” which give users the perception that they can disable such tracking.
It shouldn’t be too surprising that Apple, or any tech company, collects user data. However, as the team at the software company Mysk discovered, Apple is collecting this data regardless of a user’s settings where they are given the option to turn data collection off, possibly giving them a false sense of privacy.
Amazon to Fire 10,000 Employees, Largest Layoff in Company History
Over the past month, technology companies have laid off tens of thousands of employees. And the momentum in layoffs only appears to be worsening.
According to a new report via The New York Times this morning, Amazon could add to the count this week as approximately 10,000 people in corporate and technology jobs will be slashed, in what could be the most significant job cut in the company’s history.
People with direct knowledge of the layoff plan said job cuts would be focused on Amazon’s devices organization, including the voice-assistant Alexa, its retail division and human resources.
Big Tech Braces for GOP Investigations Over Censorship + More
Big Tech Braces for GOP Investigations Over Censorship
In September, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan and 34 of his Republican colleagues sent a letter to Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg. In it, they outlined their concerns that Meta suppressed material that would have been politically damaging to Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign. “This letter serves as a formal request to preserve all existing and future records and materials,” they wrote.
The congressmen had no power to make Zuckerberg heed the request, and he didn’t respond. But Jordan was preparing for big changes in the near future. A Republican takeover of the House would likely elevate him to Judiciary Committee chair, a position that would allow him to back up his demands with the threat of a subpoena. Jordan was a key participant in the Benghazi investigation, a sprawling House probe that was bipartisan but used by some Republicans for political purposes, a goal at which Jordan proved particularly adept.
Those plans remain on hold after a surprisingly strong Democratic performance in the midterm elections on Nov. 8, which left the balance of Congress in doubt as of midday Wednesday. The odds are still in favor of Republicans securing a slim majority, which is all they’d need to control House committees.
The goal of a GOP inquiry into Big Tech would not be to bring in CEOs for embarrassing hearings, says a senior aide involved in planning, who asked not to be named when speaking about future committee activity. Rather it would go after documents and compel the testimony of decision-makers at companies such as Meta and Alphabet Inc.’s Google that conservatives don’t like. One person who’s advising tech companies says that they’re taking the potential for GOP-led probes seriously and that the staff involved would be ready to run effective and substantive investigations.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor Declines to Block NYC Public Sector COVID Vaccine Mandate
Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Thursday rejected a request that the Supreme Court block New York City’s public sector COVID-19 vaccine requirement as it applies to employees who have religious objections to the vaccine.
The emergency application from the New Yorkers for Religious Liberty was filed with Sotomayor, who supervises the lower courts that have ruled in the case. Her order rejecting it did not indicate that she had put the matter before the full court.
The challengers argued that they have been forced to choose between the mandate and their public sector jobs. Plaintiffs include firefighters, teachers and police officers. They say that the city has set up a process for individualized exemptions but still denies most exceptions based on religious liberty concerns.
“President Biden’s pronouncement that the pandemic is over has done little to reverse the ongoing constitutional nightmare in New York City,” John Bursch, a lawyer for the challengers, argued. “Moreover, it has been widely reported that a ‘tripandemic’ may loom ahead this winter, greatly increasing the likelihood that the Mandates will remain in place or new ones will replace them.”
Nailed It: Amazon Becomes the First Company Ever to Lose $1 Trillion in Stock Value
Amazon, one of the first companies to join the prestigious $1 trillion dollar valuation club, just passed another, an admittedly less desirable milestone. This week, Jeff Bezos’ Everything Store became the first publicly traded company to lose $1 trillion in market valuation.
The mind-boggling figures, first noted by Bloomberg, are the results of a worsening economy, repeatedly dour earnings reports, and massive stock selloffs. Amazon, valued at $1.882 trillion on June 21, on Thursday reported a comparatively measly $878 billion valuation.
Microsoft, which briefly surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable company last year, wasn’t far behind, with market valuation losses hovering around $900 billion. Combined, the two companies’ declines capture the effect of a lousy year most in tech would like to soon forget.
Those declines aren’t just limited to Amazon and Microsoft. The top five most valuable U.S. tech companies reportedly lost a combined $4 trillion in value this year. To put that in perspective, that’s more than the combined GDPs of Turkey, Argentina and Switzerland.
China Reaffirms Zero-COVID Stance, City of Guangzhou on Edge
China’s new top leadership body reaffirmed Beijing’s “dynamic-zero” COVID-19 policy on Thursday, as case numbers rose and authorities in the city of Guangzhou urged residents to work from home but stopped short of a city-wide lockdown.
In the southern city of Guangzhou, a manufacturing powerhouse that is home to nearly 19 million people, cases hit more than 2,000 for a third straight day and officials have launched mass testing, resisting, for now, a city-wide lockdown of the type that paralyzed Shanghai for two months earlier this year.
Mason Long, who works for a Guangzhou gaming company, said some residents were bracing for a lockdown, with many leaving the city or planning to.
Most of Guangzhou’s 11 districts are under some form of COVID restriction. In Beijing, residents of some areas have been asked to get COVID tests every day this week.
Elon Musk Warns Twitter Employees of ‘Difficult Times Ahead,’ Ends Remote Work: Report
Hours after Twitter CEO Elon Musk admittedly predicted he will do “lots of dumb things” as he learns to helm the new social media platform, he told his employees to brace for “difficult times ahead,” according to a report.
In a mass email Wednesday afternoon, Musk said there was “no way to sugarcoat the message” and that employees should expect changes concerning office policy, according to Bloomberg News.
The email allegedly said Musk will discontinue remote work and will be requiring employees to be in the office for at least 40 hours per week. Any exceptions would need his personal approval.
Musk reportedly said he expected half of Twitter’s revenue to come through a subscription service and his newly proposed verification fee. He also said content creators will be able to monetize their pages to supporters, without further elaboration.
The Company That Verifies Safe Websites in Your Browser Works for the U.S. Government
A company that several major web browsers rely on to verify safe and secure websites has links to U.S. intelligence agencies and law enforcement, new research has claimed. An expose by The Washington Post (TWP) draws its conclusions from documentation, records and interviews with security researchers.
TrustCor Systems’ Panamanian registration records reveal that it shares personnel with a spyware developer previously identified as having links to Arizona company Packet Forensics, which public records have previously unveiled to have sold “communication interception services” to U.S. agencies “for more than a decade.”
Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Mozilla’s supposedly secure browser Firefox and several others all allow TrustCor to sign root certificates for websites it deems as safe and legitimate, directing users to them, instead of potentially convincing fakes.
TrustCor maintains that it has never cooperated with government information requests or monitored users on behalf of a third party. However, the Pentagon is refusing to comment, and Mozilla is demanding answers from TrustCor while threatening to remove its authority.
With $7 Million Raised, Keyo Launches a Biometric Palm Verification Network
Maybe you’ve heard of Keyo. Perhaps you saw the initial round of press the firm did in 2017 — roughly two years after its founding. Or maybe you saw it pop back in 2020, riding the wave of news around Amazon’s lukewarmly received hand-scanner tech. You may have wondered precisely what’s been going on with the Chicago-based firm in the interim.
Fueled by an aggregate of $7 million in seed funding, the Keyo Network had previously been in beta. It’s a combination of hardware and software designed to bring palm scanning to a broad range of different markets and services. Today it’s announcing the Keyo Wave hand-scanner hardware, Keyo mobile app, third-party partner program and the Keyo Identify Cloud, which “enables users to instantly and privately identify themselves based on a simple scan of their hand at any business participating in the Keyo network.”
The notion of replacing more traditional payment methods like cards — or even phones — with hand scanning will continue to attract its share of critics. That will only increase as massive corporations like Amazon adopt such technologies, but there’s little doubt the interest is there, at least with the corporations fueling such change.