Brief #32—Technology
By Charles A Rubin
The US Defense Intelligence Agency and other government entities routinely collect cell phone location data on US residents without a warrant, according to a memo reported by The New York Times on Friday January 22, 2021. The agencies buy the information on the open market from data brokers, who often get it from third-party apps running on users’ phones.
Brief #31—Technology
By Charles A Rubin
In December 2020 Solarwinds, a major provider of computer network monitoring software, revealed that several of its servers that were used to distribute software updates to customers had been compromised. The servers had been routinely delivering altered code to computer networks throughout the US government and corporations that gave nefarious actors unfettered access to communications and internal systems. The malware created multiple “backdoors” that could be exploited in the future. Further, this compromise had gone undetected for several months. One month later the full extent of the intrusion is still not fully understood and the amount of information that has been exposed has not been completely assessed.
Brief #30—Technology
By Scout Burchill
As vaccines for the COVID-19 virus begin to be distributed across the country, social media platforms have pledged to combat anti-vaccination misinformation.
Brief #29—Technology
By Charles A Rubin
On December 13, 2020 news broke that computer networks at several US government agencies including the Departments of Treasury and Commerce had been compromised by a state actor.
Brief #28—Technology
By Zach Huffman
Parallel lawsuits from The Federal Trade Commission and multiple state Attorneys General declared Facebook an illegal monopoly and both suits are seeking to break up the social media giant.
Brief #27—Technology
By Scout Burchill
Over the past few months a number of reports and leaks from Amazon have emerged that expose the shocking lengths that the corporation goes to surveil their workers and quell labor organizing efforts.
Brief #26—Technology
By Charles A. Rubin
On November 17, 2020 – two weeks after election day and ten days after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the Presidential race, Christopher Krebs, the head of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, was fired in a tweet by President Trump.
Brief #25—Technology
By Scout Burchill
While the presidential election earlier this November was still brimming with controversy and suspense, major tech companies Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Instacart and Postmates were celebrating a massive victory with the passage of California’s Prop 22.
Brief #24—Technology
By Scout Burchill
On Tuesday, October 20th the Department of Justice, along with 11 Republican state attorney generals, sued Google under Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act
Brief #23—Technology
By Scout Burchill
Over the past few months, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which was passed into law in 1996, has become ensnared in controversy from both sides of the political spectrum.
Brief #22—Technology
By Scout Burchill
As the 2020 election approaches, social media platforms have been taking major actions to moderate content in an attempt to combat growing amounts of misinformation.
Brief #21—Technology
By Charles A. Rubin
With the U.S. presidential election only weeks away, Facebook and other social media companies are struggling to show that they take the use of their platforms to spread misinformation and hate speech seriously, Facebook announced on October 6, 2020 that it had removed nearly 1,000 QAnon conspiracy theorist groups and promised to halt political ads after the polls close on November 3