Category: Politics

FCC votes to auction C-band satellite spectrum for 5G use

[ad_1] A divided @FCC chose to give away $15B to foreign satellite companies when American taxpayers want that money for rural broadband. These foreign satellite firms want all 4 feet and their snout in the taxpayer trough, but the FCC shouldn’t be helping them.https://t.co/wpUwRziYnU — John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) February 28, 2020 Following previous proclamations, Pai […]

FCC proposes token fines for carriers that sold phone location data

[ad_1] The networks followed a similar pattern, according to the FCC. They sold location access to aggregators that themselves resold access to service providers, with each carrier relying largely on “contract-based assurances” that they’d get permission from customers before accessing that info. As you might have guessed, that didn’t always happen — one Missouri Sheriff, […]

Twitter verified a fake congressional candidate created by a teenager

[ad_1] The student, who is a minor and therefore must remain anonymous, submitted Andrew Walz’s information to a website called Ballotpedia, a non-profit that keeps track of American political candidates. Twitter partnered with the site last year to identify the official Twitter accounts of candidates and their campaigns. Once Ballotpedia passed Andrew Walz’s information on […]

Hillary Clinton is launching her own podcast

[ad_1] Clinton herself was inspired to develop a show by other podcasts, Politico says, particularly ones which had her as a guest in the past. She was apparently struck by how different a long podcast interview feels compared to short TV and radio guestings when she and daughter Chelsea Clinton sat with Conan O’Brien for […]

Senate approves $1 billion budget to help rural carriers replace Huawei gear

[ad_1] Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said in a statement: “Telecommunications equipment from certain foreign adversaries poses a significant threat to our national security, economic prosperity, and the future of US leadership in advanced wireless technology. By establishing a ‘rip and replace’ program, this legislation will provide meaningful safeguards for our communications networks and more […]

FCC may fine carriers for failing to protect phone location data

[ad_1] Officials didn’t make any settlement offers, according to the tipsters. That suggests it doesn’t believe a compromise is possible, although it also raises the likelihood that networks will try to fight any fines and have them reduced or tossed out. Fines wouldn’t be surprising given how egregious the alleged violations would be. Carriers not […]

Judges rule that YouTube isn’t bound by the First Amendment

[ad_1] Prager argued that since Google runs YouTube as a public forum, it should be subject to First Amendment scrutiny. However, a US District Court judge disagreed and tossed his lawsuit. The three judges who oversaw the appeal clearly share the first judge’s opinion, writing in their decision: “Despite YouTube’s ubiquity and its role as […]

FCC begins collecting data to help carriers replace Huawei and ZTE hardware

[ad_1] The agency is gathering data from the carriers to help it design a feasible reimbursement program and figure out if it needs to anything else to ensure a smooth transition. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Huawei’s and ZTE’s designations as national security threats may become final this spring. That’s why the agency is “moving […]

Facial recognition startup Clearview AI says its full client list was stolen

[ad_1] That same intruder also knows how many accounts those organizations set up, as well as how many searches they’ve conducted in the past. The company claims its servers weren’t breached, and that it was able to shore up the vulnerability. Thankfully, it doesn’t appear the intruder was able to access Clearview’s database of three […]

NYT: $100 million US phone surveillance program produced two unique leads

[ad_1] After 2015, the USA Freedom Act replaced NSA mass surveillance of American’s call metadata that had been enacted under the Patriot Act and Section 215. While it didn’t go so far as to completely reform the system as groups like the EFF and ACLU hoped, it changed things by having phone companies collect the […]