Top Stories

  • President Donald Trump is weighing different ways for his administration to review complaints of anti-conservative bias on social media, including creating a new commission to examine such allegations, according to people familiar with the matter. At the same time, the administration is also considering new recommendations to overhaul Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the law that provides online platforms with broad liability protections, which critics argue grants too much power to large tech companies. (The Wall Street Journal)
  • Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) are working on new language for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that mirrors a failed Senate amendment to require government officials to obtain a warrant before searching Americans’ browsing histories, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the process. The amendment failed by one vote in the Senate before the bill moved back to the House for reconsideration, where House leaders have now agreed to take up the amendment themselves following weeks of internal discussions with progressive lawmakers and members in the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees. (Politico)
  • After granting Huawei Technologies Co. a limited role in Britain’s 5G network deployment earlier this year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now instructing officials to phase out use of the Chinese telecommunications company’s equipment completely within the next three years, citing national security concerns, according to government officials familiar with the plans. Huawei Vice President Victor Zhang said the reports “simply don’t make sense” given the government’s approval of the company’s role in the rollout earlier this year. (Financial Times)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

05/26/2020
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s discussion with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid on cyberspace issues 11:00 am
FCBA Florida chapter virtual brown bag lunch on blockchain technology 12:15 pm
AEI webinar: “How innovation works: A book event with Matt Ridley” 4:00 pm
05/27/2020
WSJ’s Future of Everything Festival virtually presents: “Future Of Connectivity” feat. Tim Berners-Lee
FedScoop virtual event on federal adoption of zero-trust security 9:00 am
The Atlantic Council’s virtual event on drone attacks against critical infrastructure in the Middle East 9:00 am
New America Ranking Digital Rights’ launch of second #ItstheBusinessModel report on viral harmful content 11:30 am
ITIF event on cybersecurity in a time of physical distancing 12:00 pm
Cyberspace Solariums Commission’s Digital Event #7: Preserving and Employing the Military Instrument of Power in Cyberspace 12:00 pm
Lincoln Network’s fireside virtual chat with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and telecommunications expert Joel Thayer of Phillips Lytle LLP 1:30 pm
05/28/2020
The Atlantic’s virtual event: “The Big Story: The Sprawling Universe of QAnon” 2:00 pm
Pillsbury roundtable webinar on digital payments platforms 2:30 pm
05/29/2020
Center for Strategic and International Studies’ virtual discussion with JAIC Director Lt. Gen. John N.T. “Jack” Shanahan on artificial intelligence and defense 9:30 am
SHLB Coalition’s webinar on congressional broadband legislation 1:00 pm
View full calendar

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General

Amazon threatened with closure of Wisconsin campus over coronavirus
Kenya Evelyn, The Guardian

Health officials in south-eastern Wisconsin have warned Amazon that if the company does not fully cooperate with state testing and tracing efforts, its Kenosha campus located 40 miles south of Milwaukee could be shut down. The announcement comes as at least 20 workers have tested positive for the coronavirus at two facilities.

Out of charity and self-interest, tech lobbies for the ‘little guys’ in D.C.
Issie Lapowsky, Protocol

The coronavirus crisis has exposed the extent to which the fortunes of some of tech’s biggest businesses are tied to some of the country’s smallest ones.

Palantir CEO reflects on work with ICE
Mike Allen, Axios

Palantir CEO Alex Karp told “Axios on HBO” that there have “absolutely” been moments he wished the company hadn’t taken a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Desperate workers rush to delivery app jobs to find low pay and punishing rules
Nitasha Tiku, The Washington Post

More than 38 million people have filed for unemployment. Hundreds of thousands of new gig jobs have become available from businesses including Amazon, DoorDash, Instacart and Shipt, a delivery app acquired by Target.

Who’s advising Joe Biden on tech policy? No one in particular.
Emily Birnbaum, Protocol

At a moment when the biggest issues in technology are ascendant in national politics, Joe Biden has often been difficult to pin down. And that may not change anytime soon: The presumptive Democratic nominee does not have a top adviser focused on tech policy, according to campaign materials and party veterans, including some who have offered informal advice to Biden on tech.

SpaceX on the verge of sending astronauts into orbit
Richard Waters, Financial Times

Successful test flight by Elon Musk’s company on Wednesday will open up space to commercial sector.

Stocks Climb With U.S. Futures; Dollar Steady: Markets Wrap
Robert Brand, Bloomberg

Stocks in Europe and Asia gained along with American equity-index futures as investors weighed more signs of economies reopening around the world against the rise in U.S.-China tensions. The dollar was steady, and crude oil added to last week’s strong advance.

Intellectual Property and Antitrust

Tech’s long hot summer of antitrust
Margaret Harding McGill, Axios

Google, Facebook and other tech giants face a summer of regulatory grilling as long-running investigations into potential anticompetitive practices likely come to a head. The big picture: Probes into the power of Big Tech launched by federal and state authorities are turning a year old, and observers expect action in the form of formal lawsuits and potentially damning reports — even as the companies have become a lifeline for Americans during the pandemic lockdown.

Why Regulators Aren’t Likely to Block an Uber-Grubhub Deal
Christopher Stern, The Information

Democratic lawmakers have stepped up their attacks on a possible merger between Uber and Grubhub, accusing the companies of seeking to profit from the Covid-19 crisis. Yet antitrust experts said that robust competition in the meal-delivery business will make it tough for regulators to block the deal if the two companies reach an agreement.

Telecom, Wireless and TV

U.S. agencies ask FCC to rescind Ligado spectrum decision
David Shephardson, Reuters

A group of U.S. agencies on Friday asked the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its unanimous April 22 decision to allow Ligado Networks to deploy a low-power nationwide mobile broadband network, saying it could pose a threat to global positioning systems (GPS).

In $16 Billion Push to Expand Broadband, America Is Flying Through a Fog
Ryan Tracy, The Wall Street Journal

Spurred by the coronavirus pandemic, federal policy makers are pushing to spend billions of dollars to close gaps in America’s high-speed internet network. There is one big obstacle: Government officials say they don’t have a clear picture of where service gaps exist, meaning parts of the country will be left out when it is time to distribute the funds.

Coronavirus pandemic claims another victim: Robocalls
Tali Arbel, The Associated Press

Have you been missing something amid the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders? No, not human contact. Not even toilet paper. Robocalls.

Mobile Technology and Social Media

A feel-good ad from Facebook boasts a coronavirus group. But it’s not quite what it seems.
Brandy Zadrozny, NBC News

A commercial for Facebook that ran on national TV promoting its group feature in the time of the coronavirus pulls at the heartstrings. Backed by a somber piano score, the 60-second commercial features the Facebook group, “Cheers For The Frontline!” and a montage of 16 posts seemingly plucked from the group in which users praised essential workers alongside dramatic photos of nurses, doctors, delivery drivers, grocery workers and janitors.

More harm than good? Twitter struggles to label misleading COVID-19 tweets
Queenie Wong, CNET

Automated technology that Twitter began using this month to label tweets containing coronavirus misinformation is making mistakes, raising concerns about the company’s reliance on artificial intelligence to review content. On May 11, Twitter started labeling tweets that spread a conspiracy theory about 5G causing the coronavirus.

Democratic bills crack down on how political campaigns can target ads on Facebook and Google
Lauren Feiner, CNBC

Two new Democratic proposals aim to crack down on the ways political campaigns can target narrow groups of voters on platforms like Facebook and Google. The latest to be announced comes from Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., whose “Banning Microtargeted Political Ads Act” would place limits on how narrowly political campaigns could target their messages online.

Nearly half of the Twitter accounts discussing ‘reopening America’ may be bots, researchers say
Allen Kim, CNN

Be careful about who you’re arguing with on Twitter these days. The reopen America movement is a hot topic on the social media network, but half of the accounts could be automated bots fueling conversations about Covid-19, researchers say.

Bill Gates Conspiracy Theories Have Circulated For Years. It Took The Coronavirus Pandemic To Turn Him Into A Fake Villain.
Ryan Broderick, BuzzFeed News

After months of conspiracy-mongering, people around the world are demanding Gates be arrested for crimes against humanity. Here’s how things got so bad.

Cybersecurity and Privacy

Get a warrant: Tech companies ask lawmakers to rein in digital surveillance
David Ingram, NBC News

Tech companies are asking Congress to strengthen the privacy protections around search engines and web browsers as lawmakers enter the late stage of negotiations on a bill about government surveillance.

Irish regulator reaches preliminary decision in Twitter privacy probe
Padraic Halpin, Reuters

Twitter may be the first big technology firm to face a fine by the EU’s lead regulator under the region’s tougher data protection rules after it submitted a preliminary decision in a probe into the social media firm to other member states. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) also said on Friday it had sent a preliminary decision to Facebook-owned WhatsApp for their submissions and made further progress in three other investigations related to Facebook.

EU privacy enforcer hits make-or-break moment
Mark Scott, Politico

As Ireland’s data protection authority was closing in late last year on its first major penalty against Facebook over alleged privacy abuses, the agency — a key global enforcer of data protection rules — reshuffled its top team, replacing a senior official in charge of its most high-profile cases.

California Activists Ramp Up Fight Against Facial-Recognition Technology
David Uberti, The Wall Street Journal

California privacy and civil liberties advocates are mobilizing to thwart a bill backed by Microsoft Corp. that would regulate facial recognition technology and that is working its way through the state legislature.

States plead for cybersecurity funds as hacking threat surges
Maggie Miller, The Hill

Cash-short state and local governments are pleading with Congress to send them funds to shore up their cybersecurity as hackers look to exploit the crisis by targeting overwhelmed government offices. Members of Congress have taken notice of cyber threats at the state and local level, both before and during the pandemic, and efforts are underway to address the challenges, though how much will be provided is uncertain amid a fight over the amount of additional coronavirus stimulus.

Coronavirus Monitoring Bracelets Flood The Market, Ready to Snitch On People Who Don’t Distance
Sam Biddle, The Intercept

Surveillance firms around the world are licking their lips at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cash in on the coronavirus by repositioning one of their most invasive products: the tracking bracelet. Body monitors are associated with criminality and guilt in the popular imagination, the accessories of Wall Street crooks under house arrest and menace-to-society parolees.

Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives

Twitter Must Cleanse the Trump Stain
Kara Swisher, The New York Times

The president is spreading a vile conspiracy theory on the platform. Maybe Twitter should finally hold him to its rules.

Imported Chips Make America’s Security Vulnerable
Adam A. Scher and Peter L. Levin, The Wall Street Journal

America’s digital infrastructure has been a crucial part of the response to the Covid-19 crisis. But what if it becomes a problem? Semiconductors underlie many things we take for granted and desperately need: telecommunications, remote industrial controls, emergency services, and transportation and fleet-management networks.

U.S. cybersecurity deficiencies can no longer be ignored
Hugh Hewitt, The Washington Post

Rarely has a bipartisan commission produced its findings immediately before the allocation of trillions of dollars in the service of national rehabilitation. The timing of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s report this spring could not have been more perfect.

Research Reports

Principles for a Solution in the OECD’s Project for Addressing the Tax Challenges of the Digitalization of the Economy
Information Technology Industry Council

The OECD’s project to address the tax challenges of the digitalization of the economy represents a critical opportunity to ensure a stable, cohesive global tax system. The continued proliferation of unilateral tax measures – including digital services taxes – presents more uncertainty than ever in our international tax system and further necessitates a global solution.

Morning Consult