Tech Policy Leaders

Bio

Kriti Sharma (@sharma_kriti) is an Artificial Intelligence expert and a leading global voice on ethical technology and its impact on society.

She built her first robot at the age of 15 in India and has been building innovative AI technologies to solve global issues, from productivity to inequality to domestic abuse, ever since. Kriti was recently named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and was included in the Recode 100 List of Key Influencers in Technology in 2017. She was invited as a Civic Leader to the Obama Foundation Summit. She is a Google Anita Borg Scholar and recently gave expert testimony on AI Policy to the UK Parliament in the House of Lords.

While much of Silicon Valley worry about doomsday scenarios where AI will take over human civilization, Kriti Sharma has a different kind of concern: What happens if disadvantaged groups don't have a say in the technology we're creating? In 2017, she spearheaded the launch of the Sage Future Makers Lab, a forum that will equip young people around the world with hands-on learning for entering a career in Artificial Intelligence.

Earlier this year, she founded AI for Good, an organization creating the next generation technology for a better, fairer world. Kriti also leads AI and Ethics at Sage.

Resources

AI for Good

Kriti's Ted Talk: How to Keep Human Bias out of AI

Automating Inequality by Virginia Eubanks

Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas

News Roundup

Amazon shareholder effort to restrict company's facial recognition fails

Two Amazon shareholder resolutions to curb Rekognition—with a K—the company's facial recognition platform—failed to garner shareholder approval last week. One proposal would have required the company to determine whether the technology violates civil liberties before rolling it out to law enforcement. The other resolution would have required Amazon to conduct a study of human rights violations posed by Rekognition. While Amazon is reluctant to address these issues, Google and Microsoft have pledged not to sell their facial recognition to law enforcement.

U.S. spy chief warns U.S. businesses about China

The Financial Times reports that U.S. National Security Advisor Dan Coates has been warning U.S.-based companies about doing business with China. Coates has even gone as far as sharing classified information with executives. The classified briefings come amidst a U.S. trade war with China which includes a ban of China-based tech company Huawei from doing business in the U.S. because of a cozy relationship it allegedly had with Iran and the fact that China is alleged to be using the company's components to spy on the U.S. The Financial Times says the briefings have largely focused on the espionage and intellectual property threats China poses.

Senate passes anti-robocall bill

A bi-partisan bill introduced by Senators Ed Markey and John Thune, that would slap robocall offenders with a fine of $10,000 per call, passed the Senate with a vote of 97 to 1 on Thursday. The legislation also increases penalties for scammers and works to combat number blocking. The bill is called the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACE) Act and now heads to the House where Democrat Frank Pallone's got a similar bill in the works.

Google tweaks abortion ad policy

Google has tweaked it policy for abortion ads after several misleading abortion ads showed up on the platform. Now, the company's saying that it will certify advertisers who want to place abortion-related ads as either abortion providers or non-providers. Any advertiser that doesn't fall into one of those categories won't be able to run abortion ads on Google.

Events

Wed., 5/29

AT&T/Carnegie Mellon

Livestream: Privacy in the World of Internet of Things

1pm-2:30pm

Fri., 5/31

Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board

Public Forum on the USA FREEDOM Act

10:00AM-12:30PM

Reagan Building

1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Mon., 6/3

Federal Communications Commission

Consumer Advisory Committee Meeting

9:00AM

445 12th St., SW

Bio

Luis Avila (@phoenikera) is the President and Founder of Iconico Campaigns, a company that works to build advocacy capacity in organizations around the country. Migrating in 2000 from Mexico, Luis stayed in the U.S. to attend college, where he developed projects with people involved in arts, politics and social justice. In 2004, Luis learned about civic participation in Jackson, Mississippi, as part of the American Freedom Summer program. He collaborated with organizers and leaders to advocate for the DREAM Act, fight against SB1070 and challenge Sheriff Joe Arpaio's discriminatory practices in Arizona. In 2008, Luis joined the Obama campaign where he got insight on cornerstone aspects of electoral organizing. This knowledge, paired with technologies developed to boost volunteer engagement, is applied now in all his advocacy and community engagement work. Luis spearheaded Somos América in 2011, the largest immigrant-rights coalition in Arizona, and currently sits on the Boards of Advisors of the National Council for La Raza and The New Teacher Project, an organization working to end education inequality. A long-time family and community engagement expert, Luis has designed engagement models for domestic and international organizations and school systems. In 2016, he served as Nevada's Democratic Coordinated Campaign Field Director, contributing to major victories in the state legislature, electing the first Latina Senator and delivering the state to Hillary Clinton, and he's currently launching Instituto, an organization to build political infrastructure in communities of color in Arizona.

Resources

Instituto

Iconico

News Roundup

The FCC signals that it will approve the Sprint/T-Mobile merger, China's Huawei has a tough week as President Trump limits its U.S.-based business, and Luis Avila is my guest

FCC signals Sprint/TMobile approval

The Trump administration appears divided over whether to approve the Sprint/TMobile merger. The companies say if the merger's approved they'll have 5G built out to the entire country in 6 years. Sprint says they'll also sell prepaid wireless company Boost mobile. FCC Chair Ajit Pai says the merger conditions the companies are proposing are adequate and said he'd approve the deal. The two other Republicans on the Commission signaled their support as well giving the deal the majority it needs at the FCC. Policy expert Gigi Sohn says though that over at the DOJ's antitrust division, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim is saying the conditions aren't enough.

Tough week for Huawei

Chinese device manufacturer Huawei had a tough week last week as President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that bans American telecom companies from installing foreign-made equipment that could pose a national security threat. American officials have accused the company of violating an American trade embargo against Iran and with assisting China with spying on U.S. companies. Since Trump issued the order, Google parent Alphabet has suspended doing business with Huawei, outside of what's available via open source, by revoking the Android licensing deal the tech giant had with Huawei.

President Trump creates story database to collect stories of conservatives being censored on social media

Looks like the White House wants to set up its own social network to compete with Twitter and Facebook. The White House has created a creepy new database that lets conservatives report instances in which they've been censored on social media platforms. The President is attempting to get users to opt-in to a separate White House newsletter that purports to allow anyone, irrespective of their political views, to receive updates without relying on Facebook and Twitter.

The White House also decided not to sign on to a multinational campaign created by Christchurch, New Zealand to stamp out online hate speech. The White House says the effort would dilute the freedom of speech. 18 other countries, including many of America's allies, disagreed.

Johns Hopkins releases free online course on gun violence prevention

Johns Hopkins has released a free online course where users can learn how to prevent and protect against gun violence. The course contains six modules taught by experts, including mental health professionals. It's entitled Reducing Gun Violence in America: Evidence for Change and its intended to equip students to use research to combat gun violence in America.

Carriers claim to stop collecting geolocation data but evidence suggests otherwise

Major wireless carriers including AT&T and Verizon have claimed that they have stopped sharing geolocation data with third party bounty hunters. But the the facts suggest otherwise. Congressman Mike Doyle notes that the number of complaints about police departments and others unauthorized (and unconstitutional, for that matter) surveillance of individuals has been on the rise. AT&T has acknowledged that it took advantage of a loophole in a Communications Act privacy provision that doesn't cover a type of geolocation data known as A-GPS which AT&T's Joan Marsh says is less precise than location data covered by the National Emergency Address Database.

Amazon releases HQ2 plan for Arlington

Amazon released its plan for 2 LEED-certified 22 story office buildings in Arlington. There will be 50,000 square feet of street level space for retail and restaurants.

San Francisco becomes first city to ban facial recognition technology San Francisco became the first city to ban the use of facial recognition technology. The ordinance passed by a vote of 8-1 and is headed to Mayor London Breed for her signature.

Events

Tues., 5/21

New America

2019 Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index

740 15th Street NW

9:30AM-11AM

House Judiciary Committee

Full Committee Hearing: Understanding the Digital Advertising Ecosystem

Dirksen 226

10AM

House Homeland Security Committee

Growing and Diversifying Our Cyber Talent Pipeline

310 Cannon

2PM

City Year

Idealist Gala

Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania

6PM Reception/7PM Program and Dinner

MIT Enterprise Forum

Celebrating Entrepreneurship in Our Nation's Capital

600 Mass. Ave.

5:30PM

Wed., 5/22

Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide Conferences

Goes through 5/24

Vint Cerf Keynotes

Georgetown University Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy

37th/O NW

House Oversight Committee

Facial Recognition Technology (Part 1): Its Impact on our Civil Rights and Liberties

2154 Rayburn

10AM

House Energy & Commerce Committee

Full Committee Hearing on "LIFT America: Modernizing Our Infrastructure for the Future"

2123 Rayburn House Office Building

10 AM

Tues., 5/28

New York University Center for Critical Race & Digital Studies

2019 Critical Race and Digital Studies Conference

NYU Washington D.C., 1307 L St., NW

9:00AM-7:30PM

Sat, 6/1

DC Stem Network

DC STEM Fair

UDC

7AM-4PM

Bio

Harold Feld is Public Knowledge's Senior Vice President. Before becoming Senior Vice President at Public Knowledge, Harold worked as Senior Vice President of Media Access Project, advocating for the public interest in media, telecommunications, and technology policy for almost 10 years. Prior to joining MAP, Harold was an associate at Covington & Burling, worked on Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, and accountability issues at the Department of Energy, and clerked for the D.C. Court of Appeals. He received his B.A. from Princeton University, and his J.D. from Boston University Law School. Harold also writes Tales of the Sausage Factory, a progressive blog on media and telecom policy. In 2007, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin praised him and his blog for "[doing] a lot of great work helping people understand how FCC decisions affect people and communities on the ground."

Resources

Public Knowledge

The Case for the Digital Platform Act by Harold Feld

News Roundup

Supreme Court takes a bite out of Apple in app store case

In a 5-4 the decision, the Supreme Court dealt a blow to Apple in a class action lawsuit claiming that company's app store is a monopoly. The case will now proceed in the district court. The issue was whether regular consumers have standing to sue Apple for antitrust violations, or whether it was just competitors who have standing to sue. Justice Kavanaugh sided with the court's liberal justices, saying that if consumers didn't have standing, that retailers would be able to evade antitrust enforcement, by structuring deals with suppliers and manufactures in a way that complies with the black letter of the law, but still effectively have a monopoly.

Uber driver allegedly locks two women in his car

Police in Pittsburgh arrested an Uber driver, Richard Lomotey, who is also an assistant professor at Penn State's Beaver campus, for allegedly locking two female passengers in his car and telling them, "you're not going anywhere". Lomotey is charged with two counts of kidnapping.

Protests over Palantir

Protestors converged on Palantir's headquarters around the country over the company's $38 million contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to the Intercept, Palantir, which was founded by Trump adviser Peter Thiel, has been working with ICE to help them target and deport unaccompanied children and their families. Palantir says that it only helps ICE with investigations. But the Intercept found written documents, obtained via a FOIA request, that show Palantir pursued an "Unaccompanied Alien Children Human Smuggling Disruption Initiative" with both of ICE's two major divisions: Homeland Security and Investigations and its other division, which is called Enforcement and Removal Operations.

Symantec: Chinese spies captured NSA's hacking tools and used them against the U.S.

The New York Times reports that Symantec has discovered that Chinese spies hacked into the National Security Agency and stole its hacking tools. Then it took those tools and used them against the United States. Experts are now questioning what role the U.S. should now play in defining cybersecurity practices around the world. The New York Times describes what China did as being similar to a " gunslinger who takes an enemy's rifle and starts blasting away", making cybersecurity, in a lot of ways, like the Wild West.

Justice Department charges Chinese Nationals in Anthem breach

The Justice Department has charged two Chinese nationals for hacking Anthem back in 2015 that affected some 78.8 million Americans. The DOJ says the hackers used "extremely sophisticated techniques" to hack into Anthem and three other companies. DOJ officials call it one of the worst attacks in U.S. history.

Amazon reports "extensive fraud" following merchant hack

Amazon reported that over 6 months last year, it was hit by what it termed an "extensive fraud" with hackers siphoning funds from merchant accounts.

Pew reports that Americans' interest in social media is unchanged since 2018

Pew reports that despite all of the breaches, and hacks and problems in the tech sector and Facebook, in particular, Americans' interest in tech remains unchanged compared to last year. Black and Hispanic adults' use of YouTube exceeds that of Whites by 6 and 7 points respectively, with 78 and 77 percent saying they've ever used YouTube. Notably, Hispanic adults far outpace Whites on Instagram—by some 18 points, with 51 percent of Hispanics saying they've ever used the platform compared to just 33% of Whites. Blacks and Hispanics also far outpace Whites on WhatsApp, by 11 points and 29 points, respectively. You can find a link to the report in the show notes.

Uber drivers strike worldwide on day of IPO

Uber drivers around the world protested Uber and Lyft on the day of Uber's IPO last week. The largest number of protestors, hundreds, appeared outside Uber's headquarters in San Francisco. But the turnout in other cities around the world, were more modest. This underscores the difficulty of organizing in a company without a central company-wide email system that drivers can use to organize.

Oracle sues the Pentagon for offering jobs to DoD workers

Oracle is suing the Pentagon for eliminating it from a bidding process after Amazon allegedly offered a job to a Department of Defense employee for crafting the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure in a way that benefitted Amazon.

Fight over Airbnb regulation in DC intensifies

DC City Council member Phil Mendleson threatened DC Mayor Muriel Bowser on Twitter, saying that he would withhold building permits for government projects if the Mayor fails to implement a law designed to regulate short -term rentals like Airbnb. The Mayor's office is saying the law may be unconstitutional because it limits owners of units that don't actually reside at their property from sharing with renters for more than 90 days per year. The law is scheduled to take effect on October 1st.

Events

Tues., 5/15

If you're in the Bay Area …

New America

2020 Census: Everyone Counts

12:30-1:30

SPUR 1544 Broadway Oakland

FCC

Webinar: Information for Older American Consumers

2PM-3PM

If you're in New York …

Politico's Women Rule Networking Event

The Future of Female Entrepreneurship

6PM-8PM tomorrow, Wed. May 15

New York

This event has a high demand and the location isn't public. But you can find the link to the interest list in the show notes.

Bio

Randy Abreu (@AbreuAndTheCity) is the Senior Legislative Advisor to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Abreu served in the Obama Administration where he was appointed to the Department of Energy's Office of Technology Transitions and Clean Energy Investment Center. He is an alum of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and Google Policy fellowships and is currently a Google NextGen Leader, Internet Law and Policy Foundry fellow, and member of the Bronx Progressives.

Abreu has a personal history of advocating for social justice, and federal experience producing regulations and initiatives on intellectual property, drones, self-driving cars, cybersecurity, broadband access, spectrum allocation, e-privacy, and tech-transfer.

Read more at https://washingtechpodcast.libsyn.com/randy-abreu-tech-policy-in-the-bronx-and-beyond-ep-128#ySt87YOYc4MbviFm.99

Resources

New Green Deal

IPCC Special Report on Global Warming

HEADLINES:

News Roundup

Mark Zuckerberg comes under direct assault ahead of a shareholder vote to keep him on the Board, Microsoft defends election security, and Randy Abreu is my guest

Zuckerberg under assault

Two civil rights groups—Color of Change and Majority Action—are circulating a proposal and meeting with Facebook's shareholders pushing to oust Mark Zuckerberg from the board. Color of Change President Rashad Robinson wrote " "Lasting change to address the misinformation, discrimination, violent movements and data breaches that put users, especially Black users, at risk cannot subject to the whims of a single person." Currently, Zuckerberg controls 57.7% of voting shares. The Hill notes that 35% of Facebook's shareholders withheld votes last year.

Here in DC Senators Blumenthal and Hawley wrote to the Federal Trade Commission urging it to wrap up its investigation into Facebook, calling for significant damages that exceed the $5 billion that some reports have anticipated.

Facebook bows to additional FTC oversight

Several sources have reported that Facebook has told federal regulators at the Federal Trade Commission that, in addition to paying what's expected to be a multibillion dollar fine, it will also bend to additional oversight. Any major changes that Facebook plans to make to the platform would now need to go through a more rigorous approval process. And Facebook would need to hire a new privacy executive that the FTC pre-approves. Facebook has also redesigned its website to emphasize group messages over the news feed in order to address privacy concerns.

Trump expands biometric data collection at the border

The Trump administration has expanded its collection of biometric data from migrant families at the U.S. border with Mexico. The Department of Homeland Security will now conduct DNA tests and a pilot to collect fingerprints from children under 14.

Putin signs new law closing Russia off from the internet

Russia took a huge step last week to close itself off from the internet. Vladimir Putin signed a new bill that would allow his country to develop a "sustainable, fully-functioning, and secure sovereign internet" to defend itself against potential cyberattacks. The bill envisions doing this by creating a Russia-specific Domain Name Server.

Senators introduce bill to protect U.S. citizens' data at the U.S./Mexico border

Senators Steve Daines And Gary Peters introduced a bipartisan bill that would prevent the Customs and Border Protection's ability to sell personally identifiable information, like addresses and social security numbers, to third parties. The senators say the new measure could help prevent identity theft and credit card fraud.

Uber and Lyft stop adding new drivers in New York City

Uber and Lyft have stopped adding new drivers in New York City approximately 3 months after a new law went into effect that requires drivers to earn at least $17.22 per hour after expenses. The new law is intended to address low pay but also reduce the number of unused ride-sharing vehicles on the street. Politico noted that Uber and Lyft drivers have earned some $56 million more than they would have prior to February first.

Google employees stage sit-in to protest retaliation

Several hundred employees at Google offices around the world, including in London, staged a sit in last week to protest alleged retaliation against Google employee Meredith Whittaker for organizing a 20,000-employee walkout to protest forced arbitration f. During the sit-in other employees spoke about instances of retaliation that they too have allegedly experienced. Google released a statement saying it takes retaliation seriously and that it offers multiple channels by which employees have the ability to complain about retaliation, including anonymous complaints.

Microsoft takes initiative to beef up election security

Microsoft is taking the initiative to beef up election security by offering a free software that secures and validates votes and elections with new encryption methods. The company says it is ready to release "early prototypes" by 2020. Keep in mind though that it won't be prepared for "significant deployments" until after the 2020 elections.

Events

Tues., 5/7

Federal Communications Bar Association

CLE: Lawyering Social: Legal Issues on Social and Digital Media

6:00pm-8:15pm

Wiley Rein, 1776 K St.

$250 for non-members/$135 for members

Wed., 5/8

Washington Post

116th Congress State of Play

Livestream

House Administration Committee

Full Committee Hearing on Election Security

10:00AM

1310 Longworth

House Committee on Energy and Commerce

Oversight of the Federal Trade Commission: Strengthening Protections for Americans' Privacy and Data Security

10:30AM

Rayburn, 2123

Thurs., 5/9

House Small Business Committee

The Digital Ecosystem: New Paths to Entrepreneurship

10:00AM

Rayburn, 2360

Federal Communications Commission

May Open Meeting

10:30AM-12:30PM

FCC, 445 12th St., NW

Bio

Jelani Anglin is Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Good Call. Good Call's mission is to ensure that anyone who is arrested will have immediate access to a lawyer via its hotline 833-3-Goodcall. Jelani is a community organizer and serial entrepreneur. During High School, Jelani started his first online business, for which he was awarded the NYS FBLA Business Plan of the Year award, and was featured on national TV. Prior to founding Good Call, Jelani worked on a variety of issue-based and electoral campaigns, in addition to being a community organizer at AirBnb. Growing up in Far Rockaway, NY, and organizing in low-income communities across the east coast, Jelani experienced firsthand the pitfalls that exist for those oppressed by the criminal justice system. He works every day to better communities similar to where he grew up, and hopes his work will be a stepping stone for other young black males. In addition to being Co-executive Director at Good Call, Jelani is an Echoing Green fellow and a Civil Justice Fellow at Blue Ridge Labs.

Resources

Good Call

Mastery by Robert Greene

The 50th Law by Robert Greene

News Roundup

Twitter, Facebook, and Google dominate the headlines in another week of near chaos as tech and public policy still fail to see eye-to-eye on privacy, hate speech, and workplace issues, and Jelani Anglin is my gust

Twitter

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Called Rep. Ihan Omar

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey called Representative Ihan Omar the same day he met with President Trump, after she started receiving death threats following Trump's tweet of her giving a speech alongside images from the September 11th terrorist attacks. The Washington Post says he called her to tell her he stood by his company's position to keep the tweet up because he concluded it didn't violate Twitter's rules. He also said that taking it down wouldn't have done much since the tweet had already been widely shared. Dorey also said the company needed to do a better job monitoring for and removing hate speech and harassment. At the meeting with Trump, Trump complained to Dorsey that too many of his followers had been removed. But Dorsey reportedly said that it removes followers based on how much spam they tweet and that he also lost a lot of his own followers.

Twitter won't ban more hate speech because Republican politicians would be affected

So Twitter won't ban certain hate speech, apparently because certain GOP politicians would also be affected by it. During an all hands meeting someone asked why the company could ban Islamic State propaganda but not white supremacist content. An executive and engineer responded saying societal norms allow some Arabic language to be banned in order to sweep up ISIS tweets, but that societal norms wouldn't allow sweeping up politicians' tweets flagged as hate speech.

So yeah … Just total armchair policymaking at Twitter. Although, to be fair, Twitter did release a statement saying that this approach did not reflect the real approach at all.

But why won't Twitter take down David Duke, for example? Not even Jack Dorsey knows since, when he was asked at a Ted event to explain, he just punted.

In any case, reading all of the news reports it's clear that Twitter has absolutely no idea what the fuck is going on or how to design algorithms that prevent it from being used as a political propaganda machine. But the company is reportedly working on a way to make the context for political tweets more transparent—whatever the hell that means.

And meanwhile, we're just supposed to sit here and deal with the mass shootings, and deal with the death threats and there's absolutely not a single mechanism in this democracy that can handle it?

Facebook

New York AG announces investigation into Facebook's email sweep

Recall that last week we reported that Facebook swept up some 1.5 million user emails to help it build new products and services. Well, users didn't authorize the use of their emails for that purpose. So New York Attorney General Letitia James is now investigating.

Canada promises to sue Facebook for privacy violations

The Washington Post reports that up in Canada, regulators are planning to sue Facebook for breaking privacy laws. Canada began an investigation following the Cambridge Analytica scandal and found that the company's privacy protections are merely "superficial".

Ireland is also investigating Facebook

The Hill reports that Ireland is now also investigating Facebook for exposing the passwords of "hundreds of millions" of users . Ireland's looking into whether the company violated the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Facebook hires Patriot Act writer as General Counsel

Facebook has hired Jennifer Newstead as its new General Counsel. Newstead previously helped draft the Patriot Act under George W. Bush when she was an attorney in the Bush administration. She'd previously worked for OMB, Justice, and the White House. Before she was appointed as Facebook's GC, she was Trump's appointed legal adviser at the State Department according to Politico.

Look for Facebook's Q1 earnings report tomorrow (Wed., 5/1)

Facebook is scheduled to report its first quarter earnings tomorrow, Wednesday May 1, so keep an eye out for that.

Facebooking while black

A report in USA Today discusses how Facebook censors black users from talking about race. So you're going to want to check that out.

Google changes harassment and discrimination reporting protocol

Google has changed its reporting and harassment protocol for harassment and discrimination. The change comes after two employees who helped organize the walkout of some 20, 000 other employees in protest of Google's forced arbitration for such complaints claimed the company retaliated against them. Google will now have a dedicated site where employees can report harassment and discrimination, and the company will also now make arbitration an option for employees. The company has also expanded its annual internal misconduct report to include information about sexual harassment investigations,

Events

Tues., 4/30

House Appropriations Committee

Oversight Hearing: 2020 Census Preparation

10:00AM

CAPITOL, H-309

Streaming

House Energy and Commerce Committee, Communications & Tech Subcommittee

Hearing on "Legislating to Stop the Onslaught of Annoying Robocalls"

Rayburn, 2123

Streaming

Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Intellectual Property

World Intellectual Property Day 2019: The Role of Intellectual Property in Sports and Public Safety

Dirksen, 226

Streaming

Wed., 5/1

New America

Exploring Online Hate

11:00AM-2:00PM

740 15th St. NW #900

RSVP

Senate Judiciary Committee

Hearing on the DOJ's Investigation of Russian Interference with the 2016 Presidential Election

10:00AM

Dirksen, Rm. 226

Streaming

Thurs., 5/2

Department of Justice

Competition in Television and Digital Advertising Workshop Information (Day 1)

1:30-5:30pm

Liberty Square Building

Anne K. Bingaman Auditorium & Lecture Hall

450 Fifth Street, NW

Fri., 5/3

Department of Justice

Competition in Television and Digital Advertising Workshop Information (Day 2)

9:30am-1:00pm

Liberty Square Building

Anne K. Bingaman Auditorium & Lecture Hall

450 Fifth Street, NW

Bio

Daiquiri Ryan (@DaiquiriRyan) serves as the policy counsel at the National Hispanic Media Coalition where she leverages her policy expertise to advocate on behalf of the Latino community on Capitol Hill and beyond. She monitors, reviews and analyzes policies, programs, regulations and proposals to identify ways to close the Latino digital divide and expand access to communications for all Americans, regardless of their income or home zip code. Daiquiri's advocacy work includes preserving net neutrality, strengthening privacy protections, and increasing diversity in media ownership.

Previously Daiquiri served as policy fellow at Public Knowledge, where she created and led the Broadband Connects America rural broadband coalition, engaged online creators in the fight to restore net neutrality, led litigation against the FCC's repeal of the 2016 Tech Transitions order, and advocated for policies to close the digital divide. Her other fellowships have included time at Amazon, the DC Office of Attorney General, and the Arizona Department of Education. She is a member of the inaugural class of Google Next Gen Policy Leaders, where she co-leads a working group focused on creative policy solutions for intellectual property and social justice.

Daiquiri also serves as Vice President and co-founder of the Joey Ryan Foundation, a 501(c)(3) created in honor of her late brother that focuses on empowering young people with disabilities. She received her Juris Doctorate from George Washington University Law School, Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Media Relations from Arizona State University, and is admitted to the state Bar of Texas.

Resources

National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC)

Lack of Internet Access Threatens 2020 Census Success and the Future of Latino Voting Power by Daiquiri Ryan

HEADLINES:

The Muellerreport finds Russians tried to hack Hillary emails within 5 hours after Trump called for it, the CIA warns the world about Huawei, and Daiquiri Ryan is my guest

News Roundup

Mueller report says Russians attempted to hack Hillary Clinton's data just 5 hours after Trump called for it, then CIA warns the world over Huawei, and Daiquiri Ryan is my guest

The Mueller report on Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election found that Russians attempted to hack into Hillary Clinton's emails just 5 hours after Trump called for Moscow to do so while he was on the campaign trail. It's just one of the many, many lies and deceptive tactics both Russia and the Trump administration employed during the 2016 campaign season.

CIA warns UK over Huawei

The CIA told spy agencies abroad last week that China's People's Liberation Army, National Security Commission and a third branch of the Chinese state intelligence network, have funded Chinese telecom giant Huawei to supply 5G technology to Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. We reported back in December that Canada arrested Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou for allegedly defrauding multiple financial institutions in order to evade sanctions against Iran. The DOJ has since charged Meng with fraud. And Huawei is currently banned from doing business in the U.S. Huawei is suing the U.S. for the ban saying in part that the ban is politically motivated.

Facebook uploaded 1.5 million email addresses without consent

Business Insider reported last week that in 2016, Facebook "unintentionally uploaded" some 1.5 million of Facebook users' emails in order to develop new products and services. Facebook says it's deleting the data.

Twitter left up death threats against Ilhan Omar

BuzzFeed News reported that Twitter left up death threats made against Rep. Ilhan Omar. The threats came after President Trump tweeted spliced footage of the Congresswoman alongside footage of the September 11th attacks. Twitter said it left the threats up so that Capitol Police could investigate.

Meanwhile, the EU parliament voted in a measure that would fine social media companies for leaving up extremist content for too long.

DOJ: Sprint/T-Mobile not likely to survive scrutiny

The DOJ's Antitrust Division told Sprint and TMobile last week that the proposed $26 billion merger of the two companies, in its current form, is unlikely to be approved. That's according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Law enforcement's increased reliance on Google

In an investigative report, the New York Times has found that law enforcement agencies are increasingly relying on Google's SensorVault technology as an evidence repository to identify devices that were present at crime scenes. Some of the data dates back several years. Law enforcement officials interviewed in the report claim the search data it obtains from Google is only used to supplement additional evidence it collects from suspects.

Microsoft turns down California law enforcement request for AI

Reuters reports that Microsoft turned down an unnamed California law enforcement agency after the agency asked the company to install facial recognition technology in squad cars and body cams. Microsoft President Brad Smith said the agency's use of the technology would lead to a negative impact on women and people of color because thus far it has only tested the technology on white males.

Bio

Gigi Sohn (@gigibsohn) is a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate. She is one of the nation's leading public advocates for open, affordable and democratic communications networks. For 30 years, Gigi has worked to defend and preserve the fundamental competition and innovation policies that have made broadband Internet access more ubiquitous, competitive, affordable, open and protective of user privacy. From 2013-2016, Gigi was Counselor to the former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler. From 2001-2013, Gigi served as the Co-Founder and CEO of Public Knowledge, a leading telecommunications, media and technology policy advocacy organization. She was previously a Project Specialist in the Ford Foundation's Media, Arts and Culture unit and Executive Director of the Media Access Project, a public interest law firm. Gigi holds a BS in Broadcasting and Film, Summa Cum Laude from the Boston University College of Communication and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Resources

GigiSohn.com

Fiber: The Coming Tech Revolution by Susan Crawford (Yale University Press, forthcoming, 2019)

News Roundup

Net neutrality bill looks increasingly unlikely

The success of the net neutrality bill designed to reinstate the 2015 net neutrality rules that passed the House Energy & Commerce Committee last week by a vote of 30-22, looks increasingly unlikely to succeed, as its still gotta get past the Senate, and the Trump administration has threatened to veto even if it does. A floor vote in the House is expected today.

Congress ramps up tech scrutiny

Congress is continuing its ramp up of scrutiny of big tech, looking specifically at how social media and tech companies enable harmful speech. They're also looking at competition issues like Amazon's promotion of its own private label products over competing products offered by smaller businesses.

The House Judiciary Committee is holding a bipartisan hearing today on the rise of hate crime and white nationalism 10AM in 2141 Rayburn.

On the competition front…several members are taking a fresh look at antitrust issues following Elizabeth Warren's SXSW announcement of her proposal to rein in big tech with better antitrust enforcement. And so Amazon quietly removed promotional ads that gave preferential treatment to its own private label products. And Senators Amy Klobuchar and Marsha Blackburn sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging it to investigate Google for antitrust and data privacy violations.

Elizabeth Warren also introduced a new bill last week that could hold tech executives criminally liable for tech breaches. And Ed Markey introduced a bill that would require Google and Facebook to comply with online privacy rules. Markey's bill is designed to stem harmful marketing on channels like YouTube that are largely unregulated in terms of the marketing and advertising that kids are exposed to.

Google cancels AI ethics board

Google has killed the AI ethics board it set up. That's after thousands of employees and public advocates pushed the company to remove Heritage Foundation President Kay Cole James--over comments she made about trans people and for the Heritage Foundation's skepticism regarding climate change. The board also lacked civil rights leaders, as NAACP President Derrick Johnson noted on Twitter.

Leading AI scientists to Amazon: stop selling facial recognition technology

Leading AI scientists, including Yoshua Bengio, who won the Turing Award, which is basically the Nobel Prize of technology, have signed a letter urging Amazon to stop selling its facial recognition software, known as Rekognition. A couple of peer-reviewed papers have found the software, which police departments have been using, disproportionately misidentifies women and people of color. The New York Times has more.

Microsoft vows to focus on discrimination at employee meetings

Microsoft promises to give its employees space to discuss discrimination issues at monthly employee meetings. CEO Satya Nadella and HR Chief Kathleen Hogan announced during an all-hands call last week. The move comes after employees erupted in an email thread, complaining about gender discrimination issues at the company.

Events

House Judiciary Committee

Hearing on Hate Crimes and White Nationalism

Today, Tues., 4/9 at 10AM

Rayburn 2141, Streaming

Federal Trade Commission

FTC Hearing #12: Competition and Consumer Protection

Tues., 4/9 and Wed., 4/10

Constitution Center

400 7th St SW, Washington, DC 20024

Senate Judiciary Committee

Stifling Free Speech: Technological Censorship and the Public Discourse

Wed., 4/10 at 2:30PM

Dirksen 226, Streaming

Senate Commerce Committee

Illegal Robocalls: Calling all to stop the scourge

Thurs, 4/11 at 10AM

216 Hart, Streaming

Brookings

How Will Emerging Technologies Affect the Future of Work

Fri., 4/12 at 10AM

1775 Massachusetts Ave.. NW

FCC Open Meeting

Fri., 4/12 at 10:30AM

445 12th St. SW

Commission Meeting Room, Streaming

Ben Green: A More Inclusive Approach to Smart Cities

Ben Green joined Joe Miller to discuss how stakeholders can develop a more inclusive approach to smart cities by engaging local residents.

Bio

Ben Green (@benzevgreen) is a PhD Candidate in Applied Math at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and an Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard. He studies the implementation and impacts of data science in local governments, with a focus on "smart cities" and the criminal justice system. Analyzing the intersections of data science with law, policy, and social science, Ben focuses on the social justice and policy implications of data-driven algorithms deployed by governments. His forthcoming book, The Smart Enough City: Putting Technology in Its Place to Reclaim Our Urban Future, will be published in April 2019 with MIT Press (Amazon link).

Ben's research draws on his extensive experience working with data and technology in municipal government. He most recently spent a year working for the Citywide Analytics Team in the City of Boston, where he developed analytics to improve public safety operations and civic engagement strategies for the City's new open data program. Ben previously worked as a Fellow at the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Data Science for Social Good Summer Fellowship, and partnered with the City of Memphis, TN using machine learning to identify blighted homes. He also worked for a year at the New Haven Department of Transportation, Traffic, and Parking, where he managed the deployment of new parking meter payment technology.

Ben completed his undergraduate degree in Mathematics & Physics at Yale College. His graduate work has been funded by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the Herbert Winokur SEAS Graduate Fellowship.

Resources

Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society

The Smart Enough City: Putting Technology in Its Place to Reclaim Our Urban Future by Ben Green (forthcoming MIT Press, April 9, 2019).

News Roundup Rough Week for Google on LGBTQ issues

It was a rough week for Google in the LGBTQ community.

First, the Human Rights Coalition suspended Google from its rankings, for which Google had a perfect rating, because Google allowed an app promoting conversion therapy to remain in its app store. Google has since pulled the app.

Also, several Googlers took aim at Google's new Advanced Technology External Advisory Council (ATEAC) last week for naming Heritage Foundation President Kay Cole James as a member. Cole has repeatedly spoken out frequently against LGBTQ interests and trans folks in particular. So over a thousand Googlers signed on to a letter published on Medium opposing Cole's appointment.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson also criticized Google for failing to include civil rights leaders on the council.

Facebook bans white nationalism and white separatism

Facebook announced that it will now ban content promoting white nationalism and white separatism. The company will ban content with phrases that explicitly refer to white nationalism and white separatism. But Facebook said that finding implicit instances of white nationalism and white separatism will take some time for Facebook to learn how to identify. Mark Zuckerberg also wrote a Washington Post Op-Ed seeking a third-party tribunal that would reinforce Facebook's efforts. Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr weighed in opposing such a framework.

Department of Housing and Urban Development now looking into Twitter and Google

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has already sued Facebook for allowing real estate advertisers to exclude certain ethnicities and zip codes, is now investigating Twitter and Google as well, according to the Washington Post.

IBM sued for age discrimination

A group of IBM ex-employees sued the company in federal court in New York City for failing to disclose how many people it laid off who were over the age of 40. It's the second lawsuit following a ProPublica report last year that documented rampant alleged age discrimination at the company. At issue is a provision in IBM's separation agreement that requires employees to agree not to sue the company in exchange for severance pay.

Google, Cuba work together to improve connectivity

Google and Cuba's state-run telecommunications monopoly ETECSA have agreed to begin negotiations on bringing better connectivity to the island. The agreement entails Google's and ETECSA's engineers working together to bring better connectivity to the island via Google's points of presence in Florida, Mexico, and Colombia without having to pay the hefty interconnection fees it's been paying to a third party carrier to connect to Venezuela.

Nipsey Hussle advocated for STEM

Finally, Nipsey Hussle, the rapper and community champion who was murdered in front of his clothing shop in L.A. on Sunday, was an avid supporter of science, technology, engineering, and math education for underrepresented youth and diversity in tech. John Ketchum writes in AfroTech that in an LA Times interview last year, Hussle was quoted as saying that kids are often nudged to emulate athletes and entertainers but that there should be more messaging around emulating tech leaders like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

Events

CHCI

CHCI Capitol Hill Policy Briefing Series

Rayburn Rm. 2043

Washington, DC

4/2

Privacy + Security Academy

International Privacy & Security Forum

The Marvin Center

800 21st St. NW

Washington, DC

4/3-5

The Bridge

Women Talk Tech & Policy

WeWork

1440 G St. NW

4/3, 6-8PM

Maureen K. Ohlhausen: Should Antitrust Law Rein in Big Tech? (Ep. 179)

Maureen K. Ohlhausen joined Joe Miller to discuss whether U.S. antitrust law is the appropriate mechanism by which to rein in big tech.

Bio

Maureen K. Ohlhausen (@M_Ohlhausen) is the Antitrust and Competition Law Practice Chair and Partner at the law firm of Baker Botts. Previously, she served as Acting Chairman at the Federal Trade Commission for 2 years and prior to that as a Commissioner for 6. She directed all aspects of the FTC's antitrust work, including merger review and conduct enforcement, and steered all FTC consumer protection enforcement, with a particular emphasis on privacy and technology issues. A thought leader, Maureen has published dozens of articles on antitrust, privacy, IP, regulation, FTC litigation, telecommunications, and international law issues in prestigious publications and has testified over a dozen times before the U.S. Congress. Maureen has relationships with officials in the U.S. and abroad, with a particular emphasis on Europe and China, and has led the U.S. delegation at the international antitrust and data privacy meeting on many occasions. She has received numerous awards, including the FTC's Robert Pitofsky Lifetime Achievement Award. Prior to her role as a Commissioner, Maureen led the FTC's Internet Access Task Force, which produced an influential report analyzing competition and consumer protection legal issues in the area of broadband and internet. In private practice, he headed the FTC practice group at a leading telecommunications firm, representing and counseling telecommunications and technology clients on antitrust compliance, privacy, and consumer protection matters before the FTC and the FCC. She also clerked at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Resources

Baker Botts – Antitrust and Competition Law Practice Group

Here's how we can break up big tech by Elizabeth Warren (Ms. Ohlhausen argues against.)

News Roundup Facebook blocks race, age, gender, ZIP code ad targeting for housing, employment, credit

Facebook is no longer permitting housing, employment and credit advertisers to target users based on their age, race, gender or zip code. This brings Facebook in line with federal rules preventing broadcasters from discriminating in ad sales contracts on the basis of race or gender. The new prohibitions are part of a settlement with several advocacy organizations that filed discrimination lawsuits against Facebook after ProPublica published an investigative report showing its ability to exclude certain ethnicities from seeing housing ads.

Dems plan to vote on net neutrality bill on April 8th

House democrats plan to vote, on Monday, April 8th, on the bill that would reinstate the 2015 net neutrality rules—the Save the Internet Act. Opponents are trying to tack on a bunch of Amendments even though the bill is pretty straight forward in terms of its intended scope. Even if the bill passes the House though, it faces an uphill climb in Mitch McConnel's lair high up on the mountain -- I mean the Senate. And the president would also have to sign it – we'll see what happens.

Security firm: Facebook stored user data in plain text for years

This time, the security firm KrebsonSecurity found that, for years, Facebook stored hundreds of millions of user names and passwords in a text file. What's the problem with this you ask? Well the text file was searchable by any of Facebook's 20,000 employees. So let's say a date didn't go so well with some brah who happens to work at Facebook? Well guess what he could just go ahead and search for your password. Facebook has allegedly used this method dating back as far as 2012.

Cummings demands documents related to Kushner's use of encrypted app for official business

House Oversight Chair Elijah Cummings has demanded documents from the attorney representing Jared Kushner regarding Kushner's use of a private email address and What's App to conduct official business. This of course is the same thing Republicans went after Hillary Clinton for during the 2016 presidential campaign.

FCC to pay $43k in settlement for not releasing fake comments records

The FCC will pay $43,000 in attorneys' fees and costs to a New York journalist named Jason Prechtel for failing to turn over information, under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, related to fake comments filed in the net neutrality proceeding. The case was settled without prejudice which means the FCC won't admit to any wrongdoing—even though it didn't respond to the journalist within the statutory timeframe.

Nunes suing Twitter

California Republican Representative Devin Nunes is suing Twitter and 3 users for $250 million saying he was "defamed" and claiming that Twitter bans conservative viewpoints.

Trump finally names a CTO

After two years, President Trump has finally named a Chief Technology Officer. Michael Kratsios is just 32 but well-connected and worked for Thiel Capital. Peter Thiel as you'll recall is a Donald Trump Supporter

Events

Tuesday March 26th

Hudson Institute

How Does the U.S. Maintain its Competitive Edge in 5G?

9:15AM-11:00AM

1201 Pennsylvania Ave.

It will be livestreamed

Senate Commerce Committee

Hearing on Small Business Perspectives on the Federal Data Privacy Framework

2:30pm – Dirksen 562

Wednesday March 27th

House Judiciary Committee

Lost Einsteins: Lack of Diversity in Patent Inventorship and the Impact on America's Innovation Economy

10AM

2141 Rayburn

March 29th

Brookings

Stephen Bryer Lecture: Digital Technology in the age of artificial intelligence: A comparative perspective

10:30-12 noon

Falk Auditorium @ Brookings

1776 Massachussetts, NW

There will be a webcast for this as well.

Dr. Alisa Valentin: The Unifying Power of Social Justice (Ep. 178)

Alisa Valentin of Public Knowledge joined Joe Miller to discuss her approach to building a constructive dialogue at the intersection of tech and social justice.

Bio

Alisa Valentin (@alisavalentin) is the Communications Justice Fellow at Public Knowledge, where she focuses on digital inclusion policies for communities of color and policies that diversify media ownership.

Prior to joining Public Knowledge, Alisa served as an intern in the Office of Commissioner Mignon Clyburn at the Federal Communications Commission and as a legislative fellow for Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke. Alisa was also an adjunct professor at several D.C. area colleges and universities where she taught communications and women's studies courses.

Alisa received her Ph.D. in Communications from Howard University. She also earned her B.S. from the University of Florida and an M.S. from Northwestern University.

Resources

Public Knowledge

Racial Taxation: Schools, Segregation and Taxpayer Citizenship, 1869-1973 (Justice, Power & Politics) by Camille Walsh

#TechPolicySoWhite by Alyssa Valentin (Public Knowledge, 2019)

News Roundup Facebook failed to block 20% of New Zealand shooter videos

Facebook failed to block some 20% of videos showing the shooting in New Zealand, including videos that praised the shooting. That's some 300,000 videos. The company reports though that it did manage to take down some 1.2 million videos related to a white supremacist's massacre of 50 worshippers at 2 mosques in Christchurch.

Arlington approves Amazon incentives

Arlington County, Virginia has approved $23 million in incentives for Amazon to put its second headquarters in Crystal City. Protestors attended an Arlington County board meeting to oppose the vote saying the county should focus on affordable housing before Amazon. Opponents are also concerned about traffic congestion and school overcrowding.

The Arlington chapter of the NAACP also opposed certain aspects of the incentive package. But the County board unanimously approved the incentives with a 5-0 vote. So again—just like in Queens—very superficial engagement by Amazon to reach out to the local community or even include them in negotiations. It's just extremely poor stakeholder engagement – and they do it because they can.

Facebook reinstates Warren ads calling for tech breakup

Facebook has reinstated Senator Elizabeth Warren's ads calling for a breakup of the social media giant along with Google and Amazon. A company spokesman says it removed the ads because they violated a policy regarding the use of Facebook's logo … even though the whole point of that type of policy is obviously to prevent ads going up that criticize the company.

Apple defends is app store policies against Spotify

Finally, Apple is defending its app store policies against Spotify after Spotify filed a complaint against Apple in Europe for allegedly engaging in anticompetitive behavior by setting its cost to carry the Spotify app in the app store too high. Apple currently charges 30% for anything sold in the app store. Apple says Spotify is simply seeking to avoid paying the same fee everyone else pays.

Events

Federal Trade Commission

Hearing on Competition and Consumer Protection in U.S. broadband markets

Constitution Center

400 7th St. NW

9AM-5:45pm

Wed., 3/20

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events-calendar/ftc-hearing-10-competition-consumer-protection-21st-century

Public Knowledge/Georgetown/Goodfriend Group

Algorithmic Exclusion and Data Deserts

Georgetown University Law Center

600 New Jersey Ave., NW

3:30-5:30PM

Monday, 10/25

https://www.georgetowntech.org/datadeserts