Tech Policy Leaders

Bio

A Mexican American with a creative background and an untraditional career path, Ambar Januel (@ambarjanuel) is a marketing strategist and branding expert for non-profits and innovative tech companies. With a focus on social impact, her partners utilize future technologies to disrupt the system, while prioritizing diversity and inclusion, community engagement, and social justice. Tech startup project manager, turned creative director, turned agency co-founder, Ambar currently works independently as a strategist, bringing marketing, event production, and branding skills together through her work. She has spoken at a variety of conferences and has been featured in many publications, including 7in7, BBC Media, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Digital LA, Honeybook, WeRule, and more.

Resources

Ambar Januel

Good Call

Call Them by Their True Names by Rebecca Solnit

News Roundup NAACP launches Facebook boycott for targeting people of color

The NAACP has launched a boycott of Facebook following reports that the Kremlin specifically used Facebook and other social media to recruit African Americans and other people of color to support Donald Trump. The NAACP is calling on Facebook users to log out of Facebook for one day—today, Tuesday.

Data analysts from the University of Oxford submitted a report to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday, yesterday, analyzing how Russians infiltrated social media to spread pro-Trump propaganda leading up to the 2016 presidential election. We've got a link to coverage in the show notes. But Russian operatives working for the Internet Research Agency—the propaganda arm of the Kremlin—sought to entice African Americans and other people of color to host events, start coalitions, and engage in other activities -- on American soil -- to gin up support for Donald Trump. These were leaflets, folks.

So even though the Kremlin used other social media platforms -- including Twitter , Google, and others -- to promote propaganda, and the report to the Senate Intelligence Committee says that these companies may have evaded Congress and provided incomplete datasets during testimony over the past year, this was the icing on the cake for the NAACP as far as Facebook's concerned. The 110-year-old civil rights organization found a persistent pattern of anti-democratic tactics that have repeatedly implicated Facebook since the 2016 election cycle.

To add insult to injury, Facebook revealed yet another breach affecting private photos of some 6.8 million users. So this goes far beyond smart lawyering. Tech company's testimony before Congress all year came with legal implications. And, as long as they didn't commit perjury, disclosing as little as possible is frankly well within their Fifth Amendment rights. But there's a particular quality to Facebook that's fundamentally different from other platforms--because it's so pervasive, and so personal.

YouTube has removed 58 million videos in last quarter

YouTube reports that it removed some 58 million videos during the past quarter for violating community standards. The Google unit said that 72% of the videos promoted spam or were misleading. YouTube also removed 1.67 million channels during the same period.

HuffPo: Cloudflare hosts terror organizations

The web giant Cloudflare apparently provides cybersecurity services to at least 7 foreign terrorist organizations and militant groups, according to the Huffington Post. All of the groups are listed on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations. Jesselyn Cook has the report in the Huffington Post.

AP: Iranian operatives hacked personal emails of American security officials

The AP reports that Iranian hackers hacked into the personal email accounts of U.S. officials last month to attempt to thwart the Trump administration's new sanctions. The AP obtained the data from London-based security firm Certfa. Raphael Satter has more overage in the AP.

FCC allows internet service providers to block texts

The FCC voted last week to allow internet service providers to block some text messages, supposedly to prevent spam. Opponents say it's a threat to net neutrality and gives ISPs too much control over content, in this case texts.

Manchin blocks Carr nomination

West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin moved to block Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr's nomination to the the FCC after the Republican-controlled agency voted to block the expansion of wireless internet service to rural areas. Carr's term is actually already expired—it expired back on June 30th. And if the current Congress doesn't vote to approve a new five-year term by January 3rd, which is when the current Congress concludes, and we move into the next session of Congress, Carr will need to step down. However, he could still be renominated and confirmed by the next Senate, which is what happened with Jessica Rosenworcel.

Alexandra Channer: Automation, Displacement and Slavery in Southeast Asia (Ep. 166)

Alexandra Channer joined Joe Miller to discuss how automation is leading to labor abuses and slavery in Southeast Asia.

Bio

Dr. Alexandra Channer (@channer_alex) is a human rights advisor for business, helping to identify and mitigate impacts resulting from their commercial activities and relationships. She has a technical background in risk analysis and due diligence for labour standards, civil and political rights and community impacts.

In her previous role, Alex was principal analyst and head of human rights strategy at Verisk Maplecroft. In this role, Alex supported multinationals with global supply chains in the technology, extractives, food and beverage, and apparel sectors. Areas of focus included modern slavery, human rights defenders and automation.

Alex's approach is enriched by her doctorate in politics - involving eight years of fieldwork on grievance-based mobilisation in Kosovo - as well as experience working in political communications. Alex learnt Albanian in Kosovo and translates plays and books in her spare time.

Key services:

• Modern slavery training workshops and e-learning programmes
• Gap assessments of human rights management systems
• Stakeholder consultation
• Disclosure statement support
• Risk and impact assessments
• Issue briefing, horizon scanning

Resources

Slavery and labour abuses in SE Asia supply chains set to spiral over the next two decades as automation consumes job market by Alexandra Channer (Verisk Maplecroft, 2018)

Confidential documents obtained by UK's Parliament suggest Facebook sold data

Two-hundred fifty pages of confidential documents obtained by a UK Parliamentary committee from a company embroiled in litigation with Facebook in the U.S. seem to reveal that Facebook sold data to certain buyers as it sought to grow. Zuckerberg denies that allegations. But the trove of emails between Facebook and a company called Six4Three contain several communications with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that seem to discredit his assertion that Facebook never sold users' data.

In other Facebook news, The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook's board of directors backs Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg's handling of the anti-Semitic campaign against George Soros. And Facebook plans to a buyback of $9 billion more of its shares to boost investor confidence after a stock slump of more than 40% since July.

Verizon's Oath to pay a $5 million settlement in child data protection lawsuit

Verizon's Oath has agreed to pay $5 million to the New York State attorney general to settle charges that its AOL unit violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, also known as COPPA. It's the largest settlement paid by a company in COPPA history. New York's Attorney General had accused AOL of displaying ads on children's sites even though AOL's policies prohibited it. Sapna Maheshwari has more in The New York Times.

FCC watchdog clears Pai of collusion with the White House

The FCC's own, internal Inspector General has completed an investigation of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. It found that Pai didn't violate ethics rules when he failed to disclose conversations he'd had with former White House counsel Don McGahn regarding the Sinclair merger because the FCC's rules didn't prohibit the conversation even though the FCC is not a cabinet-level agency and is supposed to be independent of the White House. Margaret Harding McGill has the story in Politico.

Google contract employees push for better working conditions

Google's contract employees are pushing for better working conditions. In a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Googler's are calling for inclusion in corporate-wide communications as well as equal pay and better treatment. The contract workers, known internally as TVCs, are also referred to as Google's "shadow workforce". And they were excluded from Google's new policies regarding sexual harassment which the company began implementing following the walkout of thousands of employees world-wide protesting the company's handling of Andy Rubin's departure, after he'd been accused of sexual misconduct—an accusation Mr. Rubin has denied. The contract employees say that Google's $30 billion in profit this year alone is more than enough for the company to compensate them fairly.

Google accelerates closure of Google+

Google has found a new bug exposing user data to some 52 million users. The company had already planned to shut down Google+ by the end of next year, but it has accelerated the closure to August. Google CEO Sundar Pichai is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on today, Tuesday, December 11th and the new data breach is sure to be an issue.

Joseph Kane: The Impact of Automated Vehicles on Your White Collar Job (Ep. 165)

Brookings' Joseph Kane joined Joe Miller to talk about how automated vehicles could impact your white collar job--not just those of drivers.

Bio

Joseph Kane (@jwkane) is a senior research associate and associate fellow at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program.

Kane's work focuses on a wide array of built environment issues, including transportation and water infrastructure. Within these areas of research, he has explored infrastructure's central economic role across different regions as well as its relationship to opportunity and resilience. Across several projects, he has concentrated on the use of innovative datasets, combining them with other qualitative measures to better assess current and future infrastructure needs. From the exploration of metropolitan freight trends to the first-ever analysis of infrastructure jobs at a metropolitan level, he has coordinated the production of new metrics and developed other interactive content to better inform decisions by policymakers and practitioners across the country.

Prior to Brookings, Kane was an Economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. He holds a master's degree in urban and environmental planning from the University of Virginia and a bachelor's degree in economics and history from the College of William and Mary.

Resources

Metropolitan Policy Program @ Brookings

How big could the AV industry be? 9.5 million workers and counting by Joseph Kane and Adie Tomer

Why the Garden Club Couldn't Save Youngstown by Sean Stafford

News Roundup Consequences Facebook's poor engagement with people of color taking root

The consequences of Facebook's poor engagement over the years with people of color began to take hold last week. On Tuesday, USA Today's Jessica Guynn reported on a former black Facebook employee – Mark Luckie – who says the company has a deep seated race problem both internally and on the platform. Luckie wrote an internal blog post on Facebook earlier this month—to management and employees—that later went public—saying the platform itself actively works against black people. He says that Facebook works against attempts by black users to create safe spaces on Facebook, amplifies some users over others using class-based criteria, which effectively dilutes black voices, and fails to hire a workforce that reflects the demographics of its user base.

Color of Change CEO Rashad Robinson met with Sheryl Sandberg on Thursday. Politico reported that it was a victory, but then went on to talk about all of the ways in which it really wasn't. For example, Facebook hasn't committed to release records on its work with Definers Public Affairs to engage in promoting far right, anti-Semitic attacks against George Soros. It was a campaign that also targeted Color of Change. Robinson also told Politico that Sandberg defended Joel Kaplan. Apparently Sandberg, according to Politico's account of the meeting, offered a sincere apology and Mark Zuckerberg popped his head in. But really, who cares. Sandberg did agree to a civil rights audit that Color of Change would conduct and agreed to have a public debate on the results of the audit. But that's really non-negotiable since they have to do something to prevent a boycott.

Also, a New York Times report out the same day Robinson met with Sandberg suggested that Sandberg directed the communications team in their research of George Soros's financial interests and actually sent an email asking if Soros had shorted Facebook's stock.

A lot of people are just sort of wondering why Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg and Joel Kaplan should keep their jobs. But would that solve Facebook's race issues?

Mattis says Russia interfered in midterms

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said over the weekend during an interview at the Ronald Reagan Public library that Russian operatives attempted to interfere with the U.S. election. He said the Trump administration's relationship with Russia has deteriorated. Mattis' remarks came a couple of days after Trump canceled his scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit amidst Michael Cohen's guilty plea for making misstatements to Congress in the investigation into the Trump administration's business dealings with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

Marriott hack affects 500 million guests

Marriott reported a hack that apparently affected some 500 million of its Starwood guests, exposing personal information including home addresses, passport numbers, drivers' license numbers, names, and other personal details. New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood is investigating the breach. The company has known about the breach since early September.

Nexstar to acquire Tribune

Nextstar has announced plans to acquire Tribune Media for $4.1 billion, making it the largest tv station owner in the U.S. The merger would add 42 stations to Nexstar's portfolio bringing its total number of stations to 216 in 118 markets, just under the FCC's 39% ownership threshold. The deal comes after Sinclair failed in its bid for Tribune earlier this year.

Delrahim for AG?

CNN reports that President Trump may be considering Makan Delrahim to replace Jeff Sessions as US Attorney General. Currently, Delrahim is the Assistant Attorney General who sued AT&T to stop its acquisition of Time Warner—he lost. That deal went through. Some are still debating whether the president directed Delrahim to stop the merger. Delrahim denies this. But if he did act at Trump's behest, the Attorney General job would be a big reward—ya think?

FBI Charges 8 in Ad-fraud scheme

The FBI charged eight individuals last week in an ad fraud scheme. The men face 13 charges for allegedly scheming to infect 1.7 million computers and drive traffic to counterfeit websites serving up ads. Craig Silverman has a detailed report in BuzzFeed News.

DOJ Indicts 2 Iranians for Ransomware Attacks

The Department of justice indicted 2 men in connection with an alleged Iranian ransomware plot since 2015 that has caused some $30 million in financial damage to city universities, governments and hospitals, including the City of Atlanta. Officials say the scheme, known as SamSam, affected more than 200 victims and led to some $6 million in ransom payments. Brian Fung has the story in the Washington Post.

Google employees pledge $200k to help striking employees

Some Google employees have banded together to create a $200k fund to help striking engineers who are opposing Google's work on a censored search engine in China. The project is known as Project Dragonfly and hundreds of engineers oppose the effort and signed a letter to that effect last week.

Chiqui Cartagena: The Public Policy Implications of Hispanic Marketing (Ep. 164)

Chiqui Cartagena joined Joe Miller to discuss the public policy implications of Hispanic marketing amidst an increased demand for Latino data.

Bio

Chiqui Cartagena (@ChiquiCartagena) is the author of Latino Boom II and most recently served as senior vice president of the Political & Advocacy Group at Univision Communications Inc., the leading media company serving Hispanic America. At Univision, she was responsible for increasing the understanding of the importance of Hispanic voter and the key political issues that affect them among key political constituents across the country.

In 2014, Ms. Cartagena was named one of Campaigns & Elections "50 Influencers". In 2013, she was recognized with a Multiethnic TV Leadership Award from Broadcasting & Cable magazine and in 2012, Cartagena received the ADCOLOR® Legend Award in recognition of her tireless efforts in leading the conversation about the Hispanic market. In 2007, she was named the Hispanic Direct Marketing Professional of the Year by the Direct Marketing Association. And finally, she is the author of Latino Boom II, Catch the Biggest Wave Since the Baby Boom, her second book on the Hispanic market which was published in 2013.

Ms. Cartagena is a Hispanic media and marketing pioneer with 25 years of experience developing, launching, and leading some of America's most successful Spanish-language consumer magazines, including People en Español and TV Guide en Español. She has also developed many integrated marketing programs for leading consumer brands to successfully reach the Latino community. Her career also includes senior roles as a broadcast journalist, having previously worked in the news divisions of Univision and Telemundo.

Ms. Cartagena, a graduate of the University of Miami, is a member of the Awards Committee for National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and lives in New York City.

Resources

Latino Boom

Nielsen LatinX

The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century by George Friedman

News Roundup Can Facebook overcome its woes with Zuckerberg and Sandberg still leading the company?

Facebook, which has lost about $100 billion in market value since March, can't seem to right itself after a year of the Cambridge Analytica and election interference debacle. The UK Parliament got hold of senior level communications from a company in the U.S. called Six4Thirty which is suing Facebook. Six4Thirty, whose core business model was scanning Facebook data for bikini photos, obtained the communications in the discovery process in an attempt to establish that Facebook knew about the loophole it used to obtain Facebook's users data, which was allegedly the same loophole that Cambridge Analytica used. Some of the communications are said to be from Mark Zuckerberg himself.

So normally, the communications would be shielded from disclosure as the matter is being litigated. But it just so happens that Damian Collins, the Chair of the Parliament's Culture, Media and Sports select committee, caught wind of the fact that one of Six4Thirty's founders was in London—bringing the company within the UK's jurisdiction. So that enabled Collins to seize the documents by sending a Serjeant at Arms to the founder's hotel room and requiring him to turn over the documents within 2 hours or face a fine or potential jail time.

So there's that.

And as far as Facebook's hiring of a lobbying firm that allegedly worked to play into anti-Semitism against George Soros, Facebook's head of public policy Elliot Schrage announced in an internal memo that he was responsible for hiring the firm. However, he said that it was never his intention to play into anti-semitism. Facebook COO Cheryl Sandberg weighed in in a comment, saying that she was ultimately responsible. Schrage has been planning to leave the company for some time, and he will be replaced by former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Calls by some shareholders and others for Mark Zuckerberg and Cheryl Sandberg to step down from at least some of their responsibilities has fallen on deaf ears. As Zuckerberg said in a CBS Business Interview that, while he apologized for the company's woes, said that stepping down or replacing Sandberg is "not the plan".

Can Amazon be humbled by pushback from its workforce?

Amazon has huge, global aspirations. But will the company go as far as it needs to in order to resolve internal labor disputes? In the U.S., Amazon raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour but eliminated other perks, including employee benefits. But on Black Friday, thousands of European workers went on strike, demanding better pay and working conditions. All of this is happening amidst Amazon's aggressive expansion efforts beyond ecommerce. For example, the company is bidding for 21st Century Fox's 22 Regional Sports assets—including YES TV which broadcasts the New York Yankees. The Wall Street Journal also reports that Amazon is now the Number 3 digital advertising platform, behind just Google and Facebook, with ad sales growth projected to be at over 400% between 2017 and 2020, way ahead of second-place Tencent in China whose ad sales growth is projected to be at just under 200%.

Roger Stone crony Jerome Corsi says he won't take FBI plea deal

Conspiracy theorist and Roger Stone ally Jermone Corsi told CNN that Robert Mueller offered him a plea deal on one count of perjury connected with statements Corsi made saying that he had no communication with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Trump confidante Stone himself said that he'd never had direct communication with Assange either, saying that he got all of his info through a backchannel alleged to be New York radio personality Randy Credico, which Credico has denied.

Russian hacking is resurgence

American officials and security firms are reporting that Russian hacking efforts are on an uptick following the U.S. midterm elections. The hackers are apparently trying to test the waters with the new Congress coming in. But experts are concerned that we won't know the full scale of the hackers' capabilities until the 2020 presidential election.

Is China's TikTok the next big video karaoke app?

Axios has a report on the growth of TikTok, which has seen impressive user growth over the last year. The platform is now up to 7.2 million monthly users. It's now ranked in the Top 5 U.S. apps in both Google Play and the iOS app store and its global monthly usage comes in around 130 million. So some are asking how big TikTok can become in the U.S.

NASA lands on Mars again

For the 8th time, NASA has landed on Mars. This time, the rover Insight will explore Mars' interior, digging beneath the red planet's surface to determine its origins. It's expected to be a 2-year mission.

Trump ponders state-run TV network

Is President Trump considering establishing a state-run TV network? Some think he is and it follows the same playbook as most dictators.

Sahra V. Nguyen: Public Policy as a Creative Spark (Ep. 163)

Sahra Nguyen joined Joe Miller to chat about her new Brooklyn-based coffee venture—Nguyen Coffee Supply.

Bi0

Sahra Nguyen is an award-winning filmmaker, entrepreneur, and founder/CEO of Nguyen Coffee Supply. Currently based in Brooklyn, NY, Nguyen is also the co-founder of podcast agency Listening Party and a member of the 2018 Google Next Gen Tech Policy Leaders.

In 2018, Nguyen launched Nguyen Coffee Supply—the first-ever Vietnamese-American owned importer, supplier, and roaster of green coffee beans from Vietnam—as a way to showcase the diversity of single-origin arabica and robusta. She works directly with a fourth-generation Vietnamese coffee farmer from Da Lat in the Central Highlands, whose beans are certified clean and organic in Vietnam. As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees in Boston, MA, the company's name is a nod to Nguyen's Vietnamese heritage.

Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a double major in Asian American Studies and World Arts & Cultures, served as the Director of the Writing Success Program at UCLA, and published an e-book of poetry exploring themes of identity, race in America, and the Vietnamese-American experience.

Building on her love of storytelling, in 2015 Nguyen started her own production company, One Ounce Gold. Her first self-produced documentary web series, "Maker's Lane," evolved into a brand new series for NBC News entitled "Self-Starters," a show about Asian American entrepreneurs around the country. Helping launch the video channel for NBC Asian America, "Self-Starters" was nominated for the EPPY Awards and LA Press Club Awards.

In mid-2016, Nguyen sold her second documentary series to NBC News, "Deported," which follows the grassroots fight to end deportation of Cambodian-Americans from the U.S. to Cambodia. "Deported" was nominated alongside CNN's Lisa Ling's "This is Life" and won the 2018 NAMIC Vision Award for Best Digital Media, Long Form.

With a passion to constantly take on new challenges, Nguyen, along with three friends (all under the age of 30), opened up their first storefront business Lucy's Vietnamese Kitchen, in Bushwick, NY, in March of 2015. Within the first 9 months, Lucy's Vietnamese Kitchen won "Best Vietnamese Restaurant" by popular vote and has been featured in The New York Times, Time Out New York, Zagat, VICE, and more.

Follow Sahra Nguyen on Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin.

Resources

Sahra V. Nguyen

Nguyen Coffee Supply

'Deported' on NBC

News Roundup Bombshell New York Times report reveals Facebook's political machinations

A bombshell New York Times report last week cast new light on the extent to which Facebook sought to contain accusations that it was enabling Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Apparently, the company sought to promote the image that the company knew nothing about Russia's interference while, at the same time, Mark Zuckerberg was kept in the dark. But internally, while Joel Kaplan and Cheryl Sandberg were doing their magic on the Hill working their Harvard connections, Facebook kept uncovering new evidence that Russians continued to use the platform to protect president Trump and spread propaganda in advance of the election and beyond.

The New York Times also reports that the company apparently also hired lobbyists, such as Definers Public Affairs, to help the company oppose its critics.

In a video-conferenced all-hands meeting on Friday, Zuckerberg defended the company saying the New York Times report was unfair and untrue, even as Cheryl Sandberg accepted responsibility for hiring Definers Public Affairs.

And another report by the Wall Street Journal found that Zuckerberg himself pointed fingers at Sandberg, blaming her for the Cambridge Analytica fallout.

Reuters: Russians impersonating State Department officials

Reuters reports that Russian hackers have been impersonating at least one State Department official, Heather Nauert, over email trying to get other officials to download malicious code. Security firms CrowdStrike and FireEye uncovered the effort. But Russia denies involvement.

Julian Assange back in spotlight

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who played a key role releasing hacked emails during the 2016 presidential election, is back in the spotlight. George Washington University Program on Extremism researcher Seamus Hughes uncovered a court filing which found that the Department of Justice appears to be pressing sealed charges against Assange. The Hill also reports that Ecuadorian officials have grown weary of granting Assange asylum at their embassy in London since 2012. If they evict Assange, Assange could be extradited back to the U.S. The American Civil Liberties Union opposes prosecuting Assange, claiming that doing so would be a First Amendment violation.

Nation's only African American network chief to step down

ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey, who is African American, is stepping down from the company as Disney seeks to restructure the company in advance of closing on its acquisition of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets next year. Dungey is the only African American network head in the country, and she's been with the company for 14 years. She's been responsible for launching 'Scandal', "black-ish" and the "The Good Doctor". But ABC has seen overall ratings decline 10%, with an 18% decline among adults 18-49 according to The Wall Street Journal.

JD.com's chief shifting focus

China-based ecommerce giant JD.com's chief has announced that he will delegate more responsibilities. It's seen as a long-term move to groom his replacement. Richard Liu was arrested in Minnesota in September for alleged "criminal sexual misconduct" with a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota. The company's share price has also dropped 55% since January amidst the U.S.-China trade war.

Snap subpoenaed on IPO disclosures

Reuters reports that the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission have subpoenaed Snap to uncover whether the company downplayed competition from Instagram during its initial public offering (IPO) in March of 2017. Snap's share price has tumbled down to $6.71 per share from its offering price of $17 per share.

TV station groups settle with DOJ over ad sales collusion allegations

Six tv station groups the Department of Justice alleges colluded to fix ad sales prices have settled. Sinclair, Raycom, Tribune, Meredith, Griffin, and Dreamcatcher all settled. The settlement simply requires the station groups not to share nonpublic pricing data with each other for 7 years. There are no penalties, according to Meredith. A private class action by advertisers against the station groups is still in progress.

Jonathan Friebert: Public Policy and the Future of Retail: A Starter's Guide (Ep. 162)

Jonathan Friebert, U.S. Head of Public Policy of China's largest retailer, JD.com, joined us to discuss the public policies that are most crucial to the future of retail.

Bio

Jonathan Friebert (@friebs) is the head of U.S. Government Relations for JD.com--China's largest retailer. He has more than 20 years of Fortune 50, political, non-profit and governmental experience.

Previously, he was at Microsoft where he helped partners, entrepreneurs, customers and consumers advocate for positive technology public policies through overseeing Microsoft's Voices for Innovation (VFI) initiative: a community of more than 100,000 technology leaders in the U.S. who engage with government leaders. Through VFI, he spearheaded traditional and digital grassroots on issues such as competition policy, STEM funding, high-skilled immigration reform, online privacy, software piracy, cloud computing regulations, security, IP protection and government procurement mandates.

Before Microsoft, he was with the PepsiCo government affairs team where he managed several Midwest states as well as federal issues impacting the Gatorade and Quaker Oats brands. This includes bottle deposit bills, food labeling, school breakfast and lunch funding, R&D tax credits and soft drink taxes. Jonathan led an effort on a significant legislative threat to Gatorade business around banning soft drinks in schools. He implemented a successful campaign to protect Gatorade in multiple states.

Jonathan also served in the Clinton Administration as a political appointee in the Immediate Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Resources

JD.com

Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations by Thomas Friedman

News Roundup Tech leads Dow drop of 600 points

Market uncertainty in the tech sector led to a 600 point drop across the Dow in Monday's trading. Apple's 5% decline led to a selloff across oil, manufacturing, entertainment and beyond, as investors moved some of their assets to the more stable real estate market—the only sector that rose MMnday at .2%.

Amazon will spilt their second headquarters between New York City and Crystal City in Arlington, VA

Amazon is expected to announce that it will spit its second headquarters between Northern Virginia and Long Island City in Queens, according to several media outlets, including NPR and the New York Times. The cities beat out 238 proposals across the country.

Boeing failed to train pilots on dangerous flight control feature that led to crash in Indonesia

Safety experts and midlevel Federal Aviation Administration investigators have found that Boeing never trained pilots on a dangerous flight control feature that can unexpectedly push down the nose of a Boeing 737. That's the model that crashed in in Indonesia last month, killing all 189 people on board. The New York Times notes that the plane crashed into the ocean at 400 miles per hour within seconds—a force so strong that it reduced some of the plane's metal fittings to powder. The safety feature was apparently intended to prevent the plane from stalling if the nose goes up too high. But it can force the plane down unexpectedly, which can cause pilots to lose control, according to report.

FBI and Homeland: No significant foreign influence on midterms

Both the FBI and Department of Homeland security concluded that there were no significant efforts by foreign agents to breach the U.S. midterm elections. At a press briefing, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Neilsen said that the main concern was disinformation on social media, but that there was no evidence of breaches into election machines.

Google, Facebook, eBay, and Airbnb end forced arbitration in employment agreements

Following Google's lead, Facebook, eBay and Airbnb have all removed forced arbitration provisions from their employment policies. The companies moved to end forced arbitration after thousands of Google employees worldwide staged a protest a couple of weeks ago, in protest of the $90 million Google paid Android creator Andy Rubin when he left the company amidst sexual harassment allegations that a Google investigation had found credible.

DEA and ICE are hiding surveillance equipment in streetlights

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have begun to hide surveillance equipment within streetlights, according to a Quartz analysis of federal contracting documents. The DEA apparently paid a company called Cowboy Streetlight Concealments out of Houston some $22,000 since June for "video recording and reproducing equipment". ICE paid about $28,000 to the same company since then as well.

Motel 6 corporate to pay $7.6 million settlement after a franchise owner faxed guests' names to ICE

Finally, The Motel 6 hotel chain will pay a $7.6 million settlement to class action litigants after a Motel 6 franchise owner in Warwick, Rhode Island routinely faxed the names of Hispanic guests to the local police department. Another location in Arizona sent guest names directly to ICE. Motel 6 the corporation has denied wrongdoing.

Amy Cappellanti-Wolf: How to Instill a Culture of Mutual Respect (Ep. 161)

Symantec's Chief Human Resources Officer Amy Cappellanti-Wolf joined Joe Miller to discuss Symantec's efforts to instill a culture of mutual respect on diverse teams.

Bio

Amy Cappellanti-Wolf (@amycappellanti) is CHRO at Symantec in Mountain View, CA. As CHRO, Amy leads the Global HR, Workforce Planning and Real Estate organizations. With more than three decades of experience leading companies across high tech, entertainment and consumer products industries through complex transformations, Amy is a proven organizational design and development leader and executive coach focusing on talent as the key driver of business growth. Amy specializes in helping businesses survive and thrive while undergoing deep transformation. Her focus areas include Business Transformation and Change Management, Organizational Design and Process Management, Business Partnership, Communication Strategy Facilitation, and Diversity in Tech.

As CHRO at Symantec, Amy has successfully led the global organizational operating model, structure, change management and integration strategies for large scale acquisitions and divestitures. She has led effectiveness strategies related to organization and people optimization, and delivered systemic program and metrics related to structure, workforce planning, talent, and real estate consolidation. Amy has deep experience in architecting HR Operating Models in support of the business with her most recent emphasis on building Talent Development and HR Solutions capability. She has delivered high-impact automation and predictive data analytics and reporting, reducing operating expense, while improving operational effectiveness. In the real estate space, she has integrated workforce planning with real estate optimization, significantly reducing operating costs while also delivering award-winning workspaces for better collaboration and productivity, among other successes.

Prior to joining Symantec, Amy was CHRO at Silver Spring Networks, where she led Global HR, Real Estate, and Technical Education organizations. Amy helped to deliver a successful IPO in March 2013. She established HR infrastructure, programs, and technology to drive global scale for the fast growing hardware, software, and services business, and she led several organizational companywide restructures. Amy built and ramped a professional talent acquisition team, doubled the employee population in less than eighteen months, implemented various automation and information systems, and opened up the European, South American, and Asian offices.

From 2001 to 2009, Amy held key human resources roles at Cisco Systems, where she developed innovative leadership development programs and processes. She directly contributed to Cisco's globalization efforts by developing workforce planning and global mobility practices to resource new and emerging capabilities outside of the US. Specifically, Amy led HR for the U.S. Enterprise Sales team; Worldwide Marketing; Business Functions; and the Decision Support, Services and Operations Businesses. Prior to Cisco, Amy also led HR teams at Sun Microsystems, The Walt Disney Company, and Frito-Lay.

Amy provides ongoing support of children and foster children as a Board member of the non-profit Silicon Valley Children's Fund. She was recently named one of the top 50 most influential women tech leaders by the National Diversity Council.

Amy holds an M.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations and a B.S. in Journalism and Public Relations, both from West Virginia University. She is a frequent speaker and lecturer at industry-related conferences.

Resources

Symantec

News Roundup Supreme Court declines to overturn ruling to uphold the 2015 net neutrality rules

The Supreme Court has declined to overturn the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling to uphold the 2015 net neutrality rules. Although the F.C.C. overturned the rules itself, and another lawsuit is working its way through the court's, the Supreme Court's denial to hear the original case preserves the FCC's ability to regulate the internet like a public utility. Harper Niedig reports in the Hill.

Google employees stage worldwide walkouts for company's handling of sexual harassment; Sundar Pichai supports

Thousands of Google employees staged walkouts around the world in protest of Google's handling of Android creator Andy Rubin's exit from the company, which was mired in sexual harassment allegations which he denies. In a bombshell report, The New York Times had reported that Google paid Rubin some $90 million after he left, even though an internal investigation at Google found the allegations against him to be credible. Protesting staffers are demanding an end to forced arbitration for discrimination and harassment claims, a commitment to pay and opportunity equity, a publicly-disclosed sexual harassment transparency report, a clear and uniform way to report sexual harassment, and a promotion of the Chief of Diversity Officer to direct-report status to the CEO. CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in support of the protests.

Amazon commences paying workers $15/hour minimum wage

Amazon has commenced paying workers a $15/hour minimum wage. It began on November first, and Amazon called on its competitors to follow suit. None of the big box retailers have set a minimum wage of $15 per hour.

Google's Susan Molinari to step down

Susan Molinari—who has served at the head of Google's Washington office for nearly seven years—will be stepping down from her post. The former Republican representative will remain on board as a Senior Advisor. Molinari sites family changes as the reason for stepping down.

Facebook, Twitter fail to respond to aftermath of Pittsburgh massacre

Facebook and Twitter both failed to adequately respond to the aftermath of the Pittsburgh massacre that left 11 Jewish congregants dead. The Intercept reports that Facebook allowed advertisers to use "white genocide" as a target keyword, and Twitter found itself apologizing for allowing "Kill all Jews" to be a trending topic.

An uptick in hate speech on Instagram

Columbia University media researcher Jonathan Albright found an uptick in hate speech appearing on Instagram. He found numerous instances of hashtags like #soros49 #maga #libtards and others associated with hate speech. Ali Breland reports in the Hill.

Sens. Klobuchar/Warner: Facebook's political ad transparency tools are 'unacceptable'

Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner – both Democrats -- sent a letter to Facebook last week urging them to improve their political ad transparency tools saying they're 'unacceptable' since they're still capable display the wrong sources of funding for ad campaigns. The letter followed Vice News' successful, experimental attempts to purchase Facebook ads posting as Mike Pence, the Islamic State in Iraq and all 100 Senators.

U.S. charges 10 Chinese intelligence agents with commercial hacking

The Trump administration has unsealed charges against 10 Chinese intelligence agents the U.S. accuses of engaging in a persistent campaign to hack into American aviation companies in Arizona, Massachusetts, Oregon, and elsewhere. The Chinese embassy in Washington denies the allegations. Back in 2015, former U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed an accord to refrain from conducting cyber operations against the other. But now some experts are saying that the Trump administration's aggressive stance towards China has led the world's second largest economy to stop enforcing the accord. Aruna Viswanatha and Dustin Volz have the report for the Wall Street Journal.

56 major companies oppose Trump administration's efforts to erase legal protections for transgender people

Fifty-six companies, including Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Cisco, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Lyft, Twitter and others issued a business statement opposing the Trump administration's plans to remove legal protections for transgender people. The statement calls for "respect and transparency in policy-making, and for equality under the law for transgender people."

HBO and Cinemax go dark for first time in 40 years

AT&T's HBO and Cinemax went dark last week after they couldn't reach a carriage deal with Dish Networks. HBO said it's the first time in 40 years they've gone dark. Dish accuses AT&T of preventing other carriers from accessing HBO. The dispute involves subscriber guarantees Dish would have to meet in order to carry HBO.

Hackers continue to target U.S. elections

Hackers have ramped up efforts to target the United States' election infrastructure, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Attempts have largely been thwarted. But the agency is seeing as many as 10 hacking attempts per day.

Atlantic: Democrats significantly outspent Republicans on Facebook

Democrats have significantly outspent Republicans on Facebook with 63.5% of political spending on the platform, compared to just 17.8% for Republicans, according to the Atlantic. Democrats spent $9.4 million while Republicans have spent just $2.7 million. Alexis Madrigal reports in the Atlantic.

California gives Waymo green light to test on public roads

Finally, the state of California has given Waymo the green light to conduct tests of robot cars without human drivers on public roads. Waymo is the first company to which California has granted the privilege. The permit allows Waymo to test 40 cars on roads with speed limits up to 65 miles per hour.

Brook Bello: Tech and Tech Policy Solutions to End Sex Trafficking (Ep. 160)

Brook Bello joined Joe Miller to discuss how tech policies can help end sex trafficking.

Bio

Dr. Brook Bello (@BrookBello) is Founder and CEO/ED of More Too Life, Inc., -- an anti-sexual violence, human trafficking and youth crime prevention organization that was named by United Way Worldwide as one of the best in the nation. A sought-after international speaker and champion against human trafficking, Dr. Bello has been recognized with countless achievement awards, fellowships and appointment, she was recently named a Google Next Gen Policy Leader, with the ability to learn from leading Google executives and other leaders in profound aspects that deal with world issues in relation to tech and tech policy. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the 44thPresident of the United States and the White House in December 2016. She also received the advocate of the year in the state of Florida from Florida Governor Rick Scott and Florida Attorney Pam Bondi's Human Trafficking Council.

Dr. Bello is also the author of innovative root cause focused successful curricula such as, RJEDE™ (Restorative Justice End Demand Education) -- a court appointed and volunteer course for violators of sexual violence, prostitution and human trafficking prevention in Miami/Dade, Sarasota and Manatee counties. In addition, LATN™ and LATN D2 (Living Above the Noise) educational mentoring curriculum for victims to prevent sexual violence and human trafficking.

She holds a Masters and PH.D in pastoral clinical counseling and accreditation in pastoral clinical and temperance based counseling. Her bachelor's is in biblical studies. She also holds two honorary doctorates -- one in humane letters, theology and biblical studies from the Covenant Theological Seminary and Richmond Virginia Seminary.

Her dissertation defends the urgency in spirituality in mental health and the profound pain caused by shame. Bello is also a licensed chaplain and ambassador with the Canadian Institute of Chaplains and Ambassadors (CICA)—the only university accredited by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN-ECOSOC). She is also an alum of the Skinner Leadership Institute's Masters Series of Distinguished Leaders. Dr. Bello was chosen 1 of 10 national heroes in a series by Dolphin Digital Media and United Way Worldwide called, The Hero Effect."

Resources

More Too Life

Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

Life is Not Complicated, You Are by Carlos Wallace

News Roundup Tech stocks tank following earnings reports

Tech stocks led a slide on major indexes as Amazon posted a two-day decline Monday, eliminating some $127 billion from its market value, according to the Wall Street Journal. Amazon actually posted a $2.88 billion profit in the 3rd quarter—11 times last year's figure—but its sales increased by only 29%, falling about half a billion dollars shy of the average analyst estimate of $57.1 billion.

Alphabet too missed analyst estimates by about $310 million, coming in with $33.74 billion in revenue in the third quarter, which was up by 21% over last year.

At Twitter, active monthly users declined, but revenue was up 29% to 650 million for the third quarter. Twitter attributed the user decline to its purging of suspicious accounts.

Tesla also reported strong earnings, with $312 million in profits on $6.8 billion in revenue.

As for Snap – it looks like Facebook's Instagram stories is eroding the platform, although Snap beat estimates, however slightly. Snap lost about 2 million users since the second quarter, but its net loss was two cents per share less than expected, and it also had more revenue than analysts expected -- $297.6 million – which was about $14 million more than analysts' expectations.

N.Y. Times reports that Trump uses iPhones spied on by Russia/China

The New York Times reported that President Trump uses unsecured iPhones to gossip with colleagues that Chinese and Russian spies routinely eavesdrop on to gather intelligence. President Trump denies the report saying that he only uses a government phone and, in a Tweet, said the New York Times report is "sooo wrong".

Facebook identifies Iranian misinformation campaign

Facebook identified an Iranian misinformation campaign which led it to delete 82 pages the company says were engaged in "coordinated inauthentic behavior". Facebook's head of cybersecurity Nathaniel Gleicher said the pages had over 1 million followers.

Google paid 'Father of Android' $90 million to leave the company following a sexual misconduct allegation

The New York Times reported last week in an investigative report that Google paid Android creator Andy Rubin some $90 million dollars in 2014 when he left the company following sexual misconduct allegations. Google released Rubin with praises from Larry Page even though an internal investigation found the allegations credible, according the New York Times. The newspaper reports that Google similarly protected 2 other executives. Rubin has denied the allegations and, in a letter to Google's employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote that Google has fired some 48 employees for sexual harassment since 2016.

U.S. launches election protection cyber operation against Russia

U.S. cybercommand has launched a first-of-its-kind mission against Russia to prevent election interference. The initiative followed a Justice Department report released Friday outlining Russia's campaign of "information warfare".

Alleged Pittsburgh shooter repeatedly posted violent content on social media prior to mass murder

Before he allegedly murdered 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue, including a 97-year-old holocaust survivor, Robert Bowers allegedly posted hateful and violent content on social media numerous times on Facebook, Twitter, and the alt-right website Gab -- but he still wasn't on the radar of law enforcement. Joyent, the web hosting platform that hosted Gab, has since banned Gab from using its platform, knocking it offline. Kevin Roose has more in the New York Times.

U.S. restricts exports to Chinese semiconductor firm Fujian Jinhua

The U.S. has decided to restrict exports to Chinese semiconductor firm Fujian Jinhua. The Trump administration says the company stole intellectual property from U.S.-based Micron Technology. The rationale is that if Fujian Jinhua supplies chips to Micron, there's a risk that the Chinese-manufactured chips would edge out those manufactured by American competitors.

President Trump signs U.S. spectrum strategy

President Trump has signed a memo directing the Commerce Department to develop a spectrum strategy to prepare for 5G wireless. Mr. Trump has also created a Spectrum Task Force to evaluate federal spectrum needs and how spectrum can be shared with private companies.

UK fines Facebook £500,000 for data violations

Finally, the UK has fined Facebook just £500,000 for Cambridge Analytica-related data violations. That's a little over $640,000— The Guardian notes that Facebook brought in some $40.7 billion last year. The UK's Information Commissioner's Office found that Cambridge Analytica harvested the data of some 1 million Facebook users in the UK via loopholes on Facebook's platform that allowed developers to access the data of Facebook's users without their consent.

Tiffany Moore: Trade, 5G, and Beyond: The Policy Landscape for Consumer Tech (Ep. 159)

How will the current trade war with China affect small, American-owned technology manufacturers? What's the potential of 5G for consumer tech? How is the consumer technology industry tackling diversity and inclusion? The Consumer Technology Association's Senior Vice President of Political and Industry Affairs, Tiffany Moore, joined Joe Miller to discuss these and other issues affecting the policy landscape for consumer tech.

Bio

Tiffany Moore (@TiffanyMMoore) currently serves as Senior Vice President of Political and Industry Affairs for the Consumer Technology Association. Promoted to the newly created position in April 2018, Tiffany's expanded role includes overseeing CTA's U.S. Jobs, and Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. In addition, Tiffany leads the association's advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill on issues including communications and technology policy, patent litigation reform, strategic immigration reform and international trade, and overseeing CTA's political action committee CTAPAC.

Tiffany joined CTA as Vice President of Government and Political Affairs for the Consumer Technology Association in December 2015.

Previously, Tiffany served as a government relations consultant to CTA as principal at Moore Consulting and strategic consultant with TwinLogic Strategies. In addition to CTA, Moore advised numerous corporate and association clients on how to influence technology and innovation policy before Congress and the Administration. Before launching Moore Consulting, Tiffany served as senior legislative advisor in the Legislative and Government Affairs Practice Group at Venable LLP.

In 2006, Tiffany was appointed Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) by Ambassador Rob Portman. In this role, Moore led domestic outreach efforts to American business, agriculture and consumer communities on the U.S. trade policy agenda and served as primary intermediary with governors, mayors and local elected officials on U.S. trade policy.

Prior to joining USTR, Tiffany served as director of government relations for Kellogg Company and led legislative policy efforts around a broad array of issues including trade, food security, safety, tax and advertising as director, government relations.

Tiffany began her legislative career working in a variety of roles in the office of U.S. Representative Fred Upton (R-MI), where she served as legislative director from 2000-2002.

In January 2018, Tiffany was named to the Board of Trustees of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Foundation. Tiffany also serves on the Women's Health Board of The GW Medical Faculty Associates dedicated to supporting the Mobile Mammography Program (Mammovan). In addition, Tiffany serves on the boards of the Faith and Politics Institute and the Washington Government Relations Group.

A proud native of Detroit, Michigan, Tiffany earned her M.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, and her B.A. from Western Michigan University.

Resources

Consumer Technology Association

Ninja Future: Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation by Gary Shapiro (pre-order)

News Roundup Twitter purges pro-Saudi bots

Twitter has purged bots that NBC News discovered were simultaneously tweeting pro-Saudi talking points regarding the alleged murder and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Washington Post also reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered a network of Twitter trolls to attack Kahshoggi's viewpoints in the days, weeks and months leading up to his disappearance.

Why is Softbank's CEO still warm on the Saudis?

Several companies have decided to distance themselves from Saudis, following the apparent murder of Jamal Khashoggi. But not Masayoshi Son—head of Japanese conglomerate Softbank, which has made extensive investments in U.S.-based companies, including WeWork, Uber and Slack, and which also owns Sprint. The New York Times has the report.

Russian-linked Twitter bots

Some bots connected to Russia's Internet Research Agency have also been attempting to interfere with U.S. elections, according to Twitter. Apparently the bots use platforms of automation companies like IFTTT to quickly disseminate tweets. IFTTT says it's investigating.

The Justice Department also charged a Russian woman-- Elena Khusyaynova—with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Kusyaynova allegedly helped spearhead a campaign to divide Americans via social media.

Ebay sues Amazon

Ebay has sued Amazon in California Superior Court for allegedly poaching sellers by using Ebay's internal email system. The complaint includes allegations of violations of both civil and criminal statutes.

Richard Parsons resigns from CBS board

Media veteran Richard Parsons has stepped down from the board of CBS, including as Interim Chairman, citing health issues related to a rare blood cancer he was diagnosed with several years ago. Strauss Zelnick will take up the reigns as interim chair. Zelnick is seasoned in all areas of the entertainment industry, including as CEO of Take Two Interactive—the creators of the Grand Theft Auto game franchise.

Netflix to take on more debt

Netflix—already under a mountain of debt—is seeking to take on another $2 billion worth, the company announced Monday during an earnings call. It's the second time this year the company will take on more debt. Netflix was down .94% points at Monday's close.

Uber considers IPO proposals

Finally, Uber is considering IPO proposals from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, some of which value the ride-sharing company at as much as 120 billion. The valuation exceeds that of the top three U.S. car makers – GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler – combined. Lyft is also said to be considering an IPO next year—its valuation is $15 billion.

Petra Molnar joined us to discuss her new paper which looks at the human rights impact of automated decision-making and immigration.

Bio

Petra Molnar (@PMolnar) is a refugee lawyer and researcher based in Toronto, Canada. She is a former refugee settlement worker who has researched forced migration issues in Canada and internationally including immigration detention, health and human rights, and gender-based violence. She is currently working on a book on resilience in the face of the Syrian conflict. She earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and Master of Arts, Social Antropology, at York University.

Resources

Thinking Forward Network

Bots at the Gate: A Human Rights Analysis of Automated Decision-Making in Canada's Immigration and Refugee System by Petra Molnar (University of Toronto, 2018)

News Roundup GAO: "Nearly all" U.S. weapons systems are susceptible to cyber attack

The Government Accountability Office issued a report last week saying that "nearly all" weapons systems reviewed for weaknesses between 2012-2017 were vulnerable to cyberattacks. Testers were able to exploit the security holes using relatively simple tools and techniques, with one team taking only about an hour to hack into the weapons system. A key risk factor among these technologies is that many of them are interconnected, allowing them to transfer information more easily. Ryan Browne has more over at CNN.

Lawmakers demand answers from Google

Top Senate Republicans on the Commerce Committee delivered a letter to Google on Thursday demanding answers about why Google failed to disclose a privacy vulnerability in Google Plus immediately when it discovered it last March. Senators Thune, Moran, and Wicker are especially concerned that Google Chief Privacy Officer didn't disclose the breach during his Senate testimony several weeks ago. Democrats too are jumping into the fray. Senators Blumenthal, Markey and Udall wrote a separate letter to the Federal Trade Commission requesting an investigation into the Google Plus privacy breach. An independent audit conducted by Ernst and Young had approved Google's security practices earlier this year.

Google drops out of Pentagon bid

Google has decided to drop out of the competition to handle the Pentagon's cloud computing infrastructure. The contract was worth up to $10 billion. Google said it couldn't be sure that the contract would align with its AI principles. Thousands of Google employees had signed a letter starting back in April asking Google to withdraw.

Republicans warn of Chinese efforts to sway the midterms

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and FBI Director Christopher Wray both stated at a Senate committee hearing last week that China is attempting to sway the U.S. midterm election. However, they did not say that there is any evidence that China is interfering with the U.S.'s election infrastructure. Nielsen said that China's efforts to sway public opinion are unprecedented. Wray says that China is the most significant long-term threat to U.S. counterintelligence the U.S. faces.

Warner/Rubio ask Canada to ban Huawei from 5G

Senators Marco Rubio and Mark Warner sent a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week urging him to ban China-based company Huawei from participating in Canada's 5G deployment program. The Senators accuse Huawei of being an agent of the Chinese government.

Lyft taps Anthony Foxx to head up its policy team

Lyft has tapped former Obama Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to head up its policy team. Foxx will report directly to Lyft President John Zimmer.

Group warns of malicious emailed ballots

Apparently there are a few jurisdictions that permit voters to submit their ballots via email as an attachment. But election security groups including Common Cause and R St. are warning election officials that these ballots could come laden with malicious software that could grant a hacker backdoor access to election systems. So elections officials need to be wary of malicious ballots submitted by unknown persons. According to the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission, some 100,000 voters submitted ballots via email during the 2016 presidential election.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has died

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has died. He was 65. The cause was non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates and amassed a $26 billion fortune which he used to build Seattle into a cultural destination and engage in philanthropy. He also owned the Seattle Seahawks. Steve Lohr at The New York Times has a full obituary.