Tech Policy Leaders

How to Build a Lobbying Presence in Washington

Before you build a lobbying presence in Washington, consider the fact that technology now touches almost every aspect of our lives. Accordingly, our policymaking has become more complex as companies develop new technologies and consumers use technology in ways that were unanticipated.

What are the key issues that policymakers and businesses should be focused on as they seek to fine-tune their policy strategies? How are policymakers dealing with issues, like diversity, that policymakers have historically considered less "substantive" but which have begun to take on monumental importance in American business and politics? Why is Washington, D.C. relevant to start up and early stage ventures and how can they build a lobbying presence in Washington?

You'll get answers to these questions and more on Ep. 102!

Bio

Named a "Top Lobbyist" by The Hill newspaper, Elizabeth Frazee (@EFrazeeDC) has a 30 year career in Washington. Elizabeth has worked in high-level jobs on Capitol Hill, as an entertainment executive, and policy representative of major companies.

Elizabeth interweaves a thorough understanding of policy, communications, politics and an impressive network of contacts to manage campaigns and coalitions.

A native of North Carolina, Elizabeth began her career working for her home state Senator. She then served as press secretary for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Additionally, Elizabeth ran the legislative office of then-freshman Representative Bob Goodlatte. Goodlatte now serves as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Following her time in Congress Elizabeth was director of government relations at the Walt Disney Company. There she served as the motion picture industry's representative in Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) negotiations. Those negotiations resulted in revisions to the Copyright Act. Additionally, Elizabeth also negotiated with Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enact the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). She joined AOL in the late 90's as vice president of public policy and ran its Congressional team. While at AOL she served on the front lines of Internet policy debates, helped AOL merge with Time Warner, and helped secure the passage of Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. Then, in 2003, Elizabeth built a private lobbying practice. That practice became TwinLogic Strategies when she and co-founder Sharon Ringley launched the firm in 2009.

Elizabeth earned her law degree from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America, while working full-time for Congress. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Resources

TwinLogic Strategies

Future Crimes by Marc Goodman

News Roundup Members Slam Google on Tech Diversity

Most of you are familiar by now with Google's firing of James Damore. Damore is the engineer who wrote the screed that reinforced stereotypes about women working at the company. Well, lawmakers are now urging Google to ensure its stated efforts to improve diversity lead to actual diversity. In a Medium post, Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna wrote that the incident highlights Google's diversity challenges. He called upon Google to do more. Further, eps. Jan Schakowsky, Pramila Jayapal, Jamie Raskin and Robin Kelly -- all Democrats -- also weighed in. They urged Google to address diversity more effectively. Tony Romm reports in Recode.

In Punch to Disney, Netflix Signs Shonda Rhimes

Disney announced last week that it would be ending its contract with Netflix in 2019. Disney plans to offer its content on its own standalone service. However, Netflix responded by signing hit showrunner Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes previously created such shows as Grey's Anatomy and Scandal for Disney. Rhimes has been a boon to Disney's ABC unit for more than a decade. Netflix is also negotiating with Disney the possibility of Netflix continuing to carry Marvel content after 2019. Meg James, David Ng and Tracey Lien report for the LA Times and Lizzie Plaugic reports for the Verge.

Major Tech Firms Lining Up to Support "Extreme Vetting"

Several tech firms are enthusiastically lining up to support President Trump's "extreme vetting" program. Recall that on the campaign trail Trump advocated for the creation of an extreme vetting program. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (ICE) division is now working on building the program. The program's goal is to determine, with pinpoint accuracy, which persons entering the country are most likely to engage in acts of terrorism. IBM, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lexis Nexis, SAS and Deloitte are among the companies interested in building this out. Sam Biddle and Spencer Woodman report for the Intercept.

Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick

Benchmark Capital--a major Silicon Valley investor and Uber investor--is suing former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick for fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. In a complaint filed in Delaware, Benchmark says Kalanick deceived the board into expanding Uber's board from 8 to 11. Now, Benchmark says, Kalanick holds one of the very seats he created and is attempting to pack the board with members who are sympathetic to him. Dan Primack reports for Axios.

More Tech Companies Oppose Anti-Sex Trafficking Bill

We reported last week that the House introduced a bill, with the support of 24 members, that seeks to curtail online sex trafficking. The bill is a response to Backpage.com, a site that hosted prostitution and sex abuse ads. Now the bipartisan bill is up to 27 sponsors. However, joining the opposition are Engine Advocacy and the Copia Institute which spearheaded a letter campaign that was signed by 30 tech companies including Kickstarter, Meetup, Medium and Reddit. They argue that the bill goes too far in restricting legal third-party content. Wendy Davis Reports in Media Post.

Learn how to build a lobbying presence for your company in Washington. Elizabeth Frazee joined Joe Miller to discuss her top 3 tech policy issues.

How will Artificial Intelligence (AI) Affect Warfare?

In today's episode we discuss the role of artificial intelligence in the future of warfare. What are the risks? How is the United States likely to fare in confrontations involving the use of AI?

In a recent paper, Center for a New American Security Fellow Greg Allen and his co-author, Taniel Chan, illustrate both the risks and opportunities for the use of AI in warfare. We discuss these findings plus lessons learned from previous revolutions in the use of military technology.

Bio

Greg Allen (@Grecory_C_Allen) is an Adjunct Fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. He focuses on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics, and national security. Additionally, Mr. Allen's writing and analysis has appeared in WIRED, Vox, and The Hill.

In 2017, The Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs published his report entitled "Artificial Intelligence and National Security". Allen and his co-author, Taniel Chan conducted this study on behalf of the U.S. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA).

Mr. Allen currently works at Blue Origin, a space exploration and technology company. Prior to working at Blue Origin, he worked at Avascent, where he advised senior executives in government and the private sector.

Mr. Allen holds a joint MPP/MBA degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Business School. Further, his Master's Thesis was honored with the Belfer Center Award for Excellence in International and Global Affairs.

In addition, he graduated magna cum laude from Washington University in Saint Louis, where he was awarded the Arnold J. Lien prize for outstanding graduate in Political Science.

Resources

DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER:

Center for a New American Security

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari

NEWS ROUNDUP After August 31, the feds don't have to tell you how they're storing your biometric data

If you're concerned about how federal law enforcement officials are storing your biometric data, you'd better act fast. After August 31, they will no longer have to tell you. The FBI's Next Generation Identification system stores things like iris scans and fingerprints that you gave during things like employment background checks. Currently, you can find out how the feds are storing your biometric information. However, the FBI becomes exempt from the Privacy Act provision that allows this on August 31. You can find the story in next.gov.

Senate confirms Rosenworcel and Carr

The Federal Communications Commission is now up to 5 Commissioners. So it finally has a full panel of Commissioners. The Senate confirmed Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel and Republican Brendan Carr last week. Rosenworcel previously served as a Commissioner during the Tom Wheeler FCC for three years from 2012 to 2015. Carr is the the FCC's current General Counsel.

In addition, President Donald Trump had also nominated Chairman Ajit Pai. However, the Senate did not take up Pai's nomination before the recess.

The three Republicans at the Commission will now be Pai, Carr and Michael O'Rielly. And the two Democrats are Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn. Edward Graham has the story in Morning Consult.

Tech sector opposes legal immigration restrictions

The tech sector is opposing the GOP immigration bill President Trump endorsed last week which would cut legal immigration in half over 10 years. The so-called RAISE Act prefers highly skilled workers and English speakers and moves extended family members of immigrants to the back of the line.

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC)-- the trade group that lobbies on behalf of tech giants Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and others--opposes the measure. ITIC president Dean Garfield said in a statement "This is not the right proposal to fix our immigration system because it does not address the challenges tech companies face, injects more bureaucratic dysfunction, and removes employers as the best judge of the employee merits they need to succeed and grow the U.S. economy." Tony Romm has the story in Recode.

Meanwhile, Canada is emerging as the "New" New Colossus, welcoming Emma Lazaraus's "huddled masses yearning to breathe free". Canadian business and government leaders are seizing on the opportunity to welcome tech talent to Canada. David George-Cosh and Jacqui McNish report in the Wall Street Journal.

Apple and Amazon bow to China, Google complies with Russia

The tech sector is coming under increased pressure to conform to multinational norms. Paul Mozur at The New York Times reports that Apple has removed Chinese censor-evading VPN apps from its Chinese app store. Amazon also warned its Chinese customers to stop using software that evades China's Great Firewall.

Further, in Russia, Google has begun implementing terms it settled on in a dispute with its Russian competitor, Yandex. The agreement stipulates that Google would give Russians a choice of which browser to use on Android phones. In accordance with the agreement, Google began suggesting other browsers to Russian Android users last week. David Meyer reports in Fortune.

Senate passes 6 bills before recess

The Senate passed 6 bipartisan technology and communications bills before they departed for recess. They include bills to expand spectrum availability (MOBILE NOW Act S. 19), improve service in rural areas ( S. 96) , and make it easier to call 911 from hotel rooms (Kari's Law Act of 2017, S. 123). Congress wrote the latter bill in response to Brad Dunn's fatal stabbing of his wife, Kari Hunt, in a hotel room in Marshall, Texas as Hunt's 9-year-old daughter tried to call 911. Unbeknownst to the young girl, the hotel room phone required callers to dial 9 before 911, and she was unable to reach a dispatcher.

Other bills include:

• Spoofing Prevention Act of 2017 (S. 134): Legislation to stop misleading or inaccurate caller ID information.
• Federal Communications Commission Consolidated Reporting Act of 2017 (S . 174): Legislation to require the FCC to condense duplicative reports on competition in the telecommunications market into one comprehensive report released every two years.
• Developing Innovation and Growing the Internet of Things Act (DIGIT Act)(S. 88): Legislation to bring together private sector and government entities to assess the needs of the Internet of Things (IoT) and study the readiness of government to support the IoT.

Senators introduce the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017

Several advocacy groups are opposing a new bipartisan bill entitled the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017. The bill has the support of six Senators--3 Republican and 3 Democrat--including Senators Portman, McCain, Cornyn, Blumenthal, McCaskill, and Heitkamp. The new law would allow victims of sex trafficking to sue and press charges against any website that "knowingly or recklessly" enabled sex trafficking. Additionally, it would criminalize conduct by websites that "assists, supports, or facilitates a violation of federal sex trafficking laws". Further, it would allow the states to prosecute sites under federal sex crimes laws.

Advocates argue that this new legislation would eviscerate Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 shields websites from liability stemming from content posted by their users. Without section 230, these advocates say, the internet as we know it simply would not exist. Further, the advocates argue that it would simply be too risky for sites like Facebook or Twitter to host user-generated content. Sarah Jeong covers this in The Verge.

Facebook's new diversity report shows little progress

Facebook released its fourth annual diversity report. Eighty-nine percent of its workforce self-identifies as white or Asian. However, the number of women working at Facebook has increased by 2 percentage points since last year to 35%. Nevertheless, women hold just 19% of tech positions at Facebook, although the company reports that 27% of its engineering hires are women.

Looking at the senior ranks ... 70% are white, 72% are male and of the women who have cracked the glass ceiling into the c-suite, 68% are white. However, the percentage of Facebook employees who identify as black went from 2 to 3%. Hispanics when from 4 to 5%. Clare O'Connor reports in Forbes.

Crowdfunding platforms block alt-right groups

Blake Montgomery at Buzzfeed reports that leading fundraising platforms like PayPal, GoFundMe, and Patreon have banned or limited some members of the alt-right from using their sites.

Researcher proves Amazon Echo can be a spying tool

A British researcher has demonstrated how he has been able to successfully install malware on an Amazon Echo that allowed him to eavesdrop. But the hack requires physical access to the target Echo and only works on pre-2017 Echo devices. Andy Greenberg has details in Wired.

In this episode we discuss the role of artificial intelligence in the future of warfare. What are the risks? How is the United States likely to fare?

Lobbying and Advocacy for Entrepreneurs: The Business Case

Lobbying and advocacy is not necessarily something that most entrepreneurs think about when they venture out on their own.

Despite the fact that my business focuses on tech policy, when I launched WashingTECH.com, lobbying and advocacy couldn't have been further from my mind. I was more concerned with the minutiae: configuring and registering domains, setting up my workflow, designing my own site, etc. While I intended to include lobbyists on the podcast, I was more concerned with lobbying and advocacy issues as content. I did not remotely consider that a small business like mine would have any pull amidst the many "white shoe" lobbying firms up and down K St.: The big guns were for huge corporations, not businesses like mine.

But as I have progressed and interviewed 100 guests, I have learned that these issues indeed affect me. For example, I conduct most of my interviews via Skype. Buffering issues that I encounter during my guest interviews affect the quality of my work product, and thus my bottom line. That is a net neutrality issue. This is not "ivory tower" net neutrality. This is net neutrality from the perspective of how it affects my business.

How Regulations Can Affect Your Business

There are literally hundreds of laws and regulations, in addition to net neutrality, that could potentially affect your business. Changes to intellectual property frameworks like trademarks, copyright and patents are federal policy issues. If you operate an online business, you are subject to all federal regulations regarding how you collect and utilize customer data, register email subscribers, and many other consumer regulations. Differences and conflicts between U.S. regulations and those abroad could affect your business to the extent that you engage with international customers.

The number of regulations, new and old, that you could be affected by are essentially limitless. Congress and the federal agencies are continuously introducing and revising policies that could directly impact your profits.

Joining Forces: The Power of Strength in Numbers

The sheer number of entrepreneurs complicates our ability to organize and respond collectively to policy issues affecting out interests. However, just as the end of World War II brought with it the need for labor organizations to advocate on behalf of the workforce, the need for effective lobbying and advocacy on behalf of entrepreneurs will also grow. These advocates must be at least as effective at representing entrepreneurs' interests as those post-war labor advocates who preceded them.

Consider the growing number of Americans who are pursuing entrepreneurship as either a supplement to or substitute for full-time income. According to the U.S. Census's 2015 Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs released in July of this year:

• the number of minority-owned employer firms grew by 4.9% (from 949, 318 in 2014 to 996, 248 in 2015).
• firms owned by women increased by 3.0% since 2014 to approximately 1.1.million.
• veteran-owned firms totaled approximately 398, 453.
• most firms in the U.S. (78.2%) have fewer than 10 employees.

Start-up entrepreneurs also need a place to belong. Networking and developing the right relationships is a breeze for powerful corporations. Small businesses are powerful in scale, but not as powerful in scope in terms of the expansiveness of their networks. Melissa Blaustein is working to change all that by leading lobbying and advocacy efforts for startup firms around the world. I hope you'll consider joining her in her efforts.

BIO

Melissa Blaustein (@MentionMelissa) is the Founder of Allied for Startups, a global network of startup policy associations whose goal is to make the voice of startups heard in government. Allied for Startups counts more than 19 countries on four continents as members, including 13 in the EU alone. Her background in digital policy and advocacy spans the local, national, and international levels, having held roles at The White House, UN Women, the UNEP, the G20 Research Group, with Fmr. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and on the team of many San Francisco politicians.

Melissa's entrepreneurial spirit has led her to take on challenges in the startup and technology space, including advising the French government on a taxation structure for the digital economy, serving as an ambassador at an accelerator in Paris and working at the Vice President of International Outreach at France Digitale, an association dedicated to lobbying the government on behalf of startups in France. Blaustein holds a Masters Degree Cum Laude from Sciences Po in Paris and an undergraduate degree with honors from UC Berkeley. She speaks four languages and has lived in four countries.

RESOURCES

Allied for Startups--The Voice for Startups in Politics and Government

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild

NEWS ROUNDUP House Panel Green-lights Self Driving Car Legislation

The 54-member House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously to advance legislation to speed the commercialization of self-driving cars. The legislation would clear the way for the sale of up to 100,000 self-driving cars. It would also pre-empt state laws dealing with performance standards. States would continue to regulate things like licensing, liability, safety and insurance. David Shepardson has the story in Reuters.

Lyft announced last week that it too has created a self-driving car division. Read more from Heather Somerville in Reuters.

Congress seeks more government data on Kaspersky Labs

Members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, have asked some 22 cabinet-level government agencies for any information they have on Kaspersky Labs. Kaspersky is the Moscow-based cybersecurity firm. Several U.S. officials and members of Congress don't trust Kaspersky. They allege that Kaspersky could be a front that Russian officials use to spy on the U.S. It's an assertion that Kaspersky has vehemently denied. Dustin Voltz reports in Reuters.

Russian Citizen Indicted for Bitcoin Laundering

The Department of Justice has indicted a Russian citizen for money laundering. The DOJ alleges that Alexander Vinnick laundered $4 billion through the digital currency Bitcoin to fund drug trafficking, identity theft and hacking. Ali Breland at the Hill reports that Vinnick was arrested in Greece for allegedly using BTC-e--one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges--to carry out the crimes.

Is FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's FCC 'Full of Sh*t'???

Remember when the FCC's site went down after John Oliver urged his viewers to submit comments regarding net neutrality? Ajit Pai claimed it went down because of a DDos attack. Gizmodo said, "Yeah right" and filed a FOIA request asking the FCC to provide documentation showing it was indeed caused by a DDos attack. Well, thus far, the FCC has apparently failed to corroborate the Chairman's story. So Oregon Senator Ron Wyden took the FCC to task last week, accusing the FCC of playing "word games".

Wyden also suggested the FCC may be violating the Freedom of Information Act by failing to provide the information Gizmodo seeks. If there was indeed a 3,000 percent increase in network traffic at the FCC as FCC Chair Ajit Pai claimed, why wasn't anyone at the FCC freaking out??? Surely there would have been emails. But Gizmodo hasn't found emails, or anything else for that matter, to suggest that Chairman Pai was telling the truth. The FCC's net neutrality docket has thus far received over 10 million public comments. Jon Brodkin has the story in Ars Technica.

Tech Earnings Reports Off-Target

Major tech stocks showed lower than expected results in the second quarter. Amazon took a 77% hit to profits even though its sales were up. Google's parent Alphabet's profit fell 28%. The Wall Street Journal attributes the shortfall to the $2.74 billion fine the EU levied against Google last month for allegedly pumping its own search results. And while the number of clicks per ad were up at Google, revenues per click were down. Further, Twitter's stock dropped 12%. The company also reported flat user growth, which is stuck at 328 million, and a $116 million loss.

Foxconn to build a U.S. plant in Wisconsin

President Donald Trump indicated that Foxconn -- the iPhone component maker-- would be spending $10 billion to build a Wisconsin plant. The president claims the plant would create 3,000 jobs. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou did join Trump, Vice President Pence, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Wisconsin Senators Walker and Johnson at the White House. But it's not clear exactly what was discussed. Walker claims that the average job created by the plant will pay $53,000 per year.

Google to Spend $50 million to help displaced workers

Google announced last Wednesday that it would be spending $50 million to help workers displaced by technology to find new jobs. The company's head of philanthropy, Jacqueline Fuller, made the announcement in a blog post last week. Ali Breland has more details in the Hill.

In other Google news, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has joined the board of Google's parent company Alphabet. The move comes as Alphabet seeks to accelerate many of the other initiatives it has been working on, such as Fiber X and self-driving cars. Dieter Bohn has the story in the Verge.

Will Amazon's Whole Foods Alleviate or Promote Food Deserts?

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and 11 members of Congress are asking the DOJ and FTC to investigate the Amazon-Whole Foods merger. The lawmakers are concerned about how the merger would affect underserved-communities' ability to access quality groceries. Many consumers live in so-called "food deserts"leaving them isolated from quality supermarkets.

Airbnb and NAACP Team Up

Airbnb and The NAACP have teamed up to open up the Airbnb platform to underserved communities. The company has come under fire for helping to facilitate an environment in which hosts routinely refuse to rent to people of color. Some cases are more explicit than others. In California in recent weeks, a host was fined $5,000 for explicitly refusing to rent to an Asian woman for no other reason other than the fact that she's Asian. The host will also have to take a college-level racial sensitivity course. The NAACP will work with Airbnb to identify underserved areas in which residents can learn more about how Airbnb can generate extra needed income. NAACP will be compensated 20% of all revenues that come from this initiative. No word yet on how much of that extra revenue will go to fund local schools and other need services. Nick Statt has the story in The Verge.

The need for effective startup lobbying and advocacy is growing exponentially. Melissa Blaustein of Allied for Startups joins Joe Miller to discuss.

The Rise of Technology is a Double-Edged Sword for many African Americans

Recent reports suggest that African Americans have the most to gain, and yet the most to lose, from advances in technology.

• The digital divide persists. Recent Pew research shows 86% of blacks reported being internet users, compared to 90% of all respondents. However, just 65% of Black survey respondents to the Pew study have access to broadband at home, compared to 73% of Internet users overall, and 78% of white users.
• African Americans are both disproportionately impacted by climate change, and underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) occupations. Paradoxically, the Koch brothers' lobbying efforts have tended to focus on increasing STEM skills among African Americans to prepare them to work in the fossil fuels industry.
• African American citizens have as much to gain as anyone else from law enforcement's proper implementation of technology. However, newer law enforcement technologies, such as facial recognition technologies, have proven to be less accurate in correctly identifying African Americans than they are at identifying others.
• A recent Global Policy Solutions report entitled Stick Shift: Autonomous Vehicles, Driving Jobs, and the Future of Work illustrates the ways in which African Americans, who are highly represented in driving occupations, will could be negatively affected by a poorly-regulated self-driving vehicles industry.

How can local officials, particularly mayors, address these and other concerns? Stephanie Mash Sykes shares her insights.

Bio

Stephanie Mash Sykes (@StephMashSykes) is the Executive Director and General Counsel of the African American Mayors Association. Prior to joining AAMA, she served as the Director of Governmental Affairs for African Americans working with the Office of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. Stephanie has also worked as an executive compensation and employee benefits attorney in top law firms in New York City, NY and Palo Alto, CA. As an attorney, she also devoted many pro bono hours to advising non-profit organizations and small businesses. She has received the New York Legal Aid Society Pro Bono Publico Award for outstanding pro bono legal service.

Prior to law school, Stephanie worked as a policy analyst at the New Jersey General Assembly where she focused on legislation related to municipal governance, consumer affairs, and economic development. Stephanie also assisted with the Black Caucus of the General Assembly. Stephanie received her J.D. from Duke University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Princeton University . At Princeton, she majored in Politics and received certificates in African American Studies and Latin American Studies.

Resources

African American Mayors Association

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Compton, CA Mayor Aja Brown

Stockton, CA Mayor Michael Tubbs

News Roundup Federal Judge reports sevenfold increase in warrantless searches

Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia released information last week showing a sevenfold increase in warrantless data searches by law enforcement. Judge Howell released the previously sealed information following a petition by BuzzFeed investigative journalist Jason Leopold. According to the data release, law enforcement requests for phone location and internet activity jumped from 55 in 2008, to 1,136 in 2016. Spencer Hsu has the story in the Washington Post.

WH supports overturning net neutrality

The White House has endorsed overturning the FCC's net neutrality rules. Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Congress needs to weigh in with new legislation instead of having the FCC write the regulations.

Sheriff's to implement iris scanners along U.S./Mexico Border

Demos's George Joseph reports for The Intercept that every sheriff's department along the U.S./Mexico border will now be using iris detection scanners. That's right. Trump's campaign promise to build a border wall has stalled, but the "digital wall", of sorts, is moving forward. Apparently iris scanners can detect as many as 240 unique identifying characteristics, compared to just 40 to 60 for fingerprints. And, of course, what would new law enforcement technology be without the typical disproportionate impact on communities of color? Check out the Intercept for more.

House approves self-driving car legislation

By a voice vote last week, the House Commerce consumer protection committee approved self-driving car legislation. The bill would set the annual number of autonomous cars that automobile companies can manufacture to 100,000. The legislation would also preempt state laws pertaining to autonomous vehicle manufacturing. Harper Neidig has the story in the Hill.

House passes bill to re-authorize the Department of Homeland Security

The House last week passed a new bill to re-authorize the 15-year old Department of Homeland Security. The bill includes provisions for TSA and the US Coast Guard to issue reports on cyber risks to airlines and ports. You can find the story in Next.gov.

Elon Musk claims provisional approval to build "hyperloop'

Finally, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted last week that he had obtained verbal pre-approval from regulators to build a "hyperloop" that would link New York and Washington. Musk claims this hyperloop would send commuters speeding in pods through vacuum tubes allowing them to travel from midtown Manhattan to downtown Washington in just 29 minutes. The increased speed would be achieved by having the pods travel on magnetic cushions. Of course, the first obstacle would be getting the cost to build down from $1 billion per mile. Peter Henderson has the story in Reuters.

African Americans have much to gain and much to lose from advances in technology. Stephanie Mash Skyes tells us how mayors can bridge the digital divide.

Philanthropists in Silicon Valley Want Your Ideas

The provincial Silicon Valley that was loathe to step outside of Northern California is practically ancient history. An industry that once shunned Washington, D.C.'s buttoned-up bureaucrats now leads in lobbying and campaign contributions. Increasingly, philanthropists in Silicon Valley are making investments that in many ways are changing the very structure of our institutions. The New York Times is running a series on the institutional investments Silicon Valley titans are making. For example, Netflix's Reed Hastings and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg are making investments to enhance and experiment with innovative new educational tools and models. Other tech philanthropists have long invested billions to fight more global, humanitarian problems, such as climate change and malaria. They also offer microloans to small businesses in developing nations.

The election of Donald Trump to the presidency as not caused the mass tech exodus from Washington that was initially feared. Indeed, while Big Tech and the Trump administration remain worlds apart on net neutrality, there is some common ground. Issues like cybersecurity, government efficiency, and the effect of artificial intelligence on jobs are largely bipartisan. It is now inside-the-beltway institutions that are struggling to tweak their own insular tendencies.

What should policy professionals be thinking about as they develop their outreach efforts to philanthropists in Silicon Valley? How does tech sector philanthropy work? The goal of this episodes is to help answer these questions and more as you structure your efforts.

Bio

Gina Dalma (@ginadalma) is Special Advisor to the CEO and vice president of government relations at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF). SVCF is the largest community foundation in the world, with more than $8 billion in assets under management. Gina is responsible for leading SVCF's ongoing lobbying efforts in Sacramento and its emerging efforts in Washington, D.C. SVCF's California lobbying work is currently centered around education, affordable housing, immigration and economic security. In Washington, D.C., SVCF hopes to be a leading voice on topics that have the potential to advance the philanthropic sector.

Gina was pivotal in the passage of the California Mathematics Placement Act of 2015, which Gov. Brown signed into law on Oct. 5, 2015. SVCF sponsored this legislation.

She serves as a member of the California Department of Education's STEM Taskforce Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the National Common Core Funders Steering Committee and an Advisory Board Member of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation.

Prior to her promotion to special advisor in 2015, Gina was SVCF's director of grantmaking. In that role, she led the grantmaking team in using a diverse set of tools, including strategic investments, to solve our region's most challenging problems. She also led SVCF's education grantmaking strategy, as well as the Silicon Valley Common Core Initiative.

Prior to joining SVCF, Gina was director of innovation at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation. Before moving to the United States, Gina held several positions related to urban economic development and regulatory economics in the federal and state public sector in Mexico.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in economics from ITAM in Mexico City, a Master of Science in economics from the University of London and a Master of Arts in international policy studies from Stanford University.

Resources

Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)

Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963 by Taylor Branch

News Roundup FCC's Net Neutrality Initial Comment Window Closes

The FCC's initial comment period regarding its proposed rules to overturn the Obama-era net neutrality rules closed on Monday. The comments span the gamut. Some commenters favor overturning the existing rules. Other commenters advocated for new legislation that would replace the FCC's rules. Still others advocated for upholding the existing rules entirely, without new legislation.

A couple of data points this week on net neutrality -- Civis Analytics released one showing 81% of Americans are against blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization of some sites over others. Interestingly, Civis Analytics counts Verizon Ventures and Alphabet Chair Eric Schmidt among its investors. Another poll, this one by INCOMPAS and the GOP-polling firm IMGE, showed 72% of Republican voters oppose throttling and blocking sites like Netflix.

Further, a Morning Consult released a report showing Senators who support net neutrality enjoy high approval ratings. Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey has a 55% approval rating, and Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has an approval rating of 61%.

America's Cybersecurity Issues Intensify

Verizon announced that "human error" that resulted in misconfigured security settings caused the personal data of some 6 million Verizon customers to be leaked online. We're talking customer phone numbers, names, and PIN codes. Apparently, an Amazon S3 storage server's settings were set to public instead of private. Selena Larson has the full story at CNN Money.

As far as Russia is concerned--President Trump keeps equivocating. One day he says he thinks maybe Russia interfered with the election. The next day, he's publicly less sure. This is all amidst an intensifying investigation that has zeroed in on Trump's son, Donald Jr. Trump senior also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Germany 2 weeks ago, as you know, at the G20 Summit in Hamburg. After that meeting, Trump talked about needing to move forward with forming a cybersecurity unit with Russia. President Trump said he had questioned Putin about the hacks and that Putin had vehemently denied them. Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned the president's statements, questioning the president's trust of Russia.

Then, 3 days later, the Trump administration moved to limit federal agencies' use of Kaspersky Labs. Kaspersky Labs is the Russia-based cybersecurity firm. Several officials believe the Kaspersky may be a Trojan Horse the Kremlin uses to hack government data. You can find coverage in the Washington Post by Phillip Rucker, as well as Politico, by Eric Geller, and Reuters' Phil Stewart.

Meanwhile, Joe Uchill reported in the Hill on a new poll conducted by the cyberscurity firm Carbon Black which shows 1 in 4 voters do not plan on voting due to cybersecurity concerns.

Feds Uphold NSA's Gag Orders

The gag orders the National Security Agency routinely uses when it requests identifying information from tech companies don't violate the 1st Amendment. That was the holding of a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision last week in a matter brought by Cloudflare and Credo Mobile. The companies wanted to notify customers when the National Security Agency obtained their information. The companies argued that notifying customers of such inquiries is their First Amendment right. But the Court disagreed. As long as certain civil liberties protections are in place, those gag orders that prevent companies from notifying customers that the NSA is investigating them are Constitutional. Joe Uchill has the story in the Hill.

New Documents Suggest Backpage.com Facilitated Sex Advertising/Trafficking

New evidence suggests Backpage.com did know alleged prostitution was going on on its website and that it indeed allegedly helped facilitate it,. Johnathan O'Connell and Tom Jackman report for the Washington Post. Documents show Backpage apparently did things like troll its competitors' websites for sex ads. After finding sex ad buyers, Backpage allegedly had staffers and contractors contact those buyers and offer them free advertising .

A 16-year-old girl the FBI says was being trafficked on the site was found dead in a Chicago-area garage on Christmas eve. Again, you can find long form coverage in the Washington Post.

To report sex trafficking happening anywhere--you can contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888. That's 1-888-373-7888. You can also text HELP or INFO to 233733. That's 233733. And those coordinates are available 24 hours a day 7 days per week.

DraftKings/Fanduel Merger a No-Go

DraftKings and FanDuel--the two leading fantasy sports sites--have dropped merger talks. The Federal Trade Commission was blocking the merger after finding the merged company would have controlled between 80 and 90% of the fantasy sports market. Ali Breland reports in the Hill.

Musk: AI is "Biggest risk we face as a civilization"

At a meeting of the National Governor's Association last week, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Artificial Intelligence is "the biggest risk we face as a civilization". He called for more effective regulations. The Economist also published a report that shows China and the U.S. in head-to-head competition for dominance in the Artificial Intelligence market. The article suggests China may account for up to half of the world's Artificial Intelligence-attributable GDP growth by 2030. By 2030, AI is expected to comprise some $16 trillion of total global GDP.

Racist Airbnb host to pay Asian customer $5,000

Finally, Tami Barker, the Airbnb host who denied a UCLA law student her reservation because she is Asian will have to pay $5,000 in damages to the student, Dyne Suh, and take an Asian American studies course. "It's why we have Trump", is what Barker wrote to Suh via the Airbnb app. "I will not allow this country to be told what to do by foreigners," she said.

 

 Philanthropists in Silicon Valley Want Your Ideas

The provincial Silicon Valley that was loathe to step outside of Northern California is practically ancient history. An industry that once shunned Washington, D.C.'s buttoned-up bureaucrats now leads in lobbying and campaign contributions. Increasingly, philanthropists in Silicon Valley are making investments that in many ways are changing the very structure of our institutions. The New York Times is running a series on the institutional investments Silicon Valley titans are making.  For example, Netflix's Reed Hastings and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg are making investments to enhance and experiment with innovative new educational tools and models. Other tech philanthropists have long invested billions to fight more global, humanitarian problems, such as climate change and malaria. They also offer microloans to small businesses in developing nations.

The election of Donald Trump to the presidency as not caused the mass tech exodus from Washington that was initially feared. Indeed, while Big Tech and the Trump administration remain worlds apart on net neutrality, there is some common ground. Issues like cybersecurity, government efficiency, and the effect of artificial intelligence on jobs are largely bipartisan. It is now inside-the-beltway institutions that are struggling to tweak their own insular tendencies.

What should policy professionals be thinking about as they develop their outreach efforts to philanthropists in Silicon Valley? How does tech sector philanthropy work? The goal of this episodes is to help answer these questions and more as you structure your efforts.

Bio

Gina Dalma (@ginadalma) is Special Advisor to the CEO and vice president of government relations at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF). SVCF is the largest community foundation in the world, with more than $8 billion in assets under management. Gina is responsible for leading SVCF’s ongoing lobbying efforts in Sacramento and its emerging efforts in Washington, D.C.  SVCF’s California lobbying work is currently centered around education, affordable housing, immigration and economic security. In Washington, D.C., SVCF hopes to be a leading voice on topics that have the potential to advance the philanthropic sector.

Gina was pivotal in the passage of the California Mathematics Placement Act of 2015, which Gov. Brown signed into law on Oct. 5, 2015. SVCF sponsored this legislation.

She serves as a member of the California Department of Education’s STEM Taskforce Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the National Common Core Funders Steering Committee and an Advisory Board Member of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation.

Prior to her promotion to special advisor in 2015, Gina was SVCF’s director of grantmaking. In that role, she led the grantmaking team in using a diverse set of tools, including strategic investments, to solve our region’s most challenging problems. She also led SVCF’s education grantmaking strategy, as well as the Silicon Valley Common Core Initiative.

Prior to joining SVCF, Gina was director of innovation at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation. Before moving to the United States, Gina held several positions related to urban economic development and regulatory economics in the federal and state public sector in Mexico.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in economics from ITAM in Mexico City, a Master of Science in economics from the University of London and a Master of Arts in international policy studies from Stanford University.

Resources

Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)

Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963 by Taylor Branch

News Roundup FCC's Net Neutrality Initial Comment Window Closes

The FCC's initial comment period regarding its proposed rules to overturn  the Obama-era net neutrality rules closed on Monday. The comments span the gamut. Some commenters favor overturning the existing rules. Other commenters advocated for new legislation that would replace the FCC's rules. Still others advocated for upholding the existing rules entirely, without new legislation.

A couple of data points this week on net neutrality -- Civis Analytics released one showing 81% of Americans are against blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization of some sites over others. Interestingly, Civis Analytics counts Verizon Ventures and Alphabet Chair Eric Schmidt among its investors. Another poll, this one by INCOMPAS and the GOP-polling firm IMGE, showed 72% of Republican voters oppose throttling and blocking sites like Netflix.

Further, a Morning Consult released a report showing Senators who support net neutrality enjoy high approval ratings. Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey has a 55% approval rating, and Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has an approval rating of 61%.

America's Cybersecurity Issues Intensify

Verizon announced that "human error" that resulted in misconfigured security settings caused the personal data of some 6 million Verizon customers to be leaked online. We're talking customer phone numbers, names, and PIN codes. Apparently, an Amazon S3 storage server's settings were set to public instead of private. Selena Larson has the full story at CNN Money.

As far as Russia is concerned--President Trump keeps equivocating. One day he says he thinks maybe Russia interfered with the election. The next day, he's publicly less sure. This is all amidst an intensifying investigation that has zeroed in on Trump's son, Donald Jr. Trump senior also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Germany 2 weeks ago, as you know, at the G20 Summit in Hamburg.  After that meeting, Trump talked about needing to move forward with forming a cybersecurity unit with Russia. President Trump said he had questioned Putin about the hacks and that Putin had vehemently denied them. Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned the president's statements, questioning  the president's trust of Russia.

Then, 3 days later, the Trump administration moved to limit federal agencies' use of Kaspersky Labs. Kaspersky Labs is the Russia-based cybersecurity firm.  Several officials believe the Kaspersky may be a Trojan Horse the Kremlin uses to hack government data. You can find coverage in the Washington Post by Phillip Rucker, as well as Politico, by Eric Geller, and Reuters' Phil Stewart.  

Meanwhile, Joe Uchill reported in the Hill on a new poll conducted by the cyberscurity firm Carbon Black which shows 1 in 4 voters do not plan on voting due to cybersecurity concerns.

Feds Uphold NSA's Gag Orders

The gag orders the National Security Agency routinely uses when it requests identifying information from tech companies don't violate the 1st Amendment. That was the holding of a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision last week in a matter brought by Cloudflare and Credo Mobile. The companies wanted to notify customers when the National Security Agency obtained their information. The companies argued that notifying customers of such inquiries is their First Amendment right. But the Court disagreed. As long as certain civil liberties protections are in place, those gag orders that prevent companies from notifying customers that the NSA is investigating them are Constitutional. Joe Uchill has the story in the Hill.

New Documents Suggest Backpage.com Facilitated Sex Advertising/Trafficking

New evidence suggests Backpage.com did know alleged prostitution was going on on its website and that it indeed allegedly helped facilitate it,. Johnathan O'Connell and Tom Jackman report for the Washington Post. Documents show Backpage apparently did things like troll its competitors' websites for sex ads. After finding sex ad buyers, Backpage allegedly had staffers and contractors contact those buyers and offer them free advertising . 

A 16-year-old girl the FBI says was being trafficked on the site was found dead in a Chicago-area garage on Christmas eve. Again, you can find long form coverage in the Washington Post.

To report sex trafficking happening anywhere--you can contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888. That's 1-888-373-7888. You can also text HELP or INFO to 233733. That's 233733. And those coordinates are available 24 hours a day 7 days per week.

DraftKings/Fanduel Merger a No-Go

DraftKings and FanDuel--the two leading fantasy sports sites--have dropped merger talks. The Federal Trade Commission was blocking the merger after finding the merged company would have controlled between 80 and 90% of the fantasy sports market. Ali Breland reports in the Hill.

Musk: AI is "Biggest risk we face as a civilization"

At a meeting of the National Governor's Association last week, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Artificial Intelligence is "the biggest risk we face as a civilization". He called for more effective regulations. The Economist also published a report that shows China and the U.S. in head-to-head competition for dominance in the Artificial Intelligence market.  The article suggests China may account for up to half of the world's Artificial Intelligence-attributable GDP growth by 2030. By 2030, AI is expected to comprise some $16 trillion of total global GDP.

Racist Airbnb host to pay Asian customer $5,000

Finally, Tami Barker, the Airbnb host who denied a UCLA law student her reservation because she is Asian will have to pay $5,000 in damages to the student, Dyne Suh, and take an Asian American studies course. "It's why we have Trump", is what Barker wrote to Suh via the Airbnb app. "I will not allow this country to be told what to do by foreigners," she said.