Overnight Tech: Silicon Valley giants commit to Paris goals | Supreme Court to hear warrantless phone data case | States push to block straight-to-voicemail marketing

TECH STICKING WITH PARIS DEAL: Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Facebook are joining hundreds of businesses in pledging their support for the Paris climate agreement, which President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from last week.

The initiative, called “We Are Still In,” backs the global agreement seeking reduced greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change.

“The Trump administration’s announcement undermines a key pillar in the fight against climate change and damages the world’s ability to avoid the most dangerous and costly effects of climate change,” those behind the initiative said in an announcement “Importantly, it is also out of step with what is happening in the United States.”

{mosads}They wrote that they would take action to “pursue ambitious climate goals,” even without the U.S. government formally agreeing to do so.

“In the U.S., it is local and state governments, along with businesses, that are primarily responsible for the dramatic decrease in greenhouse gas emissions in recent years,” they wrote. “Actions by each group will multiply and accelerate in the years ahead, no matter what policies Washington may adopt.”

Michael Bloomberg’s Bloomberg Philanthropies, liberal think tank Center For American Progress and the Sierra Club are among the organizers of the coalition. State and local governments and presidents of major U.S. colleges are also taking part.

Some of the firms on the list have already made commitments to reduce emissions.

Read more here.

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SCOTUS TO HEAR CASE ON WARRANTLESS USE OF CELLPHONE DATA: The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a case next term challenging the use of cellphone records without a warrant.

The case, Carpenter v. United States, centers on Timothy Carpenter, who was convicted of committing a string of armed robberies of Radio Shack and T-Mobile stores in Michigan and Ohio between December 2010 and March 2011.

The government’s evidence at trial included business records from the defendants’ wireless carriers, showing his cellphone was used within a half-mile to two miles of several robberies during the times they occurred.

Carpenter argued that the government’s collection of those records constituted a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment, but the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and affirmed the lower court ruling sentencing him to 1,395 months, nearly 116 years, in prison.

Read more here.

STATES PUSH BACK ON STRAIGHT-TO-VOICEMAIL TELEMARKETING: State attorney generals are urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prevent telemarketers from leaving messages directly in consumers’ voice mailboxes.

A loophole currently lets automated robocall marketing services bypass customers and go straight to their voicemail. The FCC is looking at whether to officially allow the practice following a petition from those companies.

But in a joint letter on Monday, attorneys general from New York, Massachusetts and Kentucky urged the agency not to do so.

“The federal government has a basic responsibility to protect American consumers, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) said. “That certainly doesn’t mean making it even easier for companies to spam them with costly, unsolicited, ringless robocalls.”

Robocall companies, though, are pushing back and urging the FCC to sign off on the practice, which they say is less disruptive to consumers than calls.

Read more here.

UK PM FLOATS REGULATING INTERNET: British Prime Minister Theresa May is calling for tighter internet regulation in the wake of a deadly terror attack in and around London Bridge.

The British PM said in a statement on Sunday that technology serves as a breeding ground for terrorism and extremism.  

“We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed,” May said. “Yet that is precisely what the internet and big companies that provide internet-based services provide. We need to do everything we can at home to reduce the risks of extremism online.”

Read more here.

GROUP ACCUSES FCC OF INFRINGING ON FREE SPEECH: A public interest group is accusing the Federal Communications Commission of trying to stifle free speech in the debate over net neutrality regulations.

The pro-net neutrality group Free Press sent a letter to FCC general counsel Brendan Carr on Monday expressing concern “about recent actions that call into serious question the Federal Communication Commission’s commitment to fostering free expression.”

Free Press deputy director Jessica González and policy director Matt Wood wrote that at the FCC’s March open meeting, two members of the group’s advocacy wing were barred from entering the hearing room because they were wearing shirts that read “Protect Net Neutrality.”

Read more here.

REPORT: RUSSIA HACKED VOTING SYSTEMS COMPANY AHEAD OF ELECTION: Russian intelligence agents hacked a U.S. voting systems manufacturer in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election, according to a National Security Agency investigation report leaked to The Intercept.

The Intercept reported Monday that the NSA believes hackers used that breach to obtain information used to spearphish its customers.

The report, marked top secret and only to be shared with the “Five Eyes” nations (Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Australia), claims the Russian intelligence agency GRU targeted more than 120 email addresses associated with local government organizations, which it speculates were taken from the earlier hack.

Read more here.

CONTRACTOR CHARGED WITH LEAKING INFO: The Department of Justice charged 25-year-old government contractor Reality Leigh Winner with sharing top-secret material with a media outlet, prosecutors announced in a press release Monday.

Court documents filed by the government don’t specify which media outlet received the materials allegedly leaked by Winner, but NBC News reported that the material went to the Intercept online news outlet.

The Intercept published a top secret NSA report Monday that alleged Russian military intelligence launched a 2016 cyberattack on a voting software company.

Details on the report published by The Intercept suggest that it was created on May 5, 2017 — the same day prosecutors say the materials Winner is charged with sharing were created. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on whether Winner is accused of sharing the report published by the Intercept. 

A NEW TOOL FOR PROGRESSIVES: Progressive organizing group Action Network, unveiled a new tool to help organizers on its digital platform called Ladders. The group touted the work it did with users like the AFL-CIO to streamline the digital organizing process for advocacy groups.  

 

NEW HIRES:

– The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) tapped Wes Johnston to be their CEO. He previously held board and senior executive positions with large tech firms and at startups.

-CTIA is bringing on Rob Cantu as Director of Cybersecurity in the Department of Technology and Cybersecurity; and Melanie Tiano as Director of Cybersecurity and Privacy in the Office of the General Counsel.

 

ON TAP:

New America hosts a panel on the possible fragmentation of the internet at noon.

The Hudson Institute will hold an event on spectrum at noon.

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Study finds top Indian IT firms reducing visa hires

Wired has the details on the new Apple HomePod speaker

FCC to consider allowing law enforcement to see blocked caller IDs

The New York Times: Oculus founder is working on a new defense startup

VA to use same electronic health record system as military

Group plans to leak ambassador’s emails

Tech world blasts withdrawal from Paris agreement

Trump Paris fallout: Elon Musk steps down from WH councils