Hillicon Valley — New reports shake up privacy discussion
Today is Friday. Welcome to Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Subscribe here: digital-staging.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.
Follow The Hill’s tech team, Chris Mills Rodrigo (@millsrodrigo) and Rebecca Klar (@rebeccaklar_), for more coverage.
Two reports released last night by the CIA provided evidence that the agency has most likely been collecting bulk data about Americans without oversight. In other tech news, youth organizations are targeting dating apps to try and get the vote out.
Let’s jump into the news.
The government is spying on you
A late-night release of government reports on two Central Intelligence Agency programs has revealed that the organization is most likely collecting more data on American citizens than previously known.
The revelations have prompted calls from civil rights organizations and privacy hawks in Congress for legislative action to strengthen protections for Americans.
Both reports conducted by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), a watchdog created after 9/11 to ensure counter-terror investigations did not jeopardize privacy or civil liberties, looked into two programs conducted under Executive Order 12333 authority.
The Reagan-era presidential directive established a framework for data collection by the intelligence community during foreign missions.
When Edward Snowden almost a decade ago revealed the extent of warrantless bulk data collection by the government, Congress responded by banning collection under a separate statute focused on domestic activities, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
While Congress left EO 12333 alone, civil liberties experts were concerned that intelligence agencies could still be collecting American data despite the new restrictions on FISA, especially since in the digital era data is far less restricted by borders.
“With the revolution in communications technology, our communications, our data, floats all over the world, on its way to where it’s going and gets stored all over the world,” said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.
“Under Executive Order 12333 in general the government is not allowed to target particular Americans or U.S. persons,” she continued. “But it hardly matters anymore because if the government can conduct bulk surveillance and bulk collection overseas it’s going to pick up American’s data in the process.”
Swipe right ‘for democracy’
In the lead up to Valentine’s Day, youth voting organization NextGen America is launching an effort to connect with potential voters — especially in key battleground states — on dating apps ahead of the 2022 midterms.
“We meet young people wherever they are, and there are millions of them on dating apps,” NextGen America president Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez told The Hill.
“We see also that young people care very deeply, not just about making a personal connection, but really care about core issues and what matters in their community. And so our thousands of volunteers are sliding into people’s DM’s and talking about dating and democracy,” she added.
Organizers will use Tinder, Bumble and Hinge to interact with potential voters aged 18 to 35 to encourage them to register to vote or offer information about midterm elections in their area.
NextGen America will kick off the effort with two virtual events for organizers to swipe together. One, a “Singles Night” organizing event, will be held on Friday, and another, a “Valentine’s Day Social,” is slated for Monday.
The participating volunteers will toggle their age range anywhere between 18 and 35, the cohort of young voters NextGen focuses on, on the dating apps or through Bumble’s “BFF” feature. On Hinge, where users can set a location, they are suggested to set it to one of the battleground states NextGen America is targeting, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arizona or Texas.
MORE EU ANTITRUST WOES FOR GOOGLE
The European Publishers Council is accusing Google of anticompetitive digital advertising practices, according to a complaint filed Friday with the European Commission.
The council is calling on the commission, which is already investigating Google’s advertising technology, to take action against the search giant to “break the stranglehold that Google has over us all.”
“Competition authorities across the world have found that Google has restricted competition in ad tech, yet Google has been able to get away with minor commitments which do nothing to bring about any meaningful changes to its conduct. This cannot go on. The stakes are too high, particularly for the future viability of funding a free and pluralistic press,” European Publishers Council Chairman Christian Van Thillo said in a statement.
The council argues that since Google acquired DoubleClick more than a decade ago the ad tech space has not been competitive.
TWITTER TROUBLE
Users were experiencing issues with Twitter in an apparent outage on Friday afternoon.
Posts on the site were failing to load without a message indicating the problem.
There was a spike in users reporting outages around noon, according to Down Detector.
The majority of issues appeared to be hitting users on the West Coast, based on Down Detector’s map.
BITS AND PIECES
An op-ed to chew on: America must be the standards setter — especially in the digital sphere
Lighter click: Cannot wrap my head around who tweeted this
Notable links from around the web:
Young workers shed new light on life inside Amazon warehouses with viral videos (NBC / Ben Goggin)
Vaccines, the Super Bowl, and Microwaved Brains: How Americans Caught ‘Freedom Convoy’ Fever (Gizmodo / Dell Cameron, Tom McKay, and Andrew Couts)
ID.me gathers lots of data besides face scans, including locations. Scammers still have found a way around it. (The Washington Post / Drew Harwell)
I Used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS Tracker to Watch My Husband’s Every Move (The New York Times / Kashmir Hill)
One last thing: Groups want end to blockade
The nation’s largest business groups are calling on North American leaders to end disruptions at U.S.-Canada border crossings caused by truckers protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and Business Roundtable on Thursday night said that the blockades are “adding to the significant supply chain strains” on American companies.
“The business community is rolling up its sleeves to find workarounds and keep facilities up and running, but we are already seeing some production cuts, shift reductions, and temporary plant closures,” the business groups said in a statement.
“The North American economy relies on our ability to work closely together, including our manufacturing sectors. We need to apply the same spirit of cooperation to tackle this problem.”
For days, truck drivers protesting cross-border vaccine rules have blocked the Ambassador Bridge that connects Ontario with Detroit, which carries about 25 percent of trade between the U.S. and Canada.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s technology and cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you Monday.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed..
