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My friends, happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, the past week’s top stories from the intersection of tech and politics.
MAGA movement plotting a tech attack?
Multiple Democrats told Politico they’re concerned about the future of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency if Donald Trump is elected in November.
CISA is a government organization founded during the Trump administration that helps defend the United States against cyberattacks on critical resources. It fights everything from the spread of online disinformation to attacks on water systems.
Republicans have been after the group since 2020, when Trump fired its then-leader, Christopher Krebs, after Krebs refuted Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen. And since taking control of the House, Republicans have tried to argue that CISA’s efforts to stop disinformation amount to anti-conservative censorship (an embarrassing concession, if one stops to think about it). As Politico noted, several Republicans have denounced it and are devising ways to gut the agency should Trump win in November, which could leave the U.S. open to all sorts of nefarious meddling.
Read more at Politico.
Black history reborn
My colleague Zahara Hill just debuted our latest project on The ReidOut Blog, “The Reconstruction.” It’s a celebration of historians who are helping to reconstruct the public memory of Black history, as conservatives try to erase it. Check out Zahara’s intro post and my post on historians using high-tech tools, like virtual and augmented reality, to share Black history in exciting new ways.
Read more at The ReidOut Blog.
FCC robocall ban
The Federal Communications Commission voted to ban the use of robocalls that contain voices generated using artificial intelligence.
The Associated Press reported:
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday outlawed robocalls that contain voices generated by artificial intelligence, a decision that sends a clear message that exploiting the technology to scam people and mislead voters won’t be tolerated.
The move followed New Hampshire’s announcement of a criminal probe into an AI-generated robocall that used a fake version of President Joe Biden’s voice in an effort to convince voters to stay home. Such “deepfake” robocalls are among the high-tech tools used by malicious actors to suppress votes and sow chaos in U.S. elections. Beware.
Read more at The Associated Press.
Instagram inches Threads away from politics
Officials at Instagram announced the Meta-owned Twitter copycat, Threads, will no longer recommend political content to users from accounts they don’t follow. Users’ feeds will still surface political posts from accounts they do follow, so Threads isn’t completely cutting out the political influence. But the curb on recommended content is consistent with Instagram officials’ claim that they want Threads to be an app that, unlike Twitter, isn’t overrun with political invective.
Read the announcement from Instagram.
The E.U. isn’t Putin up a fight
The European Union has no plan at this time to sanction Tucker Carlson over his propaganda-filled interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the Independent. An E.U. spokesperson said “currently there are no discussions” underway to punish Carlson, after a European Parliament member suggested he be subjected to a travel ban ahead of the release of his friendly sit-down with Putin.
Read more at The Independent.
Biden joins TikTok
Behold, the Biden 2024 campaign’s first official TikTok:
Though the Biden administration has banned officials from using the app on government devices, the Biden campaign’s move here underscores its effort to engage directly with TikTok’s massive audience ahead of the 2024 elections. Let’s see if we get any Biden TikTok dances out of this. (One can only hope.)
Hungry for chips
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is hungry for (computer) chips. The Wall Street Journal reported that Altman is shopping an idea to create an international supply chain to ramp up the production of semiconductors to meet global demand for artificial intelligence tools. And all he’s reportedly asking for is a few trillion dollars. Chump change, amirite?
Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
Congress endangers an internet lifeline
Over at the new, nonprofit news outlet NOTUS, reporter Calen Razor wrote that funding may soon run out for a Biden initiative that helps Americans afford broadband internet. And Congress apparently isn’t in a hurry to authorize more funds. Read this ReidOut Blog post from 2022 to learn how refusing to fund this program could hinder technological advancement in rural and underserved communities.
And read more on the potential funding pitfall at NOTUS.
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