Facebook and Twitter removal of nearly 1,000 suspicious accounts this week signals social media platforms are making progress combating malicious content (see 1808220032), Senate Intelligence Committee leadership told us Wednesday. Ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., said the committee’s Sept. 5 hearing with Facebook, Twitter and Google will let lawmakers determine what additional “guardrails” are needed from Congress.
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
Despite consumer groups clamoring for the FTC to conclude its Facebook-Cambridge Analytica probe (see 1808160075), Senators and ex-commission officials told us the agency is taking an acceptable amount of time. “I’d rather them do it sooner rather than later, but I want them to be thorough,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. He acknowledged officials in the EU and globally are waiting to see what kind of authority the agency has for regulating privacy. “That’s probably why it’s taking a while,” Kennedy said, noting that when the agency reaches a conclusion, privacy will remain an issue for social media platforms.
The private sector might benefit from hack-back authority, a controversial concept exempting the private sector from cyber prosecution when it acts in self-defense, said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. Tuesday. His comments came the day after Microsoft announced action taken against Russia-linked hackers attempting to exploit visitors to websites of the Senate and conservative think tanks.
The FTC should require edge and core internet providers to offer uniform protections for online consumers, telecom trade groups told the agency Monday. Organizations from across the economy made policy suggestions by the Monday deadline for public comment on upcoming hearings on consumer protection and competition (see 1808200045).
More than half the Senate supports the Music Modernization Act, with five lawmakers signing onto the legislation last week, bringing sponsorship to 51. An aide for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the bill's author, told us his office is continuing to push for floor action. Hatch is hopeful for passage this year, given the last-minute compromise on an initially controversial amendment from Texas Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn (see 1808030044).
Republican senators distanced themselves from far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who's the subject of widespread social media censorship and an FCC lawsuit (see 1808100025) and 1808150047). Some lawmakers said Thursday they don’t pay any attention to the InfoWars creator or were unfamiliar with his work.
An industry-led cyber advisory board expects to deliver a final report to President Donald Trump in mid-November establishing cybersecurity as a “national strategic imperative,” officials said Wednesday. The National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee is finalizing its Cybersecurity Moonshot study, members said during a conference call.
The Department of Homeland Security’s new National Risk Management Center (see 1808070032) will test the willingness of industry and the federal government to collaborate on cybersecurity defense, experts said this week. The U.S. government is hesitant to share classified information with national security implications, and the private sector is reticent for fear of reputational damage or increased scrutiny from regulators, they said.
Widespread removal of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from social media was a flash point for companies feeling pressure to police platforms judiciously, but it could fuel arguments that Silicon Valley is biased against conservatives (see 1807170043), said industry observers, warning the GOP against siding with extremists.
The Trump administration’s failure to appoint a permanent EU-U.S. Privacy Shield ombudsman and stagnation of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) will be points of contention when officials from both sides of the Atlantic meet in October, experts told us. Also expect the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica privacy breach (see 1804100054 and 1804110065) to be a major topic, said Access Now Policy Counsel Drew Mitnick. EU officials want details on how the FTC, U.S. enforcer of the Privacy Shield, is handling its investigation into potential Facebook violations of a 2011 consent decree, so they can better gauge the strength of the agency’s authority.