government News of 07/03/20

Police Roll Up Crime Networks In Europe After Infiltrating Popular Encrypted Chat App

Hundreds of alleged drug dealers and other criminals are in custody today after police in Europe infiltrated an encrypted chat system reportedly used by thousands to discuss illegal operations. The total failure of this ostensibly secure method of ...

Apple And Google Block Dozens Of Chinese Apps In India

Two days after India blocked 59 apps developed by Chinese firms , Google and Apple have started to comply with New Delhi’s order and are preventing users in the world’s second largest internet market from accessing those apps. UC ...

VCs See Much To Like In Democrats’ $1.5 Trillion Moving Forward Act

“The Moving Forward Act reads like a $1.5 trillion validation of our fund’s thesis — that upgrading cities and related infrastructure is key to fighting the existential threat of climate change and improving lives,” said Stonly ...

Zoom Misses Its Own Deadline To Publish Its First Transparency Report

How many government demands for user data has Zoom received? We won’t know until “later this year,” an updated Zoom blog post now says. The video conferencing giant previously said it would release the number of government ...

TikTok Is Engaging With India Over Ban And Already Complies With Local Privacy And Security Requirements, CEO Says

Kevin Mayer, the chief executive of TikTok said on Wednesday that the popular short-form video app complies with “all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law,” two days after New Delhi banned 59 apps including Mayer’s citing ...

Dear Sophie: Is Immigration Happening? Who Can I Hire?

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Share on Twitter Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for ...

U.S. Suspends Export Of Sensitive Tech To Hong Kong As China Passes New National Security Law

The United States government began measures today to end its special status with Hong Kong, one month after Secretary of State Michael Pompeo told Congress that Hong Kong should no longer be considered autonomous from China. These include suspending ...

Four Views: How Will The Work Visa Ban Affect Tech And Which Changes Will Last?

The Trump administration’s decision to extend its ban on issuing work visas to the end of this year “would be a blow to very early-stage tech companies trying to get off the ground,” Silicon Valley immigration lawyer Sophie Alcorn ...

Volcker Rule Reforms Expand Options For Raising VC Funds

It’s time to put on our thinking caps so we can discuss an esoteric but important policy change and how it is going to impact the VC world. The 2008 financial crisis devastated the global economy. One of the reforms that came from the detritus of ...

Biased AI Perpetuates Racial Injustice

Miriam Vogel Contributor Share on Twitter Miriam Vogel is the president and CEO of EqualAI , a nonprofit organization focused on reducing unconscious bias in artificial intelligence. The ...

PACT Act Takes On Internet Platform Content Rules With ‘A Scalpel Rather Than A Jackhammer’

The PACT Act is a new bipartisan effort to reform Section 230, the crucial liability shield that enables internet platforms to exist, approaching the law’s shortcomings “with a scalpel rather than a jackhammer,” as Senator Brian ...

China’S GPS Competitor Is Now Fully Launched

For decades, the United States has had a monopoly on positioning, navigation, and timing technology with its Global Positioning System (GPS), a constellation of satellites operated by the military that today provides the backbone for location on ...

How Will EC Plans To Reboot Rules For Digital Services Impact Startups?

A framework for ensuring fairness in digital marketplaces and tackling abusive behavior online is brewing in Europe, fed by a smorgasbord of issues and ideas, from online safety and the spread of disinformation, to platform accountability, data ...

FCC Set To Finalize ‘988’ As The New National Suicide Prevention Hotline Phone Number

The FCC said Tuesday it will vote next month to designate 988 as the new three-digit U.S. nationwide number to reach the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. In a notice , the federal regulator overseeing U.S. internet and phone providers said it ...

To Create The Jobs Our Economy Needs, The US Must Expand Immigration

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Share on Twitter Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for ...

Dear Sophie: Will The US Suspend H-1bs And Other Work Visas? How Should I Prepare?

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Share on Twitter Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for ...

5 Resources Black Entrepreneurs Can Leverage To Build And Grow

Delali Dzirasa Contributor Share on Twitter Delali Dzirasa is CEO and founder of Fearless , a full-stack digital services firm in Baltimore, MD with a mission to create software with a soul — tools ...

Affirming The Position Of Tech Advocates, Supreme Court Overturns Trump’S Termination Of DACA

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that President Donald Trump’s administration unlawfully ended the federal policy providing temporary legal status for immigrants who came to the country as children. The decision, issued Thursday, called the ...

FCC Commissioner Disparages Trump’S Social Media Order: ‘The Decision Is Ours Alone’

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks has examined the President’s Executive Order that attempts to spur the FCC into action against social media companies and found it wanting. “There are good reasons for the FCC to stay out of this ...

Microsoft Pitched Its Facial Recognition Tech To The DEA, New Emails Show

Microsoft tried to sell its facial recognition technology to the Drug Enforcement Administration as far back as 2017, according to newly released emails. The American Civil Liberties Union obtained the emails through a public records lawsuit it ...