Technology
WASHINGTON - The National Labor Relations Board’s finding announced this week that online retailer Amazon retaliated unfairly against two of its headquarters staff members is paving the way for a possible lawsuit against the company. The two workers publicly criticized... Read More
WASHINGTON — Online education had been on the rise for several years prior to COVID-19, but the pandemic fast-tracked a sudden pivot to emergency remote instruction. Over the past year, more students and faculty experienced and gained confidence in online... Read More
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday sided with Google in a long running copyright dispute over the software used in Android, the mobile operating system. The court decision was 6-2, as Justice Amy Coney Barrett had not yet been... Read More
David Freiheit began his presentation at the American Enterprise Institute event on the values and consequences of free expression in the digital age by pointing to the response of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to Amazon’s “snotty tweets.” Warren has repeatedly... Read More
WASHINGTON - Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers, R-Wash., said at a congressional hearing today that as a parent of three school-aged children, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are her “biggest fear.” After spikes in teenage suicides in her community, everyone she reached... Read More
WASHINGTON - The National Weather Service has significantly upgraded its longstanding forecast model to better predict extreme weather events such as hurricanes, blizzards and downpours, as well as day-to-day weather across the U.S. While it is easy to get bogged... Read More
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Amazon is making its first foray into providing health care services, announcing Wednesday that it will be offering its Amazon Care telemedicine program to employers nationwide. Currently available to the company's employees in Washington state,... Read More
WASHINGTON - Five Chinese companies are producing telecommunications equipment and services that pose "an unacceptable risk" to national security and the security and safety of U.S. citizens, the Federal Communications Commission announced Friday. The companies include Huawei Technologies Co., ZTE... Read More
WASHINGTON - House and Senate Democrats assembled at the U.S. Capitol Thursday to unveil a new $94 billion proposal to make broadband internet more accessible and affordable nationwide, striking a blow at the digital inequalities that have become all-too-apparent during... Read More
If the U.S. government does not provide more funding for federal antitrust agencies to contend with Big Tech giants like Facebook and Google, it risks the future U.S. economy and the “way of life it supports,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar,... Read More
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration will continue its “zero trust” approach, which assumes any hardware or software technology cannot be trusted, when it comes to grappling with issues surrounding artificial intelligence, according to the agency’s top official today. “AI... Read More
CHICAGO - A federal judge on Tuesday put off approval of a proposed $92 million class-action settlement by the social media app TikTok, wanting to give attorneys at least 21 days to address his questions about the proposal. U.S. District... Read More
WASHINGTON — A Trump-era regulation allowing the Department of Commerce to block technology-related business transactions determined to be national security threats will remain in place, against the wishes of some of the country's business stakeholders. The rule, scheduled to take... Read More
WASHINGTON — As Beijing accelerates its plan to dominate in key information technology industries, U.S. policy experts are making the case for a new global governance body to curb the influence of techno-autocracies and create a like-minded alliance of techno-democracies... Read More
Congress needs to create mandates to curb the abusive power exerted by a handful of online platforms, according to all six witnesses at a Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday. During the hearing, members of a House Judiciary subcommittee grappled with... Read More
WASHINGTON -- Any policy aiming to truly address the nation’s broadband access crisis must be accompanied by robust federal funding to ensure these efforts are sustainable, according to one of the country’s top telecom executives. Speaking at the AT&T Policy... Read More
Four panelists warned today that proposed legislative reforms for more aggressive antitrust enforcement in Big Tech would likely spill over across all industries, hindering innovation and harming consumers. Strengthening the antitrust laws - federal and state statutes that restrict the... Read More
WASHINGTON - In the near future, cellular networks, particularly in advancing 5G, need to evolve away from their previously hardware-driven functions and become more virtual or software-based, the acting head of the Federal Communications Commissions believes. To advance those beliefs,... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jolted by a sweeping hack that may have revealed government and corporate secrets to Russia, U.S. officials are scrambling to reinforce the nation's cyber defenses and recognizing that an agency created two years ago to protect America's... Read More
Substantial federal help is needed to assure affordable broadband access to disadvantaged communities, according to Wednesday’s witnesses before the House Commerce and Energy Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. The virtual hearing, entitled “Connecting America: Broadband Solutions to the Pandemic... Read More
WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday established a task force to implement long-overdue improvements to the agency's broadband and mapping tool. Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel also named Jean Kiddoo as chair of the new Broadband Data Task... Read More
PHILADELPHIA — Comcast announced the company would escalate its commitment to address digital equity by closing the digital divide through addressing digital literacy and the homework gap. Since 2011, Comcast has facilitated the largest low-cost Internet adoption program for low-income... Read More
Big Tech is only “growing stronger” due to the pandemic and federal antitrust agencies need to “get serious about enforcement in the tech sector,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., during this week’s State of the Net Conference. “We need that... Read More
Recent cyberattacks on U.S. federal systems point to the need to make the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency the "centralizing authority system" for the nation, said Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., during a fireside chat at the State of Net Conference. That... Read More
Efforts to modernize the federal government's use of technology have long enjoyed "enthusiastic bipartisan support" that is likely to continue during Joe Biden's presidency, said Matt Lira, who was special assistant to the president on innovation policy during the Trump... Read More
Public health agencies need to implement a more strategic, unified approach in communicating public health information online on the novel coronavirus and social platforms should “amplify” it, said Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., kicking off the 17th Annual State of the... Read More
A group of Google engineers and other workers announced Monday they have formed a union, creating a rare foothold for the labor movement in the tech industry. About 225 employees at Google and its parent company Alphabet are the first... Read More
WASHINGTON — Incoming members of the White House Office of Digital Strategy were announced Monday in a press release from the Biden-Harris transition team. In the release, the Biden-Harris transition described the incoming members as “diverse, accomplished, and talented individuals”... Read More
A new report from Information Services Group, a leading global technology research and advisory firm, reveals that cloud-based information-technology use increased dramatically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that forced companies to transition to work-at-home environments. Cloud providers like... Read More
Cryptocurrency may still seem like a strange, foreign concept in many American households – but the technology has reached the point where it is entering the everyday economy. The price of Bitcoin has hit a record-high, G7 officials are pushing... Read More
