oort99 writes: MIT Electrical Engineering graduate and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has been selected by California governor Gavin Newsom to replace Kamala Harris. He will join Steve Daines and Martin Heinrich as one of three U.S. Senators with engineering credentials currently serving in the Senate. “Padilla, 47, the son of Mexican immigrants, will be the first Latino from the…
Tag: secretary of state
Proposition 24 Passes in California, Pushing Privacy Rights To the Forefront Again
California voters approved on Tuesday a ballot measure designed to beef up consumer privacy protections, according to unofficial returns published by the state’s secretary of state. From a report: Proponents of the measure, known as Proposition 24, say the initiative would close a loophole in the state’s current privacy law that lets major tech companies continue to target ads with user…
France and the Netherlands Call For Tough EU Powers To Curb Big Tech
France and the Netherlands have proposed stricter EU rules to oversee large technology firms, such as Alphabet, Facebook and Amazon. From a report: In a joint document, seen by CNBC and due to be sent to the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, the two countries suggested that an EU authority should be able to control the market position of these…
Virginia’s Voter-Registration Site Goes Offline on Last Day To Register
Virginia’s voter-registration website went offline Tuesday on the state’s last day to register before the Nov. 3 election, in what officials attributed to an accidental cutting of a fiber-optic cable. From a report: The Virginia Information Technologies Agency said that the Verizon cable was inadvertently struck during work for a roadside utilities project and that several agencies were affected. The Virginia…
Huawei’s Investments Are ‘Predatory Actions’ and All Countries Should Ban Them: Pompeo
Investments by China’s Huawei are not regular market transactions but rather “predatory actions” and all countries should ban them, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a newspaper interview on Friday. From a report: “Their investments are not private because they are subsidised by the (Chinese) State. Hence they are not transparent, free, commercial transactions like many others but they…
Louisiana Shuts Down Voter Registration Site For ‘Scheduled Maintenance’ On National Voter Registration Day
mabu writes: National Voter Registration Day, earmarked to call attention to encouraging more people to register to vote, is a pinnacle of many state’s voter registration drives. Unfortunately in the state of Louisiana, its secretary of state Kyle Ardoin, decided this was a great time to shut the web site down for “scheduled maintenance.” As a result, people who tried to…
US Tightening Restrictions on Huawei Access To Technology, Chips
The Trump administration announced on Monday it will further tighten restrictions on Huawei Technologies, aimed at cracking down on its access to commercially available chips. From a report: The U.S. Commerce Department actions will expand restrictions announced in May aimed at preventing the Chinese telecommunications giant from obtaining semiconductors without a special license — including chips made by foreign firms that…
Is the US about to Split the Internet?
The BBC reports:
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he wants a “clean” internet. What he means by that is he wants to remove Chinese influence, and Chinese companies, from the internet in the U.S. But critics believe this will bolster a worrying movement towards the breaking up of the global internet. The so called “splinternet” is generally used when talking…
TikTok Ban: Trump Will Prohibit Transactions With ByteDance Beginning September 20
According to The Verge, “President Trump has signed a new executive order which will block all transactions with Bytedance, TikTok’s parent corporation, in an effort to ‘address the national emergency with respect to the information and communication technology supply chain.'” From the report: The move comes after months of escalating tensions, which saw Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others at…
US Steps Up Campaign To Purge Chinese Apps
The Trump administration said late Wednesday it was stepping up efforts to purge “untrusted” Chinese apps from US digital networks and called the Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok and messenger app WeChat “significant threats.” From a report: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said expanded US efforts on a program it calls “Clean Network” would focus on five areas and include steps…