Biden to push for strengthening children’s privacy in State of the Union address

President Biden will urge Congress to strengthen children’s privacy protections in his State of the Union address Tuesday, following growing concerns about the potential mental health impact online platforms cause children — an issue that Congress has repeatedly hauled in tech giants to address in hearings in recent months. A fact sheet released prior to the speech grouped the initiative into four distinct calls to action: banning targeted advertising for children, prioritizing safety design standards for online platforms, stopping discriminatory algorithmic decision-making and investing at least $5 million in fiscal year 2023 toward research on social media’s effects on mental health. “The President believes not only that we should have far stronger protections for children’s data and privacy, but that the platforms and other interactive digital service providers should be required to prioritize and ensure the health, safety and well-being of children and young people above profit and revenue in […]

The post Biden to push for strengthening children’s privacy in State of the Union address appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Biden to push for strengthening children’s privacy in State of the Union address

Congress’s Biggest Opponent of Net Neutrality Is Getting Destroyed in Midterm Election Polls

Marsha Blackburn is trying to jump from the House to the Senate—and is losing by 10 points to a Democrat in Tennessee, a state Donald Trump won by 26 points. Continue reading Congress’s Biggest Opponent of Net Neutrality Is Getting Destroyed in Midterm Election Polls

Congress wants answers on embargo of Spectre and Meltdown information

Lawmakers on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce have sent letters to various CEOs at top tech companies asking why information about massive computer chip vulnerabilities was held under embargo for months. The letters focus on the Spectre and Meltdown bugs, deep-rooted flaws in chips produced by leading computer hardware companies that could allow hackers to access steal sensitive data from machines created as far back as 1995. Co-authored by panel Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and members Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Gregg Harper, R-Miss., the letters request answers about why the bugs weren’t disclosed when the companies learned about them in June 2017. The committee has jurisdiction over technology issues. Information about the flaws was supposed to go public in late January, but security researchers tweeted proof-of-concept code before the companies were ready to make announcements. That tweet lead to wider public scrutiny, forcing the companies involved to […]

The post Congress wants answers on embargo of Spectre and Meltdown information appeared first on Cyberscoop.

Continue reading Congress wants answers on embargo of Spectre and Meltdown information