Hillicon Valley — Lobbyists dig in on Big Tech bills
Groups on both sides of the tech antitrust debate are narrowing their focus and campaigns in anticipation of the Senate bringing key legislation to the floor this month.
Meanwhile, unidentified hackers have allegedly stolen personal data of 1 billion Chinese citizens from a Shanghai police database, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.
Tech antitrust fight heats up
Lobbying both for and against legislation to crack down on U.S. tech giants is intensifying as the Senate enters a critical month for the antitrust bills.
All eyes are on Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who will need to decide whether to prioritize measures to regulate Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta over other key bills prior to the August recess.
Much of the lobbying in recent weeks has centered around the Senate’s limited floor time before lawmakers leave town next month. Congress isn’t expected to make much progress on major legislation after returning from its break, when lawmakers typically shift their attention to the November election.
In an effort to run out the clock, the big four tech firms and their Washington allies are warning Senate Democrats that their voters expect progress on other pressing issues entering November’s elections.
Hackers stole 1 billion personal records
Unidentified hackers have allegedly stolen personal data of 1 billion Chinese citizens from a Shanghai police database, The Associated Press reported.
The alleged hackers offered to sell nearly 24 terabytes of data on an online hacking forum for 10 Bitcoin, worth about $200,000.
The data allegedly includes information from the Shanghai National Police database including names, addresses, national identification numbers and mobile phone numbers.
Experts told the AP that, if confirmed, the hack could be one of the largest data breaches in history.
TWITTER SUES INDIAN GOV
Twitter filed a lawsuit against the Indian government on Tuesday, pushing back against orders to censor content on its platform.
The lawsuit, filed in the Karnataka High Court against the Union Government of India, listed Twitter Inc. as the petitioner.
The news was first reported by Reuters, which cited a source familiar with the matter and added that the social media giant’s legal challenge alleges abuse of power by officials.
India’s Information and Technology Ministry had asked the social media platform to take down multiple accounts and tweets that were noncompliant with its new laws, which allow the government to block access to content in the interest of national security.
MORE TROUBLE AHEAD FOR NET NEUTRALITY
The Supreme Court’s ruling to curb the power of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could hurt Democrats’ long-fought battle to reinstate Obama-era net neutrality rules.
If the same principle is applied from the majority opinion in Thursday’s case, arguing that Congress must grant clear authorization for certain regulations, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may not be able to restore rules banning service providers from blocking or throttling websites.
- “There is a large shift of power from the agencies to the courts,” said Blair Levin, a policy adviser to New Street Research who served as chief of staff to former FCC Chair Reed Hundt.
- Levin and other experts say the decision was written in a way that opens the door for rulemaking decisions at the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to potentially be overturned in court.
US FACES CYBER SHORTAGE AMID GROWING THREATS
The federal government and private sector are facing increasing pressure to fill key cyber roles as high-profile attacks and international threats rattle various U.S. sectors.
Workforce shortages have been a long-running issue in cyber, but they have taken on renewed importance amid rising Russian threats stemming from the war in Ukraine.
“It’s an issue that the government faces as well as the private sector, state and local communities,” Iranga Kahangama, a cyber official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said at a House hearing this week.
Kahangama said the shortage has been a top priority for his agency, which conducted a 60-day hiring sprint last summer to hire cybersecurity professionals. Out of 500 job offers DHS sent out, the department was able to hire nearly 300 new cyber workers.
BITS & PIECES
An op-ed to chew on: Wonder Women: Jan. 6 hearings highlighting strong women with courage and integrity
Notable links from around the web:
Meta Was Restricting Abortion Content All Along (Wired / Vittoria Elliott)
Leaked Videos Show Disney Is the Biggest Ad Tech Giant You’ve Never Heard Of (Motherboard / Joseph Cox)
Cybersecurity experts question Microsoft’s Ukraine report (CyberScoop / Suzanne Smalley)
Lighter click: Cat 🙂
One more thing: Swipe right
At a hip basement bar in Washington’s Shaw neighborhood on a recent Thursday night, singles from conservative nonprofits, GOP Capitol Hill offices and right-leaning media groups sipped craft cocktails from an open bar under the glow of neon lights, part of an effort to build buzz and a user base for a new dating app created by former Trump White House staffers and backed by tech billionaire Peter Thiel.
There is a long list of failed or now-defunct dating apps aimed at conservatives that have popped up in recent years, including Righter, Donald Dater, TrumpSingles, Patrio and Conservatives Only.
Co-founders John McEntee, who was a personal aide to former President Trump and then director of the White House presidential personnel office, and Daniel Huff, a Trump appointee in the Department of Housing and Urban Development and also a former White House adviser, say The Right Stuff will be different.
“What we’re doing has really not been done before. No one has built a high quality, properly funded app with a dedicated team,” Huff said in an interview.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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