Hillicon Valley — Klobuchar forges ahead with tech agenda

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said the push to pass her antitrust bill that aims to rein in the power of tech giants isn’t dead.  

In other news, the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint advisory warning that cyberattacks may increase against schools as the academic year begins. 

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Klobuchar continues push for antitrust bill 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said the push to pass her antitrust legislation targeting the largest tech companies isn’t dead, despite the bill still waiting for a scheduled floor vote.  

Klobuchar made her latest plug for her American Innovation and Online Choice Act in an interview with Vox’s Kara Swisher at the Code Conference on Tuesday. 

• The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), aims to limit tech companies from preferencing their own products and services over rivals’. It advanced out of the Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support earlier this year, but has yet to be called for a floor vote.
    
• Klobuchar, who chairs the antitrust subcommittee, did not give an exact date or guarantee the vote will happen before the midterms.  

“It is really hard to take on these subjects when you have the biggest companies the world has ever known, that control an inordinate part of the economy, opposed to it,” she said in the interview. “It is an incredible amount of money I’m up against. I have two lawyers. They have 2,800 lawyers and lobbyists. So I’m not naive about the David versus Goliath.” 

Read more here.

A cyber warning for schools

The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are warning cyberattacks may increase against schools as the academic year begins. 

In a joint cybersecurity advisory published on Tuesday, the agencies detailed that a criminal syndicate known as Vice Society is “disproportionately” targeting the education sector with ransomware attacks. 

“School districts with limited cybersecurity capabilities and constrained resources are often the most vulnerable; however, the opportunistic targeting often seen with cyber criminals can still put school districts with robust cybersecurity programs at risk,” the advisory reads.

The agencies outlined a series of recommendations for school districts to mitigate cyber threats, like maintaining a strong relationship with their local FBI field office and maintaining password standards. 

The advisory came after the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced it had experienced a ransomware attack over the weekend. 

Read more here.  

‘BOOGALOO BOIS’ REEMERGE, REPORT SAYS 

The violent extremist “boogaloo” movement is showing new signs of activity on Facebook, in spite of the social media platform’s ban on the group, according to a new report from the Tech Transparency Project. 

Boogaloo groups and individual “boogaloo bois” have increased their activity on Facebook following the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, the Tech Transparency Project found.  

The boogaloo movement appears to “see this moment as a growth opportunity for their movement” and hopes to “capitalize on the wave of far-right anger at the FBI,” the report said. 

Meta’s response: Facebook’s parent company Meta noted when it first banned the boogaloo movement in 2020 that it was aware the group would likely attempt to “return to using our platform and adopting new terminology.” 

“This is an adversarial space, with perpetrators constantly trying to find new ways to evade our policies, which is why we work with a number of organizations to flag content and stay ahead of evolving trends,” a Meta spokesperson said on Wednesday. 

Read more here.

THE OTHER ANTITRUST BILL ON DECK TOMORROW 

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to debate the Journalism and Competition and Preservation Act during a meeting Thursday.  

The proposal would give digital news publishers the ability to negotiate collectively with dominant tech platforms, like Google and Facebook, to distribute their content.  

A revised version of the proposal was released in August by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). In the House, it was introduced by Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nalder (D-N.Y.) and antitrust subcommittee chair and ranking member Reps. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Ken Buck (D-Colo.).  

• The News Media Alliance says the bill would help the local news industry after years of tech giants cutting into their revenue.
    
• But the legislation is facing pushback from tech industry group Chamber of Progress and 20 advocacy groups that sent a letter Friday to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee campaigning against the legislation.
     
• In part, they argue a provision in the revised bill that doesn’t allow tech companies to “discriminate against any eligible digital journalism provider,” could force tech companies to host content “regardless of how extreme” it is.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: A better strategy to rein in Big Tech 

Notable links from around the web: 

From Boom to Gloom: Tech Recruiters Struggle to Find Work (The New York Times / Erin Griffith)

This Is Snap’s Turnaround Plan (The Verge / Alex Heath) 

These companies are looking at using rockets to blast cargo across the planet (CNN / Jackie Wattles) 

Lighter click: every single time  

One last thing: US condemns Iran’s attack 

The U.S. National Security Council (NSC) on Wednesday called for Iran to be held accountable for an “unprecedented” cyberattack it said the country committed against Albania in July.  

NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a release the United States condemns Iran’s actions and plans to hold Iran accountable for threatening the security of an ally and setting a “troubling precedent” for cyberspace.  

A cyberattack temporarily shut down multiple Albanian government digital services and websites on July 15. Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a statement addressed to the Albanian people on Wednesday that an investigation confirmed “without a shadow of a doubt” that the attack was not conducted by individuals or independent criminal organizations, but state-sponsored groups. 

Read more here.

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.