Monthly Archives: June 2022

In the days after the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, tech companies rushed to show their support for employees living in states where the procedure is now outlawed. Meta promised to pay expenses for staffers who need to travel out of their home state for an abortion. Alphabet, Googles parent company, told employees they could apply to relocate from states banning abortion.

These companies have not given that same kind of support to their users, amid growing concerns that a digital footprintincluding websites visited, location data from a phone, or private messages on a social platformcould be used to build a criminal case against someone seeking an abortion.

MIT Technology Review asked five major tech companiesAlphabet, Meta, Reddit, TikTok, and Twitterhow their policies banning content promoting illegal activity will apply to posts advocating for abortion access or aiding those who now need to travel out of state for the procedure. Their responses, when provided, were inconsistent. Read the full story.

Abby Ohlheiser and Hana Kiros

The U.S. only has 6,000 charging stations for EVs. Heres where they all are.

The United States has around 150,000 fuel stations to refill its fleet of fossil-fuel-burning vehicles. Despite the rapid growth of electric vehicles in America400,000 of them were sold in 2021, up from barely 10,000 in 2012the country has only 6,000 DC fast electric charging stations, the kind that can rapidly juice up a battery-powered car.

A glance at Americas charging map reveals an abundance of charging deserts, particularly outside big cities. This makes sense, as EVs still represent less than 3% of new car sales. But while its illustrative of how American charging infrastructure lags far behind whats needed for the whole country to transition to electric driving, theres still time to catch up. Read the full story.

Andrew Moseman

How green steel made with electricity could clean up a dirty industry

The news: Startup Boston Metal has recently installed a new reactor at its headquarters, a significant step in its bid to make emissions-free steel. Since its founding in 2013, the company has developed a process to make green steel. The new reactor, along with a coming fundraising round, represents the next leap for the company as it tries to scale up.

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The Download: Big Techs post-Roe silence, and the US EV charging landscape - MIT Technology Review

A rout in Big Tech weighed heavily on stocks, with gains in the broader market sputtering as a report showed Americans grew more downbeat about prospects for the economy.

Traders got another reality check Tuesday after a worrisome reading on consumer confidence.

A gauge of expectations which reflects a six-month outlook tumbled to an almost decade low.

The figures come at a time when analysts remain bullish about corporate earnings, with net-margin estimates for S&P 500 companies at a record high.

The bleak economic picture pushed the U.S. equity benchmark lower, following gains that topped 1% earlier in the day.

The index hovered near the key Fibonacci 38.2% retracement level of 3,815. Quarterly rebalancing of portfolios also fueled volatility.

The Nasdaq 100 sank over 3%, dragged down by giants like Amazon.com and Tesla. Treasuries and the dollar rose.

For Goldman Sachs strategists, margin forecasts are too optimistic, putting stocks at risk of more losses when Wall Street analysts downgrade their estimates.

Meantime, HSBCs Max Kettner said equities arent still reflecting the impact of a potential recession, with earnings expectations at risk of being revised lower.

The one thing that we can say with conviction is that high market volatility is likely to persist until theres clear evidence that inflation is declining and the Fed pivots towards a less hawkish stance, taking the off-ramp away from the recession destination, said Jason Draho, head of asset allocation for the Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Federal Reserve officials played down the risk that the U.S. economy will tip into a recession, even as they raise rates, with another 75 basis-point hike on the table next month.

New York Fed President John Williams and San Franciscos Mary Daly both acknowledged they had to cool inflation but insisted that a soft landing was still possible.

A key set of rates that the Fed is focusing on to help judge financial conditions is still some way from levels that might prompt officials to halt their tightening plans.

Inflation-adjusted U.S. rates at the shorter end of the curve are still mired below zero even as real rates on longer-tenor securities this month surged to levels unseen since 2019.

Its tough to see a high probability of any sustained stock rally in the near term, according to Alifia Doriwala, managing director at RockCreek.

She says the market could be in for an even worse third quarter. The S&P 500 has tumbled more than 15% since the end of March.

We could see a lot of turbulence during earnings season if companies start revising earnings downward because they are seeing increased margin pressures, Doriwala told Bloomberg Television.

Elsewhere, oil rose for a third day as global output threats compound already red-hot markets for physical supplies, while the Group of Seven agreed to look into a price cap for Russian crude.

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Big Tech sinks stocks bruised by recession jitters - The Spokesman Review

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Privacy In Focus

The European Commission has reached a provisional politicalagreement on two legislative proposals that will upend currentrules governing digital services, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA). The Commissionreached a political agreement on the DMA on March 25, 2022 and anagreement on the DSA on April 23, 2022. There still are severalsteps needed before the new laws will take effect. Currently, thelaws are expected to take effect in early 2024.

The DMA and DSA together will fundamentally change how digitalplatforms operate and engage with consumers and third-partyoperators in the EU. A high-level overview of key provisions ofeach Act is provided below.

The DMA places limits on the market power of the largest digitalplatforms in an effort to level the playing field for smallerplayers. Under the new regulation, the largest digital platformsthat act as a "gateway" to digital services will besubject to a host of regulatory obligations.

Scope

The Act applies to a company that meets the followingcriteria:

Regulatory Obligations

The DMA requires that covered entities take steps to ensure thedigital market is open and fair to smaller businesses andconsumers. Among other requirements:

Gatekeepers must allow consumers to:

Gatekeepers must allow other businesses to:

Additionally, gatekeepers are prohibited from:

Penalties for noncompliance are stiff, with the maximum penaltybeing set at 20% of a gatekeeper's total worldwide turnover inthe preceding financial year. Other enforcement options includemarket investigations that result in behavioral or structuralremedies.

The DSA's regulatory framework imposes rules governing howplatforms moderate content, advertise, and use algorithmicprocesses. This Act aims to increase the transparency andaccountability of online platforms by encouraging innovation andcompetition opportunities for smaller platforms and a strongprotection framework for consumers who interact with onlinecontent.

Scope

The DSA applies to a variety of online intermediaries andplatforms, including internet providers, social media platforms,app stores, and content-sharing platforms. The obligations of theDSA depend on the size of the business and factor in the number ofusers and nature of the services provided. The most stringentobligations apply to "very large" platforms (VLP).Smaller entities, while largely exempt from the more complexcompliance requirements, are encouraged to follow them as a bestpractice.

Regulatory Obligations

The DSA requires transparency and accountability to create adigital space that is safe for all users. The Act requires, amongother obligations, that covered entities:

The Commission will share responsibility for enforcing the DMAwith Member State regulators. The Commission will enforce theobligations against VLP. Other entities will be subject to thesupervision of Member State regulators, with the support of a newindependent advisory group, the European Board for DigitalServices. The Commission will charge platforms annual supervisoryfees to be established based on the costs incurred by theCommission to exercise its supervisory tasks, capped at 0.05% ofannual worldwide net income.

Ania Trichet, a Wiley 2022 Summer Associate, contributed tothis article.

The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.

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Your organization, like many others, probably recognizes the severe risk that a data breach poses. No one wants their employees' or benefit plan participants' personal information to be stolen.

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) unanimously approved a Policy Statement that focuses on the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act's (COPPA's) application to education technologies...

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EU Institutions Reach Agreement On Landmark Regulations Targeting Big Tech - Privacy Protection - Worldwide - Mondaq

During the month of June, many organizations show their support for Pride Month by displaying rainbow symbols on their logos, uniforms, and social media pages. And while these gestures do indeed help to promote some level of awareness and solidarity, theyre also not particularly impactful in the world outside our screens. So in an effort to showcase and celebrate the companies that went above and beyond to support Pride in more substantial ways, we surveyed the tech landscape in search of companies that did more than just fly the rainbow flag for a few weeks. Here are a few that caught our eye:

In addition to banning anti-LGBTQ apps and participating in other efforts to support the community, Apple released two Pride Month Apple Watch Pride bands this year, providing a clear and wearable way for its customers to show support for the LGBTQ+ community in the real world.

Apple also came out with Pride Threads and Nike Pride Threads watch faces, which are available for download for Apple Watch users with Apple Watch Series 4 or later (your watch will need watchOS 8.6 and your iPhone will need to be running 15.5 or later).

DraftKings is an online sports betting, fantasy sports, and online casino platform. The brand joined with Out in Tech, which is an organization that aims to unite the LGBTQ+ tech community and helps create opportunities for the community in the tech field.

Together, the two created a free-to-play Pride Month pool, and for every entry, DraftKings donated $1 to Out in Tech. DraftKings also showed support for other diversity initiatives like American Veterans for Equal Rights, pledging $25,000 to the organization.

GitLab, a software platform that helps to automate and streamline the software development cycle, was founded in 2011. Over its decade-long journey, the company has seen a demand for change by society, and the brand seems to be rising to the occasion.

The company includes diversity and inclusion as one of its main core values. The GitLab Pride Issue Board also holds events like a transgender day of visibility and a coming out day, which is designed to connect employees at GitLab that are part of the LGBTQ+ community, or are allies, with professional and personal opportunities to meet others, speak at events, and share their lived experiences to improve and strengthen our community, the company website reports.

Skillsoft is a company that provides cloud-based corporate learning tools and content. The brand has a virtual book club that features monthly book selections. For Pride Month 2022, the company selected an array of books that discuss different LGBTQ+ civil rights topics. For instance, one of the books on the list is The Book of Pride, which talks about the story of the gay rights movement over the last 60 years.

Skillsoft has adopted other initiatives too. For instance, in 2021, Skillsoft promoted the #YouAreIncluded pronoun inclusion initiative. After 10 months, this initiative resulted in a 38% increase in the adoption of pronoun use in employee e-mail signatures.

As a brand that included sexual orientation in its discrimination policies in 1989 and began offering benefits to same-sex partnerships in 1993, Microsoft has been ahead of the curve in many ways. This year, the brand released an Xbox Pride Controller and other pride apps and gear, which helped its customers show support for their LGBTQ+ friends, family, and community. Microsoft also puts its money into the cause, donating $170,000 to LGBTQ+ non-profits, and thats on top of the $8 million the company donated along with its employees since last year.

The companys Microsoft Unlocked a platform that includes stories, content, and events features a Pride edition as its inaugural edition. On top of that, Microsofts Global LGBTQ+ Employee and Allies at Microsoft Employee Resource Group (GLEAM) has been expanding its efforts and spreading awareness for additional gender and sexual identities.

This year, Google.org committed $4 million (as well as additional assistance) to LGBTQ+ businesses affected by COVID-19, and also built on some of the Pride initiatives it has launched in years past.

In 2019, the search engine giant commemorated the historic 1969 Stonewall riots with the interactive Stonewall Forever Monument. This year, Google and Google.org have been able to provide almost $1 million to Pride Live, an LGBTQ+ activism and awareness group thats working to secure the lease to the Stonewall Inn and renovate it to create the Stonewall National Monument and Visitor Center.

Read more:

Beyond rainbows: 5 tech companies that did more for Pride in 2022 - Digital Trends

The news: Tech workers around the country are preparing to embrace the labor movement after decades of being left behind.

It is going to be a great change, said David Sullivan, an executive of the union that recently celebrated a first-of-its kind election at an Apple retail store, per Bloomberg.

Why this matters: As Big Tech companies become wealthier and more influential, many of their workers are looking to unions to negotiate more equitable compensation and benefits as well as organize around ethical issues.

Efforts to unionize in the US:

Whats next? 50% of tech workers are interested in joining a union, according to a 2021 Tech Employee Survey conducted by Protocol and Morning Consult.

Big Tech has been responding with a measured mix of compensation raises and union-busting maneuvers to avoid unionization.

The bigger picture: Expect the situation to intensify as momentum from Amazon and Apple employees union wins could inspire a domino effect in other shops.

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Can Big Tech manage the surging wave of unionization? - eMarketer

The dummied-up flyer bore the hallmarks of a real WANTED poster. A grainy photo of a woman outside an election office in the suburbs of Atlanta stamped with the word WANTED. An image of a sheriffs badge and the phone number for the Gwinnett County Sheriffs Office. The implication was clear: The woman was being sought by the local sheriff for voter fraud.

The flyer was fake, and though the sheriffs office eventually called it out, the false poster went viral, amassing tens of thousands of shares, views and threatening comments on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok and raising fears that harm could come to the unidentified woman.

Stolen-election activists and supporters of former President Donald Trump have embraced a new tactic in their ongoing campaign to unearth supposed proof of fraud in the 2020 presidential race: chasing down a fictional breed of fraudster known as a ballot mule and using social media to do it.

Inspired by a conservative documentary film that has won praise from Trump and his allies and debunking from critics including former Attorney General William Barr self-styled citizen sleuths are posting and sharing photos of unnamed individuals and accusing them of election crimes. They are calling on their followers to help identify these ballot mules, who are accused of having violated laws against dropping off multiple absentee ballots during the 2020 election. A state lawmaker in Arizona has even encouraged people to act as vigilantes and catch future mules.

Promoting such false information violates the policies of Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Facebooks Community Standards says its policy is to remove content that incites harassment or violence or impersonates government officials. Twitter and TikTok have similar rules and guidelines for what can and cant appear on their platforms.

ProPublica identified at least a dozen additional posts on Twitter, Facebook and TikTok that accuse unnamed individuals of being ballot mules and engaging in allegedly illegal activity. Some of these posts echo the WANTED-style language seen in the Gwinnett County meme, while others include similar calls to action to identify the individuals.

None of the posts reviewed by ProPublica include evidence that any of the people depicted in the posters engaged in illegal activity. Yet the social media companies have reacted slowly or not at all to such posts, some of which clearly violate their policies, experts say.

Disinformation researchers from the nonpartisan clean-government nonprofit Common Cause alerted Facebook and Twitter that the platforms were allowing users to post such incendiary claims in May. Not only did the claims lack evidence that crimes had been committed, but experts worry that poll workers, volunteers and regular voters could face unwarranted harassment or physical harm if they are wrongfully accused of illegal election activity.

So far, there is no sign that any of the people depicted have been identified or suffered any threats.

Emma Steiner, a disinformation analyst with Common Cause who sent warnings to the social-media companies, says the lack of action suggests that tech companies relaxed their efforts to police election-related threats ahead of the 2022 midterms.

This is the new playbook, and Im worried that platforms are not prepared to deal with this tactic that encourages dangerous behavior, Steiner said.

Spokespeople for Facebook, TikTok and Twitter said they would remove posts flagged by ProPublica for violating their respective community standards policies.

Thirty-one states allow a third party to collect and return an absentee or mail-in ballot on behalf of another voter. These laws help voters who are disabled or infirm, live in spread-out rural areas or reside on tribal lands with limited access to polling places or ballot drop boxes. In states with a history of absentee voting, both Democratic and Republican operatives have engaged in organized ballot-collection drives.

Critics, labeling the practice ballot harvesting, have sought to restrict its use, warning about the potential for fraud. However, incidents of proven fraud related to ballot collection are extremely rare. A database maintained by the conservative Heritage Foundation identifies just 238 cases of fraudulent use of absentee ballots since 1988. One high-profile case of fraud involving absentee ballots occurred in a 2018 North Carolina congressional race. A Republican operative engaged in a ballot-tampering scheme involving hundreds of ballots. The state election board later threw out the election result and ordered a redo. It was likely the first federal election overturned due to fraud, according to historians and election-law experts.

The phrases ballot mules and ballot trafficking with their intentional echoes of the language of drugs and cartels started to gain traction online in 2021, according to Mike Caulfield, a misinformation researcher at the University of Washingtons Center for an Informed Public. An analysis by Caulfield and his colleagues found that prominent Republicans including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel invoked ballot trafficking last spring.

But it wasnt until conservative provocateur Dinesh DSouza and a discredited conservative group called True the Vote last fall began to tease findings that would later appear in DSouzas movie 2000 Mules that uses of ballot trafficking and ballot mules shot up, according to Caulfields research.

The 2000 Mules film claims that a network of thousands of people illegally stuffed ballot boxes in swing states to steal the presidency for Joe Biden. It draws heavily on the work of True the Vote, which purported to use surveillance footage and geolocation data to make its claims of illegal ballot activity.

Numerous fact-checks of the film have cast serious doubt over its central premise. In a deposition with the Jan. 6 select committee, Barr said he found the conclusions of 2000 Mules far from convincing. My opinion then and my opinion now, he said, is that the election was not stolen by fraud, and I havent seen anything since the election that changes my mind on that, including the 2000 Mules movie.

True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht said her group had never spoken with Barr and disputed the notion that True the Vote had not proven its claims about voter fraud. I do think that when 80%+ of America is concerned about election integrity, something must be done to address the situation, she said. It is the failure of leaders across all branches of government, who have allowed lawlessness to be the new law, that we find ourselves where we do. DSouza did not respond to a request for comment.

Despite its flimsy conclusions, 2000 Mules found an enthusiastic audience in Trump and his supporters. In early May, Trump screened the film at his Mar-a-Lago private club. The film has since earned nearly $1.5 million at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo. In a recent 12-page letter responding to the public hearings organized by the Jan. 6 select committee, Trump cited 2000 Mules nearly 20 times.

As the films dubious claims have spread online, stolen-election activists are creating and sharing online content purporting to reveal more mules and accusing those individuals of illegal behavior without actual evidence of wrongdoing.

The most striking example is the meme that depicts an older white woman leaving a ballot drop box in Georgias suburban Gwinnett County. The word WANTED appears above her head as does the image of a sheriffs badge labeled Gwinnett County and the sheriff offices phone number.

Ballot mule, the meme says. If you can ID her, call Gwinnett Co. sheriffs office.

A spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Sheriffs Office says the meme is fake. The sheriffs office hasnt received calls purporting to identify the woman. The spokeswoman said that the office was investigating who created the meme.

ProPublica was unable to identify the woman in the WANTED meme. A spokesman for the Gwinnett County elections office confirmed that the name tag worn by the woman in the meme matched those worn by county election workers in 2020. He also verified that the drop box in the video was located outside of the countys election headquarters.

The origins of the womans photo in the WANTED meme appear to point back to a Georgia businessman and self-described election-fraud investigator named David Cross.

For months Cross has posted short clips of surveillance footage showing people depositing ballots at drop boxes in Gwinnett County. Cross sometimes narrates these videos and makes unverified accusations of illegal ballot harvesting. In a clip that Cross posted online on May 3, an older white woman the same woman in the WANTED meme deposits multiple ballots into the drop box outside the headquarters for Gwinnett Countys elections office. In his narration, Cross accuses the woman of depositing as many as 35 ballots, though its not at all clear from the video exactly how many ballots the woman deposited. Totally illegal, he says in the video. (Cross did not respond to requests for comment.)

Georgia law prohibits many third parties from submitting a ballot thats not their own. However, the law makes exceptions for caregivers for the elderly and the disabled, immediate family members, members of the same household, in-laws, nieces, nephews, grandchildren and more.

Cross, the Georgia activist, has filed complaints with the State Election Board and secretary of states office alleging illegal ballot deliveries and citing his surveillance footage clips. Last month, the State Election Board dismissed three complaints alleging ballot harvesting after an investigation by the secretary of states office found that the alleged mules were voters dropping off ballots for themselves and family members.

A spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told ProPublica that the office has a pending investigation into the woman in the WANTED meme. The spokesman, Walter Jones, stressed that no one should assume that an individual shown in a video delivering multiple ballots is automatically guilty of a crime, nor would the ballots in question be invalidated even if someone had violated the states ballot-collection law.

The video published by Cross of the woman at the Gwinnett County drop box spread rapidly online. Twitter users accused the woman of being one of the 2000 mules and urged their followers to MAKE HER FAMOUS! in other words, reveal her identity and share it widely.

One Twitter user shared the womans image with the WANTED text and the fake Gwinnett County sheriffs badge. Once we find out who paid these people the whole story will become clear, the account wrote. That tweet amassed more than 9,000 retweets and more than 14,000 likes before Twitter removed it.

The WANTED post spread across Twitter, Facebook and TikTok. A Facebook group called Celebrities for Trump shared it. We need more if [sic] these, the post said, referring to the WANTED sign. Keep your eyes open. Report them all it is a crime.

Several days after the WANTED flyer surfaced and reached a large audience, the Gwinnett County sheriff stated that the post was false. Yet despite the post impersonating a law-enforcement agency, social-media companies have been slow to remove it.

While Twitter removed dozens of posts with the WANTED sign, ProPublica was able to find instances of it still on the platform.

Disinformation researchers tell ProPublica that they also identified posts accusing people of being ballot mules in other states with laws that restrict third parties from submitting peoples ballots. Mule right here in PA, one TikTok post read. Make this Upper Dublin resident famous #2000Mules #2000MulesDocumentary #2000MulesTheMovie.

In Arizona, a Republican state senator named Kelly Townsend has encouraged people to camp out at ballot drop boxes and write down license plate numbers of people deemed to be suspicious. I have been so pleased to hear of all you vigilantes that want to camp out at these drop boxes, Townsend recently said. So, do it. Do it.

Even if 2000 Mules were accurate which experts stress it almost certainly is not the ballot-trafficking theory put forward by the film would not change the result of any election. Rick Hasen, a professor and election-law expert at the University of California, Irvine, says he believes the rigged-election message in 2000 Mules is just the latest attempt to more broadly lay the groundwork for challenging and overturning the outcome of a future election.

If you believe the last election was stolen, youre going to be more likely to take steps to steal the next one back, Hasen said. Its pretty obvious that whats going on here is using false claims of fraud as a potential pretext to engage in election subversion in 2024 or another future election. Thats very dangerous for American democracy.

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'Big Lie' Vigilantism Is on the Rise. Big Tech Is Failing to Respond. - Minnesota Reformer

Likely voters in eight prominent swing states want Congress to pass the Open App Markets Act and the American Innovation and Choice Online Act in addition to other legislative reforms aimed at Big Tech, according to a poll conducted on behalf of the Coalition for App Fairness.

The poll results show bipartisan support for the Open App Markets Act, which prohibits app stores like Google Play and the App Store from requiring users to use a payment system owned or controlled by the company as a condition of distribution. (RELATED: Google Play Bans Twitter Alternative Gab.ai App Over Hate Speech)

Across all surveyed voters, 79% support the legislation. There is little variation based on political affiliation 81% of Republicans and Independents supported the act, while 77% of Democrats did. Additionally, 61% of surveyed voters said they would hold a more favorable view of their representative or senator if the elected official supported the act.

WASHINGTON, DC SEPTEMBER 15, 2020: Senate Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust member Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) questions witnesses during a hearing on anticompetitive actions in Googles online advertising in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

OnMessage Public Strategies and Lake Research Partners conducted live, in-person interviews which surveyed 1,600 likely voters across Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin between June 6-10, 2022. The margin of error for the poll is +/- 2.5%.

There is clear, overwhelming, and bipartisan support for Congress to pass the Open App Markets Act and other legislative measures, the poll summarized. Across all states and key political demographics, likely voters believe Big Tech companies are too powerful and have not been regulated enough. Likely voters in these key political states are rejecting the arguments being made by Big Tech companies and their allies as they attempt to stave off new regulation.

The poll also showed 72% support for the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, an anti-trust act designed to prevent partisan censorship or discrimination by major online platforms. (RELATED: SCHOEN: Americans Are Sounding The Alarm Over Big Tech)

Overall, 68% of voters across parties agreed that Big Tech has too much power. In regard to Google and Apple, 67% and 59% believed the companies have too much power, respectively. Additionally, 69% of voters said these companies have used that power in a harmful way, according to the survey.

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Poll: Voters Want Congress To Rein In Big Tech - Daily Caller