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Category Archives: Congress

DOJ Launches Updated Voting Rights and Elections Website

“The Justice Department announced today that it has updated www.justice.gov/voting, a one-stop resource providing voting and elections information for voters as well as state and local elections officials. As part of the update, the Civil Rights Division published two new informational guides on voting rights and updated five other guides. The Department’s longstanding practice is to update resources and provide information in election years on the efforts of the Civil Rights Division, Criminal Division, National Security Division, and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country, to ensure that all qualified voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots and have their votes counted free of discrimination, intimidation, or criminal activity in the election process, and to ensure that our elections are secure and free from foreign malign influence and interference. Over the coming months additional resources will be published.”

See also: “Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released Securing Election Infrastructure Against the Tactics of Foreign Malign Influence Operations, a guidance document that details the latest tactics employed in foreign malign influence operations to shape U.S. policies, decisions, and discourse and could be used to target America’s election infrastructure. The product discusses popular tactics used in foreign malign influence operations, provides recent examples, and recommends potential mitigations for election infrastructure stakeholders. While many of these tactics are not new, recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology have made it much easier and cheaper to generate and spread convincing foreign malign influence content.”

NIST Blames ‘Growing Backlog of Vulnerabilities’ Requiring Analysis on Lack of Support

Slashdot: “It’s the world’s most widely used vulnerability database, reports SC Magazine, offering standards-based data on CVSS severity scores, impacted software and platforms, contributing weaknesses, and links to patches and additional resources. But “there is a growing backlog of vulnerabilities” submitted to America’s National Vulnerability Database and “requiring analysis”, according to a new announcement from… Continue Reading

A US bill takes aim at protecting Americans’ data privacy

The Verge: “Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) and House Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Oregon) announced a new, national data privacy bill called The American Privacy Rights Act (PDF) today. According to their release, the bill would, among other things, “require affirmative express consent sensitive data can be transferred to a third party.” The two were behind… Continue Reading

TrueMedia.org Launches a Free AI-enabled Deepfake Detector to Help Newsrooms

“TrueMedia.org, a non-partisan, non-profit organization committed to fighting AI-based disinformation, announces the launch of its deepfake detection technology for reporters, and other key audiences to use ahead of the 2024 U.S. elections.  The free tool is currently available to government officials, fact checkers, campaign staff, universities, non-profits, and reporters of accredited news organizations – from… Continue Reading

US House Bans Staffers From Using Microsoft Copilot at Work

PCMag: “The US House has reportedly banned staffers from using Microsoft Copilot on any government-owned devices. According to Axios, House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor sent a memo to congressional officers telling them that the AI chatbot is prohibited from use of government-owned devices, “due to the threat of leaking House data to non-House approved cloud… Continue Reading

2024 Edelman Trust Barometer

“The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals a new paradox at the heart of society. Rapid innovation offers the promise of a new era of prosperity, but instead risks exacerbating trust issues, leading to further societal instability and political polarization. In a year where half the global population can vote in new leaders, the acceptance of… Continue Reading

America splintering into more than a dozen news bubbles

Axios: “Shards of glass: Inside media’s 12 splintering realities – You can’t understand November’s election — or America itself — without reckoning with how our media attention has shattered into a bunch of misshapen pieces. Think of it as the shards of glass phenomenon. Not long ago, we all saw news and information through a… Continue Reading

TikTokSpreads Misinformation 20 Percent of the Time and Is Banned in China

NewsGuard Reality Check: “The debate in Washington about what to do about TikTok is not about hypothetical harms. NewsGuard research over the years has shone a harsh light on TikTok as a misinformation superspreader. In one report, NewsGuard analysts mimicked how TikTok users interact with the video platform by analyzing 540 TikTok results based on… Continue Reading

A new archive of modern American political history

Semafor Media – The Cook Political Report, which has tracked the gritty day-to-day of politics for four decades, will put its entire archive online tomorrow, offering a remarkable and nonpartisan window into modern American political history. Charlie Cook launched the publication in 1984 as a simply-printed tipsheet covering political campaigns, and it grew into a… Continue Reading

Fact-opinion differentiation

Misinformation Review – paper by Matthew Mettler & Jeffery J. Mondak: “Statements of fact can be proved or disproved with objective evidence, whereas statements of opinion depend on personal values and preferences. Distinguishing between these types of statements contributes to information competence. Conversely, failure at fact-opinion differentiation potentially brings resistance to corrections of misinformation and… Continue Reading

House Committee Approves Bill Restricting Sales of Sensitive Data to Foreign Adversaries

EPIC: “March 7, 2024 the House Energy & Commerce Committee approved H.R. 7520, the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024, sponsored by Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA). The bill prohibits data brokers from selling, transferring, or providing access to Americans’ sensitive data to certain foreign adversaries… Continue Reading