July 2015

Confessions of a Clinton reporter: The media's 5 unspoken rules for covering Hillary

[Commentary] After a quarter of a century on the national stage, there's no more comfortable political figure to afflict than Hillary Clinton. And she's in for a lot of affliction over the next year and half. As a reporter, I get sucked into playing by the Clinton rules. This is what I've seen in my colleagues, and in myself.

Everything, no matter how ludicrous-sounding, is worthy of a full investigation by federal agencies, Congress, the "vast right-wing conspiracy," and mainstream media outlets.
Every allegation, no matter how ludicrous, is believable until it can be proven completely and utterly false. And even then, it keeps a life of its own in the conservative media world.
The media assumes that Clinton is acting in bad faith until there's hard evidence otherwise.
Everything is newsworthy because the Clintons are the equivalent of America's royal family.
Everything she does is fake and calculated for maximum political benefit

Hillary Clinton is comfortable enough to be a target for a lot of journalistic affliction and powerful enough that no one needs to comfort her from that affliction. But these double standards are an important factor to keep in mind when judging her against her rivals for the presidency. Whether they're fair or not, the Clinton rules distort the public's perception of Hillary Clinton.

Egypt Enforces Tough Media Restrictions

One can't blame journalists in Egypt for being confused about what they can (and can't) cover and what language to use in their reports, given the widening chasm between authorities and countless news organizations. Local and foreign journalists could face prosecution and jail if they fall afoul of anti-terrorism legislation to be passed shortly that bars them from publishing news deviating from the official version of terrorist-related events. Louisa Loveluck, Cairo correspondent for Britain's The Telegraph, tweeted about a memo from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry saying it wasn't OK to use the term ISIS to describe the group currently terrorizing much of the Arab world, and beyond.

Under the new rules, journalists are told not to use the terms "Islamists, Islamic groups, jihadists, jihadis, sheikhs, emirs, ulamas, ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State, fundamentalists, puritans and literalists." Why? "Terminologies that are religiously based or faith oriented carry in its fold negative connotations which are largely based on heinous stereotypes and ill-informed predispositions. These terminologies tarnish the image of Islam as it falsely attaches the horrendous acts of these extremist groups to the Islamic faith," the memo said. Instead, journalists are urged to use "terrorists, extremists, criminals, murderers, killers, radicals, fanatics, rebels, executioner, assassins, slayers, destroyers," to name a few. The draft law has ruffled feathers among an Egyptian press which often now marches in lockstep with the government, giving favourable coverage to aspects of a sweeping crackdown that has seen tens of thousands of people -- including journalists -- arrested over a two-year period," Loveluck wrote.

The OPM cyberattack was a breach too far

The other shoe is expected to drop this week on the disastrous loss of confidential information from the databases of the Office of Personnel Management. The agency is expected to reveal the extent to which information from security investigations of current, former and prospective federal employees and contractors was compromised. The background checks often unearth sensitive and intimate matters, and the loss may put many at risk of blackmail. The agency is expected to reveal how many dossiers were taken, but reports suggest it was in the millions.

The breach comes on top of a separate intrusion in which personally identifiable information on 4.2 million federal workers was filched from the OPM databases. President Barack Obama ought to be far more steamed about the break-ins than he appears. Spying is a constant in international relations, but this particular theft is not business as usual. The Chinese would like to have a smooth, harmonious summit when Presidents Xi Jinping and Obama meet in September. President Obama should put China on notice today that such theft is inconsistent with harmony at the table -- and he’s mad as hell about it. If that doesn’t get Beijing’s attention, the United States should begin preparations for retaliation aimed specifically at the alleged Chinese attackers. Not all of the broad US-China bilateral relationship needs to be put at risk, but the thieves must feel the heat. It is the only way to deter future attacks.

Why Terrorists Love Silicon Valley

[Commentary] Silicon Valley never met a problem it couldn’t solve -- until now. Top Internet companies say there is no technical way for them to protect their users’ legitimate privacy with encryption while also enabling intelligence agents and law enforcement to gain access to what terrorists plot online. FBI director James Comey says Silicon Valley’s no-can-do attitude is “depressing.” Terror attacks are increasingly planned online, outside the reach of intelligence and law enforcement. Islamic State reaches an estimated 200,000 prospects daily through posts on social media.

Once a recruit is identified, ISIS tells him to switch to an encrypted smartphone. Legal wiretaps are useless because the signal is indecipherable. Even when the devices are lawfully seized through court orders, intelligence and law-enforcement agencies are unable to retrieve data from them. On July 8, the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing, “Going Dark: Encryption, Technology, and the Balance Between Public Safety and Privacy.” Lawmakers aren’t giving up on finding a way to accommodate both of these important interests. Neither should Silicon Valley.

UK complaints soar over abuse of private data

Complaints about abuse of privacy and electronic communications data have soared since 2014, according to the British privacy watchdog, which is to be able to levy higher fines on those making nuisance calls and sending spam texts. More than 180,000 complaints were made from January 2015 to April, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office, a rise of more than 10 percent, as homeowners were bombarded by telephone calls and text messages trying to sell anything from solar panels to diet pills.

Christopher Graham, information commissioner, said calls from the “merchants of menace” were “making lives a misery”. Separately the independent body received 14,268 complaints about the abuse of data protection in 2014, and resolved just over 15,000 -- a figure that includes some complaints from the previous year. This was lower than the 2013 total after efforts to weed out ineligible concerns. “The numbers are still huge,” said Graham. A wide range of organisations ask for and store personal data, although the greatest concerns are around data collected without consent or knowledge.

What Washington really knows about the Internet of Things

President Barack Obama wears a FitBit monitor on his wrist to count his steps and calories, and has waxed poetic about the power of wearable technology to “give each of us information that allows us to stay healthier.” On Capitol Hill, 13 members have joined together across party lines in 2015 to launch the Internet of Things Caucus. Started by a former Microsoft marketing executive and a Republican who made his fortune in electronics, the caucus pledges to help foster the coming explosion of “products, services and interconnected opportunities that didn’t exist a generation ago and will be taken for granted by the end of this generation.” Then again, the caucus hasn't even held its first meeting yet. President Obama's own government panel has warned of a "small -- and rapidly closing -- window" for the US government to successfully figure out how to deal with the tech explosion everyone is so excited about. The number of web-linked gadgets surpassed the number of humans on the planet seven years ago, and today the Internet of Things, the profusion of networked objects and sensors that increasingly touch our lives, is quickly turning our physical world into something totally new.

As American consumers start filling their homes and businesses with networked technology -- smart watches sending health data wirelessly, cars that can take over for their human drivers, and drones tracking wildfires and cattle -- POLITICO set out to determine how well government was keeping up. Beyond one fledgling caucus, how is Washington grappling with this sweeping new force? The short answer: It's not.

Silicon Valley 'civic-tech' companies driving transparency in local government

Cities from San Francisco (CA) to Palo Alto (CA) and Dublin -- even down to the financially troubled city of Bell in Southern California -- are using Silicon Valley startup technology to open a window into government spending at an unprecedented level of detail. From how much a community spends on police equipment to the amount of a check written to a contractor building the new fire station, more details of a city's budget are moving from paper or clunky software to sophisticated Web applications -- marking an information revolution that could lead to better government.

"This is something that people have wanted for a long time: the idea that we have a right to know how our government is spending our money," said Emily Shaw, deputy policy director at the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for open government. "The idea is that if you have that kind of transparency, and you have concerned citizens, then you have oversight that otherwise wouldn't exist." The undertaking is only beginning and is an immense task. It requires that governments using software systems built decades ago adopt more modern cloud-based technology from startups such as Redwood City-based OpenGov, and that city leaders adjust to a new paradigm where constituents can track every nickel of spending. Water and sanitation districts, universities, county governments and the State Lands Commission are also using the software.

San Francisco tech firms too focused on solving problems for First World elite

[Commentary] In this column, I'm focusing on whether the companies created as part of the rise of San Francisco (CA) as the region's tech capital are contributing to the watering down of the industry's overall ambition. My take: They are. This boom has been knocked for being tech lite, with entrepreneurs working hard to address the First World problems of the young, wealthy urbanite -- where to eat, how to get the laundry done, whom to date, what to drink. Hipness is the business plan. And many of the sillier ideas are in San Francisco.

It makes sense. There's a concentration here of young tech professionals looking for a way to outsource the mundane chores that eat up a lot of time. The dense geography of the city makes it a perfect petri dish for testing services powered by mobile apps of any stripe. But many folks are thoroughly unimpressed with what the city's startups are doing with all that loot. "What is going on in San Francisco is the death of disruption," said Steve Blank, a serial entrepreneur who teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford and Berkeley. Many are particularly critical of the rash of companies, mostly based in that city, that are essentially new digital middlemen for existing services. They are often referred to as "Airbnb for X" or "Uber for X," with X being anything -- boats, dogs, food, doctors, alcohol or weed. The city, says Blank, is "a sea of non-interesting ideas."

Hillary Clinton to Ramp Up Media Exposure: ‘America Will See More of Her’

Currently sitting as the frontrunner in a Democratic field that features an ascending Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Hillary Clinton has decided to grant more media interviews. Clinton will begin doing national media interviews during the week of July 6, Fox News‘ Howard Kurtz reported. “She’s all on board,” said Jennifer Palmieri, campaign communications director. “America will see more of her.”

Since launching her campaign in April, Clinton has done very little in the way of high-profile media appearances on major broadcast or cable news networks. Clinton isn’t worried about more exposure equating to more risk: “She does fine,” Palmieri added. “That was not a concern.” Clinton’s camp seems to think the more media she does, the lower the stakes for individual appearances. “The more media interviews you do, the less any one interaction matters,” Palmieri said.

Jitters in Tech World Over New Chinese Security Law

When a draft of China’s new national security law was made public in May, critics argued that it was too broad and left much open to interpretation. In the final form of the law, Beijing got more specific, but in a way that is sending ripples through the global technology industry.

New language in the rules calls for a “national security review” of the technology industry — including networking and other products and services — and foreign investment. The law also calls for technology that supports crucial sectors to be “secure and controllable,” a catchphrase that multinationals and industry groups say could be used to force companies to build so-called back doors — which allow third-party access to systems — provide encryption keys or even hand over source code. As with many Chinese laws, the language is vague enough to make it unclear how the law will be enforced, but it suggests a new front in the wider clash between China and the United States over online security and technology policy.

Benton

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