May 2020

Covid-19’s Next-Level Impact

The mounting human death toll and unfolding financial calamity of the current pandemic is one thing. But the ripple effects will last for years—and given the country’s bumbled handling of the virus itself, it seems an open question whether we’re in a strong position to respond and confront what comes after it. The US's ongoing, disastrous response to the pandemic—by almost any measure one of the worst in the developed world—is sending a clear message to other countries that the U.S.

Massive Technological Disruption: Downed Power Grids, GPS Outages and Solar Flares

Since the 2016 election attack by Russia, public attention has focused on cyberattacks. The risk is getting only worse: The more wired everyday society becomes, the more reliant it is on interlocking technology systems that were never designed with security in mind. The increasing complexity and interconnectedness of the various networks that power everyday life increases the chances of what Jason Matheny calls a “digital flubber” incident—the possibility of an autonomous system working as intended, yet spiraling and cascading with unintended and unforeseen consequences. 

Senator Markey Leads Bipartisan Call for the FTC to Launch Major Children’s Privacy Investigation

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) wrote to the Federal Trade Commission urging it to use its authority under the FTC Act to launch an investigation into children’s data practices in the educational technology and digital advertising sectors.