Fast Company

Sen Cruz (R-TX) made it clear he supports repealing tech platforms' safe harbor

During an Oct 17 debate in his campaign for re-election, Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX), when asked about whether Congress should regulate online social media, referenced Section 230 of the1996 Communications Decency Act. He began first by explaining that he took Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to task for Facebook privileging content from certain political viewpoints. He then went on to say that if tech companies are not acting impartial to content, then they shouldn’t be held to the rules that say they are.

As Google turns 20, it can’t take our goodwill for granted

As Google marks its 20th anniversary, our relationship with it isn’t quite as uncomplicated as it used to be. In the wake of Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, and fears that the Russians exploited Facebook and YouTube to influence the 2016 presidential election, people are more wary of tech companies these days–especially ones that harvest personal data. This trend won’t reverse itself anytime soon.

New Encryption Tech Makes It Harder for ISPs to Spy on You

An Internet service provider can see every website that you choose to access. And with the scrapping of Obama-era privacy regulations in 2017, the US federal government has no rules against ISPs collecting and selling your information to marketers. But new tech fixes are plugging the privacy holes that the government won’t. The effort began in April, when Firefox browser maker Mozilla and content delivery network Cloudflare rolled out measures to block one of the easiest ways for ISPs to snoop.

Fast wireless alternatives to the big ISPs can’t grow fast enough

The birth of wireless home internet has been so frustrating to observe. While major telecommunication companies like Verizon and T-Mobile make grand proclamations about disrupting home broadband with speedy 5G wireless internet service, the reality on the ground–or, rather, in the air–is harsher. Even with low buildout costs and limitless consumer demand, building out the wireless home internet of the future is a painstakingly methodical endeavor.

House Minority Leader Pelosi on net neutrality: California will pave the way for a federal law

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) joined CA state senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), firefighters, state legislators and community advocates in support of CA Senate Bill 822, which would enact the strongest net neutrality standards in the nation. “Once we have established California as a model of a state taking action, other states may follow,” she said. “And then I think you will see some of corporate America say, okay, let’s have a federal law because we don’t...want to do different things in different states,” she says.

Starry, the startup that is trying to beam cheap internet into low-income communities

Based in Boston, the internet provider Starry has launched Starry Connect, an initiative that equips the common areas, computer rooms, and hallways of the Boston Housing Authority’s Ausonia Apartments with free 5G internet for residents. More public housing developments, both in Boston and in other cities like Los Angeles, will come online soon through the program.

Regulating Google search is a dumb idea that could actually happen

The conspiracy theory about Google’s search algorithms falls in line with others propagated by President Donald Trump (Obama’s birth certificate, the deep state, etc.) in that they are paranoid and largely fact-free, yet very hard to completely refute. Even when they are squarely refuted–as when Obama produced his birth certificate–they often live on. But since Google will never, ever, make public its search algorithm–nothing is more proprietary than that–speculation that it’s biased against conservatives will live on and on.

How California’s super-strict net neutrality law reached the home stretch

It’s been a tough fight, with one near-fatal stumble, but California’s assembly just passed what are undoubtedly the strictest protections for net neutrality in the country–if not the world. After what supporters hope will be a perfunctory re-vote in the state Senate, the bill will go to Gov Jerry Brown (D-CA), who has 30 days to sign or veto it.

Facebook reinstates data firm it suspended for alleged misuse, but surveillance questions linger

Crimson Hexagon, a Boston (MA) data analytics company, raised some eyebrows recently when it announced that its access to the firehose of user data from Facebook and Instagram had been reinstated—after being suspended and investigated by the social media giant for alleged misuse of data for surveillance purposes. The reinstatement, which began earlier in Aug, followed “several weeks of constructive discussion and information exchange,” said Dan Shore, Crimson’s chief financial officer.