Hill, The

Intelligence officials told Donald Trump they had “high confidence” that Russia was behind the hacks of several Democratic organizations, including the Democratic National Committee (DNC), before the Republican presidential nominee said during the first presidential debate of 2016 that no one knew Moscow was involved.

After Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said during the debate that Russia perpetrated the attacks, Trump said he was not certain. “She’s saying, 'Russia, Russia, Russia,' but I don’t know. Maybe it was. It could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It could also be someone sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,” Trump said. It is widely believed in the intelligence community that Russia was behind the attacks. More than a year ago, officials briefed members of Congress that Russia was trying to attack Democratic groups. Later, officials warned the groups they were likely to be under attack, although they omitted crucial details to preserve active intelligence-gathering operations.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blocked a tech bill championed by Sen John Thune (R-SD) because of the stalled re-nomination of Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on the Federal Communications Commission. Sen Reid cited Rosenworcel's outstanding nomination to a second term on the FCC as he objected to Sen Thune's request to pass the MOBILE NOW Act by unanimous consent.

“I do not apologize to anybody for objecting to this legislation," Sen Reid said. "He can bring it out every other day — I’ll object to it — every other minute, every other hour." Sen Thune's bill aims to free up more of the frequencies that carry signals to mobile devices like smartphones. Sen Thune has previously said he expects the issue to come to a head in the lame duck session after the presidential election in November. Sen Thune lamented that state of play, accusing Democrats of playing partisan politics with a non-controversial piece of legislation. “We had her hearing, we voted her out of the committee,” he said. “Scheduling the floor is not something that I control.” “These two issues have been inexplicably linked, but they need not be."

Six Democratic Senators are blasting Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, saying the delay in reporting a high-profile security breach is "unacceptable." “We are even more disturbed that user information was first compromised in 2014, yet the company only announced the breach last week,” Sens Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Al Franken (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) wrote in a letter to Mayer on Sept 27. “This is unacceptable,” they added.

Yahoo last week acknowledged that 500 million accounts were compromised. The Sens have six questions for Mayer, including when Yahoo first learned of the compromise, how many users were affected, what protections Yahoo is offering to them and what steps Yahoo is taking to prevent such breaches in the future. The senators also want to know if the U.S. government had warned Yahoo of a possible state-sponsored hack.

Google is throwing its support behind the Obama Administration's controversial plans to hand over management of the Internet domain name system. Google called the Obama Administration’s proposed transition of Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA) from US oversight to an international governing authority an “important step to protect the Internet for generations to come.”

Google offered three arguments for its stance: The transition will put the Internet in the hands of innovators; protect the Internet from "those who want to break it into pieces"; and honor the US government's promise when the Internet was created that it "be governed by everyone with a stake in its continued growth.” Critics, though, have argued that handing off oversight would put the Internet under the control of countries like Russia, China and Iran, which would be represented in the international authority that includes 162 countries and entities. Supporters though say those worries are overblown and say the greater threat is that autocratic countries get fed up with US management and create their own splintered internet nodes.

Sen Charles Schumer (D-NY) joined the chorus of New York officials calling for changes to a key mobile emergency alerts system after bombings in Manhattan and New Jersey. In a letter, Sen Schumer pushed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to make it possible for such messages to be longer and include richer content.

“Though this resource has provided great assistance in emergency and terror situations in New York and across the country, much work remains to be done in order to modernize the system and bring it into the 21st century,” Sen Schumer said. “Accordingly, I applaud your efforts to improve the system and I ask you to expedite enhancements, such as extending the character limit to the maximum, allowing the use of multimedia images, and improving locational accuracy, so that citizens can be as informed as possible during times of risk.” His move follows a lobbying effort by New York City officials at the FCC ahead of a commission vote on whether, and how, to upgrade the Wireless Emergency Alerts system. The push follows the decision by authorities in the city to send an alert earlier in Sept telling the public they were looking for bombing supsect Ahmad Khan Rahami.

Lawmakers announced the creation of a caucus focused on blockchain technologies like Bitcoin. “The blockchain has boundless potential," Rep Jared Polis (D-CO) said in a statement detailing the new Congressional Blockchain Caucus. "From cryptocurrencies to supply chains to banking to property titling, blockchain-based solutions have the ability to decentralize cybersecurity and revolutionize many industries.”

Blockchain systems, most synonymous with Bitcoin, function as digital ledgers of transactions. Transactions are recorded on the ledger and are publicly but anonymously available for verification in the case of Bitcoin. Private banks are experimenting with technology for proprietary use to cut down costs and expedite transactions. Bitcoin and other blockchain-based currencies have been associated with libertarian hopes of anonymous digital payments and criminals on dark websites like the Silk Road, who used the currency to purchase contraband anonymously. Blockchain technologies have been creeping toward the mainstream recently, however.

A push by Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) to block the Obama Administration from handing over management of the internet is not part of a short-term spending bill backed by Senate GOP leadership. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) filed the continuing resolution (CR) without Cruz's initiative, which had gotten fierce pushback from Democrats and the White House. Sen Cruz said that he was "profoundly disappointed" that the provision is being left out.

"This is one more example why the American people are so fed up with Washington, because they expect all of us — Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike — to protect free speech online," he said. Sen Cruz added that his House colleagues should "continue to stand united to ensure that the government funding bill prevents the Obama administration from permanently undermining free speech on the Internet."

Lawmakers have until Oct. 1 to try to block the change, but without the measure in the spending bill, their efforts are likely to fall short.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blasted Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) for trying to tie a fight over management of the Internet to a short-term government funding bill with an Oct 1 deadline. "It's not [time for] a big debate for talking about how we change the internet forever," the outgoing Senate Democratic leader said. "It's not a time to try to satisfy Cruz because he doesn't get along with the caucus and they're trying to shut him up."

Top Democratic lawmakers have signaled they don't want to include Sen Cruz's language, which would prevent the Administration from relinquishing the US's role in Internet oversight, in the short-term funding bill known as a continuing resolution (CR). Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Democratic lawmakers have made a counteroffer to Republican lawmakers as part of the spending negotiations for a "clean" CR that wouldn't link the Internet fight to the bill. But top Republican lawmakers — who have argued that nothing about the deal is finalized until the entire agreement is done — said Sen Cruz's effort is still part of the talks. "I think it's going to have to get resolved one way or another before the end of [September], and this is the only vehicle out there," Sen John Thune (R-SD) said.

Until Sept 13 when the bills merged, Reps Will Hurd (R-TX) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD) had rival plans to modernize the government’s outdated communications systems. Two days later, the new Modernizing Government Technology Act has already left committee. “We did something today that was a big deal,” Rep Hurd said. The bill combines Rep Hoyer’s idea, a centralized loan program repaid through the cost savings agencies would achieve by using newer, more efficient technology, with a direct funding approach advocated by Rep Hurd. Agencies will reinvest the savings realized by using the direct funds to purchase more new technology. Federal Chief Information Officer Tony Scott has advocated both ideas, saying modernizing infrastructure is not only cheaper in the long run, but also more secure from hackers.

“Not once did [my constituents] see a campaign ad about IT procurement. IT procurement is not a sexy topic. No one has ever thrown a rally for IT procurement,” Rep Hurd said. “But when the Federal government is spending $80 billion on IT procurement and 80 percent of that is on old and outdated systems, people are automatically outraged." Rep Hurd said the bill would be on the floor the week of Sept 19 and pass under suspension of the rules. “Despite being 60 days from an election, we had a significant piece of bipartisan legislation that will change how the government does business and create incentives for our CIOs within the federal government to save money and to modernize,” he said. "It’s a big deal. It’s a really big deal.”

Nearly a dozen Senate Republicans are urging Democratic lawmakers to come to the negotiating table to prevent President Barack Obama from transferring management of the Internet to an international governing body before the Oct 1 deadline. Sens Ted Cruz (R-TX), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Richard Burr (R-NC), Ron Johnson (R-WI), James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Roger Wicker (R-MI) released a joint statement arguing that lawmakers should be able to reach a deal. "Partisanship and political gamesmanship have no place when it comes to the Internet, basic principles of freedom, and the right of individuals in our great nation and across the globe to speak online free from censorship," the senators said. They added that it would be "irresponsible" to allow the transfer to occur, calling on Democrats to "work with us to ensure this transition does not occur on October 1."

The 11 GOP senators said it was "disappointing" that the Obama Administration was moving forward with the transition without congressional approval, adding that they had lingering questions about the change as it relates to national security, free speech and consumer protections. Sen Cruz and other Republicans believe the administration must obtain permission from Congress before going forward.