Government & Communications

Passengers at all US airports will soon face new measures for screening electronic devices bigger than a cellphone. Security officers will ask travelers in regular lanes to take all larger devices out of their bag and put them in a bin by themselves, similar to the screening of most travelers' laptops. Officials say it gives X-ray screeners a clearer picture of the devices. The change won't apply to pre-check lanes. The Transportation Security Administration said the new procedure will go nationwide in the coming weeks and months. TSA has been testing it at 10 airports for more than a year. The Department of Homeland Security has been changing rules for electronics on international flights because of the threat that terrorists could hide bombs inside laptop or tablet computers.

Communities are increasingly deploying IoT devices generally with a goal of improving livability, management, service delivery, or competitiveness. GAO was asked to examine federal support for IoT and the use of IoT in communities. This report describes: (1) the kinds of efforts that selected federal agencies have undertaken to support IoT in communities and (2) how selected communities are using federal funds to deploy IoT projects.

GAO reviewed documents and interviewed officials from 11 federal agencies identified as having a key role in supporting IoT in communities, including agencies that support research or community IoT efforts or that have direct authority over IoT issues. GAO interviewed a non-generalizeable sample of representatives from multiple stakeholder groups in four communities, selected to include a range of community sizes and locations and communities with projects that used federal support. GAO also reviewed relevant literature since 2013 and discussed federal efforts and community challenges with 11 stakeholders from academia and the private sector, selected to reflect a range of perspectives on IoT issues. GAO requested comments on a draft of this product from 11 federal agencies. Five agencies provided technical comments, which GAO incorporated as appropriate. Six agencies did not provide comments.

The latest fundraising letter from the Trump Make America Great Again Committee (the RNC and Trump for President) is under the salutation of Eric Trump, son of the journalist-bashing president, who joins in the bashing. "What we’re witnessing is a concerted effort by the Fake News Media and bureaucrats to delegitimize a duly elected president and the millions of Americans who proudly cast their votes for my father," the email read, with the kicker: "But we're not letting the witch hunters win." He accused Democrats of "screaming RUSSIA" rather than facing up to their election loss at his father's hands. He asks for a dollar donation to show the witch-hunting media that his father's movement is unstoppable.

The Open Technology Institute team did a technical experiment at this Spring’s March for Science in Washington (DC) to try and answer these questions and explore new ways of detecting when your cell phone is being surveilled. The increasingly broad use of cell site simulators by law enforcement is controversial for many reasons. As a general matter, the devices themselves indiscriminately invade the privacy of everyone around them because they connect to, and can capture data from, all phones within their range. But the devices have also been used in controversial ways. In particular, they have been deployed disproportionately in areas made up predominantly of people of color.

We decided to conduct an experiment to see whether and how one might be able to detect the use of cell site simulators during a large protest. In particular, OTI conducted a spectrum survey at the March for Science in April 2017 to experiment with ways to identify these devices. Although our results were inconclusive, they gave us new insights into how best to tackle this problem, insights that we and others can apply to future experiments with the same goal: developing tools that give us the power to watch the watchers.

Protesters chanted in the Senate visitor galleries July 25 as legislators prepared to vote to open debate on a bill repealing parts of the Affordable Care Act, prompting the Capitol Police to arrest the protesters—and, reportedly, to tell some journalists to delete photos or videos they had taken of the arrests. The protesters began yelling “kill the bill, don’t kill us” from the galleries after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made his opening remarks. Asked to restore order, the Capitol Police removed the protesters and arrested some in the Senate hallways, where journalists trying to document the scene clashed with police and other officials.

Daily Beast reporter Andrew Desiderio tweeted that “Capitol Police made me delete the video I recorded.” HuffPost reporter Jennifer Bendery tweeted that journalists were kept away from hallways where arrests were occurring—and that an officer pushed her when she tried to “get a look” at the protesters.

[Commentary] When President Donald Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a tweet July 25 for not aggressively investigating Hillary Clinton, most attention focused, understandably, on the implications for Sessions. Yet even more alarming than the president’s assault on his own attorney general is President Trump’s return to the “lock her up” theme of his 2016 campaign.

Members of Congress who are, properly, investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 race have not questioned President Trump’s legitimacy. Hillary Clinton herself graciously conceded. The FBI thoroughly investigated her e-mail practices and found no basis to prosecute. Yet President Trump now attacks Sessions for taking “a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes,” implying that a politically inspired re-investigation might help the attorney general keep his job. It is disgusting. What’s at stake is much more than the careers of any particular attorney general or special counsel. The United States has been a role model for the world, and a source of pride for Americans, because it has strived to implement the law fairly. When he attacks that process and seeks revenge on his opponents, President Trump betrays bedrock American values. It’s crucial that other political leaders say so.

President Donald Trump went on a Twitter rampage July 24 and 25, spewing a number of false and misleading claims — many of which we have fact-checked previously. The President tweeted, "So many stories about me in the @washingtonpost are Fake News. They are as bad as ratings challenged @CNN. Lobbyist for Amazon and taxes?" as well as, "Is Fake News Washington Post being used as a lobbyist weapon against Congress to keep Politicians from looking into Amazon no-tax monopoly?"

We will begin with a pair of tweets attacking The Washington Post, which is owned by Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder of Amazon. Amazon does not own The Post, but in any case the president’s claims about “no-tax” Amazon are out of date. Amazon used to lobby to keep Internet sales free from state taxes, but no more. As of March, Amazon is collecting sales tax on purchases in every state that has one.

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) was created to equip America’s first responders with state-of-the-art communications tools, enabled by the first nationwide interoperable, wireless broadband network. But FirstNet is doing much more than building a communications network: the organization is also working to drive continuous innovation over the Network – including the development of an open, integrated applications ecosystem tailored for public safety users.

Through FirstNet’s outreach to public safety, first responders have told them about the advantages of data communications in the field and their growing use of mobile broadband tools and technologies to help save lives. They have heard from responders at station visits, city and state meetings, training opportunities and ride-alongs about the promise of using applications over the FirstNet Network. FirstNet is taking first responders’ feedback and using their ideas to cultivate an open, integrated applications ecosystem on the FirstNet Network, so that public safety personnel will have access to more targeted applications and more timely data than ever before possible.

On July 24, Reps Steve Cohen (D-TN), Mark Sanford (R-SC), and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) will host a bipartisan forum on freedom of the press entitled, “The State of Press Freedom in 21st Century America.” The forum will explore, among other topics, the following:

• President Donald Trump’s repeated attempts to seemingly de-legitimize mainstream news outlets by calling them “fake news” and “the enemy of the American people;”
• Threats by President Trump to change libel laws to make it easier to pursue lawsuits against the press;
• Aggressive efforts by the Administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush to prosecute or pressure journalists;
• The potential epidemic of misinformation being presented to the public as “news” that may threaten to undermine the credibility of legitimate journalism;
• Restrictions on access to press briefings; and
• Physical threats to journalists.

Over the first six months of this young presidency, President Donald Trump’s approach to the office has been characterized by self-interest, defiance of basic democratic norms, and often incoherent or self-contradictory communications and priorities. In the face of historic lows in public trust in government and an increasingly polarized electorate, we’ve seen a regression to secrecy in both Congress and the White House. The change has not gone unnoticed around the globe, as our nation’s standing to defend democracy and our government’s ability to advocate for anti-corruption efforts has been precipitously eroded.

In this report, we offer a comprehensive but not exhaustive accounting of the Trump administration’s record on open government to date. More than seven months after we first considered what Trump would mean for open government, the questions we sent to the White House were never formally answered. The actions of this administration, however, speak for themselves. Whatever transparency the President of the United States is demonstrating by speaking directly to the public on Twitter is outweighed by his refusal to disclose and divest, undermined by the opacity of their authorship, and weighted down by false claims and misleading assertions. This president publicly accused his predecessor of wiretapping his campaign with no evidence. If that’s transparency, the word itself has been devalued. Our conclusion on the Trump administration’s record on open government at six months is inescapable: this is a secretive administration, allergic to transparency, ethically compromised, and hostile to the essential role that journalism plays in a democracy.