Last week, the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, and Google testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee. The CEOs faced backlash for recent content moderation decisions, criticism for how their algorithms might be harming our children, and concern over Covid-19 vaccine misinformation. Underlying all of this was the question of whether these Big Tech platforms should continue to receive… Read more »

Over the weekend, the U.S. revealed portions of the federal government suffered a cyber-attack, most likely perpetrated by a state-backed Russian organization. This attack has so far affected the Treasury, Commerce Department, portions of the Department of Defense, and the Centers for Disease Control. While authorities are still assessing the damage, reports have stated that no known… Read more »

“Help, I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” Many of us remember this commercial depicting an elderly woman, known as Mrs. Fletcher, who had fallen, but with the help of a medical pendant worn like a necklace, first responders are alerted through the press of a button. LifeCall, the maker of the medical pendant, began running this commercial in 1989 in perhaps the first popular application… Read more »

Earlier this month, Twitter and Facebook blocked and limited distribution of a New York Post article about Hunter Biden’s dealings in Ukraine. These decisions garnered significant backlash from lawmakers and other Americans who called into question the content moderation policies of social media platforms. While the decisions surrounding the New York Post article were likely verified by a… Read more »

Cyberattacks have significantly increased throughout this Coronavirus pandemic. The most common of these attacks is ransomware, where a hacker sends malware to a target that encrypts data, devices, and networks and demands payment for the decryption key. If a target has not prepared for such an attack, the only remedies are to pay the ransom or to reject the ransom and rebuild network… Read more »

If you are old enough to remember dial-up, you can probably still hum the familiar cadence that took more than a minute to connect to the Internet through your phone line. Thankfully, Americans today can connect to the Internet in less than a second and without a theme song. We often refer to Internet services as broadband, but what counts as broadband and why is there still a “digital… Read more »

When you hear the words “artificial intelligence,” images of Skynet from the Terminator movies might pop in your mind. Although this scenario makes for good cinema, it is far from the reality of how artificial intelligence operates. Artificial intelligence is already present in our daily lives through our smartphones, Internet-connected devices, voice assistants like Alexa and Siri,… Read more »

Last week, the leaders of “Big Tech” – Amazon, Apple, Alphabet (Google), and Facebook – testified before a House committee on whether they were, in fact, too big. Unsurprisingly, these companies argued they face robust competition. But does the presence of any competition eliminate monopolistic market power? Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr recently stated in an interview… Read more »

By now you probably have received a phone call, email, or even a text message offering assistance or money to help during this Coronavirus pandemic. Did it seem too good to be true? That’s because it was. Unfortunately, scammers are taking advantage of this global health crisis to exploit Americans charitable nature as well as their need for assistance. To help Americans during this… Read more »

The overwhelming majority of Americans signing up for new online products and services check the box confirming they have read and agree to the Terms of Service without ever opening the document. As consumers, we know these terms are important, but we breeze through them on our way to accessing the latest social media or online content. Why don’t people read Terms of Service, also called… Read more »