In 2019, Microsoft announced the development of an open source end-to-end verifiable election (E2E-V) solution, ElectionGuard. E2E-V enables independent verification of election results while protecting ballot secrecy. Since that time, ElectionGuard and the E2E-V concept have been piloted successfully in local elections.
Last week, to advance the deployment of ElectionGuard—and to strengthen and protect democracy—the Council of State Governments announced the formation of the Election Technology Initiative (ETI), which will assume leadership of the ElectionGuard project. Microsoft will continue to provide ongoing support to this critical election technology initiative. Read more about this development here.
Thank you for your continued interest in tech policy. Below, we share recent tech policy news highlights and a featured podcast.
This Week in Washington
- Axios: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a new rule requiring publicly traded companies to publicly report cyber incidents within four business days of determining the incident had a material impact. Companies will also have to detail their cybersecurity strategies on an annual basis.
- CyberScoop: The Biden administration released a strategy document for building the U.S. cybersecurity workforce calling for government, industry and non-profit groups to collaborate in a whole-of-society approach. The report cites data from the International Information System Security Certification Consortium, which specializes in training and certifications for cybersecurity professionals and claims there are over 400,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the industry.
- Nextgov: At a recent Foundation for Defense of Democracies event, Nathaniel Fick, the U.S. State Department’s first Ambassador-at-Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy, discussed the steps the U.S. will need to take to help expand cybersecurity globally by assisting ally nations through the incorporation of emerging technologies.
- Politico: Republican Senator Todd Young, who is part of a bipartisan group of senators aiming to break through congressional gridlock and set guardrails for AI, says that Congress is unlikely to pass sweeping new AI legislation. Instead, they will work to equip federal agencies with the people and resources need to implement laws that are already on the books.
- Axios: Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is looking to recruit Gen-Zers to fill the estimated 250,000 jobs in the semiconductor industry that are expected to come from the CHIPS and Science Act.
Article Summary
- The Hill and Reuters: Meta, the Parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will begin blocking news content in Canada as a response to the Online News Act, a new law that requires tech companies to pay news organizations to distribute their content. The move from Meta comes as Agence France-Press (AFP) has filed a lawsuit against X, formerly known as Twitter, citing that the platform failed to discuss payment for the news agency’s content, violating France’s 2019 copyright rule.
- NPR: Voting rights groups sent a letter to Meta, calling on them to implement a robust plan to ensure their new platform, Threads, has strong election policies ahead of the 2024 election cycle. Threads, a direct competitor to Twitter, has yet to outline a plan to curb election disinformation on the site.
- CNN: X, formerly known as Twitter, is suing the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which has criticized the company’s handling of hate speech, claiming that the watchdog group is intentionally trying to drive advertisers away along with violating the platform’s terms of service and violating federal hacking laws.
- Nextgov: A new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) claims that the U.S. has lost its global leadership position in digital policy, citing growing political polarization that hinders domestic innovation and anti-tech sentiment as major causes. The report also includes measures that the federal government can take to maintain U.S. competitiveness.
Featured Podcast
The Wall Street Journal
- WSJ Tech News Briefing
The White House is facing many challenges as it looks for ways to address the impacts of AI. WSJ White House reporter Sabrina Siddiqui joins host Zoe Thomas to explain how the Biden Administration plans to impose guardrails around the technology. (How President Biden Views AI – August 3, 2023)