Category: Government
Minneapolis police used geofence warrant at George Floyd protests
Police in Minneapolis obtained a search warrant ordering Google to turn over sets of account data on vandals accused of sparking violence in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd last year, TechCrunch has learned. The death of Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer…
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The SAFE TECH Act offers Section 230 reform, but the law’s defenders warn of major side effects
The first major Section 230 reform proposal of the Biden era is out. In a new bill, Senate Democrats Mark Warner (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) propose changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that would fundamentally change the 1996 law widely credited with cultivating…
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Microsoft PAC blacklists election objectors and shifts lobbying weight towards progressive organizations
After “pausing” political giving to any politician who voted to overturn the 2020 election, Microsoft has clarified changes to the lobbying policy of its employee-funded PAC, doubling down on its original intention and changing gears with an eye toward funding impactful organizations. Microsoft, along with most other major companies in…
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House punishes Republican lawmaker who promoted violent conspiracy theories
Democrats in the House voted to strip freshman Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of some of her responsibilities Thursday, citing her penchant for violent, anti-democratic and at times anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Greene has expressed support for a range of alarming conspiracies, including the belief that the 2018 Parkland school shooting…
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Biden Commerce nominee Raimondo sees no reason to remove Huawei from entity list
Huawei’s status in the U.S. has been one of many question marks hovering over the newly minted Biden administration. The smartphone maker was one of a number of Chinese companies added to the Department of Commerce’s “entity list” during Trump’s four years in office. Gina Raimondo, Joe Biden’s nominee for…
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Myanmar military government orders telecom networks to temporarily block Facebook
Myanmar’s new military government has ordered local telecom firms to temporarily block Facebook days after the military seized power in the Southeast Asian nation in a military coup. Several users on Myanmar subreddit reported moments ago that Facebook was already inaccessible on their phones, suggesting that internet service providers had…
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