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July 2016

WSJ Reporter: Homeland Security Tried to Take My Phones at the Border

On July 21, a Wall Street Journal reporter claimed that the Department of Homeland Security demanded access to her mobile phones when she was crossing the border at the Los Angeles (CA) airport. The case highlights the powers that border agents purport to have, and how vulnerable sensitive information can be when taken through airports in particular.

“I wanted to share a troubling experience I had with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in the hopes it may help you protect your private information,” Maria Abi-Habib, a WSJ journalist focused on ISIS and Al Qaeda wrote in a post on Facebook. Abi-Habib says she had arrived in town for a wedding, when an immigration officer approached her, and took her aside from the main queue. This by itself was not unusual, Abi-Habib writes: because of her job, she has reportedly been put on a list that allows her to bypass the usual questioning someone with her travel profile may encounter. But things changed quickly, and Abi-Habib was escorted to another part of the airport. “Another customs agent joined her at that point and they grilled me for an hour—asking me about the years I lived in the US, when I moved to Beirut and why, who lives at my in-laws' house in LA and numbers for the groom and bride whose wedding I was attending. I answered jovially, because I've had enough high-level security experiences to know that being annoyed or hostile will work against you,” she writes.

EU Network Neutrality Guideline Debate Draws Crowd

It wasn't quite the four million comments the Federal Communications Commission received on its Open Internet proceeding, but according to the Save the Internet coalition, which was also a part of that FCC comment flood, more than 500,000 people weighed in on the European Union's proposed guidelines via the coalition's and other websites.

The comment period closed July 18 on guidelines on implementing and applying EU net neutrality law, which the European Parliament adopted last fall and have already started applying. The law essentially "enshrines" net neutrality principles of no blocking or throttling of online content, applications and services, but the EU is now trying to come up with guidelines for applying it across its divergent membership. Those weighing in include World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, who fronted an open letter seeking strong regulations similar to the FCC's.

Ted Cruz Stirs Convention Fury in Pointed Snub of Donald Trump

The Republican convention erupted into tumult July 20 as the bitter primary battle between Donald J. Trump and Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) reignited unexpectedly, crushing hopes that the party could project unity. In the most electric moment of the convention, boos and jeers broke out as it became clear that Sen Cruz — in a prime-time address from center stage — was not going to endorse Trump. It was a pointed snub on the eve of Trump’s formal acceptance speech. As hundreds of delegates chanted “Vote for Trump!” and “Say it!” Sen Cruz tried to dismiss the outburst as “enthusiasm of the New York delegation” — only to have Trump himself suddenly appear in the back of the convention hall.

Virtually every head in the room seemed to turn from Sen Cruz to Trump, who was stone-faced and clearly angry as he egged on delegates by pumping his fist. Sen Cruz was all but drowned out as he asked for God’s blessing on the country and left the stage, while security personnel escorted his wife, Heidi, out of the hall. One delegate yelled “Goldman Sachs!” at her — a reference to the company that has employed her, a job that Trump attacked during the primaries. A short while later, Sen Cruz faced insults as he made his way down a corridor — one woman yelled “Traitor!” When he tried to enter the convention suite of the Las Vegas (NV) casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, he was turned away.

Donald Trump: 'I am a fan of the future, and cyber is the future'

In an interview published by the New York Times, Donald Trump gave a winding response to a question about cyberattacks. Trump says he's all for "cyber," although it's unclear from the conversation what exactly that means. From the Times:
[DAVID E.] SANGER: You've seen several [NATO members in the Baltics] come under cyberattack, things that are short of war, clearly appear to be coming from Russia.
TRUMP: Well, we're under cyberattack.
SANGER: We're under regular cyberattack. Would you use cyberweapons before you used military force?
TRUMP: Cyber is absolutely a thing of the future and the present. Look, we're under cyberattack, forget about them. And we don't even know where it's coming from.
SANGER: Some days we do, and some days we don't.
TRUMP: Because we're obsolete. Right now, Russia and China in particular and other places.
SANGER: Would you support the United States' not only developing as we are but fielding cyberweapons as an alternative?
TRUMP: Yes. I am a fan of the future, and cyber is the future.

Donald Trump, Peter Thiel and the death of democracy

[Commentary] The next American electorate will be more nonwhite, more working-class, and more leftwing. And they’re likely to demand more democracy, not less – not only from the political system, but from the economic system as well. That sets them on a collision course with elites like Peter Thiel. Above all, Thiel is an innovator. He has made his fortune by recognizing the potential of an idea long before his peers. Silicon Valley, along with most of American business, may dislike Trump. But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t someday embrace the kind of politics he represents. A Trumpist state could do much to soothe the crisis of capitalism: it could pour public dollars into discovering the next lucrative technology for the private sector while holding the line against the redistributive clamor of a rising millennial majority. Thiel has a history of making bets that pay off big. With Trump, he may have made another.

How political conventions became sanitized, made-for-TV infomercials

[Commentary] Whether you loved Sen Ted Cruz's (R-TX) shade-throwing non-endorsement speech at the Republican National Convention or considered it poor sportsmanship, there is no disputing this: It was good television. The cheers, the jeers, the spotlight-stealing entrance by Donald Trump — the whole thing was compelling drama. But such moments are rare in an era of carefully choreographed conventions that often resemble infomercials for the Republican and Democratic parties.

Events that originated as messy nominating contests have become made-for-TV specials with predetermined outcomes, viewed by politicians as can't-miss opportunities to deliver one-sided messages to a national audience with minimal journalistic filtration. How did we get here? The history of political conventions on TV mirrors the history of the television itself. No surprise there. As TV ownership exploded from less than 1 percent of US households in 1948 to a majority in 1954, convention organizers in both major parties adapted the events to take advantage of the new medium.

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