Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare

Rep Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) introduced the Saving Americans' Valuable Earnings on the National Affordable Connectivity Program (SAVE on ACP) Act to strengthen the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), complete the equipment removal of China-based companies Huawei and ZTE, and allow the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reauction certain spectrum licenses to create more responsive networks for consumers. Rep Gallego's SAVE on ACP Act would:

The same generative artificial intelligence tools that are supercharging the work of both skilled and novice coders can also produce flawed, poten

The Federal Communications Commission proposed action to help protect America’s communications networks against cyberattacks by improving internet routing security. The proposal would require broadband providers to create confidential reports on the steps they have taken, and plan to undertake, to mitigate vulnerabilities in the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), the technical protocol used to route information across the internet. The nation’s largest broadband providers would also be required to file specific public data on a quarterly basis demonstrating their BGP risk mitigation progress.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a three-year, $200 million Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program.  This program will allow the FCC to obtain actionable data about which cybersecurity services and equipment would best help K-12 schools and libraries address the growing cyber threats and attacks against their broadband networks. From this program, the FCC aims to learn how to improve school and library defenses against sophisticated ransomware and cyberattacks that put students at risk and impede their learning.

Broadband industry groups are asking a federal appeals court to scuttle the Federal Communications Commission's new disclosure obligations on telecommunications companies that suffer data breaches. The agency specifically required companies to notify consumers, federal law enforcement agencies and the agency about all breaches—even “inadvertent” ones—that expose personally identifiable information, including sensitive financial information. The broadband lobbying groups argue that Congress stripped the FCC of authority to issue the new regulations.

On behalf of Free Press, the African American Research Collaborative (AARC) and BSP Research (BSP) completed a survey of 3,000 American adults to better understand how Americans use media and technology to gain information, how they deal with misinformation and safety online, what privacy concerns they have about online platforms, what they believe are appropriate roles in content moderation, and whether they perceive a need for more independent news sources in the current media and political environment. Key findings included:

A common reaction among tech policy and internet freedom advocates to the upcoming ban of TikTok in the US is to reject it as a step back from the traditional US internet policy of openness, free speech, and innovation.

The Federal Communications Commission proposed new rules to ensure that wireless equipment authorizations are not compromised by entities that have been found to pose national security concerns. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will launch a proceeding to ensure that telecommunications certification bodies (TCBs) and measurement facilities (test labs) that participate in the Commission’s equipment authorization program are not influenced by untrustworthy actors.

The Council of the European Union approved a ground-breaking law aiming to harmonise rules on artificial intelligence, the so-called artificial intelligence act. The flagship legislation follows a ‘risk-based’ approach, which means the higher the risk to cause harm to society, the stricter the rules. It is the first of its kind in the world and can set a global standard for AI regulation. The new law aims to foster the development and uptake of safe and trustworthy AI systems across the EU’s single market by both private and public actors.