politics – WhatDoHow

March 9, 2021

US plans ‘a mix of actions’ against Russia over SolarWinds cyberattack

The US is preparing to retaliate against Russia after determining the country was probably involved in the SolarWinds cyberattack. Without providing specifics, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed to CNBC that the government will carry out…

March 8, 2021

China five-year plan aims for supremacy in AI, quantum computing

China's tech industry has been hit hard by US trade battles and the economic uncertainties of the pandemic, but it's eager to bounce back in the relatively near future. According to the Wall Street Journal, the country used its annual party m…

March 6, 2021

Big Tech critic and net neutrality advocate Tim Wu is joining the White House

The man who coined net neutrality is heading back to work for the government. President Joe Biden has appointed Columbia law professor Tim Wu to the White House's National Economic Council. According to The New York Times, he'll serve as a sp…

March 5, 2021

Senators ask the FCC to change the definition of high-speed broadband

A group of four senators is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to change its definition of high-speed broadband in order to significantly increase base speeds.
Under the current FCC policy, created in 2015, 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up is the…

March 4, 2021

House Democrats ask YouTube to explain extremism policies

House Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee are again pushing YouTube to explain its policies around extremist content. In a letter sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai Wednesday, the committee leaders said that “incendiary content that indoctri…

February 28, 2021

The UK government will reportedly buy stakes in tech startups

The UK might have a new way to achieve technological supremacy: throw money directly at companies. Financial Times sources say the country is establishing a "Future Fund: Breakthrough" effort that would spend up to £375 million (about $522…

February 27, 2021

Apple now shows device repairability scores in France

With the EU outlining a green deal that seeks to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, scrutiny has turned to the shelf life of gadgets that contribute to the barrage of e-waste produced annually on the continent. In a bid to tackle the junk problem, F…

February 26, 2021

Twitch won’t air any more of Amazon’s anti-union ads

Ahead of March 29th, Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama have an important decision to make. They need to decide whether to unionize. And as you can imagine, the company they work for is doing everything in its power to convince them to vot…

February 25, 2021

Facebook bowed to demands from Turkey to block one of its military opponents

When Turkey launched its Afrin offensive in early 2018 to dislodge Kurdish minorities from Northern Syria, the country ordered Facebook to block the page of a prominent militia group in the area known as the People’s Protection Units or YPG. Forced t…

February 25, 2021

Biden will review tech supply chains to reduce dependence on China

The US is still heavily dependent on other countries for technology manufacturing (among other products), and President Biden is looking for ways to reduce that dependence. The LA Times has learned that Biden is ordering a review of US supply chains…