DOJ
Washington Post: The FBI is spending millions on social media tracking software
By Aaron Schaffer
Social media users seemed to foreshadow the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — and the FBI apparently missed it.
Now, the FBI is doubling down on tracking social media posts, spending millions of dollars on thousands of licenses to powerful social media monitoring technology that privacy and civil liberties advocates say raise serious concerns…
Matt Cagle, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, said social media surveillance raises civil liberties concerns even if the surveillance is focused on public posts and profiles.
“The First Amendment protects online speech, period,” he said. “People should not have to exercise their free speech behind privacy settings in order to avoid being surveilled.”
Right to Protest
Oregonian: Portland police collected info on protesters in 2020 without documenting why, city audit finds
By Maxine Bernstein
Portland police collected personal information and social media posts about demonstrators during the city’s mass racial justice protests in 2020 without documenting a potential crime, according to a city audit released Wednesday…
Glaringly missing from Police Bureau directives, auditors said, is any policy or instruction to officers governing what material they can gather regarding public protests.
That led officers to use their own discretion on how and what type of information to obtain and keep, the audit found.
Events
The Atlantic: Disinformation Is the Story of Our Age
By Jeffrey Goldberg
The threat posed by disinformation is the reason The Atlantic is joining with the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago to stage a conference, starting April 6, that is meant to examine disinformation in all of its manifestations. When David Axelrod, the founder and leader of the IOP, and I first discussed this idea, we both agreed that the future of this country—and of our democratic allies around the world—depends on the ability and willingness of citizens to discern truth from falsehood…
Our three-day conference will feature some of the great experts and commentators on disinformation and technology. Today’s agenda includes a conversation with President Obama, a talk by the Nobel Prize–winning journalist Maria Ressa, and our own Pulitzer-winning historian of Russia, Anne Applebaum. We’ll also hear from U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Lauren Underwood, and Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.
International
Politico: Canada wants digital giants to compensate local news outlets
By Andy Blatchford
Canada is taking on Big Tech with new legislation that would force companies like Facebook and Google to compensate the struggling domestic news industry for the use of its content.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez unveiled the proposed, Australian-style “Online News Act” on Tuesday. He framed the effort as a way to combat the rapid spread of disinformation and its threat to Canada’s democracy.
The States
Florida Politics: Gov. DeSantis signs second pass at limiting big dollar influence in ballot initiatives
By Renzo Downey
Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed Florida’s second attempt to limit spending in the ballot initiative process after last year’s proposal met legal hurdles.
The proposal (HB 921), filed by Eucheeanna Republican Rep. Brad Drake, limits non-Floridians from donating more than $3,000, and out-of-state political committees from receiving donations worth more than $3,000, when it comes to ballot initiatives in the petition-gathering process. That provision and others will take effect July 1.
The measure comes after a federal judge ruled against the state in July regarding similar legislation, signed by DeSantis despite his acknowledgement of constitutional concerns, to limit the influence of all money in the petition-gathering process. The measure would have capped all donations, including from Floridians, to political committees backing and opposing proposed constitutional amendments at $3,000 during the signature-gathering process.
Washington Post: Md. governor candidate wants probe after dossier questions life story
By Erin Cox and Ovetta Wiggins
Author and former nonprofit executive Wes Moore asked state prosecutors on Tuesday to investigate and criminally charge whoever is behind a widely circulated, anonymous political dossier that alleges the Maryland Democratic candidate for governor lied about his past…
Maryland campaign finance law prohibits candidates from spreading election information without identifying themselves. Knowingly and willingly violating campaign finance law is a misdemeanor.
The Moore campaign’s lawyer, Amanda S. La Forge, alleged without direct evidence that another campaign was behind the dossier and accused it of criminal activity. In a statement to The Washington Post, the rival campaign denied the allegation.
Washington Post: This Republican about-face is so much worse than ‘cancel culture’
By Catherine Rampell
Cancel culture, however ill-defined, generally refers to the use of voluntary social pressure to punish those whose views are deemed somehow unacceptable — through public rebukes, boycotts, shunnings, firings or other refusals to engage with some persona non grata in the public square. Republicans (like Democrats) have of course engaged in all these behaviors and worse: Trump himself frequently called for boycotts and firings, including over the peaceful expression of political speech.
But now his party is attempting codify these responses into law, using the power and weapons of the state against those who disagree with them.
GovTech: New Jersey Introduces Portal to Defend Against Disinformation
The New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (NJOHSP) has launched a portal to help residents detect disinformation, the agency announced today.
The deliberate spread and production of untrue, deceptive content is increasingly being seen as a safety threat, and has the attention of the state counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and emergency preparedness agency.
“Disinformation has the potential to incite panic, create distrust between the government and people, increase polarization, influence government actions or law enforcement responses, exhaust resources and cause undue harm,” NJOHSP stated in a press release.
On its new portal site, the agency highlighted the threat of disinformation spread by extremist groups as well as foreign adversary nation-states like China, Iran and Russia.
