News Alert: New Russian hacks raise alarms in US

View in your browser     New Russian hacks raise alarms in US Russian hackers have recently been linked to cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure in other countries, raising concerns about the nation’s ability to target U.S. utilities. Officials have been warning for months of a Russian campaign on the U.S. power grid. The new reports reveal the extent of the Moscow-tied hackers’ work, and the threat they pose to critical U.S. infrastructure. Read the full story here           Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for News Alerts     Forward News Alerts     You Might Like       Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

Hillicon Valley: Facebook uncovers Iranian disinformation campaign | Bomb suspect regularly tweeted threats | Trump complains Twitter removing people from his account | California pauses enforcement of net neutrality law

View in Browser     Welcome to Hillicon Valley, The Hill's newsletter detailing all you need to know about the tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Welcome! Follow the cyber team, Olivia Beavers (@olivia_beavers) and Jacqueline Thomsen (@jacq_thomsen), and the tech team, Harper Neidig (@hneidig) and Ali Breland (@alibreland). And CLICK HERE to subscribe to our newsletter.   SALAM CHETORI, FACEBOOK:  Facebook has discovered Iranian disinformation activity on its platform and is working to reduce its impact. The company's head of cybersecurity, Nathaniel Gleicher, revealed Friday that Facebook had removed 82 pages, accounts and groups that engaged in "coordinated inauthentic behavior." Roughly 1 million accounts followed those pages, with another 25,000 accounts joining at least one of the groups and 28,000 accounts following the Instagram pages. The accounts shared politically divisive messages on issues and political figures, including Colin Kaepernick, British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and on allegations that President Trump's campaign colluded with Russia.   The accounts also created seven events and purchased two ads for under $100 total. Gleicher, though, said the focus of the pages appeared to be on messaging through organic content. "Our threat intelligence team first detected this activity one week ago," Gleicher wrote in a blog post. "Given the elections, we took action as soon as we'd completed our initial investigation and shared the information with US and UK government officials, US law enforcement, Congress, other technology companies and the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab," he added. He noted that while the misinformation accounts originated in Iran, Facebook has not been able to find ties between the different accounts. On a call with reporters, Gleicher revealed that the earliest accounts were created in June 2016, but were not very active until this year. He touted Facebook's quick response in detecting and removing the accounts within a week, crediting the company's new "war room" in Menlo Park, Calif. The war room is an office dedicated to catching and curbing the spread of political misinformation campaigns.   How lawmakers are reacting: House Intelligence Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): "Facebook's discovery and exposure of additional nefarious Iranian activity on its platforms so close to the midterms is an important reminder that both the public and private sector have a shared responsibility to remain vigilant as foreign entities continue their attempts to influence our political dialogue online. The decision to pull down the pages and accounts in question and to publicly share this type of information is critical to keeping users aware of and inoculated against such foreign influence campaigns." Senate Intelligence Ranking Member Mark Warner (D-Va.): "I've been saying for months that there's no way the problem of social media manipulation is limited to a single troll farm in St. Petersburg, and that fact is now beyond a doubt," Warner told the Washington Post. Read more here.   BOMB SUSPECT WAS EXTREMELY LOGGED IN: Cesar Soyac Jr., the man suspected of sending explosives in the mail to Democrats and other Trump critics over the past week, regularly posted pro-Trump and anti-Democratic content on social media channels. Soyac was extremely plugged into fringe-right-wing media and posted heavy amounts hoax theories and misinformation. He often posted memes that claimed political movements than ran against conservative interests were tied to hedgefund billionaire and prominent Democratic donor George Soros -- views common in anti-semitic circles. His Facebook account, where he posted much of the content, was deactivated on Friday. Twitter initially left Soyac's account up but suspended it late on Friday afternoon. Read more here.   Bomb suspect threatened a former Dem aide: A former Democratic congressional aide said Friday that she reported a Twitter account believed linked to the man arrested in connection with a series of pipe bombs mailed to Democrats, but says Twitter failed to take action. Rochelle Ritchie, who previously served as a press secretary for the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee and who has contributed to The Hill, reported the exchange to Twitter on Oct. 11, according to a screenshot of an email she tweeted. "Hey @Twitter remember when I reported the guy who was making threats towards me after my appearance on @FoxNews and you guys sent back a bs response about how you didn't find it that serious," she tweeted, including the screenshots. "Well guess what it's the guy who has been sending #bombs to high profile politicians!!!!" she added.  Read more here.   BIG WEEK FOR ONLINE MISINFORMATION: One bright spot in the misinformation fight. YouTube is outpacing its social media rivals when it comes to curbing the spread of misinformation during breaking news events, while Facebook and Twitter are still struggling. From this week's bomb scares to news of a migrant caravan slowly making its way toward the U.S., misinformation and hoaxes have run rampant on most social media platforms. Facebook and Twitter have stumbled in the past to keep their platforms from being a clearinghouse for quickly disseminating unsubstantiated stories and armchair conspiracy theories that rapidly snowball in digital communities. But in the wake of major breaking news events this week, YouTube appears to have bolstered its safeguards for curtailing the rampant flow of misinformation. Facebook and Twitter searches for terms related to the migrant caravan and bomb scares auto-populated on Wednesday with conspiracy results pushing the claim that Soros is linked to the caravan and that the bombs are a false flag. Searching for "soros" on Twitter offered up the search suggestion "soros caravan," while typing in "bomb" on Facebook yielded search suggestions such as "bomb false flag." YouTube searches generally haven't prompted users with such links. And when users search for conspiracies, most of the results are from vetted outlets on the center, left and right. Read more here.   TWITTER RESPONDS TO TRUMP: Twitter is defending its policy of removing fake accounts after President Trump attacked the tech company for removing "many people from my account." The social media giant said it was seeking to remove fake accounts so that people would know their followers are actually real people and argued that this was for the better. "Our focus is on the health of the service, and that includes work to remove fake accounts to prevent malicious behavior," a spokesperson for Twitter said in a statement to The Hill. "Many prominent accounts have seen follower counts drop, but the result is higher confidence that the followers they have are real, engaged people." The statement comes after Trump criticized the company, tweeting Friday: "Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join -- they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all. A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias?" SocialBlade analytics show that Trump's follower account has steadily increased since Oct. 13. However, it is possible that Twitter's purge of automated accounts, or bots, impacted Trump's number of followers.  Read more here.   CALIFORNIA WON'T ENFORCE NET NEUTRALITY IN TRUCE WITH DOJ: California has agreed to temporarily halt enforcement of its expansive new net neutrality law as part of an agreement reached with the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday. The DOJ and California reached an agreement to postpone their court battle over the state's law while a federal appeals court decides the fate of the repeal of federal net neutrality rules. Under the agreement, detailed in filings with a federal court in California, the state won't take any action to enforce its law that was passed late last month while the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) repeal is being litigated. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who pushed through the repeal last year, said the move was a major concession by net neutrality supporters. "I am pleased that California has agreed not to enforce its onerous Internet regulations," Pai said in a statement. "This substantial concession reflects the strength of the case made by the United States earlier this month. It also demonstrates, contrary to the claims of the law's supporters, that there is no urgent problem that these regulations are needed to address." Read more here.   CITIES CHALLENGE FCC OVER 5G PROPOSAL: More than 20 cities and counties asked a federal appeals court to block a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule limiting what local authorities can charge telecom companies for installing 5G wireless networks. Three separate lawsuits were filed Wednesday and Thursday by nearly two-dozen cities, including Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Los Angeles; and San Jose, Calif. The new rule limits municipal authorities to charging $270 per cell site per year, which the FCC argues will free up $2 billion in capital for wireless providers to use in underserved areas like rural communities. But critics charge that the rule amounts to a massive handout to telecom giants, with no incentive or requirement for them to use the funds on deployment to new areas. Read more here.   MICROSOFT OVERTAKES AMAZON IN VALUE: Microsoft overtook Amazon to become the second most valuable tech company in the United States on Friday. The change in rankings was the result of a drop in Amazon's stock value, Reuters reports, after a weaker-than-expected quarterly report from the online retailer wiped out $65 billion worth of market capitalization. Microsoft, meanwhile, saw a positive quarterly report on Wednesday and has gained 4 percent in stock value since then, according to Reuters.  Read more here.   FOMOT -- FEAR OF MISSING OUT ON TWITTER: Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) called out Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Friday, demanding that he "unlock" the GOP congressman's account. It wasn't immediately clear what purported restrictions the Iowa Republican was referring to on Twitter, but he indicated in a tweet that he wanted his followers to see posts from conservative podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey. King had previously tweeted about Stuckey's content in a post that was still viewable Friday afternoon. Read more here.   'RISING' TO THE SKY: On Hill.TV today, satellite communications leader Matt Desch praised Elon Musk and his company SpaceX for making space exploration affordable, saying it helped bring wireless communications to a truly global scale. Watch the interview here.   AN OP-ED TO CHEW ON: Social media is the machine gun of modern disinformation war.   A LIGHTER CLICK: A case study on eating a burrito from the side.   NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB: A dark consensus about screens and kids begins to emerge in Silicon Valley. (The New York Times) 'Right-to-repair' advocates claim major victory in new smartphone copyright exemption. (The Washington Post) WarnerMedia's classic cinema streaming service FilmStruck is shutting down. (The Verge) Big Tech's year of reckoning. (Axios) Looking at GMail's new A.I. nudges. (The Baffler) It's legal to hack your own devices to fix them. (Motherboard)         Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for Technology Newsletters     Forward Technology Newsletters       Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2018 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

Overnight Energy: GM proposes electric car mandate | Deadline nears for EPA car rule comments | Greens change tactics to mobilize climate voters

View in your browser     GM WANTS ELECTRIC CAR MANDATE: Major car manufacturer General Motors is asking the Trump administration to back a national car program that would make automakers in all 50 states annually increase their output of electric vehicles. The National Zero Emissions Vehicle Program endorsed by GM on Friday would gradually increase the percentage of electric vehicles manufacturers would have to make for their fleet each year starting at 7 percent in 2021 and rising to 25 percent by 2030. The call from the Detroit-based company comes as the administration is considering a new vehicle emissions rule that would undermine a current standard in place that is championed by California. The administration contends that the standard, determined under the Obama administration, is too stringent and would harm the car industry. It rolled out a replacement called the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient rule this summer. GM submitted its idea to the Environmental Protection Agency during the open public comment period under the new rule. The window for commenting closes at midnight tonight. The car manufacturer is calling its idea a compromise. "We believe in a policy approach that better promotes U.S. innovation and starts a much-needed national discussion on electric vehicle development and deployment in this country," said Mark Reuss, executive vice president and president of the Global Product Group and Cadillac General Motors Company. "A National Zero Emissions Program will drive the scale and infrastructure investments needed to allow the U.S. to lead the way to a zero emissions future." Read more.   Pencils down at midnight: Midnight Friday is the deadline for companies, associations, states, lawmakers, the public and others to submit comments to the EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the auto emissions rule rollback. As of Friday afternoon, the regulatory docket said it has received more than 79,000 comments, though it often lags behind actual comment submissions. The rule is the most popular item on the regulations.gov portal. Still want to get your comment in? Submit it at regulations.gov.   California leaders slam proposal: California's governor, attorney general and top air regulator headed to the side of a freeway Friday to preview their formal comments on the proposal. California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols called the proposal "completely unjustified and illegal." "It's poorly argued, poorly organized, not based in fact and illegal," she said. "The benefits of the clean car standards are well-documented," said Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D). "They save consumers money, reduce emissions, support energy independence and help prevent the effect of climate change." "In California, we can't afford to backslide," he said. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) weighed in as well: "This Trump administration attack on innovative vehicle technology jeopardizes the health of millions, and will cost billions at the pump."   EPA shoots back: An hour before the California press conference, acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler criticized the Golden State's leaders, saying they haven't beene constructive throughout the process of drafting the rollback. "I had the opportunity to meet with CARB Chairwoman Mary Nichols in July where she promised to submit a counter-proposal from California within a week of EPA and the Department of Transportation publishing the proposed Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient Vehicles rule. It has been 10 weeks and the Trump administration has still yet to receive a counter-proposal," Wheeler said in a statement.   Conservatives line up in support: More than 90 conservative movement leaders signed onto a letter Thursday backing the administration. Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards "were established in 1975 during a time of grave national concern over fuel scarcity and America's reliance on imported energy. Both our national dialogue, as well as our access to fuel resources, has changed significantly, and a review of the purpose and effectiveness of existing CAFE standards is long overdue," they wrote.   TGIF! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill's roundup of the latest energy and environment news. Please send tips and comments to Timothy Cama, tcama@thehill.com, and Miranda Green, mgreen@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @Timothy_Cama, @mirandacgreen, @thehill. CLICK HERE to subscribe to our newsletter.   OREGON GOV SEEKS TO BLOCK OFFSHORE DRILLING: Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed an executive order that seeks to ban offshore drilling in the waters off the state's coast. The order signed Thursday bans oil and natural gas drilling in the three miles of water that Oregon officials control. But it also directs state agencies to block infrastructure and other means to support drilling anywhere off the coast, which would make building pipelines or other structures difficult. The Trump administration proposed earlier this year to allow offshore drilling off Oregon and all other Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coast states. Nearly all Pacific and Atlantic coast states are fighting the plan. "Oregonians have a long and proud history of standing up to defend our state. And at a time when the Trump administration is trying to allow oil rigs to be built off nearly every coastline in America, I'm tired of waiting for the federal government to come to its senses and realize that this is a terrible mistake," Brown said in a statement. Read more.   GREEN GROUPS SHIFT TACTICS TO WIN VOTERS ON CLIMATE ISSUES: Conservation groups are linking the threat of global warming to health care and other prominent issues as they seek to win more support for candidates backing climate change policies in the midterms. Studies repeatedly have indicated that people rarely vote on climate change even if they care about it. To counter that dynamic, the political arms of groups including the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund are spending millions this fall to link climate change to the economy, corporatism and health care -- the number one issue Democrats are running on this year. The groups are spending significantly more than in past midterms to drive home those connections. LCV committed to spending $60 million on 2018 races, more than it has ever spent before. The Sierra Club estimates its expenses will total over $6 million -- much higher than what the group spent in 2014. Will Jordan, a senior research associate at the Global Strategy Group, insisted that climate change is more of an issue in this election than in past campaigns given rising concerns about weather events and a United Nations paper that found the world is running out of time to deal with the warming climate. "That being said, health care is a larger issue," Jordan acknowledged. Still, he said concerns about the planet dovetail with public health and actions the Trump administration has taken to weaken emissions standards that could lead to more pollution. "I think that at the end of the day it's going to be fundamentally an election about the major issues: health care, Donald Trump, accountability themes of the election, but at the same time you see this argument get threaded into those," he said of climate change. In Virginia, ads against Republican Rep. Scott Taylor target his links to corporate polluters as well as his vote to repeal ObamaCare. Read more here.   OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY: Chevron is in talks to buy Brazilian oil company Petroleo Brasileiro's Texas refinery operations, Reuters reports. Officials in the Canadian province of Ontario are planning to send up to 30 grey wolves to Isle Royale National Park in Michigan this winter to help the depleted population there, the Associated Press reports. Workers at Washington's Hanford nuclear site were ordered Friday to "take cover" due to a potential radiation release, but officials later rescinded the order, the Tri-City Herald reports.   IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Check out Friday's stories ... -GM wants administration to enforce annual hike in electric vehicle production -Oregon governor seeks to block offshore drilling -Environmental groups shift strategies to win support for candidates in midterms         Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for Energy Newsletters     Forward Energy Newsletters       Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2018 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.