Makena Kelly

Former Policy Reporter

Makena KellyJun 14, 2023

The FCC has a new privacy task force.

At an event in DC today, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said the new team would be updating its rules governing what cell carriers can do with customer data:

“We’re going to bring all of our technical and legal experts together from across the agency to maximize coordination and use the law to reach results by evolving our policies and taking enforcement action.”

Back in 2018, the New York Times reported that some of the US’s largest carriers — including AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon — were selling their customers’ real-time location data. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, the government hasn’t really done much to stop it since then.

With the FCC still deadlocked, the task force could put the agency in a better position to approve stricter rules to prevent sim-swapping, data breaches, and the unauthorized sale of customer data if a third Democrat gets confirmed.

Makena KellyJun 14, 2023

There’s a stuffed moose wearing a GoPro in the Senate.

Apparently his name is Marty and he belongs to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, according to Roll Call. Every year they wheel him around in celebration of the “Live Free or Die” state.

It still doesn’t explain the GoPro though.

Texas bans kids from social media without parental consent

Makena KellyJun 14, 2023

Makena KellyJun 12, 2023

Jack Dorsey sounds really sad in this new interview.

Jack joined Breaking Points on Monday for a nearly 30-minute interview, covering everything from his support for 2024 presidential candidate and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Elon’s Twitter takeover. Jack tip-toed around Musk’s decisions to undo much of his work at Twitter:

“It’s a dynamic where he had to be very hasty and to be impatient to move as quickly as possible on features even if they weren’t fully thought out. It all looked fairly reckless. But I do have confidence that they’ll figure it out.”

Also, apparently AR, VR, and whatever new tech is driving us towards a “Wall-E” future “with everyone in the floating chairs, drinking their food out of straws.”