A number of school districts in the US has canceled classes for today, December 17th, due to shooting and bomb threats supposedly circulating on TikTok and other social media channels. According to Bloomberg and The Verge, they include districts in Michigan, Washington, California, Texas, Minnesota and Missouri. The threats reportedly don't mention specific schools, but school authorities across the country are on alert and have opted to work with law enforcement and ensure students' safety. 

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy tweeted that while "there are no known specific threats against New Jersey schools," authorities "will work closely with law enforcement to monitor the situation and remain prepared." In most cases, law enforcement agencies announced that they haven't found evidence that the threats are real and credible. A county sheriff in Missouri said that they don't think their schools are going to be attacked, but they want to be prepared just in case. 

While the source of the threats remain unclear, California's Gilroy Police Department determined that the post thought to involve Gilroy High School actually originated from outside of LA. Similarly, the Baltimore County Public Schools Twitter account posted that law enforcement agencies had discovered that the threats originated from Arizona and aren't credible.

In response to the situation, TikTok issued a statement stating that it's "working with law enforcement" to investigate the rumored threats. However, it denied any knowledge of the threats and said that it found no evidence that they originated or are spreading on the platform.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is offering up to $5,000 bug bounties under a new program called Hack DHS, it announced. Vetted security researchers invited by the agency will get access to select external DHS systems to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by bad actors. Payments will vary between $500 and $5,000 depending on the severity of the bug.

"As the federal government’s cybersecurity quarterback, DHS must lead by example and constantly seek to strengthen the security of our own systems," said DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. "The Hack DHS program incentivizes highly skilled hackers to identify cybersecurity weaknesses in our systems before they can be exploited by bad actors."

The program will roll out in three phases, with hackers first doing virtual assessments of systems. That will be followed by a live, in-person hacking event for the second phase, and in the third phase, the DHS will "identify and review lessons learned, and plan for future bug bounties," it wrote. 

Some of the major players we haven’t seen as active as previously. That doesn’t mean that they’ve gone away, that we’ve defeated them. They very well might have hit the pause button. Vigilance has to remain at an incredibly high level.

The program will use a platform developed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and monitored by the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer. That department will verify any bugs within 48 hours and either fix them or develop a plan to do so within 15 days.

Private industry generally offers much higher bug bounties, with companies like Microsoft and Apple offering payouts as high as $1 million. However, Hack DHS isn't an open bounty program so it's limited to a smaller pool of researchers.

The DHS said that attacks against it were up fourfold in 2021 but that some of the most dangerous groups have slowed down. "Some of the major players we haven’t seen as active as previously," Mayorkas said at Bloomberg's Technology Summit. "That doesn’t mean that they’ve gone away, that we’ve defeated them. They very well might have hit the pause button. Vigilance has to remain at an incredibly high level."

The White House's renewable energy push now includes a transformation of the federal government. President Biden has issued an executive order that would require the government to stop buying combustion engine vehicles by 2035, and to switch all buildings to renewables and other zero-carbon energy sources by 2050. The administration willbuy only carbon-free electricity by 2030, and aims to cut building emissions in half by 2032.

Biden saw the measure as a way to "lead by example" and encourage both a "carbon pollution-free" electricity industry by 2035 and net zero emissions for the entire economy by 2050. The federal government is the largest employer, energy user and land owner in the US, the President said, and its shift to renewables could influence private businesses.

It's a modest goal in some ways. The timeline is very long, for a start. Multiple states will have banned gas-powered car sales by 2035 — why would it take the federal government that long to switch a relatively modest 600,000-vehicle fleet to EVs and other emissions-free machines? The 300,000 buildings are more daunting, but the order gives officials roughly three decades to make the transition.

At the same time, there are plenty of challenges. The feds depend on a wide range of buildings and vehicles across the country, many of them with different requirements. It may take a highly coordinated effort to transition everything to zero-emissions transport and renewable energy, even if the scale is relatively modest. And then there's the question of future administrations. As we've seen before, a new presidency can undo environmental regulations and delay or even thwart emissions reduction plans. The targets offer plenty of opportunities for reversals.

The order is still notable even if there are setbacks. It's an acknowledgment that efforts to limit climate change aren't confined to the private sector, and it could prompt contractors to transition to environmentally friendly products in a bid to win federal deals.

Washington DC's city council has approved the use of digital driver's licenses and IDs, joining Arizona, Georgia and other states, The Washington Post has reported. That gives the district's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) the authority to issue digital credentials that can be stored on a smartphone or other mobile device. They could then be presented for entering government buildings, to purchase liquor or in case of police stops, for example. 

Digital IDs and driver's licenses strongly entered the public conversation in September, when Apple announced that Wallet would hold driver's licenses and other IDs in iOS 15. The TSA was slated to be the first place iPhone owners could use their digital identity cards, and Apple subsequently announced that Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky and Oklahoma would be early adopters of the program. Last month, however, Apple said it would delay the release of digital ID cards until 2022, rather than the end of 2021 as scheduled.

Washington DC residents will have the option of using physical or digital credentials and will not be required to show a digital ID on a mobile device. The bill passage brings the city "a step closer to the reality of digital credentials," DC DMV director Gabriel Robinson told The Post. The DMV must now create a plan to to develop the credentials once the legislation is signed into law. 

The Federal Communications Commission now has its first permanent chairwoman. The Senate voted 68 to 31 to confirm President Biden’s nomination of Jessica Rosenworcel, converting her acting chair role into an official (and additional) five-year term. Her temporary position was due to expire within weeks.

Not surprisingly, Rosenworcel signalled plans to maintain her existing policies of making communictions accessible to “everyone, everywhere.” The chairwoman has been a proponent of net neutrality and other regulations meant to keep large technology companies in check, contrasting sharply with the anti-regulation stance of former chair Ajit Pai.

The move gives the FCC some extra stability. However, it might not be the most important nomination. The White House is still waiting on the confirmation of Gigi Sohn to fill an empty commissioner seat. If she’s accepted, the FCC will have a 3-2 Democrat majority that’s more likely to support Biden’s telecom-related priorities. Rosenworcel may have to temper her expectations if the Commission remains in its current stalemate.

On November 18th, Miami voted to end a multi-year pilot that had allowed companies like Bird and Lime to operate electric scooter rentals within the city’s downtown core. The practical result of the decision was that scooters weren’t allowed in the city. Less than two weeks later, Miami commissioners have now voted to launch a new temporary program that will allow six companies to rent out the vehicles in the city’s Edgewater, Brickell and Coconut Grove neighborhoods until January 5th, 2022.

"This news comes as a relief to Miami residents who've long relied on e-scooters as a safe, affordable and sustainable way to get around. We look forward to working closely with the commissioners and Mayor Suarez to develop a permanent program that prioritizes safety for riders and non-riders alike,” said Bruno Lopes, senior manager for government relations at Lime. “We specifically hope the city will continue to invest the millions of dollars in e-scooter fees Lime and other operators pay into protected bike lanes, the most proven way to ensure the safety of all road users."

Under the new program, riders will need to wear helmets when they travel on a scooter. Additionally, the city will enforce a stricter parking limit to reduce sidewalk clutter. Commissioners voted three to one in favor of implementing a new rental program after they voted four to one to scrap the previous one 11 days ago. Both votes were led by Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla. The short duration of this latest pilot is due to a local city law that limits the length of temporary programs. It’s possible Miami could once again outlaw scooters while the city conducts a public bid to select three companies that will operate under a permanent program.

Australia could soon make life difficult for internet trolls — if at a significant cost. Reutersreports Prime Minister Scott Morrison has unveiled plans for legislation that, in some cases, could force social networks to reveal the identities of trolls and others making defamatory comments. A complaint mechanism would require online platforms to take these hostile posts down. If they don't, the court system could order a given site to provide details of the offending poster.

Morrison likened the current internet to a "Wild West" where anonymous attackers could "harm people." If that can't happen in real life, there's "no case" for it happening online, the Prime Minister said.

The proposed laws come weeks after Australia's High Court ruled media companies could be held liable for comments on Facebook posts. CNNlimited access to its Facebook pages in the country over those liability concerns. The intended legislation would take this a step further by mandating certain actions if a post is deemed harmful.

The move raises privacy questions. Anonymity might help trolls, but it also protects political dissenters and other innocuous critics — will Australia make sure any identity disclosure laws aren't used to discourage challenges to authority, as they are in China? And without examples of the legislation, it's unclear just what would constitute an offense serious enough to warrant revealing an identity.

New York City could soon reduce the chances of AI bias in the job market. The Associated Pressnotes the city's council has passed a bill barring AI hiring systems that don't pass yearly audits checking for race- or gender-based discrimination. Developers would also need greater transparency (including disclosures of automated systems), and provide alternatives like human reviews. Fines would reach up to $1,500 per incident.

The bill was passed November 10th. Departing Mayor Bill de Blasio has a month to sign it into law, but hasn't said whether or not he will. If the measure goes forward, it would take effect in 2023.

A signed law could reduce the chances that AI hiring technology skews candidate pools and the demographics of the resulting employees. Pro-business organizations like the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce are already in favor, suggesting the disclosures are vital for both employers and their talent.

However, there are already concerns an enacted law wouldn't help as much as promised. The Center for Democracy & Technology's Alexandra Givens told the AP the bill doesn't account for other biases, such as ableism or ageism. This also assumes the audits are effective — New York University's Julia Stoyanovich argued the requirements were "very easy to meet." There's a concern the legislation might inadvertently shield employers whose AI platforms have different or harder-to-detect biases.

US President Joe Biden has signed into law the Secure Equipment Act that blocks companies like Huawei and ZTE from receiving network licenses. The new rules mean the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) can no longer consider any applications for network equipment that may pose a national security threat, Reuters has reported. 

With the measure, the FCC can no longer issue or review licenses to companies on the FCC's "Covered Equipment or Services List." It was passed by a 420-4 House vote and approved unanimously by the US Senate last month. "We have already determined that this gear poses an unacceptable risk to our national security, so closing what I have called the ‘Huawei loophole’ is an appropriate action for us to take," said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. 

We have already determined that this gear poses an unacceptable risk to our national security, so closing what I have called the ‘Huawei loophole’ is an appropriate action for us to take.

The FCC formally designated ZTE and Huawei as national security threats last year, finding that the companies had close ties to Chinese Communist Party. However, they were still able to apply for licenses as long as no federal funds were involved. To that end, Carr has been pushing legislators to pass the Secure Equipment Act. 

"Once we have determined that Huawei or other gear poses an unacceptable national security risk, it makes no sense to allow that exact same equipment to be purchased and inserted into our communications networks as long as federal dollars are not involved. The presence of these insecure devices in our networks is the threat, not the source of funding used to purchase them," Carr said back in March. 

Earlier this year, the FCC launched a $1.9 billion "rip and replace" program to help US telecoms replace Huawei and ZTE equipment they may be using. House member Steve Scalise last last week that "Huawei and ZTE "are probably the two most prominent companies that still have a lot of equipment out there where Americans’ data runs across those networks."

Huawei has yet to comment on the legislation, but last summer called the FCC's proposed revision "misguided and unnecessarily punitive." Joe Biden is expected to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in in a "virtual summit" tentatively set for next Monday. 

Congress is making its biggest push ever to stop drunk driving with President Biden's huge infrastructure bill. As we previously reported, one of the provisions included a mandate for anti-drunk driving technology in new cars. Now, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has passed Congress with the measure intact, Autoblog (AP) reports, and it's expected to be signed by the President soon. As part of the legislation, carmakers will have to include technology to detect and stop drunk drivers by as early as 2026.

First, though, the Department of Transportation will have to determine the best solution to curtail intoxicated drunk driving. Specifically, the bill requires something that will “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired.” That sounds similar to infrared camera solutions already used today by GM, Nissan and others, Sam Abuelsamid, principal mobility analyst for Guidehouse Insights, tells the AP. It goes without saying that we'd need something more advanced than breathalyzers, which are already used as a punishment for convicted drunken drivers.

Around 10,000 people die every year in the US from drunk driving accidents, the NHTSA says. Now that we have smarter sensors and plenty of camera technology to monitor driver behavior, it makes sense to explore solutions that could help prevent those sorts of accidents. Within a decade, it should feel as commonplace as seatbelts. 

The infrastructure bill also includes other safety measures, like rear seat reminders that could notify parents about children left in carseats. Additionally, Congress will also require automatic emergency braking and lane departure warnings, features that many new cars already offer. It's unclear when true self-driving cars will be a reality, but until then, at least human drivers can look forward to more ways to prevent accidents.