Joe Uchill

Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) supporters tore into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on social media after a leaked e-mail appeared to show a DNC official plotting to question Sanders's religion. The e-mail, written by Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall and leaked by the DNC hacker Guccifer 2.0 to WikiLeaks, suggests sending a surrogate to ask an unnamed candidate whether that candidate believed in God. The e-mail does not name the Vermont senator, but it talks about a man of “Jewish heritage” Marshall believes to be an atheist. It makes reference to voters in Kentucky and West Virginia, two states that were weeks away from a Democratic primary at the time.

"It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist,” said the e-mail, to other party officials in its entirety. Marshall did not respond to a request for comment. But he did say, “I do not recall this. I can say it would not have been Sanders. It would probably be about a surrogate.”

Microsoft is pushing back a key component of a French government agency’s recent accusations. On July 20, the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) ordered the software company correct a list of problems in Windows 10 it claimed threatened the privacy of French citizens. CNIL, which regulates data privacy, gave the company three months to do so before it would consider punitive measures. Microsoft vice president and deputy general counsel David Heiner issued a statement denying one of the charges. CNIL alleged that Microsoft was still transferring data to the United States under Safe Harbor policies that no longer apply to the US. Safe Harbor is a European Union policy that allows consumer data to be stored abroad so long as it receives the same protections as EU law.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing the government to remove a controversial clause in a long-controversial copyright law. The digital liberties organization is suing to remove "anti-circumvention" restrictions from Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), long a thorn in civil libertarians' craw. The DMCA was signed in 1998. Originally intended to protect the arts industries from online privacy, it included “anti-circumvention” provisions that prohibit breaking any digital safeguards that protected copyrights. For example, a user could no longer disable the copy protection on a video tape.

The rule bothers groups like the EFF because it limits what people can do with the devices and products they own, even when it has nothing to do with violating the actual copyrights. On July 21, the EFF filed a lawsuit stating that anti-circumvention provisions violate the constitutionally protected freedom of expression. “If future generations are going to be able to understand and control their own machines, and to participate fully in making rather than simply consuming culture, [anti-circumvention] has to go,” said EFF attorney Kit Walsh in a press release announcing the suit

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) is pushing to increase Internet access in the developing world with new legislation. The Driving Innovation and Growth in Internet Technology And Launching Universal Access to the Global Economy Act (DIGITAL AGE) would provide the State Department a “Special Representative for the Global Connect Initiative,” a face for the Global Connect Initiative it announced in April.

While 80% of the developed world has access to the Internet, less than 40% of the developing world has that access. The Global Connect Initiative aims to shepherd an additional 1,500,000,000 people online by 2020. The special representative would be an ambassador for the program to other nations, private business and US agencies. The president would appoint the special representative with approval from Congress. The bill would fund the position, three staff members and an additional $200,000 to be spent on the broader initiative. DIGITAL AGE further appropriates $5 million to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation in furtherance of getting the developing world online and $1million to USAID to create “digital literacy” programs. It also directs the president to create a more comprehensive plan in bringing the internet to the developing world.

The team behind the Republican National Convention has spent more than a year building their technology infrastructure for the big event. Now that work is being put to the test, as the convention kicks off in Cleveland (OH). “We’re launching a startup every four years,” said Max Everett, the chief information officer for the Republican National Convention, of the massive effort to keep attendees informed, connected and secure. It takes more than a year for Everett to set up a convention — he’s worked on four — with networks built from the ground up each time. “We’ve had staff, including myself, who’ve been in and out of Cleveland for over a year now,” Everett said. The party is also working with tech and communications giants, including Google, Microsoft and AT&T, to deliver services. Here are some of the notable ways the GOP is using technology to cater to the estimated 50,000 people — not counting protesters — who will attend and cover the convention.

• Expanded Wi-Fi: A great amount of work has gone into getting the convention venue, Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena, ready to handle the thousands of devices expected to connect to its public Wi-Fi network.
• Strong connections for video: Those not in Cleveland will have options to stream the convention’s many speeches and events.
• Cybersecurity: Everett said his convention networks have been breached "like any organization."
• A beefed-up app: Not all of the convention’s technology is behind-the-scenes. When convention planners released their mobile app for the event, it was downloaded more times in its first week online than the total for the 2012 convention app.