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Crypto: Winklevoss Millionaire Twin Brothers Spark Clash of Titans

January 4, 2023 Published by The Street

Just three days into the new year, the crypto space is already tearing itself apart in public.

A conflict that was being played out behind the scenes has just been publicized.

This conflict is one of the consequences of the bankruptcy of the empire of the former crypto emperor Sam Bankman-Fried. It pits three of the biggest names in the industry against each other.

On one side, there are the millionaire twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and on the other Barry Silbert, one of the barons of the industry. The former founded cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, while the other is the founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG) which owns struggling crypto lender Genesis.

‘Bad Faith Stall Tactics’

Genesis was Gemini’s partner in a reward program offered by the platform to attract customers. This program is called Gemini Earn. It’s a high-yield savings product that promises customers of the cryptocurrency exchange up to an 8% annual return on crypto deposits, depending on which assets are held. Under this program, Genesis serves as Gemini’s primary lender.

It all went south after the bankruptcy of FTX and its sister company Alameda Research, a hedge fund that also acted as a trading platform for institutional investors. Genesis, which was in business with FTX, was forced to suspend withdrawals last November, forcing Gemini to do the same for Earn program clients.

Genesis owes $900 million to Gemini’s Earn users. The two companies have been trying for several weeks now to solve the problem but apparently things are not moving forward. So says Cameron Winklevoss in an open letter to Silbert posted on Twitter. He accuses him of bad faith.

“For the past six weeks, we have done everything we can to engage with you in a good faith and collaborative manner in order to reach a consensual resolution for you to pay back the $900 million that you owe, while helping you preserve your business,” Cameron Winklevoss wrote. “We appreciate that there are startup costs to any restructuring, and at times things don’t go as fast as we would all like.”

But, he continued, “it is now becoming clear that you have been engaging in bad faith stall tactics.”

To justify this accusation, Cameron claims that Silbert does everything not to sit around the table with them to find a solution in order to end the litigation.

“For example, on December 2nd we expressed our belief that getting everyone in a room together as soon as possible will be the most productive path towards reaching a resolution. You agreed, but stated you would only do so after there was a proposal on the table,” Winklevoss said.

January 8

But “on December 17th, a proposal was delivered to you. On December 25th, Christmas Day, an updated version of this proposal was delivered to you. Despite this, you continue to refuse to get into a room with us to hash out a resolution.”

He also said that Silbert refuses to agree to a timeline with key milestones.

“Every time we ask you for tangible engagement, you hide behind lawyers, investment bankers, and process. After six weeks, your behavior is not only completely unacceptable, it is unconscionable,” Winklevoss lambasted.

He then blames Silbert for the problem, pointing out that DCG owes Genesis money.

“To be clear, this mess is entirely of your own making,” Winklevoss declared. “Digital Currency Group (DCG) – of which you are the founder and CEO – owes Genesis (its wholly owned subsidiary) ~$1.675 billion. This is money that Genesis owes to Earn users and other creditors. You took this money – the money of schoolteachers – to fuel greedy share buybacks, illiquid venture investments.”

This figure is what Silbert shared with investors last November. It includes a $575 million loan due in May, plus a $1.1 billion promissory note due in June 2032 tied to the collapse of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, or 3AC.

“DCG did not borrow $1.675 billion from Genesis,” Silbert refuted in a response on Twitter. “DCG has never missed an interest payment to Genesis and is current on all loans outstanding; next loan maturity is May 2023.”

He added that DCG responded to a Gemini’s proposal but hasn’t heard back.

“DCG delivered to Genesis and your advisors a proposal on December 29th and has not received any response,” Silbert asserted.

Those remarks were immediately rejected by Winklevoss who maintained his accusations and asked Silbert if the latter could commit to resolving the dispute by January 8.

“There you go again. Stop trying to pretend that you and DCG are innocent bystanders and had nothing to do with creating this mess. It’s completely disingenuous,” Winklevoss objected. “So how does DCG owe Genesis $1.675 billion if it didn’t borrow the money?”

“Will you, or will you not, commit to solving this by January 8th in a manner that treats the $1.1 billion promissory note as $1.1 billion?”

The Crypto Exception

This dispute reveals the complexity of the links between the various players in the young financial services industry powered by blockchain technology. The firms are often interdependent but they never reveal these links which can prove harmful to their clients.

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Does your teen check their social media every hour? It could impact their brain, study finds

January 4, 2023 Published by CNN

CNN
—

Frequent use of social media could be reshaping how adolescents’ brains develop, a new study found.

Those who checked their platforms more often were more likely to be sensitive to general social rewards and punishments, according to the study published Tuesday.

“For youth who habitually check their social media, the brain is changing in a way that is becoming more and more sensitive to social feedback over time,” said lead study author Dr. Eva Telzer, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “And this is setting the stage for how the brain continues to develop into adulthood.”

Telzer and her team studied 169 sixth and seventh grade students in rural North Carolina to determine how habits around checking social media impacted their development.

Over a three-year period, the students — who were all 12 or 13 years old when the research began — reported their social media behavior and underwent annual fMRI imaging of their brains to see their neural responses to an onscreen display of positive and negative social feedback, such as a happy or angry face.

During that period, the students who reported checking their social media more regularly showed greater neural sensitivity in parts of the brain like the amygdala, Telzer said. Those who checked their social media less frequently saw less sensitivity in those areas on the fMRI.

It is not clear whether the neural changes resulted in behavioral changes, like increased anxiety or addictive behaviors, Telzer said.

It is important not to worry too soon, she added. The study established a strong correlation between social media habits and greater sensitivity to feedback, but it cannot say for sure if one is causing the other, she added.

It’s also unclear whether greater sensitivity to social consequences is a good or bad thing.

“Heightened sensitivity could lead to later compulsive social media behaviors, or it could reflect an adaptive neural change that helps teens navigate their social worlds,” Telzer said.

Social media is filled with ways to get feedback from peers, whether it is through the excitement of a like on a post or criticism from a mean comment, said Dr. Neha Chaudhary, chief medical officer of BeMe Health and child and adolescent psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Chaudhary was not involved in the study.

And adolescence is simultaneously a time of high social media use and critical brain development. Adolescent brains are going through the most development and reorganization, second only to infancy, making them more susceptible to environmental influences, Telzer said.

As a child and adolescent psychologist, Chaudhary said she has often wondered about the role social media plays in development.

It is possible that the results of the study point to social media changing adolescent brains, but it could also be that some of the students were already experiencing changes in their brain development that led to more social media use, Chaudhary said.

Whether brain changes are the chicken or the egg in this case, there are steps caregivers can take to help teens exercise caution around social media use.

“I’d strongly encourage folks — especially adolescents — to take frequent breaks from social media use,” Chaudhary said.

Doing so can help young people connect more deeply in person, feel more present and “separate from the constant, often anxiety-provoking, influx of information about the world and other people’s lives,” she said.

Chaudhary advised that families take a four-step approach to teens’ social media use: help them evaluate how they are using it, ask how social media serves them, encourage them to identify changes they want, and make a plan to get there, she wrote in a 2021 story.

And even for young people who like to spend time online, there are ways to do it that don’t pose some of the potential risks social media does, she added.

“It might be time to find those non-social media apps and digital experiences and rethink how much time you spend on platforms that aren’t leaving you feeling calm, refreshed, and in a better headspace,” Chaudhary said.

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Breast cancer drugs face a ‘whack-a-mole’ problem

January 4, 2023 Published by Futurity (National Geo)

Researchers have discovered for the first time how deadly hard-to-treat breast cancers persist after chemotherapy.

The findings reveal why patients with these cancers don’t respond well to immunotherapies designed to clear out remaining tumor cells by revving up the immune system.

Thanks to advances in cancer therapies, most forms of breast cancer are highly treatable, especially when caught early.

But the last frontier cases—those that can’t be treated with hormone or targeted therapies and don’t respond to chemotherapy—remain the deadliest and hardest to treat.

The process of surviving chemotherapy triggers a program of immune checkpoints that shield breast cancer cells from different lines of attack by the immune system. It creates a “whack-a-mole” problem for immunotherapy drugs called checkpoint inhibitors that may kill tumor cells expressing one checkpoint but not others that have multiple checkpoints, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Cancer.

“Breast cancers don’t respond well to immune checkpoint inhibitors, but it has never really been understood why,” says corresponding author James Jackson, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Tulane University School of Medicine.

“We found that they avoid immune clearance by expressing a complex, redundant program of checkpoint genes and immune modulatory genes. The tumor completely changes after chemotherapy treatment into this thing that is essentially built to block the immune system.”

Researchers studied the process in mouse and human breast tumors and identified 16 immune checkpoint genes that encode proteins designed to inactivate cancer-killing T-cells.

“We’re among the first to actually study the tumor that survives post-chemotherapy, which is called the residual disease, to see what kind of immunotherapy targets are expressed,” says first author Ashkan Shahbandi, an MD/PhD student in Jackson’s lab.

The tumors that respond the worst to chemotherapy enter a state of dormancy—called cellular senescence—instead of dying after treatment. Researchers found two major populations of senescent tumor cells, each expressing different immune checkpoints activated by specific signaling pathways. They showed the expression of immune evasion programs in tumor cells required both chemotherapy to induce a senescent state and signals from non-tumor cells.

They tested a combination of drugs aimed at these different immune checkpoints. While response could be improved, these strategies failed to fully eradicate the majority of tumors.

“Our findings reveal the challenge of eliminating residual disease populated by senescent cells that activate complex immune inhibitory programs,” Jackson says.

“Breast cancer patients will need rational, personalized strategies that target the specific checkpoints induced by the chemotherapy treatment.”

Source: Tulane University

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White House press secretary blames GOP, claims President Biden worked on border security since ‘day one’

January 4, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News

White House officials say border security and immigration are issues President Biden has taken “very seriously since day one,” and blamed Republican political stunts for slowing down progress.

During Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre whether anyone at the White House thinks the southern border is secure.

In response, Jean-Pierre said Biden has been working since “day one” on border security, making immigration a priority, adding that was why he proposed a comprehensive immigration reform plan policy.

OOPS! WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JEAN-PIERRE READS WRONG SCRIPT DURING BRIEFING

“The president is coming forward and trying to come up with solutions,” she said. “But the difference here is that you have Republicans, as you know, who are doing political stunts. And, you know, and we’ve called that out over and over and over again.”

She said Biden is willing to work with Congress, Republicans, Democrats and Independents to work on these issues that matter to the American people.

“But, this is an issue that the president has taken very seriously since day one of his administration,” Jean-Pierre added.

On day one of President Biden’s term, he signed one executive order regarding the southern border, which was to stop construction of a wall.

The White House website said Biden declared “an immediate termination of the national emergency declaration that was used as a pretext to justify some of the funding diversions for the wall.”

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE RIDICULED FOR CLAIMING ‘THERE WAS SUPPRESSION’ IN GA ELECTION: ‘CONSPIRACY THEORY MUCH?’

The order also put an immediate pause on wall construction projects for a close review of the legality of the funding and contracting methods used.

In another executive order, Biden fortified protections for “Dreamers,” or young immigrants brought to the country as children after former President Donald Trump tried to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

Biden’s memorandum called on Congress to enact legislation providing permanent status and a path to citizenship for people who came to the U.S. as children and lived, worked, and contributed to the country.

BIDEN TELLS MIGRANTS ‘DON’T COME’ TO US AS BORDER CRISIS SURGES

But in terms of providing security along the border on day one, none of the president’s executive orders suggest he did so.

During a 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate, Biden said the U.S. is a country that tells people struggling under oppression or poor conditions, “You should come,” as he argued for a more open asylum policy.

He then changed his tune after taking office and having to deal with migrants on the southwestern border – many being kept in poor conditions like those the Democrats considered a scandal under the Trump administration – and telling the migrants to remain in place.

“I can say quite clearly don’t come over,” Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopolous in 2019. “So don’t leave your town or city or community. We’re gonna make sure we have facilities in those cities and towns run by department of — by DHS and also access with HHS, the Health and Human Services, to say you can apply for asylum from where you are right now.”

ICE DEPORTATIONS REMAINED WELL BELOW TRUMP-ERA LEVELS IN FY 2022, AMID HISTORIC BORDER CRISIS

Biden has not visited the southern border since becoming president. His administration has sued to end the Trump-era Title 42 protocol and has sued states to stop them from constructing barriers on their borders with Mexico. Arizona is removing shipping containers it placed on the border to deter illegal crossings, in response to a Biden administration lawsuit against it.

Doocy rephrased his question on Tuesday to Jean-Pierre, asking if the White House believed the border was secure.

Jean-Pierre said Biden has taken historic actions that no other president was able to do, adding that 23,000 agents were mobilized to the border to manage the influx of immigrants crossing the border illegally, without much support from Republicans.

She never answered the question directly, and instead spoke about what the president has done to address the issue.

“I just said it moments ago. He’s willing to work with Republicans,” she said. “He’s willing to work with Democrats. He’s willing to work with Independents to work on this issue, to move forward with his comprehensive plan that he put forward on day one of his administration.”

I Tried the New Pimple Patch That’s So Thin, You Can Seamlessly (and Secretly) Wear It Under Makeup

January 4, 2023 Published by Kara Jillian Brown

Well+Good

Pimples happen, but that doesn’t mean they’re pleasant. They hurt, ooze, and aren’t exactly easy to work around. When I’m experiencing a breakout, I want to be able to use my favorite makeup without worrying about irritating my already-angry pimple or having a whitehead leak midday. For years, I’ve leaned on pimple patches to provide a barrier between my pimples and my makeup to prevent the aforementioned issues—and Peace Out just made this process even more seamless. Now, I use the new Acne Day Dots under my foundation. They’re pimple patches that are 61 percent thinner than the brand’s OG patches, allowing them to wear beautifully under makeup.

Peace Out Acne Day Dot — $19.00

Shop Now

Peace Out Acne Day Dots ($19) is an ultra-sheer, ultra-thin version of Peace Out’s bestselling Acne Dots ($19). They’re designed to look as invisible as possible, whether you’re wearing them on their own or under makeup. The hydrocolloid patches work by using itty bitty “micro darts” to absorb excess fluid and pull dirt and oil out of a pimple, helping decrease its size. The darts also deliver salicylic acid and retinol deep down into the zit to speed up the healing process, and the patches are infused with aloe vera to soothe the skin and minimize the appearance of redness.

Trying the new Peace Out Acne Day Dot

It was clear from the moment I opened the package that these dots were different. They’re super thin—so thin that it’s kind of hard to remove them from their sticker-sheets without them folding in on each other and creating a deep seam that’s impossible to smooth. To prevent this, I’ve found that the best way to apply them is to use pair of tweezers. Any will do, but I prefer something curved with a thin tip, like the curved tweezers in this set ($6).

Mioblet Straight and Curved Pointed Tweezers — $6.00

Shop Now

Me wearing the Peace Out Acne Day Dot under makeup.

In the photo above, I wore the patch over a pimple and under the True Botanicals Everyday Skin Tint SPF 30 ($54), and loved the way it looked. Is the patch totally invisible? Of course not. It’s still a sticker on my face. But it allows me to protect and heal my pimples in the least-obvious way possible without having to sacrifice wearing makeup, which is a definite win.

For comparison’s sake, I tried this patch alongside two others on my forehead. (Full disclosure: I tested them on pimple-less skin, as I did not happen to have three pimples in a row on my forehead.) Even without makeup, the new Peace Out dot is the clear (pun very much intended) front-runner for its stealthiness. The finish has a subtle warmth to it that allows it to blend more seamlessly into my skin—the other two had a sterile blue hue that made them more noticeable. And once I applied makeup, I could really see what made the New Day Acne Dot so special. It’s so thin that the natural little bumps and divots on my skin were still visible. In other words, the patch appears super skin-like, and allows my natural texture to show through instead of creating an artificial-looking smoothness.

The new Peace Out Acne Day dot is in the pink circle to the right.

While the new Peace Out dot isn’t fully invisible (again, that’s impossible), it serves as a perfect, hard-to-spot-unless-you’re-looking-closely barrier between pimples and makeup. While there are certainly days I wanna wear my pimple patches with pride à la Starface, there are also days when I just want to make my pimples as inconspicuous as possible. And the Peace Out Acne Day Dot does just that.

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2024 VW ID.7 Electric Sedan Comes To CES With Up To 435-Mile Range

January 4, 2023 Published by Thanos Pappas

Carscoops

Volkswagen chose the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to preview its first fully electric sedan – the ID.7. The production version of the ID.Aero concept will launch in the second quarter of 2023. VW covered the exterior of the car with a “smart” camouflage, but they showed us the interior and detailed some of the tech features of the upcoming MEB-based model.

In terms of styling, the VW ID.7 looks very similar to the ID.Aero concept from June 2022, retaining its aerodynamic silhouette although some details have been toned-down for production. Those include the simpler LED lighting units, the larger mirror caps, the slightly redesigned bumpers, and the smaller-diameter alloy wheels.

Read: VW’s Updated MEB+ Platform To Offer Faster Charging And Longer Range

The camoulfaged prototype of the VW ID.7 (above) is slightly toned down compared to the ID.Aero concept (below) from last year.

The special camouflage that VW used on the ID.7 creates electroluminescent light effects in different colors, with graphics inspired by QR codes. In order to achieve this result, VW applied 40 layers of paint with conductive or insulating properties, allowing 22 areas of the bodywork to be independently illuminated and create a special show when connected to the sound system.

Thankfully, the interior is fully uncovered, revealing the final production-spec design. The large 15-inch free-standing tablet-style touchscreen for the infotainment is combined with a small digital instrument cluster and VW’s augmented reality head-up display. The touch sliders under the screen which control the climate functions and the volume are now illuminated. However, the steering wheel retains the touch-sensitive controls that will soon be replaced by regular buttons in VW models following customer feedback.

A highlight of the interior is the digitally controlled “Smart Air Vents”. According to VW, the system recognizes the driver from the key, and cools or heats the interior before they step into the vehicle. The air conditioning system can automatically distribute the air over large areas, or direct the flow towards the body of the passengers. Those functions can be activated for each passenger through the central touchscreen or by using voice commands.

The VW ID.7 rides on the MEB architecture which has been upgraded to MEB+ for a longer range and faster charging rates. While we don’t have detailed specifications yet, we expect the model to be offered in single and dual electric motor configurations, with a large floor-mounted battery pack. The German carmaker describes the model as an “efficient electric sedan with long-range capability”, announcing an estimated range of up to 700 km (435 miles) based on a simulated WLTP cycle.

VW also revealed that the ID.7 will have a wheelbase of 116.9 inches (2,969 mm). This is 3.7 inches (94 mm) longer compared to the Tesla Model 3, and 0.8 inches (20 mm) longer than the Hyundai Ioniq 6, both of which are considered rivals. The EV’s wheelbase is also 6.5 inches (165 mm) longer than in the ICE-powered VW Passat, resulting in a more spacious cabin.

The VW ID.7 will be available on three continents – Europe, Asia (China), and North America. Its official launch is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023. For European markets, production will take place at the Emden plant in Germany together with the ID.4. The electric sedan will be the sixth model in the ID range, and one of 10 new EVs that Volkswagen will launch by 2026.

Microsoft recognizes its first union as ZeniMax software testers organize

January 3, 2023 Published by Jordan Novet

US Top News and Analysis

In this article

MSFT

Lisbon , Portugal – 3 November 2022; Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President, Microsoft, at a press conference during day two of Web Summit 2022 at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile for Web Summit via Getty Images)

Stephen McCarthy | Sportsfile | Web Summit | Getty Images

Microsoft said Tuesday that it has recognized its first union of employees in the software maker’s 47-year history.

Workers at airlines, automakers, schools and government agencies belong to unions, but collective bargaining hasn’t taken hold at large technology companies, where employees often receive high wages.

Amazon and Apple have not been especially accommodating to employees who have tried to establish unions. Last year, Microsoft said it would support approaches that would make it simpler for its employees to join unions.

In recent months three groups of employees at video game publisher Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft is working to acquire, have unionized, but Microsoft has yet to complete the nearly $69 billion deal that competition regulators have pushed back on. Last week, the Communications Workers of America said a supermajority of employees at Proletariat, a Boston-based game studio Activision Blizzard acquired in mid-2022, had voted to unionize.

Now U.S. quality-assurance employees across multiple studios at ZeniMax, a video game publisher Microsoft bought in 2021 for $8.1 billion, are organizing with the CWA, which has also worked with the Activision Blizzard workers. ZeniMax publishes “Doom,” “Fallout,” “Quake” and “The Elder Scrolls,” among other games.

“In light of the results of the recent unionization vote, we recognize the Communications Workers of America (CWA) as the bargaining representative for the Quality Assurance employees at ZeniMax,” a spokesperson for Microsoft and ZeniMax wrote in an email to CNBC. “We look forward to engaging in good-faith negotiations as we work towards a collective bargaining agreement.”

A supermajority of ZeniMax workers said they wanted to join the union, the CWA said in a statement. Microsoft operates 23 internal game studios in addition to selling Xbox consoles and operating gaming services such as Game Pass subscription packages. The workers become the largest group of quality-assurance testers at any U.S. game studio, the CWA said.

WATCH: Gaming benefits from being largely platform agnostic, says Cowen’s Doug Creutz

VIDEO4:4504:45

Gaming benefits from being largely platform agnostic, says Cowen’s Doug Creutz

TechCheck

Buffalo Sabres show support for Bills’ Damar Hamlin with custom t-shirts before game vs. Capitals

January 3, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News

The support for Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has stretched far past the NFL, especially in the Buffalo community.

The Buffalo Sabres showed love and support for Hamlin and the Bills soon after the safety collapsed due to cardiac arrest against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night, and they continued to do so with custom t-shirts worn before their game against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.

Members of the Sabres were seen walking into Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. with shirts that read “Love for 3,” which pays homage to Hamlin’s jersey number with the Bills.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

The Sabres’ Twitter account also shared a new avatar, which says “Pray For Damar” with his No. 3 as well. It is the avatar that every NFL account changed to, showing unity in this tough moment.

“All of Buffalo and #BillsMafia is with you, Damar. Praying for you,” the Sabres account tweeted following Hamlin’s injury on Monday night.

DAMAR HAMLIN’S CHARITY RECEIVES MILLIONS IN DONATIONS AFTER HE COLLAPSES ON FIELD

The Bills provided an update on Hamlin recently, saying he remains in critical condition after spending the night in the University of Cincinnati Medical Center’s intensive care unit.

Hamlin collapsed on the Paycor Stadium turf around 8:55 p.m. on Monday night. The Bills confirmed what multiple reports were saying, that Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and needed to have his heart restored on the field before being transferred to the hospital for further treatment.

The incident occurred on the Bengals’ second drive, where quarterback Joe Burrow found wide receiver Tee Higgins for a completion. Hamlin and other Bills were in pursuit to tackle Higgins, who eventually lowered his shoulder into Hamlin’s chest.

After initially getting up, Hamlin collapsed to the turf and medical staffs from both teams sprinted out to give him attention. He received CPR before he was put in an ambulance.

JOE BUCK, ESPN MAINTAIN NFL TOLD NETWORK PLAYERS HAD 5 MINUTES TO WARM UP FOLLOWING DAMAR HAMLIN’S INJURY

Bills and Bengals players were noticeably shook up from what they saw on the field, some of which broke out into tears. Others began praying for their teammate and NFL brother, as no one knew the extent of what was wrong.

The Bills-Bengals game was postponed and no word as been made from the league as to what happens next.

All focus is on Hamlin.

Hillicon Valley — Cyber concerns to expect in 2023

January 3, 2023 Published by Ines Kagubare

Just In | The Hill

Cybersecurity is expected to be a top priority in 2023 as lawmakers step up their efforts to address evolving threats, including ransomware attacks and foreign spyware.

Meanwhile, a Facebook whistleblower blasts the social media giant’s civic integrity, and Google has agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement over location tracking.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare.

Cyber priorities to watch out for this year

Cyberattacks have surged in recent years, with the health care system and other critical sectors increasingly coming under digital assaults as the threat of malware like ransomware and foreign spyware continues to evolve.

Last year in particular saw officials and lawmakers renew their focus on cybersecurity and seek to secure the country’s critical sectors from rising cyber threats. The issue is expected to take center stage again in the coming year, as many of those threats are still escalating while the cyber sector is confronting an ongoing workforce shortage in its efforts to bolster the U.S.’s digital defenses.

Here are four cyber concerns expected to take priority in 2023:

Threats to critical sectors: The financial, energy and health care sectors are all facing a skyrocketing number of hacks. Cyberattacks have robbed companies in those industries of hundreds of millions of dollars, exposed data and even disrupted essential services, as when a ransomware attack forced the Colonial Pipeline to shut down in 2021, causing gas shortages in several states.

The health care sector in particular has seen a rise in cyberattacks in the last few years, particularly ransomware attacks targeting hospitals in order to gain access to sensitive information like patient data or medical research and technology.

Increasing threats to the sector have set off alarm bells in Washington, with Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warning this fall that cyberattacks could lead to delays in treatment and even patients’ deaths.

Ransomware attacks: Recent years have seen an especially dramatic spike in ransomware attacks, particularly targeting the health care and financial sectors.

Last year alone, ransomware groups caused outages in multiple hospital systems, temporarily closed schools in parts of the U.S., carried out multimillion-dollar hacks on a number of companies and drove Costa Rica to declare a state of emergency in May as a barrage of attacks impacted its government services.

Foreign spyware: Foreign spyware garnered attention last year following controversy surrounding the e mbattled Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, which was blacklisted by the Department of Commerce in 2021 for allegedly facilitating unlawful surveillance used against government officials, journalists, dissidents and human rights activists.

Congress has since t aken steps to address the allegations. In July, the House Intelligence Committee included a provision in the Intelligence Authorization Act authorizing the director of national intelligence to prohibit the U.S. intelligence community from buying and using foreign spyware.

Labor shortage: Rising cyber threats have brought new urgency to a long-time labor shortage in the industry as both federal agencies and private companies have scrambled to fill key cyber roles.

The industry has sought to address the shortage by investing in workforce development, and is expected to continue doing so moving forward.

Read more here.

FACEBOOK WHISTLEBLOWER: META LACKS CIVIL INTEGRITY

Frances Haugen, who became known as the Facebook whistleblower after she released thousands of documents about the platform’s content moderation policies and algorithm, said the company is not “committed” to civic integrity.

Haugen said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Facebook is more concerned with its stock prices and profit margins than public safety. She said she was initially optimistic about the company’s plans when she was hired as part of its civic integrity unit, which she said was one of the best in the industry.

But she said she realized Facebook was not serious when it dissolved the unit after the 2020 presidential election.

“When Facebook dissolved civic integrity, I saw that they weren’t willing to make that commitment anymore,” she said.

Haugen released thousands of internal documents from Facebook in 2021 about the company’s algorithm and its response to misinformation on the platform. She testified before Congress in October of that year that Facebook is prioritizing profits over its users’ safety.

Read more here.

GOOGLE REACHES SETTLEMENT OVER LOCATION TRACKING

Google has agreed to pay a total of $29.5 million to settle separate lawsuits with Washington, D.C., and Indiana over its location tracking practices.

Under the settlements, Google agreed to not make misrepresentations to users about an individual user’s location information in location history and web and app activity.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) said in a statement that the state reached a settlement with Google for $20 million to resolve its lawsuit over the company’s “deceptive location-tracking practices.”

“This settlement is another manifestation of our steadfast commitment to protect Hoosiers from Big Tech’s intrusive schemes,” Rokita said. “We will continue holding these companies accountable for their improper manipulation of consumers.”

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: American national security requires smart spectrum planning

Notable links from around the web:

Ukraine War and Upcoming SEC Rules Push Boards to Sharpen Cyber Oversight (The Wall Street Journal / Catherine Stupp and Kim Nash)

Can these researchers help defend satellite systems targeted by hackers? (CyberScoop / Christian Vasquez)

Social Media Use Is Linked to Brain Changes in Teens, Research Finds (The New York Times / Ellen Barry)

ONE LAST THING

House says so long to TikTok

The House’s chief administrative officer banned TikTok from all mobile devices that the body manages last week, ahead of the federal government joining a growing number of states in prohibiting employees from having the app on their government-issued phones.

Multiple news outlets reported that Catherine Szpindor, the head of the office responsible for providing House members, officers and staff with administrative, technical and operational assistance, sent a memo to all House lawmakers and staff last week saying that the app is considered “high risk” due to multiple security issues.

“House staff are NOT allowed to download the TikTok app on any House mobile devices,” the memo said, according to NBC. “If you have the TikTok app on your House mobile device, you will be contacted to remove it.”

With the move, the House joined more than a dozen states and several federal agencies that had previously taken action to ban the app on government devices.

Read more here.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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Meet the 20 rebels bucking McCarthy’s bid

January 3, 2023 Published by Anthony Adragna and Nancy Vu

Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories

At the heart of Kevin McCarthy’s struggles for the speakership is a bloc of roughly two dozen conservative House Republicans opposed to his elevation.

The 20 members — with 19 of them opposing McCarthy from the start, and one who switched in the third ballot — are a mix of veterans of the Tea Party class, newly elected members and perennial thorns in the side of leadership.

Here’s more on those lawmakers, who actually ensured incoming House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries won more votes on every ballot.

Andy Biggs

(R-Ariz.)

Republicans originally rallied behind the Arizona Republican, the former chair of the House Freedom Caucus, as a symbolic alternative to McCarthy during the first conference-wide vote for GOP leader. Thirty-one GOP lawmakers voted for someone other than McCarthy last November, a sign that McCarthy would not have the votes come Jan. 3. Ten Republicans voted for Biggs on Tuesday during the first speaker vote.

Dan Bishop

(R-N.C.)

Bishop came to Congress in 2019 after time in the North Carolina state Legislature. A member of the Freedom Caucus, Bishop said in a statement Tuesday that McCarthy “is not the right candidate to be Speaker,” arguing he’s maintained the “status quo” that has made Congress unpopular among the American people.

Lauren Boebert

(R-Colo.)

A lightning rod since she first knocked off a Republican incumbent in a 2020 primary, Boebert has long criticized the status quo in Washington. “I worked diligently with my conservative colleagues to put together a deal that would unify the conference behind Kevin McCarthy,” she said on Tuesday. “He rejected it.”

Josh Brecheen

(R-Okla.)

The Oklahoma Republican is a new member who succeeds Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) in representing the House seat covering almost all of the eastern portion of the state. A self-styled fiscal conservative in the vein of former Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), for whom he once worked, Brecheen originally cast his vote for Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).

Michael Cloud

(R-Texas)

A member of the House since 2018, the Texas Republican said in a statement that Congress is “broken” and that despite negotiations with McCarthy and others, “ultimately many of the promises made lacked enforcement mechanisms necessary to ensure their implementation, casting doubt on the sincerity of reforms.”

Andrew Clyde

(R-Ga.)

The Georgia Republican first assumed office in 2021 and made waves when he likened the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to a “normal tourist visit.” Clyde is a member of the Freedom Caucus.

Eli Crane

(R-Ariz.)

A new member-elect, Crane flipped a newly redrawn seat previously held by former Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.). He signed on to a letter along with eight other conservatives calling McCarthy’s concessions on the chamber’s rules “insufficient” shortly before the vote.

Byron Donalds

(R-Fla.)

After previously casting his vote for McCarthy in the first two votes, Donalds switched his vote to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) during the third ballot. “The reality is Rep. Kevin McCarthy doesn’t have the votes,” he said in a statement after the third round. The sophomore Republican has made waves in the conference, throwing his hat in the ring to be chair of the House GOP conference last year ― a bid that he later lost to Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.). Donalds was even floated as an alternative to McCarthy, with Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) voting singlehandedly for the Florida Republican.

Matt Gaetz

(R-Fla.)

Gaetz has led the charge against McCarthy’s bid for speaker since the onset. He’s been in office since 2017 and frequently clashed with party leadership of both parties. “Maybe the right person for the job of speaker of the House isn’t someone who wants it so bad,” Gaetz said Tuesday on the House floor.

Bob Good

(R-Va.)

One of the original five members of the “Never Kevin” caucus, Good has opposed McCarthy’s elevation to the speakership from the jump. He came to Congress in 2020 after defeating a sitting congressman — then-Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) — in a GOP primary. Good and McCarthy have bad blood dating back to that primary defeat.

Paul Gosar

(R-Ariz.)

Coming to Congress in 2011, the former Tea Party member and now Freedom Caucus lawmaker is one of the most conservative members of his party and a magnet for controversy. The Arizona Republican was previously called out by McCarthy for attending a white nationalist event last year, and was censured and stripped of his committee assignments by the House after posting an animated video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)

Andy Harris

(R-Md.)

One of the longest-serving members to oppose McCarthy, Harris first came to Congress in 2011 after a lengthy career in the Maryland state Senate. He’s a member of the Freedom Caucus and cast his first vote Tuesday for former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) before subsequently backing Jordan.

Anna Paulina Luna

(R-Fla.)

The freshman won election to a newly redrawn seat on the western coast of Florida. Luna signed on to a number of the letters from Perry laying out additional demands of McCarthy, including the one on Jan. 1 calling his concessions “insufficient.”

Mary Miller

(R-Ill.)

Miller first assumed her seat representing a sprawling swath of southern Illinois in 2021 and defeated former Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) in a member-on-member battle this most recent cycle. She’s a member of the Freedom Caucus and drew the highest-profile attention when she said in January 2021: “Hitler was right on one thing: He said, ‘Whoever has the youth has the future.’”

Ralph Norman

(R-S.C.)

Another of the original “Never Kevin” renegades, Norman has not wavered in his opposition to the California Republican. He’s a member of the Freedom Caucus and originally came to Congress in mid-2017 following a special election to replace Mick Mulvaney.

Andy Ogles

(R-Tenn.)

The freshman prevailed after Tennessee lawmakers redrew a district to break up the city of Nashville. Ogles has also signed on to a number of the letters seeking concessions from McCarthy in exchange for votes. Many signatories have felt those they got did not go far enough.

Scott Perry

(R-Pa.)

As chair of the Freedom Caucus, Perry has been one of the most vocal critics of McCarthy, leading the push for institutional changes that members of the caucus argue would restore power to rank-and-file members. This includes a change to lower the threshold on the motion to vacate, which would allow for members to dispose of a sitting speaker. However, even though McCarthy has stated that he was open to lowering the threshold for such a move, Perry was one of nine conservatives who said they weren’t satisfied with McCarthy’s answers to a list of demands from last month. Hours before the vote, Perry released a scalding statement on McCarthy, saying that the California Republican “failed to demonstrate any desire to meaningfully change the status quo in Washington.”

Matt Rosendale

(R-Mont.)

The second-term Montana lawmaker has been against the McCarthy speakership bid from the beginning. “We need a leader who can stand up to a Democrat-controlled Senate and President Biden, and unfortunately, that isn’t Kevin McCarthy,” he tweeted in November. Rosendale is being closely watched as a potential statewide office candidate in 2024 after coming up short in his Senate bid in 2018.

Chip Roy

(R-Texas)

Roy has also been a key antagonist to McCarthy, advocating for reforms to House rules — including the motion to vacate the chair. Even before coming to Congress, Roy previously pledged his support for Jordan as speaker, and promised to be a thorn in the side of establishment Republicans. “I’m not blinking,” he said Tuesday on Fox News.

Keith Self

(R-Texas)

The Texas Republican just assumed office, succeeding former Rep. Van Taylor (R-Texas), who retired. Prior to his election to Congress, Self served as county judge for Collin County, Texas.