The Informing Consumers about Smart Devices Act is once again floating down the halls of Capitol Hill – this time in the 118th Congress – but the same mission as last year: protecting you from your snooping appliances. […]

A bipartisan group of senators, led by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., sent a letter to Senate Appropriators urging them to fully fund the CHIPS and Science Act in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Appropriations Bill to ensure the United States remains a global leader in innovative, emerging technologies. […]

Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., want the Department of Commerce (DOC), including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to take additional actions to address cybersecurity threats. […]

The demand for reliable and affordable broadband service has skyrocketed in the last year as Americans began relying on the internet for telework, distancing learning, and telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many Americans – both urban and rural – have lacked either access or sufficient connection strength during the health crisis. […]

A new bill backed by a bipartisan group of leaders on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee aims to boost the Federal cybersecurity workforce with new guidelines for agencies, clearer career paths for the workforce, and improved coordination between agencies. […]

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported on Oct. 31 that the Energy Cybersecurity Act of 2019 would cost $832 million to implement over the next 10 years, with $355 million of that spent during the first five years.   […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Federal government does not collect data on airline IT outages, leading to limited insights into how IT outages impact travelers, according to a report released June 12. […]

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved three pieces of legislation via voice vote during today’s executive session. […]

Earlier this week, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Maria Cantwell, D.-Wash., wrote to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to not allow wireless companies to run in a 24 GHz band until weather forecasting is protected. […]

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J., today wrote Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and called for her to “take urgent action to protect America’s pipelines from cyber attack.” The letter follows a report released today from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which detailed issues American pipelines face defending against cyber attacks. […]

During a Senate Energy Committee hearing on blockchain Tuesday, senators and experts discussed the potential for blockchain to create a distributed, resilient, and secure power grid. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

Cybersecurity experts offered solutions to protect the U.S. electric grid, including moving the grid off of the public Internet, and using quantum encryption capabilities. “The nation’s electrical grid is a vital resource upon which our economy and our citizens’ daily lives depend,” said Richard Raines, director of the Electrical and Electronics Systems Research Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “It is also a system that is highly vulnerable to cyber intrusions as more and more utility controls and ‘smart’ technologies rely on public Internet connections.” […]

As a Democratic senator drafts a bill to look into artificial intelligence policy, Elon Musk and Google teach machines human judgment in order to avoid the robot apocalypse. […]

Internal Revenue Service cybersecurity is woefully inadequate, and Congress is to blame, according to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. “Congress has sat back and watched while criminals have come in and preyed on taxpayers,” Wyden said at a Senate Finance Committee hearing. […]