Kushner’s national surveillance program raises alarm on privacy Presented by CTIA

With help from Cristiano Lima

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Quick Fix

— Surveillance state: A POLITICO report on Jared Kushner’s proposed national surveillance program has lawmakers and consumer advocates demanding answers on how the data-driven effort would protect Americans’ privacy.

— Mental health and the pandemic: The coronavirus crisis has underscored our health care system’s lack of preparedness for virtual therapy, and some social media companies are jumping in to share resources.

— Bezos toes the frontline: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos visited one of his warehouses and Whole Foods markets in what some followers viewed as a PR move to smooth over the company’s bumpy handling of the Covid-19 outbreak.

A message from CTIA: With multiple nationwide 5G networks available today, America is at the forefront of the emerging 5G Economy. Now Boston Consulting Group has identified the keys to unlocking 5G’s potential to reinvent the way we live and work, including more licensed spectrum and a pro-business regulatory framework. Learn more at www.ctia.org.

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Tech of the Town

POLITICO SURVEILLANCE REPORT SOUNDS PRIVACY ALARM ACROSS WASHINGTON — Privacy hawks in Congress and around the Capitol are demanding answers from the Trump administration after a POLITICO report revealed that the president’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is leading an effort engaging health tech companies to build a national surveillance system to fight the pandemic.

— The project could aid response efforts — giving the government, through patient data, a near real-time pulse on factors like hospital capacity and which communities should keep social-distancing measures in place — “but the prospect of compiling a national database of potentially sensitive health information has prompted concerns about its impact on civil liberties well after the coronavirus threat recedes,” our colleague Adam Cancryn reported.

— Privacy limits: Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called the privacy implications of the surveillance proposal “highly concerning” in a letter sent Thursday to President Donald Trump. “Although the federal government should utilize technology and data to respond to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, I strongly urge you to reject any action that may lead to harmful invasions of privacy,” Markey wrote, adding: “The contours of the proposal under consideration appear to represent a significant threat to Americans’ right to privacy.” He pressed for more details about the proposed network by April 16.

— POLITICO’s report also prompted the Electronic Privacy Information Center to file “an urgent” Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Health and Human Services to obtain more information about the proposed program. EPIC is seeking “the memo submitted by three major health care technology companies to HHS that predicted their ability to supply the government with health care data” that would drive the countrywide surveillance system.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THE COVID-19 ‘BIG DATA’ HEARING — Witnesses at Thursday’s Senate Commerce “paper hearing” on big data and the coronavirus pandemic largely agreed on one major point: The outbreak underscores the need for a federal privacy law. And the lack of standards may be slowing relief efforts by creating uncertainty for the tech sector, some argued.

— “A federal privacy law would also provide much-needed legal clarity for U.S. companies to be able to respond quickly and understand what kind of data they may or may not share legally and ethically to support emergency public health initiatives,” Stacey Gray, senior counsel for the Future of Privacy Forum, wrote in her testimony.

— A silver lining? A consensus Senate privacy bill remains notoriously elusive, despite over a year of talks among committee leaders and other lawmakers. But one witness suggested that the public health emergency may yield a positive outcome by providing a “stress test” for the proposals already vying for support on Capitol Hill. “By having a really explicit conversation about how data is used in these moments, whether companies are going too far … I think it actually is useful for the bigger picture of how we craft the law,” the Center for Democracy & Technology’s Michelle Richardson told MT prior to the session.

— As for the “paper” format of the session, which will spill into next week as MT explained Thursday, the lack of a live back-and-forth between lawmakers and witnesses was clearly felt. “It certainly doesn’t have the theatrics and the spontaneity of a real hearing but this is the next best thing and it keeps everybody safe,” the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Dave Grimaldi said before the hearing.

SOCIAL ISOLATION AND LONELINESS: MENTAL HEALTH, THE INTERNET, AND COVID-19 — “Locked-down America has become a country desperately in need of virtual therapy, but the health care system has been left scrambling to use telemedicine to help connect people with mental health professionals,” POLITICO’s Mohana Ravindranath reported ahead of Trump’s meeting Thursday afternoon with mental health providers. “Years of restrictive federal and state policies kept America’s therapists from embracing telemedicine, and now behavioral health providers are rushing to move online — often with little guidance on best practices or assurances that the care will continue after the coronavirus fades.”

— Facebook’s part: The social media giant announced Thursday that resources to help people cope will now be available in Facebook’s COVID-19 Information Center (which, once you’re logged in, you can find at the left under the “Explore” tab). You’ll find tips from the World Health Organization on how to stay well while at home, both physically and mentally; access to your local crisis hotline; information on a mental health-focused Instagram Live series featuring celebrities speaking with experts from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, National Alliance on Mental Illness and other organizations; and tools to limit the time you spend on social media.

INSTAGRAM DU JOUR: BEZOS’ TOUR DE AMAZON — In a scene shared on his Instagram on Thursday, Bezos took a face-masked thank you tour through an Amazon fulfillment center (where he got his temperature checked) and a Whole Foods market (where he did not shake hands). The imagery portrayed everything as peachy keen and squeaky clean just a week after Amazon warehouse workers staged a walkout and Whole Foods employees went on strike to protest labor conditions during the health crisis. (A leak from an internal meeting with Amazon leadership made matters even worse last week, turning the tech giant’s PR strategy into a PR disaster and fueling even more backlash from workers.)

— Reactions: A mixed bag from Bezos’ nearly 2 million Instagram followers. On one hand, from one commenter: “Imagine your boss being the richest man on earth and stopping by to see you working during this pandemic. Pretty cool.” And another: “The richest man in the world is just a regular cool guy that cares.” But on the other hand: “Publicity stunt give Chris Smalls his job back!!!” (referring to the fired walkout organizer) and “Great way to silence the naysayers!” (Plus: “Can you ramp up the toilet paper availability??”)

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK: VIRTUAL SIT-DOWN WITH FTC LEADERSHIP — The number of pandemic-related scams and fraud complaints is soaring. Join POLITICO technology reporter Leah Nylen at 4 p.m. Tuesday for a virtual interview with FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips about how the agency is dealing with the rising number of scams around the coronavirus and what the FTC can do about price-gouging on medical supplies and other hard-to-come-by items. Register to watch here.

A message from CTIA: Over the past 10 years 4G powered our economy, driving 10% of all U.S. GDP growth, supporting 20 million jobs and saving consumers $130 billion each year. Over the next 10 years, the 5G Economy will drive a new, transformative wave of wireless innovation, powering new levels of economic development and job growth. Drawing on an in-depth analysis of how America led the 4G economy, Boston Consulting Group has identified the five key factors that policymakers should focus on in order to build the new 5G Economy including spectrum availability, network investment, a robust innovation ecosystem, a pro-investment business climate and workforce development. Focusing on these areas will drive 5G market penetration and secure America’s position as the world’s innovation hub. Learn more at www.ctia.org.

Transitions

Ed Gillespie, chairman of Sard Verbinnen and Co.’s public affairs group, is joining AT&T later this month as senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, replacing Jim Cicconi (who is retiring) and reporting directly to CEO Randall Stephenson.

Silicon Valley Must Reads

Zoom in Congress: Leading companies including Google have already banned employees from using Zoom over privacy and security concerns. Senate offices, too, have now been urged not to use it, Cristiano reports for Pros, and the House is “reevaluating,” he reports.

Plus: “Zoom Is Easy. That’s Why It’s Dangerous,” via NYT.

Online lenders stuck at the starting gate: “Enlisted Late, Online Lenders Still Must Wait to Help Speed Up Stimulus,” also from NYT.

Doing just fine: Palantir, Bloomberg reports.

Pandemic vs. personal privacy: Medium’s tech and science publication, OneZero, mapped out the government surveillance being deployed around the world — from the U.S. and China to Kenya and Argentina — to take on the coronavirus.

Quick Downloads

ICYMI: Yelp laid off 1,000 employees and furloughed more than 1,000 others, The Verge reports.

Food for thought: “In a Pandemic Tech Platforms Need to Think Like Newsrooms,” via David Jay at The Center for Humane Technology.

Culture shock: How Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei has created a “wolf culture” for employees of the Chinese telecom giant, via the South China Morning Post.

Redaction [gone wrong]: “Frontier is trying to hide large portions of an audit report from the public, claiming that details about the ISP's broadband-network problems are trade secrets,” Ars Technica reports. But that audit, which hadn’t been properly redacted before its release to the public, ultimately revealed 952,000 potential network problems.

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TTYL and go wash your hands.

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