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Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, featuring the past week’s top stories from the intersection of politics and technology.
Far right flips out over reported Palantir plan
Even far-right influencers are creeped out by President Donald Trump’s reported plan to work with MAGA-friendly tech company Palantir on merging data on Americans from different agencies into a single location — a development that could lead to the federal government having unprecedented power to spy on, and harass, Americans. Newsweek highlighted worried responses from Nick Fuentes, the Hodgetwins and other influencers who are sounding the alarm.
Read more at Newsweek.
Trump’s SEC scuttles Binance probe
The Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its lawsuit against Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange. Trump and his family have financial ties to Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, and Senate Democrats have demanded answers from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pam Bondi about the administration’s relationship with the company.
Read more at CNBC.
PADFA problems
Under Trump, the federal government appears to be dropping the ball in its duty to protect Americans’ personal information from foreign “data brokers,” who often will collect said info and sell it to third parties. A new piece in Just Security by Kevin Moriarty, a privacy and data security attorney, argues that the administration has demonstrated “concerning” inaction in enforcing the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, which was signed into law last year by President Joe Biden.
Read more at Just Security.
Elon’s exit? Not so fast
The White House hosted what was essentially a going-away party for Elon Musk last week, but few people — including Trump himself, along with Vice President JD Vance — seem to think much will really change in terms of Musk’s influence over the White House. The affair seemed more like a publicity stunt than anything else.
Read my blog at MSNBC.
Durbin targets drug pushers
The Trump administration has largely gutted the units within the Food and Drug Administration responsible for overseeing the promotion of pharmaceutical drugs, leading some people to worry how the federal government will effectively police such advertising going forward. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is seeking answers from the administration on that front.
Read more at STAT News.
Bot bureaucracy
The Trump administration has created a new AI chatbot it’s calling “chatCBP,” which apparently will help implement the president’s immigration policies. This continues a disturbingly fast uptake of generative artificial intelligence tools at federal agencies.
Read my blog at MSNBC.
Swat team
A Romanian man who’d been charged with using “swatting” calls and fake bomb threats to target a number of political figures, including an unnamed former president and members of Congress — including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — has pleaded guilty. Thomasz Szabo did so in federal court Monday, on one count of conspiracy and one count of making bomb threats.
Read more at The Associated Press.
Musk’s toxic emissions
The NAACP is demanding that Musk’s supercomputer project in Memphis, Tennessee, stop its work. The project has drawn scrutiny in the area over its pollutants. In a letter to officials in Shelby County, where the project is housed, the NAACP wrote: “While we applaud research and innovation, there must be limits that ensure that communities are healthy and alive to enjoy the benefits of any potential innovation.”
Read more at NBC News.