Hillicon Valley — Amazon wins latest union fight
Amazon workers at a New York facility voted against forming a union Tuesday, dealing a blow to the nascent Amazon Labor Union that’s now lost two of its three votes.
We’ll also take a look at a new report detailing the decline in global internet freedom, driven this year by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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.
Albany-area Amazon rejects union bid
Amazon workers at a warehouse near Albany overwhelmingly voted against forming a union Tuesday, marking the second loss for organizers in New York after success at a Staten Island facility that voted to be represented by a union earlier this year.
Four hundred and six workers at the ALB1 facility in Schodack, N.Y, voted against the union bid, defeating the 206 that voted in favor of being represented by the nascent Amazon Labor Union.
It is the third time the Amazon Labor Union, or ALU, took on a challenge against the e-commerce giant.
In May, workers at a facility in Staten Island voted against unionizing, just a month after workers at a nearby facility voted in favor of their union bid to become the first group represented by the ALU.
The vote against the union effort comes as workers at Amazon facilities have been ramping up organizing efforts. Last week, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Moreno Valley, Calif., filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to form a union represented by the ALU.
Global internet freedom dips
Global internet freedom decreased for the 12th consecutive year, driven largely by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a Freedom House report released Tuesday.
Russia had the sharpest decline of any of the 70 countries assessed in the report — reaching an all-time low in the organization’s 12 years of tracking. The dip came after the country invaded Ukraine in February.
The Kremlin blocked mainstream social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as more than 5,000 websites, according to the report.
“The Russian government’s brazen invasion of Ukraine was the biggest driver of a decline in global internet freedom. It’s had a really far reaching impact,” said Kian Vesteinsson, Freedom House’s senior research analyst and co-author of the report.
Russia’s invasion also undermined Ukraine’s internet freedom, he said. Russian troops forced service providers to reroute internet traffic through Russian networks in the spring and summer in an effort that left Ukrainian users without access to social media platforms and international news sites, according to the report.
SENATOR ASKS INFO ON AVIATION SECTOR CYBER THREATS
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) is urging the federal government to identify steps it is taking to secure the aviation industry from cyberattacks.
In a letter addressed to the Department of Transportation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Rosen asked the agencies to provide her with information regarding the recent cyberattacks that hit a dozen websites of major U.S. airports last week.
Killnet, a Russian-speaking hacking group, claimed responsibility for the attacks which targeted 14 airports, including the Atlanta and Los Angeles international airports.
Rosen, who chairs the Senate’s subcommittee on tourism, trade and export Promotion, said that the incident shows a “broader trend” of cyberattacks increasing in frequency and severity in the U.S. transportation sector.
NY AG SAYS SHOOTER ‘RADICALIZED’ ONLINE
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Tuesday released a report detailing how a white supremacist gunman who opened fire at a Buffalo supermarket in May and killed 10 people in a racially motivated attack was radicalized by fringe websites like 4Chan.
While Payton Gendron’s online posts and activity were previously known, the attorney general office’s 49-page report offers a deeper examination of what led up to the May 14 shooting, when authorities say he shot 13 people at a supermarket in a majority-Black neighborhood on the East Side of Buffalo, N.Y.
James said Gendron, now 19, was active on message boards and forum sites like 4Chan, where he encountered a proliferation of hate speech and activity.
“The tragic shooting in Buffalo exposed the real dangers of unmoderated online platforms that have become breeding grounds for white supremacy,” the attorney general said in a statement, calling for better oversight of these platforms. “This report is further proof that online radicalization and extremism is a serious threat to our communities, especially communities of color.”
MICROSOFT SLASHES JOBS
Microsoft has cut some jobs after it faced slower revenue growth last quarter.
According to Axios, the tech giant slashed around 1,000 jobs across a variety of sectors.
A spokesperson for Microsoft told The Hill that “like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly.”
“We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead,” the spokesperson said.
BITS & PIECES
An op-ed to chew on: TikTok is China’s Trojan Horse
Notable links from around the web:
Angelina Jolie is the latest woman to be compared to Amber Heard by social media creators chasing celebrity scandal (NBC News / Kat Tenbarge)
Rent Going Up? One Company’s Algorithm Could Be Why. (ProPublica / Heather Vogell, with data analysis by Haru Coryne and Ryan Little)
Retired U.S. Generals, Admirals take top jobs with Saudi Crown Prince (The Washington Post / Craig Whitlock and Nate Jones)
📱 Lighter click: It’s a special skill
One more thing: Judge strikes digital ads tax
A Maryland judge on Monday struck down the nation’s first tax on digital ads, ruling it violated two federal laws.
Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Alison Ali ruled in favor of telecommunication companies Verizon Media and Comcast, both of which had challenged the state tax on online advertisements as unconstitutional and a violation of federal law.
Ali said because the law only taxed digital ads, it violated the Dormant Commerce Clause, which prohibits states from restricting interstate commerce.
The judge also ruled the state law violated the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prohibits discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce and taxes on internet access.
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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