Welcome to Hillicon Valley, The Hill’s newsletter detailing all you need to know about the tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. If you don’t already, be sure to sign up for our newsletter with this LINK.
Welcome! Follow our cyber reporter, Maggie Miller (@magmill95), and tech reporter, Chris Mills Rodrigo (@chrisismills), for more coverage.
***UPCOMING EVENTS***
Wednesday, May 20: The Vir[tech]ual World Ahead
On Wednesday, May 20 The Hill Virtually Live will explore the lessons we are learning in our new digital reality. Accommodating the new normal means an increased reliance on telecommunication networks and an accelerated digitalization of industries. Yet, digital literacy is uneven, as is basic access to the internet. How should policymakers approach the goals of coverage, access, affordability and capacity? Editor-at-large Steve Clemons will be joined by Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly and more. RSVP today!
On Thursday, May 21 The Hill hosts Advancing the American Economy, a national virtual summit to discuss a responsible reopening of the US economy. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin joins Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack for a headline interview followed by an afternoon of discussions with leading CEOs and national health experts. Additional speakers to be announced. Register Now!
FLY THE NOT-SO-FRIENDLY SKIES: Airline company easyJet announced Tuesday that a recent data breach by a “highly sophisticated actor” had comprised the personal information of 9 million customers.
Hackers were able to access the email addresses and travel details of all 9 million, and more than 2,000 had their credit card information compromised. The airline said in a statement that the “unauthorized access” used by hackers to steal the data had been “closed off.”
EasyJet said it would notify all customers who had credit card numbers stolen by May 26 and advised all customers to be wary of malicious emails that might use stolen travel information to try to steal more data. It emphasized that there was no evidence that the stolen information had been “misused.”
The company, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom, notified the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre and the Information Commissioner’s Office once it became aware of the breach, but it did not offer details on when the breach took place or how long it has known about the incident.
Johan Lundgren, the CEO of easyJet, said in a statement Tuesday that the company “would like to apologize to those customers to have been affected by this incident.”
“We take the cyber security of our systems very seriously and have robust security measures in place to protect our customers’ personal information,” Lundgren said. “However, this is an evolving threat as cyber attackers get ever more sophisticated.”
He pointed to the coronavirus pandemic as a catalyst for hackers targeting personal information at a greater rate.
Read more about the breach here.
CRUSHING COVID: Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) announced the launch of a new app aimed at helping state officials track and stop the spread of coronavirus at a press conference held Monday in Providence.
The app, called “Crush COVID RI” will be used by state health experts to conduct contact tracing and better understand the spread of the virus across the state.
Rhode Island has reported over 12,600 cases of the disease.
“This is a homegrown app,” said Raimondo at the press conference, according to local news affiliate WPRI. “It’s going to be a tool that helps everybody in Rhode Island get through the crisis.”
“When I started this I said to the team that I need you to make something that tracks contacts and enables us to keep a lid on the virus, but protects people’s privacy and data in an ironclad way, so that’s what this is designed to do,” the governor continued.
The app, which state residents can download to their smartphones, identifies any area where users stay for longer than 10 minutes and reports that location to state officials. The goal, according to Raimondo, is to identify hot spots around the state frequented for long periods of time by many residents.
Read more about the new app here.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS: The Senate on Tuesday voted to confirm Texas attorney Trey Trainor to serve on the Federal Election Commission (FEC), giving the agency the quorum it needs to conduct business for the first time since August.
Trainor, who is a former adviser on President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was confirmed 49-43 along party lines, with eight senators not voting. He received strong Democratic pushback due to his record on campaign finance and concern over a lack of bipartisanship during the nomination process.
The FEC has lacked the required four commissioners to conduct business and issue opinions since former Commissioner Matthew Petersen stepped down in August, leaving the agency largely powerless in the run up to a presidential election. It was the longest period without quorum in the agency’s history.
Senate Rules Committee Chairman Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), whose panel approved Trainor’s nomination along party lines earlier this month, said Tuesday that he was pleased the Senate had “worked through all the obstacles” involved and would be able to get the FEC “back in business.”
Trainor’s confirmation still leaves two vacancies at the FEC, which should have six commissioners. The other three current commissioners include one Democrat, one Republican, and one Independent.
FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub (D) told The Hill in a statement that “the FEC needs to have a quorum, and I hope to have a constructive working relationship with Trey.”
“We have a lot of work ahead of us — 350 matters on our enforcement docket and 227 items waiting for Commission action,” Weintrab added. “I am ready to roll up my sleeves and work with all my colleagues to get the important work of this agency done.”
Read more about the confirmation here.
TIKTOK HAS A NEW CEO: A Disney executive in charge of the company’s streaming services is leaving to lead the popular video sharing app TikTok.
Kevin Mayer, Disney’s head of direct-to-consumer business, was named CEO of TikTok, the app announced Tuesday. Mayer’s appointment is effective June 1.
He will also serve as chief operating officer of ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns the app.
“Kevin’s wealth of experience building successful global businesses makes him an outstanding fit for our mission of inspiring creativity for users globally,” ByteDance CEO Yiming Zhang said in the announcement.
“As one of the world’s most accomplished entertainment executives, Kevin is incredibly well placed to take ByteDance’s portfolio of products to the next level. I look forward to working very closely with Kevin on our global development and the next chapter of the ByteDance story,” the chief executive added.
In his role at ByteDance, Mayer will lead the company’s global development and oversee corporate functions including developments sales, marketing, pubic affairs, security, moderation and legal.
At Disney, Mayer oversaw the development and rollout of Disney+, the company’s streaming service that launched in November. He also led the company’s other direct-to-consumer businesses, including Hulu, ESPN+ and Hotstar.
ROGAN GOES EXCLUSIVE: Popular podcaster Joe Rogan announced Tuesday he’s moving “The Joe Rogan Experience” exclusively to Spotify starting in September.
“I am not going to be an employee of Spotify. We’re going to be working with the same crew, doing the exact same show,” Rogan assured listeners. “The only difference will be it will now be available on the largest audio platform in the world. Nothing else will change. It will be free. It will be free to you, you just have to go Spotify to get it.”
Rogan, 52, reportedly earned $30 million in revenue last year with 190 million downloads per month for the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast on YouTube, where he currently has more than 8.4 million subscribers.
Rogan’s is also invariably the first- or second most-listened to podcast on Apple.
“Since its launch in 2009, the pioneering Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) has broken ground and built one of the most loyal and engaged fan bases in the world,” said Spotify in a Tuesday press release. “Rogan brings his sensibilities as a stand-up comic to the show, and alongside dynamic and diverse guests, he fearlessly broaches far-ranging topics including neuroscience, sports, comedy, health, infectious disease, and our ever-changing culture — all with a mix of curiosity and humor.”
The terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed.
Spotify, a music services provider, was launched in 2008. It currently has more than 130 premium subscribers.
Lighter click: Choosing to believe this is real
An op-ed to chew on: COVID-19 and telehealth revolution policy barriers are standing in the way of transforming care.
NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB:
Google says it will not build custom A.I. for oil and gas extraction (OneZero / Brian Merchant)
House Democrats press Google over report of scaled-back diversity efforts (NBC News / April Glaser)
How immigrant twin brothers are beating Trump’s team on Facebook (New York Times / Nick Corasaniti)
Utah spent $2.75 million on a contact tracing app that only 40,000 people have used (BuzzFeed News / Caroline Haskins)
Financial gain trumps espionage as top motivator in cyber attacks: report (Reuters / Arriana McLymore)