February 27 2024
Internet speech
FLASH FTC sues to block Kroger-Albertsons merger
1 Supreme Court hears landmark social media speech arguments
2 Houthis knock out underwater cables linking Europe to Asia
3 Major healthcare system suffers cyberattack
4 RNC chair resigns
5 India becoming global seapower
2/27/1922 Supreme Court defends women’s voting rights
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1 Supreme Court hears landmark social media speech arguments
The most important First Amendment cases of the internet era, to be heard by the Supreme Court on Monday, may turn on a single question: Do platforms like Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and X most closely resemble newspapers or shopping centers or phone companies? The two cases arrive at the court garbed in politics, as they concern laws in Florida and Texas aimed at protecting conservative speech by forbidding leading social media sites from removing posts based on the views they express. But the outsize question the cases present transcends ideology. It is whether tech platforms have free speech rights to make editorial judgments. Picking the apt analogy from the court’s precedents could decide the matter, but none of the available ones is a perfect fit. If the platforms are like newspapers, they may publish what they want without government interference. If they are like private shopping centers open to the public, they may be required to let visitors say what they like. And if they are like phone companies, they must transmit everyone’s speech.
NYT
Justices from across the ideological spectrum appeared likely to prevent Texas and Florida from immediately implementing laws restricting social media giants from removing certain political or controversial posts, even as they expressed concern about the power platforms wield over public debate.
WaPo
2 Houthis knock out underwater cables linking Europe to Asia
Four underwater communications cables between Saudi Arabia and Djibouti have been struck out of commission in recent months, presumably as a result of attacks by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, according to an exclusive report in the Israeli news site Globes. The successful targeting of the four cables, which are believed to belong to the AAE-1, Seacom, EIG, and TGN systems, marks a serious disruption of communications between Europe and Asia.
Jerusalem Post
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-788888
3 Major healthcare system suffers cyberattack
Pharmacies warned of long waits for customers and U.S. military clinics worldwide have been affected after a cyberattack against one of the country’s largest prescription processors rolled into a third day of downtime. Health industry experts said that a cyberattack against Change Healthcare, part of insurer UnitedHealth Group’s Optum business, could have severe and lasting consequences should outages continue past the weekend. “It’s a mess, and I believe it’s our Colonial Pipeline moment in healthcare,” said Carter Groome, chief executive of healthcare-focused consulting firm First Health Advisory, referring to a 2021 cyberattack that forced the major fuel artery for the U.S. East Coast to shut down for six days, causing long lines at gas stations.
WSJ
4 RNC chair resigns
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel will leave her post on March 8, having been forced out of the GOP’s national leadership as Donald Trump moves toward another presidential nomination and asserts control over the party.
The move was not a surprise. Trump earlier in the month announced his preference for North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley, a little-known veteran operative focused in recent years on the prospect of voter fraud, to replace McDaniel. Trump also picked his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to serve as committee co-chair
AP
https://apnews.com/article/dde6c031db877008a348d0a31f04f278
5 India becoming global seapower
India is deploying a growing number of warships to counter rebel attacks on commercial ships plying around the Middle East, while steering clear of joining the official U.S.-led force in the Red Sea, as it looks to protect its ties with Iran.
India has sent 10 warships to the area stretching from the north and central Arabian Sea to the Gulf of Aden, up from the two that are usually stationed in the region, according to serving and former security officials.
Indian navy operations nevertheless reflect growing cooperation with the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China, and rely in part on U.S. military equipment, officials said. A $3 billion military procurement deal with the U.S. for 31 Predator drones, half of which are intended for the navy, will further boost India’s capabilities. A delivery date hasn’t been set yet.
In a little over a decade, the navy has added more than a dozen warships armed with missiles and torpedoes that are all produced domestically. The additions bring the total number of warships in India’s fleet to 140, and the navy aims to add about half that number to its fleet in the next few years, with almost all of them made in India. The navy began ramping up operations in around 2017, putting specialized equipment and personnel on warships on routine patrol to equip them to quickly respond to a range of distress calls, from hijacking to natural disasters, according to Indian officials. Since 2018, the Indian navy has also been operating a maritime security-information-sharing hub that receives real-time intelligence on vessel movements via radar stations scattered across Indian Ocean nations.
WSJ
2/27/1922 Supreme Court defends women’s voting rights
In Washington, D.C., the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for female suffrage, is unanimously declared constitutional by the eight members of the U.S. Supreme Court. The 19th Amendment, which stated that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex,” was the product of over seven decades of meetings, petitions, and protests by women suffragists and their supporters. In 1916, the Democratic and Republican parties endorsed female enfranchisement, and on June 4, 1919, the 19th Amendment was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, achieving the required three-fourths majority of state ratification, and on August 26 the 19th Amendment officially took effect.
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