Hilltops Council

TikTok | July 23, 2020

U.S. federal employees would be barred from using Chinese-owned mobile video app TikTok on government-issued devices under a bill that passed a U.S. Senate Committee on Wednesday, as lawmakers feared the security of users’ personal data. The “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” from Senator Josh Hawley was passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and will be taken up by the U.S. Senate for a vote....

Nextgov | June 05, 2020

A bipartisan cadre of tech-focused legislators in the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would direct the federal government to develop a national cloud computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence research. Introduced by Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Thursday, the National Cloud Computing Task Force Act would convene a mix of technical experts across academic, industry and government. The group would develop a nuanced roadmap for how the nation s...

Microsoft | February 13, 2020

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Pentagon to temporarily halt a $10 billion cloud-computing contract with Microsoft after Amazon claimed President Trump caused it to lose out on the lucrative deal. Amazon, which along with its CEO Jeff Bezos has been publicly derided by President Trump, had been considered the favorite to win the government contract. When it was awarded to Microsoft in October, the e-commerce giant filed a suit the next month alleging it was because of interference from T...

Huawei | May 19, 2020

U.S. Department of Commerce announced plans to restrict Chinese vendor Huawei’s ability to use U.S. chipmaking equipment and software to design and manufacture its semiconductors abroad. The U.S. government believes that Huawei has continue...