Jose A. Marquez-Leon (@LISTA1) is the National President, CEO, and Founder of Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA). In this role he serves as lead advocate on state and federal issues related to the role of Latinos in the technology sector. He is also charged with coordinating organization-wide strategic planning for LISTA initiatives and is executive director of 15 LISTA TechLatino Councils nationwide.
Since LISTA’s inception the organization has developed programs to take the Latino community from the “schoolroom to the boardroom.” These programs are designed to introduce technology into classrooms, encourage information technology and science professions among young adults, facilitate technology-related professional development through certification training and job-matching programs, leverage online communications for continued collaboration, and recognize Latinos within the IT industry that are making a difference.
Jose has received several achievement awards including Politics 360 GameChangers Award, Hispanic Trends Magazine Technology Trendsetter 2007, National Hispanic Achievers Award, and the Greater NY Chamber of Commerce Advocate of the Year 2003, among others. In 2008, the Federal Communications Commission appointed Jose to serve on its Committee on Digital and Media Inclusion.
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THE NEWS
Ellen Nakashima at the Washington Post reports on an FBI alert to states to secure their election systems. The report didn’t name the states that were targeted, but the Post points to two reported instances of hacks into election systems in June and July in Illinois, which resulted in the state having to shut down voting registrations, and Arizona, where hackers obtained access to voting records. Some experts suspect Russia may be the culprit.
Evan Perez at CNN also reported that the FBI is investigating a series of cyberattacks against news organizations including the New York Times. Several US officials believe the attacks on reporters, as well as attacks on the Democratic National Committee, have been the work of the Russians.
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For the first time in its nearly a quarter century existence, Wired magazine--the tech sector’s leading trade and lifestyle publication -- has endorsed a presidential candidate. Editor-in-Chief Scott Dadich praised Hillary Clinton’s support for net neutrality, student loan forgiveness for entrepreneurs, easing entry for people abroad who are skilled at science, tech and engineering, and strengthening the Affordable Care Act. Dadich painted Donald Trump as someone who is more interested in generating attention for himself than leading the country.
Nick Gass reports in Politico that Hillary Clinton’s tech agenda closely aligns with Silicon Valley.
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Hillary Clinton’s praise from Wired was marred by a new FBI disclosure that revealed Clinton failed to turn over nearly 15,000 emails to the State Department. These emails will plague Clinton’s campaign until Election Day, because a federal judge has ordered the emails to be released to the public beginning in October. Steven Lee Myers has the story in The New York Times.
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The Cybersecurity firm Lookout and the University of Toronto have discovered three previously unknown security flaws in Apple’s iOS mobile operating system. The report states the flaws made it possible for foreign governments to tap into users’ phones and spy on them using spyware that targeted journalists and activists. Andrea Peterson at The Washington Post has the story.
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The American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Democracy and Technology and 26 other organizations sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security last week opposing the agency’s proposal to use social media to review visa-waiver applications. The groups say the proposed rules would unfairly target Arab-Americans and Muslims. Ali Breland has the story in the Hill.
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Thirty-two tech and telecom companies including AT&T, Verizon, Google and Apple have formed a Robocall Strike Force to develop a self-regulatory approach to dealing with annoying calls from telemarketers, researchers and others. FCC Chairman Tom.Wheeler says the FCC receives 200,000 robocall complaints each year. The group’s plan for dealing with robocalls is due to the FCC on October 19th.
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Finally, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has set its deadline for the FCC to respond to petitions telecom companies filed asking the full court to review the court’s 3-judge panel decision to uphold the FCC’s net neutrality rules. The FCC’s response is due September 12th.
Nicole Reitz-Larsen (@reitzlarsen) is a secondary classroom teacher with 15+ years teaching experience. She has taught everything from AP/IB Computer Science, to German, Multimedia and Business related courses. She loves working with students and is passionate about equity in education and providing opportunities for all students to be successful.
She works with teachers nationwide on the CS10K.org site and with Code.org to promote the importance of computer science, assist districts in implementing computer science K-12 in schools to broaden participation of underrepresented students of color and females.
You can often find her facilitating Computer Science workshops nationwide, presenting at teacher conferences or meet ups because she loves working with educators to provide them with resources, and teaching strategies around equity and inquiry, while creating an environment that is inclusive of all students, as well as in the classroom which she calls home.
In this episode, we discussed:
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Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg
NEWS
Anonymous hackers some experts believe have Russian ties released a trove of tools the National Security Agency uses to exploit bugs on the Internet to conduct spying operations. For years, the NSA has resisted efforts by institutions to reveal the bugs it was exploiting so they could be fixed. Now, those bugs are on full display for all the world to see. Ellen Nakashima covers this story at the Washington Post and Andy Greenberg is covering it for Wired.
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Hackers believed to have Russian ties also got into billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Foundations’ files last week, according to Julian Hattem at the Hill. Two thousand documents were released giving an inside look into how the powerful Democratic supporter and his Foundations operate.
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Google isn’t out of the woods yet regarding the way it scans emails to serve up ads. Google scans not just Gmail messages, but also anyone interacting with Gmail, from any domain. The plaintiffs sued Google in the Northern District of California alleging that the company’s email scanning practices violate wiretapping provisions of both the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California’s own state privacy laws. Google argued the practice is within the ordinary course of business. But US District Judge Lucy Koh disagreed, ordering the case to move forward. Joe Mullin covers this for Ars Technica.
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It looks like internet service providers are going to have to start putting some of its users on blast for copyright infringement-even before they have been convicted of it. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled last week that Cox must pay $25 million to BMG Music for failing to notify users that they had infringed music copyrights by participating in illegal file sharing. BMG enlisted a 3rd party to monitor Cox’ users for infringement and when it found infringement, notified Cox. But Cox then prevented its users from receiving notifications. So the court ruled Cox now owes BMG a $25 million penalty. Brian Fung has that story at the Washington Post.
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Univision has won the bid for Gawker Media’s bankruptcy assets. Gawker announced last week it would be ceasing operations. The announcement was made after months of speculation about the fate of the company, following a devastating $140 million judgment against Gawker in favor of Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan sued Gawker for posting a video showing Hogan having sex with radio Bubba the Love Sponge’s wife. Keepin it classy, baby! Anyway, Univision’s bid for Gawker’s assets was $135 million, pending approval by the Bankruptcy Court. Lukas Alpert has the story in the Wall Street Journal.
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Finally, The DOJ and FTC are seeking comment on proposed rules to update the guidelines we use to license intellectual property. The comments are due September 26th.
Rachel Rodgers (@RachelRodgersEsq) is a business lawyer turned business coach, intellectual property strategist, and the creator of Small Business Bodyguard.
In 2013, she created the Small Business Bodyguard: Cover Your Bases, Cover Your Assets, Cover Your Ass. This game-changing legal resource has been called “fun and engaging” by New York Times bestselling author Chris Brogan and a “graduate-level course on how to build a strong foundation for your business” by CEO of OurDeal, Kyle Durand.
Rachel is known in the legal industry and beyond for being an innovator and master of productizing services and creating high-quality, high profit products. SBB and the other legal kits she has created have been transformative, generating half a million dollars in revenue in just two years and serving 1,700 small businesses around the country. And she achieved those results with almost no active marketing because she simply didn’t have the time (she literally launched SBB with a newborn in her arms).
When she’s not taking care of clients, she enjoys baking in the kitchen (barefoot, with rosé in hand), lifting weights, juicing (the green kind, not the steroid kind), reading to her toddlers, being a “dance mom” to her girls and going on new adventures with her family (her favorite destination being the South of France, of course!).
In this episode, we discussed:
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Mastermind Dinners by Jason Gaignard
The Alchemist by Paul Coehlo
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
NEWS
Jermane Bond (@JermaneBond) is a Senior Fellow at the National Collaborative for Health Equity where he leads efforts to address the determinants of health for boys and men of color. His research interests include men’s preconception health and reproductive life planning, paternal involvement in pregnancy outcomes and racial and ethnic disparities in infant mortality. With funding from the Office of Minority Health in the Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Bond formed the Commission on Paternal Involvement in Pregnancy Outcomes, (a transdisciplinary working group of social scientist and public health professionals) to raise awareness for the importance of paternal involvement in pregnancy and family health by reframing debates, informing research, policy and practice to support greater involvement of expectant fathers in pregnancy. Dr. Bond is a member of the American Public Health Association, the American College of Epidemiology and serves on several editorial boards, including the Maternal and Child Health Journal and the American Journal of Public Health. He received a B.A. from Morehouse College, and a Ph.D. from Howard University.
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This Week's News
Jessica Gonzalez (@JGonzalezNHMC) is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. Jessica oversees all NHMC operations from headquarters in Pasadena, California. Jessica has testified before the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and has been interviewed on television and radio. Additionally, she played an instrumental role in drafting the historic Memorandum of Understanding between Comcast Corporation and leading national Latino leadership organizations. Before joining NHMC, Jessica was a staff attorney and clinical teaching fellow at Georgetown Law’s renowned Institute for Public Representation (IPR). At IPR Jessica represented NHMC and other consumer, civil rights and public interest organizations before the FCC, the NTIA and in the Courts of Appeal. While in law school, Jessica clerked at the Media Access Project in Washington, DC, and prior to law school she was a public high school teacher in Los Angeles, California. Jessica earned a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from Georgetown Law, a JD from Southwestern Law School, where she worked on the Journal of Law and Trade in the Americas and the Journal of International Media and Entertainment Law, and a BA in Communication Studies and Spanish from Loyola Marymount University. She is licensed to practice law in California and the District of Columbia. Jessica serves on the Executive Board of Directors of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and sits on the FCC’s Diversity and Open Internet advisory committees. In recognition of her public service accomplishments and commitment to mentoring, Harvard Law School selected Jessica as a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow for the 2013-2014 school year.
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National Hispanic Media Coalition
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling