IT & Technology News
Reporting on information technology, cybersecurity, and tech policy. The Daily Signal includes analysis, commentary, and opinion on technology’s impact.
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exclusive
Watchdog Using AI to Help Americans Dig Through Millions of Pages of Government Records
An online database with more than 4 million pages of government documents is now deploying artificial intelligence to make searches easier for Americans. The Oversight Project, a government watchdog group that runs the site Doc Depot, says new AI features will allow users to quickly get answers buried on the 100th page of a large… -
analysis
Customers Pay for Virginia’s Policies on Power Production
Virginia’s federal elections will be finished in less than two weeks, but some state-based issues are likely to keep simmering long after Election Day. Examples include the state’s policies governing data centers and how the electricity to power those centers—and the homes of millions of citizens—is generated. A court in Goochland County hosted a pretrial… -
news
Case Against Goochland Data Center Goes to Court on Tuesday
Data centers and land use issues will be on the docket in the Goochland County Circuit Court on Tuesday. Last year, the Board of Supervisors passed legislation that carved a Technology Overlay District out of a designated growth zone in an area called West Creek, near the county’s border with Henrico County. The county said… -
opinion
Does AI Deserve Human Rights?
You can’t be cruel to a toaster; inanimate objects don’t feel pain. You can’t be cruel to a computer program, either, even if programs like Microsoft Word often seem pretty cruel to us. Yet the artificial intelligence company Anthropic insists its product is different: Starting next month, users will be prohibited from “sustained and needless… -
news
Elon Musk’s Quiet Role in the Most Expensive Senate Race in History
Elon Musk is single-handedly funding one of the largest super PACs backing Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate midterm election. Five hundred million dollars has been spent so far, making it the most expensive Senate race in history. According to Federal Election Commission reports filed Thursday, Musk made two multimillion-dollar donations in… -
news
Poll Suggests How TikTok Shapes Voter Views on Foreign Policy
As Americans prepare to vote in next month’s midterm elections, a new poll from Cygnal suggests that where voters get their news may play a growing role in shaping their views on America’s allies and foreign conflicts. The poll surveyed 1,500 likely midterm voters over Oct. 7-10, focusing primarily on foreign conflicts and self-defense. Of… -
opinion
Out for Delivery: The China Threat Comes to Your Door
Today’s digital marketplaces are omnipresent, promising competitive prices and fast delivery. More consumers have turned to these platforms in recent years, driving up online sales and helping e-commerce companies, particularly Chinese ones, rake in massive profits. China now captures a substantial share of global e-commerce. But its dominance of digital markets is not merely the… -
opinion
Americans Shouldn’t Pay the Price for Crypto Billionaires’ Political Influence
Billions of dollars gone. That is the staggering scale of cryptocurrency-related losses reported by Americans. According to the FBI, cryptocurrency-related complaints accounted for more than $9 billion in reported losses in 2024 alone. And as ordinary American victims struggle to recover, some of the wealthiest players in crypto are pouring enormous resources into Washington politics… -
news
Panel Discussion Explores the Future of AI Regulation
Virginia is leading the world into the future of artificial intelligence, with many of the state’s 674 data centers (and more on the way) serving as the hardware that provides the memory to drive AI. Data centers are also a growing political concern, with politicians at the local, state and federal levels arguing over what… -
news
US Suspends Microsoft, Major IT Firms From Key Green Card Program
REUTERS—The U.S. government is suspending Microsoft, Adobe and several large IT firms from a program that allows skilled foreign workers to gain permanent residency, senior U.S. officials announced on Thursday, citing alleged fraud, and as part of an effort to push companies to hire more Americans. “Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American… -
news
Jackson vs. Bottoms: 3 Biggest Takeaways From the Peach State Debate
Affordability, health care, and technology: These were three main issues that former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and health care executive Rick Jackson were faced with during Tuesday night’s gubernatorial debate in Doraville, Georgia. The two candidates took the stage, and immediately, attacks began. Bottoms opened by saying, “While my opponent is running to enrich himself… -
opinion
Why Privacy Matters
We are living in the midst of an ongoing and accelerating artificial intelligence revolution. That revolution leads to many possible futures, some beautiful and some terrifying. One possible future is a world of mass surveillance in which everything you say and do is meticulously recorded and analyzed, and even the content of your thoughts can… -
opinion
Microsoft’s Anti-American Policies
“The numbers, Mason! What do they mean?” shout the interrogators in “Call of Duty: Black Ops.” When Xbox announced another round of layoffs last week, the numbers meant something simple: more Americans out of work. Xbox’s parent company, Microsoft, is undermining President Donald Trump’s “America First” and “Worker First” agenda by firing its American employees… -
news
Flock Is Always Watching
Do you worry that you’re being watched? If you drive, you probably are. My new video covers the cameras that photograph the backs of millions of cars. A company called Flock has 80% of that market. Flock’s CEO says the goal is to “eliminate crime.” But lots of people hate the cameras. “We are asked… -
opinion
Back to Business at Delta?
On March 25, 2021, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed the Election Integrity Act of 2021, a law designed to codify some of the emergency measures put in place during the 2020, COVID-19-year election and to increase election security more generally. The most “controversial” provisions of the law were a requirement that an ID be presented… -
opinion
The Trump-Xi Summit Put America First
Last week, President Donald Trump hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington, D.C. While the meeting featured considerable pageantry, including a state dinner and displays of American history, the real meat of the summit came from its deliverables. The summit appears to have met expectations, safeguarding American interests and offering no concessions on important U.S…. -
news
Husted’s Ratepayer Protection Act Bill on Data Centers Fails in Senate
The Ratepayer Protection Act, meant to protect consumers from costs of data centers, failed to reach the necessary 60 votes in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, despite near-unanimous support in the House. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, who faces a special election in November. The bill came close in a 57-43… -
analysis
1 Local Issue Is Shaking Up Races in Key Battleground States
Virginia is one of the first states to open its polls, and I cast my ballot the day early voting began. There’s a lot at stake this election year in the commonwealth, particularly Virginia’s proposed constitutional amendments on abortion and marriage. But Virginia is hardly alone among the states that will shape the direction of… -
news
Trump Says He’ll Sign Order Renaming Artificial Intelligence ‘Super Intelligence’
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will sign a “very powerful” executive order Tuesday at 5 p.m. on “super intelligence.” “This kind of innovation in government is just a preview of what is possible with super intelligence, or SI, and that’s the official name in the United States,” he said. “I’ll be signing a very… -
news
Virginia’s Energy Mix May Include Fusion, But Will Require Natural Gas
Virginia’s economic future depends on access to reliable, affordable energy. The Commonwealth already hosts more than a third of the planet’s hyperscale data centers, for example, and plans are on the drawing board to deliver even more capacity in the decades ahead. New data centers may be required to supply their own power at peak…