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    • Mark Robinson files defamation lawsuit against CNN report on porn chat room
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    Mark Robinson files defamation lawsuit against CNN report on porn chat room

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    Happy Tuesday. Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, rounding up the week’s biggest stories at the intersection of politics and the all-encompassing world of technology.

    Robinson seeks revenge

    North Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, has filed a defamation lawsuit against CNN over the outlet’s reporting of chatroom messages he allegedly shared on a pornographic website between 2008 and 2012. The CNN report linked Robinson to an account that posted messages on CNN’s website. website ‘Nude Africa’, in which the user who identified himself as a ‘black Nazi’ admitted to leering at women as a teenager and expressed support for slavery.

    The lawsuit, which seeks $50 million in damages, also names a man named Louis Money as a defendant. Money is a former clerk at a porn store who told the news media that Robinson had been a regular at his store in the past. Money stands by his claims, but Robinson claims in his lawsuit that he only stopped by the store occasionally to “socialize.”

    Robinson denied making the posts at the time CNN first published its report, and his lawyer accused the outlet of a “journalistic hit job.” At a news conference Tuesday, Robinson called the report a “high-tech lynching,” but neither he nor his attorney provided any evidence that appeared to contradict CNN’s reporting.

    It’s hard to see this suit doing much to lift Robinson’s campaign out of its current slump. Several of his staffers have resigned. Despite refusing to withdraw his support for Robinson, Donald Trump has not included him in any of his events in North Carolina. The lawsuit appears to be a last-ditch effort to salvage the legitimacy of a campaign that is sorely lacking.

    Watch Robinson’s full press conference here.

    Heed Harris’ warning

    During a conversation with journalist Roland Martin, Kamala Harris reminded his listeners of Russia’s 2016 efforts to stoke apathy or pro-Trump sentiment among voters, particularly Black voters. Harris warned that Russia is making similar efforts again this year.

    Anti-FEMA violence

    A man promoting a far-right militia and allegedly seeking to harm Federal Emergency Management Agency employees was arrested Saturday, authorities in North Carolina said. William Jacob Parsons, 44, was charged with “armedly meeting the terror of the public,” NBC reports; he did not return NBC’s request for comment. That news comes after FEMA workers were reportedly forced to resign in certain parts of the state due to threats, which have come as Trump and other Republicans spread online conspiracy theories about the government’s response to Hurricane Helene.

    Read more at NBC News.

    Problems with predictive policing

    A new Tech Policy report shows that officials in multiple states have raised doubts about the effectiveness of high-tech tools used for predictive policing. Some of these tools, such as artificial intelligence-based algorithms supposedly designed to predict where crimes are most likely to occur, are known to perpetuate racial bias. The Tech Policy report suggests that skepticism about these tools may finally be increasing.

    Read more at Technical policy.

    The bucket was leaking

    American Water, the largest water company in the United States, announced last week that it had been hit by a cyber attack. The company said it had detected “unauthorized activity” on its computer networks, but that the water it supplies is safe to drink and that no water or wastewater services have been made.

    Read more at CNBC. (And for more information on cyberattacks targeting US infrastructure, read some of my previous reporting.)

    Musk’s election efforts

    The New York Times published a report on an Elon Musk-backed organization called Building America’s Future, a pro-Trump political organization that has released digital ads — some of which have been labeled anti-Semitic by Democrats — aimed at galvanizing Black and Muslim support for Harris and “seem to be intended to lower Ms. Harris’ turnout” in Michigan “using the Middle East conflict as a wedge.” The group has also reportedly funded efforts to place and keep third-party candidates, such as Jill Stein and Cornel West, on state ballots across the country.

    Read more at The New York Times.

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