Technology

Technology

San Jose mayor’s Twitter hack raises broader security concerns

Cybersecurity experts are urging public officials to beef up their online security in the wake of San Jose mayor’s Twitter account getting hacked. An unknown person or group briefly hijacked Mayor Sam Liccardo’s Twitter account last week and used the account to promote non-fungible tokens or NFTs—a digital product similar to cryptocurrency. Liccardo’s office referred...

State bill could give San Jose speed enforcement cameras

San Jose is one step closer to getting speed enforcement cameras to combat a leading cause of traffic fatalities. The California Assembly’s transportation committee voted unanimously Monday to advance Assembly Bill 2336, which would authorize the use of automated speed enforcement cameras in San Jose, Los Angeles, Oakland, Glendale and San Francisco. The bill heads to...

Santa Clara County wants to close the digital divide

Santa Clara County policymakers are reaffirming their commitment to give tens of thousands of residents faster, more reliable internet. During Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, county officials promised to issue a draft master plan no later than November for closing the digital divide in the county and expanding broadband internet service to unserved and underserved residents. Supervisors...

UPDATE: San Jose council approves license plate readers to curb crime

San Jose has approved leasing new license plate reading cameras, although questions remain about their deployment. The San Jose City Council agreed Tuesday to spend $250,000 in federal relief funds on license plate reading cameras. The proposal was prompted by several high-profile robberies and thefts at retail stores in the Bay Area. Details about collection,...

Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna’s campaign to pay $16K to FEC

A San Jose congressman’s campaign will pay $16,000 to a federal watchdog for using software that divulged donor history for fundraising purposes. The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) reached a settlement with Rep. Ro Khanna‘s campaign to pay for using information from the commission’s database to send people emails during his 2014 and 2016 runs for...

San Jose high school student raises $15,000 for Chromebooks

One year and 10,000 macarons later, an idea Shrobana Sengupta cooked up in a kitchen turned her into a social entrepreneur. The Presentation High School senior raised $15,000 for 72 Chromebooks through a GoFundMe account for the nonprofit Sunday Friends. The laptops were donated to low-income families helped by the nonprofit. In exchange, donors received...

The Capital of Silicon Valley struggles with email system

Despite complaints and frustration from the mayor about San Jose’s email platform, the city can’t afford to switch its operating system. “That kind of migration and transition would be a huge project for (roughly) 7,000 city employees,” Chief Information Officer Rob Lloyd told San José Spotlight. San José Spotlight last week revealed that Mayor Sam Liccardo...

San Jose, school districts push for digital equity

Students are resuming in-person instruction this school year, but some will be returning with significantly different experiences from their months of virtual learning. Erendia Diaz, who has sons in the Alum Rock Union School District and East Side Union School District, experienced this gap firsthand. When her sons switched to virtual learning last year due...