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Welcome to Hillicon Valley, The Hill’s newsletter detailing everything you need to know about tech and cybernetic news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for our newsletter with this LINK.
Welcome! Follow our cyber reporter, Maggie Miller (@ magmill95), and our tech team, Chris Mills Rodrigo (@chrisismills) and Rebecca Klar (@rebeccaklar_), for more coverage.
THE INTEREST: Some QAnon supporters are losing hope in the plot, because another of his predictions – that Donald Trump would remain president and arrest the Main Democrats for their involvement in child trafficking rings – failed.
Users in several forums and chat rooms spent the morning developing new theories on how Wednesday, dubbed the “Great Awakening”, would still turn out as the theory predicted.
But as President Biden’s inauguration continued without impact, reality began to set in for some of QAnon’s most ardent supporters.
That’s not to say the theory is losing its vigor – deviations and new explanations soon emerged after Biden was sworn in.
Read more.
DRIVE WITH HER: In one of his last acts in office, the former President Trump
Donald Trump Lil Wayne Gets Trump Pardon for 11th Hour Trump grants clemency to more than 100 people, Bannon Trump should forgive Bannon: MORE reports pardoned former Google and Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski, who was sentenced last year to 18 months in prison for stealing trade secrets related to self-driving cars.
Levandowski pleaded guilty a year after being charged with 33 counts for downloading more than 14,000 engineering, manufacturing and corporate files from Google in the months leading up to his departure from the company in early 2016.
“Mr. Levandowski has pleaded guilty to a single criminal count arising out of civil litigation,” the White House wrote in a statement announcing the pardon. “Notably, his sentencing judge has him referred to as “the brilliant revolutionary engineer our country needs.” Mr. Levandowski has paid a considerable price for his actions and plans to devote his talents to the advancement of the public good.
Learn more about forgiveness here.
AMAZON OFFERS TO REACH OUT: E-commerce giant Amazon sent a letter to President Biden on Wednesday offering to lend a hand in the distribution of coronavirus vaccines as the newly sworn-in president aims to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in the White House.
Dave clark, CEO of Amazon, said the company was ready to help by leveraging “Amazon’s operational, information technology and communications capabilities.”
“Our scale allows us to have a significant impact immediately in the fight against COVID-19, and we are ready to assist you in that effort,” Clark wrote.
He also once again insisted that Amazon’s essential 800,000 workers at its facilities be a priority in vaccine deployment.
Learn more here.
TWITTER TURNOVER: On Wednesday, the platform officially transferred White House institutional accounts to the Biden administration.
President Biden will now have access to the @POTUS account and Vice President Harris will have @VP. The accounts of the White House, the press secretary and the spouses of the new leaders are also being transferred.
Read more.
DECIFY THE CODE: President Biden’s administration is reportedly looking to recruit tech experts for a federal agency via a hidden message on the White House’s new official website.
The website included a hidden message in its HTML code inviting those who found it to join the US Digital Service, Reuters reported Wednesday, as Biden took office and the site was updated.
“If you are reading this, we need your help to rebuild better,” the message said, according to the press service.
Learn more here.
Lighter click: When the meeting lasts longer than 30 minutes
An editorial to chew on: Biden team needs quick wins on tech policy
NOTABLE LINKS FROM ALL OVER THE WEB:
Meet the new technological bureaucracy (Protocol / Emily Birnbaum and Issie Lapowsky)
Use of technologists Facial recognition on Parler Videos (Joseph Cox / Motherboard)
Right-wing extremists and their supporters use Christian website to raise funds (CNN / Majlie de Puy Kamp and Scott Glover)
A visit to Zune Squad (The Verge / Luke Winkie)
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