South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s executive order banning TikTok from state agencies has added further fuel to Washington’s calls for an outright ban on the Chinese-owned short-form video platform. The South Dakota tourism department deleted its account and 60,000 followers, and the state’s public broadcasting service and six public universities are planning how to move forward. Nebraska in 2020 became the first U.S. state to implement a government agency TikTok ban. Now a movement seems to be gaining momentum, with South Carolina, Arkansas and Maryland at various stages of action in dealing with the perceived national security threat. Continue reading U.S. States Rise Up Against TikTok Over Security Concerns

The first-ever drone-related crash of an aircraft in the U.S. may have taken place last week in South Carolina. According to two helicopter pilots, a student and an instructor, a drone appeared directly in front of them, causing the instructor to take over the controllers. The helicopter’s tail hit a tree or brush, causing the crash landing, which they reported to the South Carolina Police Department. The National Transportation Safety Board is opening an investigation, according to spokesperson Chris O’Neil. Continue reading Investigation Opens into Possible Drone-Linked Copter Crash

Starting December 1, shoppers on Amazon will most likely have to pay sales taxes on goods purchased from third-party merchants, in addition to paying tax on those bought directly from Amazon. That’s because, on that date, at least some vendors will begin collecting taxes to receive partial amnesty from back taxes in almost half of the U.S. states, including Florida, New Jersey and Texas. The deadline for the partial amnesty deal is October 17, so it is not yet clear how many merchants will take it. Continue reading States Are Battling Sales Tax Loopholes for Amazon Vendors

The South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that retailers selling goods over the Internet are not required to charge the state’s 4.5 percent tax. The court had examined an appeal brought by online retailers Overstock, Wayfair and NewEgg, which contested the state law that required any company doing more than $100,000 in online retail to collect sales tax. This ruling lays the foundation for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which can issue a final rule on this contentious issue that would impact retailers across the U.S. Continue reading Internet Tax Ruling Sets the Stage for Supreme Court Appeal

To compete with live social platforms including Snapchat and Twitter, Facebook is testing a new feature that allows users to access public content and friends’ posts from live events. To start, the social network is offering live streams from the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago to users anywhere in the United States. The feature will be available through “Place Tips,” a recent feature for accessing friends’ posts and info based on location. With the music festival, Facebook will make that information available remotely. Continue reading Facebook Tests Live Event Stream with Lollapalooza Festival

Virginia-based PFP Cybersecurity has developed a technology that may prevent future “zero-day” hacks from happening, such as the ones recently experienced by Sony, Target, JPMorgan Chase and Anthem. The technology reportedly detects hackers within milliseconds of an attack by identifying pattern changes in the power that devices use. PFP is currently testing the technology in South Carolina working together with the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory.  Continue reading PFP Cybersecurity Develops Tech to Prevent Zero-Day Hacks