| MOST POPULAR Fake News Sees Real Blowback Some of the drama surrounding the 2020 election is coming back to bite those who put forth false narratives about the presidential vote being “stolen” by “rigged” voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic. In response to incorrect reports, as well as calls for employees of the two companies to be jailed — many were even sent death threats — Dominion and Smartmatic are suing outlets like Fox News and high-profile Republicans including former President Trump attorney Rudi Giuliani for $5.3 billion in damages. GT’s Andrew Westrope dives deep into the details of the suits and what really happened in the weeks following the election, and talked to election security experts on what real threats we should worry about — and also why they’re optimistic. Representation Without Taxation? In more news of the legal variety, the Maryland Legislature made headlines last week with a bill that would make it the first state in the country to collect taxes on digital advertising, particularly targeting tech giants like Facebook and Google. The bill has opposition from Gov. Larry Hogan as well as business groups, who worry the tax will end up negatively impacting small businesses. What’s clear, however, is that this will not be the last conversation states have about digital taxation. While Maryland’s bill is the first foray into digital ad taxes, debates about sales taxes on online purchases have been going on for years. The Week in Career Moves GT is always tracking chief information officers and their colleagues as they move in and out of jurisdictions across the country. Topping headlines this week was the news that Jim Weaver, CIO of Washington state since 2018 and with a long IT legacy in Pennsylvania, has been recruited to take over tech in North Carolina. In Michigan, Laura Clark was named chief security officer, a role she’d held in an interim capacity since Chris DeRusha departed last year to work on the Biden presidential campaign and is now helming the CISO post at the federal. And the Colorado Broadband Office announced Anthony Martinez as its new director. Martinez replaces Anthony Neal-Graves, who is now Colorado CIO. | 
