Blake Dowling, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Blake DowlingMay 13, 2017

For better or worse, we live in a politically correct world. On one hand, efforts in that area have created increased awareness of sexism and other social injustices. On the other, some PC speak is patently ridiculous. I read somewhere that is politically incorrect to the word “fat.” I’m told we should say EWI — […]

Blake DowlingMay 6, 2017

Legislative Session is winding down – gaming, dope, infrastructure, assistive tech. It has been an exciting journey, with losers and winners, fights, name calling at the Capitol and at the Governors Club. Hopefully, when the dust settles, those in the trenches can regain some commonality and remember we are all on the same team as […]

Blake DowlingApril 29, 2017

A fella named Pyotr Levashov was arrested in Spain this month. Allegedly, the man’s real name is Peter Severa, one of the most wanted cyber criminals on the planet. At least six Russians have been arrested around the world on international warrants over the past several months, according to McClatchy Newspapers. There are allegations of involvement with […]

Blake DowlingApril 22, 2017

What now? More breaches. More leaks. Internet carriers selling your data? Hackers coming at us like United Airlines security? (For an interesting read, see Nader v. Airlines 1972) So you are worried about hackers, and — of course — the National Security Agency is watching (and logging) you surf on PredictIT.com or Lolcats.com. Or are […]

Blake DowlingApril 15, 2017

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@Last weekend, I was on the road in Gainesville for some spring football. As I sat in my mobile command station (aka the Wyndham) the following day — watching an epic Masters, NBA and college baseball weekend — I couldn’t get the old PSA from Saturday Morning Cartoons out of my head, and I started […]

Blake DowlingApril 8, 2017

Twitter is an interesting beast, created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass and others. Within six years, 100 million users were on the platform — cranking out 300 plus million tweets a day. I joined the Twitter Army in May 2009 and 3,881 tweets later, I am still at it. It is a great […]

Blake DowlingApril 1, 2017

Meeting this week with one of our national security partners, SonicWall, we had a fantastic luncheon with some local media partners, clients and Aegis staff. A big topic of conversation — ransomware. A SonicWall firewall can certainly help minimize risk, but there is no 100 percent protection from the constantly changing landscape of cyber threats. Say […]

Blake DowlingMarch 27, 2017

One of the first columns I ever put together was on assistive technology for those who need it for communication. It was based on a 60 Minutes expose highlighting the power of a tablet to open doors to those who, for most of their lives, have been unable to communicate. Since then, I have written […]

Blake DowlingMarch 25, 2017

I was meeting with the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce’s Communications Committee; there was some brainstorming about session ideas for the upcoming Chamber Conference. There were some thoughts thrown out, and quite a few comments were made. Then someone said, “how about automation and artificial intelligence.” Suddenly, a surge of ideas and thoughts hit the room […]

Blake DowlingMarch 6, 2017

Session is here in the Capital City, beginning with a Monday bash at Associated Industries to welcome those from all over the state. The Legislative Session kickoff has been on my calendar for a decade now; it is a great event and a nice chance to reflect on the past year and the one coming […]

Blake Dowling

Blake Dowling: A new (politically incorrect) cyberthreat, linked to Big Macs

Blake Dowling: Looking back …

Blake Dowling: Maybe we are getting a handle on hacking. Maybe.

Blake Dowling: Look out for hackers (and the government)

Blake Dowling: Legislative Session 2017 – I’m just a bill

Blake Dowling: Making a good first (or millionth) impression on Twitter

Blake Dowling: New ransomware kicks it up a notch

Blake Dowling: Senate Bill 772 — Time to help

Blake Dowling: Legal artificial intelligence

Blake Dowling: The road, fast food and Session — all aboard!