On Thursday, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) proposed legislation that would create a new federal commission to regulate the tech industry. Among other provisions, the bill empowers the commission to break up tech companies by reviewing old mergers, and prohibits platforms like Google from offering tools like Google Maps that compete against… Continue reading Warren-Graham Bill: New Tech Agency, Same Problems
Author: cmackenzie
AI Companies Agree to White House Principles
On Friday, the Biden Administration announced that Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI were committing to voluntary principles for the responsible development of AI. The principles include a commitment to ensuring AI products are safe before their release, a commitment to prioritizing security in AI systems, and transparency measures to build public trust. … Continue reading AI Companies Agree to White House Principles
Lawmakers Intro Bill Banning Police from Buying Data
On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers reintroduced the Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act, a bill preventing law enforcement and spy agencies from purchasing private data through data brokers. While surveillance by government entities normally requires a warrant with “probable cause,” the purchase of commercially-available data through data brokers has no such safeguards,… Continue reading Lawmakers Intro Bill Banning Police from Buying Data
Ripple Notches Significant Win Against SEC
On Thursday, Ripple notched a partial victory in a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with a federal judge ruling that XRP does not constitute a security and that Ripple’s sale of XRP is not an offer of investment contracts. The court determined that the institutional sale of XRP tokens did violate… Continue reading Ripple Notches Significant Win Against SEC
Tech, Civil Rights Coalition Rejects Law Enforcement Carveout for Data Brokers in Privacy Bill
On Thursday, a coalition including Chamber of Progress, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC, LGBT Tech, and UnidosUS called on Congress to reject proposed amendments to the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) that would preserve the ability of data brokers to sell third-party data to law enforcement agencies. The coalition warned that law… Continue reading Tech, Civil Rights Coalition Rejects Law Enforcement Carveout for Data Brokers in Privacy Bill
CEPA Op-Ed: On AI and Tech, the US Must Avoid Europe’s Mistakes
CA Lawmakers Postpone Action on CJPA News Link Tax Bill
On Friday, California lawmakers announced they were pulling the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA) from consideration for the remainder of the legislative year, canceling a previously scheduled Senate hearing next Tuesday. During CJPA’s consideration, Chamber of Progress testified against the legislation, raising concerns that the bill would fund right-wing national media, incentivize clickbait, and unfairly… Continue reading CA Lawmakers Postpone Action on CJPA News Link Tax Bill
New List Shows Digital Markets Act Targets American Tech, Omits EU Companies
On Tuesday, the EU Commission announced that seven companies self-reported meeting “gatekeeper” standards for regulation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Despite European officials’ previous insistence that the DMA wasn’t designed to protect European companies, the list includes five American tech firms and no EU businesses. Companies that qualify will face limits on what services… Continue reading New List Shows Digital Markets Act Targets American Tech, Omits EU Companies
New FTC Suit Will Target Amazon Logistics
On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the FTC is readying to file a far-reaching antitrust lawsuit against Amazon striking at the logistics services that underlie the company’s rapid delivery of online orders. Fulfillment by Amazon, a logistics service available to merchants selling on the marketplace, enables Amazon to guarantee rapid shipping to shoppers. Polling shows that… Continue reading New FTC Suit Will Target Amazon Logistics
Supreme Court Strikes Down Affirmative Action
On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard striking down the use of race-conscious admissions by colleges and universities. For the tech industry, affirmative action admissions practices in higher education provided a pipeline of diverse talent as the… Continue reading Supreme Court Strikes Down Affirmative Action