Online privacy

Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris (R-WA) unveiled the American Privacy Rights Act. This comprehensive draft legislation sets clear, national data privacy rights and protections for Americans, eliminates the existing patchwork of state comprehensive data privacy laws and establishes robust enforcement mechanisms to hold violators accountable, including a private right of action for individuals. The American Privacy Rights Act: 

Leading AI companies have a favorite phrase when it comes to describing where they get the data to train their models: They say it's "

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Privacy and Data Protection Task Force in parallel with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other federal and state agencies announced ongoing initiatives to strengthen law enforcement efforts through increased technical expertise and cooperation, including for privacy and data protection enforcement matters. Since establishing the intra-agency Task Force in June 2023, the FCC has:

Artificial intelligence, like social media, it has the potential to change the world in many ways, some favorable to democracy. But at the same time, it has the potential to do incredible damage to society. There is a lot we can learn about social media’s unregulated evolution over the past decade that directly applies to AI companies and technologies. These lessons can help us avoid making the same mistakes with AI that we did with social media. In particular, five fundamental attributes of social media have harmed society. AI also has those attributes:

The House voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill on that would ban TikTok from operating in the US or force a sale, with lawmakers largely shrugging off a last-minute lobbying push by the Chinese-controlled service and setting the stage for a final showdown in the Senate, where lawmakers have been cooler on the legislation. The measure passed the House 352 to 65, with one member voting present, showing broad bipartisan support for cracking down on TikTok over national-security concerns. The popular short-video app has faced scrutiny over the way its algorithm works to select content for use

Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks sent letters to five online marketplaces to identify ways to stop the unlawful sale of insecure IoT devices that violate Federal Communications Commission (FCC) equipment authorization requirements. The letters raise concerns about recent reports indicating that these websites sold and continue to sell easily hacked video doorbells. “Consumers have embraced the internet of things to make their lives better to the point that a large majority of American homes now have at least one or two IoT devices.

I'm interested in shifting the culture around our relationship with online consent because I recognize how pervasive dominant narratives are. In this work, a lot of folks have shifted to a mindset of powerlessness. I've learned that the more you encourage people that we still have a voice in the matter, the more folks tend to push back against systems that are unjust. And it's not a given that your data is going to be extracted and weaponized against you. We still have opportunities to mount a resistance against systems that are harmful. To me, that's the general public.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called on the agency to help stop abusers from using connectivity tools in vehicles to harass and intimidate their partners. Her proposal would examine how the agency can use existing law to ensure car manufacturers and wireless service providers are taking steps to assist abuse victims and seek comment on additional steps the Commission can take to safeguard domestic violence survivors.

A new Biden Executive Order will protect Americans’ sensitive personal data from exploitation by countries of concern.

During America's Gilded Age, a handful of scrappy entrepreneurs built the nation's railway system and in the process created huge piles of money by controlling shipping and travel lanes across the country. Today, as AI hype begins consuming everything in sight, some are hinting that mobile network operators—and their equipment vendors—may be sitting in a similar position thanks to the data they own. After all, AI models are only as good as the data they're trained on.