Tech Policy Leaders

China was caught floating a spy balloon over Montana. Like no one was going to see it. What else is there to do in Montana except look up at the sky? According to the Washington Post, a defense official said, “It loitered overhead for an extended period of time.” Come on guys, when are we going to get serious?

What other shenanigans do we have here … Oh! The European Union is warning Elon Musk that they’re going to hit him with a can of you-know-what if he doesn’t comply with their Digital Services Act. The Act prohibits hate speech. We don’t have a hate speech ban in the U.S. But EU’s law influences Twitter content in the U.S., since managing U.S. policy and EU policy would be more expensive.

And the Republican-controlled House is going to grill former Twitter staff at a hearing next week. They want to know more about why the company suppressed stories about Hunter Biden.

What else? Oh – Harvard’s Kennedy School is shutting down its Technology & Social Change project after just 5 years. Prominent scholar Joan Donovan led the institute focused on misinformation. Harvard says the landscape has changed drastically and that the mission is no longer relevant. That’s the public version of the story. Donovan didn’t comment to the Washington Post. And the other piece to this is that Elon has now blocked access to Twitter's API, so researchets can no longer access it.

Tech Policy Press & Justin Hendrix released a podcast episode last week giving the Indigenous perspective on Generative AI and the need to publish more work by Indigenous peoples.

New York Attorney General Letitia James wants answers from Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall about reports the venues used facial recognition technology to ban the lawyers opposing them from entering the venues. Thousands of lawyers were affected. James is investigating whether this practice violated New York’s Civil Rights laws.

Finally, Google CEO Sundar Pichai is promising new chat features to compete with ChatGPT. Meanwhile, the company just laid off 12,000 people.

Viewpoint diversity is essential for having meaningful dialogue and achieving true understanding. It allows people to be exposed to different perspectives and consider all sides of an issue without judgment. Viewpoint diversity can lead to better solutions, deeper insights into current problems, and improved collaboration between individuals with vastly different backgrounds and opinions. Without it, the conversation becomes stagnant and limited, ultimately limiting progress.

Historically, the telecommunications, media, and tech policy bar has failed to reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the population as a whole.

Until now.

Barry joined Joe on the podcast to discuss how FCBA -- The Tech Bar (Federal Communications Bar Association) fosters viewpoint diversity via its new curriculum to certify underrepresented voices in this practice area.

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Barry J. Ohlson serves as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Cox Enterprises, Inc. and currently serves as President of FCBA -- The Tech Bar (Federal Communications Bar Association).

Mr. Ohlson's practice focuses on the wireless, telecommunications, and broadband sectors, with an emphasis on assessing the strategic and regulatory implications of advanced technologies and new telecommunications services. He has nearly 30 years of government, corporate, and legal experience in telecommunications, media, and tech law & policy, and he has been intimately involved in the complex regulatory and legal issues impacting businesses and stakeholders.

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FCBA -- The Tech Bar (Federal Communications Bar Association)

Hey everybody, I’m Joe Miller and here’s what’s going on in the world of tech law & policy this week. 

 ChatGPT is still at the top of headlines this week with Buzzfeed announcing that it’s going to use generative AI to produce “select” content. Buzzfeed’s CEO Jonah Peretti says he wants BuzzFeed to lead the future of AI-powered content. This comes only days after CNET faced scrutiny for using AI to produce content for years. And a lot of writers and journalists are worried about their jobs, as they should be. Prominent BuzzFeed journalist Max Collins told Peretti to “get f*cked.” But shareholders loved the news, rose by just over 85 percent at today’s closing bell to $3.87 per share.

 And on the education front, NPR reports that a University of Pennsylvania Wharton professor, Ethan Mollick, told them that “everyone is cheating.” This comes after ChatGPT aced an MBA exam earlier last week.. But Mollick decided to go ahead and make using ChatGPT a course requirement. But prominent science journals like Elsevier and Springer Nature are prohibitting ChatGPT from being listed as a co-author. 

 And Google has text to music AI that makes songwriting a cinch with just one or two word prompts.

What else? Trump’s back on Facebook. Meta made the decision to reinstate Trump because a company Global Affairs Exec Nick Clegg says enough time has passed since the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol. 

 On the medical mis and disinformation front, a California judge has blocked the state’s new law that prohibits doctors from giving COVID-19 misinformation. The judge rules that the misinformation standard is too vague.

Hi everybody -

Just a quick, solo episode this week, and then we're Audi 5,000 to get some rest and relaxation, spending time with friends and family for the holidays, etc.

It has been such a crazy year, hasn't it? But I feel like we say that every year –

In any case …

I've put together some predictions for you, for whatever they're worth –

First off, SBF - Sam Bankman Fried, the former billionaire and founder of the now bankrupt crypto exchange, FTX – gets convicted. I don't see him getting out of this one. I still remember Enron – actually as a young lawyer I worked on that fiasco in New York – it was a meas. And I think we're going to see a lot of others pulled into this.

Every few years, someone has to be the case study for financial regulation – 5 years after Enron we had the global financial crisis and now it's SBF's turn.

Next– I see children's online privacy and safety legislation finally succeeding and signed into law – we'll have the minimum age for marketing to children raised to 16. We may even see a federal standard for what schools do with kids' data and what they're going to have to do to monitor compliance from companies providing services in the classroom.

Third – I think we'll see some impetus start to grow for copyright reform. We're coming up on 25 years since the Digital Millennium Colyright took effect, and I think AI-generated content is going to call for some new protocols, and at least a bit more chatter about DMCA. I don't predict comprehensive copyright reform – such as a rewriting of the entire Copyright Act – but I do see a call for an update. It's too early to tell how Open AI is going to change content – but that's where creativity comes into play. So we won't know where those pressure points are until we see what kinds of things people and companies end up creating with it.

Fourth, as far as Section 230 is concerned, the Supreme Court is considering 2 cases from the 9th Circuit expected to have widespread implications for the extent to which internet platforms should be held liable for harms caused by content posted by third party users.

In the first – Gonzalez v. Google – the Supreme Court will rule in favor of the petitioners – the Gonzalez family – holding that when Google recommended terror-related videos to would-be terrorists who participated in the Paris terror attacks 2015 – I see the Court ruling that by recommending content, Google went beyond the protections afforded by Section 230, stepping into the role of content creator. It will be interesting to see how far back into the common law the Court's conservative majority ventures this time – because in Dobbs it went way back to the 14th century. So maybe we'll go back to Athens or Sumer or something.

As for the Twitter case, I see a positive outcome for Twitter … In that case, a terrorist attack in Istanbul killed a Jordanian citizen, and the family in that case says Twitter aided and abetted the attack by hosting terrorist-related content. I see the Court ruling that Twitter can enjoy Section 230 protection in that case, since it didn't recommend content.

And, finally, antitrust. I think with a conservative House, it's going to be very difficult to get a bill passed but we've seen glimmers of bipartisanship in the context of children's online safety. But as far as competition legislation in general, I don't see it. Because the same competition policy would have to apply to all industries, I think, not just tech, and I just don't envision lawmakers wanting to end up on the wrong side of things as they take contributions from corporations heading into the 2024 presidential election season.

So that's what I've got for you today as we head into the holidays. Short and sweet.

We'll have new episodes for you in 2023. But until then, I'll be getting some r&r, and I encourage you to do the same after a year of completely random developments. Enjoy!

Conservatives target online ‘trafficking’ of abortion pills

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs has thrown abortion law into disarray and conservatives say there isn’t enough enforcement. The Washington Post reports that conservatives in states like Texas, where abortions are now banned, want internet providers to treat websites selling abortion pills the same way they treat child pornography.

 Bankman-Fried arrested; SEC charges him with fraud

Responding to a US federal government request, police in the Bahamas arrested Sam Bankman-Fried, otherwise known as SBF, earlier this week, and he now faces fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The crypto exchange SBF founded – FTX, which imploded last month and wasn’t able to handle billions in customer withdrawal requests. 

 The Markup: Health apps share your intimate data with advertisers

The Markup reports that health apps are sharing your personal, intimate health data with advertisers. In a joint study, the Markup and STAT found that 49 out of 50 telehealth websites sell your data, with Amazon Clinic being the only hold out. 

 Immigrants sue ICE for collecting wire transfer data

Immigrants are suing ICE for working with Western Union to get their wire transfer data. The lawsuit states that immigrants send some $30 billion from the US to Mexico each year. The database – the Transaction Record Analysis Center – has some 145 million records containing detailed information on who’s transferring money to Mexico.

 Senate passes bill banning TikTok from government devices

The US Senate passed a bill this week banning government employees from installing TikTok on their devices. US Officials worry that China is using TikTok, a subsidiary of its China-based parent, ByteDance, to collect sensitive information.

 Facebook’s Trump ban expires Jan. 7th and Democrats are trying to extend it

Initially, Facebook had said that it would ban Trump from using the platform forever. Then it back-tracked and said the ban would only last 2-years. That 2-year period ends on January 7th and Democratic lawmakers in Congress are pushing back to extend the ban.

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Zeve Sanderson is the founding Executive Director of NYU's Center for Social Media and Politics. His research interests focus on measuring the diffusion and impacts of harmful online speech, as well as empirically testing the efficacy of interventions. He regularly writes for and speaks to academic, media, and government audiences. He is finishing his dissertation at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

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Zeve Sanderson, J.N.and J.A.T. (2022) Musk's Twitter shake-up could deliver a critical blow to Social Media Research, The Hill. The Hill. Available at: https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/3727234-musks-twitter-shake-up-could-deliver-a-critical-blow-to-social-media-research/ (Accessed: December 19, 2022).

You Resemble Me – a film by Dina Amer

Groups file flurry of Section 230 briefs with the Supreme Court

• What's going on? Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields platforms like Google and Twitter from liability for content posted by internet users. Republicans and Democrats want the rule changed. It's important to note that Section 230 protects only publishers of information. The central question here is – at which point do platforms lose their status as publishers and actually become creators of content? Once they're deemed to be creators, they would lose protection under Section 230.

• Generally, Republicans like Josh Hawley say platform liability should be a state issue because they think tech companies lean progressive and that seeking to ban harmful content discriminates against conservatives.
• Democrats argue that Section 230 doesn't hold platforms accountable enough, especially in the context of how marketers target children.

• How are politicians trying to change the law? The Supreme Court is set to decide Gonzalez v. Google in which the family of a young woman killed in the 2015 Paris Terror Attacks argues that Google should be liable for aiding and abetting the attack by hosting terror-related videos on YouTube.

• There are 2 parts to this –

• one is whether Google should be held liable for merely hosting terror-related videos the family alleges groomed terrorists involved. Google is arguing that hosting the videos simply makes them publishers and thus they would still be entitled to protection under Section 230.

• The other is whether recommending content – converts platforms to content creators – in which case the Gonzalez family argues Google should be held liable since Section 230 wouldn't apply to instances in which people predisposed to terrorism-related content puts Google in the position of being a content creator, in which case Google wouldn't be shielded from liability under Section 230.

• How does this affect you? Keep an eye on what your state is doing to change the way content platforms moderate content. For example, Texas and Florida passed statutes preventing platforms from discriminating against so-called "anti-conservative bias." This has a direct impact on what people see and hear, which directly impacts elections since a scourge of harmful content, such as Trump's tweets leading up to the Capitol Hill insurrection, have dominated our politics for many years.

Big name advertisers are showing up in white nationalists' Twitter feeds again

• Why are white nationalists on Twitter? Elon Musk fired Twitter's entire content moderation team and reinstated the accounts of white nationalists.

• Which companies showed up in white nationalist's accounts? Ads for Uber, Amazon, Snap, and even the US Department of Health and Human Services showed up in these accounts. But the Washington Post reports that it saw some 40 advertisers showing up next to content posted by reinstated white nationalists.

• What are the policy implications? White supremacist content is an example of the type of content Republicans in states like Texas and Florida think internet platforms shouldn't be allowed to ban. Right now, only advertisers have the ability to discipline Twitter by removing their ads on the platform.

• What are the real-world effects of white supremacists online? The Department of Homeland Security issued a report in late November expressing urgent concern about the fact that antisemitism online, and in the real world, are reinforcing each other, leading to an increase in hate crimes.

DC Attorney General is suing Amazon over driver tips

• What's going on? DC Attorney General Karl Racine filed a consumer lawsuit on Wednesday alleging that Amazon basically stole tips from its Flex drivers by hiding from drivers the amounts they were getting in tips and pocketing them. And then Amazon hid the fact that they were doing this from its customers.

• What is Amazon saying? Amazon is saying it built the tips into drivers' hourly compensation, which it says is above DC's minimum wage of $16.10 per hour.

• What happens next? We'll see. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals will review Racine's complaint and that process will start early next year.

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In other tech law & policy news …

Women are suing Elon Musk for discrimination against them in layoffs.

Staten Island Union organizer lost his lawsuit against Amazon for race discrimination. The court says he was fired for exposing co-workers to COVID during the pandemic lockdowns.

The Senate Banking Committee appears likely to subpoena Sam Bankman-Fried after he ignored a request to testify regarding the implosion of crypto-currency exchange FTX.

The FTC is suing to prevent Microsoft's acquisition of Activision, the maker of Modern Warfare and Candy Crush, as well as Facebook's acquisition of virtual reality firm Within.

Apple announced that it will fully encrypt iCloud data, raising alarm from law enforcement officials.

States are now joining the federal government in banning government employees from downloading TikTok on their phones because TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is based in China. Officials are concerned China will gain access to sensitive data.

Bio

Vilas Dhar is the President of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. An entrepreneur, technologist and human rights advocate, Vilas serves on the Advisory Council at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, as a Trustee of the Christensen Fund, Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Global AI Action Alliance, and an Expert Contributor to OECD.AI.

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Last Mile Education Fund

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Dall-E

The Age of AI and Our Human Future by Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, et al.

In AI We Trust Podcast by Miriam Vogle

Hey everybody, I'm Joe Miller and here's what's going on in the world of tech law & policy this week.

The Federal Election Commission has adopted rules to regulate political advertising online.

• Why is it important? For years, the FEC has required certain disclosures for political advertisements appearing in on broadcast media outlets. The updated rules will apply the same rules to online advertising.

• What doesn't it cover? These new rules do not cover social media posts promoted for a fee.

• Who supports the new rules? This measure is bipartisan and passed the Federal Election Commission unanimously.

• What are advocates saying? Some are saying the rules were rushed through and that not including the provision covering promoted posts creates a loophole. Others say the rules aren't clear. But either way, most seem to think some rules applying to political advertisements on social media are necessary.

China cracks down on Tiktok posts about protests over President Xi Jinping's COVID lockdowns.

• Why is China involved in telling Tiktok what to do? TikTok is owned by ByteDance – a company based in China and, unlike in the United States, government officials have seats on company boards and more discretion to direct corporate activities.

• What does this mean for US-based users? The answer isn't clear but U.S. officials have long been concerned about potential data collection by the Chinese government about what U.S.-based TikTok users do on the platform. This could help China make insights about how to run propaganda campaigns like we saw during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

• What does this mean for public policy? Well, president Biden met with President Xi in mid-November amidst growing concerns in the administration about China's aggression towards Taiwan and other issues the U.S. finds threatening to democracy in the region. President Xi's new oversight over what's happening on TikTok indicates he isn't really all that interested in loosening his grip over Chinese citizens and the global media ecosystem.

The Justice Department considers rules barring companies from using messaging apps.

• Why? The Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are the two federal agencies that have expressed the most concern regarding what companies are doing to engage in required monitoring of company communications. External apps with disappearing messages features, like WhatsApp, may be tempting to corporate executives looking to break the law without leaving a paper trail.

Musk and Republicans fight Apple over its alleged threats to pull Twitter from its app store.

• What's happening? Elon Musk went on a tirade against Apple for allegedly threatening to remove Twitter from the app store. Republicans, who have expressed concerns over an alleged "anti-conservative bias" on Twitter, have teamed up with Musk to fight what they call Google and Apple's app store duo poly.

• Where does the dispute stand? On Wednesday, according to the Washington Post, Musk met with Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday where they apparently had a chance to clear the air. Musk tweeted that there had been a simple misunderstanding and that Apple hadn't actually been planning to remove Twitter from the app store.

• What's next? Well, Republicans will have control over the House in the next Congress so it's foreseeable that there will be some sort of antitrust measure to prohibit app stores from favoring certain apps or requiring developers to use Apple or Google's payment systems. But what's less clear is how a Democratic-controlled Senate would receive those proposals.

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In other tech law & policy news …

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors approved a measure that would allow robots to kill suspects. Advocates say this will have a disparate impact on communities of color.

A group of female truck drivers has filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Facebook, Instagram, and WhatApp's parent company, Meta. The group alleges that Meta discriminates against them because they say the company shows most ads for trucking jobs to men.

Twitter has lifted its ban on COVID-related mis- and disinformation.

Adam Kovacevich: Balancing Tech, Business & Progressive Policymaking

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Adam Kovacevich (Kuh-VACK-uh-VITCH) is the Founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress, a new centre-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology's progressive future. Before starting the Chamber of Progress, Adam served as Head of North America and Asia Pacific Government Relations for Lime, the shared scooter mobility company. Prior to that, Adam led Google's U.S. policy strategy and external affairs team. In that role, he drove Google's U.S. public policy campaigns on privacy, security, antitrust, intellectual property, intermediary liability, telecommunications, advertising, taxation and workforce issues. Adam lives in Arlington, Virginia with his family.

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http://progresschamber.org/