Oct 7, 2022
Hey everybody, I’m Joe Miller and here’s what’s going on in the world of tech law & policy this week.
White House Proposes Tech ‘Bill of Rights’
The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy proposed a new Tech ‘Bill of Rights’ Friday targeting harms caused by artificial intelligence and biometric technology. Comments are due on January 15th. The Request for Information seeks details on how companies use these technologies and what interventions the federal government should make to defend the Constitution as things like facial recognition, voice recognition, keystroke analysis, and other tactics that infiltrate every aspect of our lives take hold.
Abortion advocates push back against license plate reader company, Flock
Abortion advocates are fighting against a fast-growing company called Flock, which aims to provide law enforcement with advanced license plate-reader surveillance technology. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, 13 states now criminalize abortion procedures.
Supreme Court to determine limits of Section 230
The Supreme Court will decide whether Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act shields social media companies from liability for content posted by alleged terrorists. The family of one of the victims of the 2015 Islamic State terrorist attack in Paris sued YouTube for aiding and abetting terrorists by recommending the extremist group’s content. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act grants websites blanket immunity for content posted by third-party users. Many on both sides of the aisle have been advocating to reform the provision.
Spotify acquires content moderation platform, Kinzen
As Spotify continues to grapple with hateful content and misinformation bypassing the music streaming giant’s content moderation protocols, the company has decided to bring more content moderation capacity in house. It announced last week that it has acquired Dublin-based Kinzen to more effectively deal with harmful content in real–time.
Google to pay State of Arizona $85 Million to settle user-tracking suit
Google has settled with State of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office regarding a claim that the tech giant continued to collect users’ location data after users indicated they wanted location tracking turned off. Google will pay the state of Arizona $85 million. A separate multi–state lawsuit against Google is pending in the US District of the Southern District of New York which alleges that Google abuses its market dominance in online advertising.
New Democrats push for federal privacy law that’s currently stalled in the House
Finally, a centrist coalition of Democrats led by State of Washington Representative Suzan DelBene is pushing for passage of the American Data and Privacy Protection Act (ADPPA), which has been stalled in the House since it passed committee over the summer. The Electronic Frontier Foundation says the bill offers a lower privacy standard than the one adopted by several states.
To go deeper, you can find links to all of these stories in the show notes. Stay safe, stay informed, have a great week. Ciao.