With Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., opposed, anti-sex trafficking legislation (see 1803150039 and 1803080039) is slated for debate and a vote on the Senate floor Wednesday. The Senate 94-2 Monday approved a motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to SESTA-FOSTA (the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers-Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking package). The House version of the bill, which includes Senate bill language and two amendments introduced by Wyden, will be up for Senate debate.
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., plans to mark up a music copyright package the week of April 9, a committee aide told us Tuesday (see 1803140061). Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., lead sponsor of the Music Modernization Act (MMA) (HR-4706), said he’s looking forward to movement on the bill. Asked during an event hosted by the Technology Policy Institute when Goodlatte plans to unveil the package, Collins said, “That’s up to Chairman Goodlatte, and I think the Classics Act’s always been discussed, the AMP [Allocation for Music Producers HR-881] Act’s always been discussed. We always said that having a good collaborative process, those are things that we could look at.”
Lawmakers are seeking hearings, potentially with executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter, after reports a political data analytics firm connected to the 2016 Trump campaign allegedly misused private information of more than 50 million Americans. Facebook suspended the accounts of Strategic Communication Laboratories and its data firm Cambridge Analytica Friday, citing violations of guidelines for user data collection. The announcement followed reports from The New York Times and The Guardian about the organization’s alleged misrepresentation and harvesting of user data.
Artificial intelligence functions properly through machine learning most of the time, but when it’s wrong, results can be “extraordinarily” bad, and this deserves attention, said Google Legal Director Kenneth Rubenstein Friday. He spoke on a panel at an Association of National Advertisers event about AI and autonomous driving.
It remains possible for the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (Cloud) (S-2383/HR-4943) to be included in the omnibus spending bill (see 1803150059), lead sponsor Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., told us Thursday: “There’s always chances for everything. Everything is in play.” The spending bill deadline is March 23.
NSA should be aware of the ballooning number of IoT devices, but the private sector will be largely responsible for setting cybersecurity standards for the devices, said President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the agency, Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday. He was responding to questions from Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., who said the federal government should use its buying power to drive IoT cybersecurity standards (see 1803130045). Projections show the global number of IoT devices growing to between 20 billion and 25 billion in the next five years, Warner said, and the Defense Intelligence Agency emphasized that the weakest IoT devices are highly vulnerable. Warner said he would “hate to find” the government spending billions on devices that increase cybersecurity risks. Policy decisions for IoT will be up to DOD, Nakasone said.
Online platforms are willing to monitor and flag violence-threatening content for law enforcement, but user reporting is “essential,” Internet Association CEO Michael Beckerman told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday during a hearing on the Parkland, Florida, school shooting (see 1803090030). Alleged attacker Nikolas Cruz, who was active on Instagram and YouTube, expressed a desire to become a “professional school shooter.” Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the social media posts prompted the public to contact the FBI, but the agency never contacted IA members Facebook and Google. Grassley asked Beckerman what internet companies are doing to better monitor content and not rely so much on users. Company policies vary, Beckerman said, but there's uniform agreement on prohibiting credible threats of violence, terrorist propaganda and child exploitation images. Artificial intelligence is improving, Beckerman said, but user input is critical: “Internet users understand and welcome this responsibility, as our member companies receive millions of reports of potentially violating content each week.” He said AI is good at flagging content, but it can’t always decipher whether the images and content are actual threats or data included in a news story, for instance. Companies also have teams to review the flagged content; the third component is an active public.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., plans to combine the Music Modernization Act (MMA) (HR-4706) from Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, and Important Contributions to Society (Classics) Act (HR-3301) and the Allocation for Music Producers (AMP) Act (HR-881) into one legislative package to be introduced Friday. That’s according to a senior House Republican aide and an industry official.
Autonomous vehicles will make American roads safer and less congested, government officials, industry representatives and academics said Tuesday. Speaking at an event in Washington hosted by Arizona State University, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Assistant Policy Counsel-Chamber Technology Engagement Center Jordan Crenshaw said 94 percent of motor vehicle accidents are caused by human error. Maricopa Association of Governments Transportation Director Eric Anderson said crashes undercut the capacity of the Phoenix area’s transportation system. Anderson said he began “drinking the Kool-Aid” two years ago and is excited about the safety and infrastructure benefits of autonomous vehicles. Phoenix can reduce its need for roadway capacity expansion by planning for the technology, he said.
Tech stakeholders remain divided over anti-sex trafficking legislation the Senate is poised to vote on this week, those on both sides told us. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, author of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) (S-1693) (see 1803020024) plans to pursue the House-approved version of the bill, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) (HR-1865). Facebook and the Internet Association support the House measure, but several tech groups remain concerned about the process in which the bills were combined in the House, and fearful the legislation will result in widespread censorship of content.