OK and WA could join CA and VA in enacting privacy bills, possibly adding to the motivation in Washington to enact a national privacy statute. In two state legislatures, one chamber sent a comprehensive privacy bill to the other, signaling the possibility the United States (U.S.) may soon have four state privacy laws companies will … Continue reading Two State Privacy Bills Advance
An AI commission calls on a massive restricting of the U.S. government, particularly funding, to best the PRC in the race to AI-supremacy. The Congressionally created National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) has completed its work and has submitted its final report recommendations to Congress on how the United States (U.S.) should change U.S. … Continue reading AI Commission Hands In Final Report
The Biden Administration orders an assessment of key U.S. supply chains, including policy changes. The White House is also seeking funding to help ease the semi-conductor shortage. As rumored, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on United States (U.S.) supply chains. Executive Order (EO) 14017, “America’s Supply Chains” directs the new administration to undertake … Continue reading White House Issues Supply Chain EO and Asks Congress For $37 Billion To Help Production of Semi-Conductors
Further Reading “The Long Hack: How China Exploited a U.S. Tech Supplier” By Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley — Bloomberg. This piece argues that the United States (U.S.) government knew of vulnerabilities in Super Micro Computer Inc.’s products used by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) but chose to keep them secret. This article follows … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (22, 23, 24, and 25 February 2021)
A key House committee begins its inquiry into misinformation, which implicates Section 230 legal protections. One House committee picked up its inquiry into lies, misinformation, disinformation, extremism, terrorism, and online media. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee held a hearing titled “Fanning the Flames: Disinformation and Extremism in the Media” with … Continue reading An Online Misinformation Hearing Splits Along Predictable Lines
Australia passes its code that requires Google and Facebook to strike deals with the nation’s news media to correct the imbalance in bargaining power. This happened only after Facebook pulled the plug on its News feature and provisions in the bill were loosened as part of a compromise. After imposing a news ban in Australia, Facebook … Continue reading Let’s Make A Deal: Facebook and Australia
Congress starts chewing over the hack of agencies and companies, hinting at policy prescriptions. The first public hearing on the massive hack associated with SolarWinds and most likely perpetrated by the Russian intelligence services occurred this week. The Senate Intelligence Committee heard from private sector witnesses, including from SolarWinds, in what will be the first … Continue reading Senate Intelligence Views SolarWinds From The Private Sector Perspective
The maker of Fortnite filed an antitrust action against Apple in the EU; A UK court rules on Epic Games action, giving it a split decision. Epic Games sought to contest Apple and Google’s decisions to remove the maker of popular multi-player game, Fortnite, from their application stores last summer after the game maker started … Continue reading Epic Games Asks EC To Investigate Apple
EDPS suggests changes to Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, the EU’s legislation to remake how the bloc regulates large technology firms. European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) Wojciech Wiewiorówski has issued his opinions on two of the centerpieces for the European Commission’s (EC) digital strategy: the Digital Services Act and a Digital Markets Act. … Continue reading EDPS Renders Opinions on EC Legislation
Oklahoma legislators unveil a strong bill. Chances of enactment are unclear. Oklahoma has followed other states in beginning consideration of data privacy legislation in the absence of a comprehensive federal privacy statute. The “Oklahoma Computer Data Privacy Act” (HB 1602) is a strong data privacy bill, one that would put teeth into Oklahoma’s regulation of … Continue reading Oklahoma Committee Releases Strong Privacy Bill
Michael Kans 