Congress will revisit the possibility of a federal moratorium on face-scanning technology in the upcoming session, House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., told us. Industry representatives expect the Biden administration to push for tighter face-scanning regulation. Reps from CTA, BSA|The Software Alliance and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) said President Donald Trump’s most important artificial intelligence contribution will be his regulatory guidance to agencies.
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
Facebook, AT&T, Google, Microsoft, Intel and Airbnb said they’re limiting political contributions after Wednesday’s deadly riot at the Capitol. Also Monday, Amazon Web Services was hit with an antitrust lawsuit from Parler after AWS stopped hosting the social media service, which is popular with conservatives. The Computer & Communication Industry Association supported platforms’ right to suspend certain accounts involved “in the incitement of violence,” including President Donald Trump's. See here for our news bulletin on Twitter permanently yanking Trump's account Friday.
Communications Decency Act Section 230 should be rewritten and tweaked, not repealed, House Republicans told us after President Donald Trump failed to dismantle the statute through must-pass spending bills. House Democrats agreed there’s bipartisan consensus on the need to rework the tech industry’s liability shield.
Facebook extended its ban of President Donald Trump’s accounts on the platform and Instagram “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks,” until Joe Biden takes office, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced. Also Thursday, congressional critics and others in the telecom and tech spheres slammed Trump over his encouraging protesters to go to the Capitol, where several were reported by authorities to have been killed. See here and here for our reports. (Our reporter, who was trapped for several hours, was later able to safely leave, as were other journalists.)
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai continues to hold off advancing the agency's Communications Decency Act Section 230 proceeding (see 2012230065). He has yet to circulate any item on 230, agency officials told us. Observers say this indicates the agency won't act on the section before Pai leaves Jan. 20, when Joe Biden is sworn in as president.
The FTC’s recent inquiry into social media company data collection practices could likely result in enforcement action, much like the agency’s 6(b) study that led to its antitrust case against Facebook, an ex-official and attorneys said in interviews. Some said to expect the social media companies to negotiate with the agency over the scope of the latest 6(b) study, which seeks details on how data practices affect younger users and others (see 2012150005).
Expect legal and constitutional challenges against the Case Act (see 1910250047), experts told us. Congress passed the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (Case) Act (HR-2426/S-1273) last week, which would create a voluntary small claims board within the Copyright Office, as part of the COVID-19 relief package.
The FTC has received more than 270,000 COVID-19-related complaints this year with a total fraud loss of more than $200 million, said Consumer and Business Education Division Senior Project Manager Colleen Tressler during a joint webinar Wednesday with the FCC. Top such complaints involve online shopping for in-demand products and text message and phone scams, said Tressler. FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Chief Patrick Webre cited promising vaccine reports as he expressed optimism “that life may be able to return to a sense of normalcy in the not-too-distant future.” Scams continue, he said, with perpetrators trying to steal identities and capitalize on uncertainty, at-risk groups and stimulus programs. Robocalls remain a top complaint to the FCC, said Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division Associate Chief Keyla Hernandez-Ulloa. Elijah Hebert, a U.S. Postal Inspection Service inspector, suggested consumers buy products only from “known, reliable retailers and e-commerce companies.”
Texas filed a multistate lawsuit against Google for anti-competitive conduct, exclusionary practices and deceptive representations, state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced Wednesday. Also signing the suit were Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah.
Congress should provide relief for the live entertainment industry in its next aid package, Patriot Management President Ron Laffitte told the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee during a hearing Tuesday. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and subcommittee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., described how COVID-19 is affecting the live entertainment industry, citing an inability to work and venues struggling to stay in business. The concern is frontline workers in the industry, said Wicker. Relief should focus on employees and contractors, said Laffitte, with grants and loans for payroll. Congress should extend retention tax credits, he said, so workers keep their jobs and employee-sponsored healthcare.