By 2023, privacy and child safety are taking over government technology laws.

By 2023, privacy and child safety are taking over government technology laws.

Government policymakers are gearing up for what could be a very active year on two key technology battlegrounds: data privacy and children’s online safety.

But in the year By mid-2023, states were largely silent on Silicon Valley’s other closely watched policy fronts, including online competition and content moderation on social media.

While federal lawmakers have been pushing to set the agenda on those issues for years, the trend shows that state officials are deciding which efforts will make it into law.

“Privacy and the child … have been and continue to be very active areas in state technology policy,” he said. J. Scott Babwah BernSenior Policy Associate at the University of North Carolina.

Coming into the year, five states have passed so-called comprehensive privacy laws that limit the collection and use of consumer information: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and Utah. But that number could more than double by the end of 2023.

Four states have signed other broad privacy laws this year — Iowa, Indiana, Montana and Tennessee — Texas could soon become the fifth, and Florida recently signed its own privacy bill that focuses more on big tech companies.

On children’s online safety, meanwhile, there is an unprecedented flurry of activity.

Last year, California signed a first-of-its-kind law requiring tech companies to test their platforms for potential harm to children. But other states this year, including Arkansas, Utah and Louisiana, have followed suit by passing stricter measures — banning minors from using social media or requiring minors to get parental consent to access the platforms.

President Biden Congress has been asked to pass new privacy protections, especially for children, and lawmakers have pushed to do so. But political squabbles hampered their efforts.

Matt PerraultThe UNC professor of law and former director of public policy at Facebook said that while states aren’t converting as quickly, they still dwarf the rate of growth in Washington, where conversions were “small if not zero.”

States have become laboratories for technology policy reform in a way that the federal government hasn’t been able to do much of, says Perrel, who co-authored a report with Brennan on the foresight of state technology action. As I wrote last year, 2023.

While government action on privacy and child safety has exceeded expectations, efforts to regulate content moderation and competition online have not.

Brennan said he expected “a lot of action” on content moderation in the recent past to curb bias by social media companies and Democrats to crack down on medical misinformation.

Perrault may be waiting to see how the courts rule on a series of social media cases involving laws in Texas and Florida, but it’s not immediately clear how important that will be. “I’m surprised there aren’t more,” he said.

In the year The researchers predicted state-level tech competition legislation would be unlikely after failed efforts to regulate app stores in Georgia and Arizona in 2021, but the relative silence on that front in 2023 was still noteworthy, Perrault said.

In the year While we have yet to reach the halfway point in 2023, more than two-thirds of state legislatures have. It’s already wrapped up for the yearmay indicate trends.

Another surprise, researchers say, is the flood of proposals targeting TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company ByteDance, particularly a law in Montana that bans use of the app across the state.

“I thought this was primarily a federal issue, not a state issue,” Perrout said.

A Democratic critic of technology’s antitrust push has been elected to a key House post

Republic Lou Correa (D-Calif.) — a lawmaker who opposes legislative efforts to target big tech companies — has been named the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee. Lauren Feiner CNBC reports.

“Correia’s rise… perhaps signals a change in tone. That change had already been set up by the Republicans, who are the top champions of tech reform bills. Ken BuckR-Colo., passed for chairman of the Rep. Thomas MasseyR-Ky.,” Feiner wrote.

“While Correa’s new role won’t bring immediate changes because Republicans control the House and have the ability to set committee agendas, some opponents fear it could make it difficult to replace him if Democrats take back the House in the next election.” ,” the CNBC report added.

Correa succeeded David N. Sicilian (DR.I.), led a 16-month investigation into antitrust abuses by tech giants — as well as a major legislative effort to rein in their behavior — while chairing the House Antitrust Panel.

FCC launches privacy and data protection task force

According to the agency’s announcement, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday launched a task force focused on “lawmaking, enforcement and public awareness needs in the areas of privacy and data protection.”

Privacy and data protection task force led by the head of the enforcement office Loyan Egal It helps address current security challenges, including data breaches and supply chain vulnerabilities related to communication devices.

“Connectivity is no longer just a convenience. It fuels every aspect of modern civic and business life. To address this reality’s security challenges head-on, we need to protect consumer information, ensure data security, and incorporate cyber security into all communication networks.” Jessica Rosenwersel he said.

The announcement marks the expansion of the FCC’s investigation into communications privacy and security.

Legislators of the House lead an inquiry on the Instagram pedophile network

Lawmakers are asking Meta for answers about how child sexual abuse (CSAM) is being distributed and sold on the Instagram platform.

Announcement from public representatives. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-Wash) and Frank Pallon Jr (DN.J.) The House Energy and Commerce Committee publicly advertises CSAM for sale following a report from the Wall Street Journal that revealed a network of pedophilia accounts on Instagram.

“We are now in the process of scheduling briefings with Meta and Instagram. Meta needs to be clear about why this amazing content was allowed on the platform and why its own algorithms promoted it for users to view and engage with,” the notice said.

A spokesperson for Meta told the Wall Street Journal that the company had received reports of CSAM on Instagram and had not acted on them, according to the Journal. The organization It said it actively seeks to remove such accounts and that the platform disabled 490,000 accounts in January. Violation of child safety policies.

The company In 2021, amid pressure from policymakers and child welfare advocates, Instagram paused the app for kids.

The European Union on Wednesday filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google’s ad technology business. A technology entrepreneur Anna Milicevic:

The Verge’s Tom Warren:

Cloud Computing Economist Corey Quinn.:

Using AI for loans and credit is a big risk, EU chief warns (BBC News)

Section 230 of bipartisan US bill would end immunity for generative AI (Reuters)

Joe White is leading Britain’s charm offensive in Silicon Valley (POLITICO).

Meta and Microsoft join the AI ​​standards team in “synthetic media” (Axios).

Amazon’s Alexa defends company reputation as it beats competitors (Bloomberg News)

Europe wants to crack down on Google’s ad business, adding to antitrust woes (Kath Zakerzewski and Aaron Gregg)

They helped train Google’s AI. Then, after speaking, they were fired. (Jerit de Vink)

Reddit sections are in the dark. Our search results may suffer for it. (Chris Velazco)

Europe is moving forward with AI regulation, a tech giant (Kat Zakrzewski and Cristiano Lima)

• The Center for Strategic and International Studies will host Semiconductor Security at 9:30 am
• The Bipartisan Policy Center recently held a discussion on SCOTUS Gonzalez v. google A decision will be made at 10 o’clock
• Team Wu And American trade representative Catherine Tay Speaking at an Open Markets Institute event on US trade policy starting at 1:30 p.m
• The R Street Institute convenes a panel to discuss protecting children online at 4:00 p.m.

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