House Science Committee ranking member Frank Lucas, R-Okla., introduced legislation that would establish a national science and technology strategy targeting Chinese threats. Citing risks of losing U.S. leads in quantum information science, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing, Lucas introduced the Securing American Leadership in Science and Technology Act during a hearing Wednesday. It would authorize “doubling of basic research funding over the next 10 years at the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.” He said in his opening remarks: “To support the industries of the future, we need workers with STEM skills at all levels.” Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, didn’t sign onto the bill, which has gotten only Republican support. “I do not want to cause any confusion about where I stand. I remain as firmly committed as ever to our investments across all fields of science and engineering as well as the humanities,” she said in prepared remarks, citing the need to maintain U.S. competitive advantages. America should be gearing policy and legislation to compete “effectively” in the 2030s, testified ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt, founder of Schmidt Futures. He cited AI trends suggesting China will overtake the U.S. in five to 10 years. On changes in R&D since 2000, “China has accounted for almost one-third of the total global growth,” testified National Science Board Chair Diane Souvaine. Georgia Institute of Technology Executive Vice President-Research Chaouki Abdallah urged a commitment “to the long-term increase and certainty in federal investment.”
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
The office of Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., is exploring Section 230-related legislation dealing with election misinformation, she said Tuesday at the State of the Net internet policy conference. “It’s very, very early right now, but I absolutely want to do something, even if it’s narrow on 230” of the Communications Decency Act, Schakowsky told reporters. “If we can craft something, there will definitely be some more hearings, no question about that.” Throughout her talk, she cited blatant lies hosted by Facebook.
Tech industry officials praised the Trump administration for defending U.S. interests against France’s digital services tax. France agreed to delay collecting new taxes on tech companies until the end of the year after the administration threatened to levy tariffs on $2.4 billion of French goods (see 1908190043 and 1912030002).
The House Consumer Protection Subcommittee’s privacy draft bill is a significant shift in the privacy debate, but more compromise is needed, the Center for Democracy & Technology commented Friday. Public Knowledge, the Internet Association, CTA and BSA|The Software Alliance offered suggestions for improving the legislation by Friday’s subcommittee deadline (see 2001080072).
Facebook’s unwillingness to ban or fact-check political commercials (see 2001090029) is grossly irresponsible and undermines democracy, said Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, in interviews earlier this month. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., argued the company is right. He trusts Americas to “do their own fact-checking.”
The FTC, Congress and three state attorneys general should investigate whether popular Google Play Store apps are “systematically violating users’ privacy,” consumer groups wrote Tuesday. The groups cited a Norwegian Consumer Council report accusing 10 apps -- Grindr, Tinder, OkCupid, Happn, Clue, MyDays, Perfect365, Qibla Finder, My Talking Tom 2 and Wave Keyboard -- of “sharing information they collect on users with third-party advertisers without users’ knowledge or consent.” American Civil Liberties Union of California, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG signed. They specifically targeted AGs in California, Texas and Oregon. “Consumers are unable to make an informed choice because the extent of tracking, data sharing, and the overall complexity of the adtech ecosystem is hidden and incomprehensible to average consumers,” they wrote. Clue doesn’t share any users’ health or menstrual cycle data, nor does it sell any user data to any third-party service, including advertisers, “and we never will,” a spokesperson said. “Clue does share anonymised data with carefully-vetted researchers within academic institutions working to improve female reproductive health, and we do so without any financial gain.” MyDays users agree to well-defined transparency and privacy policies “so they can see what happens with the Data and what the User can do about,” a spokesperson said. Google and owners of the other various apps didn’t comment. An FTC spokesperson confirmed receiving the letter.
Discussion about a federal moratorium on facial recognition technology remains open, House Oversight Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told us Tuesday. “I’m hoping we can work out some legislation with the majority party, but we’ve been working on that for a year.” Chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., “is interested, so we’ll see tomorrow. She seems very interested,” Jordan said. Maloney was elected chair after the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who was vocal on face-scanning issues. The committee plans a third hearing on the topic Wednesday. There’s “quite a bit of bipartisan consensus,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told us: Jordan “is actually quite passionate about this issue, as well. I think he’s coming from a very similar perspective trying to protect civil liberties and the right to our own face. It goes beyond government accountability.” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he supports a moratorium until he’s convinced the technology won’t be used to profile or discriminate, and so far the evidence hasn’t suggested that. National Institute of Standards and Technology Information Technology Laboratory Director Charles Romine, Future of Privacy Forum Senior Counsel Brenda Leong, New York University AI Now Institute co-Founder Meredith Whittaker, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Vice President Daniel Castro and Security Industry Association Senior Director-Government Relations Jake Parker will testify. Fight for the Future and Students for Sensible Drug Policy launched a campaign Tuesday to ban facial recognition from university campuses, arguing it decreases “security on campuses, and opens up a pandora’s box of privacy, civil liberties, and equity issues.”
It’s “absolutely fair to say” the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act FTC rule “lacks clarity,” Commissioner Noah Phillips told reporters Monday. The agency is reviewing COPPA for potential changes, which spurred discussion about how the agency defines child-directed content (see 1912120062). “I also think it’s important to ask what the statute requires and then what is the proposed thing you think would add clarity,” Phillips said after a TechFreedom event.
The Supreme Court should strike down Oracle’s lawsuit against Google’s use of Java programming code (see 1911150052) because innovation relies on interoperability and fair use, tech companies, groups and scholars told the court Monday. Computer innovation depends on “collaborative development and seamless interoperability,” which require reuse of functional code, said Microsoft. The company cited long-applied flexibility of fair use doctrine to address software issues. Eighty-three computer scientists agreed, saying the computer industry has long relied on free use of software interfaces to foster innovation and competition. Supreme Court precedent excludes program interfaces from copyright’s scope, said two intellectual property scholars. Public Knowledge and others urged the court to hold that the Java application programming interface “is uncopyrightable, in accordance with longstanding tradition, industry practice, and common sense.” PK's brief included the R Street Institute and the Niskanen Center. Functional aspects of Oracle’s code are “not copyrightable, and even if they were, employing them to create new computer code falls under fair use protections,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Successful software development requires platform [single sign-on] compatibility,” said a group that included Mozilla, MapBox, Etsy and Wikimedia Foundation. Prior court decisions dictate that “copying incidental to software reverse engineering does not infringe copyright,” said the Computer & Communications Industry Association. Google copied “less than 0.5% of the Java application programming interface into Android to make it easier for Java programmers to write apps for Android smartphones,” CCIA said, saying interoperability is key to innovation and success, including Oracle’s success. Oracle previously noted that half of Google’s petition had been rejected, while the other half doesn't "even purport to present a circuit conflict." The top court rejected review of whether Oracle’s creative computer code is copyrightable in 2015, that company wrote. It didn't comment now.
There’s no timeline for reintroducing a Senate bill that would create a legal framework for autonomous vehicles, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., told us Thursday. Members are actively engaged, and the legislation remains a priority for Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., a Thune aide said Friday.