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Big Brother News Watch

Aug 18, 2023

House Judiciary Panel Subpoenas FBI and DOJ Over Biden, Big Tech Collusion + More

House Judiciary Panel Subpoenas FBI and DOJ Over Biden, Big Tech Collusion

New York Post reported:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan slapped the heads of the FBI and Justice Department with a pair of subpoenas Thursday over their agencies’ work with Big Tech companies to limit the spread of unpopular speech.

Jordan (R-Ohio) demanded that the FBI and DOJ fork over a slew of documents, specifically communications with private companies and third parties pertaining to “content moderation and the suppression of disfavored speech online.”

“It is necessary for Congress to gauge the extent to which DOJ officials have coerced, pressured, worked with, or relied upon social media and other tech companies to censor speech,” Jordan wrote in separate letters to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Earlier this month, Jordan’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government threw its weight behind the suit brought by Louisiana and Missouri, alleging the Biden administration trampled on First Amendment rights with its content-flagging apparatus.

Markey, Blackburn Demand FTC Investigate YouTube’s Data Collection on Kids

The Hill reported:

Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) demanded Thursday that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigate social media company YouTube over potential violations of how it is tracking and targeting children on their platforms. YouTube is owned by tech giant Google.

“YouTube and Google cannot continue treating young people’s data as an unprotected commodity from which to profit with abandon. Not only must the FTC Act, but Congress must also pass legislation to protect young people’s privacy online and finally ban targeted advertising to kids and teens,” the lawmakers wrote to the FTC.

The bipartisan push for the FTC to probe the Google subsidiary followed the release of a report from the ad quality and transparency platform Adalytics on Thursday morning, and a report from The New York Times about the findings.

The Adalytics report found that YouTube set “long-lasting cookies,” or small portions of text sent to a browser based on what websites a user visits, that allowed ad targeting and tracking on browsers for viewers of YouTube videos “clearly labeled as ‘for kids.’”

COVID Vaccine Free Speech Suit to Get First Circuit Look

Bloomberg Law reported:

A Rhode Island oral surgeon is appealing the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that state officials shut down his practice because he spoke out against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Stephen Skoly notified the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island on Thursday that he will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to allow him to proceed on a claim that the officials unlawfully retaliated against him for exercising his free speech rights.

Judge Mary S. McElroy orally dismissed Skoly’s First Amendment suit following oral arguments on July 20. She didn’t issue a written opinion.

Communication Using Thought Alone? Unbabel Unveils AI Project to Give Us Superhuman Capabilities

TechCrunch reported:

Sitting in a meeting room in a startup office in Lisbon, I silently typed the answer to a question only the person opposite would know the answer to. What kind of coffee had I asked for when I’d arrived at the office? A short moment later, without even moving or opening his mouth, the reply came back via a text message: “You had an Americano.”

This wasn’t how I’d expected to spend a Friday afternoon in the city, but here I was, sitting in the offices of enterprise language translation services startup Unbabel, opposite founder and CEO Vasco Pedro, testing what appeared to be a brain-to-computer interface. And it was pretty astounding.

Unbabel’s core mission — allowing enterprises to understand and be understood by their customers in dozens of languages — long ago led the company to think outside the proverbial “box,” to develop several projects in-house. It wanted to explore other ways to communicate. Now, as a startup with $90 million in VC funding, annual revenues of around $50 million and having survived the pandemic, Unbabel is doing well enough to explore these projects.

Unbabel’s innovation team, led by Paulo Dimas, VP of Product Innovation, looked into the way our brains evolved. Dimas and his team started to look into electroencephalogram (EEG) systems, some of which can be invasive to the body. Elon Musk’s Neuralink company is famously exploring invasive brain-computer interface devices for humans.

Terms-of-Service Land Grab: Tech Firms Seek Private Data to Train AI

Axios reported:

Tech companies are confronting a challenge: how to balance asking users for more data in order to deliver new AI features without scaring away privacy-conscious businesses and consumers.

Why it matters: Consumers consistently tell pollsters they want transparency about when AI is used and trained. But when companies provide such detail, it’s often written in legalese and buried in fine print that is often being rewritten to give tech companies more rights.

Driving the news: Video conferencing company Zoom encountered a massive backlash over concerns the contents of video chat might be used to train AI systems. The move prompted an apologetic post from Zoom’s CEO, but the company is far from alone in seeking more consumer data in order to train AI models.

The big picture: The absence of a federal privacy law fosters an AI development environment that allows companies to grab more data without facing limits or consequences.

What Normal Americans — Not AI Companies — Want for AI

Vox reported:

​​Five months ago, when I published a big piece laying out the case for slowing down AI, it wasn’t exactly mainstream to say that we should pump the brakes on this technology. Within the tech industry, it was practically taboo.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has argued that Americans would be foolish to slow down OpenAI’s progress. “If you are a person of a liberal-democratic country, it is better for you to cheer on the success of OpenAI” rather than “authoritarian governments,” he told the Atlantic. Microsoft’s Brad Smith has likewise argued that we can’t afford to slow down lest China race ahead on AI.

But it turns out the American public does not agree with them. A whopping 72% of American voters want to slow down the development of AI, compared to just 8% who prefer speeding up, according to new polling from the think tank AI Policy Institute.

Western Powers Argue Over How to Control AI

Politico reported:

In the race to rein in artificial intelligence, Western governments have hit a major bump in the road: they all want to win.

Officials from the European Union, the United States and other major economies are competing to write the definitive rules for artificial intelligence, including for the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google‘s Bard.

AI advocates say the economic opportunities offered by rolling out the technology range from quicker diagnoses of diseases to the development of autonomous vehicles. Skeptics warn AI could lead to a surge in unemployment and — in the very worst scenarios — global armageddon if automated systems gain uncontrollable power.

Aug 17, 2023

A Nonprofit Fights GOP Allegations That It Supported a ‘Censorship Regime’ + More

A Nonprofit Fights GOP Allegations That It Supported a ‘Censorship Regime’

The Washington Post reported:

When the Biden White House attacked social media companies in July 2021 for allegedly fostering the spread of misinformation about coronavirus vaccines, it cited a report by an obscure nonprofit, the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

The organization, which studies hate speech and misinformation on social media, earned a new level of infamy last month when X owner Elon Musk sued the group, arguing that its researchers violated the terms of service of the site formerly known as Twitter in a “scare campaign to drive away advertisers.” Days later, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) announced he was probing the nonprofit, demanding it turn over documents related to its alleged role in a Biden administration-led “censorship regime.”

On Thursday, the CCDH responded with a full-throated defense of its research and communications with government officials, dismissing Jordan’s allegations as “confusion about the organization” in a letter.

The probe underscores the growing pressure Jordan and House Republicans are placing on nonprofits, researchers and companies working to address online misinformation, an ecosystem that grew in prominence amid a proliferation of falsehoods about COVID-19 and President Biden’s electoral victory in 2020. Jordan and other Republicans allege these efforts to limit online falsehoods amount to a vast conspiracy between social media companies and the Biden administration to silence conservative viewpoints online.

New Neurotechnology Is Blurring the Lines Around Mental Privacy — but Are New Human Rights the Answer?

Scientific American reported:

Neurotechnologies — devices that interact directly with the brain or nervous system — were once dismissed as the stuff of science fiction. Not anymore.

Several companies are trying to develop brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, in hopes of helping patients with severe paralysis or other neurological disorders. Entrepreneur Elon Musk’s company Neuralink, for example, recently received Food and Drug Administration approval to begin human testing for a tiny brain implant that can communicate with computers. There are also less invasive neurotechnologies, like EEG headsets that sense electrical activity inside the wearer’s brain, covering a wide range of applications from entertainment and wellness to education and the workplace.

Neurotechnology research and patents have soared at least twentyfold over the past two decades, according to a United Nations report, and devices are getting more powerful. Newer BCIs, for example, have the potential to collect brain and nervous system data more directly, with higher resolution, in greater amounts, and in more pervasive ways.

However, these improvements have also raised concerns about mental privacy and human autonomy — questions I think about in my research on the ethical and social implications of brain science and neural engineering. Who owns the generated data, and who should get access? Could this type of device threaten individuals’ ability to make independent decisions?

Close to Half of American Adults Favor TikTok Ban, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Shows

Reuters reported:

Close to half of American adults support a ban on the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos survey that also asked questions about national security concerns and China.

TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance and used by tens of millions of Americans, has faced calls from U.S. lawmakers for a nationwide ban over concerns about possible Chinese government influence.

Some 47% of respondents to the two-day poll, which concluded on Tuesday, said they at least somewhat supported “banning the social media application, TikTok, from use in the United States,” while 36% opposed a ban and 17% said they didn’t know.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in March that China’s government could use TikTok to control software on millions of devices and drive narratives to divide Americans, adding that the app “screams” of national security concerns. Other top U.S. intelligence officials, including CIA Director William Burns, also have said TikTok poses a threat.

Time Is Running Out to File Claims for Facebook’s $725 Million Data Privacy Settlement

CNN Business reported:

Anyone in the United States who had a Facebook account in the past 16 years has roughly one week left to file for payment in a data privacy settlement case.

Facebook’s parent, Meta, in December, agreed to pay $725 million to settle a host of privacy-related class action lawsuits alleging, among other things, that Facebook let third parties access its users’ private data and that of their friends without users’ permission.

If you were a user of Facebook in the United States for any period between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, you may file a claim. You must submit your claim using this form by 11:59 pm PT on Friday, August 25 if you’re filing online. If you are filing by mail, your envelope must be postmarked by August 25.

Once everyone’s claims are in, there will be a final approval hearing for the settlement of the case. That hearing is scheduled for September 7 at 1 pm PT, according to the Facebook user privacy settlement website.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Says He Would Ban Social Media, if Allowed to Be a Dictator

Reclaim the Net reported:

In an unfiltered admission during a radio interview, Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has raised eyebrows by placing a social media ban at the top of his wishlist if he was allowed to act as a dictator for five years.

This statement has attracted significant attention amidst proceedings discussing a contentious “misinformation” bill in parliament, stirring concerns about online censorship and the government defining truth.

Albanese, during his conversation with Neil Mitchell, 3AW Radio Host, unveiled his apparent vexation with social media, underlining the issues it poses to the long-term goal-setting for the nation.

In a precarious state, the Prime Minister’s statement amplifies the concerns of those advocating free speech and social media activists. It hints at the potential reinforcement of government censorship, a dreaded scenario as the misinformation bill seeks the green light.

How NewsGuard Became the Establishment Guard Against Independent Media

The Epoch Times reported:

As difficult as it is to run an independent media outlet, there’s a company making it substantially harder. Its name is NewsGuard. The company claims to rate online content, including from media outlets, for trustworthiness, but a closer look shows it does much more than that — its business model produces censorious pressure on news organizations.

An investigation by The Epoch Times has revealed troubling questions regarding the quality of and the agenda behind NewsGuard’s offerings.

Founded in 2018, NewsGuard dispatches its “analysts” to prepare reviews of online content creators and to issue ratings “to help readers have more context for the news they read online.” The ratings display as small badges with scores next to search results.

That, however, represents only a small part of the picture. The bigger picture shows that NewsGuard’s most potent function stems from its relationships with advertising agencies, which have steered their clients to cut off advertising dollars for content creators disfavored by the company’s “analyst” reviews. As it so happens, corporate, establishment-friendly media tend to receive high scores while independent media skeptical of the establishment tend to receive low scores, even if they adhere to high journalistic standards.

Aug 16, 2023

The Legal Loophole That Lets the Government Search Your Phone + More

The Legal Loophole That Lets the Government Search Your Phone

Engadget reported:

Despite the U.S. ethos that you’ll be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, law enforcement finding an excuse to search your digital devices only requires a presumption of wrongdoing. The tech to do this already exists, and murky legislation lets it happen, speakers from the Legal Aid Society said at DEF CON last Friday.

The problem isn’t just the state of local law either, but it’s embedded in the Constitution. As Diane Akerman, digital forensics attorney at the Legal Aid Society explained, the Fourth Amendment hasn’t been updated to account for modern problems like digital data. The Fourth Amendment intends to protect people from “unreasonable searches and seizures” by the U.S. government. This is where we get legal protections like warrants, where law enforcement needs court approval to look for evidence in your home, car or elsewhere.

Today, that includes your digital belongings too, from your phone to the cloud and beyond, making way for legal loopholes as tech advancements outpace the law. For example, there’s no way to challenge a search warrant prior to it being executed, Akerman said. For physical evidence that makes some sense because we don’t want someone flushing evidence down a toilet.

That’s not how your social media accounts or data in the cloud work though, because those digital records are much harder to scrub. So, law enforcement can get a warrant to search your device, and there’s no process to litigate in advance whether the warrant is appropriate. Even if there’s reason for the warrant, Akerman and Allison Young, a digital forensics analyst at The Legal Aid Society, showed that officers can use intentionally vague language to search your entire cell phone when they know the evidence may only be in one account.

Google Is Looking Into Doling Out AI-Generated Life Advice

Mashable reported:

Recently, there’s been plenty of anxiety around companies investing in AI to replace creative types, such as professional writers. Now, the tech could be coming for life coaches.

Google‘s DeepMind division is internally testing generative AI‘s ability to perform “at least” 21 kinds of tasks, which include giving sensitive life advice to users, per a report from the New York Times. This comes, the Times notes, after Google’s AI experts reportedly warned company executives about letting people become too emotionally invested in chatbots in December.

There would also be tools for teaching users new skills or helping people manage their money or create meal plans, per the Times report. This would be quite a change from Google’s current stance on AI, which presently bars its Bard chatbot from giving these kinds of advice. As the Times noted, though, Google may not ever actually deploy these tools to the public; they’re just in testing right now.

Depending on your disposition towards AI, you may hope it stays that way. I certainly wouldn’t judge you for that.

Microsoft Might Be Saving Your Bing Chat Conversations

Mashable reported:

Uh-oh — Microsoft might be storing information from your Bing chats. This is probably totally fine as long as you’ve never chatted about anything you wouldn’t want anyone else reading, or if you thought your Bing chats would be deleted, or if you thought you had more privacy than you actually have.

In its terms of service, Microsoft updated new AI policies. Introduced on July 30 and going into effect on Sept. 30, the policy said: “As part of providing the AI services, Microsoft will process and store your inputs to the service as well as output from the service, for purposes of monitoring for and preventing abusive or harmful uses or outputs of the service.”

According to the Register’s reading of a new clause “AI Services” in Microsoft’s terms of service, Microsoft can store your conversations with Bing if you’re not an enterprise user — and we don’t know for how long.

The EU Wants to Cure Your Teen’s Smartphone Addiction

Politico reported:

Glazed eyes. One-syllable responses. The steady tinkle of beeps and buzzes coming out of a smartphone’s speakers. Countries are now taking the first steps to rein in excessive — and potentially harmful — use of big social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

China wants to limit screen time to 40 minutes for children aged under eight, while the U.S. state of Utah has imposed a digital curfew for minors and parental consent to use social media. France has targeted manufacturers, requiring them to install a parental control system that can be activated when their device is turned on.

The EU has its own sweeping plans. It’s taking bold steps with its Digital Services Act (DSA) that, from the end of this month, will force the biggest online platforms — TikTok, Facebook, YouTube — to open up their systems to scrutiny by the European Commission and prove that they’re doing their best to make sure their products aren’t harming kids.

The penalty for non-compliance? A hefty fine of up to six percent of companies’ global annual revenue.

NYC Bans TikTok on City-Owned Devices

The Verge reported:

New York City is banning TikTok from city-owned devices and requiring agencies to remove the app within the next 30 days.

The directive issued Wednesday comes after a review by the NYC Cyber Command which a city official said found that TikTok “posed a security threat to the city’s technical networks.” Starting immediately, city employees are barred from downloading or using the app and accessing TikTok’s website from any city-owned devices.

The city cited US Office of Management and Budget guidelines discouraging TikTok’s use on government devices as well as federal legislation banning the app passed earlier this year.

For more than three years, the U.S. Congress has attempted to push through legislation banning TikTok nationwide, alleging that the app and its Chinese owner, Bytedance, can use the data it collects to spy on Americans.

As AI Shows Up in Doctors’ Offices, Most Patients Are Giving Permission as Experts Advise Caution

Fox News reported:

Artificial intelligence has been used “behind the scenes” in healthcare for decades, but with the growing popularity of new technologies such as ChatGPT, it’s now playing a bigger role in patient care — including during routine doctor’s visits.

Physicians may rely on AI to record conversations, manage documentation and create personalized treatment plans. And that raises the question of whether they must get patients’ permission first to use the technology during appointments.

In terms of HIPAA compliance with AI-generated documentation, things can get a little murky. “HIPAA does not specifically require patient consent for the use of AI — artificial intelligence wasn’t even a term when HIPAA was created, so it has some catching up to do,”  said Manny Krakaris, CEO of Augmedix, a medical technology company in San Francisco.

Aug 15, 2023

YouTube Announces New Policies to Target Medical Misinformation + More

YouTube Announces New Policies to Target Medical Misinformation

The Hill reported:

YouTube on Tuesday announced it is creating a new framework to crack down on medical misinformation on the platform.

The platform has faced controversy in recent years for its algorithm and the way it can direct viewers to misleading and extremist content. In 2021, YouTube said it removed more than 1 million videos related to “dangerous coronavirus information” since the beginning of the outbreak in the U.S.

YouTube said it will use three categories, “Prevention, Treatment and Denial” to sort the kinds of medical misinformation on the platform.

It will remove content that contradicts guidance from health authorities on the prevention and transmission of certain conditions, including vaccines. It will also take down content that contradicts guidance on treatments, including videos that tout unproven remedies in place of seeking care, and content that denies the existence of specific conditions, including COVID-19, according to YouTube.

Biden Administration Asks Supreme Court to Hear Cases on State Social Media Laws

CNN Business reported:

The Biden administration urged the Supreme Court on Monday to take up multiple cases involving state laws that restrict social media companies’ moderation of their own platforms, arguing the laws violate the First Amendment rights of companies such as Meta and Twitter.

The U.S. government’s brief adds pressure on the court to rule on whether states can force tech platforms to host content they would otherwise remove under their terms of service.

Should the court agree to hear the cases involving laws passed by Texas and Florida, the outcome could reshape what Americans nationwide can see on digital social platforms.

The state laws in question allow social media users to sue tech companies for alleged political censorship, including suspensions, bans and other penalties a user might experience as a result of violating a platform’s terms. They also require tech platforms to explain their individualized content moderation decisions to users.

Viewed as a bellwether for internet speech and private rights in the face of government power, the cases take place against the backdrop of conservative claims that major social media platforms have a political agenda to discriminate against right-wing users by stifling their speech.

Sage Steele Leaves ESPN After Settling Her Lawsuit Over COVID Vaccine Comments

Associated Press reported:

ESPN and host Sage Steele have settled a lawsuit she filed after being disciplined for comments she made about the company’s policy requiring employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Steele posted on social media on Tuesday that she is leaving the Bristol, Connecticut-based company, where she has worked since 2007.

Steele was taken off the air for 10 days in October 2021 and pulled from several high-profile assignments, including coverage of the New York City Marathon, the Rose Parade, and the annual ESPNW Summit, because she criticized ESPN and The Walt Disney Co.’s requirement that employees be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to her lawsuit, which was filed in May 2022 in Connecticut Superior Court.

She also was required to make a public apology, the lawsuit said.

She said that while she respected everyone’s decision to get vaccinated, she believed that a corporate mandate was “sick” and “scary to me in many ways.” She also indicated that she did not want to get vaccinated but did so to keep her job and support her family, according to the lawsuit.

Students Blocked From Campus When COVID Hit Want Money Back. Some Are Getting Refunds

Boston Herald reported:

Thousands of college students will get hundreds of dollars in compensation as colleges and universities move this summer to settle multimillion-dollar lawsuits stemming from canceled classes and activities during COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. While some of the class-action suits against the colleges and universities are still in litigation, and still others dismissed, several major cases have been settled in recent weeks.

The settlements mean students who were charged tuition and fees but weren’t able to use in-person services during the pandemic shutdowns will receive some compensation, though they won’t be refunded for all the on-campus amenities they lost. The amounts depend on the total settlement figure, minus legal fees and other court expenses. Each case has a different timeline.

Most recently, the University of Delaware agreed in June to set up a $6.3 million fund to partially reimburse tuition and fees that the students paid for classes, housing and activities in 2020. The students argued that they did not receive the full benefit of in-person participation in academics and extracurricular activities. Each student is expected to receive several hundred dollars in cash as part of the agreement.

There have been about 300 such lawsuits, according to Times Higher Education, a British publication that partners with The Wall Street Journal on rankings and evaluations of U.S. schools.

NYC Teachers Fired Over Vaccine Refusal Rally at S.I. Courthouse; Judge’s Ruling Looms

SILive.com reported:

Teachers fired for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine gathered Monday outside the Staten Island Courthouse in St. George amid an ongoing civil complaint against the city, while a Staten Island judge revealed the date he’ll rule on the litigation.

The ongoing suit against the city, backed by the Children’s Health Defense, calls for reinstatement, back pay and damages for pain and suffering, including but not limited to the loss of homes, having to move out of state and a lack of health insurance. Plaintiffs and their supporters allege widespread religious discrimination by city officials, citing a policy instated at the height of the pandemic that refused religious exemptions for all denominations except for Christian Scientists.

After hearing arguments from both sides Monday, state Supreme Court Justice Ralph Porzio said he will rule on Sept. 6 whether the city acted lawfully and if lost wages should be restored to the plaintiffs. He will also rule on the legality of a class action lawsuit filed against the state.

In October, Porzio ruled that New York City Sanitation workers who were fired for not getting vaccinated against COVID-19 should be reinstated and given back pay. As part of his decision, he ruled that Mayor Eric Adams’ lifting of the vaccine mandate for some private employees earlier this year — notably, athletes and entertainers — was evidence that the public worker mandate was arbitrary and unreasonable.

Can You Break Your Smartphone Addiction?

Insider reported:

After a decade-plus of growing ubiquity, people have started to reckon with the negative effects of smartphones — especially their addictive nature. It’s resulted in a growing push to reduce smartphone use, especially after the early pandemic lockdowns caused people to spend more time online. But the new wave of smartphone pushback is running up against a big problem.

Even as we recognize the drawbacks of our excessive use of smartphones, the world around us is increasingly designed to force us to use them for essential tasks. In many ways, we’ve so thoroughly integrated the devices into our lives, it’s become impossible to break free.

The Pandemic Learning Loss Was Worse for Kids With Special Needs. Now, Startups Are Helping Students With Autism, Dyslexia and ADHD Get Back on Track.

Insider reported:

This upcoming school year marks the second since the return to in-person learning. And neurodivergent students that require special education assistance and mental health support are behind the learning curve.

Guadalupe Lara, an intensive behavioral instruction aide for students with special needs at Pacific Elementary in Manhattan Beach, California, said helping her students recover from the learning losses during remote learning during the pandemic has been very tough. During the last school year, some students have been unable to recognize words that they were previously able to comprehend in reading lessons, she said.

Nine-year-old students with registered learning differences saw a drop in reading and math scores in 2022 compared to their peers in 2020, Edweek reported, citing long-term trend data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

U.S. Watchdog Teases Crackdown on Data Brokers That Sell Americans’ Personal Information

CNN Business reported:

The U.S. government plans to rein in the vast data broker industry with new, privacy-focused regulations that aim to safeguard millions of Americans’ personal information from data breaches, violent criminals and even artificial intelligence chatbots.

The coming proposal by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would extend existing regulations that govern credit reports, arrest records and other data to what the agency describes as the “surveillance industry,” or the sprawling economy of businesses that traffic in increasingly digitized personal information.

The potential rules, which are not yet public or final, could bar data brokers from selling certain types of consumer information — including a person’s income or their criminal and payment history — except in specific circumstances, the CFPB said.

The push could also see new restrictions on the sale of personal information such as Social Security numbers, names and addresses, which the CFPB said data brokers often buy from the major credit reporting bureaus to create their own profiles on individual consumers.

Montana TikTok Ban: Digital Rights Groups Join the Fight Against ‘Unconstitutional’ Bill

TechRadar reported:

Digital rights advocate groups have officially joined the legal fight against a proposed Montana TikTok ban.

After being approved in May, the “unconstitutional new restrictions” are set to be enforced on January 1, 2024. This will make Montana the first U.S. state to completely ban TikTok, making the use of a VPN service a necessity to keep accessing the popular video-sharing app.

The social media company and five TikTok creators have decided to challenge the legislation’s lawfulness in court. Here’s how digital rights advocates are backing up their fight.

The fate of TikTok, its creators, and viewers is on a ticking clock in Montana and so are citizens’ rights to free speech and access to information. That’s why the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed an amicus brief on August 11 in support of the ongoing lawsuit.