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Jordan Subpoenas CDC, Federal Agencies Over Censorship Concerns + More
Jordan Subpoenas Federal Agencies Over Censorship Concerns
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), House Judiciary Committee chairman, has issued subpoenas to officials representing three federal agencies as part of the committee’s probe into whether the federal government “coerced” Big Tech platforms to censor speech.
The committee said in a release on Friday that Jordan subpoenaed officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) for documents and communications related to the investigation.
The subpoenas were sent to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, CISA Director Jen Easterly and GEC Special Envoy and Coordinator James Rubin.
The release alleged that the committee requested voluntary cooperation from these agencies in March, but they have not provided any documents in response to its requests. But the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where CISA is housed, rejected this.
After Quitting Google, ‘Godfather of AI’ Is Now Warning of Its Dangers
Megalithic tech companies such as Google, Meta and Microsoft are so obsessed with AI development it seems impossible to steer any of them toward slowing down and actually thinking about the repercussions. Now one of the most prominent faces in artificial intelligence research, former Googler Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, has come down hard on the full-spring pace of AI development, ultimately calling for some kind of global regulation.
According to an interview with The New York Times, Hinton, an award-winning researcher on AI, neural networks and machine learning, is no longer so comfortable pushing the boundaries of AI development without any kind of regulation or stopgap. The 75-year-old Hinton, who was a lead researcher in any aspects of AI development at Google, has come out saying “It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using [AI] for bad things.”
He directly compared himself to Robert Oppenheimer, who helped develop the atomic bomb for the U.S. While Oppenheimer had made statements about pursuing science for science’s sake, Hinton instead said “I don’t think they should scale [AI] up more until they have understood whether they can control it.” He further shared his concerns that AI would lead to massive job disruptions around the world.
Lawmakers Urge Biden to Launch International Hub to Research Online Harms
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been pushing for years to pass legislation requiring tech companies to open up their data to outside researchers, but have yet to capitalize on it.
Now two House lawmakers are calling for President Biden to step in and take action at the executive level, urging him to launch an international research hub to study harms linked to social media and other types of digital platforms
Reps. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) and Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) wrote in a letter Monday shared first with The Technology 202 that the White House should begin negotiations with international allies to create a center to “facilitate cross-platform research on the information environment.”
“Studies have highlighted social media’s role in promoting self-harm, eating disorders and sales of drugs to children,” the two lawmakers wrote. “While the field of Information Science continues to expand and evolve, significant gaps in the research remain.”
Surveillance Numbers Drop, but Critics Aren’t Satisfied
Warrantless FBI searches of Americans’ communications dropped steeply last year, according to an intelligence community report that said the number fell from around 3 million to around 120,000.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the figure in an annual report Friday amid an intensifying battle on whether, and how, to reauthorize expiring surveillance powers under a law permitting warrantless spying on foreign targets, who may also be communicating with Americans.
But that decrease did not satisfy advocates for overhauling Section 702. They say the number is still too large and that there needs to be more privacy safeguards for U.S. citizens.
“Is 200,000 warrantless queries better than 3.4 million warrantless queries? When you ask the question, you get a sense of how warped the universe we’re in is — that somehow 200,000 warrantless searches a year are an acceptable number,” said Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security program, citing a separate set of figures from the report using a different counting method. “We’re talking about surveillance on just a huge scale when you’re talking about 200,000 warrantless searches.”
She also found the argument in opposition to a warrant requirement unconvincing. She said there’s no “victim exception” to the Fourth Amendment. “They are basically admitting that they’re searching Americans’ communications and most private personal information without probable cause,” she said. “That is why you should have a warrant requirement, not why you shouldn’t have one.”
Amid Concerns About TikTok, Commerce Details Effort to Secure U.S. Data
The Biden administration outlined efforts this week to address growing U.S. national security concerns on foreign companies’ handling of Americans’ data.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at a U.S. Senate hearing the department is working “to secure our communications and technology networks and we are right now in the process of hiring a team to do monitoring, investigation and enforcement.”
Raimondo told Reuters after the hearing “We’re hiring dozens of people” to “look for any companies that may pose an undue security risk to our networks or to our data.” Concerns about Chinese-owned TikTok have sparked new efforts in Congress to boost powers to address it or potentially ban the popular short video-sharing app.
On Wednesday, Biden administration agencies briefed senators in a previously unreported closed session on “Foreign adversaries exploitation of America’s data from social media platforms, data brokers and other companies,” according to Republican Senator Jerry Moran.
Social Media Scatters Your Brain, and Then You Buy Stuff You Don’t Need
Social media can be mentally draining. And when mentally drained, you are more likely to be influenced by a high number of likes on posts — even to the point of clicking on ads for products you don’t need or want — according to our recent experiments on how social media affects behavior.
As a professor of advertising, I have studied social media behavior for years. In late 2022, my colleague Eric Haley and I conducted three online studies on Americans aged 18-65 to test how people under various mental loads respond to ads differently.
Researchers refer to this mentally exhausted state as “cognitive overload.” Using social media puts you in this state because you are constantly evaluating different types of text, photo and video posts from so many different people. In the span of several seconds, you can see a text from your spouse, a photo from a co-worker, a video from a celebrity and a meme from your brother. All of this scrolling and evaluating leaves us feeling frazzled and scattered.
AI in Healthcare: What’s to Be Done About Data?
The quality of any AI application is highly dependent on the data feeding its model. The U.S. healthcare system, a prime candidate for AI applications, is still starved for comprehensive and representative real-world health data that is standardized, proactively shared, and easily accessible.
There is no lack of enthusiasm for the potential beneficial impact of AI on the practice of medicine, the health of patients, and the productivity of the healthcare sector. For example, the medical publisher NEJM Group, recently announced NEJM AI, a new journal that will “identify and evaluate state-of-the-art applications of artificial intelligence to clinical medicine.”
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) itself started a series of articles on “AI in Medicine,” stating that “medicine stands out as one [field] in which there is a tremendous potential” for AI along with “equally substantial challenges.”
Among these challenges is “a mismatch between the data set with which an AI system was developed and the data on which it is being deployed.” In other words, failing to apply an AI model to all patients, not just those who are similar to the patients on which the AI model was trained.
Group That Sued Over San Diego’s COVID Vaccine Mandate Declares Victory
A group challenged the City of San Diego’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in court and declared victory after the city settled the lawsuit and rescinded the mandate.
The Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids (PERK) represents hundreds of San Diego Police officers, firefighters and city employees.
“It’s a wonderful victory,” said San Diego Fire Captain Justus Norgord. “I’m excited, but I have mixed feelings. I’m also disappointed that we even had to bring the lawsuit.”
According to the San Diego Police Officer’s Association, 130 police officers resigned over the mandate, only two or three have returned to the force, and five or six are returning to their old jobs.
NYPD’s Answer to TikTok Car Theft Challenges: 500 Free AirTags
The New York Police Department is turning to Apple AirTags to combat a rise in stolen vehicles it blames on a TikTok car theft challenge. In a press conference on Sunday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams announced that the city is handing out 500 free AirTags to help residents track their cars in case they’ve been stolen.
Mayor Adams said there’s a direct link between the increase in car thefts in the city and the viral TikTok videos from thieves known as the “Kia Boyz” that first emerged last summer. In clips posted to the platform, the pair taught users how to exploit a Hyundai and Kia defect that let them start a car using a USB cable and other readily available tools.
The NYPD won’t have access to the real-time location of the AirTags that it’s giving away. Mayor Adams notes that people will have to notify the police department that their vehicle has been stolen and then give the authorities permission to track their car. The city is only distributing the AirTags, which it received as a donation from the nonprofit Association for a Better New York, to residents in Castle Hill, Soundview and Parkchester, who can call their local precinct to get one, according to CBS News.
CDC Eases COVID Vaccination Rule on International Travelers as Expiration Looms + More
CDC Eases COVID Vaccination Rule on International Travelers as Expiration Looms
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved Thursday to formally loosen its COVID-19 vaccination requirement on foreign visitors, which will now allow some to board flights into the U.S. with only a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna.
“Because some traveler vaccine records might not specify whether recent Moderna or Pfizer doses received were bivalent, CDC will consider anybody with a record of a single dose of Moderna or Pfizer vaccine issued on or after August 16, 2022, to meet the requirements,” the agency said in updates published Thursday to its website.
The change comes after the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration decided earlier this month to simplify the COVID-19 vaccine schedule, allowing for most unvaccinated Americans to skip the original two “monovalent” mRNA shots many got early in the pandemic.
Multiple travel industry officials have said that the requirement on foreign visitors, which has resulted in a handful of high-profile spats over unvaccinated athletes and celebrities being denied entry into the country, is widely expected to be allowed to expire. Many countries have already long since eased or ended their vaccination requirements on travelers.
Washington Passes Law Requiring Consent Before Companies Collect Health Data
A new Washington state law will require companies to receive a user’s explicit consent before they can collect, share or sell their health data. Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed the My Health, My Data bill into law on Thursday, giving users the right to withdraw consent at any time and have their data deleted.
The law should help shield users’ health data from the companies and organizations not included under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which prevents certain medical providers from disclosing “individually identifiable” health information without consent. The HIPAA Privacy Rule doesn’t cover many of the health apps and sites that collect medical data, allowing them to freely collect and sell this information to advertisers.
Under Washington’s new law, which comes into effect in March 2024, medical apps and sites must ask a user for permission to collect their health data in a nondeceptive manner that “openly communicates a consumer’s freely given, informed, opt-in, voluntary, specific, and unambiguous written consent.”
The site and apps must also disclose what kind of data they plan to collect and if they plan to sell it. Additionally, the bill will block medical providers from using geofencing to collect location information about the patients that visit the facility.
6 Key Moments From House Republicans’ Hearing on Warrant-Free FISA Surveillance
Members of the House Judiciary Committee kicked off what could be months of fiery debates over one of the U.S.’s most controversial warrantless surveillance programs this week. In the hearing Thursday titled, “FIX FISA,” lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle voiced concerns over the scale of U.S. citizen data “routinely collected” under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Civil liberties groups are pressuring lawmakers to let the controversial program die when it comes up for a reauthorization vote at the end of the year.
Though some of the lawmakers on the Hosue committee appeared surprised or even outraged over the prospect of U.S. citizen data being sucked up during foreign surveillance operations, the experts clarified that the seeming loophole is actually a core foundation of Section 702. “Incidental collection” is a “recognized feature” of the program, Sharon Bradford Franklin, U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Chair, told lawmakers.
Franklin said the real threat to civil liberties in the case comes not necessarily from the collection of the data, but from the ease with which intelligence agencies like the FBI can search for American names in the database of communications.
Another Lockdown Authoritarian Tries to Weasel Out of Responsibility for Role During Pandemic
Another lockdown fanatic is attempting to rewrite history. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (which coordinated with the DOJ to label concerned parents domestic terrorists), claimed this week in front of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, that her organization “spent every day from February trying to get schools open,” adding “We knew that remote education was not a substitute for opening schools.”
Except, as Twitter users quickly noted, Weingarten is misrepresenting her prior positions — having called attempts to reopen schools in the fall of 2020 “reckless, callous and cruel.” What’s more, her union pushed aggressively for closures at the local level, while areas with high union influence remained closed much longer.
Other lockdown all-stars, Anthony Fauci and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, have also claimed they didn’t force anyone to do anything.
We also learned from the more recent Twitter files, Fauci lied under oath about his role during the pandemic — claiming he had ‘nothing to do with Twitter’ and other social media platforms, while he had actually taken over the White House’s Twitter account for COVID response.
Social Media Particularly Damaging to Mental Health of Gen Zers, Says Study
New data on the impact of social media use on mental health across the world shows just how damaging it is to Gen Zers.
The study, conducted by the McKinsey Health Institute, reported: “Gen Zers, on average, are more likely than other generations to cite negative feelings about social media.”
It found one in four Gen Z members — those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s — connect spending a lot of time on these platforms with poorer mental health.
About 42,000 respondents in 26 countries across continents were surveyed about the four dimensions of health: mental, physical, social and spiritual. Gen Zers ranked worst across all of these categories.
AI-Powered Mental Health Diagnostic Tool Could Be the First of Its Kind to Predict, Treat Depression
As the world of artificial intelligence blooms, some players in the healthcare industry are looking to make a major difference in public health. HMNC Brain Health — a Munich, Germany-based health tech company — is one of those. It’s attempting to use novel AI-powered technologies to address mental health issues.
The company has developed what’s described as a “precision psychiatry” diagnostic tool that uses artificial intelligence to predict, diagnose and even treat depression.
While the technology is still in development, HMNC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hans Eriksson told Fox News Digital that the tool could be the first of its kind in generative AI.
Fed Faults Silicon Valley Bank Execs, Itself in Bank Failure
Silicon Valley Bank failed due to a combination of extremely poor bank management, weakened regulations and lax government supervision, the Federal Reserve said Friday, in a highly-anticipated review of how the central bank failed to properly supervise the bank before it collapsed early last month.
The report, authored by Federal Reserve staff and Michael Barr, the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, takes a critical look at what the Fed missed as Silicon Valley Bank grew quickly in size in the years leading up to its collapse. The report also points out underlying cultural issues at the Fed, where supervisors were unwilling to be hard on bank management when they saw growing problems.
The report also looks at the role social media and technology played in the bank’s last days. While the bank’s management was poor and ultimately that was the reason the bank failed, the report also notes that social media caused a bank run that happened in just hours, compared to days for earlier bank runs like those seen in 2008.
Japan to Lift COVID Border Controls Before Holiday Week
Japan will lift most of its coronavirus border controls, including a requirement that entrants show proof of three vaccinations or a pre-departure negative test, beginning Saturday as the country’s Golden Week holiday season begins and a large influx of foreign tourists is expected.
All entrants with symptoms will still be required to take COVID-19 tests after arriving until May 8, and those who test positive will be placed in designated quarantine facilities, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters. After May 9, testing of those with symptoms will be voluntary.
Japan will also drop a special measure subjecting visitors from mainland China to random testing upon arrival that was implemented in late December when infections surged there, he said.
The government had originally planned to implement the changes on May 8, when it will downgrade the official status of the coronavirus to a common infectious disease like seasonal influenza, but decided to speed them up for the holiday season beginning Saturday.
Snapchat’s New AI Chatbot Is Already Raising Alarms Among Teens and Parents + More
Snapchat’s New AI Chatbot Is Already Raising Alarms Among Teens and Parents
The feature is powered by the viral AI chatbot tool ChatGPT — and like ChatGPT, it can offer recommendations, answer questions and converse with users. But Snapchat’s version has some key differences: Users can customize the chatbot’s name, design a custom Bitmoji avatar for it, and bring it into conversations with friends.
The new tool is facing backlash not only from parents but also from some Snapchat users who are bombarding the app with bad reviews in the app store and criticisms on social media over privacy concerns, “creepy” exchanges and an inability to remove the feature from their chat feed unless they pay for a premium subscription.
While some may find value in the tool, the mixed reactions hint at the risks companies face in rolling out new generative AI technology to their products, particularly in products like Snapchat, whose users skew younger.
“These examples would be disturbing for any social media platform, but they are especially troubling for Snapchat, which almost 60% of American teenagers use,” Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet wrote in a letter to the CEOs of Snap and other tech companies last month. “Although Snap concedes My AI is ‘experimental,’ it has nevertheless rushed to enroll American kids and adolescents in its social experiment.”
Musk Meets With Lawmakers to Discuss AI: ‘Great Power to Do Good and Evil’
Elon Musk met with members of Congress on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of regulating artificial intelligence as many companies rush to incorporate the systems into their operations.
Leading corporations and venture capital firms have poured considerable funds into developing AI tools meant for consumer products and internal business solutions. Musk contended on social media after his discussion with lawmakers that regulations would protect the population from possible harmful effects of the nascent technology.
Elon Musk met with members of Congress on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of regulating artificial intelligence as many companies rush to incorporate the systems into their operations.
Leading corporations and venture capital firms have poured considerable funds into developing AI tools meant for consumer products and internal business solutions. Musk contended on social media after his discussion with lawmakers that regulations would protect the population from possible harmful effects of the nascent technology.
‘Our Free Will Is Being Taken’: Montana TikTokers Caught in Legal Limbo After State’s Unprecedented Ban
Montana’s first-of-its-kind law banning TikTok threatens to cut Spencre McGowan, an herbalist and a cookbook writer in Butte, Montana, and other creators off from their followings — the main promotional tool propping up their livelihoods.
When the bill takes effect in January, it will force creators and business owners across the state to make a difficult choice: abandon the app that has so enriched their lives and their businesses or sidestep the law and continue using TikTok in a state of anxious legal uncertainty. McGowan said she’s not interested in leaving the state.
“Our free will is being taken away from us,” McGowan said. Legal experts agree with her. Several who spoke to Gizmodo called the law “clearly unconstitutional” and said it will certainly face legal challenges. The creators Gizmodo spoke to were exploring joining a class action suit against the state.
Lawmakers around the country and around the world have been beating the “Ban TikTok” drum louder in recent months, with many expressing fears buttressed by intelligence services that the foreign-owned app could be used as an espionage tool by the Chinese government.
While many states and even the federal government have already capitalized on that rhetoric to ban TikTok on devices their employees use, Montana went where no state had gone before and passed a bill banning the app on all personal devices within state lines.
‘Knife in the Back’: Havana Syndrome Victims Dispute Report Dismissing Their Cases
“Patient Zero,” an American official stationed at the U.S. embassy in Cuba, was in his Havana apartment one night in December 2016 when he heard a strange sound and felt what he described as a “head-crushing pressure” and a “massive ear pain.” The sound stopped after he moved to another residence, but the symptoms remained, he told the Miami Herald: “I would wake up with nosebleeds that wouldn’t stop.”
A doctor the CIA sent to investigate had a similar incident himself in his Capri Hotel room just hours after arriving on the island’s capital in April 2017. “I woke up with severe pain in my right ear. I had a deafening, resounding headache and nausea. I sat on the bed and realized I was awake. I had this extreme feeling of pressure. I thought, ‘This can’t be happening; it’s crazy,’” he told the Herald.
All of these people have been diagnosed with brain injuries or inner-ear problems that doctors who treated them believe are part of a new disorder known for the place it all started: Havana Syndrome. They went through years of tests and rehabilitation therapies and are still suffering from debilitating effects. But after so many years, they still struggle to be believed.
The Miami Herald spoke to three former CIA officials and two Canadian diplomats affected by the strange incidents who said they are convinced they were targeted while serving their countries abroad. And all said that a recent U.S. intelligence report blaming their ailments on pre-existing medical conditions or environmental factors is an attempt to whitewash the Havana Syndrome affair, likely due to political considerations.
Now the victims claim the U.S. government wants to move on and “put a bow on it and close the book in hopes that no one would question it,” Patient Zero said. “This is a massive analytic intelligence failure or a cover-up; only time will tell,” he said.
House Republicans Grill Teachers Union Chief on Pandemic School Closures
Republican lawmakers on the Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic pressed American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten during a hearing Wednesday on the exact role the union had in influencing school reopening guidance from the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (CDC).
Weingarten was called before the panel after a public records request showed the AFT had the opportunity to give proposals and suggestions to the CDC’s “Operational Strategy for K-12 Through Phased Mitigation” guidance during the pandemic.
“We’re investigating the decision-making process behind school closures and the effects it had so that we can do better in the future,” Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) said in his opening statement. “Inherently, part of that investigation is evaluating if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention followed science as they knew it or learned it or merely accepted outside guidance regardless of available data during its guidance drafting and publication process.”
Republicans also pointed to an email from the AFT to the CDC that showed the union wanting a trigger for when schools should close if transmissions got too bad.
Ban on COVID Vaccine Mandates Clears North Carolina House
State agencies and local governments in North Carolina would not be allowed to deny employment to someone who refuses to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or prove they’ve been vaccinated, under legislation passed Wednesday by the state House.
The bill passed the House 73-41, with three Democrats and all present Republicans voting in favor, and was sent to the Senate.
Beginning in January 2024, the state’s public schools, community colleges and universities would also be prohibited from requiring students to get the COVID-19 vaccination or a booster shot. Private schools and businesses could still require their students or employees to receive the vaccine.
North Carolina law requires students at public, private and religious colleges and universities to receive other immunizations in most circumstances, including for mumps, measles and polio. The coronavirus vaccine is not currently required.
Groups Pushing Vaccine Passports, Mandates, Were Quietly Funded by Pfizer
Pfizer, the manufacturer of one of the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines in the country, silently funded groups advocating for vaccine mandates and passports, according to a report by Lee Fang.
In August 2021, the president of the Chicago Urban League, Karen Freeman-Wilson, in an interview on TV, argued that vaccine mandates would not disproportionately harm the black community. “The health and safety factor here far outweighs the concern about shutting people out or creating a barrier,” Freeman-Wilson said at the time.
Earlier that year, the Chicago Urban League had received $100,000 from Pfizer for a project on promoting “vaccine safety and effectiveness.” The organization did not list Pfizer as a donor or partner on its website and Freeman-Wilson did not mention the funding during the interview.
The Chicago Urban League grant is one of many Pfizer-awarded groups to promote and encourage vaccine mandates. The pharmaceutical giant awarded grants to public health organizations, civil rights groups, as well as consumer, medical, and doctors’ groups. Most of these groups did not disclose the funding from Pfizer.
AI Will Take Over Facebook and Instagram if Mark Zuckerberg Gets His Way
If you’re tired of seeing generative AI like ChatGPT being introduced to apps and products you love we have some bad news — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other Meta-owned platforms could soon be flooded with AI.
In the company’s latest earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed his visions for how “AI agents” could be used across a wide range of the company’s services. He elaborated that we might see chatbots on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, image creation tools to help make posts and ads on Facebook and Instagram, and in the future video content produced and enhanced by AI. Zuckerberg added, “I expect that these tools will be valuable for everyone from regular people to creators to businesses.”
The metaverse won’t be free from artificial intelligence either. Mark Zuckerberg went on to explain that Meta wants to eventually expand AI to provide assistance to Quest users as they explore virtual reality worlds — using the assistant to design avatars, create VR worlds and connect metaverse spaces together.
Justin Trudeau Accused of Rewriting History by Claiming He Never Forced Anyone to Get Vaccinated + More
Justin Trudeau Accused of Rewriting History by Claiming He Never Forced Anyone to Get Vaccinated
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau generated controversy for recently claiming that he never forced anyone in his country to get immunizations throughout the course of the pandemic.
In a clip shared on Twitter, Trudeau declared Monday that he merely incentivized people to get the vaccine, “while not forcing them to do so.”
The clip generated a huge backlash online, with users claiming that the leader’s comments stand in contrast with his orders requiring vaccines for various groups of Canadians, including a mandate for all federal workers and federally regulated Canadian transportation sectors.
The Canadian government’s mandates for cross-border truck drivers were so despised among some truckers that they orchestrated the “Freedom Convoy,” a protest of historic proportions in the nation’s capital that spread throughout the country.
Disney Sues Florida’s DeSantis Over Efforts to ‘Weaponize’ Government for Free Speech
Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) sued Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, asking a court to overturn state efforts to control Disney World and intensifying a battle between a global entertainment giant and a likely White House contender.
In its lawsuit, Disney accused DeSantis and his supporters of illegally using the state government to punish a company for voicing an opinion that should be protected by free-speech rights.
In the action filed in federal court in Tallahassee, Disney said it had no choice but to take legal action. The lawsuit said it aimed to protect Disney World’s employees, guests and developers “from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials.”
A Closer Look at the U.S. Pandemic Response Reached an Unsettling Conclusion
Looking back at the U.S. response to the pandemic, many setbacks and mistakes are well-known. But a closer examination by a team of seasoned experts has brought to the surface a profoundly unsettling conclusion. The United States, once the paragon of can-do pragmatism, of successful moon shots and biomedical breakthroughs, fell down on the job in confronting the crisis. The pandemic, the experts say, revealed “a collective national incompetence in government.”
This warning comes through over and over again in “Lessons from the COVID War: An Investigative Report,” a book published Tuesday by a group of 34 specialists led by Philip Zelikow, the executive director of the 9/11 Commission and a history professor at the University of Virginia. Their verdict: “The leaders of the United States could not apply their country’s vast assets effectively enough in practice.”
Mr. Zelikow mobilized the experts to help get ready for a possible national commission on the pandemic. When Congress and the White House failed to launch a national inquiry, the experts wrote their own report. It is a compelling, disturbing account. They conclude the pandemic was not an inescapable tragedy. The United States could and should have done better. “The lockdowns could not be sustained,” the report says. “But leaders did not develop and communicate practical alternative strategies.”
“The administration abdicated its wartime responsibility to lead,” they add. “It left the battlefield, and the war strategy” to the states and localities. By April, the White House chief of staff concluded the task force was “useless and broken.” There were many other examples of dysfunction — confusion over face masks, shortages of personal protective equipment, conflict over reopening and mixed messages over boosters.
Texas Kids Would Need Parental Consent to Create Social Media Accounts Under House Bill
The Texas House on Tuesday gave initial approval to a bill that would require digital service providers such as social media platforms to get consent from a parent or guardian before entering into an agreement with minors younger than 18, including creating an account.
House Bill 18, from Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville, said under the bill that social media companies will need to get consent from the parent of a minor through a form, toll-free telephone line, coordinated video conference call, collecting info from government-issued identification — with the expectation the info will be deleted — or email.
HB 18 would also let parents request access to any data on social media associated with the minor; companies would be required to establish “a simple and easily accessible method” for these requests.
Under the bill, providers that allow advertisers to advertise to known minors will also be required to disclose in a clear and accessible manner certain info at the time the ad is displayed, such as how any data associated with the minor’s use of the service leads to each ad.
Montana Governor Seeks to Broaden Bill That Would Ban TikTok to Cover Other Social Media Platforms — WSJ
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte is seeking to broaden a bill that will ban not just TikTok, but other social media applications that provide certain data to foreign adversaries, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, Montana lawmakers passed a bill, known as SB 419, to ban TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, from operating in the state.
TikTok as well as Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) and Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL.O) Google, which operate mobile app stores, would face fines if they violate the ban, should the bill become law.
The governor’s proposed language in the broader bill removes app stores from being held liable for offering such social media apps for downloading in the state, WSJ said, citing an amended draft of the bill.
Robot Dogs Deployed in New York Building Collapse Revive Surveillance Fears
“Digidog is out of the pound,” Eric Adams declared in April. The New York City mayor also insisted the successful use of the controversial robot in response to a recent building collapse should convince critics such devices can improve safety in the city.
First responders used the robot to search the rubble while safety concerns about the building’s structure persisted.
Critics said the use of such robots in the building collapse response did not negate legitimate concerns about the use of robots for surveillance and aggressive policing.
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, told the New York Times: “While deploying a robot is, of course, appropriate in situations like this, that doesn’t eliminate the need for transparency about this and other technologies that may have the capacity to engage in massive surveillance and routinely collect massive amounts of private personal data on millions of New Yorkers.”
Regulators Pledge to Use ‘Laws on the Books’ to Tackle AI Abuses
Top regulators from the Biden administration on Tuesday jointly reaffirmed their commitment to using the legal tools already at their disposal to crack down on artificial intelligence abuses, particularly discriminatory uses, as my colleague Cat Zakrzewski reported.
On a press call with reporters, federal agency leaders sought to settle any question over whether the surging technology could evade existing standards on civil rights and other issues.
But they largely sidestepped questions about what, if any, new laws may be needed to rein in AI, a debate that’s only just starting to gain steam on Capitol Hill.
Apple Plans AI-Powered Health Coaching Service, Mood Tracker and iPad Health App
Apple Inc. is working on an artificial intelligence-powered health coaching service and new technology for tracking emotions, its latest attempt to lock in users with health and wellness features.
The new coaching service — codenamed Quartz — is designed to keep users motivated to exercise, improve eating habits and help them sleep better, according to people with knowledge of the project. The idea is to use AI and data from an Apple Watch to make suggestions and create coaching programs tailored to specific users, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the initiatives haven’t been announced yet.
The move is part of a broader health push at the company, which has made such features central to its devices, especially the Apple Watch. Its latest efforts also include an expansion of the health app to the iPad and features that could help users with poor vision.
The service is planned for next year, but could ultimately be canceled or postponed. The project is being driven by several Apple groups, including its health, Siri and AI teams, as well as its services division.
Saudi Arabia’s Neom Is a $500 Billion Futuristic City Being Built in the Desert — but It Could Morph Into a Surveillance Dystopia
Saudi Arabia hopes to build a futuristic mega-city 33 times the size of New York City from scratch. Saudi officials describe it as “the world’s most ambitious project.”
It’s called Neom, a planned 16-borough city on the Red Sea coast in the northwestern Saudi province of Tabuk.
As the plans developed, Crown Prince Mohammed’s decision to form a closer alliance with China’s President Xi Jinping has some analysts concerned. As Insider reported, they believe that the Saudis could be preparing to use sophisticated Chinese surveillance technology to tightly monitor and control Neom’s residents.