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TikTok Sues the U.S. Government to Stop a Potential Ban
TikTok sued the U.S. federal government on Tuesday, arguing that the possible app ban violates the First Amendment. Last month, President Biden signed a bill that forces TikTok and its Chinese owner, Bytedance, to divest its ownership of the app or face a nationwide ban. At the time, TikTok said that it planned to sue, calling the law unconstitutional.
In the lawsuit, TikTok says that the law violates the First Amendment and the divesting requirement is “simply not possible.”
Responding to the law’s enactment last month, a TikTok spokesperson told WIRED. “This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court. We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail. The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation.”
First Amendment lawyers have suggested that TikTok has a strong case. Without solid evidence to support the government’s claims that TikTok is a threat to national security, a court could find that a ban would go too far and could cause the company irreparable damage. Others have suggested that a strong data privacy and security law could protect U.S. user data better than an outright ban.
49 GOP Senators Confront Biden With a Bold Plea to Halt WHO Pandemic Proposals
Forty-nine GOP Senators are unified in their stance by submitting a formal request to President Joe Biden. They urged him to retract his support for two significant international agreements that are set to be debated later this month at the World Health Assembly in Geneva.
The discussions, starting May 27, will revolve around what has been termed the “Pandemic Agreement” or “pandemic treaty,” as well as proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR), which have pushed the control of “misinformation” and advocated for vaccine passports.
The Biden administration has thrown its support behind these proposals, which would see global health officials granted extensive control over the management of pandemics. However, the senators — all members of the Senate Republican Conference — argue that the WHO must first address its failures during the COVID-19 crisis, which, according to them, were both total and predictable. They believe these failures have caused significant damage to the United States.
Their letter emphasizes that no treaty should be signed nor amendments to the IHR approved without rectifying these shortcomings, which, if unaddressed, would potentially lead to increased authority for the WHO, undermine intellectual property rights, and endanger free speech.
Exclusive: Report Urges Sustained U.S. Biodefense Buildup
A new report calls on all levels of government to strengthen U.S. biodefense measures and urges policymakers to codify parts of a national strategy to address an array of biological threats.
Why it matters: Threats in the form of infectious disease outbreaks, lab accidents and biology-based weapons are expected to increase in the coming years, according to the report’s authors and other experts. But biodefense investments get caught in a cycle of “panic and neglect” — an intense focus for a short period, after which policymakers, funders and the public move on, the report notes.
Reality check: With a full pandemic preparedness package still in congressional limbo, immediate prospects for more sweeping biodefense reforms face long odds.
The intrigue: The commission also highlights emerging astrobiological threats at “the intersection of space exploration and infectious disease.”
The commission acknowledges “it may seem far-fetched” but some microorganisms can survive the extreme conditions of space. It says there is a risk of probes or humans bringing back microbes that could “pose a threat to Earth’s human, animal, plant, or ecosystem health or the Moon.”
A Doctor Whose Views on COVID Vaccinations Drew Complaints Has Her Medical License Reinstated
An Ohio doctor who drew national attention when she told state legislators that COVID-19 vaccines made people magnetic has had her medical license reinstated after it was suspended for failing to cooperate with an investigation.
The Ohio State Medical Board recently voted to restore Sherri Tenpenny’s license after she agreed to pay a $3,000 fine and cooperate with investigators. Tenpenny, an osteopathic doctor, has been licensed in Ohio since 1984. She drew national attention in 2021 when she testified before a state legislative panel in support of a measure that would block vaccine requirements and mask mandates.
Tenpenny’s license was suspended in August 2023 on procedural grounds for failing to cooperate with the investigation. Her attorney had told the board she wouldn’t participate in an “illegal fishing expedition.”
The board voted 7-2 last month to restore her license, with proponents saying she had met the requirements for reinstatement. Tenpenny announced the reinstatement in a post made on the X social platform.
Microsoft Creates Top Secret Generative AI Service for U.S. Spies
Bloomberg via Yahoo!Finance reported:
Microsoft Corp. has deployed a generative AI model entirely divorced from the internet, saying U.S. intelligence agencies can now safely harness the powerful technology to analyze top-secret information.
It’s the first time a major large language model has operated fully separated from the internet, a senior executive at the U.S. company said. Most AI models including OpenAI’s ChatGPT rely on cloud services to learn and infer patterns from data, but Microsoft wanted to deliver a truly secure system to the U.S. intelligence community.
Spy agencies around the world want generative AI to help them understand and analyze the growing amounts of classified information generated daily but must balance turning to large language models with the risk that data could leak into the open — or get deliberately hacked.
“This is the first time we’ve ever had an isolated version — when isolated means it’s not connected to the internet — and it’s on a special network that’s only accessible by the U.S. government,” Chappell told Bloomberg News ahead of an official announcement later on Tuesday.
Civil Rights Groups Want Facial Recognition Technology Banned in New York State
A group of major civil rights organizations in New York is pushing for a statewide ban on the use of facial recognition and other biometric technologies by law enforcement, residential buildings, public accommodations and schools. A release from the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), which is leading the public advocacy campaign, says the “Ban The Scan” coalition demands the passage of four bills to enact a total ban on facial recognition across New York State.
The concerns fueling the Ban the Scan campaign are not baseless. Facial recognition technology has already tried to plant roots in a few different sectors. In New York alone, back-and-forths over the ethical, legal and practical aspects of facial recognition have erupted in the grocery and retail sector, the school system and the entertainment industry. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, transit officials are planning to deploy facial recognition on public trains and buses in response to a spike in violent crime.
As their own response to the increased use of facial recognition in New York (and to Dolan’s sleight), a working group of the New York State Bar Association issued a formal recommendation that its members endorse State Senate Bill 4459/Assembly Bill 1362. Otherwise known as the Biometric Privacy Act, the law would enable customers to sue private organizations that collect their biometric data without express written consent.
Italy’s RAI Journalists Strike Over Budget Streamlining, Complain of Censorship and Media Repression
Some journalists at Italy’s state-run RAI went on strike Monday to protest budget streamlining and what they said was an increasingly repressive atmosphere in Italy for media under the government of Premier Giorgia Meloni.
The 24-hour RAI strike is the latest protest by Italian journalists against what they say are threats to freedom of the press and expression in Italy, including criminal investigations of journalists and suspected episodes of censorship. Not all journalists participated and RAI newscasts were still airing, though in a somewhat reduced form.
The strike came just days after the media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders downgraded Italy five notches in its annual index of press freedom. At No. 46 out of 180, Italy moved into the “problematic” category of countries alongside other EU members Poland and Hungary.
