Digital Content

A collective cry is breaking out as authors, artists and internet publishers realize that the generative-AI phenomenon sweeping the globe is built partly on the back of their work. The emerging awareness has set up a war between the forces behind the inputs and the outputs of these new artificial-intelligence tools, over whether and how content originators should be compensated. The disputes threaten to throw sand into the gears of the AI boom just as it seems poised to revolutionize the global economy.

CTIA’s annual survey of key industry metrics finds that wireless networks support more data traffic than ever:

In a Full Committee markup, the House Commerce Committee advanced six bills including:

During an Executive Session, the Senate Committee on Commerce approved 11 bipartisan bills, including legislation aimed at protecting children’s online privacy: the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Other important bills approved included the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, the ORBITS Act, the TICKET Act, the COOL Online Act and several manufacturing bills. These bills now head to the Senate floor.

Approved:

2023’s upsurge in forced migration represents the intensification of an ongoing trend. As policymakers struggle to respond to the unfolding human catastrophe, they have increasingly turned to the possibilities offered by technology, and data in particular. Civil society and humanitarian organizations are attuned to the reality that these streams of people generate massive amounts of data that can, for instance, help channel aid to the neediest, predict disease outbreaks, and much more. Yet as is so often the case with technology, the potential for good is accompanied by certain risks.

Congressman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) introduced the Deplatform Drug Dealers Act, which will amend Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to remove liability protections for online platforms relating to illegal sales of controlled substances on their sites. Section 230 of the updated Communications Decency Act protects technology companies from being held liable for any content someone else has posted on their site.

Congresswoman Lisa McClain (R-MI) introduced the Anti-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Espionage via Social Media (ACES) to counter the national security threat posed by the Chinese platform TikTok. This bill forces TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest all its assets in America. This bill:

US Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) led a bipartisan group of colleagues in reintroducing the Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching (ACCESS) Act, legislation that would encourage market-based competition with major social media platforms by requiring the largest companies make user data portable – and their services interoperable – with other platforms, and to allow users to designate a trusted third-party service to manage their privacy and account settings. The Act would increase market competition, encourage innovation, and increase consumer choice by requiring

In recognition of the 33^rd Anniversary of the American Disabilities Act (ADA), the Biden-Harris administration is taking new steps to strengthen the ADA and improve online accessibility to state and local services for the nearly 50 million people with disabilities with vision, hearing, cognitive, and manual dexterity disabilities. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is proposing a new rule that would establish accessibility standards for state and local governments’ web and mobile app-based services.

Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Kathy Castor (D-FL) reintroduced the Online Consumer Protection Act (OCPA). This legislation addresses the shortcomings of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which, along with overly broad court rulings on it, have failed to hold online platforms accountable to consumers. Specifically, the OCPA would: