CA Lawmakers Trying Again to Regulate Crypto Industry California lawmakers are considering legislation ( AB 39 ) that would require digital asset companies to be licensed by the state and also impose new disclosure requirements on them intended to protect consumers...
FL, Other States Seek to Protect Teens from Social Media A bill ( HB 591 ) introduced in Florida this month would require social media companies to disclose to users that that they employ “addictive design features” like auto play and infinite scrolling...
U.S. Rep Introduces Unique Measure Calling for Regulation of AI U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) introduced a resolution last week calling on Congress to establish a nonpartisan commission to make recommendations about how to regulate artificial intelligence. What made...
Illicit Crypto Use Reaches $20B: The use of cryptocurrencies for illicit purposes reached a record $20.1 billion in 2022, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Despite falling crypto transaction volumes overall, the value of illicit transactions...
Big Tech Sues to Block CA Child Online Protection Law The tech industry group NetChoice is suing to block California’s new Age-Appropriate Design Code Act ( AB 2273 ), which is aimed at making the internet safer for kids. NetChoice, which includes Amazon...
SF Authorizes Police Use of Lethal Robots On an 8-3 vote, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors authorized police to deploy robots with lethal force in very rare cases involving violent suspects such as mass shooters. A minority of the board opposed the...
No Clear Direction on Crypto Regulation after FTX Crash The collapse this month of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume , has intensified calls for regulation of the industry. But exactly how to proceed with that...
Tech Company Job Freezes, Cuts Continue Amazon publicly disclosed last week that it was pausing corporate hiring due to economic uncertainty. The news came on the same day that ride-hailing company Lyft said it was laying off 13 percent, or about 650, of its...
Autonomous Vehicles May Always Require Human Supervision Autonomous vehicle (AV) industry executives and experts say remote human supervisors may always be needed to help robot drivers deal with unexpected incidents or so-called “edge cases.” In addition...
CA Pushes for End of Gas-Powered Cars Last month the California Air Resources Board adopted the world’s strictest rules for shifting to zero-emission vehicles. Under those rules all new cars, SUVs and pickup trucks sold in the state will have to be electric...
Fed Issues Crypto Guidance for Banks The U.S. Federal Reserve has issued guidance for banks thinking about getting involved with cryptocurrencies. The Fed said before doing so banks should determine whether the crypto activities being considered are legal and...
CA Bills Would Provide Social Media Protections for Kids A pair of bills under consideration in California is aimed at protecting children from social media. AB 2273 would require all online services “likely to be accessed by a child” to minimize...
Heat Wave Shuts Down TX Bitcoin Miners Nearly all industrial Bitcoin miners in Texas shut down their millions of computers this month in response to a conservation request from the Electric Council of Texas, the state’s power operator, as it braced for...
Time Running Out for Federal Antitrust, Privacy Bills Aimed at Big Tech After almost five years of promising to rein in Big Tech, congressional lawmakers may finally pass antitrust and privacy legislation that could change how companies like Amazon, Google, and...
CA Privacy Regulators Begin Debating New Rules The California Privacy Protection Agency voted 4-0 on June 8 th to formally begin the rulemaking process for the impending California Privacy Regulation Act, which is set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023. Enforcement...