Category: Politics

FCC gives Google and Sony permission to dole out 3.5GHz spectrum

[ad_1] The FCC named Google, Sony, CommScope and Federated Wireless, Inc. Spectrum Access System (SAS) Administrators. They’re now authorized to make a slice of the 3.5GHz band available for commercial purposes, meaning the private sector should finally have access to the mid-range spectrum for 5G networks. “The FCC has made it a priority to free […]

A Vermont bill would bring emoji license plates to the US

[ad_1] The bill, introduced by Democrat Rebecca White, would allow drivers to add one of six emoji to their license plates. The pictographs would be in addition to whatever combination of letters and numbers the state’s Commissioner of Motor Vehicles assigns to a car or a driver picks for themselves. So you won’t have to […]

Court reinstates lawsuit challenging online sex trafficking law

[ad_1] Critics have argued that FOSTA-SESTA’s language is too vague and affects many more people than sex traffickers, including sex workers looking for support, people advocating for legal prostitution and services like massages that are sometimes thinly-veiled ads for sexual services. The law has led Craigslist and other sites to shut down sex-related categories and […]

DOJ and state AGs may combine their Google investigations

[ad_1] The parties involved have either declined to comment or haven’t responded. There’s no guarantee the DOJ or state AGs will find enough common ground to work together. As the lawsuit to block T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint has illustrated, many states have been more aggressive about pursuing antitrust cases than the current federal administration. There’s […]

UK won’t implement EU’s contentious digital copyright law

[ad_1] Companies like Google also campaigned against Article 11, a segment that required news aggregators to pay for any quotes that went beyond very short excerpts. The decision against implementing the Copyright Directive will let internet giants carry on quoting larger sections of articles in news search results, much to the chagrin of some publishers. […]

Senator calls on Tesla to make Autopilot safety changes

[ad_1] The senator also wanted Tesla to implement “backup monitoring systems” beyond the steering wheel torque monitor that checks for hands on the wheel. That would keep at least one system checking for driver attentiveness, and might reduce the chances of someone tricking Autopilot into staying active. At present, Autopilot will warn you if your […]

More than 20 attorneys general are trying to ban 3D-printed guns

[ad_1] The 3D-printed weapons are also known as “ghost guns” because they don’t contain registration numbers that could be used to trace them. Opponents fear that if blueprints are shared online, criminals who aren’t legally allowed to purchase firearms, might be able to obtain the so-called ghost guns. The battle over 3D-printed guns began in […]

London police begin using live facial recognition tech across the capital

[ad_1] In a tweet, the Met assured the public that any images obtained that don’t trigger a potential alert are deleted immediately — and that it’s up to officers whether they decide to stop someone based on an alert or not. The technology operates from a standalone system, and isn’t linked to any other imaging […]

Bipartisan bill would scale back key section of the Patriot Act

[ad_1] While there are a variety of facets to the bill, the most significant aspect of it is that it would prohibit the warrantless collection of cell-site and GPS geolocation data, as well as internet browsing and search history by US intelligence agencies. Additionally, the bill would eliminate the relevance clause that had allowed the […]

Google CEO Sundar Pichai calls for ‘sensible regulation’ of AI

[ad_1] After laying out his relationship with technology and offering a few examples where innovation has had unintended negative consequences, Pichai makes the case that while AI is powerful and useful, we must balance its “potential harms… with social opportunities.” Of course, this call for “balance” leaves some questions about how tight of regulation Pichai […]