The year ahead in tech policy

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Mack DeGeurin covers breaking news for Gizmodo, focusing on politics and technology policy. This year, Future Mac spoke to seven experts on the political and policy landscape and asked them to predict some of the major trends likely to occur in 2023. You can follow Mac coverage. over here and email history ideas and suggestions for mdegeurin@gizmodo.com.

Main story:

GOP lawmakers in the newly controlled House of Representatives are trying to undermine years of Democratic leadership, sometimes bipartisan, on technology policy initiatives by directing attention to a single issue: technology and perceived liberal bias. Suspected censorship campaigns Carried out by order of the Biden administration.

Republican claims against conservatives—which almost all academic studies show lack Consistent evidence– They are not new, but the recent success of the party Flipping the house The party’s fever dream suddenly means it has enormous political capital. In the so-called recent internal relations were revealed Twitter filesAlthough many deny it deep feelingaroused his anger Republicans Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Former President Donald TrumpThey are taking orders from Democrats, who are desperate to convince public tech companies.

While this all sounds bad for tech companies, it’s a welcome change of pace from the previous Democratic leadership, which has been laser-focused on investigating business practices and antitrust violations. Republicans may not have nice things to say about tech companies, but their determination to advance their claims for deep government partnerships should hurt them less than progressive attempts to monopolize them. We’ve all been to the many congressional hearings dominated by self-righteous lawmakers complaining about “shadow banned” accounts and missing tweets.

What we expect:

• In the year In 2023, technology-driven Supreme Court cases could fundamentally shape the online protections guaranteed by the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. First: Judges can decide the constitutionality of so-called non-platform laws. Texas And Florida It can sue tech companies if they remove certain political content. If the court sides with Republican lawmakers, many other states will follow suit with their own copyright laws.
• In front of 230, Two issues of counter-terrorism–Goodbye on Twitter And Gonzalez v. Google— Determines whether content recommended by the algorithm is still covered by provisions protecting publishers from liability for third-party content. “The Supreme Court can be significantly reduced [Section 230] Protections, in which case carriers may allow more third-party content, or people may be less likely to express themselves online, Samir Jain, the policy’s vice president for democracy and technology, told Gizmodo. “You can see a very different internet, really.”
• at the same time, The latest Developments Generative AI models for text and image creation may spur interest in Congress to pass laws on regulations clarifying the technology’s liability for copyright and defamation complaints.

unusual art

Although a A growing trend Gizmodo spoke to a unique combination of political differences among governments seeking to expand their digital surveillance capabilities, saying Congress could kill the chamber. 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.FISA), one of the government’s most powerful legislative tools for conducting warrantless surveillance.

Although the provision Technically “Non-Americans abroad” targets, critics like the ACLU say, can help with 702 information. Include connections Between a target and a US citizen. That wide net, critics say, makes it legally questionable A hole For federal agencies to track Americans.

Although central critics of Section 702 have long opposed Section 702 over concerns that agencies could abuse their powers to target political opponents and marginalized communities, the provision has sparked outrage among Trump Republicans over reports that the FBI has used 702 Turn on the phone After Trump campaign foreign policy director Carter Page said in December 2019, the president’s supporters were outraged. Report The FBI applications to spy on the site were full of “factual inaccuracies and omissions” from the Justice Department’s inspector general. That shared disdain for Section 702, albeit for different reasons, could lead to an unlikely alliance between Trump Republicans and congressional leftists. That combination could make the 702 obsolete, relegating one of America’s most powerful spy tools to the dustbin of history.

The people they follow

• Lena Khan: The new chairman of the Federal Trade Commission has assumed the role expectations That she uses a new era of progressive antitrust reform and that she wields a knife inspired by the long-standing Robert Bork. “Consumer safety” principle. Two main effects of anti-monopoly lawsuits Microsoft And and Meta They determine both Khan’s personal legacy as a regulatory boss and the future of regulatory power in an age of tech industry-driven commerce, where many goods and services are billed as “free” to the consumer.
• Ted Cruz : As you can see, the failed presidential candidate and Self explained The libertarian serves as the ranking Republican member of the Senate Commerce Committee and is likely to oppose many technology laws, particularly those related to privacy. Although Cruz has beaten the “conservative tech censorship” drummer more than anyone else, experts Gizmodo spoke to say Cruz’s exact views on certain tech policy issues are still surprisingly unclear.
• Amy Klobuchar: One of the lead Senate lawmakers drafting and sponsoring new antitrust laws targeting tech companies. Although he already had her bills. Bilateral support, the results of the recent midterm elections have cast doubt on whether the law will ever see the light of day. Klobuchar will have to fight to keep those bills alive.
• Peter Thiel: The founder of PayPal and Palantir turned Right-wing political king-maker He can use his deep war chest to lobby for low-tech policies and support candidates who aim to prod antitrust laws and other tech platforms.

Applicable companies:

• Open AI: A leading advanced AI company in cutting edge text and image generation models. Legal and policy debates involving AI liability for copyright infringement and defamation may involve the company’s popularity. Discussion GPT And Give it to her. Models.
• Neuralink: Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company could begin human trials this year if it receives FDA approval. Neuralink isn’t the most impressive BCI company from a technical standpoint, but its high profile means that its move into human experiments could spark debate about how to properly control devices that claim to enhance cognition.
• Clear Vision AI: Controversial facial recognition firm working with law enforcement. Following a major Legal defeat This year the company announced The goal is to sell.”The Clearview Agreement” face match system to Schools, banks and other private organizations. Clearview’s reputation for privacy could reignite debate over the ethical use of biometric technology in everyday life, and state and federal privacy laws that are currently stuck in a pattern.

Long Term Betting:

Uncertainty in the Transportation Security Administration continues. roll out Face ID authentication for domestic air travel could push the issue to the forefront of digital privacy policy protections, especially as post-pandemic travel increases. India McKinney, director of federal affairs at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Gizmodo that she fears the TSA’s rollout of instant facial recognition is forcing travelers to make a choice between convenience and privacy that “isn’t really a choice at all.”

This debate will increase support for continued federal legislation that calls for stricter regulations and greater transparency on how federal agencies can access and store biometric data on US citizens.