The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has expanded its list of critical and emerging technologies to include data privacy and security and different types of artificial intelligence. This update indicates the government’s focus on these areas in the upcoming year.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed new protections to combat AI impersonation of individuals. The proposed rule changes would extend the protections of the new rule on government and business impersonation. The FTC is seeking public comment on the supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking, which aims to address the surging complaints and harms caused by impersonation fraud, including AI-generated deepfakes. The agency is also considering declaring it unlawful for AI platforms to provide goods or services that are used to harm consumers through impersonation. The FTC has finalized the Government and Business Impersonation Rule, giving the agency stronger tools to combat scammers who impersonate businesses or government agencies. The rule authorizes the FTC to directly seek monetary relief from scammers engaged in government and business impersonation scams in federal court.
The FCC has also made moves to combat AI impersonation by clarifying that existing laws cover the use of AI-generated voices in robocalls.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that backdoors that allow law enforcement to decrypt messages violate human rights and disproportionately undermine privacy. The ruling came after Russia’s intelligence agency required Telegram to share encrypted messages, leading to a violation of users’ rights to private life and communications. The ECHR concluded that requiring message decryption by law enforcement is not necessary in a democratic society.
Apple is lobbying against the right-to-repair in Oregon despite previously supporting a weaker right-to-repair law in California. An Apple executive expressed concerns about the bill’s language around parts pairing, stating that it could undermine security, safety, and privacy. This sets up an interesting fight in Oregon, as Google has come out in favor of the legislation that Apple opposes. If you’re not aware of what parts pairing is, this is software controls over which parts can go into the devices. If you’ve ever gotten a notice that a replacement screen isn’t supported, that’s related to parts pairing.
The use of AI in the healthcare industry, specifically by UnitedHealthcare and Humana, to determine Medicare benefits for elderly patients has been found to have a high error rate. It has led to premature denial of care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have issued a memo clarifying that AI should not be used to determine care or deny coverage based on a larger data set instead of individual patient circumstances. However, there have been no penalties for the companies involved, highlighting the need for regulatory oversight in deploying AI technology.
As navigateng regulation in technology continues to be increasingly important to your role as a technology advisor, time to keep up.
That parts pairing issue with right to repair has larger implications. Imagine repairing all electronics, or all devices, looks like your iphone. What happens to your dishwasher? Your air conditioner? Your car? With an ever increasing software component to every device, it becomes increasingly clear why this is important.
And to weigh in where you can.