NetChoice announces departure of Vice President-General Counsel Carl Szabo … Darwinium, digital security and fraud prevention company, appoints Peng Leong, ex-Rev and Symantec, as chief financial officer and Paul Cloutier, ex-ThreatMetrix, as vice president-sales, Americas … Sinclair adds vice president to Cindi Dias’ role as general manager-California’s KBAK-TV Bakersfield and KBFX Bakersfield … Telesat taps retired Royal Canadian Air Force Brig. Gen. Michael Adamson as senior director-defense strategy and business development ... Warner Bros. Discovery adds board member John Malone’s nephew Daniel Sanchez, a former Discovery board member, to board, effective Oct. 1.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed three more AI bills, bringing the total number to eight this week. The governor’s office said Thursday that Newsom signed SB-942, which requires widely used generative AI systems to add invisible watermarks to content so that it can be easily identified as AI-generated. The governor also signed SB-926, making it illegal to create sexually explicit deepfake images of a real person, and SB-981, requiring social media platforms to establish a way for users to report sexually explicit deepfakes of themselves. On Tuesday, he signed five AI bills related to elections and entertainment (see 2409180024). Newsom has yet to sign a controversial AI bill (SB-1047) that would require large AI developers and those providing computing power to train AI models to implement protections preventing critical harms (see 2409060039). The governor has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills that the legislature passed this year.

Android and iPhone users can now add California driver’s licenses or state IDs to their Google or Apple digital wallets under a pilot program, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Thursday. California added support for Apple users Thursday after last month announcing it for Google users. The pilot is limited to 1.5 million participants.

Aiming at curbing deepfakes in elections and entertainment, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed multiple AI bills this week. On elections, the governor supported requiring large websites to remove or label AI-generated deepfakes (AB-2655); expanding a prohibition on knowingly distributing election ads with deceptive AI-based content (AB-2839); and requiring disclosures in electoral ads with AI-generated or -altered content (AB-2355), said a Newsom news release Tuesday. In an earlier announcement that day, the governor’s office said Newsom signed bills requiring actors' and performers’ consent to use their digital likeness (AB-1836 and AB-2602). Newsom has yet to sign a more controversial AI bill (SB-1047) that would require large AI developers and those providing computing power to train AI models to implement protections for preventing critical harms (see 2409060039). The governor has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills that the legislature passed this year.

Scott Jordan, FCC chief technologist when the commission approved the 2015 net neutrality rules, defended the latest version in an amicus brief filed Tuesday at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in docket 24-7000. Petitioners “consistently conflate” three different kinds of internet access service -- dial-up, cable modem and broadband, Jordan said: “Petitioners use this conflation as the basis for their assertions that all forms of Internet access service were classified as information services prior to 2015. These assertions are incorrect as a matter of fact.” Now a computer science professor at the University of California, Irvine, Jordan was an advocate of the 2023 rules (see 2404160055). Capabilities listed in the definition of information service aren't offered by broadband internet access service, Jordan said. “They are offered by applications (information services) that utilize broadband Internet access service to transmit and receive data.” Jordan drew a comparison with the era when Netflix offered movies on DVD, sent through the mail. “Petitioners’ analogies would have the Court believe that not only was Netflix an information service, but that the US Postal Service was also an information service, and that the US Postal Service offered movies ‘in conjunction with’ Netflix.”

Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. Lawsuits added since the last update are marked with an *.

The successful deployment of open radio access networks will require international cooperation, speakers said Wednesday during NTIA’s first International ORAN Symposium in Golden, Colorado. On day one, conference attendees heard U.S. officials highlight the Biden administration’s commitment to open networks (see 2409170061).

Consumer advocates said the California Public Utilities Commission should move ahead with service quality rule changes that the telecom industry says would be illegal. “The Commission has the authority and supporting precedent to impose meaningful enforcement mechanisms for its customer protection and service quality rules,” The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) said in reply comments the CPUC received Tuesday. However, telecom industry commenters said a CPUC staff proposal and consumer groups' proposed additions aren’t supported by facts, the law or policy reasons.

FuboTV carriage agreement claims against Fox as part of its broader claims against the Venu sports streaming joint venture (see 2402210007) should be severed and transferred to another court, Fox told the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in a motion Tuesday (docket 1:24-cv-01363). The carriage agreement between the two states that carriage agreement claims should proceed before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Fox said.

“We’re not waiting for federal leadership in privacy,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) during a Silicon Flatirons event Wednesday. Amid congressional inaction, Colorado was the third state to enact a comprehensive privacy bill, after California and Virginia. The AG office has sought to be transparent as it’s worked on rules for implementing the Colorado Privacy Act, said Weiser, quipping that the FCC is a “poster child [for] how not to do rulemaking.” Colorado plans to watch how state government manages data at the same time as it oversees the private sector, he said. The AG office will take the same approach with AI, he added. Also, as the AG office moves toward enforcement, it is focused on educating businesses. Weiser's “memo” for businesses: “Stop collecting so much data … Stop storing it for so long. Stop giving so many people access to it.” The AG said the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on Chevron deference doesn’t formally affect states. “Informally, it’s possible that some state supreme courts will look at it.” However, Weiser finds the decision “entirely unpersuasive,” he said. “I am confident that [Colorado’s] supreme court will continue to provide agency deference.” The Colorado AG office recently set a Nov. 7 hearing on the latest proposed amendments to the Colorado Privacy Act (see 2409160036).