International Intellectual Property Alliance appoints Pete Mehravari, previously leading the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Global Intellectual Property Academy, as Director-policy and legal affairs ... WIA names to WIA Foundation: Blair Crawford, executive vice president-Vertical Bridge; Lynne Hopkins, senior director SBA Communications; Tom Kane, CEO-NB+C; and Amy Jo Samuel (foundation chair), vice president, American Tower ... Bosch advances Paul Thomas to president-Bosch in North America, effective Sept. 1, replacing Mike Mansuetti, retiring and becoming adviser ... PayPal names Srini Venkatesan, formerly Walmart’s U.S. Omni Platforms and Tech, as chief technology officer ... AI platform Writer names Roger Kopfmann, ex-vice president–Coupa, as chief financial officer; Andy Shorkey, ex-vice president–OneTrust, as chief revenue officer; and Diego Lomanto, ex-chief marketing officer at Ada, as CMO ... Ramin Farassat, ex-chief product officer at Egnyte, joins Seclore as chief product officer ... Converge Technology Solutions appoints Gayle Morris, most recently Microsoft vice president, and Mary Hassett, chief human resources officer, Lam Research, to board ...
The “danger” of the federal government colluding with “concentrated private power” can’t be overstated, FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson said Thursday. The former Virginia solicitor general noted his state signing onto an amicus brief with 14 other states that sided with Missouri and Louisiana in a social media censorship lawsuit against the Biden administration (see 2405010079). Speaking at a Federalist Society event, Ferguson discussed how Missouri and Louisiana accused Biden officials of “coercing or colluding” with large tech platforms to “drive COVID-19 skepticism” off social media. “I cannot overstate the danger of government colluding with concentrated private power to infringe the liberties of everyone in this room,” he said. Ferguson said more states should assert themselves to protect individual rights when the federal government is “unwilling or unable.” Ferguson lauded Republican efforts in Texas and Florida to pass laws intended to address perceived biases against conservative content on social media. NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association sued to block those laws (see 2402270072). The central government is incapable of “doing anything like Florida and Texas did,” he said. The best governance is done by the people closest to those they govern, meaning state and local authorities, Ferguson said.
Opposition to the Kids Online Safety Act is preventing the bill from passing by unanimous consent, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday (see 2312040058). A co-sponsor of the legislation, Schumer said he outlined a plan in May for UC passage of the bill. “I personally helped resolve issues and mitigated unintended consequences of the bill,” he said on the floor. “That effort reduced the opposition, but there are still holdouts.” Schumer said there’s been “real progress” in removing objections to the bill over the course of several weeks. But if “objectors refuse to come to a resolution, we must pursue a different legislative path to get this done,” he said. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., planned to seek UC passage in December before abandoning plans to allow further negotiation. Lead Democratic sponsor Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut on Thursday said he’s “confident based on my conversations with Leader Schumer we are going to get this bill done.” The bill has 70 co-sponsors. Parents of children who died in social media-related incidents sent a letter to Schumer on Tuesday urging him to “keep his promise” and hold a vote on the bill by Thursday. Schumer noted on the floor that he has been meeting with victims' families. “I have seen their terrible stories, and I am committed, completely committed, to work with them to get KOSA across the finish line.”
Vermont legislators failed to override a veto of the state's comprehensive privacy bill. Last week Gov. Phil Scott (R) vetoed H-121, which controversially included a private right of action and a kids code section similar to a California law that was temporarily enjoined. The tech industry lauded Scott's veto, while consumer advocates and the bill’s sponsor urged a legislative override (see 2406140017). Overrides require a two-thirds majority from each chamber. On Monday, the House met that threshold with a 128-17 vote, but the effort died in the Senate, where members voted 14-15. “Industry feared this legislation and worked so hard to kill it because it had real teeth to prevent their harmful data practices,” Consumer Reports Policy Analyst Matt Schwartz said. But the fight for strong Vermont privacy protections will continue, he added. The failure also disappointed Design It For Us, said co-Chair Zamaan Qureshi: The bill “would have been a much-needed step toward protecting youth from the sustained exploitation and undue harms that we experience from social media.”
The FCC and Massachusetts will probe a 911 outage reported around the state that lasted at least two hours Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, the Maine Department of Public Safety said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is checking why people in Maine and other states received wireless emergency alerts (WEA) about the Massachusetts incident. The FCC is "looking into what occurred" in Massachusetts and "the reports concerning WEA," a commission spokesperson said. A Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security spokesperson said in a statement just before 4 p.m. that the 911 system was restored. The office sent its first alert about the problem at 2:22 p.m. It said that the state 911 department is “aware of a disruption ... and is investigating the cause.” The state advised residents facing an emergency to call local police departments’ direct lines. “We will provide further information as it becomes available.” Multiple local public safety agencies alerted the public via social media about the problems calling 911. “The current 911 system is down statewide,” the Boston Fire Department posted on X at 1:55 p.m. The Brockton Fire Department posted “Major 911 outage in Massachusetts” at 1:41 p.m. on the same platform. People in other states said they received wireless emergency alerts about the Massachusetts outage, including a Comm Daily reporter with a Virginia area code. The same Virginia-based reporter later received another WEA that said Maine's 911 system was fully operational and to disregard the emergency alert from another state. The Massachusetts "alert was sent to other surrounding states in error and is being investigated by FEMA," the Maine Public Safety Department said in a statement. "Maine 911 is up and running." FEMA declined to comment.
Bipartisan legislation filed Thursday would make it illegal to publish deepfake pornography and revenge porn. Introduced by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the bill would require social media platforms to remove nonconsensual, explicit content within 48 hours of a “valid request from a victim.” The FTC would enforce the legislation, the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks (Take It Down) Act. The bill has 11 other co-sponsoring senators, including Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Lummis told us recently that the bill is a more-targeted approach than Klobuchar’s legislation with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits (Defiance) Act. On June 12 Lummis blocked Durbin’s effort to pass the Defiance Act by unanimous consent. The Defiance Act, which is co-sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., would establish a right for victims to seek civil damages for harm related to synthetic, nonconsensual deepfake content. Cruz said his bill will empower victims by “putting the responsibility on websites to have in place procedures to remove these images.”
Social media companies should display warnings about mental health risks associated with their platforms, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in a New York Times opinion piece Monday. Murthy has been examining the impacts of social media on youth mental health (see 2305230062). “A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” Murthy wrote. Cigarette packaging has carried warning labels since 1966 and Murthy believes similar warnings might reduce mental health impacts. Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., issued a joint statement supporting the surgeon general’s announcement and urging Congress to pass their Kids Online Safety Act (see 2308040048).
Vermont’s comprehensive data privacy bill “creates an unnecessary and avoidable level of risk,” said Gov. Phil Scott (R) Thursday as he vetoed H-121. It was a win for tech industry opponents (see 2405300038) and a setback for consumer group supporters of the bill that would have made Vermont the first state with a broad private right of action (PRA). It's possible, however, for lawmakers to override Scott’s veto with a two-thirds vote in each chamber. Also Thursday, the Rhode Island legislature approved a privacy bill that consumer groups say is too weak.
Incorporating kids’ privacy language is complicating the House Commerce Committee's effort to move ahead with a comprehensive bill, members told us in interviews last week. A full committee markup is possible when the chamber returns the week of June 24.
Four tech industry groups on Tuesday joined in opposing a kids’ social media legislative proposal advancing in Pennsylvania, despite support from their member Google (see 2406060062). The Computer and Communications Industry Association, NetChoice, TechNet and Chamber of Progress oppose the Online Safety Protection Act (HB-1879). Pennsylvania’s House Children and Youth Committee voted 15-9 to pass the bill Tuesday, with one Republican in favor. The legislation would require online platforms consider the “best interests of children” when developing products and features “children are likely to access.” Violators would face potential civil penalties enforced by the attorney general. CCIA and NetChoice have argued similar measures passed in California, Maryland and Vermont are unconstitutional, given the free speech implications for children. Committee staff on Tuesday listed Google as a supporter and the four associations as opponents. Google previously declined comment on why it supports the measure, and the company didn’t comment Tuesday. Chair Donna Bullock (D), who wrote the bill, successfully passed an amendment Tuesday with new language meant to address critics’ concerns about “vague” wording outlining what keeping children’s “best interests” in mind means. However, Rep. Charity Grimm Krupa (R) said the amendment fails to address concerns from Attorney General Michelle Henry (D) about enforceability. Krupa said she agrees with ranking member Barry Jozwiak (R), who previously said the bill is unenforceable due to its “overly broad” terms and definitions. The measure's intent is “good,” but sponsors haven’t addressed issues raised by Jozwiak, Henry and the industry groups, she said. Henry’s office didn’t comment Tuesday. Bullock said parents have an obligation to show children how to use social media platforms safely, but they can’t “do it alone.” Parents don’t understand every aspect of the technology and what’s “happening behind the scenes,” she said. Platforms should make these services “age-appropriate” and prioritize the safety of children over profits, she added.