New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez (D) is working with state lawmakers on legislation aimed at holding social media platforms more accountable for disseminating deepfake porn, he told us Wednesday.
The federal government shouldn’t impose immediate restrictions on the “wide availability of open model weights in the largest AI systems,” the NTIA said Tuesday (see 2402210041 and 2404010067). Model weights refer to core components of AI systems that enable machine learning. Open AI models are open-source, allowing public access to data, while closed models are private. NTIA gathered public comment on the benefits and risks of open and closed models in response to President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI. Current evidence isn’t “sufficient to definitively determine either that restrictions on such open-weight models are warranted, or that restrictions will never be appropriate in the future,” NTIA said in its Report on Dual-Use Foundation Models with Widely Available Model Weights. The agency recommended the federal government “actively monitor a portfolio of risks that could arise from dual-use foundation models with widely available model weights and take steps to ensure that the government is prepared to act if heightened risks emerge.” However, NTIA laid out possible restrictions for the technology, including a ban on “wide distribution” of model weights, “controls on the exports of widely available model weights,” a licensing framework for access to models and limits on access to application programming interfaces and web interfaces. NTIA noted that restrictions on open public model weights “would impede transparency into advanced AI models.” Model weight restrictions could limit “collaborative efforts to understand and improve AI systems and slow progress in critical areas of research,” the agency said. Open Technology Institute Policy Director Prem Trivedi said in a statement Tuesday that NTIA is correct in recommending the rigorous collection and evaluation of empirical evidence, calling it the right starting point for policymaking on the issue.
A case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Consumers' Research, et al. v. Consumer Product Safety Commission, potentially has major implications for the FCC and FTC, and could permit a president to fire a commissioner at will, industry lawyers said. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other conservative groups are asking SCOTUS in amicus filings to grant the writ of certiorari from Consumers' Research.
AT&T CEO John Stankey on Wednesday criticized the Biden administration’s work on making more spectrum available for wireless carriers. During the carrier's release of Q2 results, Stankey apologized for the February AT&T wireless outage, the topic of an FCC report this week (see 2407220034).
Regulatory action overseas increasingly is chilling competition from U.S. tech firms while hurting American consumers, regulatory and trade policy experts said Tuesday during an American Consumer Institute (ACI) panel discussion focused on EU regulations and tech competition with China. Legislation like the EU's Digital Services Act and AI Act subjects U.S. firms to "aggressive" investigations and allegations of competitive harm, said Tirzah Duren, ACI vice president-policy and research.
A district court was wrong when it allowed a 2023 Virginia law that gave ISPs access rights to railroad properties, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said Monday at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (case 24-1399). AAR is appealing a U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia decision to dismiss the lawsuit against state officials, including Virginia State Corporation Commission Judge Jehmal Hudson for lack of standing and other reasons (see 2404170052). The contested Virginia law allows broadband providers to obtain a license to cross and occupy railroad property for a one-time $2,000 fee and direct expenses of not more than $5,000, paid to the railroad. Among other provisions, the law requires that railroad companies approve ISP applications within 35 days unless they seek relief from the Virginia commission. In an opening brief at the 4th Circuit, AAR argued that the district court wrongly ruled the association lacked standing to bring the complaint because the law was “aimed directly at its members.” The Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act (ICCTA) preempts the Virginia law, AAR argued. The ICCTA is a 1995 statute that set exclusive federal regulation of railroad transportation, AAR said. It “preempts any state law that discriminates against or unduly burdens rail transportation, including railroad property,” AAR noted. “And a government-sanctioned physical occupation of private property is a per se taking, requiring just compensation.” The lower court “wrongly conclud[ed] that discrimination is not a standalone basis for ICCTA preemption, but a mere limit on an unwritten ‘police powers’ exception to express ICCTA preemption,” it said. Meanwhile, in concluding that the Fifth Amendment's takings clause wasn’t violated, "the court lumped together different kinds of crossings, imported (and misunderstood) facts from an amicus brief, drew inferences against AAR, and wrongly assumed that after-the-fact compensation avoids a Takings Clause violation,” AAR said. Carriers will use the state law “to cross railroad property hundreds or thousands of times,” the railroads group said, arguing for its termination. Even if one crossing were "minimally intrusive," AAR said, "dozens or hundreds of permanent and immovable crossings will aggregate to hinder railroads’ use and development of their property."
The FCC Public Safety Bureau's report on the Feb. 22 nationwide outage of AT&T’s wireless network (see 2403040062) found procedural mistakes by the carrier. Released Monday, the report said the Enforcement Bureau could impose sanctions. Based on information from AT&T, the report said “all voice and 5G data services for all users of AT&T Mobility were unavailable as a result of the outage, affecting more than 125 million registered devices, blocking more than 92 million voice calls, and preventing more than 25,000 calls” to 911. The direct cause was “an error by an employee who misconfigured a single network element, ultimately causing the AT&T Mobility network to respond by entering Protection Mode and disconnecting all wireless devices,” the bureau said: “Adequate peer review should have prevented the network change from being approved, and, in turn, from being loaded onto the network. This peer review did not take place.” The report cited a lack of post-installation testing, inadequate lab testing and “insufficient safeguards and controls” on AT&T's part, as well as insufficient procedures for mitigating problems. It noted the company has “taken numerous steps to prevent a reoccurrence.” For instance, within two days of the outage, “AT&T implemented additional technical controls in its network,” the report found: “This included scanning the network for any network elements lacking the controls that would have prevented the outage, and promptly putting those controls in place. AT&T has engaged in ongoing forensic work and implemented additional enhancements to promote network robustness and resilience.” AT&T has "implemented changes to prevent what happened in February from occurring again," a spokesperson emailed: "We fell short of the standards that we hold ourselves to, and we regret that we failed to meet the expectations of our customers and the public safety community.”
Skylo Technologies sees a substantial market for satellite-connected IoT devices, Tarun Gupta, Skylo co-founder and chief product officer, said Thursday. Adding satellite coverage to terrestrial service “will really remove the borders of connectivity” and mean no one should worry “do I have coverage here or not?” Gupta said during a Mobile World Live webinar on non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). Other speakers said use cases for NTN are already emerging.
Sustaining broadband networks is a “paramount objective” of the Nebraska Universal Service Fund (NUSF) high-cost program, especially with the "influx of federal and state deployment funding," the Nebraska Public Service Commission decided in a Tuesday order. Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday for two orders on state USF changes (docket NUSF-139) and to consider sanctions against Windstream for three separate 911 outages (docket 911-076).
Maine and Vermont legislators will reintroduce comprehensive privacy bills next session, lead sponsors told us in interviews. Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of Vermont’s privacy bill hasn’t discouraged supporters from seeking a private right of action (PRA) that Scott and industry opposed, Rep. Monique Priestley (D), the comprehensive measure’s sponsor, said. Meanwhile, in Maine, a veto threat from Gov. Janet Mills (D) means neither party will pursue a PRA in the upcoming session, Sen. Lisa Keim (R) told us. Mills' opposition to a PRA made it a nonstarter this session.