Feb 4, 2023
<p>China was caught floating a spy balloon over Montana.
Like no one was going to see it. What else is there to do in
Montana except look up at the sky? According to the Washington
Post, a defense official said, “It loitered overhead for
an extended period of time.” Come on guys, when are we
going to get serious?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What other shenanigans do we have here … Oh!
The European Union is warning Elon Musk that they’re
going to hit him with a can of you-know-what if he
doesn’t comply with their Digital Services Act. The Act
prohibits <a
href="https://www.techpolicypodcast.org/dc-ag-lawsuit-amazon-stole-flex-drivers-tips-white-nationalists-are-back-on-twitter-tech-law-policy-this-week/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">hate speech</a>. We
don’t have a hate speech ban in the U.S. But
EU’s law influences Twitter content in the U.S., since
managing U.S. policy and EU policy would be more
expensive.</p>
<p>And the Republican-controlled House is going to grill
former Twitter staff at a hearing next week. They want to know more
about why the company suppressed stories about Hunter
Biden.</p>
<p>What else? Oh – Harvard’s Kennedy
School is shutting down its Technology & Social Change
project after just 5 years. Prominent scholar Joan Donovan led the
institute focused on <a
href="https://www.techpolicypodcast.org/ap-majority-americans-think-misinfo-is-harmful-latino-leaders-warn-about-misinformation-and-disinformation-targeting-latinos-communities-tech-law-policy-this-week/">misinformation</a>.
Harvard says the landscape has changed drastically and that the
mission is no longer relevant. That’s the public version
of the story. Donovan didn’t comment to the Washington
Post. And the other piece to this is that Elon has now blocked
access to Twitter's API, so researchets can no longer access
it.</p>
<p>Tech Policy Press & <a
href="https://www.techpolicypodcast.org/justin-hendrix-what-you-need-to-know-about-terrorism-in-dc-ep-250/">Justin
Hendrix</a> released a podcast episode last week
giving the <a
href="https://www.techpolicypodcast.org/brian-howard-american-indians-and-the-digital-divide-ep-126/">Indigenous
perspective</a> on Generative AI and the need to
publish more work by Indigenous peoples.</p>
<p>New York Attorney General Letitia James wants answers from
Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall about reports the
venues used facial recognition technology to ban the lawyers
opposing them from entering the venues. Thousands of lawyers were
affected. James is investigating whether this practice violated New
York’s Civil Rights laws.</p>
<p>Finally, Google CEO Sundar Pichai is promising new chat
features to compete with <a
href="https://www.techpolicypodcast.org/joe-miller-predictions-for-2023/">ChatGPT</a>.
Meanwhile, the company just laid off 12,000 people.</p>
<p> </p>