Biometric and genetic privacy bills emerged in Hawaii and Montana on Wednesday.
WTA and a group of healthcare entities filed amicus briefs at the U.S. Supreme Court urging the court to overturn the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 9-7 en banc decision invalidating part of the USF program. The briefs supported arguments of the FCC (see 2501090045), the telecom industry and public interest groups (see 2501100057). Consumer group Public Citizen warned of negative effects beyond the FCC if SCOTUS upholds the 5th Circuit decision. Consumers' Research challenged the contribution factor in the 5th Circuit and other courts.
The California Privacy Protection Agency lacks authority to regulate AI, business groups protested during a partially virtual CPPA hearing Tuesday. They urged that the agency pump the breaks on proposed rules for automated decision-making technology (ADMT) and other changes to privacy regulations under the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA). However, workers’ rights groups and consumer privacy organizations urged that it proceed with increasing privacy rules.
Colorado will step in if the federal government pulls back on privacy enforcement under the second Trump administration, the state’s AG Phil Weiser (D) told Privacy Daily. In an interview, he said privacy will continue to be a priority for the state in 2025, with Weiser hoping to raise awareness with businesses and consumers about their duties and rights under the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA).
Many signs are pointing toward the incoming Trump administration embracing the new sweeping U.S. export controls on AI chips, an AI technology policy researcher said this week.
A federal appellate court panel on Friday seemed largely satisfied with FCC assertions that financier BIU will have an opportunity to bring its fraud-related claims before the agency if and when it gets a state court decision in its favor. A three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel heard oral argument Friday in BIU's challenge of the FCC allowing satellite operator Spectrum Five (S5) to withdraw a complaint against Inmarsat (see 2406100038) (docket 24-1189). BIU has a financial stake in S5.
In what may be the first state enforcement action under a comprehensive privacy law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sued Allstate for the alleged unlawful collection, use and sale of the location data from Texans’ cellphones through software secretly embedded into mobile apps like Life360. Allstate and its subsidiary data analytics company Arity used the data to raise insurance rates, Paxton alleged at the Texas District Court of Montgomery County.
Privacy protections might be sidelined during the Trump administration in order to focus on other emerging technology, said Mallory Knodel, founder of the Social Web Foundation, in a Friday piece for TechPolicy.Press.
The Commerce Department failed to justify its finding that a subsidy to exporter OCP from a program for relief from tax fines and penalties was de facto specific, the Court of International Trade held on Jan. 8. Remanding the countervailing duty investigation on phosphate fertilizers from Morocco for a second time, Judge Timothy Stanceu said the agency's altered defense of its specificity finding was no less "absurd" than it was in the first go-round.
The FCC in a U.S. Supreme Court filing defended the USF in general, and the contribution factor more specifically, as the justices prepared to hear what could be the most consequential FCC case in years (see 2412100060). SCOTUS agreed in November to review the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' 9-7 en banc decision, which sided with Consumers' Research and found that the USF contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax.”