Policy

elon-musk-loses-initial-attempt-to-block-openai’s-for-profit-conversion

Elon Musk loses initial attempt to block OpenAI’s for-profit conversion

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A federal judge rejected Elon Musk’s request to block OpenAI’s planned conversion from a nonprofit to for-profit entity but expedited the case so that Musk’s core claims can be addressed in a trial before the end of this year.

Musk had filed a motion for preliminary injunction in US District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming that OpenAI’s for-profit conversation “violates the terms of Musk’s donations” to the company. But Musk failed to meet the burden of proof needed for an injunction, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled yesterday.

“Plaintiffs Elon Musk, [former OpenAI board member] Shivon Zilis, and X.AI Corp. (‘xAI’) collectively move for a preliminary injunction barring defendants from engaging in various business activities, which plaintiffs claim violate federal antitrust and state law,” Rogers wrote. “The relief requested is extraordinary and rarely granted as it seeks the ultimate relief of the case on an expedited basis, with a cursory record, and without the benefit of a trial.”

Rogers said that “the Court is prepared to offer an expedited schedule on the core claims driving this litigation [to] address the issues which are allegedly more urgent in terms of public, not private, considerations.” There would be important public interest considerations if the for-profit shift is found to be illegal at a trial, she wrote.

Musk said OpenAI took advantage of him

Noting that OpenAI donors may have taken tax deductions from a nonprofit that is now turning into a for-profit enterprise, Rogers said the court “agrees that significant and irreparable harm is incurred when the public’s money is used to fund a non-profit’s conversion into a for-profit.” But as for the motion to block the for-profit conversion before a trial, “The request for an injunction barring any steps towards OpenAI’s conversion to a for-profit entity is DENIED.”

Elon Musk loses initial attempt to block OpenAI’s for-profit conversion Read More »

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Apple refuses to break encryption, seeks reversal of UK demand for backdoor

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Although it wasn’t previously reported, Apple’s appeal was filed last month at about the time it withdrew ADP from the UK, the Financial Times wrote today.

Snoopers’ Charter

Backdoors demanded by governments have alarmed security and privacy advocates, who say the special access would be exploited by criminal hackers and other governments. Bad actors typically need to rely on vulnerabilities that aren’t intentionally introduced and are patched when discovered. Creating backdoors for government access would necessarily involve tech firms making their products and services less secure.

The order being appealed by Apple is a Technical Capability Notice issued by the UK Home Office under the 2016 law, which is nicknamed the Snoopers’ Charter and forbids unauthorized disclosure of the existence or contents of a warrant issued under the act.

“The Home Office refused to confirm or deny that the notice issued in January exists,” the BBC wrote today. “Legally, this order cannot be made public.”

Apple formally opposed the UK government’s power to issue Technical Capability Notices in testimony submitted in March 2024. The Investigatory Powers Act “purports to apply extraterritorially, permitting the UKG [UK government] to assert that it may impose secret requirements on providers located in other countries and that apply to their users globally,” Apple’s testimony said.

We contacted Apple about its appeal today and will update this article if we get a response. The appeal process may be a secretive one, the FT article said.

“The case could be heard as soon as this month, although it is unclear whether there will be any public disclosure of the hearing,” the FT wrote. “The government is likely to argue the case should be restricted on national security grounds.”

Under the law, Investigatory Powers Tribunal decisions can be challenged in an appellate court.

Apple refuses to break encryption, seeks reversal of UK demand for backdoor Read More »

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Trump’s 25% tariffs take effect; Canadian PM calls it “a very dumb thing”

Policy, trump tariffs / /

President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico took effect today, and the White House increased a tariff on China from 10 to 20 percent in an executive order. Canada, Mexico, and China announced retaliatory moves, and stock markets sank globally.

Industry groups and companies have warned the Trump tariffs will raise prices for cars, groceries, consumer technology, and other products.

Canada was hit with a 10 percent tariff on energy exports to the US, while other Canadian exports are subject to the 25 percent tariff. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would impose 25 percent tariffs on over $100 billion worth of US goods.

China responded with new tariffs of 10 to 15 percent on US agricultural products starting March 10 and other retaliatory moves such as blacklisting 15 US companies. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she will announce retaliatory tariffs and other measures on Sunday.

“There’s no motive, reason or justification that supports this decision that will affect our people and nations,” Sheinbaum reportedly said at a news conference. “We will always seek a negotiated solution, in a framework of respect.” Sheinbaum said Mexico wants “dialogue, with reasoning and rationality.”

Trudeau: Trump tariffs “a very dumb thing to do”

Trudeau said that Trump imposing tariffs is “a very dumb thing to do” and that Canada “will not back down from a fight.” Addressing US residents, Trudeau said, “We don’t want this, but your government has chosen to do this to you.”

Trump’s executive orders have blamed Canada for “the flow of illicit drugs across our northern border,” Mexico for a “sustained influx of illegal aliens and illicit opioids and other drugs,” and China for a “sustained influx of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl.”

Trump’s 25% tariffs take effect; Canadian PM calls it “a very dumb thing” Read More »

tsmc-to-invest-$100b-as-trump-demands-more-us-made-chips,-report-says

TSMC to invest $100B as Trump demands more US-made chips, report says

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Currently, TSMC only builds its most advanced chips in Taiwan. But when the most advanced US fabs are operational, they’ll be prepared to manufacture “tens of millions of leading-edge chips” to “power products like 5G/6G smartphones, autonomous vehicles, and AI datacenter servers,” the Commerce Department said in 2024.

TSMC has not confirmed the WSJ’s report but provided a statement: “We’re pleased to have an opportunity to meet with the President and look forward to discussing our shared vision for innovation and growth in the semiconductor industry, as well as exploring ways to bolster the technology sector along with our customers.”

Trump threat of semiconductor tariffs still looms

Advanced chips are regarded as critical for AI innovation, which Trump has prioritized, as well as for national security.

Without a steady supply, the US risks substantial technological and economic losses as well as potential weakening of its military.

To avert that, Trump campaigned on imposing tariffs that he claimed would drive more semiconductor manufacturing into the US, while criticizing the CHIPS Act for costing the US billions. Following through on that promise, in February, he threatened a “25 percent or more tariff” on all semiconductor imports, the WSJ reported. According to CNBC, Trump suggested those tariffs could be in effect by April 2.

“We have to have chips made in this country,” Trump said last month. “Right now, everything is made in Taiwan, practically, almost all of it, a little bit in South Korea, but everything—almost all of it is made in Taiwan. And we want it to be made—we want those companies to come to our country, in all due respect.”

While it’s unclear if Trump plans to overtly kill the CHIPS Act, his government funding cuts could trigger a future where the CHIPS Act dies with no workers left to certify that companies meet requirements for ongoing award disbursements, a semiconductor industry consultant group, Semiconductor Advisors, warned in a statement last month.

“If I were running a chip company, I would not count on CHIPS Act funding, even if I had a signed contract,” SA’s statement said.

TSMC to invest $100B as Trump demands more US-made chips, report says Read More »

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Commercials are still too loud, say “thousands” of recent FCC complaints

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Streaming ads could get muzzled, too

As you may have noticed—either through the text of this article or your own ears—The Calm Act doesn’t apply to streaming services. And because The Calm Act doesn’t affect commercials viewed on the Internet, online services providing access to broadcast channels, like YouTube TV and Sling, don’t have to follow the rules. This is despite such services distributing the same content as linear TV providers.

For years, this made sense. The majority of TV viewing occurred through broadcast, cable, or satellite access. Further, services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video used to be considered safe havens from constant advertisements. But today, streaming services are more popular than ever and have grown to love ads, which have become critical to most platforms’ business models. Further, many streaming services are airing more live events. These events, like sports games, show commercials to all subscribers, even those with a so-called “ad-free” subscription.

Separate from the Calm Act violation complaints, the FCC noted this month that other recent complaints it has seen illustrate “growing concern with the loudness of commercials on streaming services and other online platforms.” If the FCC decides to apply Calm Act rules to the web, it would need to create new methods for ensuring compliance, it said.

TV viewing trends by platform bar graph by Nielsen.

Nielsen’s most recent data on how people watch TV. Credit: Nielsen

The FCC didn’t specify what’s behind the spike in consumers’ commercial complaints. Perhaps with declining audiences, traditional TV providers thought it would be less likely for anyone to notice and formally complain about Ozempic ads shouting at them. Twelve years have passed since the rules took effect, so it’s also possible that organizations are getting lackadaisical about ensuring compliance or have dwindling resources.

With Americans spending similar amounts of time—if not longer—watching TV online versus via broadcast, cable, and satellite, The Calm Act would have to take on the web in order to maximize effectiveness. The streaming industry is young, though, and operates differently than linear TV distribution, presenting new regulation challenges.

Commercials are still too loud, say “thousands” of recent FCC complaints Read More »

firefox-deletes-promise-to-never-sell-personal-data,-asks-users-not-to-panic

Firefox deletes promise to never sell personal data, asks users not to panic

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Firefox maker Mozilla deleted a promise to never sell its users’ personal data and is trying to assure worried users that its approach to privacy hasn’t fundamentally changed. Until recently, a Firefox FAQ promised that the browser maker never has and never will sell its users’ personal data. An archived version from January 30 says:

Does Firefox sell your personal data?

Nope. Never have, never will. And we protect you from many of the advertisers who do. Firefox products are designed to protect your privacy. That’s a promise.

That promise is removed from the current version. There’s also a notable change in a data privacy FAQ that used to say, “Mozilla doesn’t sell data about you, and we don’t buy data about you.”

The data privacy FAQ now explains that Mozilla is no longer making blanket promises about not selling data because some legal jurisdictions define “sale” in a very broad way:

Mozilla doesn’t sell data about you (in the way that most people think about “selling data”), and we don’t buy data about you. Since we strive for transparency, and the LEGAL definition of “sale of data” is extremely broad in some places, we’ve had to step back from making the definitive statements you know and love. We still put a lot of work into making sure that the data that we share with our partners (which we need to do to make Firefox commercially viable) is stripped of any identifying information, or shared only in the aggregate, or is put through our privacy preserving technologies (like OHTTP).

Mozilla didn’t say which legal jurisdictions have these broad definitions.

Users complain: “Not acceptable”

Users criticized Mozilla in discussions on GitHub and Reddit. One area of concern is over new terms of use that say, “When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information to help you navigate, experience, and interact with online content as you indicate with your use of Firefox.”

Firefox deletes promise to never sell personal data, asks users not to panic Read More »

europol-arrests-25-users-of-online-network-accused-of-sharing-ai-csam

Europol arrests 25 users of online network accused of sharing AI CSAM

ai csam, AI-generated images, child exploitation, child sex abuse, csam, European Union, europol, Policy / /

In South Korea, where AI-generated deepfake porn has been criminalized, an “emergency” was declared and hundreds were arrested, mostly teens. But most countries don’t yet have clear laws banning AI sex images of minors, and Europol cited this fact as a challenge for Operation Cumberland, which is a coordinated crackdown across 19 countries lacking clear guidelines.

“Operation Cumberland has been one of the first cases involving AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), making it exceptionally challenging for investigators, especially due to the lack of national legislation addressing these crimes,” Europol said.

European Union member states are currently mulling a rule proposed by the European Commission that could help law enforcement “tackle this new situation,” Europol suggested.

Catherine De Bolle, Europol’s executive director, said police also “need to develop new investigative methods and tools” to combat AI-generated CSAM and “the growing prevalence” of CSAM overall.

For Europol, deterrence is critical to support efforts in many EU member states to identify child sex abuse victims. The agency plans to continue to arrest anyone discovered producing, sharing, and/or distributing AI CSAM while also launching an online campaign to raise awareness that doing so is illegal in the EU.

That campaign will highlight the “consequences of using AI for illegal purposes,” Europol said, by using “online messages to reach buyers of illegal content” on social media and payment platforms. Additionally, the agency will apparently go door-to-door and issue warning letters to suspects identified through Operation Cumberland or any future probe.

It’s unclear how many more arrests could be on the horizon in the EU, but Europol disclosed that 273 users of the Danish suspect’s online network were identified, 33 houses were searched, and 173 electronic devices have been seized.

Europol arrests 25 users of online network accused of sharing AI CSAM Read More »

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Trump should block Biden’s AI “gift” to China, Microsoft argues

AI chips, china, Donald Trump, Export controls, microsoft, national security, Policy / /

“Countries including Brazil, India, Israel, and the UAE are eminently capable of ramping up investments aimed at securing new ways to access increased computing capacity,” the Brookings Institute said. “Preventing companies in middle-tier countries from relying on the US to supply computing chips is a surefire way to push them into building non-US alliances that include stronger technology ties with China.”

The rule could also complicate the global AI landscape in ways the US may not anticipate, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization, forecast last week. It could “breed resentment, not cooperation” in tier-two countries that will likely “bristle at the fact that their AI ambitions depend on Washington’s goodwill and that they are being deliberately kept a generation behind the frontier,” CSIS wrote. And it could drive more open source AI like DeepSeek to be key to development in tier-two nations, perhaps further endangering US global leadership in AI, CSIS suggested.

“Ironically, the AI Diffusion Framework, meant to lock in American advantage, may instead midwife the very outcome it sought to prevent—an alternate AI stack and increased open-source development where China, as its most prolific contributor, emerges as the de facto leader,” CSIS reported.

China wooing countries targeted by rule, Microsoft says

But according to Smith, some parts of the rule should be preserved, like datacenter restrictions, including “qualitative provisions” that “ensure that AI technology components are deployed in certified, secure, and trusted datacenters.” That part of the rule, Smith suggested, “helps reduce the risk of chip diversion to China.”

And other parts of the rule can be strengthened, Smith wrote, such as ensuring the Commerce Department has resources to enforce it and “expedite approvals” for any countries in the middle tier who may appeal to either move into the top tier or limit tier-two restrictions.

Trump should block Biden’s AI “gift” to China, Microsoft argues Read More »

automattic’s-“nuclear-war”-over-wordpress-access-sparks-potential-class-action

Automattic’s “nuclear war” over WordPress access sparks potential class action

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WordPress software, Keller’s complaint explained, “has long been promised to be free and available to everyone forever.” This promise propelled WordPress’ popularity to, by its own estimates, “encompass more than 40 percent of all websites in the world,” his complaint said.

In the 10 years Keller used WPE, he never had any issues accessing the WordPress ecosystem, and he thought WordPress had guaranteed that it would stay that way—especially since WPE’s use of the trademark appeared to be “expressly permitted on the WordPress foundation website.”

But in the past few years, WPE’s business has substantially grown, Keller explained, attracting big customers like Yelp, Thomson Reuters, and Dropbox, which otherwise may have paid WordPress for similar services.

This seemingly frustrated Mullenweg, who accused WPE of abusing the WordPress trademark to charge customers for access to WordPress’ free tools. The founder took the extraordinary step of blocking WPE’s access to software updates and patches, security updates, and plugins last September. And although Automattic eventually allowed WPE three days to mirror certain data to fulfill its contracts with clients, access was permanently blocked after that, forcing WPE customers to waste time and resources finding workarounds or ways to migrate sites to new web platforms after WPE’s mirroring proved faulty.

“Even if Defendants’ trademark case had merit (it likely does not), it does not excuse Defendants’ deliberate and vindictive targeting of Plaintiff and Class’s contracts with WPE,” Keller’s complaint said, calling Automattic’s reneging on its promise to always provide free access “an appalling deception.”

Automattic could harm the entire Internet

Further, Keller alleged that Automattic took steps to “poach” WPE customers.

That effort included sending emails to WPE customers “claiming they could restore access to the website if the WPE customer left WPE” and posting a list calling out all of WPE’s customers. Automattic also allegedly threatened WPE customers, required all WordPress users to tick a checkbox confirming they were unaffiliated with WPE to access resources, and “stole WPE’s most popular plugin and renamed the author to give themselves credit for the product.”

Automattic’s “nuclear war” over WordPress access sparks potential class action Read More »

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Bitcoin plunges as crypto fans didn’t get everything they wanted from Trump

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The price of bitcoin hit a record high of $109,114.88 during intraday trading on January 20, the day of President Trump’s inauguration, but has plummeted since and went as low as $83,741.94 during today’s trading.

That’s a 23.3 percent drop from the intraday record to today’s low, though it was back over $84,000 as of this writing. Bitcoin had been above $100,000 as recently as February 7, and was over $96,000 on Monday this week.

Bitcoin’s drop is part of a wider rout in which over $800 billion of nominal value “has been wiped off global cryptocurrency markets in recent weeks, as the enthusiasm that swept the crypto industry after Donald Trump’s election victory last year ebbs away,” the Financial Times wrote today.

Bitcoin hit a then-record of $89,623 in November, a week after the election, amid optimism about Trump’s plans for crypto-friendly policies. It hit $100,000 for the first time in early December after Trump announced his planned nomination of Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Trump made several early moves to support crypto. “After pouring tens of millions of dollars into Trump’s 2024 campaign for president, the crypto industry has been paid back handsomely during his first week in the White House,” CNBC wrote on January 25.

For example, the SEC rescinded a 2022 accounting rule “that forced banks to treat bitcoin and other tokens as a liability on their balance sheets,” a change that is said to make it easier for “regulated institutions to adopt crypto as an asset class that they support on behalf of the clients.”

Trump impact overestimated

But enthusiasm waned as crypto investors apparently expected Trump to do more to boost the market in the five weeks since his inauguration. Traders hoped the US would start buying bitcoin and “rapidly enact new rules to encourage large financial institutions to buy crypto,” today’s Financial Times article said.

“There has been a recalibration of expectations regarding the Trump administration’s crypto stance,” Gadi Chait, investment manager at Xapo Bank, told the Financial Times. Michael Dempsey, managing partner at venture capital firm Compound, was quoted as saying that many crypto enthusiasts “materially overestimated [Trump’s] positive impact on the space.”

Bitcoin plunges as crypto fans didn’t get everything they wanted from Trump Read More »

supreme-court-rejects-isps-again-in-latest-bid-to-kill-ny’s-$15-broadband-law

Supreme Court rejects ISPs again in latest bid to kill NY’s $15 broadband law

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“To broadband ISPs and their friends complaining about the New York law and proposed Massachusetts laws mandating a low-income broadband service offering: you asked for complete deregulation at the federal level and you got it. This is the consequence,” Gigi Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband, wrote today.

Sohn called on ISPs to join with consumer advocates to support a federal law guaranteeing “limited but meaningful oversight over broadband… Until then, my colleagues and I will go to every state that will listen to ensure that Internet users are protected from anticompetitive and anticonsumer practices.”

AT&T exit has limited significance

AT&T’s partial exit from New York likely doesn’t indicate that there will be a rush of ISPs fleeing the state. AT&T still offers mobile service in New York, and it only offered the 5G home Internet plan in 10 cities and towns. AT&T would have a much more difficult time pulling home Internet service out of the 21 states where it offers wired Internet service.

The lobby groups that tried to overturn the state law are the New York State Telecommunications Association, CTIA-The Wireless Association, NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association, USTelecom, ACA Connects-America’s Communications Association, and the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association.

The groups convinced a federal judge to block the New York law in 2021, but that judge’s ruling was reversed by the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in April 2024. Appeals court judges rejected arguments that the New York law was preempted by federal rules, saying that “a federal agency cannot exclude states from regulating in an area where the agency itself lacks regulatory authority.”

The FCC lacked authority over broadband after the 2017 repeal of net neutrality rules and related common-carrier regulations. The Biden-era FCC voted to restore that authority but lost a court case brought by USTelecom and the Ohio Telecom Association.

Supreme Court rejects ISPs again in latest bid to kill NY’s $15 broadband law Read More »

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Judge: US gov’t violated privacy law by disclosing personal data to DOGE

doge, Policy / /

“The plaintiffs have made a clear showing that they are likely to suffer irreparable harm without injunctive relief,” the order said. “DOGE affiliates have been granted access to systems of record that contain some of the plaintiffs’ most sensitive data—Social Security numbers, dates of birth, home addresses, income and assets, citizenship status, and disability status—and their access to this trove of personal information is ongoing. There is no reason to believe their access to this information will end anytime soon because the government believes their access is appropriate.”

The American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.8 million teachers and nurses, was joined in the lawsuit by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, and National Federation of Federal Employees.

No need to know

The government insisted that the DOGE affiliates are employees of Education and OPM, and the judge assumed that is true for purposes of evaluating the motion for a restraining order. Even with that allowance, Boardman decided the data access is not permissible under the “need-to-know” exception to the law prohibiting unnecessary disclosure.

The Trump administration did not explain why “the DOGE affiliates at Education need such comprehensive, sweeping access to the plaintiffs’ records to audit student loan programs for waste, fraud, and abuse or to conduct cost-estimate analyses,” Boardman wrote, adding that “there appears to be no precedent with similar facts.”

There are six DOGE affiliates working at Education. They include Adam Ramada, a United States DOGE Service employee, and five “DOGE-affiliated individuals” who have not been identified by name.

“It may be that, with additional time, the government can explain why granting such broad access to the plaintiffs’ personal information is necessary for DOGE affiliates at Education to do their jobs, but for now, the record before the Court indicates they do not have a need for these records in the performance of their duties,” Boardman wrote.

Judge: US gov’t violated privacy law by disclosing personal data to DOGE Read More »