Washington Post: ‘The AR-15 thrives in times of tension and tragedy. This is how it came to dominate the marketplace – and loom so large in the American psyche. The AR-15 wasn’t supposed to be a bestseller. The rugged, powerful weapon was originally designed as a soldiers’ rifle in the late 1950s. “An outstanding weapon… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Visualizing Political Bias in Bicameral Legislatures
The Economist – See the visualization here: “Left-of-centre Americans often bemoan their country’s Senate, in which each state gets two seats regardless of population. This has always given the least populous states extra sway in the upper chamber of Congress. But in recent years, smaller states have become more Republican, and Democrats have called for… Continue Reading
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan Issues Sweeping Subpoenas to Universities Studying Misinformation
Pro Publica: “In the subpoenas, Jordan asserted that the schools may have contributed to the Biden administration’s “censorship regime by advising on so-called misinformation. House Republicans have sent letters to at least three universities and a think tank requesting a broad range of documents related to what it says are the institutions’ contributions to the… Continue Reading
How AI could write our laws
MIT Technology News: “Nearly 90% of the multibillion-dollar federal lobbying apparatus in the United States serves corporate interests. In some cases, the objective of that money is obvious. Google pours millions into lobbying on bills related to antitrust regulation. Big energy companies expect action whenever there is a move to end drilling leases for federal… Continue Reading
Forecasting potential misuses of language models for disinformation campaigns and how to reduce risk
“OpenAI researchers collaborated with Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology and the Stanford Internet Observatory to investigate how large language models might be misused for disinformation purposes. The collaboration included an October 2021 workshop bringing together 30 disinformation researchers, machine learning experts, and policy analysts, and culminated in a co-authored report building on… Continue Reading
DOJ – Trump can be sued for Jan. 6 riot harm
AP: “Former President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday in a federal court case testing Trump’s legal vulnerability for his speech before the riot. In court papers, the Justice Department urged a federal… Continue Reading
Domestic Terrorism: Further Actions Needed to Strengthen FBI and DHS Collaboration to Counter Threats
Domestic Terrorism: Further Actions Needed to Strengthen FBI and DHS Collaboration to Counter Threats, GAO-23-104720 Published: Feb 22, 2023. Publicly Released: Feb 28, 2023. “Incidents of domestic terrorism increased by 357% between 2013 and 2021. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are charged with collaborating to prevent domestic threats. Although they work together… Continue Reading
New Options for Member Alerts
In Custodia Legis – Congress.gov February 2023 New, Tip, and Top: “Congress.gov uses an iterative design process to get new features and enhancements to you quickly. With the January release Robert shared that member remarks are now included with sponsored and cosponsored legislation on member profile pages. With today’s release, we build on that by… Continue Reading
IRS Needs to Complete Modernization Plans and Fully Address Cloud Computing Requirements
Information Technology: IRS Needs to Complete Modernization Plans and Fully Address Cloud Computing Requirements, GAO-23-104719 Published: Jan 12, 2023. Publicly Released: Feb 07, 2023. “The Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) legacy IT environment includes applications, software, and hardware, which are outdated but still critical to day-to-day operations. Specifically, GAO’s analysis showed that about 33 percent of… Continue Reading
Commentary Early thoughts on regulating generative AI like ChatGPT
Brookings, Alex Engler: “With OpenAI’s ChatGPT now a constant presence both on social media and in the news, generative artificial intelligence (AI) models have taken hold of the public’s imagination. Policymakers have taken note too, with statements from Members addressing risks and AI-generated text read on the floor of the House of Representatives. While they… Continue Reading
Strengthening and Democratizing the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Innovation Ecosystem
Strengthening and Democratizing the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Innovation Ecosystem: An Implementation Plan for a National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource. National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force, January 2023. “Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing our country and our world. From how citizens navigate their daily lives to how researchers drive discoveries in the lab to how… Continue Reading
TNI’s State of Power report: Who has digital power today?
TNI – Let’s start with a big open question that is at the heart of TNI’s: Who has digital power today? – Interview with Cory Doctorow – “Cory Doctorow is a prolific writer and a brilliant science fiction novelist, journalist and technology activist. He is a special consultant to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org (external… Continue Reading
