Tubefilter: Congress is putting off its plan to regulate TikTok until 2024 (but GOP hopefuls still have takes)

Tubefilter: Congress is putting off its plan to regulate TikTok until 2024 (but GOP hopefuls still have takes). “TikTok continues to face criticism from American politicians, but the Congressional plan to regulate the app is going on the back burner — at least until 2024. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who heads the Senate Commerce Committee, told Reuters that Congress will not take up TikTok-oriented legislation until the calendar turns over to a new year.”

1852 Legislative Session: This Abominable Slavery (University of Utah)

University of Utah: 1852 Legislative Session: This Abominable Slavery. “During the 1852 Utah legislative session, a passionate debate ensued over voting rights for Black men. Legislator and Latter-day Saint apostle Orson Pratt argued that Black men should be allowed to vote, while territorial governor and Latter-day Saint president Brigham Young strongly disagreed. … This debate, along with other legislative battles and religious pronouncements can be examined in full in a new digital database called This Abominable Slavery.”

Reuters: Governments spying on Apple, Google users through push notifications -US senator

Reuters: Governments spying on Apple, Google users through push notifications -US senator. “Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users via their apps’ push notifications, a U.S. senator warned on Wednesday. In a letter to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden said foreign officials were demanding the data from Alphabet’s Google and Apple. Although details were sparse, the letter lays out yet another path by which governments can track smartphones.”

Irish Independent: Micheál Martin initiates High Court proceedings against Google over scam adverts

Irish Independent: Micheál Martin initiates High Court proceedings against Google over scam adverts. “Tánaiste Micheál Martin is taking a legal action against Google to secure information about the source of scam adverts for cryptocurrency using his name and image. Mr Martin initiated High Court proceedings against Google Ireland Limited and Google LLC in an attempt to establish why his name and image are being used for fake adverts.” As I understand it, the “Tánaiste” is the deputy head of government in Ireland.

Inquirer: De Lima eyes suing bloggers that ‘degraded’ her as a woman

Inquirer (Philippines): De Lima eyes suing bloggers that ‘degraded’ her as a woman. “Bloggers who had spread ‘fake news’ and malicious disinformation against recently released former Sen. Leila de Lima should brace themselves for possible court cases that are now “under study” by her legal team. ‘The charges could include libel, cyberlibel, defamation, slander, and assault to honor,’ said De Lima who was granted bail last month after almost seven years in detention at Camp Crame for drug-related charges filed against her during the previous administration.”

Associated Press: Brazilian city enacts an ordinance that was secretly written by ChatGPT

Associated Press: Brazilian city enacts an ordinance that was secretly written by ChatGPT. “City lawmakers in Brazil have enacted what appears to be the nation’s first legislation written entirely by artificial intelligence — even if they didn’t know it at the time. The experimental ordinance was passed in October in the southern city of Porto Alegre and city councilman Ramiro Rosário revealed this week that it was written by a chatbot, sparking objections and raising questions about the role of artificial intelligence in public policy.”

Henry Kissinger: The Declassified Obituary (National Security Archive)

National Security Archive: Henry Kissinger: The Declassified Obituary. “This special posting also centralizes links to dozens of previously published collections of documents related to Kissinger’s tenure in government that the Archive, led by the intrepid efforts of William Burr, has identified, pursued, obtained and catalogued over several decades. Together, these collections constitute an accessible, major repository of records on one of the most consequential U.S. foreign policy makers of the 20th century.”

Associated Press: Former Google executive ends longshot bid for Dianne Feinstein’s US Senate seat in California

Associated Press: Former Google executive ends longshot bid for Dianne Feinstein’s US Senate seat in California. “A former California tech executive is ending her longshot campaign for the U.S. Senate seat once held by the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, she announced Tuesday. Democrat Lexi Reese said in a statement that she has been unable to raise the many millions of dollars needed for a first-time candidate to introduce herself to voters across the nation’s most populous state.”

Brookings Institution: AI can strengthen U.S. democracy—and weaken it

Brookings Institution: AI can strengthen U.S. democracy—and weaken it. “In this first part of a new series on the risks and possibilities of the confluence between AI and democracy, we provide an overview of three principal areas where AI may transform democratic governance and its execution. Subsequent installments of the series will offer deeper dives into these topics and policy recommendations for lawmakers.”

The political economy of social media: A new eBook (Centre for Economic Policy Research)

Centre for Economic Policy Research: The political economy of social media: A new eBook. “The emergence of social media has reshaped the way humans communicate, interact and coordinate with each other. Assessing the impact of this transformation on politics has been one of the great social science questions of the last or decade or so, and will continue to occupy researchers for a long time to come. A new CEPR eBook provides a snapshot of how economists have been trying to answer this question.”

Rolling Stone: We Spied on Trump’s ‘Southern White House’ From Our Couches

Rolling Stone: We Spied on Trump’s ‘Southern White House’ From Our Couches. “We didn’t have to risk life and limb, posing as the help and smuggling information out through a well-funded spy ring. All we had to do was sign up for an online service, enter the address of Mar-a-Lago, and click a button. Within a few minutes, we had a report profiling thousands of visitors to Trump’s club over the course of an entire year, including details like where they likely live and work, their ages, incomes, ethnicities, education levels, where they were immediately before visiting, and where they spent their time on the property once they got there.”

Business Insider: Former Google engineer and Trump pardonee Anthony Levandowski relaunches his AI church

Business Insider: Former Google engineer and Trump pardonee Anthony Levandowski relaunches his AI church. “Anthony Levandowski, a pioneer of self-driving cars and controversial Silicon Valley figure, announced the return of his AI-dedicated church in an episode of Bloomberg’s AI IRL podcast. Levandowski started his ‘Way of the Future’ church in 2015 while he was working as an engineer on Google’s self-driving project Waymo.”