Congress’ tech plate is full, with little time at the table

WASHINGTON — Congress has a full slate of technology policy challenges to resolve, ranging from artificial intelligence systems to data privacy and children’s online safety — with not much time on the congressional calendar before the November election intrudes.

In the absence of federal legislation, more than a dozen states have enacted data privacy laws, and more are in the pipeline. Likewise, several states also have established, or are mulling, laws relating to artificial intelligence systems, all of which increases the pressure to create national policies.

Starting Wednesday, there will be fewer than 50 days left in which both chambers of Congress are scheduled to be in session before the election on Nov. 5.

Congress may end up enacting narrower bills on AI before November but is unlikely to pass a comprehensive measure before then, said Linda Moore, CEO of TechNet, a group whose members include top executives of Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Google LLC, Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp., OpenAI and others.

—CQ-Roll Call

Antisemitism in the US hits all-time high, Anti-Defamation League says

The Anti-Defamation League recorded more incidents of nationwide antisemitism in 2023 than ever before — and only California reported more incidents than New York.

The ADL, which has been documenting hate crimes against Jews since 1979, said it tracked 8,873 cases of antisemitism last year. That marks a 140% spike from 2022, and equates to one antisemitic incident every hour.

“Antisemitism is nothing short of a national emergency, a five-alarm fire that is still raging across the country and in our local communities and campuses,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a press release. “Jewish Americans are being targeted for who they are at school, at work, on the street, in Jewish institutions and even at home.”

...continued