Miriam Vogel

This article serves as your regular reminder that every agency is looking to become an AI enforcement agency. Samuel Levine, the FTC's Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, argues that "Congress giving us back that tool [restitution] to get money back to people who get scammed, and making sure we have the resources to take on what we fear will be a real scourge of AI-related fraud, is essential to us doing our job." This has been a pretty consistent argument from the FTC, ever since a unanimous Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that Section 13(b) of the FTC Act did not authorize use of that provision to seek restitution. But that "giving us back" is doing a lot of work. As Justice Breyer wrote in AMG Capital Management, "We must conclude... that §13(b) ... does not grant the Commission authority to obtain equitable monetary relief." In other words, the FTC has never had restitution authority under §13(b). There is nothing to "give back." That issue aside, any company making claims about the capabilities of their AI systems are on notice that the FTC is watching. This is not a "Big Tech" issue - any company, small or large, can be held liable for violations of the FTC's consumer protection authority. And companies entering into settlements with the FTC are often subject to a 20-year consent decree. #ai #artificialintelligence #federaltradecommission #ftc

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Today, the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE) published a groundbreaking new report, entitled “Rising Threats to Public Officials: A Review of 10 Years of Federal Data,” by NCITE researchers Pete Simi, Gina Ligon, Seamus Hughes, and Natalie Standridge. This comprehensive report, based on a review of federal charges over the past decade, shows that the number of threats to public officials is growing rapidly. The report was published in the CTC Sentinel, a leading terrorism journal produced by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center. Researchers found that while 2013-2016 had an average of 38 federal charges per year, that number sharply increased to an average of 62 charges per year between 2017-2022. The proportion of cases motivated by an ideology grew steadily over the whole time period. Follow the link to read the report: https://lnkd.in/dTKqZQ4K

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If you are a company or organization currently paying or looking for government relations, public affairs, or lobbying help in the Washington, DC area, don't pay the additional premium for the firm with the unnecessary office image in DC to support. Doing so is like Jim Croce continuing to put dimes into a pay phone to keep the connection going with the operator while a growing digital era takes hold. Instead look at smaller firms, like Avison Strategies, LLC, with similar experience, a much smaller fee structure and a business model focused on results, the latest AI and ML technology, and personal attention to reach people where they are and when it is needed. Retainers average $4,000-$5,000/month for firms like mine compared to $10,000-$15,000/month for firms like those. Office costs and the impact through association fallacy will make you overpay and results will frequently under deliver. Support a small business instead and see the difference.

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I was honored to testify this morning before the House Energy and Commerce Committee concerning the recent bipartisan, bicameral draft privacy legislation, the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA), and various other privacy and kids-related bills. My main messages were straightforward: 1. APRA presents a renewed opportunity to finish the long overdue job of passing a federal privacy law. The need for such a law is clear, and the explosive emergence of AI has only heightened that need. 2. APRA provides a sound framework built on data minimization, non-discrimination requirements, consumer rights, restrictions on data brokers, and effective enforcement. 3. To be sure, APRA will need refinement, from strengthening the protections for kids to clarifying some of the provisions around advertising. But the release of the draft is encouraging. 4. CDT has long advocated for comprehensive federal privacy legislation, and we look forward to continuing to work with legislators from both parties and other stakeholders to help move APRA through the legislative process and (hopefully!) into law.

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Check out the new report released by Socure and the Center for Digital Government titled “The State of Digital Identity in 2024.” According to the report, 63% of constituents surveyed want to conduct all or most transactions with state agencies online. Yet, only 13% felt very confident state agencies can detect and prevent identity fraud......and more than half of the state leaders surveyed said they rely on knowledge-based authentication as a method of verification, despite NIST no longer recognizing it as a valid method of verifying identities. The report also includes best practices for creating a modern identity system. Read Here   https://lnkd.in/eVaRGm6f

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🤝 I'm thrilled to see bipartisan collaboration shaping the future of AI policy in the U.S. A Senate AI Working Group has crafted a roadmap to navigate the complex landscape of AI policy. Highlighted priorities include: 1️⃣ Increasing funding for AI innovation 2️⃣ Ensuring enforcement of existing laws for AI 3️⃣ Addressing workforce impact and upskilling 4️⃣ Bolstering national security through AI 5️⃣ Tackling challenges posed by deepfakes 6️⃣ Promoting AI competitiveness in higher education and industry 7️⃣ Establishing comprehensive federal data privacy framework 8️⃣ Mitigating long-term risk scenarios Check out the roadmap at: [Link to Roadmap](https://lnkd.in/eUymhXq8). Read about the roadmap findings and policy priorities for U.S. leadership in AI innovation, workforce adaptation, national security, data privacy, and more: [Link to article on The Hill](https://lnkd.in/evCa9fva) #AIPolicy #BipartisanLeadership #Innovation #AIInnovation #FutureOfWork #DataPrivacy #NationalSecurity

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Check out my new blog, "Navigating AI Regulation: Governors' Cautionary Tale," which highlights the concerns of state governors who are wary of signing broad AI bills into law. Governors have highlighted their concerns that restrictive legislation could stifle innovation and make their states uncompetitive.

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Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced the establishment of the Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board to advise the secretary on critical infrastructure risks. While a worthwhile initiative, the design of our current critical infrastrucure policy structure is a fundamental disservice to such efforts. Today, critical infrastrucure encompasses 16 industrial sectors, an unwieldy 60% or more of the U.S. economy, and a grab bag of non-critical assets including casinos, ride share vehicles and the cosmetics industry. For a small committee of 22, this unwieldy scope will strain priorities, waste time, and distract focus from the core systems that really matter. Effectively securing our critical infrastrucure demand we set the priorities, shrink policy scope, and finally determine what is indeed the most critical and the most deserving of DHS’s limited resources. https://lnkd.in/eXdRveWB

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  The U.S. public health system relies depends on the legal infrastructure providing authority for federal, state and local actions. During COVID-19, federal, state and local officials took actions to mitigate disease spread and to protect the public’s health. Many of the actions were subject to legal challenges. This study by Michelle Mello of Stanford Law is the first study to examine how COVID-19-era decisions may constrain public health legal powers going forward. To learn more tune in on June 5th for a Health Affairs webinar on reimagining #publichealth! Register below. https://lnkd.in/eepQGhJN 

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The Senate’s AI Roadmap will strengthen America’s global competitiveness in artificial intelligence and ensure the U.S. remains the world’s leader in safe and responsible AI innovation. It will provide robust funding for USAISI, NAIRR, Tech Hubs, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), expand innovation, empower a new generation of AI leaders, bolster our workforce, lower barriers to entry for AI research, and set guardrails to protect U.S. institutions. We applaud Leader Schumer and Senators Rounds, Heinrich, and Young for their continued leadership in crafting this roadmap. Read our statement: https://bit.ly/3QHro6g

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Here's the best guide to date on what has been mandated, what's under specified, and how many more steps are needed to get "researcher access to data." Ends hopeful, but with a big to do list.

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Here's the summary of our new paper calling for greater effort at dismantling inequity: DC’s Local Fund budget (the portion of the budget that reflects spending supported through our three broad based taxes—income, sales, and property) has been steady for decades when taken as a share of the economy (a key measure of our fiscal capacity). In other words, we’ve largely just kept pace with growth in the economy and that’s a good thing—we have to be able to keep up with growing needs for public services broadly and also specific things like competitive public sector wages and parts of the budget that grow faster than others or serve populations with higher cost needs. Our spending as a share of the economy has at times been higher than it is now—in fact it is actually lower now than it was in the very last year of the Control Board era. We’ve made some really important investments for racial and economic equity with that spending, especially in the last decade or so (we share a few examples that are not meant to be an exhaustive list). Revenue is projected to decline as a share of the economy in the coming years, which could cause us to backtrack when we really should be pushing forward toward more progress on tackling longstanding racial and economic inequity. More progress would strengthen our economy as a whole. To move forward and achieve more transformative change, we will need to raise revenue and increase our collective effort (we offer just a handful of examples where we should fulfill commitments already made and forge ahead with additional public investments).

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The Senate’s AI Roadmap will strengthen America’s global competitiveness in artificial intelligence and ensure the U.S. remains the world’s leader in safe and responsible AI innovation. It will provide robust funding for USAISI, NAIRR, Tech Hubs, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), expand innovation, empower a new generation of AI leaders, bolster our workforce, lower barriers to entry for AI research, and set guardrails to protect U.S. institutions. We applaud Leader Schumer and Senators Rounds, Heinrich, and Young for their continued leadership in crafting this roadmap. Read our statement: https://bit.ly/3QHro6g

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Today, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) published my report proposing a novel reform of the federal regulatory process. The concept is getting traction having recently been introduced in Congress as H.R.8204, the Regulatory Early Notice and Engagement Act (RENEA), sponsored by Reps. Don Davis (D-NC), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), and Tim Burchett (R-TN). If you have an interest in regulation and regulatory reform, please read the report and consider supporting this bipartisan legislation. #regulation #smartregulation #regreform #RENEA #regulatoryearlynotice #cutredtape #regulatoryearlynotice https://lnkd.in/ezg3MtY7

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ACF’s Children’s Bureau has issued a rule providing that federal matching funds will be available to IV-E (child welfare) agencies for costs of independent legal representation to carry out the requirements in the agency’s foster care plan for a child who is in or a candidate for IV-E foster care. Federal funding will also be available to IV-E agencies to provide legal representation for the child's parent(s) or relative caregiver(s), for the child's Indian custodian(s), and when a child's tribe participates or intervenes in a state court proceeding for foster care placement or termination of parental rights of an Indian child who is in or a candidate for IV-E foster care.   Under the rule, when necessary to carry out the requirements of the agency’s IV-E plan for the child, IV-E agencies could access federal funds for legal representation to help families experiencing conditions such as unemployment, inadequate income, unstable housing, evictions or homelessness, food insecurity, unmet health care needs, benefits access and domestic violence. https://lnkd.in/driFS459

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How effective would the labels for consumer broadband for #wired as well as #wireless mandated by the Federal Communications Commission in the #US be? This is a question that has been on the minds of many. Just like #foodlabels, these aim to empower #consumers with actionable #information about the #broadband service they are purchasing, such as #speed, #price, and #data caps. The idea is to enhance #consumerwelfare through #competition, #choice and #transparency, including but not limited to the Quality of Service. However, the effectiveness of these labels in achieving their intended goals remains to be seen. Would it enable or stifle #innovation in terms of #traiff plans? Should Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) consider something like this in #India? What do you think? Anil Kumar Lahoti; Neeraj Mittal; Pradip Baijal; Harsha Vardhana SINGH; Rajat Kathuria; A. K. Bhargava; Lt Gen Dr SP Kochhar; Vikram TIWATHIA; Mahesh Uppal; V Sridhar; Rohit Kumar Singh; Anil Tandan; Pradeep Mehta; Nikhil Pahwa; Rajnesh Singh; Prasanto Kumar Roy; Shubhendu Parth; Dr. Lara Srivastava; Scott Wallsten; James Pethokoukis; Jhalak Kakkar Federal Trade Commission; Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI); Department of Telecommunications ( DOT ) Centre for Social and Economic Progress; Cellular Operators Association of India - COAI; ITU-APT Foundation of India; Broadband India Forum; Consumer Unity & Trust Society; Internet Society; MediaNama; Internet Society; Technology Policy Institute; Centre for Communication Governance; #FCC #broadbandlabels #QoS #mobilebroadband

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Ryan DeMara and I had a great time the other day chatting with #Connecticut State Sen. James Maroney on the Back in Session podcast! If you are interested in #AI policy, you should give this episode a listen! #artificialintelligence #dataprivacy #legislation #policy

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Excellent! We need the talent in government to not only implement this tech, but ensure decisionmakers make technically informed choices. The challenge will be both making use of that talent and retention. Already government IT is a revolving door, I'd wager in large part due to the inflexibility inherent to gov IT. Unfortunately, under the AI exec order our already expansive IT rule set will be loaded with additional restrictions. To attract, retain, and make use of talent we need to loosen the rules, enable development, and allow experimentation. https://lnkd.in/dc3jbJF2

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