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UK government reveals 'robust' plans to regulate crypto
The UK government has detailed "ambitious" plans to regulate the crypto industry.
States, activists sue USPS over purchase of gas-powered mail trucks
Both 16 states and activists have sued the US Postal Service over its plan to buy gas-powered mail delivery trucks.
The US Army will test a 300 kW laser weapon system in 2022
Even if it’s only a demonstration, the system represents a significant step up from the lasers the military has had access to in the past.
Federal court strikes down Trump's coal-friendly EPA climate rules
A federal appeals court has struck down the Trump administration’s plan to relax restrictions on power plant greenhouse emissions.
India's proposed data laws give the government more access to data
The latest version of India's Personal Data Protection bill could require companies to gain permission before using individuals' personal data, and citizens would be able to demand their data be erased, The New York Times reports. The rules would also place fewer restrictions on the government, which would be allowed to request anonymized and non-personal data from companies. The latest version of the bill circulated this week. According to Financial Times, it was introduced to India's parliament today.
California cracks down on political and pornographic deepfakes
Deepfake videos can be fun, but not when it comes to politcs and pornography. Now, the state of California is doing something about it with two new bills signed into law last week by Governor Gavin Newsom. The first makes it illegal to post any manipulated videos that could, for instance, replace a candidate's face or speech in order to discredit them, within 60 days of an election. The other will allow residents of the state to sue anyone who puts their image into a pornographic video using deepfake technology.
Amazon wants to write the rules regulating facial recognition tech
Amazon is drafting laws to regulate facial recognition technology, Vox reports. Supposedly, the company hopes that federal lawmakers will adopt its proposal as legislation. "Our public policy team is actually working on facial recognition regulations; it makes a lot of sense to regulate that," CEO Jeff Bezos said in an appearance following Amazon's hardware event yesterday.
Tinder wants to protect LGBTQ users in countries that discriminate
Tinder wants to keep its users safe in the nearly 70 countries that have discriminatory LGBTQ laws. Today, the company is launching a feature called Traveller Alert. When members of the LGBTQ community open the app in one of those countries, the alert will warn them about the potential dangers LGBTQ people face.
Proposed law would insist on work-life balance for New Yorkers
With all of us connected to our phones day and night, it's pretty easy to respond to work requests after official office hours are over. European countries like France have passed laws allowing employees to ignore employers after hours, giving citizens the right to disconnect. Now New Yorkers may have a similar freedom if a new bill proposed by the city council passes.
France bans smartphone use in cars even when you pull over
Road deaths have been on the rise lately in France and with nothing much else to pin it on, authorities are going after scofflaw drivers who text or call. It's now illegal to hold your phone on public roads even when you're pulled over to the side of the road, whether you're blocking traffic or not, Le Figaro reports. The high court ruling means that taking what some consider to be a safe step -- pulling over to talk on the phone -- could still result in points and a fine of 135 euros.
Germany legalizes self-driving car tests
German automakers won't have to bring their experimental autonomous cars to California for testing anymore. The country has just approved a law allowing companies to test their self-driving cars on its roads, so long as they follow a set of conditions. Perhaps the most important requirement is that drivers must be sitting behind the wheel all the time. They can take their eyes off the road to, say, use their phone and browse the internet, but they need to be able to take over if the vehicle's AI needs them to.
Uber plans to ditch Denmark over new taxi laws
Uber likes to think of itself as an enabler of small business, a connector of independent contractors with people who need a ride. Unfortunately for the San Francisco-based company, many places around the world disagree. The company's latest setback is in Denmark, where a new set of laws will require taxi cabs to have seat occupancy sensors and fare meters. Uber confirmed with The Guardian that it will not be able to operate unless the regulations are changed.
Ride-hailing apps like Uber will be legal in China soon
Considering how much business Uber does in China, it's kind of hard to imagine that ride-hailing apps aren't exactly legal in the country. Well, they weren't, but they're about to be. Chinese regulators have passed a new law that clears up the legal grey area companies like Uber and Didi Chuxing operate in. Starting on November 1st, ride-hailing apps will be legal, so long as they follow a few rules.
Senator behind biometric privacy act tries to remove its teeth
The Illinois Biometric Privacy Act became law in 2008, making it illegal in the state to capture a person's biometric identifiers -- things like fingerprints, iris scans or faceprints -- without explicit consent. This has led to three lawsuits against Facebook, Google and Snapchat, each over the companies' use of face-scanning or -tagging technology. Now, Illinois State Senator Terry Link is attempting to add language to the bill that would make these practices legal in the state, effectively ending the lawsuits, The Verge reports. Note that Link is the senator who originally introduced the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act.
Google and AOL team up to stop tech talent leaving NYC
New York City may be the Big Apple, but it plays second fiddle to Silicon Valley when it comes to technology. That's why a number of companies located there including (Engadget's parent company) AOL, Bloomberg and, yes, California-based Google and Facebook have formed an advocate association called Tech:NYC. In a blog post, AOL's Tim Armstrong and New York venture capitalist Fred Wilson say "we feel that the NYC tech community deserves a more formal organization to represent itself before local and state governments and the business community and civic sector."
Porn site bans all North Carolina users over anti-LGBT law
Since Monday, porn site XHamster.com has refused access to any user with a North Carolina IP address. The site says the block will stay in place until the state repeals House Bill 2, which prevents cities and counties passing rules that protect LGBT rights. "We have spent the last 50 years fighting for equality for everyone and these laws are discriminatory which XHamster.com does not tolerate," said the company's spokesman in official statement sent to The Huffington Post.
Kim Dotcom could face extradition to the US
Kim Dotcom, essentially the Motion Picture Association of America and Digital Millennium Copyright Act's de facto prime target, and his colleagues actually can be extradited to the United States to face copyright charges according to a judicial ruling. However, don't expect the man behind Megaupload to appear stateside anytime soon.As The New Zealand Herald, Dotcom's local news publication, tells it, the internet mogul has 15 days to appeal or apply for a writ of habeas corpus (produce the body) and it looks like his legal defense team is already taking care of that. In addition to copyright infringement, he faces charges for racketeering and money laundering as well. The BBC reports that he owes domestic authorities somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million.
California bill allows firefighters to ground pesky drones
As wildfires scorched sections of California Interstate I-15 last week, firefighters found themselves hamstrung and unable to deliver aerial water coverage for nearly 20 minutes because a couple of schmucks were flying their quadcopters directly overhead. In response, Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) and Senator Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado) have introduced Senate Bill 168. The bill would grant "immunity to any emergency responder who damages an unmanned aircraft in the course of firefighting, air ambulance, or search-and-rescue operations." The bill will also levy stiff fines and potentially even jail time for people whose UAVs inhibit an emergency response.
The Navy's new laser can do more than just shoot down drones
We've all seen how good the Navy's experimental laser is at shooting down drones, but it turns out that the hardware's got more than one party trick. A report by the Wall Street Journal has revealed that military types are also praising the surveillance capabilities of the gear, describing it as a "Hubble telescope on the water." The device is also earning praise from the Navy's accountants, since while each surface-to-air missile costs around $400,000, each shot from the laser is a paltry 59 cents. As a result of these trials, the Navy will now deploy the USS Ponce in the Middle East for the next year with orders to test the weapon's self-defense capabilities. [Image credit: John F. Williams/US Navy, Flickr]
US Navy puts its first laser weapon into service
It's official: the US Navy has entered the future. Vice Admiral John Miller tells Bloomberg that the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport, has been using the Navy's Laser Weapon System (LaWS) in the Persian Gulf since late August. The high-tech arsenal is no threat to larger vessels, but it's potentially ideal for defending against Iran's fleet of smaller ships. The Ponce can use non-lethal laser flashes to spook enemies or thwart their sensors, and it can destroy small craft (including airborne drones) if they don't heed warnings. It'll take some time before laser weapons are a common sight on the high seas, since the Navy wants to know how it fares in real-world conditions; dust, heat and other Gulf conditions could lead to failures. If it pans out, however, there's a real chance that the days of conventional small deck guns are numbered. [Image credit: John F. Williams/US Navy, Flickr]
