The U.S. Commerce Department placed 28 Chinese business entities on a trade blacklist in connection with the mass detention and abuse of the muslim Uighur population is Xinjiang. Among the companies hit by the new sanctions are eight of China’s biggest private AI companies specializing in facial recognition, algorithmic surveillance, and autonomous vehicles. Expanded sanctions also include visa bans on Chinese officials linked to the mass detention of Uighurs and ethnic Kazakhs.The European Court of Justice ruled that individual countries can order Facebook to remove defamatory posts, photographs and videos from display not only in the country of litigation, but globally. This ruling, which cannot be repealed, extends the reach of the region’s internet-related laws beyond its own borders, and comes a week after the same court ruled in favor of Google in the landmark ‘right to be forgotten’ case.
The U.S. and U.K. governments have reached a data-sharing agreement — the first of the executive agreements envisioned by the CLOUD Act — that enables law enforcement agencies in both countries access to digital data and evidence stored within each other’s borders. Shortly after, the United States announces negotiations with Australia on potentially signing the CLOUD Act.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed bill AB 1215 blocking law enforcement from using facial recognition technology in body cameras, effective through Jan. 1, 2023. California is now the largest state to take steps to limit police use of the technology, following New Hampshire and Oregon.Over 30 civil rights groups sign a letter urging Amazon to cease partnerships that give local police offices access to Amazon Ring smart doorbell data.
US Attorney General William Barr, along with counterparts in the U.K. and Australia, request that Facebook delays plans to deploy end-to-end messaging encryption.
A EU Internal Market commissioner-designate Sylvie Goulard announced upcoming updates on Digital Services Act that must include proposals concerning AI. The updates are to be released within 100 days of the new commission’s tenure. Mrs. Goulard also stressed the need to update the eCommerce laws.
A recent disclosure of a July 2019 ruling by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court shows that the FBI was found to be violating the the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches in using a warrantless internet-surveillance program intended to target foreign suspects in 2017 and 2018.
The Justice Department is planning to require collection of DNA from immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border for use in a national criminal database. The practice would apply to immigrants who enter the country at legal ports of entry to ask for asylum.
(Compiled by Margarita Boyarskaya)