Biometric technology may make it easy to unlock your phone, but democratic lawmakers have long cautioned against the use of facial recognition and biometrics by law enforcement. Not only have researchers documented instances of racial and gender bias in such systems, false positives have even led to real instances of wrongful arrest.
Chipmakers hoping to tap into the Biden administration’s $39 billion semiconductor manufacturing subsidy program will need to sign agreements promising they won’t expand production capacity in China. The requirement was among a handful of funding conditions the US Commerce Department outlined this week after announcing it would begin accepting applications for money from the CHIPS Act in late June.
A new Senate bill aims to expand protections for Americans' health and location data. It follows concerns that such information could be used to identify individuals seeking reproductive health care services after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion last year.
The White House is relying on more than an executive order to bolster online security. The Biden administration has issued a National Cybersecurity Strategy meant to "rebalance" responsibilities toward the larger companies and organizations best-equipped to handle threats.
DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images
The United States Postal Service isn't pinning all its electrification hopes on next-gen mail delivery vehicles. The service has signed a contract to buy 9,250 Ford E-Transit electric vans, with the first units arriving in December.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee has voted to advance legislation that would give President Joe Biden the power to ban TikTok in the US along with other apps owned by Chinese companies. The panel approved the the Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries (DATA) Act in a 24-16 vote. All Republicans on the panel were in favor while every Democrat voted against the bill.
Every year, the FBI publishes a report on the state of cybercrime in the U.S., based on statistics collected from the previous year.
The chair of the Federal Trade Commission has proposed new rules to tackle the scourge of text message scams. If the agency's commissioners approve the rules at a meeting in March, providers would have to block robotexts that are "highly likely to be illegal," chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.