Perspective. I thought lawyers considered all regulations ambiguous…

https://fpf.org/blog/chevron-decision-will-impact-privacy-and-ai-regulations/

CHEVRON DECISION WILL IMPACT PRIVACY AND AI REGULATIONS

The Supreme Court has issued a 6-3 decision in two long-awaited cases – Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce – overturning the legal doctrine of “Chevron deference.” While the decision will impact a wide range of federal rules, it is particularly salient for ongoing privacy, data protection, and artificial intelligence regulations across the federal government.

As a resource, today, Future of Privacy Forum also releases for the public an Issue Brief: The Role of Chevron Deference in Federal Privacy Regulation (read it here ). In this Issue Brief, we highlight the current role that agency deference plays in data protection, privacy, and AI-related efforts across the federal government. These include major ongoing efforts such as the FTC’s Commercial Surveillance and Data Security Rulemaking, updates to the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and inter-agency efforts to prevent the use of discriminatory automated systems in the housing market and workplace.

Everything you ever wanted to know, hoovered into one list.

https://www.bespacific.com/generative-ai-resources-2024/

Generative AI Resources 2024

Via LLRX – Generative AI Resources 2024 – Referencing an article in this month’s Georgetown Law Technology Review, “…traditional AI algorithms normally operate by carrying out a specific function or completing a task using a data set that contains information on how that function or task has previously been done In other words, traditional AI is able to follow a set of rules, make predictions, or utilize instructions to complete a task; but it is not creating anything new in doing so. Generative AI (GAI) has the ability to create something new, specifically new content.” Marcus P. Zillman new resource guide spans subject matters including law, economics, education, information technology, planning and strategic deployment and use of GAI, as well a best practices and governance.

Nineteen fiftieths

https://fpf.org/blog/comprehensive-privacy-anchors-in-the-ocean-state/

COMPREHENSIVE PRIVACY ANCHORS IN THE OCEAN STATE

On June 25, 2024, Governor McKee transmitted without signature H 7787 and S 2500, the Rhode Island Data Transparency and Privacy Protection Act (RIDTPPA), making Rhode Island the nineteenth state overall and the seventh state in 2024 to enact a comprehensive privacy law. The law will take effect on January 1, 2026, and the majority of its substantive provisions will apply to entities that control or process personal data of either 35,000+ Rhode Islanders or 10,000+ Rhode Islanders if the entity derives 20% or more of its gross revenue from selling personal data. As another iteration of the Washington Privacy Act (WPA) framework, this law includes familiar terminology and core obligations, such as: controller/processor responsibilities allocated by role; the core individual data rights of access, correction, deletion, portability, and opt-out; and opt-in consent for processing sensitive data.

A tool for comparisons.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/cant-decide-which-ai-chatbot-is-best-poe-says-use-them-all/

Can't Decide Which AI Chatbot Is Best? Poe Says Use Them All

… The AI chat platform Poe was born out of the notion that one single AI model will never be perfect for everything. Launched by Q&A platform Quora to the public in February 2023, Poe lets you ask questions of, get answers from, and have conversations with multiple AI-powered bots.

https://poe.com/login

1. Unbelievable.

2. Cruel and unusual punishment?

3. I thought the goal was to keep criminals away from society…

4. What if they like it?

https://www.unilad.com/technology/scientists-implants-prisoners-memories-of-their-crimes-568593-20240625

Scientists unveil implant for prisoners to show them 'memories' from their victim's perspective

With the recent advancements in technology, it's becoming incredible what scientists are now able to achieve.

While that is pretty scary for a lot of folks, there's no doubt we are entering the realms of the future.

And certainly proving that is the fact that a scientist has unveiled a concept for a prison of the future that he says would fast-track a criminal's release to minutes, rather than years or even decades.

Known as Cognify, the design would implant synthetic memories of a person's crime into their brain.

Imagine the next wave…

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/business/cdk-global-cyber-attack-update/index.html

The auto dealers outage has been hamstringing car dealerships for days. Experts say that’s the new normal for cyberattacks

Cyberattacks seem to be more devastating than ever and taking targeted companies even longer to resolve.

The latest attack to receive wide attention continues that trend: An ongoing cyber incident at CDK Global, whose software car dealerships use to manage everything from scheduling to records, has crippled dealerships for days now, with no clear end in sight.

In May, a cyberattack on Ascension, a St. Louis-based nonprofit network that includes 140 hospitals in 19 states, forced the system to divert ambulances from several of its hospitals. It took almost a month to fully resolve the issue.

And in February ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of healthcare giant UnitedHealth Group, caused billing disruptions at pharmacies across the US and threatened to put some health providers out of business.

From raw data to analysis, then perhaps to autonomous attack?

https://www.c4isrnet.com/opinion/2024/06/26/how-the-military-is-preparing-for-ai-at-the-edge/

How the military is preparing for AI at the edge

The Defense Department has long used artificial intelligence to detect objects in battlespaces, but the capability has been mainly limited to identification. New advancements in AI and data analysis can offer leaders new levels of mission awareness with insights into intent, path predictions, abnormalities, and other revealing characterizations.

The DoD has an extensive wealth of data. In today’s sensor-filled theaters, commanders can access text, images, video, radio signals, and sensor data from all sorts of assets. However, each data type is often analyzed separately, leaving human analysts to draw — and potentially miss — connections.

Something to consider?

https://www.bespacific.com/energy-releases-generative-ai-guidance-for-employees-contractors/

Energy releases generative AI guidance for employees, contractors

Fedscoop: “Employees and contractors at the Department of Energy now have a new reference guide to help them navigate use of generative AI tools at the agency, including best practices and a note that ChatGPT is available for use by request. That 61-page document was published and distributed on DOE’s internal network on June 14, a DOE spokesperson told FedScoop. The detailed reference guide constitutes the first such document on generative AI that the department has shared publicly, and while the guidance isn’t considered a formal policy, it provides a window into how the DOE is thinking about the technology. “For us, it is a way to educate our agency and all the folks who will use it for many different purposes about what the opportunity space is [and] how to use it responsibly,” Helena Fu, director of Energy’s Office of Critical and Emerging Technologies and its chief AI officer, said during a panel at Scale’s Gov AI Summit on Tuesday…”

Legal tech inspired by an invisible rabbit? (You young whipper-snappers may need to Google it.)

https://www.bespacific.com/the-hype-behind-harvey/

The Hype Behind Harvey

Law.com: Part 1 – The Hype Behind Harvey: How the Stealthy Startup Is Raising Industry Eyebrows. “Harvey, the OpenAI-backed legal tech startup, has nabbed high-profile clients and tons of cash, along with an air of suspicion around its AI capabilities.”

Law.com: Part 2 – The Hype Behind Harvey: How Firms Are Using the Gen AI Startup. “Harvey, the OpenAI-backed legal and professional services software provider, has quickly accumulated a list of high-profile law firm and corporate clients. At the same time, it’s also raised some skepticism from an industry that has largely been kept out of product demos and pricing details about Harvey’s technology. The first part of this series, which you can read here, digs further into Harvey’s stealth approach, and its impact. While not all law firms that use Harvey have gone on the record, below is a picture of how some of them are currently using the generative AI technology. Harvey offers a suite of generative AI-powered products geared toward law firms and legal professionals. These products currently fall into three buckets: workflow automation; legal research; and an AI assistant (chatbot). Most of the firms listed are piloting and licensing several generative AI tools, one of which is Harvey…”

I would not have guessed that.

https://www.bespacific.com/inhouse-counsel-more-focused-on-ai-automation-than-us-law-firms/

Inhouse Counsel More Focused on AI + Automation Than US Law Firms

Artificial Lawyer: “A survey of over 200 senior lawyers at AmLaw 200 law firms and those working inhouse at major corporations, mainly with a professional interest in disputes, has found that inhouse lawyers appear to be more focused now on AI and automation than their external cousins. The study by ALSP UnitedLex found that when asked what were the top areas for modernisation, only 57% of law firms said integrating automation and analytics, while 71% inhouse said this – which was the highest level of interest across all options. But, in addition, when asked about their long-term goals and specifically on what were the top areas for continuous improvement, inhouse lawyers said the top priority was adopting AI tools (46%), as compared to law firms, which put this in sixth place in terms of importance (38%). For law firms the top long-term, continuous improvement goal was to focus on ‘resource use improvements’, which in this context is likely a euphemism for getting more out of associates and support staff.”

Imagine adding AI so the cans on the shelf can talk you into buying the product.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91145685/why-pepsi-turned-a-special-edition-of-its-can-into-a-digital-billboard

Why Pepsi turned a special edition of its can into a digital billboard

Pepsi’s latest can isn’t for cola—it’s for content.

The soft drink brand unveiled the Pepsi Smart Can at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, but it doesn’t contain any actual Pepsi. In fact, it’s not supposed to get wet.

Instead, the 16 oz. connected can is made with a digital screen, movement sensors, and state-of-the-art sound technology to create what Pepsi is calling a “CANvas” for self expression. In other words, it’s a high-tech piece of dynamic marketing.

Trends…

https://fpf.org/blog/top-six-major-privacy-enforcement-trends-a-u-s-legislation-retrospective/

TOP SIX MAJOR PRIVACY ENFORCEMENT TRENDS: A U.S. LEGISLATION RETROSPECTIVE

Enforcement activity intensifies as U.S. consumer privacy laws continue to evolve and come into effect. In 2023 and 2024 alone, there have been dozens of enforcement actions at the U.S. federal and state levels, some of which reveal or touch on significant throughlines for privacy policy issues, such as what constitutes a privacy violation or the expanding regulatory interest in the risks of collecting, inferring, and using sensitive data. This Retrospective focuses on six major enforcement trends that have recently spoken to key questions or policy issues in the privacy landscape:

Will we become too lazy to read?

https://venturebeat.com/ai/elevenlabs-launches-ios-app-that-turns-any-text-into-audio-narration-with-ai/

ElevenLabs launches iOS app that turns ‘any’ text into audio narration with AI

… Unlike the full ElevenLabs website which contains a variety of different AI models and features including text-to-speech, converting speech into other voices and languages, AI dubbing, and AI sound effects, the new ElevenLabs iOS app is more narrowly tailored and focused specifically on converting text files or links from the web into audio narration that the user can listen to while on the go, or doing something else with their eyes and hands, e.g. barbecuing, making dinner, putting away the dishes, etc.

Darn. Another time waster…

https://www.bespacific.com/public-domain-comic-book-archive/

Public domain comic book archive

Comic Book + / Total 42,888: “Welcome to the main page of our massive public domain comic book archive. True gems to download or read online. So many, it is impossible to read them all! The majority of our books belong to what has been termed the Golden Age of Comics. This began primarily with newspaper reprints and then “went up, up and away” with the introduction of Superman. Styles changed, new genres superseded old and then a new era dawned, the Silver Age of Comics, of which we also have many examples. For what was once a massive industry, the publishers and their successors often took little care of their work. Many of the comics were either not copyrighted correctly, or the copyright was not renewed. Through this oversight thousands of comic books lapsed into what is called the “Public Domain”, which means that there is now no legal owner. That is why we can bring you all of these FREE and LEGALLY! So take our word for it, if you browse around you are certain to spend a great many happy hours here!..”

Tools & Techniques. Could be useful.

https://www.makeuseof.com/2d-to-3d-image-ai-tools/

Turn Your 2D Images Into 3D With These AI Tools

It may be simpler to let AI learn the lawyering game.

https://www.lawnext.com/2024/06/new-legal-ethics-opinion-cautions-lawyers-you-must-be-proficient-in-the-use-of-generative-ai.html

New Legal Ethics Opinion Cautions Lawyers: You ‘Must Be Proficient’ In the Use of Generative AI

A new legal ethics opinion on the use of generative AI in law practice makes one point very clear: lawyers are required to maintain competence across all technological means relevant to their practices, and that includes the use of generative AI.

The opinion, jointly issued by the Pennsylvania Bar Association and Philadelphia Bar Association, was issued to educate attorneys on the benefits and pitfalls of using generative AI and to provide ethical guidelines.

While the opinion is focused on AI, it repeatedly emphasizes that a lawyer’s ethical obligations surrounding this emerging form of technology are no different than those for any form of technology.

What if the next LLM is built on AI hallucinations?

https://dailynous.com/2024/06/24/ai-generated-content-and-academic-journals/

AI Generated Content and Academic Journals

What are good policy options for academic journals regarding the detection of AI generated content and publication decisions?

As a group of associate editors of Dialectica note below, there are several issues involved, including the uncertain performance of AI detection tools and the risk that material checked by such tools is used for the further training of AIs.

For my ‘wall of heroes.’

https://english.elpais.com/technology/2024-06-24/alejandro-caceres-the-hacker-who-took-down-north-koreas-internet-from-his-home-my-attack-was-a-response-to-their-attempt-to-spy-on-me.html

Alejandro Cáceres, the hacker who took down North Korea’s internet from his home: ‘My attack was a response to their attempt to spy on me’

Expect a fight…

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/06/internet-archive-forced-to-remove-500000-books-after-publishers-court-win/

Internet Archive forced to remove 500,000 books after publishers’ court win

As a result of book publishers successfully suing the Internet Archive (IA) last year, the free online library that strives to keep growing online access to books recently shrank by about 500,000 titles.

… To restore access, IA is now appealing, hoping to reverse the prior court's decision by convincing the US Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit that IA's controlled digital lending of its physical books should be considered fair use under copyright law. An April court filing shows that IA intends to argue that the publishers have no evidence that the e-book market has been harmed by the open library's lending, and copyright law is better served by allowing IA's lending than by preventing it.

"We use industry-standard technology to prevent our books from being downloaded and redistributed—the same technology used by corporate publishers," Chris Freeland, IA's director of library services, wrote in the blog. "But the publishers suing our library say we shouldn’t be allowed to lend the books we own. They have forced us to remove more than half a million books from our library, and that’s why we are appealing."

Another law. Still no consensus?

https://pogowasright.org/minnesota-enacts-comprehensive-state-privacy-law/

Minnesota Enacts Comprehensive State Privacy Law

Hunton Andrews Kurth writes:

On May 24, 2024, Governor Tim Walz signed H.F. 4757 into law, enacting the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act (“MNCDPA” or “Act”). The MNCDPA will take effect on July 31, 2025.

Applicability

The MNCDPA applies to:

• Legal entities that conduct business in Minnesota or produce products or services that are targeted to residents of Minnesota, and that satisfy one or more of the following thresholds: (1) during a calendar year, controls or processes personal data of 100,000 consumers or more, excluding personal data controlled or processed solely for the purpose of completing a payment transaction; or (2) derives over 25 percent of gross revenue from the sale of personal data and processes or controls personal data of 25,000 consumers or more.

• A controller or processor acting as a “technology provider” under Minnesota law (e., certain persons who contract with a public educational agency or institution).

The MNCDPA applies to Minnesota consumers (i.e., Minnesota residents who act only in an individual or household context and not in a commercial or employment context). The MNCDPA contains numerous exemptions, including exemptions for state or federally chartered banks or credit unions and certain affiliates or subsidiaries, certain insurance companies, nonprofit organizations established to detect and prevent insurance fraud, data subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act; PHI under HIPAA, and certain air carriers. Small businesses as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration are exempt except from the Act’s sale of sensitive data requirements.

Read more at Privacy & Information Security Law Blog.