Tech bills of the week: Limiting data harvesting; AI for financial fraud prevention; and more
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Although Congress was off this week, lawmakers still introduced several measures looking to examine the use of AI tools and protect mass gathering from malicious drone threats.
Securing online user data
A new House bill adds to the growing volume of legislation seeking to bolster data privacy protections by prohibiting companies from requiring online users to give access to their data as a condition of service.
The You Own the Data — or YODA — Act, introduced by Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, tackles longstanding data privacy issues by limiting data collection from website hosts beyond “what is reasonably necessary to provide the requested service,” and bans tracking cookies without explicit user permission.
“The Constitution protects Americans’ right to private property and privacy from unwarranted searches and seizures. That principle doesn’t disappear the moment you open a browser,” Cloud said in the press release.
The measure enables the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to enforce the YODA Act’s pillars. Notably, it creates recourse for individuals whose data has been illegally harvested to bring civil suits against companies with an annual gross revenue of $50 million or more.
Using advanced tech to combat financial fraud
Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., formally introduced legislation on Thursday that would direct federal banking agencies to conduct a study on the use of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies in fraud detection and prevention, “with particular attention to community financial institutions.”
The bill — the Bank Fraud Technology Advancement Act — also includes a section calling for the agencies to establish a voluntary “community bank fraud technology pilot program” one year after completion of the required study, saying that it would help “facilitate community financial institution access to advanced fraud detection tools.”
A draft of Flood’s measure was previously discussed during a March House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions hearing.
Counter-drone measures for the National Guard
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, introduced a bipartisan measure on Thursday that seeks to enhance counter-drone measures at large-scale events — such as the upcoming FIFA World Cup and America250 celebrations — by giving the National Guard explicit authority to mitigate potential threats posed by the unmanned aerial systems.
The proposal, the Guard the Skies Act, grants the National Guard the ability “to protect certain facilities and assets from unmanned aircraft.” The legislation is co-sponsored by Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, Eli Crane, R-Ariz., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J.
"From foreign adversaries to transnational criminal organizations, hostile actors have increasingly adopted drone technology to target critical infrastructure and innocent civilians. As the United States prepares to host millions of visitors for the FIFA World Cup, America250 celebrations, and eventually the Olympics, we must be prepared to intercept and neutralize this evolving threat,” McCaul said in a statement. “The Guard the Skies Act would leverage the National Guard — a force uniquely positioned for rapid deployment and crisis response — to protect our skies and the large-scale gatherings below.”
SBA’s AI use
A measure introduced by Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., would task the head of the Small Business Administration with implementing a recommendation from a May 4 Government Accountability Office report on uses of AI in the agency’s small business contracting and innovation research.
That watchdog called for SBA to ensure its chief information officer “establishes policies and procedures for meeting the agency’s applicable reporting requirements for AI use case inventories, including defining roles and responsibilities, and for documenting the implementation of policies and procedures and key decisions.”
Within 45 days of the bill’s passage, Scholten’s measure would require that SBA submit a report to the House and Senate Small Business committees detailing the plans it will take “to establish and implement policies and procedures to disclose artificial intelligence use.”