Search

Updated May 14, 2024 Contents Background TikTok's Functionality, Users, and Business Operations What is TikTok? How many users does TikTok claim to currently have? How did TikTok become so popular? [...]

Updated April 6, 2023 The federal government supports scientific and technological advancement directly by funding and performing research and development and indirectly by creating and maintaining policies that encourage private [...]

August 25, 2023 Contents Online Platform Concepts and Characteristics Online Content in the Evolution of Web Services Characteristics of Online Platforms Policy Considerations for Legislation Covered Entities Defining Online Platforms [...]

March 29, 2023 On March 23, 2023, TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, testified during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on TikTok's potential threats to data privacy, national security, [...]

December 15, 2022 Cryptocurrency mining ('cryptomining') is the process of creating additional units of cryptocurrency--a type of digital asset--and validating cryptocurrency transactions on a blockchain ledger. According to some estimates, [...]

Updated November 4, 2022 Many consumers have encountered 'dark patterns' online, but may not recognize their name or harmful impacts. A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff report describes dark patterns [...]

Contents Introduction NFTs Overview What Are NFTs? What Does It Mean to Own an NFT? How Do NFTs Use Blockchains and Smart Contracts? Blockchains Smart Contracts Off-Chain Storage How Are [...]

May 4, 2022 The United States has imposed sanctions against certain Russian entities and individuals in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine--including on virtual currency transactions and cryptocurrency mining. Some [...]

April 12, 2022 Contents Introduction Overview of Blockchain Blocks of Data Chaining Blocks Distributed Networks Types of Blockchains Public, Private, Hybrid, and Consortium Blockchains Permissionless vs. Permissioned Consensus Mechanisms Governance [...]

April 1, 2022 Web 3.0, often stylized as Web3, is an evolving concept with practical implications for web architecture and internet users. The World Wide Web (web) is the application [...]

The article focuses on the risks and privacy concerns associated with generative artificial intelligence (AI), specifically its potential harms in relation to privacy, misinformation, copyright and non-consensual sexual imagery. It highlights the scale, scope, and capacity of generative AI technologies, including chatbots, image generators, video generators, and voice clones, and discusses how these models rely on large datasets, often collected without explicit consent.

The article presents a report from the U.S. Congressional Research Service on science and technology issues for the 118th U.S. Congress Topics discussed include interagency coordination; workforce adequacy; intellectual property policies; and tax incentives. Other areas of focus include agriculture, climate change, biotechnology, defense, energy, earth and environmental sciences.

The article focuses on operators can identify individuals using their personally identifiable information (PII) such as name, address, or date of birth and other identifiers. It mentions selling user data to third parties, or sending targeted ads and tracking tools, such as cookies, pixels, device and browser fingerprinting, application programming interfaces (APIs), and software development kits (SDKs). It also mentions need to raise consumer data privacy concerns.

The article focuses on social media algorithms' impact on content recommendation and moderation, with a particular emphasis on potential harms, congressional concerns, and legislative considerations. Topics discussed include concerns about suppression of viewpoints and inadequate filtering of harmful content due to automated moderation; and the algorithms might spread harmful content, create echo chambers, and drive social media addiction.