Antitrust agencies aren’t obligated to provide extensive guidelines to merging parties about what deals might violate the law, DOJ’s Antitrust Division Chief Economist Susan Athey said Tuesday. Athey agreed with comments from panelists who argued it’s not the job of DOJ or the FTC to help companies avoid antitrust laws. She moderated a panel during the first of three co-agency workshops on the draft merger guidelines (see 2309010067).
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
Republicans have grown more comfortable with allowing consumers a private right of action to sue tech companies, said staffers for the Senate Commerce Committee and House Commerce Committee Tuesday during a panel at the Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum in Colorado, also livestreamed. A separate Aspen panel debated the future of social media content moderation and the potential for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in (see 2308220048).
There will be a “structured discussion” about how to regulate AI when Congress returns in September, but the most important thing remains passing privacy legislation, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Monday.
The FTC shouldn’t pursue enforcement with state attorneys general as a way to circumvent the U.S. Supreme Court’s elimination of the agency’s redress authority, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote the FTC in comments posted Tuesday.
State legislators should pursue a common set of definitions for AI regulation and fill any gaps left by Congress, state lawmakers from both parties said Thursday.
Sponsors of kids’ privacy legislation have the support of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters Thursday. Blumenthal was scheduled to meet with Schumer just before the start of the August recess (see 2307270058), after the Senate Commerce Committee passed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) (S-3663) by voice vote. He was in "active, ongoing conversations" with Senate leadership about moving KOSA, a Blumenthal aide said Monday: Schumer’s office didn’t comment.
The FTC defended its enforcement track record under Chair Lina Khan this week, as detractors criticized her aggressive antitrust approach as being anti-free market.
Attendance at this week’s Senate AI briefing wasn’t as strong as the first two sessions, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s working group remains focused on establishing a regulatory framework for the rapidly evolving technology, members told us Thursday (see 2307260039).
The Senate Commerce Committee passed two kids’ privacy bills Thursday, for the second year in a row (see 2211160078 and 2207270057).
Congress needs to establish a national commission to license and audit AI companies, Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday.