Franklin Square Group Tech Weekly

Week of January 8, 2024

Welcome back to the Franklin Square Group Tech Weekly! As the new year kicks off, we wanted to provide a special edition of the newsletter to highlight what Congress has in store for tech in 2024. It is off to the races for Members with a packed schedule and the 2024 presidential election on the horizon. 

Lawmakers are returning to Washington with what seems like an impossible to-do list. After agreeing to a laddered continuing resolution last year to fund Congress, deadlines are approaching with a little over a week left for some agencies before time runs out. House and Senate leaders appeared to have agreed to top line numbers, but will inevitably lose more conservative members that have voiced previous opposition to these funding levels. Another continuing resolution is looking increasingly likely despite Speaker Johnson’s desire to do otherwise.

2024 Tech Policy Look Ahead:

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence will remain a top priority for lawmakers in the new year following the significant work on the matter in 2023. Senate Majority Leader Schumer laid the foundational groundwork to begin legislation in his series of AI Insight Forums last fall, and has now tasked Members and relevant committees of jurisdiction with putting pen to paper on AI’s top concerns including high-risk models, privacy, and copyright concerns. Several Members released more tailored legislative proposals last year and it remains unclear which parts of those, if any, will be part of any final AI package. The Senate is hitting the ground running in its first week back with two AI hearings on the docket and is likely to be the first mover on any comprehensive legislative package. 

ChinaThere were few instances in the last year in which discussion on tech innovation was not coupled with a subsequent discussion on China competition concerns. As Congress ramps up its work on AI and other emerging tech, China will remain a top concern for Members on both sides of the aisle. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party issued a set of nearly 150 policy recommendations on how the U.S. should proceed in “resetting” its economic relationship with China, which includes preventing technological flow to serve Chinese innovation as well as investing in the United States’ tech leadership. These areas have received large bipartisan support. Some disagreements still exist, such as division among some Republican Members on how to address outbound technological investment to Chinese companies. Legislative proposals to address outbound investment were noticeably absent from the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act. Discussion around China will continue to be a part of every tech conversation, but will particularly be a focus in the AI debate.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity continues to be an ongoing topic of concern for Members, particularly as it relates to emerging technology, AI and enhanced cyber threat capabilities surrounding national security. Relevant committees of jurisdiction are expected to continue their work on how CISA and other cyber-relevant agencies are working with the private sector to secure critical infrastructure, as well as how they are working to secure government infrastructure. As the 2024 election draws near, we may see some Republican Members continue to express concern for CISA’s alleged involvement in mis-/dis-information efforts, which may find its way into budget discussions. Other significant efforts addressing cybersecurity may be more likely to come from the Administration, including a February update of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, as well as more regulatory approaches to cybersecurity policy.

Privacy The 117th Congress made significant progress on comprehensive privacy measures with the American Data Privacy Protection Act, and House Energy and Commerce leaders carried that tenacity into the 118th Congress. However, privacy legislation in the House has become the metaphorical white whale for the tech industry experts, as no bills have been introduced this Congress. The Senate has significantly focused on children’s online privacy protections, with relevant committees reporting five bills on the topic. These bills, however, have yet to make it to the Senate floor and face an uphill battle in the House for Members focused on comprehensive measures. It is likely that the House Energy and Commerce Committee will take action this year, as promised, in introducing legislation. But with the upcoming election cycle and other pressing legislative measures, it remains to be seen if privacy laws will once again elude this Congress.

Content Moderation Like privacy, content moderation is another topic of congressional scrutiny with lots of talk but little action. The Senate Judiciary Committee has held several hearings with big tech executives to examine content moderation protections, largely in the context of children’s online safety, and is set to hold another at the end of this month with one key difference. Witnesses at the upcoming hearing will now include smaller online platforms as well as large ones, signaling that Congress is casting a wider net in its quest to reel in content moderation practices. Not to mention the content moderation legal battles abound this year, as the Supreme Court is set to hear cases in Florida and Texas regarding censorship on social media platforms based on political ideology.

What’s Happening This Week:

Tech Hearings

Tech Events

What’s Interesting This Week:

Weekly Dose of Trivia: 

A New Money Era… On January 9, 2009, through a posting to The Cryptography Mailing List, the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto released the first version of the Bitcoin software and launched the network of the decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. Six days earlier, Nakamoto had generated the first block of 50 bitcoins, now known as the Genesis Block.

Bitcoin has slowly but steadily gained momentum as its users appreciate the fact that no one entity can control, manipulate, or deactivate the digital currency, along with it being an extremely private form of payment.