Policy – Page 5

New federal employees must praise Trump EOs, submit to continuous vetting

dei, department of government efficiency, diversity, doge, Donald Trump, executive order, Policy / Beth Washington / June 2, 2025

The administration says the plan will “drastically” speed up hiring while cutting costs. The plan said that efficiencies would be created by cutting down resumes to a maximum of two pages (cutting review time) while creating a pool of resumes that can be returned to so that new jobs won’t even need to be announced. Even hiring for jobs requiring top secret clearances will be expedited, the plan said.

Critics highlight pain points of hiring plan

A federal HR official speaking anonymously told GovExec that “this plan will make life harder for hiring managers and applicants alike.” That official noted that Trump’s plan to pivot away from using self-assessments—where applicants can explain their relevant skills—removes a shortcut for HR workers who will now need to devote time to independently assess every candidate.

Using various Trump-approved technical and alternative assessments would require candidates to participate in live exercises, evaluate work-related scenarios, submit a work sample, solve problems related to skill competencies, or submit additional writing samples that would need to be reviewed. The amount of manual labor involved in the new policies, the HR official warned, is “insane.”

“Everything in it will make it more difficult to hire, not less,” the HR official said. “How the f— do you define if someone is patriotic?”

Jenny Mattingley, a vice president of government affairs at the Partnership for Public Service, told Politico that she agreed that requiring a loyalty test would make federal recruiting harder.

“Many federal employees are air traffic controllers, national park rangers, food safety inspectors, and firefighters who carry out the missions of agencies that are authorized by Congress,” Mattingley said. “These public servants, who deliver services directly to the public, should not be forced to answer politicized questions that fail to evaluate the skills they need to do their jobs effectively.”

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After Supreme Court loss, ISPs ask Trump admin to block state affordability laws

broadband lobby, Policy, state broadband laws / Beth Washington / June 1, 2025

A California bill would require $15 plans with download speeds of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps. The broadband lobby groups’ filing said ISPs are also worried about “unnecessary anticompetitive regulations” proposed in Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia.

Not all the pending state bills are specifically about prices charged to low-income users. Some would impose net neutrality requirements or classify ISPs as utilities, the filing said.

Preempting state laws while simultaneously avoiding federal regulation has been a long-held dream for the broadband industry. During the first Trump administration, then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai led a vote to eliminate the FCC’s net neutrality rules and preempt all 50 states from passing their own net neutrality laws. But the FCC’s broad preemption attempt failed in court.

When challenging the New York affordability mandate, ISPs claimed the state law was preempted by the Pai FCC’s decision to deregulate broadband. But this argument failed for the same reason that Pai’s earlier preemption attempt failed—the FCC decision to deregulate removed the FCC’s strongest regulatory authority over broadband, and courts have ruled that the FCC cannot preempt state laws in an area that it is not regulating.

The Pai FCC’s “order stripped the agency of its authority to regulate the rates charged for broadband Internet, and a federal agency cannot exclude states from regulating in an area where the agency itself lacks regulatory authority,” the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said in the ruling that upheld New York’s law last year.

ISPs keep making same argument

ISPs still aren’t giving up on the argument, as they hope a court might someday rule differently. The lobby groups’ filing reminded the Department of Justice that during the first Trump administration, the government brought a preemption suit against California’s net neutrality law.

“The Department unfortunately dropped out of the litigation after the change in Administration,” the filing said. “But as then-Attorney General [Jeff] Sessions explained in initiating the action, California had ‘enacted an extreme and illegal state law attempting to frustrate [the] federal policy’ of an unfettered market for broadband, and the Justice Department had a ‘duty to defend the prerogatives of the federal government and protect our Constitutional order.'”

After Supreme Court loss, ISPs ask Trump admin to block state affordability laws Read More »

Texas AG loses appeal to seize evidence for Elon Musk’s ad boycott fight

elon musk, media matter for America, online advertising, Policy, Twitter, twitter ad boycott, watchdog, X / Mike M. / May 31, 2025

If MMFA is made to endure Paxton’s probe, the media company could face civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation of Texas’ unfair trade law, a fine or confinement if requested evidence was deleted, or other penalties for resisting sharing information. However, Edwards agreed that even the threat of the probe apparently had “adverse effects” on MMFA. Reviewing evidence, including reporters’ sworn affidavits, Edwards found that MMFA’s reporting on X was seemingly chilled by Paxton’s threat. MMFA also provided evidence that research partners had ended collaborations due to the looming probe.

Importantly, Paxton never contested claims that he retaliated against MMFA, instead seemingly hoping to dodge the lawsuit on technicalities by disputing jurisdiction and venue selection. But Edwards said that MMFA “clearly” has standing, as “they are the targeted victims of a campaign of retaliation” that is “ongoing.”

The problem with Paxton’s argument is that” it “ignores the body of law that prohibits government officials from subjecting individuals to retaliatory actions for exercising their rights of free speech,” Edwards wrote, suggesting that Paxton arguably launched a “bad-faith” probe.

Further, Edwards called out the “irony” of Paxton “readily” acknowledging in other litigation “that a state’s attempt to silence a company through the issuance and threat of compelling a response” to a civil investigative demand “harms everyone.”

With the preliminary injunction won, MMFA can move forward with its lawsuit after defeating Paxton’s motion to dismiss. In her concurring opinion, Circuit Judge Karen L. Henderson noted that MMFA may need to show more evidence that partners have ended collaborations over the probe (and not for other reasons) to ultimately clinch the win against Paxton.

Watchdog celebrates court win

In a statement provided to Ars, MMFA President and CEO Angelo Carusone celebrated the decision as a “victory for free speech.”

“Elon Musk encouraged Republican state attorneys general to use their power to harass their critics and stifle reporting about X,” Carusone said. “Ken Paxton was one of those AGs who took up the call, and his attempt to use his office as an instrument for Musk’s censorship crusade has been defeated.”

MMFA continues to fight against X over the same claims—as well as a recently launched Federal Trade Commission probe—but Carusone said the media company is “buoyed that yet another court has seen through the fog of Musk’s ‘thermonuclear’ legal onslaught and recognized it for the meritless attack to silence a critic that it is,” Carusone said.

Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to Ars’ request to comment.

Texas AG loses appeal to seize evidence for Elon Musk’s ad boycott fight Read More »

Google Maps can’t explain why it falsely labeled German autobahns as closed

autobahns, Cars, germany, Google, google maps, GPS, Policy / Beth Washington / May 30, 2025

On Thursday, a Google Maps glitch accidentally made it appear that the most desirable routes on German autobahns and highways were shut down, The Guardian reported.

It remains unclear what unleashed a flood of stop signs on Google Maps in the area just ahead of a four-day holiday break when many drivers had travel plans. Maps of roadways in Belgium and the Netherlands were also affected.

If drivers had stopped to check alternative apps, they would have learned that traffic was flowing normally and may have avoided clogging traffic on alternative routes or wasting time speculating about what could have happened to close so many major roads. Apple Maps and Waze accurately charted traffic patterns, and only Google Maps appeared to be affected.

Instead, Google Maps loyalists learned the hard way that Google doesn’t know everything, as the misinformation reportedly caused traffic jams rather than helping drivers avoid them. Some drivers trusted Google so much that they filed reports with police to investigate the issue, with some worrying that a terrorist attack or government hack may have occurred.

On social media, others vented about what they assumed was correct information about supposed closures, The Guardian reported, with one person fuming, “They can’t have closed ALL the motorways!” Another joked that the Google Maps glitch made it look like the autobahn system was suffering “an acne outbreak.”

Google Maps can’t explain why it falsely labeled German autobahns as closed Read More »

Elon Musk counts the cost of his four-month blitz through US government

doge, elon musk, Policy, spacex, syndication, Tesla / 9u50fv / May 30, 2025

Term at DOGE did serious damage to his brands, only achieved a fraction of hoped-for savings.

Elon Musk wields a chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February to illustrate his aim to cut government waste Credit: Jose Luis Magana/AP

Elon Musk’s four-month blitz through the US government briefly made him Washington’s most powerful businessman since the Gilded Age. But it has done little for his reputation or that of his companies.

Musk this week formally abandoned his role as the head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which has failed to find even a fraction of the $2 trillion in savings he originally pledged.

On Thursday, Donald Trump lamented his departure but said Musk “will always be with us, helping all the way.”

Yet the billionaire will be left calculating the cost of his involvement with Trump and the meagre return on his $250 million investment in the US president’s election campaign.

“I appreciate the fact that Mr Musk put what was good for the country ahead of what was good for his own bottom line,” Tom Cole, the Republican chair of the House Appropriations Committee, told the Financial Times.

After Doge was announced, a majority of American voters believed Musk would use the body to “enrich himself and undermine his business rivals,” according to a survey, instead of streamlining the government.

Progressive groups warned that he would be “rigging federal procurement for billionaires and their pals” and cut regulations that govern his companies Tesla and SpaceX. Democratic lawmakers said Doge was a “cover-up” of a more sinister, self-serving exercise by the world’s richest person.

Early moves by the Trump administration suggested Musk might get value for money. A lawsuit brought by the Biden administration against SpaceX over its hiring practices was dropped in February, and regulators probing his brain-implant company Neuralink were dismissed.

Musk’s satellite Internet business Starlink was touted by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as a potential beneficiary of a $42 billion rural broadband scheme. An executive order calling for the establishment of a multibillion-dollar Iron Dome defense system in the US looked set to benefit Musk, due to SpaceX’s dominance in rocket launches.

The gutting of various watchdogs across government also benefited Musk’s businesses, while a number of large US companies rushed to ink deals with Starlink or increase their advertising spending on X. Starlink also signed agreements to operate in India, Pakistan, and Vietnam, among other countries it has long wished to expand into.

But while Doge took a scythe to various causes loathed by Musk, most notably international aid spending and government contracts purportedly linked to diversity initiatives or “woke” research, it also caused severe blowback to the billionaire’s businesses, particularly Tesla.

At one point during his Doge tenure, Tesla’s stock had fallen 45 percent from its highest point last year, and reports emerged that the company’s board of directors had sought to replace Musk as chief executive. The 53-year-old’s personal wealth dropped by tens of billions of dollars, while his dealerships were torched and death threats poured in.

Some of the brand damage to Tesla, until recently Musk’s primary source of wealth, could be permanent. “Eighty percent of Teslas in the US were sold in blue zip codes,” a former senior employee said. “Obviously that constituency has been deeply offended.”

Starlink lost lucrative contracts in Canada and Mexico due to Musk’s political activities, while X lost 11 million users in Europe alone.

Probes of Tesla and SpaceX by government regulators also continued apace, while the Trump administration pressed ahead with plans to abolish tax credits for electric vehicles and waged a trade war vehemently opposed by Musk that threatened to further damage car sales.

In the political arena, few people were cheered by Doge’s work. Democrats were outraged by the gutting of foreign aid and by Musk’s 20-something acolytes gaining access to the Treasury’s payment system, along with the ousting of thousands of federal workers. Republicans looked askance at attempts to target defense spending. And true budget hawks were bitter that Musk could only cut a few billion dollars. Bill Gates even accused Musk of “killing the world’s poorest children” through his actions at Doge.

Musk, so used to getting his way at his businesses, struggled for control. At various points in his tenure he took on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy, and trade tsar Peter Navarro, while clashing with several other senior officials.

Far from being laser-focused on eliminating waste, Musk’s foray into government was a “revenge tour” against a bureaucracy the billionaire had come to see as the enemy of innovation, a former senior colleague of Musk’s said, highlighting the entrepreneur’s frustration with COVID-19 regulations in California, his perceived snub by the Biden administration, and his anger over his daughter’s gender transition.

Trump’s AI and crypto tsar, David Sacks, an influential political voice in the tech world, “whipped [Musk] up into a very, very far-right kind of mindset,” the person added, to the extent that was “going to help this administration in crushing the ‘woke’ agenda.”

Neither Musk nor Sacks responded to requests for comment.

Musk, who claimed Doge only acted in an “advisory role,” this week expressed frustration at it being used as a “whipping boy” for unpopular cuts decided by the White House and cabinet secretaries.

“Trump, I think, was very savvy and allowed Doge to kind of take all those headlines for a traditional political scapegoat,” said Sahil Lavingia, head of a commerce start-up who worked for Doge until earlier this month. Musk, he added, might also have been keen to take credit for the gutting of USAID and other moves but ultimately garnered unwanted attention.

“If you were truly evil, [you] would just be more quiet,” said Lavingia, who joined the initiative in order to streamline processes within government. “You would do the evil stuff quietly.”

The noise surrounding Musk, whose ability to dominate news cycles with a single post on his social media site X rivaled Trump’s own hold on the headlines, also frustrated the administration.

This week, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller took to X to indirectly rebut the billionaire’s criticism of Trump’s signature tax bill, which he had lambasted for failing to cut the deficit or codify Doge’s cuts.

Once almost synonymous with Musk, Doge is now being melded into the rest of government. In a briefing on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that following Musk’s departure, cabinet secretaries would “continue to work with the respective Doge employees who have onboarded as political appointees at all of these agencies.”

She added: “The Doge leaders are each and every member of the President’s Cabinet and the President himself.”

Doge’s aims have also become decidedly more quotidian. Tom Krause, a Musk ally who joined Doge and was installed at Treasury, briefed congressional staff this week on improvements to the IRS’s application program interfaces and customer service, according to a person familiar with the matter. Other Doge staffers are doing audits of IT contracts—work Lavingia compares with that done by McKinsey consultants.

Freed from the constraints of being a government employee, Musk is increasingly threatening to become a thorn in Trump’s side.

Soon after his Doge departure was announced, he again criticized the White House, this time over its plan to cancel clean energy tax credits.

“Teddy Roosevelt had that great adage: ‘speak softly but carry a big stick’,” Fred Thiel, the chief executive of Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings, told the FT. “Maybe Elon’s approach was a little bit different.”

Elon Musk counts the cost of his four-month blitz through US government Read More »

Man who stole 1,000 DVDs from employer strikes plea deal over movie leaks

anti-piracy, Blu-ray, copyright infringement, dvd rip, piracy, Policy, spiderman / Shannon Garcia / May 30, 2025

An accused movie pirate who stole more than 1,000 Blu-ray discs and DVDs while working for a DVD manufacturing company struck a plea deal this week to lower his sentence after the FBI claimed the man’s piracy cost movie studios millions.

Steven Hale no longer works for the DVD company. He was arrested in March, accused of “bypassing encryption that prevents unauthorized copying” and ripping pre-release copies of movies he could only access because his former employer was used by major movie studios. As alleged by the feds, his game was beating studios to releases to achieve the greatest possible financial gains from online leaks.

Among the popular movies that Hale is believed to have leaked between 2021 and 2022 was Spider-Man: No Way Home, which the FBI alleged was copied “tens of millions of times” at an estimated loss of “tens of millions of dollars” for just one studio on one movie. Other movies Hale ripped included animated hits like Encanto and Sing 2, as well as anticipated sequels like The Matrix: Resurrections and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

The cops first caught wind of Hale’s scheme in March 2022. They seized about 1,160 Blu-rays and DVDs in what TorrentFreak noted were the days just “after the Spider-Man movie leaked online.” It’s unclear why it took close to three years before Hale’s arrest, but TorrentFreak suggested that Hale’s case is perhaps part of a bigger investigation into the Spider-Man leaks.

Man who stole 1,000 DVDs from employer strikes plea deal over movie leaks Read More »

Court blocks Trump’s retaliatory tariffs, amplifying trade war chaos

Donald Trump, Policy, tariffs, trade war / Kelly Newman / May 29, 2025

Trump quickly appeals

Trump has immediately appealed the ruling and is expected to take the case to the Supreme Court. He’s arguing that the court cannot define what constitutes a “national emergency,” which is a political question he believes only Congress can address.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai has made it clear that Trump remains “committed to using every lever of executive power to address” the “crisis” of trade deficits, CNN reported, which he claimed have “decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base.”

But the three-judge panel has already indicated that Trump may be focusing on the wrong question in seeking to further his case, noting that the “question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it.” According to the court, Trump does not.

Americans celebrate Trump loss

Ultimately, the judges agreed with US plaintiffs who alleged that tariffs risked vast harms to Americans, including spiking prices on their goods. Earlier this month, the Consumer Technology Association forecasted that Americans could pay more than $123 billion more annually for just 10 common gadgets hit with tariffs.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, among other state enforcers who are suing, issued a statement criticizing Trump’s previously “unchecked authority” that he said threatened to “upend the economy” and celebrating the win for “working families, small businesses, and everyday Americans.”

“President Trump’s sweeping tariffs were unlawful, reckless, and economically devastating,” Rayfield said. “They triggered retaliatory measures, inflated prices on essential goods, and placed an unfair burden on American families, small businesses and manufacturers.”

Problems with sourcing and pricing were decreasing orders even to American businesses, suing US firms said, and for many, the sudden spike in costs at the border caused “a large, immediate, strain” on cash flow. At least one plaintiff alleged they could go out of business and be unable to pay employees without an injunction soon. One cycling store feared tariffs might cost it about $250,000 by the end of 2025.

Court blocks Trump’s retaliatory tariffs, amplifying trade war chaos Read More »

Elon Musk to exit government, upset that Trump bill undermines DOGE’s work

doge, elon musk, Policy / Mike M. / May 29, 2025

Last week, Musk posted that he was “back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms.”

Lawsuits against Musk, DOGE continue

Musk and the Trump administration are facing numerous lawsuits over the authority wielded by DOGE and the large spending cuts imposed by the new government entity. In one case filed by 14 states against Musk, DOGE, and Trump, a federal judge dismissed President Trump from the lawsuit on Tuesday but said the lawsuit can proceed against Musk and DOGE.

“States allege that President Trump is the only individual in the Executive Branch who resolves matters of greater significance than Musk,” US Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia wrote. “They claim that Musk decides the continued existence of federal agencies, the employment terms for millions of federal employees, and federal funds allocated by grants, contracts, and loans.”

The defendants “unsuccessfully attempt to minimize Musk’s role, framing him as a mere advisor without any formal authority,” Chutkan wrote. She disputed the government’s characterization of special government employees, saying that special employees may qualify as officers under US law.

“Defendants may not circumvent the Appointments Clause by designating individuals as special government employees,” Chutkan wrote, concluding that “defendants appear to sanction unlimited Executive power, free from checks and balances, but the Constitution prohibits unilateral control over ‘official appointments’ by ‘dividing the power to appoint the principal federal offices… between the Executive and Legislative Branches.'”

It appears likely that DOGE will continue exercising its power in the Trump administration indefinitely, the judge’s ruling said. “States allege that Musk is DOGE’s leader,” Chutkan wrote. “The court finds that States have sufficiently pleaded that this position qualifies as ‘continuing and permanent, not occasional or temporary,’ The subsidiary DOGE Service Temporary Organization has a termination date of July 4, 2026, but there is no termination date for the overarching DOGE entity or its leader, suggesting permanence.”

Elon Musk to exit government, upset that Trump bill undermines DOGE’s work Read More »

Trump bans sales of chip design software to China

AI, china, ftc, Policy, syndication, Trump / Shannon Garcia / May 29, 2025

Johnson, who heads China Strategies Group, a risk consultancy, said that China had successfully leveraged its stranglehold on rare earths to bring the US to the negotiating table in Geneva, which “left the Trump administration’s China hawks eager to demonstrate their export control weapons still have purchase.”

While it accounts for a relatively small share of the overall semiconductor industry, EDA software allows chip designers and manufacturers to develop and test the next generation of chips, making it a critical part in the supply chain.

Synopsys, Cadence Design Systems, and Siemens EDA—part of Siemens Digital Industries Software, a subsidiary of Germany’s Siemens AG—account for about 80 percent of China’s EDA market. Synopsys and Cadence did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In fiscal year 2024, Synopsys reported almost $1 billion in China sales, roughly 16 percent of its revenue. Cadence said China accounted for $550 million or 12 percent of its revenue.

Synopsys shares fell 9.6 percent on Wednesday, while those of Cadence lost 10.7 percent.

Siemens said in a statement the EDA industry had been informed last Friday about new export controls. It said it had supported customers in China “for more than 150 years” and would “continue to work with our customers globally to mitigate the impact of these new restrictions while operating in compliance with applicable national export control regimes.”

In 2022, the Biden administration introduced restrictions on sales of the most sophisticated chip design software to China, but the companies continued to sell export control-compliant products to the country.

In his first term as president, Donald Trump banned China’s Huawei from using American EDA tools. Huawei is seen as an emerging competitor to Nvidia with its “Ascend” AI chips.

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang recently warned that successive attempts by American administrations to hamstring China’s AI ecosystem with export controls had failed.

Last year Synopsys entered into an agreement to buy Ansys, a US simulation software company, for $35 billion. The deal still requires approval from Chinese regulators. Ansys shares fell 5.3 percent on Wednesday.

On Wednesday the US Federal Trade Commission announced that both companies would need to divest certain software tools to receive its approval for the deal.

The export restrictions have encouraged Chinese competitors, with three leading EDA companies—Empyrean Technology, Primarius, and Semitronix—significantly growing their market share in recent years.

Shares of Empyrean, Primarius, and Semitronix rose more than 10 percent in early trading in China on Thursday.

Trump bans sales of chip design software to China Read More »

Threat of Meta breakup looms as FTC’s monopoly trial ends

Antitrust law, facebook, federal trade commission, Instagram, Meta, meta monopoly trial, monopoly, Policy, whatsapp / Kelly Newman / May 28, 2025

“Meta is a proud American success story, and we look forward to continuing to innovate and serve the people and businesses who love our services,” Meta’s spokesperson said.

Experts aren’t so sure Meta has clinched it

Boasberg has said that the key question he must answer is whether the FTC’s market definition is too narrow.

Arguing against the market definition, Meta has said that connecting friends and family isn’t even Meta apps’ “core use” anymore, as an evolving competitive social media landscape has forced Meta to turn its newsfeeds into discovery engines to rival TikTok. Justin Teresi, an antitrust analyst, told Bloomberg that because the FTC failed to show that users primarily come to Meta apps to connect with friends and family, it may have strengthened Meta’s case.

Rebecca Allensworth, a Vanderbilt law professor and antitrust expert, told Bloomberg that the “FTC’s narrowly defined market was always the weakest part of its case,” but the government “has done a nice job of minimizing that weakness” by showing that apps that don’t connect friends and family aren’t adequate substitutes for Meta’s apps.

“This was evident when Meta saw spikes in usage on holidays,” Allensworth suggested, which is perhaps “a sign people were turning to its products to connect with loved ones.”

Teresi thinks Meta has a 60 percent shot at winning the trial, although he criticized Meta’s seeming defense that any company competing for online ad dollars competes with Meta. That argument may have broadened the market definition too much, he suggested.

“If you’re saying that the relevant market here is competing for advertising dollars, then you could throw anything in there,” Teresi said. “You could throw TV in there, you could throw print in there if you wanted to, and there’s really no end to that concept.”

Allensworth was less confident in Meta’s chances, telling Bloomberg, “I really actually think this could go either way.”

Threat of Meta breakup looms as FTC’s monopoly trial ends Read More »

After Mr. Deepfakes shut down forever, one creator could face a $450K fine

AI, australia, deepfake porn, Deepfakes, defamation, nudify apps, Policy, take it down act / Mike M. / May 27, 2025

“Get an arrest warrant if you think you are right,” Rotondo reportedly told officials prior to the sanctions hearing, the Brisbane Times reported.

Later, in front of the judge, he unsuccessfully argued that he didn’t intend to out his victims by email. He claimed he didn’t know the court order was attached to the email or that it contained his victims’ names, The Guardian reported.

“The email I received had more than 80 pages of writing,” Rotondo said. “I didn’t read all the pages. I just forwarded the email.”

Eventually, Rotondo gave police his passwords to delete the images posted on Mr. Deepfakes. But the judge noted that Rotondo appeared resistant to removing deepfakes and continued creating an unknown number of deepfakes—which may include further charges from Queensland police that he possibly targeted “a number” of facilities and businesses on the day he allegedly hit the high school. He perhaps was motivated to leave the images online, as toxic Mr. Deepfakes uploaders could earn as much as $1,500 for convincing non-consensual deepfakes of public figures.

“The history of the matter suggests that, were he still at liberty and perhaps in another country, he would not have been so accommodating,” Derrington said.

Australia seeks to end “incalculable devastation”

Governments globally are grappling with a stark rise in non-consensual deepfake porn, with an ever-widening lens that targets not just the people who create and share images or the sites that host and sell them, but also the social media platforms that don’t catch and delete the harmful content. Earlier this month, the US passed a law threatening heavy fines and prison time for platforms that don’t remove the images when they’re reported. Under that law, the Take It Down Act, Wired reported that platforms risk roughly $50,000 in penalties per violation if deepfakes aren’t removed within 48 hours of receiving a report.

In Australia, Inman Grant wants to find a way to end the “lingering and incalculable devastation” that she said predominantly female victims must endure because it’s “shockingly” free and easy to use “thousands of open-source AI apps” to make deepfake porn.

Because Rotondo seems to represent the kind of unapologetic repeat deepfaker who digs his heels in to defend his AI-generated fake sex images, Inman Grant asked for the maximum penalties on Monday. The eSafety commission’s spokesperson told The Guardian that the request “reflected the seriousness of the breaches” and “the significant impacts on the women targeted.”

“The penalty will deter others from engaging in such harmful conduct,” the spokesperson said.

After Mr. Deepfakes shut down forever, one creator could face a $450K fine Read More »

Musk’s DOGE used Meta’s Llama 2—not Grok—for gov’t slashing, report says

AI, azure ai, department of government efficiency, doge, elon musk, grok, Llama 2, Meta, microsoft, Policy, xAI / Mike M. / May 24, 2025

Why didn’t DOGE use Grok?

It seems that Grok, Musk’s AI model, wasn’t available for DOGE’s task because it was only available as a proprietary model in January. Moving forward, DOGE may rely more frequently on Grok, Wired reported, as Microsoft announced it would start hosting xAI’s Grok 3 models in its Azure AI Foundry this week, The Verge reported, which opens the models up for more uses.

In their letter, lawmakers urged Vought to investigate Musk’s conflicts of interest, while warning of potential data breaches and declaring that AI, as DOGE had used it, was not ready for government.

“Without proper protections, feeding sensitive data into an AI system puts it into the possession of a system’s operator—a massive breach of public and employee trust and an increase in cybersecurity risks surrounding that data,” lawmakers argued. “Generative AI models also frequently make errors and show significant biases—the technology simply is not ready for use in high-risk decision-making without proper vetting, transparency, oversight, and guardrails in place.”

Although Wired’s report seems to confirm that DOGE did not send sensitive data from the “Fork in the Road” emails to an external source, lawmakers want much more vetting of AI systems to deter “the risk of sharing personally identifiable or otherwise sensitive information with the AI model deployers.”

A seeming fear is that Musk may start using his own models more, benefiting from government data his competitors cannot access, while potentially putting that data at risk of a breach. They’re hoping that DOGE will be forced to unplug all its AI systems, but Vought seems more aligned with DOGE, writing in his AI guidance for federal use that “agencies must remove barriers to innovation and provide the best value for the taxpayer.”

“While we support the federal government integrating new, approved AI technologies that can improve efficiency or efficacy, we cannot sacrifice security, privacy, and appropriate use standards when interacting with federal data,” their letter said. “We also cannot condone use of AI systems, often known for hallucinations and bias, in decisions regarding termination of federal employment or federal funding without sufficient transparency and oversight of those models—the risk of losing talent and critical research because of flawed technology or flawed uses of such technology is simply too high.”

Musk’s DOGE used Meta’s Llama 2—not Grok—for gov’t slashing, report says Read More »