WWDC Updates Highlight that ASAA is a Problem in Search of a Penalty
This week, software makers are gathering in Cupertino for Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Especially interesting for parents and developers are the many updates to the parental control and kids’ safety features. The updates underscore how useful these parental control features have been for years and how they are improving. From our perspective, there are two overarching themes to the rollouts: easier defaults for parents and extensions of existing controls to more iOS features. Easier defaults. Since 2014, Apple [...]
California’s COMPETE Act Is the Latest Sign of a Broader Antitrust Push Against the Tech Ecosystem
California’s technology policy choices rarely stay in California. That is especially true when lawmakers target the platforms, tools, and increasingly the AI-enabled services that many startups and small businesses rely on every day. That is why AB 1776, the COMPETE Act, has taken on such importance. Even after the BASED Act failed to advance on its latest vote, California’s broader antitrust agenda remains active, and the debate over these proposals still matters for startups, small businesses, and the digital [...]
White House AI Executive Order Not as Bad as It Could be
Reinforces Need for Congressional Action on Comprehensive Framework WASHINGTON, D.C. – Responding to today’s White House Executive Order (EO) “Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security” establishing: A process to strengthen the cybersecurity and defence of government systems against AI threats to protect national security, and A voluntary process for developers of covered frontier AI models to coordinate with the federal government prior to broader deployment The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) acknowledges that the EO tries to prevent [...]
How the SECURE Data Act Would Help Small Businesses Compete and Comply
As more states enact and expand their comprehensive privacy laws, small businesses must navigate an increasingly complex and fragmented regulatory landscape that pulls resources away from innovation, hiring, and growth. Against this backdrop, the House Energy and Commerce Committee Privacy Working Group recently released the Securing and Establishing Consumer Uniform Rights and Enforcement over Data Act (SECURE Data Act, H.R. 8413), a consensus-based bill that would preempt state laws with a uniform national standard and establish a voluntary code [...]
Open Access, Closed Doors: How DMA Threatens Android’s AI Agent Balancing Efforts
Among the various Digital Markets Act (DMA) provisions the European Commission (Commission) is implementing, the “Interoperability” obligation is especially consequential for small business innovators. The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) has voiced concerns with unfettered open access mandates on platforms and operating systems, commenting on the associated implementation records. In the most recent implementation, the Commission has proposed extreme open access mandates on Android with respect to artificial intelligence (AI) services operating on the platform. AI agents have the [...]