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Congress was able to pass some small but important pieces of legislation on the profit margin of growing populist hostility to big tech and the culture war from the right.
Whether it's improving the U.S.'s ability to manufacture semiconductors or restricting access to TikTok data, the House and Senate have passed several successful bills affecting the industry. There have also been attempts to pass major legislative changes orchestrated by tech lobbyists and major tech critics that have been blocked or pushed back.
Here are the tech bills that passed and failed in 2022.
Will data protection law help David or Goliath?
chips right. Lawmakers took a major step toward reducing dependence on China for computer chips by passing the Chip Act, which would give manufacturers tens of billions of dollars to build semiconductor factories in the United States. to build new ones. Facilities in Arizona, New York and Ohio.
TikTok ban . Congress is increasingly suspicious of TikTok and its Chinese owner ByteDance because of its ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and says Chinese officials have access to US data. These concerns led Congress to block installation on government devices in a massive spending bill to pass the app.
Law on consumers of information. The Consumer Information Act requires online marketplaces to collect personal information from online retailers. This collection of information will help retailers combat merchants who resell stolen goods for profit. The House of Representatives approved the bill in October, and the general spending bill was included in the bill for quick passage.
Merger Registration Fees Renewal Act. this law is also included in the General Expenses and Merger Registration Fees Renewal Act. The goal of the update is to give antitrust authorities more tools and tools to monitor who can merge with or acquire other companies.
Secure Communications Act. This small law, which went into effect in November, allows victims of domestic violence to ask cell phone providers to simply disconnect their phone lines from their partner's if they are abusive or controlling.
Will data protection law help David or Goliath?
Legislation has not been adopted. Over the past year, lawmakers have introduced broader legislation, including the Open App Marketplaces Act, the American Online Innovation and Choice Act, and several other bills challenging the monopolies of big tech giants like Google and Facebook. . The Open App Marketplaces Act would prevent software vendors like Apple and Google from engaging in "anti-competitive behavior" by forcing them to allow users to download third-party apps. The US Internet Innovation and Choice Act would allow federal antitrust authorities to impose civil penalties on tech giants like Amazon and Google for unfairly protecting their products on their platforms.
The bills were discussed in committee, but not voted on due to differences in content.
There has also been pressure for additional privacy rules, such as the Children's Online Safety Act, which requires social networks to verify the age of users 18 or younger.
Many of these laws are expected to be revised in 2023, although it is not yet clear how successful they will be due to a divided Congress.
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Tags: 2022: Overview, News, Technology, TikTok, Data, Congress, Semiconductors
Original Author: Christopher Hutton
Source Page: Year in Review. Five major tech bills passed this year as Silicon Valley faces a populist backlash
