Analysis | Schumer expects child online safety bills to pass Senate by wide margin (2024)

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the Tech Brief this week that he expects a pair of bills boosting online privacy and safety protections for children to clear the chamber “by a very large vote,” with initial consideration set for as early as Thursday.

Schumer, who has faced months of pressure from child safety advocates and parent activists, said lawmakers would probably greenlight the bills “either this week or early next week” after the procedural vote Thursday.

Passage of the bills — the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA 2.0. — would mark the most significant tech regulations to advance through a chamber of Congress in decades.

KOSA would create a legal “duty of care” forcing companies to take “reasonable measures” to prevent harms to children online, such as cyberbullying, harassment and sexual abuse. COPPA 2.0 would ban targeted ads to children and teens and require companies to obtain consent from parents before collecting data on users 16 years old and under, up from the current 12.

Both measures have garnered broad bipartisan support, with KOSA being backed by more than two-thirds of the Senate. But that bill faces enduring opposition from digital and human rights groups, who argue it would squelch speech, particularly for marginalized groups, and trample on privacy.

India McKinney, director of federal affairs for the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in a statement that KOSA would amount to “an unconstitutional censorship bill” and urged lawmakers to focus instead on a broader privacy bill that “would protect young people without infringing on the First Amendment rights of everyone who uses the internet.”

While Senate passage would be a milestone for the measures’ proponents, they face significant uncertainty in the House, where lawmakers abruptly yanked the bills from consideration at a legislative markup last month.

The House’s move dealt a major blow to the prospect of getting the bills to the desk of President Biden, who endorsed the bills a year ago Thursday, telling Congress: “Pass it. Pass it. Pass it. Pass it. Pass it.”

“Our colleagues have had discussions with the House to try and get this done,” Schumer told me after delivering remarks at a news conference on Tuesday, where parent and youth advocates, child safety advocates, and lawmakers rallied ahead of the expected vote.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told CNBC this week that he loves “the idea” behind the bills, but it’s unclear whether he will support bringing them to the floor. And with the House set to start August recess early, time is running short ahead of the 2024 election.

From our notebooks

Nvidia tries to tamp fears about AI’s climate footprint in Washington

The artificial intelligence boom is sparking fresh concern in Washington about the technology’s impact on the environment, given that the tools require vast amounts of energy to power.

That has put a bigger spotlight on efforts by tech companies to limit their climate footprint, including chipmaker Nvidia, whose stock has soared over its role helping to fuel the AI rush.

Now the company is taking its message to Washington, meeting with lawmakers in a bid to persuade them that fears about AI’s potential to drain the power grid have been overstated, and that in fact the technology could be a net positive for the environment.

Josh Parker, Nvidia’s senior director for corporate sustainability, told the Tech Brief that he met recently with the House’s bipartisan AI task force to make that case. “We’ve been very impressed with the level of interest and expertise from policymakers,” he said Wednesday.

Parker argued that AI will help “achieve energy efficiency across industries, not just in data centers, but also potentially in manufacturing and transportation and other sectors.”

Lawmakers are starting to pay more attention to the issue. A bicameral group of Democrats led by Sen. Edward J. Markey (Mass.) introduced a bill earlier this year directing the federal government to study and issue a report on AI’s impact on the environment.

“I think any research into this topic is beneficial because, again, we really want people to have the best information available so that we can plan for the future accordingly,” Parker said of Markey’s proposal.

5th Circuit Court strikes down FCC’s Universal Service Fund

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund on Wednesday, calling the program to subsidize telephone service to low-income households unconstitutional.

“American telecommunications consumers are subject to a multibillion-dollar tax nobody voted for,” the court wrote in its majority opinion, which pointed to a provision of the Constitution granting all legislative powers to Congress. “The size of that tax is de facto determined by a trade group staffed by industry insiders with no semblance of accountability to the public.”

The ruling was a victory for conservatives who say agencies like the FCC have gotten too expansive in their powers. Proponents of the Universal Service Fund expressed hopes that the Supreme Court would take up the case. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement that the decision was “misguided and wrong” and that the FCC would pursue all available avenues for review.

Andrew Jay Schwartzman, Benton Institute for Broadband and Society senior counselor, said he expected the ruling to have “no immediate short-term impact,” noting that two other circuit courts recently ruled differently.

Government scanner

Hill happenings

Inside the industry

Trending

Daybook

Before you log off

That’s all for today — thank you so much for joining us! Make sure to tell others to subscribe to The Tech Brief. Get in touch with Cristiano (via email or social media) and Will (via email or social media) for tips, feedback or greetings!