On Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law legislation banning the use of price-fixing software by landlords to set rental rates. New York is the first state to outlaw algorithmic pricing by landlords, following a number of city-wide bans in Jersey City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle. Software companies such as RealPage offer […]
The Trump administration’s heightened monitoring of immigrants’ social media accounts seeking grounds to revoke their visas stifles the speech rights of both noncitizens and citizens alike, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) alleges in a new lawsuit. The lawsuit seeks to end the State Department’s “Catch-and-Revoke” policy, which threatens to strip visaholders of their legal status […]
Judge Sara L. Ellis of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said during a hearing Thursday morning that she would require ICE agents in Chicago engaged in “Operation Midway Blitz” to use body cameras. But the logistics of enforcing her order are yet to be worked out, since Chicago was not […]
Hello and welcome to a post-October Federal Holiday edition of Regulator. Last week, I caught wind that House Speaker Mike Johnson, along with several top House Republican leaders, had held an exclusive press briefing about the government shutdown that was restricted to “new media.” The contents of the meeting were published as a “scoop” by […]
A group of Democratic lawmakers are asking questions about YouTube’s $24.5 million settlement with President Donald Trump. In a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, five Senators — Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) — asked for details about any settlement […]
In May, The Verge reported that the US aviation system was so fragile that “the smallest disruption can throw the entire system into chaos.” That disruption arrived on October 1st, when the federal government shut down over a budget dispute. Chaos has indeed ensued. More than 6,000 flights are being delayed every day, nearly twice […]
Meta has removed a Facebook page dedicated to tracking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action in Chicago after the Justice Department got involved. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X Tuesday that Facebook had taken down an unnamed “large group page that was being used to dox and target” ICE agents after outreach from the […]
California has enacted new legislation that aims to limit companies from charging consumers “exorbitant” fees to cancel fixed-term contracts. Assembly Bill 483 was signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday, placing transparency requirements and fee limits on early terminations for installment contracts — plans that allow consumers to make recurring payments for […]
Instagram is making a major update to teen accounts that will only allow them to view content similar to what you would see in a PG-13 movie. Under the new system, Instagram will continue to hide content containing nudity, sexual content, or suggestive poses from teens, but now it will also avoid recommending content with strong […]
A bill attempting to regulate the ever-growing industry of companion AI chatbots is now law in California, as of October 13th. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 243, billed as “first-in-the-nation AI chatbot safeguards” by state senator Anthony Padilla. The new law requires that companion chatbot developers implement new safeguards — for instance, […]