Kay Firth-Butterfield

Great & timely Hudson Institute policy memo by Copyright Alliance's Kevin Madigan on whether generative #AI training is #copyright infringement or fair use. #Hudson4IP "Thus, fair use is not just a big question—it is the only question that really matters in generative AI copyright infringement litigation. AI companies and their supporters argue that copying protected works to train AI models constitutes a transformative purpose that tips the scales in favor of fair use and that past fair use cases clearly support their position. However, as this policy memo will show (and as courts and the United States Copyright Office are already recognizing), the fair use cases AI companies rely upon (1) are significantly undermined by the Supreme Court’s recent Warhol v. Goldsmith decision, (2) are, regardless of Warhol v. Goldsmith, readily distinguishable and do not set a precedent that generative AI training is fair use, and (3) in fact demonstrate that in most cases generative AI training does not qualify as fair use." READ: https://lnkd.in/du8MhSmi

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This Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights Policy piece by Lisa LeVasseur on social media SDKs as unsafe products is amazing. I’ve been a fangrrl of the API economy since its beginnings, but always from the perspective of security, access control, interop, and (overt) consent using the OAuth stack. That model has enabled the transmission of “little" (identity) data in a trackable and controllable fashion. The API and SDK economy as powered by network effects and nonpaying consumers, however, has been all about unseen big data abuse — a nightmare for individual privacy and safety. (Couldn't resist reusing Internet Safety Labs' awesome gif to illustrate the point.) https://lnkd.in/gmbACvyN

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This order from the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California District of California) published now in August 2025 addresses Andrea Bartz & Ors v. Anthropic PBC, now reaching #settlement in principle. The document examines fair use in #AI training, distinguishing transformative #digitization from unlawful retention of pirated works. It highlights boundaries of #copyright in #genAI, establishing a precedent for balancing #technological #innovation with the rights of authors and creators. 👇 Link: https://lnkd.in/d9j9TBVx #artificialera #web3 #web4 #web5 #fintech #digitalera #digitaltransformation #ailaw #machinelearning #deeplearning #generativeAI #trustworthyAI #explainableAI #aiethics #artificialintelligence #explainableAI #responsibleAI #foundationmodels #GPAI #GAI #LLMs #NLPs #GenAI #frontierAI #narrowAI #AGI #ethicalAI #adversarialAI #RAG #agenticAI #AIagents

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New IAPP Cheat Sheet: U.S. Data Security Program Download, print, laminate, and pin on the wall our just-published Cheat Sheet on the U.S. Department of Justice's final rule on protecting Americans' sensitive data, which took effect on 8 April 2025. The Data Security Program was adopted pursuant to Executive Order 14117 and is implemented by the DOJ's National Security Division. The DSP establishes controls to prevent foreign adversaries, and those subject to their control and direction, from accessing bulk U.S. sensitive personal data and U.S. government-related data. Download the cheat sheet -- link in comments. James Dempsey, Cheryl Saniuk-Heinig

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This morning, Sen. Ted Cruz, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, introduced an important new #AI policy legislative framework to guide Congress as it considers #artificialintelligence issues. He also floated an interesting new AI "SANDBOX Act" bill to encourage novel AI governance strategies. This represents an important moment in AI policy and I have written up a quick analysis of the Cruz efforts in my latest R Street Institute piece: https://lnkd.in/ehnbGJui

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Excellent piece on why a fact-based information environment is good for business. This is right on: "Disinformation doesn’t just delay climate action; it destabilizes the institutions, policies, and coalitions needed to deliver it. Conflict, often fuelled by climate stressors like food insecurity or water scarcity, both feeds on and amplifies disinformation. The result is a dangerous feedback loop: disinformation breeds polarization, which escalates into conflict, which further degrades the conditions needed for effective climate response. The longer this cycle persists, the harder it becomes to coordinate global action, or even agree on the nature of the crisis. For businesses, these aren’t abstract global dynamics. They translate directly into market volatility, regulatory unpredictability, and rising reputational risk. In an environment where truth is under siege, credibility has become a form of strategic infrastructure." My colleague Charlotte Scaddan who leads our information integrity team is prominently quoted throughout: One of the core dynamics fueling the rise in climate disinformation is the growing fragmentation of information environments. “Algorithms reinforce individual biases, perceptions, and preferences,” explained Scaddan. “This information can be leveraged and exploited by anti-climate action interests.” Scaddan also cautions that businesses may be unknowingly contributing to the problem. “Through their advertising practices, companies may be funding climate disinformation without realizing it. As brands,  they hold unique power, and responsibility, within the information ecosystem.” https://lnkd.in/eDH2BpTr

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In our latest article, "Fox Succeeds in Scrapping Machine Learning Claims at CAFC Under 101", author Eileen McDermott wrote, "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on Friday addressed an issue of first impression in the patent eligibility context, holding that “claims that do no more than apply established methods of machine learning to a new data environment” are not patent eligible. Recentive Analytics, Inc. sued Fox Corp., Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC, and Fox Sports Productions, LLC for infringement of four U.S. Patent, Nos. 10,911,811; 10,958,957; 11,386,367; and 11,537,960. The patents are directed to solving problems in the entertainment industry and television broadcasting with respect to optimizing the scheduling of live events and “network maps,” which “determine the programs or content displayed by a broadcaster’s channels within certain geographic markets at particular times.”"

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The Sedona Conference Announces Publication of Commentary on Discovery of Collaboration Platforms Data for Public Comment The use of collaboration platforms has revolutionized the way organizations communicate and collaborate. Collaboration platforms enable individuals and groups to work together, to share information, to communicate, and to coordinate tasks seamlessly. As collaboration platforms have become a primary means of communicating and working, they have increasingly become targets for discovery. As a source of relevant ESI, however, they can pose conceptual, technical, and practical challenges. This Commentary—a project of The Sedona Conference Working Group 1 on Electronic Document Retention and Production (WG1)—is intended to provide organizations, lawyers, and the judiciary with foundational information regarding collaboration platforms, and to provide guidance on addressing legal issues and technical challenges that are likely to arise regarding the discovery of collaboration platform-related, electronically stored information (ESI). This Commentary is open for public comment through May 16, 2025. Questions and comments may be sent to comments@sedonaconference.org. The drafting team will carefully consider all comments received, and determine what edits are appropriate for the final version https://lnkd.in/gWZ3TgQY

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In digital markets, harms to consumer welfare with respect to privacy, attention, choice, and innovation are antitrust concerns and will be a focus of Department of Justice antitrust enforcement in the Trump administration. That was one key message in the speech yesterday by principal deputy assistant attorney general Roger Alford to the IAPP Navigate summit. An additional key message: Antitrust law applies to algorithmic pricing and other uses of AI to foster wage or price fixing and other anti-competitive collusion and will be another major focus of DOJ enforcement. Both of these themes emerged in the Biden administration, with the Google search, Google ad tech and RealPage proceedings, but it will be interesting to see them taken forward by the new administration. https://lnkd.in/g2XenC78

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New in Privacy Daily: Even without a private right of action, a #Massachusetts comprehensive #privacy bill nearing a Senate floor vote could still be the strongest of about 20 states with such laws, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Deputy Director Caitriona Fitzgerald said in an interview Friday. While legislators previously cut the right for individuals to sue -- limiting enforcement authority to the Massachusetts’ attorney general -- they kept data minimization requirements like those from Maryland’s privacy law. The updated version (S-2608) of the proposed Massachusetts Data Privacy Act is set to appear on the Senate floor on Sept. 25. https://lnkd.in/eHdH2K8f

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Anthropic just settled a huge copyright lawsuit with U.S. authors. Details expected in early September. • Avoids trial set for Dec and potential $1T+ in damages. • Judge had ruled training on purchased books = fair use; storing pirated books ≠ fair use. Called a “historic” resolution with ripple effects across a growing list of AI copyright cases. https://lnkd.in/evbSj-M5

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An important new policy brief by Kevin Madigan that explains why generative AI training does not qualify as fair use in most cases, and especially not when works are deliberately pirated. It's hot off the presses from the Forum for Intellectual Property at the Hudson Institute, and it couldn't be more timely given the decision yesterday in Kadrey v. Meta in which the court wrongly reached the opposite result. https://lnkd.in/evKzdAsH

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