Policy Blog Templates (34)

SIIA Statement on the Introduction of the NSF AI Education Act of 2024

by Policy

The following statement from the Software & Information Industry Association can be attributed to Sara Kloek, Vice President, Education and Children’s Policy.

SIIA is proud to support the NSF AI Education Act of 2024, a bipartisan bill introduced by Senators Cantwell and Moran. Now is the time to invest in students and educators to ensure that they are ready to lead in the future.

We are particularly excited to see the emphasis on industry partnerships to ensure collaboration between the students, the educational system, and employers. These public private partnerships ensure that the future workforce and the future employers are responsive to the diverse needs of tomorrow. Incentivizing public-private partnerships here will help to empower all students, not just those with means, to benefit from cutting edge technologies.

Section 13 calls for the development of guidance for the introduction and use of AI in pre-k-12 classrooms. Federal leadership will allow local schools, districts, and states to leverage the knowledge to effectively deploy AI technologies that are purpose-driven that address the needs of learners, educators, and families.

SIIA called for a focus on AI literacy when we launched the Education Technology Industry’s Principles for the Future of AI in Education in October 2023. The emphasis throughout the legislation on AI literacy is particularly important. We must ensure that all users are comfortable navigating emerging technologies and empowered to effectively use them to enhance a learner’s experience.

Additionally, the EDSAFE AI Alliance, the leading cross-sector voice for the responsible adoption and use of AI through the SAFE Framework and education policy, announced the launch of its EDSAFE AI Industry Council with over 50 founding member companies. The Industry Council, is chaired by Karl Rectanus, in partnership with SIIA, an EDSAFE AI Steering Committee Member. Press release can be found here.

Policy Blog Templates (31)

SIIA Statement on the American Privacy Rights Act and Kids Online Safety Act Advancement

by Policy

Today the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce voted to advance the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) to the full Committee for consideration. The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) released the following statement now that the bill will advance to the full House Energy and Commerce Committee for consideration.

The following can be attributed to Chris Mohr, President, Software & Information Industry Association:

“Today’s subcommittee hearing hit on many common themes and concerns that SIIA shares. While comprehensive privacy online protection is the goal we’re all working toward, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that APRA and KOSA fall short.

APRA should be focused on protecting consumers’ privacy against harmful data practices. We remain concerned that the bill risks restricting large amounts of useful and widely accepted data that consumers and many small businesses have come to rely on. By imposing broad restrictions, APRA may inadvertently hamper services and innovations.

Certain provisions of APRA would also undermine the United States’ position as a global leader in tech and AI development. Despite its intentions, APRA granting the FTC rulemaking authority over future permitted uses only serves to license innovation from the top down – which is the surest way to dampen it. Congress has historically struggled to pass laws that anticipate the future uses of technology or provide a vision beyond the present. As such, this bill restricts uses of data to contemporary understandings and fails to provide a forward-looking framework that supports future technological innovation.

Perhaps most importantly, a comprehensive privacy bill should provide consumers with greater autonomy over their own data and how it is used. Ironically, this legislation actually removes consumers’ control over their most sensitive data by telling Americans what they can and can’t do with this information, breaking with standards and emerging norms set by almost every U.S. state privacy law.

Lastly, it is critical that legislation meant to protect children gets these protections right. SIIA continues to be a strong advocate for keeping our nation’s children and teens safe online, with kids and teens relying on online services for staying connected and maintaining access to educational resources. But both APRA and KOSA take the wrong approach to keeping America’s youth safe on the internet. APRA would make all information about minors sensitive data, placing new restrictions on how parents might be able to share family photos with relatives or how educational institutions might connect with prospective students. KOSA, for its part, establishes a duty of reasonable care, but fails to define “reasonable” or even the steps that should be taken to exercise care.

Strengthening America’s privacy standards and ensuring everyone can have a safe experience online is something we fully support, but neither APRA nor KOSA are the way to do this.”

 

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SIIA Provides Feedback on APRA, COPPA 2.0, and KOSA

by Policy
The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) expresses its support for the proposed American Privacy Rights Act of 2024 (APRA), which includes the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act 2.0 (COPPA 2.0) and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), while highlighting areas for improvement. SIIA appreciates efforts to achieve a national, uniform consumer privacy law, acknowledging APRA’s advancements, such as the FTC’s ability to innovate and the clear definitions surrounding AI and consequential decisions. However, SIIA raises concerns about APRA’s restrictive data collection rules, overbroad definitions of sensitive data, and stringent requirements on data brokers, which could impede technological development and beneficial data use. Additionally, while COPPA 2.0 clarifies protections for student data, it might inadvertently hinder contextual advertising, impacting free content for kids. SIIA also criticizes KOSA for potentially enforcing content censorship and invasive age verification, urging Congress to refine these bills to better balance privacy, innovation, and constitutional rights.
Full Letter Here
Policy Blog Templates (29)

SIIA Statement on Updated Draft of the American Privacy Rights Act

by Policy

The following statement can be attributed to Chris Mohr, President, the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), regarding the updated draft of the American Privacy Rights Act of 2024 (APRA), released on May 21:

It is critical for Congress to pass comprehensive federal privacy legislation to end the current state privacy patchwork that is harmful to consumers and businesses alike. The latest version of APRA is well-intentioned, contains meaningful provisions, and is an improvement over the previous version. In the updated draft, we were also pleased to see greater rulemaking flexibility around how APRA’s restrictions on data use may evolve with innovative technologies, as well as clarifications around artificial intelligence tools, how these tools are used, and where additional scrutiny is warranted.

Significant issues nonetheless remain. In its current form, APRA could hamstring U.S. global competitiveness by unnecessarily restricting the purposes for which data may be used, thus reducing the availability of data for general purpose technological development. It would also unintentionally restrict a large amount of positive commercial publishing activity on which U.S. consumers rely, complicating routine activities such as journalism and analysis that relies on publicly available information and reducing the availability of free online services.

The new draft also includes language to update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. We appreciate the work done to harmonize requirements and urge continued engagement with stakeholders to incorporate language that enable young people to access high-quality and age-appropriate content. We specifically ask for language that would clarify that contextual advertising can be used to support age-appropriate content for all ages.

The need to get federal privacy legislation right – not just passed quickly – is critical and legislators should keep working to ensure a safe online experience that is regulated responsibly.