GoKawiil
Tech News
Political resistance to data center construction is uniting figures across the ideological spectrum, with polling showing a shrinking partisan divide on the issue. Both democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and right-wing strategist Steve Bannon have voiced opposition, according to reporting on the trend.
Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Jeff Merkley have introduced the Ban Flock Act, which would bar federal agencies from using automatic license plate readers and cut federal funding to state and local governments that deploy them. The bill would also allow Americans to sue the federal government over rights violations tied to the technology. The lawmakers cited reporting by 404 Media on Flock's camera network as a motivation for the legislation.
A U.S. federal judge ruled that Flock's automated license-plate reading cameras constitute 'indiscriminate mass surveillance' by continuously logging vehicle locations. The ruling threw out drug charges against a driver after finding that an officer's warrantless use of Flock's travel-history data to justify a traffic stop violated reasonable expectations of privacy, suppressing all evidence gathered afterward.
Federal judge Sara Hill ruled that a Tulsa County deputy's warrantless search of Flock's nationwide license-plate reader database violated the Fourth Amendment, suppressing evidence of roughly 91 pounds of methamphetamine found during the stop. The case began when a deputy tailed a car solely because of its out-of-state plates, then used Flock's database to review over 50 prior sightings of the vehicle before searching it. Separately, Senators Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have introduced legislation to ban license plate reader networks like Flock's nationwide.
Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the Ban Flock Act, which would prohibit federal agencies from operating automatic license plate reader systems or accessing data from such systems run by local police or private vendors like Flock. The bill allows exceptions only for toll collection and future congressional approvals capped at 48-hour data retention, and would cut federal grants to state and local governments that fail to comply, while allowing lawsuits and enforcement by state attorneys general.
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would outlaw development of AI systems capable of humanity's 'destruction or disempowerment.' The bill would also pause development of advanced 'frontier' AI models until a new government agency, the Department of Artificial Intelligence, is created to license and oversee such work. Violators, including company leaders and unaffiliated individuals, could face up to 20 years in prison.
Steve Bannon, the former Trump strategist, and Senator Bernie Sanders have publicly aligned on an unlikely issue: both warn that unchecked artificial intelligence development could pose catastrophic dangers to society. Despite their sharply opposing politics, the two are calling on Washington to move quickly to impose regulatory limits on AI systems.
Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would permanently prohibit building or deploying superintelligent AI and temporarily halt advanced AI development until federal safety rules exist. The bill also calls for a new cabinet-level agency to monitor AI systems for dangerous capabilities and pursue international agreements against superintelligence development worldwide.
Senators Bernie Sanders and Greg Cezar unveiled the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would criminalize efforts to build artificial superintelligence, with violators facing up to 20 years in prison—comparable to penalties for illegal nuclear weapons development. The bill also calls for a new cabinet-level federal agency to enforce the ban domestically and push for international agreements restricting superintelligence development worldwide.
An Anthropic researcher resigned publicly, warning that AI labs are 'gambling with our lives,' and two colleagues echoed the concern. In response, Senator Bernie Sanders announced plans to introduce legislation banning the development of superintelligent AI.