Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
Here's a handy roundup of the tech bills introduced in the past few weeks.
1. NO FAKES Act: Still in discussion draft form, the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act would "protect the voice and visual likeness of individuals from unfair use through generative AI."
- Sens. Chris Coons, Amy Klobuchar, Marsha Blackburn and Thom Tillis are behind the effort.
- The Recording Industry Association of America said it welcomed the draft and that generative AI models infringe on performers' rights.
- It's timely — music publishers Universal, Concord and ABKCO sued AI company Anthropic for copyright violations per legal documents obtained by Variety this week.
2. Eyes on the Board Act: No, that's not a fifth-grade teacher lecturing kids to pay attention; it's the name of a bill from Sens. Ted Cruz, Ted Budd and Shelley Moore Capito that would require schools receiving E-Rate funding to prohibit access to social media sites on school networks and devices.
- "The bill also promotes parental limits and transparency on screen time in schools by requiring schools receiving E-Rate subsidies to adopt a screen time policy as a condition of receiving federal funding," per a release from Cruz's office.
3. Promoting Access to Broadband Act: A bicameral bill from Sens. Alex Padilla and Dick Durbin and Rep. Robin Kelly would boost states' access to the FCC's Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity programs.
- An estimated 27 million households in the U.S. are eligible for ACP that aren't signed up; Lifeline participation is also low nationwide.
- Sen. Jacky Rosen and dozens of other senators wrote to congressional leadership Thursday urging extended funding of ACP, which is set to run out in the coming months.
