Facebook's executives could be forgiven for thinking that this week was bad enough, what with Donald Trump attacking them on Twitter and Jay Powell pouring cold water on their cryptocurrency ambitions. But the Silicon Valley panopticon will get even more attention from Washington this week.
Driving the news: An antitrust hearing on Tuesday will feature executives from Apple, Amazon and Google as well as Facebook.
For over a year, China has moved to lead the creation of the first global norms for AI. Now, the U.S. is developing its own AI standards, as the two rivals compete to shape a technology that could define the future balance of authoritarian and democratic power.
What's happening: China's ambitions are a dimension of its all-hands push to lead the world in frontier technologies — especially AI — by the end of the next decade. Having been relegated to the sidelines in the last big cycle of standard-setting at the birth of the internet, Beijing is laser-focused on dominating this new round.
The majority of 10,000 election jurisdictions nationwide use Windows 7 or an older operating system for voting or tallying — archaic systems vulnerable to hackers, AP reports.
Why it matters: Private vendors, and state finances, determine the security level of election systems, which lack federal requirements or oversight.
News that the Federal Trade Commission has approved a roughly $5 billion fine against Facebook for privacy violations prompted instant outcry from some critics and lawmakers.
Why it matters: The FTC decision could have consequences for Facebook's billions of users — and frame the next stage of a global debate over how to regulate consumer privacy. A consensus that the settlement is weak would provide more ammo for proponents of new privacy laws — whereas an assessment that the penalties are serious would strengthen the hands of those who oppose new regulation.
