It's Copyright Week 2025: Join Us in the Fight for Better Copyright Law and Policy; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), January 27, 2025

 KATHARINE TRENDACOSTA, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); It's Copyright Week 2025: Join Us in the Fight for Better Copyright Law and Policy

"We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, and addressing what's at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation 

We continue to fight for a version of copyright that does what it is supposed to. And so, every year, EFF and a number of diverse organizations participate in Copyright Week. Each year, we pick five copyright issues to highlight and advocate a set of principles of copyright law. This year’s issues are: 

• Monday: Copyright Policy Should Be Made in the Open With Input From Everyone: Copyright is not a niche concern. It affects everyone’s experience online, therefore laws and policy should be made in the open and with users’ concerns represented and taken into account. 

• Tuesday: Copyright Enforcement as a Tool of Censorship: Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right essential to a functioning democracy. Copyright should encourage more speech, not act as a legal cudgel to silence it.  

• Wednesday: Device and Digital Ownership: As the things we buy increasingly exist either in digital form or as devices with software, we also find ourselves subject to onerous licensing agreements and technological restrictions. If you buy something, you should be able to truly own it – meaning you can learn how it works, repair it, remove unwanted features, or tinker with it to make it work in a new way.  

• Thursday: The Preservation and Sharing of Information and Culture:Copyright often blocks the preservation and sharing of information and culture, traditionally in the public interest. Copyright law and policy should encourage and not discourage the saving and sharing of information. 

• Friday: Free Expression and Fair Use: Copyright policy should encourage creativity, not hamper it. Fair use makes it possible for us to comment, criticize, and rework our common culture.  

Every day this week, we’ll be sharing links to blog posts on these topics at https://www.eff.org/copyrightweek." 

Former OpenAI safety researcher brands pace of AI development ‘terrifying’; The Guardian, January 28, 2025

Dan Milmo Global technology editor, The Guardian ; Former OpenAI safety researcher brands pace of AI development ‘terrifying’

"A former safety researcher at OpenAI says he is “pretty terrified” about the pace of development in artificial intelligence, warning the industry is taking a “very risky gamble” on the technology.

Steven Adler expressed concerns about companies seeking to rapidly develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), a theoretical term referring to systems that match or exceed humans at any intellectual task."

THE 100 BEST PROTEST SONGS OF ALL TIME; Rolling Stone, January 27, 2025

Rolling Stone; THE 100 BEST PROTEST SONGS OF ALL TIME

"When Chuck D of Public Enemy famously called hip-hop “the Black CNN,” he was touching on a universal truth that goes beyond genre: Music and protest have always been inextricably linked. For some marginalized groups, the simple act of creating music at all can be a form of speaking out against an unjust world. Our list of the 100 Best Protest Songs spans nearly a century and includes everything from pre-World War II jazz and Sixties folk to Eighties house music, 2000s R&B, and 2020s Cuban hip-hop. 

Some of these songs decry oppression and demand justice, others are prayers for positive change; some grab you by the shoulders and shout in your face, others are personal, private attempts to subtly embody the contradictory nature of political struggle and change from the inside. Many of our selections are specific products of leftist political traditions (like Pete Seeger’s version of “We Shall Overcome”), but just as many are hits that slipped urgent messages into the pop marketplace (like Nena’s anti-nuclear war New Wave bop “99 Luftballons”)."

‘The Librarians’ EP Sarah Jessica Parker On The Spread Of Book Banning: “It’s A Fear Of Children Having Information” – Sundance Studio; Deadline, January 25, 2025

Matthew Carey, Deadline ; ‘The Librarians’ EP Sarah Jessica Parker On The Spread Of Book Banning: “It’s A Fear Of Children Having Information” – Sundance Studio

"TITLE: The Librarians

Section: Premieres

Director: Kim A. Snyder

Logline: As an unprecedented wave of book banning is sparked in Texas, Florida, and beyond, librarians who find themselves under siege join forces as unlikely defenders in the fight for intellectual freedom on the front lines of democracy. Kim A. Snyder (Us Kids, 2020 Sundance Film Festival) takes us to an unexpected front line where librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and free access to information."

Move Fast and Break the Government; The Bulwark, January 28, 2025

SAM STEIN AND 

BENJAMIN PARKER

, The Bulwark; 

Move Fast and Break the Government

"A letter from the Office of Management and Budget, obtained last night by The Bulwark, instructed federal agencies that they were to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance,” effective “on January 28, 2025, at 5:00 PM.”

What, exactly, does this mean? The note was vague, stating that the pause was for activities that “may be implicated by [Trump’s] executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.” But immediate speculation among those scrutinizing the letter was that things like food assistance, financial aid to students, grants for university-based research, and many other government functions could come to a stop. The scope of what could be impacted was honestly hard for them to comprehend.

“Nobody knows,” said one person on the receiving end of the memo, when asked the extent of the federal aid that would stop.

Perhaps that’s the point.

In recent days, agency officials and those dependent on government contracts have described being left in a state of darkness by the administration they now serve; like families cowering in their basement shelters waiting to go out to see the damage the tornado has caused. Getting guidance on what was now allowed and what was prohibited was hard to do, in part lobbyists and even Congress were no better informed.

Federal health and research agencies appear to be particularly confused. Over the weekend, several people posted online about their clinical cancer trials having come to an abrupt halt as the National Institutes of Health imposed restrictions on hiring, travel, communication, and other functions. The scientific and medical community was, rightfully, alarmed at the possibility that people suffering from deadly diseases would be denied treatment by their own government.

By Monday, the NIH finally issued some guidance. In another letter obtained by The Bulwark, acting NIH Director Matthew Memoli assured colleagues that, “Clinical trials at NIH or NIH-funded institutions are ongoing,” and that “travel restrictions do not apply to research participants traveling to NIH to participate in a clinical trial or protocol.”

A victory? Yes. But a limited one. In that same letter, Memoli said that no money would be available for “new studies, new equipment, or research services unrelated to the studies that were started prior to Jan. 20, 2025.” In other words, don’t make future plans.

And it’s not just at the NIH, either. Two people directly familiar with the matter told The Bulwark on Monday that the National Science Foundation abruptly canceled peer review panels. “All review panels scheduled for the remainder of this week, 1/28-1/31 will be rescheduled to a future date as appropriate,” read the guidance given. The NSF did not return repeated requests for comment. Nor has the White House over the past few days.

The breakneck speed of Trump’s orders could quickly turn into an acute constitutional crisis, with the executive branch essentially usurping the power of the purse from the legislative body. Certainly, it has already had profound political and psychological effects. Federal employees described utterly dispirited workplaces, where paranoia is creeping in. There is a belief that the new administration is set on turning the government into a tool for Trump and searching for the pretext to fire anyone unwilling to go along. It did not go unnoticed that the statement from the DOJ official announcing the firings on Monday noted that “Acting Attorney General James McHenry made this decision because he did not believe these officials could be trusted to faithfully implement the President’s agenda” (emphasis ours).

But it’s also not hard to see how the tremors being sent throughout the government could hurt Trump in the long run. It starts with small examples of over-compliance with the vague orders that the administration has to walk back, like the Air Force removing videos honoring the Tuskegee Airmen from training materials because they believe those videos violated the administration’s anti-DEI push. They move to larger problems, like prison guards who are responsible for securing ISIS militants no longer turning up for work because their salaries have been cut. And then they become disasters on your watch, like infants dying because water was cut off in the foreign aid freeze.

That’s the thing about moving fast and breaking things. Sometimes you end up breaking things you wish you hadn’t and can’t repair."

US Justice Department senior career ethics official removed from post, source says; Reuters, January 27, 2025

Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters ; US Justice Department senior career ethics official removed from post, source says

"The Trump administration has removed the U.S. Justice Department's senior career ethics official from his post, according to a person familiar with the matter, in an action likely to stoke fears about whether the department will be able to remain insulated from political pressures and conflicts,

Bradley Weinsheimer, a department veteran who was appointed as associate deputy attorney general during President Donald Trump's first term, was ordered to report to a newly-created working group on "sanctuary cities" that is based out of the Associate Attorney General's office, the source told Reuters.

Weinsheimer declined to comment about the reassignment when asked earlier on Monday by a Reuters reporter...

Weinsheimer is among dozens of top career officials who have been reassigned to that office and other posts from areas across the department, including the Civil Rights, National Security, Criminal and Environment and Natural Resources divisions, as well as the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

His re-assignment comes after the Trump administration also removed Corey Amundson, the senior career official who ran the section in charge of public corruption and election fraud investigations and reassigned him to sanctuary cities. That section must be consulted on all politically-sensitive investigations, according to Justice Department rules."

Career US Justice Department official in charge of public corruption cases resigns; Reuters, January 27, 2025

Sarah N. Lynch , Reuters; Career US Justice Department official in charge of public corruption cases resigns

"Corey Amundson, the U.S. Justice Department's senior career official in charge of overseeing public corruption and other politically sensitive investigations, resigned on Monday after the Trump administration tried to reassign him to a new role working on immigration issues, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

"I am honored and blessed to have served our country and this department for the last 23 years," Amundson wrote in his letter to Acting Attorney General James McHenry.

"I spent my entire professional life committed to the apolitical enforcement of the federal criminal law and to ensuring that those around me understood and embraced that central tenet of our work," Amundson said.

Amundson is one of an estimated 20 career officials inside the Justice Department who was reassignedlast week to a new Sanctuary City Working Group inside the Associate Attorney General's office."

Elton John backs Paul McCartney in criticising proposed overhaul to UK copyright system; The Guardian, January 27, 2025

 Laura Snapes, The Guardian ; Elton John backs Paul McCartney in criticising proposed overhaul to UK copyright system

"Elton John has backed Paul McCartney in criticising a proposed overhaul of the UK copyright system, and has called for new rules to prevent tech companies from riding “roughshod over the traditional copyright laws that protect artists’ livelihoods”.

John has backed proposed amendments to the data (use and access) bill that would extend existing copyright protections, when it goes before a vote in the House of Lords on Tuesday.

The government is also consulting on an overhaul of copyright laws that would result in artists having to opt out of letting AI companies train their models using their work, rather than an opt-in model...

John told the Sunday Times that he felt “wheels are in motion to allow AI companies to ride roughshod over the traditional copyright laws that protect artists’ livelihoods. This will allow global big tech companies to gain free and easy access to artists’ work in order to train their artificial intelligence and create competing music. This will dilute and threaten young artists’ earnings even further. The musician community rejects it wholeheartedly.”

He said that “challenging financial situations” and increased touring costs made it “harder than ever for new and emerging musicians to make the finances of the industry stack up to sustain a fledgling career”, and added that the UK’s place on the world stage as “a leader in arts and popular culture is under serious jeopardy” without robust copyright protection.

“It is the absolute bedrock of artistic prosperity, and the country’s future success in the creative industries depends on it.”

The government consultation runs until 25 February and will explore how to improve trust between the creative and AI sectors, and how creators can license and get paid for use of their material."

The Power of Three: Civility, Professionalism, and Zealous Advocacy; ABA Journal, November 5, 2024

 Jeanne M Huey, ABA Journal; The Power of Three: Civility, Professionalism, and Zealous Advocacy

"Balancing Civility, Professionalism, and Zealous Advocacy

 The “power of three” reminds us that civility, professionalism, and zealous advocacy are not competing ideals but instead work together to define our duty to our clients, our duty to the justice system, and our duty to respect others, which is the mark of effective lawyering. Zealous advocacy without civility leads to unproductive conflict, while civility without zeal risks losing sight of the client’s interests. Professionalism embraces both, ensuring that civility and advocacy serve the client and the justice system. A balanced commitment to all three creates a steady, resilient structure that upholds a lawyer’s duty to serve their client’s best interests within the rule of law."

Trump pauses funding for anti-HIV program that prevented 26 million AIDS deaths; NPR, January 27, 2025

Melody Schreiber, NPR; Trump pauses funding for anti-HIV program that prevented 26 million AIDS deaths

[Kip Currier: The amorality of the statement below is staggeringly appalling, but not unexpected, from an administration whose guiding principle is transactional policymaking, even in examples involving great human suffering and need.

To label as "a moral imperative" the immediate cessation of lifesaving medications for Global South persons with HIV and AIDS is farcical Orwellian rhetoric.]

[Excerpt]

"On Sunday, the State Department confirmed the halt in an email to NPR. The United States "is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people," State spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement, calling the pause "a moral imperative.""

Trump Administration Halts H.I.V. Drug Distribution in Poor Countries; The New York Times, January 27, 2025

 Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times; Trump Administration Halts H.I.V. Drug Distribution in Poor Countries

"The Trump administration has instructed organizations in other countries to stop disbursing H.I.V. medications purchased with U.S. aid, even if the drugs have already been obtained and are sitting in local clinics.

The directive is part of a broader freeze on foreign aid initiated last week. It includes the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the global health program started by George W. Bush that is credited with saving more than 25 million lives worldwide.

The administration had already moved to stop PEPFAR funding from moving to clinics, hospitals and other organizations in low-income countries.

Appointments are being canceled, and patients are being turned away from clinics, according to people with knowledge of the situation who feared retribution if they spoke publicly. Many people with H.I.V. are facing abrupt interruptions to their treatment...

“The partners we collaborate with are in shock, and they do not know what to do because their lifesaving mission and commitment has been breached,” said Asia Russell, executive director of the advocacy group Health Gap."

Air Force reinstates course with Tuskegee Airmen video after outcry; Air Force Times, January 27, 2025

Stephen Losey , Air Force Times; Air Force reinstates course with Tuskegee Airmen video after outcry

"The Air Force is reinstating a basic training class Monday that was suspended last week for revisions, with its materials on World War II-era Black and female pilotsintact but diversity, equity and inclusion components removed.

The Air Force originally halted its basic military training course on “airmindedness” on Jan. 23, days after President Donald Trump issued a sweeping order barring DEI programs from the federal government and military. That class included videos on the Tuskegee Airmen and Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, who were the first Black and female pilots, respectively, to fly for the military.

An internal message leaked online Friday indicated videos on the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs were pulled immediately from the class to comply with Trump’s DEI orders. The Air Force clarified Saturday that the videos themselves were not targeted for removal, but that BMT classes including diversity-related materials were temporarily suspended for review.

A revised class on “airmindedness” is going into place Monday, Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, head of Air Education and Training Command, said in a Sunday statement. That class will include material on the Tuskegee and WASP pilots.

“No curriculum or content highlighting the honor and valor of the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Airforce Service Pilots has been removed from basic military training,” Robinson said. “The block in which these lessons were taught included DEI material which was directed to be removed. We believe this adjustment to curriculum to be fully aligned with the direction given in the DEI executive order.”"

Beyond ChatGPT: WVU researchers to study use and ethics of artificial intelligence across disciplines; WVU Today, January 22, 2025

WVU Today; Beyond ChatGPT: WVU researchers to study use and ethics of artificial intelligence across disciplines

"Two West Virginia University researchers have designed a curriculum to engage liberal arts faculty in discussions on the social, ethical and technical aspects of artificial intelligence and its role in classrooms.

Through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Erin Brock Carlson, assistant professor of English, and Scott Davidson, professor of philosophy, both at the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, have designed an interdisciplinary, cross-institutional program to facilitate conversations among faculty about the benefits and drawbacks of AI, how it functions and the need for human interpretation.

The award will fund a summer workshop in which Carlson and Davidson will offer AI trainings for humanities faculty and guide them through creation and development of courses with an AI component. The researchers will then assist as faculty offer those courses to students, assess progress and help with the implementation of the projects that develop.

The researchers said they hope to challenge the notion that artificial intelligence research falls into the domain of STEM fields. 

“The humanities gets overlooked and underappreciated so often,” Carlson said. “We are doing important, meaningful research, just like our colleagues in STEM and other fields. This is a chance to use a humanities lens to examine contemporary problems and developments like artificial intelligence and also to get conversations going between fields that oftentimes don’t talk to one another as much as we should.”

Co-directors Carlson and Davidson will be joined by a team of mentors and fellows — two from data science fields and two from the humanities perspective — that will serve and assist as resources in the interdisciplinary conversations. The seminar and summer workshops will support the creation or redesign of 10 courses. They plan to invite off-campus experts to help facilitate the workshops, work with the faculty and support their projects.

“It’s really about expanding capacity at the University and in the humanities to investigate the implications of AI or to actually use AI in humanities courses, whether it’s for writing, creating art or creating projects through the use of AI,” Davidson said. “There are a lot of different possibilities and directions that we hope these courses take. If we have 10 of them, it’s really going to have a big impact on humanities education here at the University.”

Carlson and Davidson acknowledge that attitudes about AI tend to be either extremely optimistic or extremely skeptical but that the reality is somewhere in the middle.

“AI is such a simplistic term to describe a whole suite of different technologies and developments that folks are dealing with every day, whether they know it or not,” Carlson said, noting that discussions could focus on personal, social and economic impacts of AI use, as well as how it affects character and intellectual values. 

Davidson was inspired to focus on AI when he found an erroneous, AI-generated summary of one of his own articles.

“It was totally wrong,” he said. “I didn’t say those things, and it made me think about how somebody might look me up and find that summary of my article and get this false impression of me. That really highlighted that we need to build an understanding in students of the need to inquire deeper and to understand that you have to be able to evaluate AI’s accuracy and its reliability.”

Carlson and Davidson said the conversations need to consider AI’s drawbacks, as well. Using AI consumes large amounts of water and electricity resulting in greenhouse emissions. Data centers produce electronic waste that can contain mercury and lead. 

They also intend to follow legal cases and precedents surrounding the use of AI.

“That’s another aspect of AI and the ways that it represents people,” Carlson said. “Because it has a very real, material impact on people in communities. It’s not just a super computer in a room. It’s a network that has a bunch of different implications for a bunch of different people, ranging from jobs to familial relationships. That’s the value of the humanities — to ask these tough questions because it’s increasingly difficult to avoid all of it.”

Conversations, as they expand, will need to keep up with the pace of AI’s rapidly developing landscape.  

“There’s going to be a lot of people involved in this,” she said. “We put together an amazing team. We want it to be an open, honest and ethical conversation that brings in other folks and opens up further conversations across the College and the University at large.”"

US Air Force resumes teaching videos on first Black and female pilots after DEI review; Reuters via The Guardian, January 27, 2025

Reuters via The Guardian; US Air Force resumes teaching videos on first Black and female pilots after DEI review

[Kip Currier: This is a positive development to see that the U.S. Air Force has reinstated the use of videos about the Tuskegee Airmen and Women Air Force Service Pilots (or WASPs) in its training courses at its San Antonio-Lackland base in Texas. Providing access to information and the historical record is a basic building block of informed citizenries and free and democratic societies.]

[Excerpt]

"The US air force on Sunday said it would resume instruction of trainees using a video about the first Black airmen in the nation’s military, known as the Tuskegee Airmen, which has passed review to ensure compliance with the ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that Donald Trump imposed early in his second presidency.

Trump, who retook office on 20 January, has prohibited DEI throughout the US government and military. Pete Hegseth, the new defense secretary, who was sworn in on Friday, has made eliminating DEI from the military a top priority.

Reuters reported on Saturday that the video about the Tuskegee Airmen as well as another about civilian female pilots trained by the US military during the second world war, known as Women Air Force Service Pilots (or WASPs), were not being taught in basic training at the San Antonio-Lackland base in Texas pending a review.

The move was first reported by the San Antonio Express-News.

The Air Force on Sunday said both videos will be taught."

During Wildfires, Los Angeles Libraries Offer Community Lifelines; American Libraries, January 22, 2025

Rosie Newmark , American Libraries ; During Wildfires, Los Angeles Libraries Offer Community Lifelines

"Since multiple wildfires erupted in and around Los Angeles on January 7, tens of thousands of residents have been displaced or remain on evacuation watch, as fire-fanning winds threaten to continue. The Palisades and Eaton fires, among others, have killed 28 people and destroyed or damaged more than 16,000 structures—including destruction of the Los Angeles Public Library’s (LAPL) Palisades Branch Library. Several more libraries in evacuation or evacuation warning zones remain closed.

Amid the disaster, library systems, including Altadena (Calif.) Library District (ALD), Los Angeles County Library (LACL), and LAPL, are spearheading efforts to help community members as well as library staffers through fundraising and onsite support. The American Library Association (ALA) has also set up a relief effort through its ALA Disaster Relief Fund.

In addition to physical losses, community members are experiencing the mental and emotional toll of the crisis. Across the area, library workers have witnessed people using their facilities not only as a center for resources such as internet access and recovery information, but also simply a quiet space to cry and process losses, according to California Library Association President Genesis Hansen."

National Gallery of Art ends diversity programs due to Trump executive order; The Washington Post, January 24, 2025

  

Samantha Chery

, 

Kriston Capps

 and 

Sophia Nguyen, The Washington Post; National Gallery of Art ends diversity programs due to Trump executive order

"The National Gallery of Art said it has closed its diversity office and is reassigning staff, as institutions across the federal government are forced to comply with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Monday that declared diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be “illegal and immoral discrimination programs.”"

Trump’s anti-DEI order yanks air force videos of Tuskegee Airmen and female pilots; Reuters via The Guardian, January 25, 2025

Reuters via The Guardian ; Trump’s anti-DEI order yanks air force videos of Tuskegee Airmen and female pilots

[Kip Currier: As the proud son of a U.S. Air Force veteran captain, I respectfully call on the U.S. Air Force to again make available to its instructors and students these important parts of its history, as a force for making our country and the world safer and more representative of the promise of America.]

[Excerpt]

"Donald Trump’s order halting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives has led the US air force to suspend course instruction on a documentary about the first Black airmen in the US military, known as the Tuskegee Airmen, a US official said on Saturday.

The famed Black aviators included 450 pilots who fought overseas in segregated units during the second world war. Their success in combat helped pave the way for Harry Truman’s decision to desegregate the armed forces in 1948.

Another video about civilian female pilots trained by the US military during the second world war, known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or Wasps, was also pulled, the official said.

The air force did not directly comment on the decision, which was confirmed by an official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity."

Our job is to be truthful not neutral’: Christiane Amanpour on Trump, tech and and fighting for the truth; The Observer, via The Guardian, January 25, 2025

Tim Adams, The Observer via The Guardian; Our job is to be truthful not neutral’: Christiane Amanpour on Trump, tech and and fighting for the truth

"Amanpour works to a trusted formula: “Our job is to be truthful, not neutral,” she says. When we speak, the news is full of the malign influence of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg on the global conversation.

As someone who originally owed her lucrative journalistic career to a billionaire, the “visionary” – her word – CNN founder Ted Turner, Amanpour is fully aware that rich men have always seen news as a business opportunity. Social media oligarchs, however, want to pocket the billions with none of the attendant responsibilities. Never a doom scroller, she sees Mark Zuckerberg’s utterly shameless decision to remove all factchecking from his Meta platforms as a drastic escalation of that policy.

“Of course, not everybody’s going to agree on everything and nor should they,” she says. “But unless we can agree that the sky outside is blue and the grass is green, we have no chance. What is overtaking the public square is that every single fact is now the subject of accusations of lies or bias. Zuckerberg enabling totally permissive commentary is another arrow in the heart of truth.”"

Copyright Under Siege: How Big Tech Uses AI And China To Exploit Creators; Virginie Berger, January 25, 2025

 Virginie Berger

, Forbes; Copyright Under Siege: How Big Tech Uses AI And China To Exploit Creators

"Generative AI is reshaping creativity in ways that highlight a troubling paradox: while touted as a force for innovation, it increasingly relies on exploiting copyrighted materials, songs, books, and artworks, without consent or compensation. This transformation underscores the growing conflict between technological progress and the preservation of artistic integrity. At the heart of the issue lies a troubling paradox: while companies like OpenAI and Google promote AI as a force for innovation, their reliance on scraping copyrighted materials, songs, books, and artworks, undermines the very creativity they claim to enhance. This exploitation is often disguised as progress or justified as necessary for global competitiveness, particularly in the AI race against China. However, these claims mask a deeper reality: the consolidation of power by Big Tech at the expense of creators. As the balance of influence shifts, those who drive culture and innovation are increasingly marginalized, raising urgent questions about the future of intellectual property and creative industries."

Ethics watchdog issues conflict of interest warning to Musk’s Doge agency; The Guardian, January 23, 2025

David Smith, The Guardian ; Ethics watchdog issues conflict of interest warning to Musk’s Doge agency

"A leading ethics watchdog has issued warnings to Donald Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk and the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), an agency Trump has stated he will create, claiming its use of encrypted messaging apps potentially violates the Federal Records Act (FRA).

American Oversight, which uses litigation to obtain public records and expose government misconduct, argues that Musk’s leadership of Doge raises “significant ethical concerns about potential conflicts of interest”, given his business empire and the substantial impact that Doge could have on federal agencies.

The warnings stem from reports that members of Doge, which aims to carry out dramatic cuts to the US government, are using the encrypted messaging app Signal with an auto-delete feature, which could hinder the preservation of official records."

Trump’s Friday night massacre is blatantly illegal; The Washington Post, January 25, 2025

Ruth Marcus, The Washington Post;  Trump’s Friday night massacre is blatantly illegal

"Contempt for law. Contempt for Congress. Contempt for oversight. That is the lesson of President Donald Trump’s Friday night massacre of at least 15 inspectors general — most of them appointed by Trump himself in his first term.

The blatantly illegal action is troubling in itself — nonpartisan inspectors general play a critical role in assuring the lawful and efficient operations of government, in Democratic and Republican administrations alike. An administration supposedly focused on making government more efficient would be empowering inspectors general, not firing them en masse.

But this episode is even more alarming than that. It offers a chilling foreshadowing of Trump unbound, heedless of the rule of law and unwilling to tolerate any potential impediment to his authority."

Eternal You’ and the Ethics of Using A.I. to ‘Talk’ to Dead Loved Ones; The New York Times, January 24, 2025

Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times ; Eternal You’ and the Ethics of Using A.I. to ‘Talk’ to Dead Loved Ones

"As the title suggests, “Eternal You” is mostly concerned with a very particular use of A.I.: giving users the illusion of talking to their dead loved ones. Large language models trained on the deceased’s speech patterns, chat logs and more can be made to imitate that person’s way of communicating so well that it feels to the grief-stricken as if they’re crossing the border between life and death. Those tools can be comforting, but they’re also potentially big business. One of the film’s subjects calls it “death capitalism.”"

Trump has canceled Biden’s ethics rules. Critics call it the opposite of ‘drain the swamp’; AP, January 22, 2025

WILL WEISSERT, AP ; Trump has canceled Biden’s ethics rules. Critics call it the opposite of ‘drain the swamp’

"Donald Trump took office eight years ago, pledging to “drain the swamp” and end the domination of Washington influence peddlers.

Now, he’s opening his second term by rolling back prohibitions on executive branch employees accepting major gifts from lobbyists, and ditching bans on lobbyists seeking executive branch jobs or vice versa, for at least two years.

Trump issued a Day 1 executive order that rescinded one on ethics that former President Joe Biden signed when he took office in January 2021.

The new president also has been benefitting personally in the runup to his inauguration by launching a new cryptocurrency token that is soaring in value while his wife, first lady Melania Trump, has inked a deal to make a documentary with Amazon."