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Eric Null

@nullset.bsky.social

Public policy (tech/privacy) by day, everything else by night Co-Director Privacy & Data Program, Center for Democracy & Technology, @cendemtech.bsky.social. Views expressed here are mine: hastily adopted, uninformed, and deeply held. He/him!

1,152 Followers  |  353 Following  |  373 Posts  |  Joined: 27.05.2023  |  1.6832

Latest posts by nullset.bsky.social on Bluesky

In which a law firm lawyer cites _only himself_ in witness testimony in front of the House Education/Workforce committee. #ArtificialIntelligence #AI

republicans-edlabor.house.gov/UploadedFile...

04.02.2026 19:24 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt to advocate for Section 230 reform at Capitol on Wednesday Joseph Gordon-Levitt is taking on Big Tech with a trip to the Capitol to call for reforms to a law that shields companies from lawsuits over user-generated content.Β  The β€œ500 Days of Summer&#…

Joseph Gordon-Levitt could be fighting #BigTech by pushing for comprehensive #privacy legislation that actually limits their influence/power over us. Instead, he wants to repeal #Section230, which will only embolden the very companies he supposedly hates.

thehill.com/blogs/in-the...

04.02.2026 13:48 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

had to laugh a little at this. my goodness.

03.02.2026 15:56 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Consumer Injuries and Benefits in the Data-Driven Economy The Workshop on Consumer Injuries and Benefits in the Data-Driven Economy will bring together economists, academics, and other experts to examine how the agency can better understand and measure co

The FTC is planning to host a data harms/benefits workshop on Feb 26. Panels are all academics. We will be watching closely.

www.ftc.gov/news-events/...

#Privacy
#ArtificialIntelligence
#Advertising

02.02.2026 14:25 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Message from "Signal Support" Dear User, this is Signal Security Support ChatBot. Our system has detected a recent login attempt to your account from an unrecognized device or location. As a security measure, we have blocked this attempt and sent a verification code via SMS to your registered phone number. If this was NOT you: To secure your account and block this unauthorized access, please reply to this message with the verification code you just received. If this WAS you: You can safely ignore this message. The login attempt will be automatically approved shortly. Thank you for helping us keep your account secure.

Signal will never message you like this.

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DO NOT GIVE THEM THAT CODE.

26.01.2026 02:16 β€” πŸ‘ 1997    πŸ” 1307    πŸ’¬ 16    πŸ“Œ 12

FTC waiting music sounds a bit like "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk.

#AgeVerifyFTC

28.01.2026 19:53 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

how many more people are going to argue that "we don't let kids buy alcohol" without recognizing that access to *information* on the internet is very different (constitutionally etc) than purchasing a product in the real world?

#AgeVerifyFTC
#Privacy
#AgeVerification

28.01.2026 18:43 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

the FTC could have these kinds of statements too! if only there were minority commissioners.

28.01.2026 16:13 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

really wish there were a Democratic FTC commissioner who could call out the ways Meador is wrong or misleading. I fear we may never have minority commissioners again, unfortunately.

#AgeVerifyFTC
#Privacy
#AgeVerification

28.01.2026 15:54 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

as usual, speakers go way over so they cut more than half the break.

breaks are important, we all need a mental stop. why do we always cut breaks?

#AgeVerifyFTC

28.01.2026 15:40 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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App for Quitting Porn Leaked Users' Masturbation Habits Hundreds of thousands of users told the app intimate details about their sexual urges, which are now exposed.

This certainly doesn't seem good, especially as the FTC holds a workshop on age verification...

www.404media.co/app-for-quit...

#AgeVerifyFTC
#Privacy
#COPPA

28.01.2026 14:12 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2

did he just dox himself?

27.01.2026 19:33 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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On International Privacy Day, the FTC Should Confront the Privacy Risks of Age Verification Wednesday is International Privacy Day, and ironically, it’s also the day the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is holding a workshop to explore β€œhow to deploy age verification more widely.” Accordi...

In addition to *everything else*, the FTC will host a workshop on age verification on Wednesday, which is also international privacy day. @npdoty.techpolicy.social.ap.brid.gy, @nullset.bsky.social and I had a few suggestions on what the FTC should focus on to protect users: cdt.org/insights/on-...

26.01.2026 19:46 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Careers Current Openingsfind yourself engaged in passionate discussions about privacy policies? Are you yearning to put your expertise to work on internet neutrality legislation? If so, you might be a great f...

I'm hiring a senior policy analyst/counsel for the privacy & data team at CDT!

"Inquire within"

20.01.2026 19:47 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Age Verification Workshop The Age Verification Workshop will bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, including researchers, academics, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and government regulators, to disc

More details on the #AgeVerification FTC workshop next week. Not a *lot* of opposition to age verification generally, but at least some panelists will bring some well-needed nuance!

#Privacy #ArtificialIntelligence

21.01.2026 17:43 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

(I'm not listening but) oral args are usually live here www.supremecourt.gov/oral_argumen...

21.01.2026 15:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Careers Current Openingsfind yourself engaged in passionate discussions about privacy policies? Are you yearning to put your expertise to work on internet neutrality legislation? If so, you might be a great f...

I'm hiring a senior policy analyst/counsel for the privacy & data team at CDT!

"Inquire within"

20.01.2026 19:47 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

wonder if that bus driver went through an AI-heavy hiring process...

20.01.2026 18:38 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I worked in trademark law for a little while and I was told explicitly many times that "trademark" is NOT a verb.

16.01.2026 22:20 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

And sure enough, OpenAI just announced it would be introducing ads to ChatGPT.

Good thing @mbogen.bsky.social & I wrote about the incentives this would create for AI companies, and how those incentives were likely to shape the user experience. TL;DR: it's not great!

#itsthebusinessmodel

16.01.2026 19:32 β€” πŸ‘ 50    πŸ” 29    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 2

Fourth, both the Senate and the House released bipartisan reports on AI in 2024, the House’s in particular being very detailed. Does this bill address the issues identified in those reports? It doesn’t seem like it. More to come once I can review the bill!

19.12.2025 23:36 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I still am quite opposed to AI preemption and it’s not hard to see why: Congress continues to disappoint and act opportunistically, while states are steadfastly and seriously working on how to protect their residents. Plus, where’s the federal privacy bill?

19.12.2025 23:36 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Third, preemption, the million dollar question. This bill would apparently preempt any state AI laws that aren’t generally-applicable, similar to the June/July reconciliation language.

19.12.2025 23:36 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Second, w/kids-specific protections comes online age verification, likely a vast expansion of it, resulting in extreme loss of privacy for all Americans. I generally oppose age verification overall, but this framework does not even appear to include safeguards for privacy in age verification.

19.12.2025 23:35 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The PRA’s inclusion is frustrating because of its unintended consequences. In this context, it may kill all existing AI systems, most are trained on crawled data (w/o consent). It's also further proof that Rs are inconsistent – they oppose PRAs in privacy, and support them here and elsewhere.

19.12.2025 23:35 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The sole general (non-kid) #privacy provision in this bill, AFAICT, is a private right of action (PRA) for individuals whose data was used, without consent, to train AI.

19.12.2025 23:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

A few thoughts, though caveat I haven’t seen the bill. First, THERE IS STILL NO MOVEMENT ON PRIVACY LEGISLATION. We NEED privacy legislation before we can meaningfully understand the AI harms that persist after such protections, and moving on AI before privacy is putting the cart before the horse.

19.12.2025 23:34 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

kids-related protections on AI chatbots, conservative bias, FAISI & NAIRR, federal lands for data centers, copyright, AI training, America-first chips, and more...

19.12.2025 23:33 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The bill is ambitious, covering duty of care on AI developers, risk assessments including of catastrophic/existential risk, transparency reporting, jobs reporting, section 230 amendments, incentives to provide tools for under-17s to prevent (for example) suicide and sex trafficking...

19.12.2025 23:33 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Friday news dump: Sen. Blackburn has released a section-by-section for an upcoming AI framework bill that is apparently designed to break the logjam on AI legislation and preemption.

www.blackburn.senate.gov/services/fil...

19.12.2025 23:32 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

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