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Employee Drug Testing and the Future of Legal Substances in America

The United States recently began legalizing many substances, both for recreational and medical use that were previously considered taboo on a federal level. Now with these decisions up to the states, positive marijuana tests are up by almost 50% and each part of the country upholds a different standard for drug use. Drug testing laws also differ by state, and specifically employment drug testing laws have garnered attention in recent years. This uptick in marijuana usage poses a risk for vulnerable workers and creates a more dangerous work environment.

Employee Drug Testing and the Future of Legal Substances in America

Infographic Explores Biggest Influencer Lawsuits

Influencers are Internet celebrities who gather attention and interest and sometimes cause legal troubles. The team at LLC Attorney highlights the biggest legal cases against influencers, giving us a fascinating look into the world of influence.

Infographic Explores Biggest Influencer Lawsuits



A new rule released by The Federal Communications Commission is enabling state attorneys general to take action against illegal robocalls that use AI voice cloning technology.

 

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel expressed concern over the misuse of AI-generated voices in robocalls. The practices, she said, are being used to “extort vulnerable family members, imitate celebrities, and misinform voters.”

New Ruling by FCC Puts a Ban on Robocalls Using AI Voice Cloning Tech



A bill formed on the ‘AI Foundation Model Transparency Act’ has been issued by two lawmakers, that demands that creators of foundation AI models disclose sources of their training data for clarification of copyright.

 

The bill is developed in alignment with the Biden administration’s AI executive order. It has been released after recognizing the importance of training data transparency around copyright as an increase in lawsuits accusing AI companies of copyright infringement has been observed. Several concerns about inaccuracy, imprecision, and biased information have been raised against AI foundation models.

 

The lawmakers: Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Don Beyer (D-VA), would oversee the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as it works with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to determine rules around training data transparency. 

New Bill Requires Companies that Create AI Models to Report Copyrighted Training Data

 

14 Countries That Have Full Equal Rights for Women

According to the report Women, Business and the Law 2023, recently published by the World Bank, there are only 14 countries in the world which agree on full legal protections to women. Among them are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, as well as Germany and the Netherlands are the nations offering full equal rights for men and women, at least from a legal perspective.

14 Countries That Have Full Equal Rights for Women #Infographic



As per the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a new rule will require digital gatekeepers to ensure open markets in Europe. What this means for tech giant Apple is that it will begin allowing its users to install alternative app stores on iOS in the region; which is something that Apple has never before done, as it has only allowed access to its native App store on its devices.


 

Passing of the EU’s DMA law would also mean that Apple will have to allow installing of software downloaded from the web as well, which is what the company’s executives have previously termed as “a cybercriminal’s best friend.”

Apple Will Have to Allow Third-Party App Stores on iOS Devices in Response to Upcoming EU Law

  


Germany's Federal Cartel Office is carrying out proceedings against Apple over anti-competitive behavior related to its App Store, and other services and products. It will be decided in the proceedings if Apple’s ecosystem holds enough power to make it difficult for other companies to challenge it.

 

President of Germany's Federal Cartel Office, Andreas Mundt, explained that the focus of the investigations will be on examining Apple’s “extensive integration across several market levels, the magnitude of its technological and financial resources and its access to data.” He continued to say that the operation of the ‌App Store‌ will also be assessed, since it “enables Apple in many ways to influence the business activities of third parties.”

 

The main goal of the investigation is to prohibit the company from "engaging in anti-competitive practices" in case it is found to be of significance across markets.

Germany's Federal Cartel Office to Investigate Apple’s “Anti-Competitive Practices”

 


Bloomberg posted an updated article, which clarifies that the antitrust legislation prohibits Apple from preventing users from removing Apple-created apps on their Apple devices. While Apple does allow users to delete many of its own apps, it doesn’t allow the deletion of core apps like Messages, Photos, and Phone.

 

According to the proposed U.S. antitrust legislation released last week, Apple would not be allowed to sell its iPhones with its own apps installed. Instead, the company would offer other app options for users to install. The free Apple-created apps on iPhones currently include Messages, FaceTime, Calendar, Notes, and a few others.

 

Under the proposed antitrust legislation, this requirement would lead to a substantial change in Apple’s iPhone's setup process, which would become more complicated, less streamlined, and perhaps even more expensive if users were cued to purchase or subscribe to third-party apps and services to replicate Apple’s services at no cost.

Under Proposed US Antitrust Legislation, Apple Users Would be Able to Remove Pre-Installed Apple Apps

 


Facebook has been involved in the ongoing battle between Apple and Epic Games, and the social media company has been arguing with Apple over document requests as Facebook executive Vivek Sharma is set to testify on behalf of Epic.

 

Sharma plans to testify about Apple's restrictions on iOS app distribution, the App Store process, and Facebook's interactions with Apple. Apple, on the other hand, is asking for a "limited set of documents" required for a fair cross examination in relation to the procedure. Facebook has, however, refused to comply.

 

According to Facebook, producing tens of thousands of documents is an "untimely, unfair, and unjustified request to redo fact discovery," as Apple requires over 17,000 documents that it finds relevant to the case. Even though Facebook has already provided Apple with a total of more than 1,600 documents, 200 out of which are apparently relevant to Sharma, the tech giant has objected that they are not sufficient.

Court Denies Apple’s Demands to Compel Facebook to Produce Additional Documents Amidst the Epic Vs. Apple Battle

 


Following the Australian Government’s action towards making changes to its proposed Media Bargaining Code, Facebook has announced its agreement to restore the Pages of Australian news publishers on its platform. The company is getting more time to negotiate separate deals with publishers and as a result, it would be able to launch Facebook News in the region.

 

“After further discussions, we are satisfied that the government has agreed to a number of changes and guarantees that address our core concerns about allowing commercial deals that recognize the value our platform provides to publishers relative to the value we receive from them," Facebook said in a statement about the new agreement.


A total of four amendments have been made to the Australian Government’s proposed code, among which, the main addition suggests that "A decision to designate a platform under the code must take into account whether a digital platform has made a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian news industry through reaching commercial agreements with news media businesses."

Australian Government’s Code Amendments Allow Facebook to Restore Pages of Australian News Publishers

 


Australia proposed a new law, according to which Google is required to pay news publishers for their content. Google responded saying that it would take down its search engine from the country if the law goes into effect.

 

VP of Google Australia and New Zealand Mel Silva told Australia’s Senate Economics Legislation Committee that the company would have no choice but to “stop making Google Search available in Australia.”

 

Google has been lobbying against Australia’s plan for months and argues that Australia’s new law would set an “untenable precedent” for its business as well as the digital economy. “It’s not compatible with how search engines work,” the company argued.


Australian Prime Minister didn’t sit back and immediately responded with a straightforward statement. “Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That’s done in our Parliament. It’s done by our government. And that’s how things work here in Australia,” said the Prime Minister.

Google Threatens to Pull Away its Search Engine from Australia

 


Ankara had generated a new social media law under which social media companies were required to appoint local representatives in Turkey. However, Twitter, Pinterest, and Periscope failed to comply with the policy, leading to Ankara imposing advertising bans on these companies.

 

The law states that social media companies that do not appoint local representatives are liable for a series of penalties and allows authorities to remove content from platforms, instead of blocking access as they did previously.

 

Turkey Imposes Advertisement Ban on Twitter and Pinterest

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