What's Next crossroads between law and tech. ACLU's calling out of Amazon legal actions underway 3D printer blueprints for guns soon embrace the blockchain? news tips, events, or wisdom Drop me a line [email protected] @IanMichaelLopez

➤➤ Would you like to receive What's Next as an email? Click here. Or subscribe to our new RSS feed.

Face Off: Amazon Tech Can't Parse Congressmen from Crooks

a case of mistaken identity mixing up lawmakers with alleged lawbreakers a test carried out by the ACLU Amazon's “Rekognition” ran the facial recognition software on photos of members of Congress Rekognition disproportionately botched the matching people of color why Congress should join the ACLU a moratorium on law enforcement use Facial recognition has certainly “lost face” CEO Brad Smith greater government oversight Facebook has been battling class actions Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act Congress itself has weighed in a letter to 39 federal law enforcement agencies Ars Technica reports CNET reports sent a letter directly to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos particularly in communities of color.” raised eyebrows at Amazon AI manager Matt Wood seemed to dismiss the study “far too low” to ensure “accurate identification of individuals,” a 99 percent confidence level “misidentification rate dropped to zero,” Wood's rebuttal misses some key points Gizmodo's Sidney Fussel who writes a “rock solid case” against giving Rekognition to law enforcement the enormous racial disparity uncovered by the ACLU.”  Looking Ahead:  step into the contentious debate the government to weigh in But is legislation coming?

On the Radar: Three Things to Know

Lawmakers Take Up Arms Against Downloadable Guns.  3D printers June settlement with the State Department sued the Trump Administration Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton Tweeted a bill Pennsylvania New Jersey A Chance to Solve the Bitcoin Mystery? may yet be illuminated an $11 billion lawsuit Florida's Southern District. the true identity of “Satoshi Nakamoto,” defendant Craig Wright claims to be the elusive Nakamoto plaintiff Ira Kleiman Dave Kleiman entitle his brother's estate up to 1.1 million bitcoins  Wright's team isn't giving up without a fight U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom  whether the suit will survive a motion to dismiss Facebook's Legal Fallout Continues. went into a freefall massive stock plunge. suit filed on behalf of a proposed class n New York's Southern District  purchased stock in the beleaguered social media giant FB bigwigs “made materially false and misleading statements” including its getting up to par with GDPR requirements. filed suit in Delaware this week access to board documents alleged mistreatment of user data.  Facebook GC Colin Stretch is de-friending the company announced his planned departure

Network Effect: A Blockchain for Big Law?

Baker & Hostetler and at least a handful of other firms  “The Agreements Network.” the blockchain for legal services  CIO Bob Craig . “test legal agreements workflow in the automotive sector” There's more:  the firm is testing requirements a validator node blockchain's “thumbs up” for executing an agreement tweaking use-cases for large corporations Wal Mart's partnering with IBM for a blockchain food supply chain Looking Ahead: law loves to talk about blockchain. (Dentons, Linklaters, and DLA Piper to name a few). developed its own smart contract language taken an open source approach Keep an eye on the space, more firms are signing up.
That's it for this week! Keep plugged in with What's Next.