Worldwide: IT and Internet

Artificial intelligence may live in the cloud, but the underlying infrastructure that makes it possible for AI to perform is decidedly physical—and increasingly power hungry.

California's Senate Bill 690 represents a pivotal legislative response to the explosion of website-tracking lawsuits under the California Invasion of Privacy Act, specifically targeting claims brought under the pen-register provision that have generated thousands of cases since 2022. While the bill would eliminate private plaintiffs' ability to pursue these particular claims involving digital tracking technologies, it leaves other CIPA provisions intact and raises questions about how the litigation landscap

California's new Senate Bill 867 prohibits the manufacture and sale of children's toys containing AI companion chatbots, marking a significant shift in how states regulate AI-enabled consumer products. The legislation treats conversational AI functionality as an integral part of product safety rather than a separate digital service, potentially reshaping liability exposure for manufacturers, retailers, and AI vendors across the supply chain.

On this week’s Simply Trade, Cindy Allen borrows from Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department to capture where trade compliance stands. In short, it’s a wave of tariff changes, enforcement activity, and advancing technology.

California's 1967 wiretapping law has become the basis for thousands of lawsuits against businesses using common website tracking tools like Google Analytics and Meta pixels. With conflicting court rulings creating legal chaos, a pivotal appellate case and legislative reform bill could finally resolve whether cookies and analytics constitute illegal surveillance under the California Invasion of Privacy Act.

Canada has announced new retaliatory tariffs taking effect September 8. In a special episode of Simply Trade, host Lalo Solorzano talks with Canadian trade expert Kim Campbell and Section 338 expert Mollie Sitkowski about what’s changing and what importers should do now.

Companies face increasing dependency on single ERP vendors like Oracle and SAP, creating significant risks around data control, forced upgrades, and price escalation. Understanding vendor lock-in dynamics and implementing strategic negotiation tactics can transform this dependency from a vulnerability into a position of leverage.

Recent court cases reveal how hidden text in legal documents can manipulate AI systems used by courts and law firms, exposing vulnerabilities that range from biased document summaries to credential theft. Three incidents across different jurisdictions demonstrate escalating security risks as the legal system increasingly adopts AI tools without adequate safeguards.

Otter.ai faces allegations of violating Illinois's biometric privacy law and wiretapping statutes through its AI notetaker tool, which records and transcribes virtual meetings while allegedly using participant data to train AI models without consent. A California court recently allowed these claims to proceed, finding that Otter's commercial...