At a glance.
- US judge says warrants required for phone searches at border.
- Developments in the AI regulation debate.
- How US budget decisions could impact CISA and DHS.
- Canada and US to collaborate on contractor cybersecurity.
US judge says warrants required for phone searches at border.
A US court has determined for the first time that authorities need a warrant to search US citizens' phones at the US border. The Fourth Amendment protects US citizens from warrantless searches, but current border law gives US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) the authority to search anyone within one hundred miles of an American national line. As the American Civil Liberties Union has pointed out, that covers about two-thirds of the nation’s population, and advocacy groups have been fighting to limit these warrantless searches. In the case, the Register explains, defendant Jatiek Smith was detained by CBP after a trip from Jamaica and forced to hand over his phone, which was reviewed and imaged without a warrant. Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York wrote in his decision, "Copying and searching a traveler’s phone during a border crossing bears little resemblance to traditional physical border searches historically permitted without probable cause under the Fourth Amendment’s 'border search exception…As such, the court concludes that the government may not copy and search an American citizen's cellphone at the border without a warrant absent exigent circumstances.” Advocacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) issued a statement applauding the verdict. "EFF is thrilled about this decision, given that we have been advocating for a warrant for border searches of electronic devices in the courts and Congress for nearly a decade," said Sophia Cope, EFF senior staff attorney.
Developments in the AI regulation debate.
Many tech leaders and artificial intelligence experts have recently expressed their concerns about the perils of AI, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Jen Easterly has a message for them. “If you actually think that these capabilities can lead to extinction of humanity, well, let's come together and do something about it,” Easterly said yesterday at an Axios News Shapers event in Washington. “While we're trying to put a regulatory framework in place, think about self-regulation. Think about what you can do to slow this down." As VOA notes, her message came just a day after three hundred fifty researchers and tech execs released a one-sentence statement summing up their worries about AI on the Center for AI Safety's website. “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” they stated.
EU and US lawmakers met in Sweden at a US-EU Trade and Technology Council gathering this week to discuss AI regulation, and Bloomberg reports that the debate has US government officials divided. While some White House and Commerce Department officials see the need to reign in AI development, national security officials and some State Department reps fear regulation could stifle development and give China an edge over the US. As a result, US officials were unable to present a united opinion on the EU’s proposed AI regulation, which would subject generative AI to additional rules and require AI developers to be transparent about the materials and data used to train the tech.
Meanwhile, Young Bang, principal deputy assistant secretary of the US Army for acquisition, logistics, and technology, says officials are considering legislation that would require tech developers to be more transparent about how they’re using AI. As Federal Times explains, tech makers would be asked to submit a list of the AI components in their software, similar to existing software bill of materials (or SBOM) requirements. “We’re toying with the notion of an AI BOM.” Bang stated at Technical Exchange Meeting X, a May defense industry conference. “Just like we’re securing our supply chain — semiconductors, components, subcomponents — we’re also thinking about that from a digital perspective. So we’re looking at software, data and AI.” The Defense Department currently has nearly seven hundred AI-related projects in the works, more than two hundred of which are being overseen by the Army.
Hanjo Kim, SVP of Global Strategy and Head of Medicinal Chemistry at Standigm, an AI drug-discovery company, advocates clarity about where natural, human intelligence should be given a role in AI applications. “It is vital to recognize the importance of human intervention in using AI tools like ChatGPT. We use a phrase called 'human-in-the-loop' to describe an automated system dependent on human input and supervision. I think this concept is more critical to the narrow AI models such as generative chemistry models." Kim adds, "AI tools are only as powerful as the data that feeds them and the humans that guide them, and when it comes to acquiring the best data possible in the proper contexts, humans are still very much the experts. Take our work at Standigm, for example, where we combine the expertise of science and tech professionals with powerful algorithms to help them sort through millions of pieces of data that help generate new drug compound designs. As data for generative chemistry models will never be enough like language or image models, this situation will last a long time.”
How US budget decisions could impact CISA and DHS.
During the Axios news event in DC, CISA Director Jen Easterly also spoke about the future of her agency’s budget, Meritalk reports. When asked about the debt ceiling agreement being debated this week in Congress, she stated, “I was really encouraged about the deal” Easterly said, referring to the debt ceiling agreement in principle, and “look forward to that being passed.” As for CISA’s budget, she noted that bipartisan support makes her optimistic her agency will receive the funding necessary to continue its work. “Since I came on board, our budget has grown by a billion dollars, we’ve hired 1,105 people, been good stewards of that budget,” she said. “I believe we will get the resources that we need to help defend the nation in cyber.”
The fiscal future is less clear for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). While The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 makes defense spending a priority, it classifies much of DHS’s work as “nonsecurity.” The budget deal calls for cuts in domestic spending, and as the Atlantica Council explains, that means DHS will have to compete with other domestic programs like nutrition programs, domestic law enforcement, and housing initiatives for funding. This could leave many areas of domestic security, including cybersecurity, with less financial support compared to last year.
Canada and US to collaborate on contractor cybersecurity.
Canada’s defense minister announced yesterday that it will partner with the US to create a cybersecurity certification framework for defense contractors. As Reuters reports, the framework will be identical to the US’s, allowing contractors working in both countries to only certify once. Referencing the president of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand stated, "Putin's war on Ukraine has reminded all of us that the cyber domain is crucial to our national security. Here at home, malicious cyber activities have targeted defence contractors and subcontractors across Canada, leaving classified information vulnerable."