Pernicious

• Congress has repeatedly declined to erase such debt, and the Department of Education lacks legal authority to do so unilaterally.
• NCLA calls for an end to this latest Biden Administration attempt at subverting the rule of law to erase student loan debt.
• The Department’s new proposal, published in April after negotiated rulemaking, would cancel specific loans held under the Federal Family Education Loan program, the Direct Loan program, the Perkins Loan program, and the Health Education Assistance Loan program.
• The Department claims a section of the Higher Education Act of 1965 gives the Secretary of Education unfettered power to cancel any federally-held student loan debt.

• CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., April 19, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vaxxinity, Inc. (“Vaxxinity”, “we”, “us” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: VAXX), a U.S. company pioneering the development of a new class of medicines, today announced issued a letter to shareholders from its Co-founder and Executive Chairman, Lou Reese and Chief Executive Officer, Mei Mei Hu.
• Choosing to go public is a path many pursue primarily to obtain access to greater institutional pools of capital.
• Given these dynamics, after careful consideration, the Board of Directors of Vaxxinity has determined that being a private company will give us significantly more opportunity and flexibility going forward to deliver shareholder value and patient impact.
• We have shown that Vaxxinity can create vaccines that are as good, if not better, than those already in the market.

The Federal Trade Commission today announced a final rule extending telemarketing fraud protections to businesses and updating the rule’s recordkeeping requirements in light of developments in technology and the marketplace. The Commission also announced a proposed rule that would provide the agency with significant new tools to combat tech support scams.

• Both actions are part of the Commission’s current review of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), which includes the Do Not Call Registry (DNC) rules and provisions banning nearly all telemarketing robocalls to consumers.
• Importantly, the FTC also affirms the TSR’s prohibitions on robocalls using voice cloning technology.

The Current Regulatory Review

Both the final rulemaking and notice of proposed rulemaking announced today stem from the Commission’s regulatory review of the TSR and address public comments received as part of that review. In April 2022, the FTC proposed extending telemarketing protections to businesses and strengthening safeguards against other pernicious telemarking tactics plaguing consumers. The final rule announced today implements updates that:

The Tech Support Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

• The notice of proposed rulemaking announced today proposes amending the TSR to extend its coverage to inbound telemarketing calls involving technical support services.
• The proposed amendment is needed due to the widespread deception and consumer injury caused by tech support scams, including those in which consumers call supposed tech support operations in response to advertising.
• The Commission also is seeking comments on a proposed definition of tech support scams.

• Already, deepfakes are being used to spread election disinformation , capitalize on unsanctioned imitations of musicians , and create nonconsensual pornography of minors , private citizens, and celebrities alike.
• Policymakers should hold people accountable for producing unauthorized deepfakes of creator performances and hold platforms accountable if they knowingly disseminate such unauthorized content.
• Solving the problems posed by deepfakes will require thoughtful, whole-of-society approaches leveraging both changes in law and technology.
• IBM encourages policymakers to seize this opportunity to swiftly target three of the most significant harmful applications of deepfakes to ensure that AI remains a positive force for the global economy and society.