Keep up with the innovative tech transforming business
Tech Brew keeps business leaders up-to-date on the latest innovations, automation advances, policy shifts, and more, so they can make informed decisions about tech.
Agtech is probably pretty happy with recent news from the Hill. Google? Maybe not so much. Here’s our dispatch from the intersection of tech and politics for last week:
Big Tech in the spotlight: The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from academic experts and trade organizations in support of a bill that’s likely to make Big Tech squirm: The Advertising Middlemen Endangering Rigorous Internet Competition Accountability Act, or the AMERICA Act. (Woof. Perhaps they could’ve workshopped that name a little bit more…)
According to a fact sheet shared by bill sponsors, the proposed legislation would prohibit digital advertising companies from “owning more than one part of the digital ad ecosystem” if they process more than $20 billion in digital ad transactions (a threshold easily cleared by the likes of Google and Meta).
The AMERICA Act, which has bipartisan support, “would most likely require Google and Facebook to divest significant portions of their advertising businesses,” the fact sheet states.
Eyes overhead: The House of Representatives passed legislation that would require the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a review of its satellite rules and determine whether changes could be made to promote precision agriculture (also referred to as “GPS agriculture” or “variable-rate farming”).
“Today’s smart-agriculture technology, from autonomous tractors and distributed soil sensors, rely on internet connections to share data,” Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH), the bill’s sponsor, said while speaking in support of the bill from the House floor last week.
“Farmers use information in real time to make smarter decisions on how to optimize inputs and whether and when to plant or harvest,” he continued. “And when terrestrial or cellular networks are not available, satellite broadband steps in to make these technologies work.”
The Precision Agriculture Satellite Connectivity Act, passed by the House on May 4, now heads to the Senate.
Ridin’ solo: Adam Kovacevich, the CEO and founder of The Chamber of Progress, a tech lobbying group, penned a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on May 1 asking if he would pretty please help the autonomous-vehicle industry beat out China for the top spot.
“The United States faces the possibility of falling behind China in AI-powered autonomous vehicles unless significant steps are taken to support this sector, create thousands of advanced automotive jobs in the United States, and ensure the US’s leadership in the field,” Kovacevich wrote.
Specifically, the group is calling for legislation that would nix per-company caps on the number of “custom-built” autonomous vehicles and update Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.