| Date | Title | Description |
| Sign up to see | Sign up to see | Sign up to see |
| Apr 9, 2025 | The Battle for the Internet: Censorship vs. Innovation | The internet is a vast ocean. It’s a place where ideas flow freely, where voices rise and fall like waves. But now, a storm brews on the horizon. Congress is once again considering site-blocking legislation. This isn’t just a minor squall; ... |
| Apr 7, 2025 | Site-Blocking Legislation Is Back. It’s Still A Terrible Idea. | More than a decade ago, Congress tried to pass SOPA and PIPA—two sweeping bills that would have allowed the government and copyright holders to quickly shut down entire websites based on allegations of piracy. The backlash was immediate and... |
| Jan 5, 2025 | The Capitol's Silent Honor: A Plaque Unveiled in Political Shadows | In the heart of Washington, D.C., a battle rages not just in the halls of Congress but in the realm of memory and honor. The Capitol, a symbol of democracy, stands as a silent witness to the events of January 6, 2021. On that day, officers ... |
| Jan 3, 2025 | National Politics | ‘At this point, I have no hope’: Injured officers, Democrats still waiting for Jan. 6 plaque | Congress is required to put up a plaque honoring officers who protected the Capitol that day, thanks to a provision in the fiscal 2022 spending law. The plaque was to be placed “at a permanent location” on the West Front, where the fighting... |
| Jul 25, 2024 | The Crossroads of Leadership: Biden's 2024 Dilemma**
** | ** The political landscape is shifting. President Biden stands at a crossroads, with a growing chorus of voices urging him to step aside in the 2024 race. This isn't just a whisper; it's a wave. Nine House Democrats and two senators have jo... |
| Jul 19, 2024 | More Democrats join wave of lawmakers calling on Biden to drop out of 2024 race | Washington — Nine more House Democrats and two Democratic senators have joined the growing ranks of their colleagues urging President Biden to drop his reelection bid, as the pressure campaign against the president shows no sign of subsidin... |
| May 27, 2024 | Congress defies its own law, fails to install plaque honoring Jan. 6 police officers | In a Congress stuck in gridlock, legislators have grown accustomed to sluggishness in their Capitol Hill work. But Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who has represented a Northern California Bay Area district since 1995, is infuriated... |
| Sep 14, 2023 | U.S. Immigrant Entrepreneurs Also Lured To Canada | Aditi Pandit holds her daughter, Yashmak Pandit, during a citizenship ceremony held at the Royal ... [+] Canadian Navy local reserve division HMCS York. New research shows Canada’s startup visa policy has encouraged immigrants in the U.S. t... |
| May 19, 2022 | DOJ says it will no longer prosecute good-faith hackers under CFAA | The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday it will not bring charges under federal hacking laws against security researchers and hackers who act in good faith.
The policy for the first time “directs that good-faith security research sho... |
| Apr 25, 2022 | The Immigrant Entrepreneur Who Brought Condoms To America | Among the condom brands manufactured by immigrant entrepreneur Julius Schmid were Fourex, Ramses and ... [+] Sheik. Wm Morford Auctions Morfauction.com |
| Apr 7, 2022 | Immigrant Ph.D. Measure Could Aid National Security And U.S. Economy | Immigrant scientist Katalin Kariko delivers a speech after receiving the Princesa de Asturias award ... [+] for Scientific and Technical Research during the 2021 Princess of Asturias award ceremony at the Reconquista Hotel in Oviedo, in Spa... |
| Feb 7, 2022 | House Passes Bill With More Measures For Immigrants In STEM Fields | The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Getty Images |
| Jan 27, 2022 | House Adds ‘Game-Changing’ Visas For Immigrant Startups And Ph.D.s | The U.S. Capitol is shown June 5, 2003, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Stefan Zaklin/Getty Images) Getty Images |
| Jan 25, 2022 | Speak Up: Reflecting On The SOPA Debate From Inside The Capitol | Register now for our online event featuring the author of this post, Rep. Zoe Lofgren » |
| Sep 22, 2021 | Dear Sophie: What’s the difference between IEP and the latest proposed startup visa? | Sophie Alcorn Contributor
Share on Twitter
Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for Entrepreneur Immigration Services.” She connects... |
| Aug 4, 2021 | Dear Sophie: Which immigration options allow me to launch my own startup? | Sophie Alcorn Contributor
Share on Twitter
Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for Entrepreneur Immigration Services.” She connects... |
| Jun 30, 2021 | Congressional Leadership Realizing That 'Big Tech' Antitrust Bills Aren't Ready For Prime Time | As you’ve now heard, there’s a big push in Congress to revise how antitrust works. A group of mostly Democratic House members (with a few Republicans on board) introduced a questionable package of antitrust bills, with many, many problems. ... |
| Jun 30, 2021 | Congressional Leadership Realizing That 'Big Tech' Antitrust Bills Aren't Ready For Prime Time | As you've now heard, there's a big push in Congress to revise how antitrust works. A group of mostly Democratic House members (with a few Republicans on board) introduced a questionable package of antitrust bills, with many, many problems. ... |
| Jun 30, 2021 | Techdirt Podcast Episode 288: Rep. Zoe Lofgren Sees Problems On Every Page Of These Antitrust Bills | We’ve been talking a lot about the huge effort in Congress to pass new antitrust laws targeting big tech companies, and all the issues these proposals have. This week, we’ve got an insider perspective on just what’s going on with antitrust ... |
| Jun 30, 2021 | Techdirt Podcast Episode 288: Rep. Zoe Lofgren Sees Problems On Every Page Of These Antitrust Bills | We've been talking a lot about the huge effort in Congress to pass new antitrust laws targeting big tech companies, and all the issues these proposals have. This week, we've got an insider perspective on just what's going on with antitrust ... |
| Jun 17, 2021 | Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wants to create a new agency to deal with data privacy | Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is introducing a revamped version of her Data Protection Act, which would create a new government agency in charge of regulating and enforcing federal privacy laws — the ones we have now as well as any we migh... |
| May 24, 2021 | Rep. Zoe Lofgren Recognizes The Nuances And Complexities Of Regulating Internet Companies | It's taken as given among many politicians (and much of the media) that "something must be done" about "big tech" companies. The public seems a lot less concerned about it all. Unfortunately, as we've noted repeatedly, m... |
| May 24, 2021 | Rep. Zoe Lofgren Recognizes The Nuances And Complexities Of Regulating Internet Companies | It’s taken as given among many politicians (and much of the media) that “something must be done” about “big tech” companies. The public seems a lot less concerned about it all. Unfortunately, as we’ve noted repeatedly, many in the governmen... |
| Mar 10, 2021 | This Democrat and ex-Microsoft employee has a federal privacy bill Republicans might actually like | Is 2021 the year we’ll finally get a federal consumer privacy law? Barring another worldwide disaster, all signs point to yes — or at the very least, some significant progress toward one. Several senators and representatives who introduced ... |
| Mar 1, 2021 | Immigration Bill Shows Need To End Employment-Based Immigrant Backlog | High-skilled foreign nationals, including doctors and engineers, rally on Capitol Hill in ... [+] Washington, D.C., to protest long delays in getting green cards on September 18, 2007, in Washington, D.C. The employment-based green card bac... |
| Nov 4, 2020 | California just strengthened its digital privacy protections even more | The California ballot measure Proposition 24, or the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), has passed, pushing the state even further ahead of the rest of America when it comes to data privacy legislation.
CPRA adds to California’s existing... |
| Aug 10, 2020 | Rep. Zoe Lofgren to talk privacy and policy at Disrupt 2020 | We’re excited to announce that Rep. Zoe Lofgren is coming to Disrupt 2020 this September 14-18.
Lofgren, a Democrat congresswoman and California native, has served at the heart of Silicon Valley since she was first elected to the U.S. House... |
| May 30, 2020 | The Specter of FISA Reform Haunts Capitol Hill | A ghost haunts the hallowed halls of Capitol Hill. Members catch glimpses of it occasionally—behind a majestic mahogany desk, or floating mystically near the Statue of Freedom. But just when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Mitch... |
| May 21, 2020 | Congress Has No Idea How Much Web Browsing Data the FBI Collects | With Congress looking to renew the PATRIOT Act, privacy advocates are scrambling to re-attach a provision that would prevent law enforcement agencies from collecting Americans’ web histories without a warrant.
But as usual, fighting the gov... |
| Jun 5, 2018 | How Congress Can De-Escalate the Second Crypto War: Fund Research and Broker a Crypto Armistice | There’s been a flurry of encryption news over the past few months. In February, the National Academies released a report that discussed early-stage research into the design of secure cryptographic systems that would nevertheless allow the g... |
| May 21, 2018 | Real Security Begins At Home (On Your Smartphone) | When the FBI sued Apple a couple of years ago to compel Apple’s help in cracking an iPhone 5c belonging to alleged terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook, the lines seemed clearly drawn. On the one hand, the U.S. government was asserting its right (u... |
| Dec 6, 2017 | The Strange Fight Over Who Should Take John Conyers Spot Atop The Judiciary Committee | As you may have heard, Rep. John Conyers recently stepped down from his role as Ranking Member (basically top member of the minority party) on the powerful House Judiciary Committee, and this week has announced his retirement, in response t... |
| Nov 21, 2017 | An Alternative Conclusion: A Response to Lawfare’s Google Survey Results on the Surveillance State | Apathetic. That’s how Americans feel about the surveillance state, according to analysis published in Lawfare recently. The analysis, set against the backdrop of impending reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveilla... |
| Apr 25, 2017 | Why Is Congress In Such A Rush To Strip The Library Of Congress Of Oversight Powers On The Copyright Office? | In the past few weeks, we’ve written a few times about this weird urgency among some in Congress to rush through a pretty major change to Copyright Office oversight. I wrote a deep dive piece over at The Verge discussing the issues at play,... |
| Feb 8, 2017 | How These 3 Bills Could Make It Much Harder to Hire Foreign Workers | Startups and small businesses that depend on skilled foreign workers may soon find new restrictions for the visa program they’ve relied on for decades.
Three bills pending in Congress are taking aim at the popular H-1B visa program, created... |
| Jan 30, 2017 | Report: Trump plans H-1B and other work visa reforms | As the tech world continues its strong opposition to the executive order that has restricted entry to the U.S. from seven predominantly Muslim countries, it appears the Trump administration is gearing up for chapter two.
According to a repo... |
| Sep 13, 2016 | Why Central Americans Keep Coming | Over the past eleven months, 42,405 Central American unaccompanied children under the age of eighteen have been picked up by the U.S. Border Patrol, in addition to another 61,575 families. That’s on top of the plain old adults, who likely t... |
| Jul 14, 2016 | Child Migrants Will Be Released from Family Detention Centers, But What About Their Parents? | A poster from an immigration protest in 2013. Photo by Flickr user Annette Bernhardt
For the past two years, Central American migrants have come to the United States in droves, fleeing warlike violence in their home countries to reach safet... |
| Feb 18, 2016 | Lawmakers Speak Out On Apple Being Forced To Create Backdoors; Some Wisely, Some Ignorantly | Everyone’s talking about the big legal fight that magistrate judge Sheri Pym has kicked off by ordering Apple to build a backdoor into an iPhone to get around security tools that would block attempts to decrypt the contents of the phone. As... |
| Dec 12, 2015 | Congresswoman Asks Feds Why They Pressured a Library to Disable Its Tor Node | A Congresswoman from California is questioning Department of Homeland Security officials who put pressure on a local public library to take down the relay node it had set up for the anonymity network Tor.
You may recall back in September, w... |
| Oct 30, 2015 | DOD Was Apparently Sending Trademark Notices To Veterans Groups Over Military Seals | Honor our troops and veterans. It?s something we hear a lot, especially in times of war. And while our troops and vets certainly do deserve to be honored, it appears the DOD hasn?t gotten the memo. |
| Aug 13, 2015 | The US Government Is Spending Millions to Illegally Lock Up Immigrant Families | It was a scramble for survival: tens of thousands of women and kids streaming across the southern border, bolting from Central American nations where rape and murder rates had reached heights typically only seen in countries facing civil wa... |
| Jun 10, 2015 | Amendment Blocking Backdoor Searches, Backdooring Encryption To Be Added To Defense Funding Bill | In the last few weeks, we’ve pointed out that the House of Representatives have been attaching a bunch of interesting amendments to appropriations bills to block surveillance. Last week, for example, there was overwhelming support for an am... |
| May 13, 2015 | House Votes For USA Freedom Act By Overwhelming Margin; Now Up To The Senate | Showing that Congress realizes that at least something needs to be done to reform the surveillance state, the House voted overwhelmingly for the USA Freedom Act today, 338 to 88 (a significantly higher margin than when they approved last ye... |
| Apr 22, 2015 | Aaron's Law Reintroduced To Try To Reform Dangerous, Broken Anti-Hacking Law | We’ve written in the past how Rep. Zoe Lofgren and Senator Ron Wyden had introduced “Aaron’s Law” (named after Aaron Swartz) as a way to fix the very broken CFAA law, which was used to throw the book at Swartz for downloading too many JSTOR... |
| Jul 30, 2014 | San Jose police discover that, yes, they did buy a drone | We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Register today!
If this was in a cop show, it might be called “Th... |
| Jul 29, 2014 | Tech Companies Throw Their Support Behind Strengthened NSA Reform Bill | As expected, Sen. Patrick Leahy introduced the USA FREEDOM Act to the upper chamber of Congress on Tuesday. The bill comes on the heels of a similar, weaker measure passed in the House that was widely condemned as denatured and passed by br... |
| Feb 25, 2014 | Rep. Goodlatte Slips Secret Change Into Phone Unlocking Bill That Opens The DMCA Up For Wider Abuse | As you may recall, there’s been a ridiculous (on many levels) fight concerning the legality of “unlocking” mobile phones. Let’s go through the history first. Because of section 1201 of the DMCA, the “anti-circumvention” provision, companies... |
| Nov 22, 2013 | WIPO Boss Accused Of Surreptitiously Collecting DNA Samples From WIPO Employees | Francis Gurry, the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization, seems to be running from scandal to scandal these days. While it has shown brief moments of enlightenment, for the most part, WIPO tends to be an organization very sup... |
| Aug 8, 2013 | Snowden’s Alleged Email Provider Shuts Down, Warns Against Trusting U.S. Companies | The alleged email provider of National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has suddenly shut down, leaving just an ominous message in its absence. “I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision,” wri... |
| May 21, 2013 | Illinois Law Takes Aim At Social Media-Aided Flash Mobs | Governor Pat Quinn (via)
Naturally, the city Nelson Algren said "that was to forge out of steel and blood-red neon its own peculiar wilderness," would be the one to forge mayhem out of a singing and dancing, Internet trend. In res... |
| May 9, 2013 | Bill Introduced To Fix Anti-Circumvention Provision Of DMCA | While there was a lot of talk after the White House agreed with an awful lot of people that mobile phone unlocking should be legal, there’s been little real action. Part of the problem might be that the White House suggested that this could... |
| May 9, 2013 | Congress finally introduces a smartphone unlocking bill that doesn’t stink | Did you miss a session from GamesBeat Summit 2022? All sessions are available to stream now. Learn more.
For someone running on less than two hours of sleep, smartphone unlocking activist Sina Khanifar is feeling pretty good.
That’s because... |
| Feb 15, 2013 | Congresswoman Proposes Ban On Armed Drones In U.S., Regulating Surveillance | With the looming threat of faceless drones buzzing around American cities, congress has proposed banning armed drones and regulating their use for law enforcement surveillance. The Preserving American Privacy Act introduced by U.S. Rep. Zoe... |
| Jan 15, 2013 | Congresswoman Proposes “Aaron’s Law” In Honor Of Late Internet Activist | In the wake of Internet activist Aaron Swartz’s suicide before his impending court case, Silicon Valley Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CrunchGov Grade: A) has proposed a bill that may have prevented the government from overzealous prosecution. ... |
| Nov 19, 2012 | Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren courts Reddit users for a crowdsourced copyright reform bill | We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Register today!
When it comes to Reddit users, its much better to... |
| Nov 13, 2012 | A Free Internet, If You Can Keep It | Editor’s note: U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, represents California’s 16th Congressional District, which includes parts of Silicon Valley and San Jose in Santa Clara County.
It was nearly a year... |
| Sep 25, 2012 | Rep. Lofgren Introduces Global Free Internet Act | Rep. Zoe Lofgren has recently announced two brand new, but important bills (pdf): there’s HR 6529, which is an ECPA reform act and HR 6530, the Global Internet Freedom Act. The ECPA reform effort is one we’ve discussed a few times recently.... |
| Nov 16, 2011 | More And More People Speak Up Against SOPA | With the hearings this morning (more on that later), there were also more statements publicly made against SOPA this morning. Two key ones are, unfortunately, behind Politico’s paywall, so I can’t link or quote too much. The first, by forme... |
| Jul 2, 2010 | Bill Introduced To Pressure Countries That Seek To Break The Internet | Rep. Zoe Lofgren along with a list of other Congressional reps (from both parties) is introducing a new bill called the One Global Internet Act of 2010 (pdf), which is basically targeted at countries — like Afghanistan and Pakistan — that a... |
| MPA Awards U.S. Lawmakers for Their Anti-Piracy Efforts | Every year, the entertainment industry celebrates its stars in various award ceremonies.
From the Oscars, through the Grammys, to the Emmys, there’s no shortage of spotlights for the finest performers.
Hollywood is abuzz this week leading u... |
| U.S. Lawmakers Work on Unified Site-Blocking Bill to Counter Online Piracy | The Supreme Court’s decision to reverse the billion-dollar piracy liability verdict against Cox Communications is a major win for Internet service providers.
It confirms that they can’t be held liable for pirating activities of subscribers ... |
| Chief of staff to new top Democrat on antitrust subcommittee lobbied for Apple, Amazon | The chief of staff to the new top Democrat on the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust lobbied on behalf of Amazon and Apple as recently as 2022, including on the very issues the ranking member will oversee in his new role, CNBC found ... |
| New Bill Aims to Block Foreign Pirate Sites in the U.S. | For a long time, pirate site blocking was regarded as a topic most U.S. politicians would rather avoid.
This lingering remnant of the SOPA debacle drove copyright holders to focus on the introduction of blocking efforts in other countries i... |
| What to know about the House immigration bills being voted on this week | Democrats in the House are expected to move forward this week with their first effort at immigration reform during the current Congress.
The House will vote on two bills, each of which addresses a portion of the sweeping immigration reform ... |
| AI Workers Rebel Against Employers to Back Safety Bill | More than one hundred AI workers have gone up against their employers by publicly supporting an AI safety bill.
The SB 1047 bill puts responsibility squarely with developers of AI models if they haven’t met the safety measures set out. Howe... |
| Google Opposes Site Blocking in Europe as U.S. Piracy Blocking Plans Gain Momentum | Google rarely addresses pirate site blocking in public, but it is a significant concern now that these measures directly impact the company’s own infrastructure.
The American tech company has been ordered to block access to pirate domain na... |
