Nidhish Waghmare
With President Joe Biden dropping from the race of US elections due to growing concerns on his old age as he is 81 years old. Biden endorsed vice president Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination. Harris’ past record of speeches and statements on important issues has come under the spotlight, so let’s know her stance in tech policies.
Harris launched a tech project
She was born in Oakland and had a long relationship with the tech companies and Silicon Valley. She was San Francisco’s first female district attorney general before being elected to the senate in 2016.
She launched a data transparency project called OpenJustine during her career as a prosecutor. This project is a public platform that allows a record of interactions between law enforcement officials and community members.
Harris relationship with tech companies
In 2016 after being elected to the US senate, introduced a bill called the Digital Service Act and was supported by John Doerr and Ron Conway. The act was introduced to provide funds to state and local governments so they could establish their own tech units.
Additionally, In 2018 she pointed out Facebook’s CEO Mark Zukerberg of not providing answers to the key questions, for instance, whether Facebook users continue to be tracked even after logging off or if Facebook could access users’ browser histories.
“You’ve been asked several critical questions for which you don’t have answers,” Harris told Zuckerberg.
Afterwards she faced criticism for not doing enough as attorney general to curb the power of tech giants as they grow.
Kamala Harris attitude towards tech policies
When in 2020 presidential campaigns Harris was asked whether companies like Amazon, Google and Facebook should be broken up,
She replied “I believe that the tech companies have got to be regulated in a way that we can ensure and the American consumer can be certain that their privacy is not being compromised,”
Moreover, Harris did not support the banning of the Tik Tok, calling it a national security concern.
“ We need to deal with the owner, and we have national security concerns about the owner of TikTok, but we have no intention to ban TikTok,” Harris stated
Biden and Harris on tech regulation
President Biden passed an executive order for developing the standards of AI and Harris supported it.
She said “voluntary commitments are an initial step toward a safer AI future with more to come, because, as history has shown, in the absence of regulation and strong government oversight, some technology companies choose to prioritize profit over the wellbeing of their customers, the safety of our communities, and the stability of our democracies.”
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