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A Philadelphia woman named Carolyn Marvin was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after repeatedly blocking an Uber delivery robot on the street. Marvin says she was protesting the displacement of human delivery workers. It is a small confrontation, but it captures a very large argument about automation, labor, and who gets to decide when a robot belongs on a public sidewalk.
That tension between old rules and new technology is also playing out at the highest legal level. The United States Supreme Court is weighing whether a videotape-era privacy law, written in nineteen eighty eight after the video rental records of a Supreme Court nominee were leaked, still has teeth in the age of targeted online advertising. The outcome could reshape how platforms use your viewing data.
And at the White House, the administration's crypto chief Patrick Witt has announced his departure, leaving the administration's digital assets agenda without its most visible internal advocate. His exit raises real questions about how seriously the current administration will continue to push its stated pro-crypto agenda heading into the next legislative cycle.
That is where things stand today. Keep surfing. Tech Beat out.
