経済産業省は、工場を建設する目的で平成27年（1月～12月期）に1,000平方メートル以上の用地を取得した製造業、ガス業、熱供給業、電気業の事業者を対象に「工場立地動向調査」を実施し、結果を取りまとめました。

4月5日から9日まで、韓国のソウルにおいて、日中韓自由貿易協定(FTA)交渉の第10回交渉会合(局長/局次長会合)が開催されます。

経済産業省は、昨年10月に「活力あふれる『ビンテージ・ソサエティ』の実現に向けた取組に係る研究会」を立ち上げ、検討を重ね、今般報告書をとりまとめました。

交通事故の削減や渋滞緩和、環境負荷低減等の課題解決が期待される協調ITS（※）の実現普及に必要とされる地図データベースの整備や維持・更新のコスト削減に役立つ日本発の国際規格が制定されました。

平成28年3月4日に、東京電力からありました改正電気事業法に基づく会社分割に係る申請について、このたび申請のとおり認可しました。

Congress is moving quickly on the revised GUARD Act, S. 3062. While lawmakers narrowed the bill after widespread criticism, it still requires intrusive age-verification systems for AI companions and imposes steep penalties on developers offering conversational AI tools.

Following criticism, lawmakers have narrowed the GUARD Act, a bill aimed at restricting minors’ access to certain AI systems. The earlier version could have applied broadly to nearly every AI-powered chatbot or search tool. The amended bill focuses more narrowly on so-called “AI companions”—conversational systems designed to simulate emotional or interpersonal interactions with users. 

That change does address some of the broadest concerns raised about the original proposal, though some questions about the bill’s reach remain. Bottom line: the revised bill still creates serious problems for privacy, online speech, and parental choice.

TAKE ACTION

Tell Congress: oppose the guard act

The new GUARD Act still requires companies offering AI companions to implement burdensome age-verification systems tied to users’ real-world identities. Even parents who specifically want their teenagers to use these systems would still face significant hurdles. A family might decide that a conversational AI tool helps an isolated teenager practice social interaction, or engage in harmless creative roleplay. A parent deployed in the military might set up a persistent AI storyteller for a younger child. Under the revised bill, those users could still face mandatory age checks tied to sensitive personal or financial information before they or their children can use these services.

The revised bill also leaves important definitions unclear while sharply increasing penalties for developers and companies that get those judgments wrong. Congress narrowed the GUARD Act. But it is still trying to solve a complicated social problem with vague legal standards, heavy liability, and privacy-invasive verification systems.

Intrusive Age-Verification Remains In The Bill

The revised GUARD Act still requires companies offering AI companions to verify that users are adults through a “reasonable age verification” system. The bill allows a broader set of verification methods than the earlier version, but they are still tied to a user’s real-world identity—such as financial records, or age-verified accounts for a mobile operating system or app store. 

That approach still raises serious privacy and access concerns. Millions of Americans do not have current government ID, accounts at major banks, or stable access to the kinds of digital identity systems the bill contemplates. Even for those who do, requiring identity-linked verification to access online speech tools creates real risks for privacy, anonymity, and data security. Many people are rightly creeped out by age-verification systems, and may simply forgo using these services rather than compromise their privacy and security.

The revised definition of “AI companion” is also narrower than before, but it’s unclear at the margins. The bill now focuses on systems that “engage in interactions involving emotional disclosures” from the user, or present a “persistent identity, persona or character.” 

EFF appreciates that the authors recognized that the prior definition could reach a variety of AI systems that are not chatbots, including internet search engines. But the narrowed definition could be read to also apply to a variety of chat tools that are not AI companions. For example, many modern online conversational systems increasingly recognize and respond to users’ emotions. Customer service systems, including completely human-powered ones that existed long before AI chatbots, have long been designed to recognize frustration and respond empathetically. As conversational AI becomes more emotionally responsive, a customer service chatbot’s efforts to empathize may sweep it within the bill’s definition. 

Bigger Penalties, Bigger Incentives To Restrict Access

The revised bill also sharply increases penalties. Instead of $100,000 per violation, companies—including small developers—can face fines of up to $250,000 per violation, enforced by both federal and state officials.

That kind of liability creates incentives to over-restrict access, especially for minors. Smaller developers, in particular, may decide it is safer to block younger users entirely, disable conversational features, or avoid developing certain tools at all, rather than risk severe penalties under vague standards.

The concerns driving this bill are real. Some AI systems have engaged in troubling interactions with vulnerable users, including minors. But the right answer to that is targeted enforcement against bad actors, and privacy laws that protect us all. The revised GUARD Act instead responds with a privacy-invasive system that burdens the right to speak, read, and interact online.

Congress did improve this bill, but EFF’s core speech, privacy, and security issues remain.

TAKE ACTION

Tell Congress: oppose the guard act

EFF friend Guy Kawasaki* has written a book: Everybody Has Something to Hide: Why and How to Use Signal to Preserve Your Privacy, Security, and Well-Being. This guide is now available in Spanish and English as an ebook in the EPUB format that you can download here. Take a look and consider sharing it with anyone who you know who uses (or should use) Signal. 

And don't forget: EFF has two short guides on using Signal on our Surveillance Self-Defense site. An intro How to Use Signal guide, and a guide on Managing Signal Groups. 

Everybody Has Something to Hide: Why and How to Use Signal to Preserve Your Privacy, Security, and Well-Being courtesy of Guy Kawasaki. 

*Guy Kawasaki is an EFF donor.

　新年度予算案は3月13日、与党が採決を強行して衆院本会議で可決された。毎日15日社説「国会軽視する政権の横暴」は、本来1カ月はかかるところを2週間程度で済ませ、審議時間は過去最短となったと批判する。　高市首相は予算案の年度内成立を断念して、暫定予算を組んだ。国会軽視の予算審議は、財政民主主義の形骸化に拍車をかける。高市政権の放漫財政と円安インフレは、物価高騰により国民生活を直撃する。「軍拡増税」が4月から始まり、戦争準備の国民負担が今後さらに膨らみ続ける危険がある。トランプ..

大西洋を航行中の豪華クルーズ船ＭＶホンデイウス号で、4月末にハンタウィルスの感染が認められました。　その後、クルーズ船の乗客３人が死亡しましたが、「ハンタウィルスは人から人に感染しない」と、テレビで日本人のお医者さんが言ったそうなので、安心していました。　が、クルーズ船のハンタウィルスは人から人へ感染するアンデス株だと分りました。　感染船は現在、スペインのカナリア諸島に向かっていますが、カナリア諸島の知事は寄港を拒否しています。　お船はどこに行くのでしょう？？

The Apache Software Foundationから、Apache HTTP Server 2.4系における複数の脆弱性に対応したApache HTTP Server 2.4.67が公開されました。

2026年05月07日（現地時間）、米国CISAがCISA ICS Advisory / ICS Medical Advisoryを公表しました。

情報通信審議会　情報通信技術分科会　IPネットワーク設備委員会 電気通信事業におけるパブリッククラウドシステム利用に関する検討作業班（第4回）開催案内

「社会環境の変化に対応した電波有効利用の推進の在り方」に関する　情報通信審議会からの一部答申

「情報空間の多様化に対応した今後の放送事業の在り方」についての情報通信審議会への諮問

個人住民税の納税を騙ったメールに対する注意喚起

情報通信審議会　情報通信技術分科会　ITU部会　周波数管理・作業計画委員会（第41回）

「デジタル時代における放送制度の在り方に関する検討会」（第44回） の開催

「巧妙化・複雑化するサイバー攻撃への対策の在り方に関する検討会」の開催

情報通信審議会　情報通信技術分科会　陸上無線通信委員会（第100回）