This week’s developments underscore how rapidly emerging technologies are reshaping national security, surveillance, and corporate accountability. From ICE’s quiet expansion of surveillance powers through insurance data to CBP’s push for deeper digital forensics at the border, government use of tech is drawing new scrutiny. Meanwhile, international pressure is mounting on U.S. companies over their role in conflicts abroad, and France has opened a criminal probe into Elon Musk’s X platform for AI-fueled hate speech. On Capitol Hill, two key hearings will delve into how AI is being weaponized for criminal activity—and how the industry’s data practices may be violating copyright law. Here’s what you need to know.

In this week’s Nimitz Tech:

• China: Bipartisan senators warn Nvidia’s CEO not to empower China’s military during his upcoming visit to Beijing.

• Borders: CBP wants powerful new surveillance tools to dig even deeper into your phone at the border—no warrant required.

• War: A UN expert warns global corporations: stop doing business with Israel—or risk complicity in war crimes and genocide.

WHO’S HAVING EVENTS THIS WEEK?

Wednesday July 16th

• ⚠️ House Judiciary: “Artificial Intelligence and Criminal Exploitation: A New Era of Risk.” Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance. Hearing scheduled for 10:00 AM in 2141 Rayburn HOB. Watch here.

• ⚖️ Senate Judiciary: “Too Big to Prosecute?: Examining the AI Industry’s Mass Ingestion of Copyrighted Works for AI Training.” Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism. Hearing scheduled for 2:30 AM in 226 Dirksen SOB. Watch here.

TECH NEWS DRIVING THE WEEK

In Washington

• Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) sent a bipartisan letter to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang urging him to avoid meetings with Chinese companies tied to the country’s military or those attempting to bypass U.S. export controls during his upcoming trip to Beijing. The senators expressed concern that unrestricted export of Nvidia’s advanced AI chips could bolster China’s military modernization efforts, posing a threat to U.S. national security. Huang’s visit, tied to the International Supply Chain Expo, comes amid Nvidia’s rapid growth—recently surpassing a $4 trillion market valuation—and reports of a new chip tailored to comply with U.S. restrictions on China. The lawmakers emphasized it would be “deeply irresponsible” for an American executive to engage with entities under U.S. scrutiny or facing legal restrictions.

National

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is seeking advanced digital forensics tools to enhance its ability to extract and analyze data from electronic devices seized at the border, including encrypted chats, hidden files, and image recognition capabilities. The agency issued a request for information (RFI) outlining a need for tools that can detect concealed language in texts, recognize specific objects across media, and generate intelligence from large datasets. This effort to modernize follows a dramatic rise in device searches, from just over 8,500 in 2015 to more than 47,000 in 2024. CBP has long relied on controversial tech provider Cellebrite but is now looking to expand beyond current contracts, even as civil liberties concerns grow over invasive searches, potential data-sharing across agencies, and incidents like the expulsion of a Lebanese academic based on phone content. Under U.S. law, CBP can search any device at the border without a warrant and retain its data for up to 15 years.

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are using ISO ClaimSearch—a massive, little-known database containing over 1.8 billion insurance claims and 58 million medical bills—to identify and track individuals for deportation, according to internal documents obtained by 404 Media. Originally designed to detect insurance fraud and assist police with stolen vehicles, the database now serves as a surveillance tool, providing ICE with access to sensitive personal information including names, addresses, license plates, and tax ID numbers. Critics argue this reflects ICE's expanding mass surveillance practices targeting immigrant communities under the guise of public safety. Civil rights advocates warn that the agency’s use of commercial and administrative data sources threatens the privacy and freedoms of all Americans, not just undocumented individuals.

International

• French prosecutors have opened a criminal probe into Elon Musk’s social platform X and his AI company xAi over allegations that their algorithms are distorting democratic discourse in France. The investigation follows a series of antisemitic outputs from xAi’s chatbot Grok, including posts praising Hitler and referring to itself as “MechaHitler.” French lawmakers Thierry Sother and Pierre Jouvet urged regulators to investigate the platform’s apparent shift in behavior following a recent update, linking it to the spread of extremist content and support for far-right figures like Marine Le Pen. This comes amid growing European scrutiny of X for misuse of personal data, algorithmic bias, and possible violations of the EU’s Digital Services Act, reinforcing broader concerns about Musk’s influence on democratic systems.

• UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has urged dozens of multinational companies—including tech giants Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and IBM, and arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin—to immediately end their business dealings with Israel, warning they may be complicit in war crimes and genocide in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. In a report presented to the UN Human Rights Council, Albanese described Israel’s military operations as “one of the cruellest genocides in modern history” and accused corporations of profiting from an “economy of genocide” through weapons sales, surveillance technology, infrastructure for home demolitions, and financial underwriting of Israeli bonds. While Israel dismissed the report as “groundless” and the U.S. denounced it as economic warfare, many countries from Africa, Asia, and the Arab world voiced support for Albanese’s findings and called for disinvestment. The report draws a parallel to global boycotts during apartheid-era South Africa and emphasizes that corporate complicity in human rights abuses—especially when contributing to foreseeable harm—could carry legal consequences under international law.

FOR FUN

• 👯 Square Dancing at the Georgetown Waterfront (7/15)

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