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Ted Cruz on making flying safer, revenge porn bill
Texas Senator Ted Cruz sits down with FOX 4’s Steven Dial to discuss his new role as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Then, he talks about concerns for travelers after several recent aviation incidents, artificial intelligence and his anti-revenge porn ‘Take It Down’ Act.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was recently named as the new Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
The committee has jurisdiction over about 40 percent of the U.S. economy.
Cruz sat down with FOX 4’s Steven Dial to talk about the role.
“My number one priority in the Senate, this has been true for all 13 years I’ve been here, my number one priority has been jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs,” he said.
Ted Cruz on Aviation Disasters
Deadly DC crash: New Details released
The Army helicopter that crashed into an American Airlines jet in Washington, D.C. may not have heard important instructions from air traffic controllers, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
One of the responsibilities of the Senate Commerce Committee is aviation and the FAA.
Recently, there have been several high-profile flight disasters, including a crash in Washington, D.C. that killed 67 people on Jan. 29.
Steven Dial: “What do you make of these? Are you going to call for a hearing or any type of inquiry?”
Ted Cruz: “One area that it is clear that we need to focus on, and that’s a real priority for me, is modernizing air traffic control. You know, if you go to an air traffic control room, they’re using literally 1950s technology. They’re using radar and little slips of paper, and they’re using floppy disks, which I guarantee you, if you ask your kids, they have no idea what a floppy disk is and it makes no sense that we are monitoring millions of flights using technology from prior decades. It is a real priority. We will have hearings. We will be working to modernize air traffic control so that we can use GPS and the most advanced technology to to keep people safe.”
Ted Cruz on Artificial Intelligence
Dial: “Another issue or topic that’s kind of in your realm is AI. What concerns you?”
Cruz: “I actually think I was a sleeper issue in this last election. I think it was one of the most consequential policy results of President Trump being reelected and the Republican Senate and House is that we are going to see government policies that encourage America to lead the world.”
Dial: “Do you think AI still can open the door for misleading information getting out and some false information where we are at a time when people are believing things that aren’t true?”
Cruz: “Look, of course, with any new technology, there risks any tool. You know, if you invent the automobile, people get run over, you have accidents and people misuse them. Any time you have human beings, you’re going to have some human beings who are criminals, who choose to use a tool for nefarious reasons.”
Ted Cruz on ‘Take It Down’ Act
A bill from Senator Cruz would fight some of those bad actors.
The ‘Take It Down’ Act has passed the Senate and is awaiting a vote in the House.
First Lady Melania Trump held a roundtable early last week to show her support for the bill. She was joined by Aledo teen Elliston Berry, who was a victim of faked pornographic photos made with AI.
President Trump spoke about the bill during his joint address to Congress.
Cruz: “The Take It Down act addresses revenge porn, a phenomenon, sadly, we’re seeing far too commonly where non-consensual intimate images are put out online. It addresses in particular deepfake, non-consensual intimate images. They appear to be naked pictures, or they weren’t real, but then send it to all of their classmates. That’s a grotesque violation of her rights and her privacy. And so my legislation, the Take it Down Act number one, it makes it a crime to do that. You can’t do that to somebody else. The existing laws didn’t make it a crime to distribute a deepfake. So we needed a new legal regime, a new legal standard to make that a crime. Then secondly, the Take It Down legislation puts an obligation on the tech platforms to remove the content when they’re notified by the victim. When the victim says, ‘hey, that’s me and that picture, I didn’t consent to, remove it. That video, remove it.’ It puts an obligation to take it down. My legislation has already passed the Senate unanimously, 100 and nothing. I’m very confident we’re going to move it through the House and get it passed. We’re going to put that bill on President Trump’s desk to sign into law.”
The Source: FOX 4’s Steven Dial spoke with Senator Ted Cruz for this story. Other information comes from past FOX 4 coverage.