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WithCOP26 in full swing, Democrats in the US House of Representatives are slowly working on doing their part to fight climate change. Their focus? The heart and soul of America: the big-ass car.This week they announced furtheramendmentsto the currentBuild Back Better Actbefore the House which offers some big wins for social spending and sustainable transport. The bill before the house is all part of a $3.5 trillion budget dedicated to social andenvironmental benefits....

The Pentagon yesterdayannouncedit was scuttling its long-doomed “Project JEDI,” a cloud-services AI contract that was awarded to Microsoft in 2019. Up front:Project JEDI is a big deal. The US militaryneedsa reliable cloud-service platform from which to operate its massive AI infrastructure. Unfortunately the project was mishandled from the very beginning. Now, two years later, the Pentagon’s calling for a reboot: Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) canceled the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) Cloud solicitation and initiated contract termination procedures....

US cities may be under-reporting their emissions… by up to 145% Methods vary Cities typically estimate their GHG emissions using tools such as theUS Community Protocol for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions,developed by ICLEI; theGlobal Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories (GPC), developed by the World Resources Institute, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and ICLEI; and theGlobal Covenant of Mayors Common Reporting Framework. The process remains complex, though, and methodologies still differ....

The US Federal Trade Commission has issued a stark warning to companies using sexist and racist algorithms: hold yourself accountable — or the regulator will do it for you. Anofficial blog postby staff attorney Elisa Jilson noted that the FTC Act prohibits the sale or use of racially biased algorithms. Jilson added that it’s illegal to use biased algorithms that lead to credit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or because a person receives public assistance....

Members of the U.S House of Representatives has resolved security concerns over the adoption of Internet phone and video teleconferencing service and willallow members to make Skypeand ooVoo video calls. Members of Congress will be able to reduce time spent travelling, increase communications and be more transparent with its use of Skype’s VOIP functionality, reducing cost whilst providing a real-time communication tool to inform and gain feedback from constituents. The House had been called upon to allow its members to use technologies like Skype for more than a year....