AI, Autonomy, and the Risk of Nuclear War | Data Brokers to “Go Around” Sanctuary Laws | Unnoticed China Threat, and more

CHIPS Act Clears Congress, Ensuring $52 Billion Boost to U.S. Foundries  (Makena Kelly, The Verge)
The U.S. Congress passed landmark legislation that will spend some $280 billion to bolster semiconductor manufacturing and science and technology research in the United States. The measure, known as the CHIPS+ Act, represents the most significant attempt at industrial policy in the United States in recent memory and comes in response to growing fears about America’s vulnerability to foreign supply chains and China’s growing technological sophistication. While it was expected that the Senate would deliver subsidies to the semiconductor industry, the broader science and technology funding amounting to $200 billion, represented a somewhat surprising addition after earlier versions of the bill became bogged down in negotiations between the House and Senate over the shape of the measure’s broader spending. 

Senior European Parliament Member Targeted as Spyware Abuse Spreads  (Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Monika Pronczuk, New York Times)

A cell phone belonging to a senior member of the European Parliament was targeted by spyware, the latest in a string of incidents in which European politicians and their staff have been targeted for digital surveillance. The phone belonging to Nikos Androulakis, who leads a center-left party in Greece, was targeted by software known as Predator, a less sophisticated version of Pegasus, made by the Israeli firm NSO Group. 

ICE’s Use of Data Brokers to “Go Around” Sanctuary Laws Under Fire  (Cristiano Lima, Washington Post)
Commissioners in Cook County, Illinois held landmark hearings to investigate whether the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency violated the county’s sanctuary regulations by purchasing data on immigrants from data brokers. Sanctuary status allows local governments to reject federal deportation operations and requests for sensitive information on immigrant populations. ICE has historically utilized loopholes—like data brokers—to circumvent the restrictions of individual cities. Activists hope the hearing will encourage similar investigations into immigration-enforcement loopholes nationwide.

Election Deniers Are Running to Control Voting. Here’s How They’ve Fared So Far  (Miles Parks, NPR)
Election officials and democracy experts are sounding the alarm, as Republicans who deny the 2020 election results have now moved closer to overseeing the voting process in five different states.
Arizona could become No. 6 on Tuesday, when GOP voters there will decide in that state’s primary whether they want to nominate one of the two election deniers running for secretary of state.

“These are the people who set the rules, who count the votes, and ultimately who are responsible for defending the will of the people,” said Joanna Lydgate, the CEO of States United Action, a nonpartisan organization that has been tracking election-denying candidates running for governor, attorney general and secretary of state nationwide. States United shared its most recent findings exclusively with NPR ahead of their release.
“In 2020, when we had a sitting president try to overturn an election, we saw all across the country state and local officials who stood up and who protected our freedom to vote,” Lydgate said. “So if we want to see that happen again in the future we have to make sure that we are putting people in these positions who believe in free and fair elections.”

Georgia’s Big Trump Election Investigation, Explained  (Ben Jacobs, Vox)
A grand jury investigation in Georgia intensified this summer, and could be a greater legal threat to Trump than the Justice Department.