Trump blacklisting of "woke" Anthropic deemed illegal by federal judge
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration's blacklisting of AI company Anthropic was illegal. The action reportedly followed Anthropic's refusal to support lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance programs.
Why this matters: This is a straightforward case of the government punishing a company for saying no to surveillance and autonomous killing. That should matter to anyone who thinks private companies ought to be able to decline government contracts on ethical grounds without facing retaliation. The ruling pushes back on the idea that refusal equals disloyalty. It also draws a visible line: federal blacklisting as a pressure tool has limits, even when the White House is the one applying pressure.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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