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California Democrat Rep. Sam Liccardo, a freshman congressman who represents Silicon Valley, said he’s surprised the first piece of legislation he’s sponsoring takes aim at President Donald Trump’s meme coin.“That wasn’t my plan when I ran for office, I can assure you,” said Liccardo, the former mayor of San Jose.But the president’s launch of a meme coin just before taking office last month needed some kind of response, said Liccardo. Those who bought the meme coin right after launch made out, but the price quickly dropped leaving others with big losses. Even Trump-supporting crypto enthusiasts found the launch distasteful.“That behavior is so self-evidently unethical that it raises the question why isn’t there a clear enough prohibition,” he said, adding that Trump’s meme coin raises concerns about transparency, insider trading and improper foreign influence.The bill is set to be called the Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement, or MEME act. According to a draft of the legislation, it would block the president, members of Congress, and other senior officials, as well as their spouses and children, from issuing or sponsoring securities, commodities, and cryptocurrencies like meme coins. It would also force Trump to disgorge any profits he’s made from the sale of his meme coins.Liccardo’s bill, which he plans to introduce Thursday, has no chance of passing in this Republican-controlled Congress. But the freshman lawmaker said it would serve as a placeholder if Democrats come to power as well an important symbolic gesture against what he called obvious corruption. His bill comes amid a fractured Democratic Party struggling to find its footing in the early weeks of the Trump presidency.Meme coins are a strange and highly volatile corner of the crypto industry that often start as a joke with no real value but can surge in price if enough people are willing to buy them. Critics view them as nothing more than Ponzi schemes that enrich insiders and unethical celebrities. Supporters say meme coins could be early indicators of ways in which the internet could revolutionize financial and other transactions.Trump has long defied presidential norms when it comes to endorsing and promoting products like branded Bibles and perfume. But he’s leaned in particularly hard with cryptocurrency-related projects that could significantly boost his personal wealth.The Trump meme coin quickly soared in price to nearly $70 shortly after it was launched but has since fallen to about $12. Researchers have estimated that trading fees have generated tens of millions of dollars for entities that launched the coin, including a company owned by Trump.Trump and his sons also helped launch a decentralized finance cryptocurrency platform last year, and the president has backed online stores that sell crypto-themed sneakers and $100,000 watches.The Trump family business recently released an ethics agreement that prohibits Trump from “day-to-day” decision-making involving outside business deals and limits financial information shared with him.Once a skeptic of cryptocurrencies, Trump changed course and promised last year to make the U.S. the world capital of digital assets. The cryptocurrency industry, which felt unfairly targeted by the Biden administration, embraced Trump and spent heavily to help him win last year’s election.First Lady Melania Trump also launched a meme coin that spiked in value around the inauguration but has since cratered. A crypto developer who said he helped launch that meme coin was also involved in a disastrous meme coin launch that’s led to Argentine President Javier Milei facing a corruption probe.That developer, Hayden Davis, has said meme coins are essentially a rigged game that benefit a small group of people at the expense of retail investors.“It is an insiders’ game. This is an unregulated casino,” Davis said.Besides a criminal prohibition, Liccardo’s bill would also allow private investors who lose money on a meme coin backed by a public official to sue. Liccardo said that’s a key part of the legislation, given what he sees as a lack of independence in the current Justice Department.“You need to have some enforcement mechanism and a private right of action helps to keep everybody honest,” Liccardo said. Alan Suderman, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
Vietnam is revising its energy plans to focus more on large solar farms and less on reliance on coal and natural gas. The fast-growing economy now aims to get 16% of its energy from the sunmore than triple its earlier target of just 5%.A draft of the new policy outline, likely to be finalized in coming weeks, scraps plans to build offshore wind turbines, instead building more onshore wind capacity, rooftop solar and energy storage.Offshore wind and new gas projects have proven expensive and difficult. Large solar farms are cheaper and easier to build.But Vietnam also is emphasizing expansion of large solar farms to meet soaring demand for power generation. It forecasts it will need more than 211 gigawatts of energy by 2030 as its economy grows, 40% more than its previous estimate and more than Germany’s current total capacity.“This reflects both an overall increase in potential power demand by 2030 and the fact that LNG (or liquefied natural gas) projects are not on track to be completed by 2030,” said Giles Cooper, a partner at the international law firm Allens based in Hanoi who specializes in energy policy.Solar power expanded rapidly in Vietnam from 2018 to 2020, helped by generous government policies, as it leaped past its neighbors and some richer nations like the United Kingdom. But construction of new solar capacity stalled in 2020 as the Southeast Asian nation realized that its creaky electricity grid was getting overloaded since electricity was only available when the sun shone.“It was like the market almost stopped,” said Dimitri Pescia, of Berlin-based thinktank Agora Energiewende.Use of polluting coal, which releases earth-warming gases into the atmosphere, has surged and Vietnam is set to become of the world’s top five coal importers, displacing Taiwan, according to the International Energy Agency.Like many other countries, Vietnam still needs to upgrade its rickety grid, which has failed to keep up with rapid growth of clean power generation. However, it has made improvements and gained experience dealing with energy sources that aren’t always availables, Cooper said.Last year, authorities allowed electricity-guzzling factories to buy power directly from energy producers, aiming to ease pressure on the overstrained power grid and help big manufacturers like Samsung Electronics meet their climate targets. But that was hindered by a lack of space to build clean energy projects close to factories.Solar energy is “seen as the most promising technology to kick-start” those direct purchases, Cooper said.But while it’s building clean power capacity, Vietnam is also ramping up use of coal. That’s partly to make up for lost hydropower capacity due to drought, and also to meet soaring demand as businesses shift factories from China to Vietnam.Vietnam is Southeast Asia’s second-biggest coal producer after Indonesia. It also imported 50 million ton of coal in the first three quarters of 2024a 31% increase, according to government data.Pescia noted that Vietnam’s coal-fired power plants aren’t very old and operators have yet to recoup their investments.“Phasing out coal in a country like Vietnam will take more time,” he said. The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. Aniruddha Ghosal, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Unwanted phone calls are out of control. Whether it’s a robocall trying to sell you something or spam calls from scammers trying to rip you off, it’s enough to make you want to stop answering your phone. So what can you do to stop them?The scourge of unwanted phone calls has been branded an epidemic by consumer groups, while the Federal Communications Commission says it’s the top consumer complaint. The calls are a nuisance to many ordinary people, some of whom have complained to the Associated Press.“I need help on getting spam calls to stop,” one reader said in an email. She’s getting up to 14 calls a day despite the countermeasures she’s employed.As the name implies, robocalls are automated calls to deliver recorded messages to a large number of phones. A robocall purely to deliver a message or collect a debt is allowed under U.S. regulations, but the Federal Trade Commission says robocalls with a recorded voice trying to sell you something are illegal unless you’ve given explicit written permission to receive them. Many robocalls are also probably scams, the FTC warns.If you’re flooded by unsolicited calls, here are some ways to fight back. Phone settings Smartphone users can turn on some built-in settings to combat unknown calls.Apple advises iPhone users to turn on the Silence Unknown Callers feature. Go to your “Settings,” then scroll down to “Apps,” and then to “Phone,” where you’ll see it under the “Calls” section. When you turn this on, any calls from numbers that you’ve never been in touch with and aren’t saved in your contacts list will not ring through. Instead, they’ll be sent to voicemail and show up in your list of recent calls.Android has a similar setting that allows you to block calls from private or unidentified numbers, although you will still receive calls from numbers that aren’t stored in your contact list.Just keep in mind that you could also end up not getting important calls, which sometimes come from unknown numbers.If an unwanted call does get through, both Android and iPhone users can block the individual phone number by tapping on it in the recent callers or call history list. You can also enter numbers directly into your phone’s block list. Do not call Sign up for the national Do Not Call registry, which is a list of numbers that have opted out of most telemarketing calls. The Federal Trade Commission, which runs the registry, says it only contains phone numbers and holds no other personally identifiable information, nor does the registry know whether the number is for a landline or a cellphone.The FTC says there are some exemptions, including political calls, calls from nonprofit groups and charities, and legitimate survey groups that aren’t selling anything. Also allowed are calls from companies up to 18 months after you’ve doneor sought to dobusiness with them.But it also warns that while having your number on the registry will cut down on unwanted sales calls, it won’t stop scammers from making illegal calls.Other countries have similar registries. Canada has its own Do Not Call list while the U.K. has the Telephone Preference Service. Carrier filters Check whether your wireless carrier has a call-blocking service. Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, three of the biggest U.S. networks, all have their own call filters for customers to block robocalls and report spam. There’s typically a free basic version and an advanced version that requires a subscription fee. Try an app If your phone company’s filters aren’t good enough, try third-party apps to weed out unwanted callers.There are a host of smartphone apps available that promise to block spam calls, like Nomorobo, YouMail, Hiya, RoboKiller, TrueCaller, and others. Many charge a monthly or annual subscription fee but some offer a free basic option. Some also can be installed on landline phones, but only if they use VOIP technology, not copper cables.The Associated Press hasn’t tested any of these apps and isn’t making specific recommendations. We recommend you read user reviews and try some out for yourself.Apple says the apps work by comparing a caller’s number with a list of known numbers and labeling them, for example, spam or telemarketing. Then it might automatically block the call. “Incoming calls are never sent to third-party developers,” the company says. Report calls Did you know you can file a complaint with the FCC about specific spam calls? You can do so easily through an online form. It might not give you immediate satisfaction, but the National Consumer Law Center says data on complaints is the best tool federal agencies have for determining how big a problem robocalls are. Just say no While companies you’ve done business with can make robocalls to you, the National Consumer Law Center says it’s probably because you gave consentpossibly hidden in fine print. But you can also revoke your consent at any time.Just tell the company representative that you want to “revoke consent,” and if that doesn’t stop them, contact customer service and tell them that you don’t consent to receive calls and want your number added to the company’s “do not call” list, the center says. Hang up You might be tempted to try to engage with the call in an attempt to get your number off the call list or be put through to a real person. The FTC warns against doing this and recommends that you just hang up.“Pressing numbers to speak to someone or remove you from the list will probably only lead to more robocalls,” the agency says on its advice page. “And the number on your caller ID probably isn’t real. Caller ID is easy to fake” and can’t be trusted, it says.Cybersecurity company Kaspersky advises not even saying anything when you receive what you think is a robocall. We’ve all received scammy calls that start with something like “Hello, can you hear me?” to which you’ve probably replied “yes” without thinking.Scammers “can then store the recording of your confirmation and use it for fraudulent activities,” Kaspersky says. “So, avoid saying yes where possible.” Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip. Kelvin Chan, Associated Press
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