Iowa asks? Why don't they just open a criminal investigation related to the hacking of HuggingFace?

It’s actually Iowa leading a coalition of 15 other states making demands. It’s not a prosecution yet, but they demand the preservation of evidence. They’ve promised to protect whistleblowers. They are saying there may be criminal or civil liability involved. They gave them a cease and desist on similar testing until they can show they can do it safely.

The Iowa-led coalition is joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.

The letter’s last paragraph reads:

    OpenAI has an obligation to act responsibly and to follow State and
    federal laws that protect Americans’ safety and security. When OpenAI takes
   actions that imperil the welfare of our citizens, State Attorneys General will
    step in to protect them. We intend to take all steps necessary to protect our
    States and all Americans from the unprecedented risks posed by OpenAI’s
    irresponsible products and conduct.

They are opening that. This is the first step: figure out what crimes were committed by who. As I said a couple weeks ago when this broke, it looks like a crime was committed and I hope someone is charged. However we can't just charge everybody who works for openAI with the crime of speeding (even though it is probably true) - that is both the wrong crime, and also is highly unlikely everybody at openAI was involved.

Unless HF presses charges (and it doesn't seem like they are), I'm not sure that's even possible.

I’m not a lawyer. However it probably comes down to jurisdiction.

Brenna Bird cares more about publicity than action.