regulation – PossibleThreat Articles

A call for digital-privacy regulation 'with teeth' at the federal level

March 13, 2024 0 Comments Data privacy, Government, Privacy, regulation, Technology Industry

Credit to Author: scot.finnie@gmail.com| Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2024 03:00:00 -0700

How did we get to the point where the tech industry is in the user-data business instead of the tech business?

Every day, Google collects data on billions of people worldwide, according to The Regulatory Review. The dodge that users gain some benefit from ad targeting is fallacy. For example, if Google’s search were decoupled from its advertising, there would be less chance for users to be misled by ignored search terms and seemingly hard-wired results.

There’s nothing beneficial to the user about Google’s sponsored search results. That’s also true of the adjacent Google ads that follow you around from site to site.

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ComputerWorld Independent

EC's use of Microsoft 365 violates data-privacy rules, watchdog group says

March 12, 2024 0 Comments Data privacy, Government IT, Privacy, regulation

The European Commission (EC) has violated several key data protection rules in its use of Microsoft 365 regarding the transfer of people’s personal data from Europe to other regions not covered by EU data-protection laws, a key European privacy watchdog found.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) on Tuesday chastized the EC after finding it did not take proper protective measures when sending personal data outside the EU and European Economic Area (EEA) when using the cloud-based app.

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ComputerWorld Independent

EC to grill Meta on Facebook ‘subscription for no ads’ plan

March 1, 2024 0 Comments Data privacy, Privacy, regulation

The European Commission (EC) on Friday said it needs more information from Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta to assess its compliance with applicable privacy and security laws in the European Union (EU).

The EC, in a statement, said Meta also needs to speed up its responses to requests in December for information, which centered on election information, terrorism and the protection of minors. The company has until March 15 to provide that information, with the new info about Meta’s pay-to-opt-out-of-tracking program due March 22.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Eight European consumer watchdogs file complaints over Meta’s data processing

February 29, 2024 0 Comments Data privacy, facebook, regulation

Eight European consumer organizations have filed complaints against Facebook parent Meta accusing it of breaching the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with its so-called “pay-or-consent” policy and opaque internal policies.

The organizations are all members of BEUC, the European Consumer Organization. Their complaints, publicized Thursday, argue that the large-scale consumer data collection practiced by Meta violates the GDPR, and that the company has abused its dominant market position to essentially coerce customers into accepting its terms. Each of the eight groups filed their complaints with their national data protection authorities, as there is no pan-European office to accept such complaints.

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ComputerWorld Independent

EU begins formal investigation of TikTok over potential violations of Digital Services Act

February 28, 2024 0 Comments mobile apps, Privacy, regulation

The European Commission has opened formal proceedings to assess whether TikTok may have breached the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) in various ways associated with the protection of minors, advertising transparency, data access for researchers, and managing risk for addictive design and harmful content.

The formal investigation adds to the privacy and safety concerns that have plagued the video-sharing platform, giving enterprises yet another reason to consider banning its use by employees while they access corporate networks. The Commission had previously conducted a preliminary investigation and risk assessment that found further oversight to be necessary.

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ComputerWorld Independent

What a future without browser cookies looks like

February 7, 2024 0 Comments Browsers, Data privacy, facebook, Google, Microsoft, Privacy, regulation

Most online users have experienced it. You do an online search for healthcare purposes, travel information, or something to buy and soon you’re being bombarded with emails and targeted online ads for everything related to your search. That’s because browser cookies were tracking you as you performed your searches; they identified you and your activity.

Over the past few years, the online advertising industry has been undergoing a sea change as regulators restricted how cookies can be used and browser providers moved away from their use in response to consumer outcries over privacy.

“They often feel surveilled; some even find it ‘creepy’ that a website can show them ads related to their behavior elsewhere,” according to a recent study by the HEC Paris Business School.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Russia hacks Microsoft: It’s worse than you think

January 29, 2024 0 Comments Government IT, Microsoft, regulation, Security, small and medium business, Windows

Another day, another hack of Microsoft technology. Ho-hum, you might think, this has happened before and will happen again — as surely as the sun rises in the morning and sets at night.

This time is different. Because this time the targets weren’t Microsoft customers, but rather the top echelons of Microsoft itself. And the hacker group, called Midnight Blizzard, or sometimes Cozy Bear, the Dukes, or A.P.T. 29, is sponsored by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (and has been since at least 2008).

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ComputerWorld Independent

The top 10 tech stories of 2023

January 13, 2024 0 Comments augmented reality, careers, generative ai, regulation, remote work, Security, Technology Industry, Virtual Reality

The top technology stories of 2023 highlight fundamental changes in culture and geopolitics as well as tech itself: It’s clear that generative AI will affect all aspects of technology and society, while geopolitical tensions are sparking cybersecurity attacks globally. General unease about the dominance of big tech, meanwhile, is pushing regulators to get tougher on mopolistic business practices and multibillion-dollar mergers.

Fired! Rehired! Sam Altman’s ouster and return to OpenAI

The ouster of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI, which sparked the modern era of generative AI when it launched ChatGPT a year earlier, was the tech industry shocker of the year. After the board issued a mysterious statement on November 17 saying that it had fired Altman for not being “consistently candid,” Microsoft announced that it would hire Altman and any other OpenAI employees who wanted to follow him out the door — which turned out to be almost all of them. OpenAI backed down and rehired Altman.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Spanish media's $600M suit against Meta is based on GDPR noncompliance

December 5, 2023 0 Comments Internet, legal, Privacy, regulation, Technology Industry

Facebook parent company Meta is facing yet another legal challenge over user privacy, as a Spanish media company representing top media outlets in the country is suing the social media giant for $600 million for competitively unfair advertising practices based on noncompliance with the EU’s General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR).

The Information Media Association (La Asociación de Medios de Información, or AMI), has filed a €550 million ($600 million) lawsuit against Meta, claiming Meta’s ability to design personalized advertising on its Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms based on its enormous user base represents an unfair competitive advantage in the advertising market in Europe, which includes media companies.

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ComputerWorld Independent

GenAI is highly inaccurate for business use — and getting more opaque

November 29, 2023 0 Comments Artificial intelligence, chatbots, Emerging Technology, generative ai, regulation, Security

Large language models (LLMs), the algorithmic platforms on which generative AI (genAI) tools like ChatGPT are built, are highly inaccurate when connected to corporate databases and becoming less transparent, according to two studies.

One study by Stanford University showed that as LLMs continue to ingest massive amounts of information and grow in size, the genesis of the data they use is becoming harder to track down. That, in turn, makes it difficult for businesses to know whether they can safely build applications that use commercial genAI foundation models and for academics to rely on them for research.

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