AI-Powered ‘Thought Decoders’ Won’t Just Read Your Mind — They’ll Change It

Wired reported:

For centuries, mentalists astounded crowds by seeming to plumb the depth of their souls — effortlessly unearthing audience members’ memories, desires, and thoughts. Now, there’s concern that neuroscientists might be doing the same by developing technologies capable of “decoding” our thoughts and laying bare the hidden contents of our minds. Though neural decoding has been in development for decades, it broke into popular culture earlier this year, thanks to a slew of high-profile papers.

In one, researchers used data from implanted electrodes to reconstruct the Pink Floyd song participants were listening to. In another paper, published in Nature, scientists combined brain scans with AI-powered language generators (like those undergirding ChatGPT and similar tools) to translate brain activity into coherent, continuous sentences. This method didn’t require invasive surgery, and yet it was able to reconstruct the meaning of a story from purely imagined, rather than spoken or heard, speech.

Critics claim that we might lose the “last frontier of privacy” if we allow these technologies to progress without thoughtful oversight. Even if you don’t subscribe to this flavor of techno-dystopian pessimism, general skepticism is rarely a bad idea.

GOP Takes On Federal Reserve in Battle Over Digital Dollar

FOXBusiness reported:

It’s been one week since Congress returned from summer recess and Republican lawmakers are wasting no time in bringing legislation back to the House floor to block a central bank digital currency, FOX Business has learned.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., on Tuesday afternoon will reintroduce the Central Bank Digital Currency Anti-Surveillance State Act, a Republican-backed bill that aims to prevent the Federal Reserve and its member banks from issuing a digital version of the dollar and using it to implement monetary policy.

Central bank digital currencies, more commonly referred to as CBDCs, have become increasingly popular over the last three years. As many as 130 countries, representing 98% of the global economy, are exploring digital versions of their currencies; 11 countries, including China, have fully implemented a CBDC.

Republicans like Emmer say a CBDC would enhance the surveillance state, which is why Communist China is among the first countries to establish one.

Governments can use CBDCs to gain unfettered access to private citizens’ financial data. The potential access to, and exploitation of user data significantly outweighs the benefits of low transaction costs and increased financial inclusion, critics say.

‘Dr. Google’ Meets Its Match: Dr. ChatGPT

KFF Health News reported:

In June, Riley Lyons, a fourth-year ophthalmology resident at Emory University School of Medicine, and his colleagues reported in medRxiv, an online publisher of health science preprints, that ChatGPT compared quite well to human doctors who reviewed the same symptoms — and performed vastly better than the symptom checker on the popular health website WebMD.

And despite the much-publicized “hallucination” problem known to afflict ChatGPT — its habit of occasionally making outright false statements — the Emory study reported that the most recent version of ChatGPT made zero “grossly inaccurate” statements when presented with a standard set of eye complaints.

The relative proficiency of ChatGPT, which debuted in November 2022, was a surprise to Lyons and his co-authors. The artificial intelligence engine “is definitely an improvement over just putting something into a Google search bar and seeing what you find,” said co-author Nieraj Jain, an assistant professor at the Emory Eye Center who specializes in vitreoretinal surgery and disease.

But the findings underscore a challenge facing the healthcare industry as it assesses the promise and pitfalls of generative AI, the type of artificial intelligence used by ChatGPT: The accuracy of chatbot-delivered medical information may represent an improvement over Dr. Google, but there are still many questions about how to integrate this new technology into healthcare systems with the same safeguards historically applied to the introduction of new drugs or medical devices.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Promises It Will Stop Buying Smartphone Location Data

Gizmodo reported:

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has offered a slim olive branch to one U.S. senator and the many rights groups critical of the agency’s use of commercial and seized smartphone data. According to the office of Sen. Ron Wyden, the CBP said it will stop “utilizing Commercial Telemetry Data (CTD)” — AKA users’ location data — by the end of September. Or it will so long as it doesn’t see a “critical mission” that would necessitate buying up commercial data.

The CBP is just one of many federal agencies (especially law enforcement agencies) that use commercial data sold by the massive, shady network of online data brokers. The agency falls under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security, which past reports show had been buying phone location data of millions of U.S. citizens from the open market.

Though it is illegal to obtain data off a cellphone without permission or a warrant, federal lawyers have argued that this kind of data is up for grabs since it’s available on the open market.

2024 GOP Contenders Clash Over COVID Records as They Warn Against Future Mandates

CNN Politics reported:

Amid an uptick in coronavirus cases, Republican presidential candidates are taking aim at limited, local returns to masking requirements — using those moves as an opening to warn against broader restrictions.

In recent days, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has lambasted front-runner Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic’s early stages. The former president, meanwhile, is, pledging to cut federal funding for entities such as schools and airlines that mandate masks or vaccines.

The renewed focus on COVID-19 comes after a late-summer rise in hospitalizations. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the green light Monday to updated COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech.

Landmark Google Trial Opens With Sweeping DOJ Accusations of Illegal Monopolization

CNN Business reported:

U.S. prosecutors opened a landmark antitrust trial against Google on Tuesday with sweeping allegations that for years the company intentionally stifled competition challenging its massive search engine, accusing the tech giant of spending billions to operate an illegal monopoly that has harmed every computer and mobile device user in the United States.

The effects of Google’s alleged misconduct are vast, DOJ lawyer Kenneth Dintzer told the court.

“This case is about the future of the internet, and whether Google’s search engine will ever face meaningful competition,” Dintzer said, adding that Google pays more than $10 billion a year to Apple and other companies to ensure that Google is the default or only search engine available on browsers and mobile devices used by millions.

The deals guarantee a steady flow of user data to Google that further reinforces its monopoly, the U.S. government said, leading to other consequences such as harm to consumer privacy and higher advertising prices.

Slouching Toward ‘Accept All Cookies’

The Atlantic reported:

We are all shedding data like skin cells. Almost everything we do with, or simply in proximity to, a connected device generates some small bit of information — about who we are, about the device we’re using and the other devices nearby, about what we did and when and how and for how long.

Sometimes doing nothing at all — merely lingering on a webpage — is recorded as a relevant piece of information. Sometimes simply walking past a Wi-Fi router is a data point to be captured and processed. Sometimes the connected device isn’t a phone or a computer, as such; sometimes it’s a traffic light or a toaster or a toilet. If it is our phone, and we have location services enabled — which many people do, so that they can get delivery and Find My Friends and benefit from the convenience of turn-by-turn directions — our precise location data are being constantly collected and transmitted.

We pick up our devices and command them to open the world for us, which they do quite well. But they also produce a secondary output — all those tiny flecks of dead skin floating around us.

Our data are everywhere because our data are useful. Mostly to make people money: When someone opens up their phone’s browser and clicks on a link — to use the most basic example — a whole hidden economy whirs into gear.

Novak Djokovic Comes Back to Win U.S. Open After Biden Vax Policy Ban Last Year

The Daily Wire reported:

Tennis great Novak Djokovic made history on Sunday when he defeated Daniil Medvedev in three sets to win the U.S. Open, scoring him his 24th major championship, tying the record for the most Grand Slam singles titles.

Djokovic, who has refused to take the COVID vaccine, was notably banned from entering the U.S. last year due to a Biden administration vaccine rule, keeping the athlete from competing in the U.S. Open last year.

Djokovic, who said he had already contracted and recovered from the virus, has chosen not to get vaccinated against COVID. This led to the dramatic detainment and deportation of the tennis star from Australia, rendering him unable to defend his Australian Open title in 2021. Later, he was banned from New York for the 2022 U.S. Open, similarly over his vaccination status.

“That is the price that I’m willing to pay,” Djokovic told the BBC. “Because the principles of decision-making on my body are more important than any title or anything else. I’m trying to be in tune with my body as much as I possibly can.”

“I was never against vaccination,” he added, “but I’ve always supported the freedom to choose what you put in your body.”

Biden Officials ‘Likely Violated First Amendment’ in Big Tech COVID Censorship Efforts, Appeals Court Affirms

New York Post reported:

The Biden administration likely infringed upon the First Amendment when it leaned on social media companies to remove false or misleading COVID-19 content, a federal court of appeals ruled Friday — narrowing a bombshell district court order that barred several officials and agencies from communicating with the platforms.

The White House, surgeon general, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI “likely coerced or significantly encouraged social-media platforms to moderate content” and in doing so, “likely violated the First Amendment,” the New Orleans-based Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined.

The three-judge panel, however, adjusted the scope of U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty’s July 4 order, which had been temporarily stayed on July 14, removing officials from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the State Department from the injunction.

The appeals court called parts of Doughty’s preliminary injunction “vague and broader than necessary.”

Threads Blocks Searches Related to COVID and Vaccines as Cases Rise

The Washington Post reported:

Instagram’s text-based social platform Threads last week rolled out its new search function, a crucial step toward the platform’s expansion and one that would give it more parity with X, formerly known as Twitter.

Not even 24 hours later, the company was embroiled in controversy. When users went to Threads to search for content related to “COVID” and “long COVID,” they were met with a blank screen that showed no search results and a pop-up linking to the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A Meta spokesperson acknowledged that Threads was intentionally blocking the search terms, and said that other terms were being blocked, but declined to provide a list of those. A search by The Post discovered that the words “sex,” “nude,” “gore,” “porn,” “coronavirus,” “vaccines” and “vaccination” are also among the blocked words.

Google Chrome Just Rolled Out a New Way to Track You and Serve Ads. Here’s What You Need to Know

The Conversation reported:

Late last week, Google announced something called the Privacy Sandbox has been rolled out to a “majority” of Chrome users, and will reach 100% of users in the coming months. But what is it, exactly?

The new suite of features represents a fundamental shift in how Chrome will track user data for the benefit of advertisers. Instead of third-party cookies, Chrome can now tap directly into your browsing history to gather information on advertising “topics” (more on that later).

In development since 2019, this change has attracted a great deal of controversy, as some commentators have deemed it invasive in terms of privacy. In short, instead of third-party cookies doing the spying, the features these cookies enable will be available directly within Chrome.

While Google pitches the Privacy Sandbox as something that will improve user privacy, not everyone agrees. If these features are switched on, Google — one of the world’s biggest advertising companies — is essentially able to listen to you everywhere on the web.

Newsom Shirks Blame for Closing Churches, Keeping Hollywood Open During COVID: ‘We Didn’t Know’

Fox News reported:

California Governor Gavin Newsom dodged responsibility for allowing the film industry to reopen while keeping churches closed in his state during the COVID-19 pandemic, instead blaming the collective “we” for such decisions.

Newsom was confronted Sunday by “Meet the Press” anchor Chuck Todd about his lockdown-heavy approach to the pandemic that faced so much criticism that it sparked a recall election against him.

“You found a way to allow the motion picture industry and the movie industry to get back to work, but you didn’t allow people to grieve together at funerals or at churches,” Todd argued. “This is this anger between the populace and the elites: Here you prioritize this industry, but you were tougher on those that just wanted to go worship.”

Newsom was the first governor in the country to issue a stay-at-home order, and he was the last governor to reopen schools. He also frequently faced backlash for breaking his own rules during the lockdowns, including mingling without a mask with California Medical Association officials at the ritzy French Laundry restaurant in Napa in November 2020.

EU Chief Boasts About Vaccine Passports, Calls for More Global Digital Collaboration — Paving the Way for Digital IDs

Reclaim the Net reported:

With an ominous call for increased global collaboration and centralization, European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen at a G20 Summit session, dubbed “One Future,” today appealed for an international regulatory body for Artificial Intelligence and digital ID systems similar to coronavirus vaccine passports.

Von der Leyen audaciously proclaimed our collective future to be digital, hence the implied necessity for global entities to draw boundaries and enforce regulations.

Concurrently, Von der Leyen championed the concept of digital public infrastructure similar to the coronavirus passport system — a system developed by the EU as a response to the COVID saga. The World Health Organization embraced it with open arms as a global standard for combating health threats.

Alarmingly, Von der Leyen praised the EU’s strides towards a bloc-wide digital identity app capable of storing a citizen’s personal information, including credit cards, driver’s licenses, and passport data.

These developments ring alarm bells for individuals and nations valuing free speech and privacy.

Meta Platforms Must Face Medical Privacy Class Action

Reuters reported:

A U.S. federal judge said Meta Platforms (META.O) must face a lawsuit claiming that it violated the medical privacy of patients who were treated by hospitals and other healthcare providers that used its Meta Pixel tracking tool.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco said the plaintiffs could pursue claims that Meta violated a federal wiretap law and a California privacy law, and violated its own contractual promises governing user privacy on Facebook.

In a 26-page decision on Thursday, the judge said the case, based on the evidence so far, “does not negate the plausible allegations that sensitive healthcare information is intentionally captured and transmitted to Meta.”

According to the plaintiffs, Meta Pixel provided sensitive information about their health to Meta when they logged into patient portals, where the tracking tool had been installed, enabling Meta to make money from targeted advertising. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for all Facebook users whose health information was obtained by Meta.

Elon Musk’s X Corp Sues California Over Social Media Content Moderation Law

The Daily Wire reported:

Elon Musk’s X-Corp asked a California court on Friday to overturn a first-of-its-kind online content moderation law, arguing the measure pressures social media platforms to censor discourse viewed as problematic by state officials.

X, formerly known as Twitter, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California against the new law AB 587, which requires social media companies to publicly disclose moderation practices around categories the state could label as misinformation/disinformation, extremism/radicalization, and hate speech — otherwise the state could impose fines for non-compliance.

But with Musk’s pledge to restore a marketplace of ideas on his newly rebranded $44 billion social media company, X Corp. alleges California’s new law regulating certain forms of speech violates the First Amendment under the U.S. and California constitutions.

Search Engines Required to Stamp Out AI-Generated Images of Child Abuse Under Australia’s New Code

The Guardian reported:

Artificial intelligence tools could be used to generate child abuse images and terrorist propaganda, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has warned while announcing a world-leading industry standard that requires tech giants to stamp out such material on AI-powered search engines.

The new industry code covering search engines, to be detailed on Friday, requires big tech firms like Google, Microsoft’s Bing and DuckDuckGo to eliminate child abuse material from their search results, and to take steps to ensure generative AI products can’t be used to generate deepfake versions of that material.

Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, said the companies themselves needed to be at the forefront of reducing the harm their products can create. “We are seeing ‘synthetic’ child abuse material come through,” she said. “Terror organizations are using generative AI to create propaganda. It’s already happening. It’s not a fanciful thing. We felt it needed to be covered.”​​

NYC Teachers Win Jobs Back With Backpay After Refusing COVID Vaccine

Fox News reported:

A New York judge said Wednesday that 10 employees fired by the New York City Department of Education for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine must be reinstated with back pay.

In a major victory for vaccine mandate opponents, State Supreme Court Judge Ralph J. Porzio held that the city’s denials of religious accommodation to certain employees were unlawful, arbitrary and capricious. The case, DiCapua v. City of New York, concerned school principals, teachers and other educators who sued after city officials rejected their claims for a religious exemption to the vaccine mandate.

New York City’s vaccine mandate for all Department of Education workers was in effect from Oct. 1, 2021, to Feb. 10, 2023. Thousands of teachers and other education workers lost their jobs under the policy for refusing to comply with the mandate.

“The Court’s decision not only grants relief to these 10 teachers, but it also sets an important precedent for all other teachers denied religious accommodation,” Sujata Gibson, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said.

NYPD Spent Millions to Contract With Firm Banned by Meta for Fake Profiles

The Guardian reported:

New York law enforcement agencies have spent millions of dollars to expand their capabilities to track and analyze social media posts, new documents show, including by contracting with a surveillance firm accused of improperly scraping social media platforms for data.

Documents obtained by the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (Stop), a privacy advocacy non-profit and shared with the Guardian, reveal the New York police department in 2018 entered a nearly $9m contract with Voyager Labs, a surveillance company that has been sued by Meta for allegedly using nearly 40,000 fake Facebook accounts to collect data on an estimated 600,000 users.

NYPD purchased Voyager Labs products that the company claims can use artificial intelligence to analyze online human behavior and detect and predict fraud and crimes, the documents show.

A separate document reveals a contract between the Queens district attorney and Israeli firm Cobwebs Technologies, which also offers social network mapping products, as well as tools to track location information through phones. It’s unclear how much that contract is worth.

Mask Mandate Map Shows Where Restrictions Are Being Implemented, Blocked

Newsweek reported:

With the U.S. seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks, mask mandates are in the news again, prompting Republican governors to vow they will prevent their return.

Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a 15.7% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations from August 20 to 26, compared with the week before. While those hospitalizations are still significantly down from peaks in 2021, the CDC recently released a warning about a new coronavirus variant, BA.2.86, which it said “may be more capable of causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received COVID-19 vaccines.”

In response to the COVID-19 news, some schools and hospitals have announced a return to mask mandates for a specific period. But Republican governors have spoken out against any return to masking in their states.

Newsweek has compiled a list and map of all the states that oppose a return to mask mandates, as well as places that have implemented masking requirements.

Lawsuit: BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Denied Workers Religious Exemptions From COVID Vaccine Mandate

News Channel 9 reported:

In a federal lawsuit, 3 former employees of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee claim the insurer violated their civil rights when firing them after they were denied a religious exemption from the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The plaintiffs are James Abernathy of Davidson County, Tennessee, Heather Click of Sullivan County, Tennessee and Kerrie Ingle of Soddy-Daisy.

In August of 2021, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBST) announced a company-wide vaccine mandate. All employees were given 6 weeks to either comply and get the shot, or request an exemption.

This is not the first lawsuit BCBST is facing over this issue. Back in June, an appeals court ruled the insurer wrongly fired a worker for sharing her concerns about the vaccine mandate with state lawmakers.

Tuberville Demands Answers on Military Rankings of Discharged Service Members Who Refused COVID Vaccine

Fox News reported:

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., sent a letter to three military secretaries on Friday demanding answers about the rankings of service members who were discharged after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021.

Tuberville said that although the speedy development of the COVID-19 vaccines was an “impressive scientific feat,” the cooperation “to have these vaccines administered was met with an appropriate level of hesitation by many as test trials were quick, limited, and distributed with relatively no understanding of long-term health complications.”

“It was subsequently discovered that some vaccines were created and tested using cell lines derived from aborted fetal tissue,” Tuberville wrote. “This revelation led to widespread objections of conscience for civilians and service members with genuine religious convictions.”

Tuberville wants each secretary to provide information about what “staffing mitigation” plan was in place to handle a personnel shortage “due to the hasty COVID-19 vaccine mandate” by Sept. 22.

Chinese Operatives Are Using AI Photos to Trick American Voters and Turn Them Against Each Other, Microsoft Says

Insider reported:

China has since March been using generative AI to create viral content that divides U.S. voters on social media — and is getting better at it, Microsoft analysts say.

Analysts from the center released a report on Thursday highlighting digital threats from China and North Korea, and said Chinese operatives are influencing their targets to “a greater extent than previously observed.”

They added that the new images are more eye-catching, and real U.S. voters are reposting them even though they contain “common indicators of AI generation,” like more than five fingers on a hand.

It’s now also harder to tell that these accounts aren’t genuine, Microsoft’s analysts said.

Facebook Trains Its AI on Your Data. Opting Out May Be Futile

Wired reported:

As Meta, the company behind Facebook continues to develop its generative artificial intelligence tools, you can now request the removal of some of the personal data the company uses to train its AI model. There are a ton of caveats, though.

Earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to build a range of AI features into Meta’s platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Despite the popularity of generative AI in Silicon Valley, murky legal questions remain for the technology, and many people are anxious about its rapid advancement.

Want to stop Meta from using all of your info to improve its AI? The company added a new form to one of its help centers titled “Generative AI Data Subject Rights at Facebook.” With this form, you can request that Meta give you access to the third-party data it uses for AI development and that the personal information is deleted.

The operative word here is “request.” There’s no guarantee from the company that it’ll delete it, or that it’ll provide you with the information you’re asking for, even if it’s yours.

It’s important to point out that this form does not pertain to the gobs of personal information Meta has already collected from you on its platforms; it only applies to outside data the company may bring in to beef up its generative AI.

Harvard University Is the Worst College for Free Speech: ‘Abysmal’ Rating, Report Says

Boston Herald reported:

Just as the school year kicks off and students return to campus, Harvard University has been ranked as the worst college for free speech in the country.

Harvard ranked last out of 248 colleges in a survey of more than 55,000 students across the U.S., receiving the only “Abysmal” rating in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and College Pulse free speech rankings.

“Some of the most prestigious universities in our country have the most repressive administrations,” Stevens added. “Students should know that a college degree at certain schools may come at the expense of their free speech rights.”

The campus free speech rankings rely heavily on student responses and on how schools responded to de-platforming attempts. ​​Self-censorship is pervasive across the board, according to the survey. More than a quarter of students (26%) said they censor themselves at least a few times a week in conversations with friends, and 25% said they’re more likely to self-censor now than they were when starting college.

Gov. DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Warn Against New COVID Restrictions and Vaccine

Associated Press reported:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday criticized recent efforts across the U.S. to tamp down a recent jump in COVID-19 cases through temporary restrictions or masking and his state surgeon general warned against getting the latest COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected to be available this month.

At the Jacksonville news conference at an Irish pub, DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo promised Florida won’t be joining states, cities or school districts across the U.S. in temporarily closing schools or mandating mask-wearing because of the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases.

Lapado said there were no arguments for getting the latest vaccine. “There are a lot of red flags,” Ladapo said.

Ladapo last year released guidance recommending against COVID-19 vaccinations for healthy children, contradicting federal public health leaders whose advice says all kids should get the shots.

New York State Providing COVID Tests, Masks to Schools

The Hill reported:

New York state will provide COVID-19 tests and masks in school districts amid a recent spike in cases over the summer, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced Tuesday.

The announcement also comes after the recent discovery of the BA.2.86 subvariant in New York City’s sewage, according to city officials.

Hochul’s office Wednesday said the state will conduct outreach to the Education Department and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) to determine each district’s needs for the test kits and masks, including both N95 and KN95 masks.

A risk assessment from the CDC published last month found the subvariant may be more capable of causing infections in people who previously contracted the virus or who have been vaccinated.

A Japanese City Is Installing Robots in Classrooms so Kids Who Are Worried About Attending School Can Tune in Remotely

Insider reported:

Kumamoto, a city in Southwest Japan, plans to install robots in some of its classrooms to help home-based pupils feel more included and less anxious.

The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported that the initiative was due to involve two meter-high robots, which would be fitted with microphones and a camera to allow for two-way communication. This would allow students to learn from home while still contributing to class discussions.

Japan has been experiencing a rise in the number of truant schoolchildren, a trend potentially accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the country’s truancy rates soared to record levels, The Asahi Shimbun outlet reported, citing an education ministry survey.

Snapchat Adds New Safety Features for Teen Users

CNN Business reported:

Snapchat says it’s working to make its app even safer for teen users. Parent company Snap said Thursday that it is rolling out a suite of new features and policies aimed at better protecting 13- to 17-year-old users, including restrictions on friend suggestions and a new system for removing age-inappropriate content.

The company also launched a series of YouTube videos for parents about the features and an updated website laying out its teen safety and parental control policies.

The new features come amid increasing pressure on social media platforms by lawmakers, educators and parents to protect young users from inappropriate content, unwanted adult attention, illicit drug sales and other issues.

A Snap executive testified alongside leaders from TikTok and YouTube in a fall 2021 Senate committee hearing about youth safety on social media, promising new tools to help parents keep their teens safe. Since then, Snapchat — like other platforms — has rolled out a variety of new teen safety and parental supervision tools.

U.K. Data Watchdog to Review Period and Fertility Apps Amid Security Concerns

The Guardian reported:

The U.K. data watchdog is to review period and fertility tracking apps after users expressed concerns over data security.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced the move after it commissioned research showing that half of women have concerns about how their data is used by the apps.

The poll of more than 1,150 women showed that a third of women have used apps to track their periods or fertility. Women said transparency over how their data was used and how secure it was were bigger concerns — at 59% and 57% of respondents respectively — than cost and ease of use when it came to choosing an app.

In recent years, privacy campaigners have previously warned about menstruation apps unnecessarily storing the personal data of users, including intimate details such as birth control habits.

G7 Countries Commit to AI Code of Conduct

Politico reported:

Officials from the G7 group of leading democratic countries agreed Thursday to create an international code of conduct for artificial intelligence as politicians from Brussels to Washington seek greater control over this emerging technology.

As part of the voluntary guidelines, policymakers said countries would work together on specific principles that would oversee the likes of generative AI and other advanced forms of the technology. This attempt at creating a unified, but nonbinding, international rulebook would then be presented to G7 leaders as early as November.

The code of conduct is expected to include commitments from companies to take steps to stop potential societal harm created by their AI systems, to invest in tough cybersecurity controls over how the technology is developed and to create risk management systems to curb the potential misuse of the technology.

It comes as the European Union seeks to complete its own AI legislation by the end of the year, and the United States pushes ahead with its own voluntary commitments announced in July.