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Google Fails to End $5 Billion Consumer Privacy Lawsuit + More
Google Fails to End $5 Billion Consumer Privacy Lawsuit
A U.S. judge rejected Google‘s bid to dismiss a lawsuit claiming it invaded the privacy of millions of people by secretly tracking their internet use. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Monday said she could not find that users consented to let Google collect information about what they viewed online because the Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit never explicitly told them it would.
David Boies, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the proposed $5 billion class action, called the decision “an important step in protecting the privacy interests of millions of Americans.”
The plaintiffs alleged that Google’s analytics, cookies and apps let the Mountain View, California-based company track their activity even when they set Google’s Chrome browser to “Incognito” mode and other browsers to “private” browsing mode.
They said this let Google learn enough about their friends, hobbies, favorite foods, shopping habits, and “potentially embarrassing things” they seek out online, becoming “an unaccountable trove of information so detailed and expansive that George Orwell could never have dreamed it.”
Jim Jordan Reveals ‘Smoking Gun’ Against Biden
Representative Jim Jordan unveiled his “smoking gun” evidence that the Biden administration collaborated with Meta company leaders to remove information about COVID-19.
Jordan, an Ohio Republican who chairs the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, led its Republican members in filing an amicus briefing in the case State of Missouri v. Biden. The lawsuit, filed by the states of Missouri and Louisiana, accuses President Joe Biden‘s administration of government overreach, including attempting to suppress information they do not agree with online.
Jordan, a staunch Biden critic, has for weeks said the committee uncovered “smoking gun” evidence showing that members of the administration collaborated with Meta, Facebook‘s parent company, to remove information related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the lab leak theory and vaccine misinformation.
House Republicans presented their evidence that the Biden administration pressured Facebook to stifle COVID-19 posts in the Monday night briefing. In one instance presented in the briefing, the Biden administration allegedly requested for Meta officials to take down information that the COVID-19 virus could have originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Exclusive: Snapchat Under Scrutiny From U.K. Watchdog Over Underage Users — Sources
Britain’s data regulator is gathering information on Snapchat to establish whether the U.S. instant messaging app is doing enough to remove underage users from its platform, two people familiar with the matter said.
Reuters reported exclusively in March that Snapchat owner Snap Inc (SNAP.N) had only removed a few dozen children aged under-13 from its platform in Britain last year, while U.K. media regulator Ofcom estimates it has thousands of underage users.
Under U.K. data protection law, social media companies need parental consent before processing data of children under 13. Social media firms generally require users to be 13 or over but have had mixed success in keeping children off their platforms.
Last year, Ofcom found 60% of children aged between eight and 11 had at least one social media account, often created by supplying a false date of birth. It also found Snapchat was the most popular app for underage social media users.
Major Australian Banks Are Going Cashless — Forced Acceptance of CBDCs Next?
The core problems of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) have been addressed many times here, but it may bear repeating these two facts: First, in a cashless society all privacy in trade is lost, and second, banks and governments will control access to all of your money. If such a system is allowed, it will act as a major stepping stone to technocratic authoritarianism. It’s inevitable.
The Australian government and central bank have been involved in a beta test for the past year with the proliferation of CBDCs in mind. Their partnership projects with the Bank for International Settlements and pilot programs with companies like Mastercard are about to wrap up this fall, and it looks as though Aussie bureaucrats are planning to implement their cashless system very quickly after the trial run is finished.
In defense of CBDCs officials suggest that Australians are already shifting into a cashless society, citing the fact that the population went from 32% using cash to only 16% using cash in the span of three years. Of course, what they don’t mention is that Australia’s aggressive and draconian COVID lockdowns and mandates since 2020 pushed the public into relying more on digital and online purchases.
Already, the top four banks in the country are removing over-the-counter cash withdrawals at most of their branches. “Special centers” will be put in place for “more complex banking needs including cash” but the overall trend will be the reduction of paper money, forcing the populace to go fully digital.
Georgia Republicans Eyeing Legislation Requiring Parents’ Permission for Kids’ Social Media Accounts
A duo of Georgia Republicans has announced a legislative push to require children to have their parents’ permission to use certain social media accounts.
In a news conference on Monday, Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R) and state Senate Majority Caucus Chair Senator Jason Anavitarte (R) said they plan to introduce the bill during the state’s 2024 legislative session.
The proposed legislation would require social media platforms to take concrete steps to verify the age of their users. Existing rules requiring school systems in the state to monitor bullying and educate students and educators on the issue of social media would also be updated “to reflect the realities of modern technology.”
Social media companies will also be required to remove features that are addictive to children, according to the proposed legislation.
Anavitarte also said that the legislation would be modeled on a law in Louisiana that was passed earlier this year.
Embodied’s AI Robot Moxie Designed for Kids — With Limits
Artificial intelligence could become your child’s new best friend. California-based Embodied has created Moxie — a robot companion designed to support social, emotional and cognitive development in children ages 5 to 10.
While AI can often feel mysterious, Moxie – with its blue body and big, curious eyes – provides a tangible application of the fast-growing technology, to the tune of $799. Outfitted with sensors, microphones and a camera, the robot uses play-based exercises to help children learn how to identify and better manage their emotions.
With kids experiencing increasing feelings of loneliness, especially after being isolated during the pandemic, the company announced it created Moxie so the next generation could have a trusted friend to help with those anxieties.
One concern is children could bond too much with Moxie, foregoing real human interaction. To prevent that, Embodied has implemented use limits.
Norway to Fine Meta $98,500 a Day Over User Privacy Breach From 14 August
Facebook owner Meta Platforms will be fined 1m krone ($98,500) a day over privacy breaches from August 14, Norway’s data protection authority told Reuters on Monday, a decision that could have wider European implications.
The regulator, Datatilsynet, had said on July 17 that the company would be fined if it did not address privacy breaches the regulator had identified.
Datatilsynet had said Meta cannot harvest user data in Norway, such as users’ physical locations, and use it to target advertising at them, called behavioral advertising, a business model common to big tech.
“As of next Monday, a daily fine of 1 million krone will start to apply,” Tobias Judin, head of Datatilsynet’s international section told Reuters.
China’s Draft Measures Demand ‘Individual Consent’ for Facial Recognition Use
The pervasive use of facial recognition technology across all facets of life in China has elicited both praise for its convenience and backlash around privacy concerns. The widespread adoption has also fueled the exponential growth of valuations in companies specializing in the field, such as AI giants SenseTime and Megvii.
Now the industry is facing some potentially significant changes as Beijing steps up efforts to establish more defined boundaries for the technology’s usage. The move is building upon the implementation of major tech regulations that rolled out in recent years targeting cybersecurity, data security, and privacy protection.
On Tuesday, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the nation’s top internet watchdog, unveiled a series of proposed measures aimed at regulating the application of facial recognition.
The technology has been extensively employed in both the public and private sectors, ranging from facial scans used to authenticate payments in supermarkets to identity verification procedures at airport boarding gates — the latter an increasingly common practice not only in China but also across the U.S.
Massachusetts State Police Must Reinstate 7 Troopers Who Refused to Be Vaccinated, Arbitrator Says + More
Massachusetts State Police Must Reinstate 7 Troopers Who Refused to Be Vaccinated, Arbitrator Says
Massachusetts State Police must reinstate seven troopers who refused to be vaccinated for COVID-19, an independent arbitrator has ruled. The troopers have been on unpaid leave, but the arbitrator’s decision means they can return to work with retroactive pay if they choose.
The union representing state troopers, which plans to hold a news conference Monday outside the State House, filed a grievance after the law enforcement officers were suspended following former Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s 2021 order requiring executive department employees to be vaccinated. Current Democratic Gov. Maura Healey lifted the vaccine mandate in May.
Massachusetts State Police are in the process of determining the “scope as well as the administrative and legal steps” needed to implement the arbitrator’s ruling, David Procopio, an agency spokesperson, said Sunday in an email.
The arbitrator concluded State Police violated a collective bargaining agreement in the way they handled the cases of eight troopers who cited religious grounds for refusing to take the vaccine. The agency summarily dismissed the troopers instead of reviewing their accommodation requests, the arbitrator said Friday. One of the eight troopers later returned to work.
Detroit Woman Sues City After Being Falsely Arrested While Pregnant Due to Facial Recognition Technology
A Detroit woman is suing the city and a police detective after she was falsely arrested because of facial recognition technology while she was eight months pregnant, according to court documents.
Porcha Woodruff, 32, was getting her two children ready for school on the morning of Feb. 16 when six police officers showed up at her doorstep and presented her with an arrest warrant alleging robbery and carjacking.
Woodruff initially believed the officers were joking given her visibly pregnant state. She was arrested.
“Ms. Woodruff later discovered that she was implicated as a suspect through a photo lineup shown to the victim of the robbery and carjacking, following an unreliable facial recognition match,” court documents say.
Zoom Contradicts Its Own Policy About Training AI on Your Data
Zoom updated its Terms of Service in March, spelling out that the company reserves the right to train AI on user data with no mention of a way to opt-out. On Monday, the company said in a blog post that there’s no need to worry about that. Zoom execs swear the company won’t actually train its AI on your video calls even though the Terms of Service still say it can.
The company’s legal documents call your video, audio, and chat transcripts “Customer Content.” When you click through Zoom’s terms, you agree to give Zoom a “perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license and all other rights” to use that Customer Content for “machine learning, artificial intelligence, training, testing,” and a variety of other product development purposes. The company reserves similar rights for “Service Generated Data,” which includes telemetry data, product usage data, diagnostic data, and other information it gets from analyzing your content and behavior.
Zoom didn’t answer questions about “Service Generated Content,” which includes analytics data and basically everything other than the content of your video, audio, and chats. Zoom’s privacy policy says it can do all kinds of things with that data, including training AI. Gizmodo looked through Zoom’s settings and couldn’t find any way to opt out of allowing the company to train its AI on service-generated content.
The company’s track record of keeping promises to consumers about their privacy isn’t great. In 2020, Zoom said it would offer end-to-end encryption only to paying users only to backtrack after outcry over offering privacy as a paid feature. A lawsuit alleged the company had claimed it already offered end-to-end encryption to everyone. In fact, Zoom was using a far less secure form of encryption, though it later fixed the issue. The company also shared user data with Google and Facebook without letting customers know, and Zoom agreed to an $85 million settlement over these and other issues in 2021.
The Internet Speech Case That the Supreme Court Can’t Dodge
When the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Gonzalez v. Google, its first case involving Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the tech-policy world was laser-focused on its implications. The week before oral arguments, in February last year, the Brookings Institution held a panel touting the case’s “power to reshape the internet.” The New York Times wrote that the case “could have potentially seismic ramifications for the social media platforms that have become conduits of communication, commerce and culture for billions of people.” Google’s general counsel wrote that the “decision could radically alter the way that Americans use the internet.”
Those predictions fell short a few months later when the court released its opinion and completely punted on any interpretation of Section 230, the 1996 law that protects platforms from liability for user content.
Despite their reluctance to decide lofty cyber issues, there is a good chance that another internet law dispute will come before the justices in the next year. And this time, it will be difficult for them to avoid directly deciding the issue and having a huge impact on how the internet looks for decades to come.
The disputes involve two similar Texas and Florida laws which both restrict platforms from moderating certain speech and require transparency about user content policies. The Texas law, for example, states that large social media platforms “may not censor a user, a user’s expression, or a user’s ability to receive the expression of another person” based on viewpoints or the users’ location. NetChoice, a group representing tech companies, has challenged both laws.
Fauci Successor, Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, Said There Should Be ‘Consequences’ for ‘Misinformation,’ but Spreads It Herself
In the wake of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s retirement from his contentious role as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an air of apprehension cloaks the announcement of his successor.
Fauci’s tenure was marred by accusations of a slew of misinformation, all while calling for “misinformation” to be curbed by social media platforms, and seemingly intentional deceit, leading to his referral for prosecution regarding potential misrepresentation of the evidence on the origins of COVID-19.
Now, the successor named by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is proving to be an equally divisive choice steeped in similar controversy.
Dr. Marrazzo’s tenure during the pandemic was far from exemplary as she pumped out her own breed of misinformation. In 2020, Dr. Marrazzo grossly exaggerated the COVID-19 mortality rate, presenting a 10% figure in stark contrast to the non-politicized estimation of a 0.034% infection fatality rate (IFR). This gross overestimation of approximately 23,311% amplifies the concern regarding her appointment as head of NIAID.
In 2020, Dr. Marrazzo tweeted that there should be “consequences” for those that spread misinformation. Yet, in another instance of flaunting false narratives, Dr. Marrazzo echoed the controversial affirmation that masks play a crucial role in curbing COVID-19 transmission, even as late as 2021, contradicting other studies and showing that there is no general consensus on scientific matters — which is why free speech needs to be protected.
White House Censorship of Social Media Violates First Amendment Rights
On March 26, 2021, White House digital director Rob Flaherty e-mailed Facebook, asking what sort of restrictions the social-media company was going to put on the New York Post.
“I’m curious — NY Post churning out articles every day about people dying. What is supposed to happen to that from a Policy perspective? Does that article get a reduction, labels?”
What we were “churning out” was the occasional news piece about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine based on the information we had at the time (even as we also advocated for taking it in editorials).
There is absolutely no reason for the government to be pressuring social-media companies to ban or delete articles and opinions. It is pure propaganda and contrary to the spirit of the First Amendment. They’re not protecting you. They’re protecting themselves.
Republican Utah Governor Highlighting Harms of Social Media Use in Ad Campaign
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) launched a public awareness campaign Friday focusing on the harms of social media for children, his office announced.
The campaign argues that many children use social media and the internet too much and it could be having a negative impact on their mental health. “Rates of depression, anxiety, loneliness, suicidal thoughts and behaviors have increased in recent years,” Cox said in a statement.
“It’s undeniable that social media is harming our children’s mental and physical health, brain chemistry, self-esteem and more. Parents need to know about these dangers so they can best help their children and teens. We encourage all Utahns to consider less screen time and more human connection. Let’s disconnect to reconnect.”
The Utah campaign will feature on billboards, television ads and, ironically, social media videos in the coming months.
Long Beach Harbor Employee Sues Over City’s COVID Vaccine, Testing Mandates
A longtime Long Beach Harbor Department employee sued the city Friday, alleging he was wrongfully denied accommodations when he asked to be excused on religious grounds from the mandatory coronavirus vaccination mandate and the alternative for regular testing.
Christian Scientist Jeremy Groves filed the case in Los Angeles Superior Court. His claims include religious discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination and retaliation, failure to engage in the interactive process and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Groves has worked for the Long Beach Harbor Department for more than 25 years. In September 2021, he sought accommodations due to his objections to the city’s employee coronavirus vaccination mandate and the alternative of weekly testing, which involved giving saliva samples, the suit states.
Groves alleges he was still on leave last November when the city lifted its vaccination and testing mandates, but failed to notify him or engage him in an interactive process that would enable him to return to work.
Australian Intelligence Agency Funding Research to Merge Human Brain Cells With AI
Australia’s Office of National Intelligence, the equivalent of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, is funding a project to study ways of merging human brain cells with artificial intelligence.
A team of researchers collaborating with Melbourne-based startup Cortical Labs received a $600,000 grant to merge biology with AI. The team has already demonstrated how roughly 800,000 brain cells in a Petri dish are capable of playing a game of “Pong.“
“This new technology capability in the future may eventually surpass the performance of existing, purely silicon-based hardware,” said team lead Adeel Razi, an associate professor at Monarch University.
“The outcomes of such research would have significant implications across multiple fields such as, but not limited to, planning, robotics, advanced automation, brain-machine interfaces, and drug discovery, giving Australia a significant strategic advantage.”
Meanwhile, Elon Musk‘s Neuralink has had FDA approval to study brain implants in humans since May.
Connecticut Law Ending Religious Vaccine Exemptions for Children Is Upheld + More
Connecticut Law Ending Religious Vaccine Exemptions for Children Is Upheld
A divided federal appeals court on Friday rejected a challenge to a Connecticut law that ended that state’s decades-old religious exemptions from immunization requirements for children in schools, colleges and daycare.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said ending religious exemptions, while still allowing medical exemptions, was a rational means to promote health and safety by reducing the potential spread of vaccine-preventable diseases.
In a 2-1 decision, Circuit Judge Denny Chin said the April 2021 law contained “no trace” of hostility toward religious believers, and did not violate objectors’ constitutional rights to due process and the free exercise of religion.
He also said many U.S. courts have reviewed vaccination mandates for children that lack religious exemptions, and only one, in Mississippi, has ever found constitutional problems.
Five other U.S. states — California, Maine, Mississippi, New York and West Virginia — also lack religious exemptions.
House Judiciary Targets Anti-Hate Speech Organization in Censorship Probe
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) requested information and documents from an anti-hate-speech organization as part of the committee’s probe into alleged internet censorship by the government.
In a letter sent Thursday, Jordan informed the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an organization that tracks online hate speech and misinformation, that the committee is looking into the organization’s interactions with the federal government and social media companies.
The letter comes after Elon Musk’s X, formerly called Twitter, sued the CCDH on Tuesday, alleging the nonprofit improperly accessed data while researching the social media platform.
“Certain third parties, including organizations like yours, appear to have played a role in this censorship regime by advising the government and social media companies on so-called ‘misinformation,’ and other types of content — sometimes with direct or indirect support or approval from the federal government,” Jordan wrote in the letter.
Jordan said this “censorship regime,” threatens the First Amendment and “Americans’ civil liberties.”
Jim Jordan Releases New ‘Facebook Files,’ Highlights How Biden Admin Sought to Suppress Daily Wire Content
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) released his third edition of the “Facebook Files,” saying the Biden administration pressured the social media giant to stifle speech the White House didn’t like, including limiting The Daily Wire’s reach on the platform and boosting the reach of legacy media outlets.
In a tweet thread Thursday, Jordan highlighted newly released documents obtained by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which he chairs. The documents, which were reviewed by The Daily Wire, show that Facebook repeatedly confirmed to the White House that it was working to re-engineer its platform in order to accomplish the administration’s directives on suppressing content that clashed with its COVID vaccine agenda.
“Newly subpoenaed internal notes of meetings between Facebook executives and Biden Admin officials reveal more about the lengths the Biden White House wanted to go to control true speech on Facebook,” Jordan began.
“These newly subpoenaed meeting notes continue to show the Biden White House’s desire to direct and control content on Facebook. More evidence of the censorship-industrial complex. To be continued … ” Jordan concluded.
U.S. Intelligence Has Been Manipulating Wikipedia for Over a Decade: Wiki Co-Founder
The co-founder of Wikipedia has revealed a bombshell concerning long-running suspicions of U.S. intelligence interference and manipulation of the world’s most well-known collaborative online encyclopedia. The site’s co-creator Larry Sanger spoke to journalist Glenn Greenwald on his “System Update” podcast and outlined the known “information warfare” efforts of U.S. intelligence, which have to some extent made Wikipedia a tool of “control” by the left-liberal Washington deep state.
Some observers who have long watched and carefully documented U.S. government involvement in major social media platforms, as well as Wikipedia itself, have commented, “The CIA Is running Wikipedia, Wow, what a shocker. Sanger asserted during Greenwald’s show, “We do have evidence that, as early as 2008, CIA and FBI computers were used to edit Wikipedia,” before posing: “Do you think that they stopped doing that back then?”
Sanger explained that the intelligence agencies “pay off the most influential people to push their agendas, which they’re already mostly in line with, or they just develop their own talent within the community, learn the Wikipedia game, and then push what they want to say with their own people.”
“A great part of intelligence and information warfare is conducted online,” he added, and then specified: “on websites like Wikipedia.” For that reason along with others explored in the interview, Sanger calls it “the most biased encyclopedia” in history.
New Google Tool Lets Users Track and Delete Search Results About Themselves
Google launched new privacy tools to help users track and delete search results about themselves like untrue information, unwanted contact details, or copyright violations, a move to assuage users’ concerns about privacy.
Additionally, Google has also announced today it will introduce a new tool for parents to blur explicit images from their children’s search results.
The new tool, which is only available in the U.S. and in English for now, doesn’t actually delete the information from the internet — it just stops it from showing up in search results. Google suggested users contact the specific website that has posted unwanted information about themselves to request it be removed.
Americans have become increasingly concerned about what big tech platforms do with their private information. Over 80% of Americans said the potential risks they face because of data collection by companies outweigh the benefits they get from signing up on different platforms, a 2019 Pew Research study found.
GOP Representative Wants to Ban COVID Vaccine Mandates in Private Sector
The days of seeing Texas healthcare workers in full protective equipment in drive-thru COVID testing lines are long gone. But conversations about the deadly disease and vaccination against it are not. When COVID vaccines were made available, some companies required their employees to get a shot. The fact that some businesses still mandate this is not ok with one Republican state representative.
CVS Health requires certain employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID and get booster shots. Meta, the platform that operates Facebook and Instagram, also requires a shot to work in the office.
Ahead of the 88th legislative session, the governor said one of his priorities was to end COVID restrictions forever. Lawmakers almost achieved that by passing legislation that says government entities are prohibited from requiring COVID-related masks, vaccines or business shutdowns.
But the law doesn’t touch the private sector, which means places like hospitals and schools can still have COVID vaccine mandates. Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, wants the governor to call a special session to ban COVID mandates at businesses, but that’s unlikely to happen.
TikTok to Face European Privacy Fine by September
TikTok is set to face a privacy fine by early September for its handling of teenagers’ and children’s data, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
Europe’s network of national privacy regulators, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), on Wednesday, resolved disagreements among agencies in an investigation into the popular video-sharing platform used by 125 million people in the bloc. Their decision kicks off a process giving TikTok’s lead privacy regulator in the EU, the Irish Data Protection Commission, a month to issue the final penalty and any potential measures. The size and details of the fine are unknown.
The Irish regulator wanted to check whether the Chinese-owned app ensured its default settings sufficiently protected children’s privacy and if the company was transparent enough in how it processed minors’ data. One of the trickiest points has also been TikTok’s age-verification practices, intended to keep minors under 13 off its platform. TikTok is supervised by the Irish Data Protection Commission because its EU headquarters are in the country.
TikTok in 2021 received a €750,000 fine from the Dutch data protection authority for failing to protect Dutch children’s privacy by not having a privacy policy in their native language. The company is also being investigated by Ireland over the potentially unlawful shipping of European users’ data to China.
TikTok’s Algorithm Will Be Optional in Europe
TikTok users in Europe will be able to switch off the personalized algorithm behind its For You and Live feeds as the company makes changes to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
According to TikTok, disabling this function will show users “popular videos from both the places where they live and around the world” instead of content based on their personal interests.
These changes relate to DSA rules that require very large online platforms to allow their users to opt out of receiving personalized content — which typically relies on tracking and profiling user activity — when viewing content recommendations.
Another change is that European users between the ages of 13 and 17 automatically won’t be targeted with personalized ads based on their online activities, rather than having to opt-out with a toggle.
ChatGPT and Other AI Chatbots Will Never Stop Making Stuff up, Experts Warn
OpenAI ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Microsoft Bing AI are incredibly popular for their ability to generate a large volume of text quickly and can be convincingly human, but AI “hallucination”, also known as making stuff up, is a major problem with these chatbots. Unfortunately, experts warn, this will probably always be the case.
A new report from the Associated Press highlights that the problem with Large Language Model (LLM) confabulation might not be as easily fixed as many tech founders and AI proponents claim, at least according to University of Washington (UW) professor Emily Bender, a linguistics professor at UW’s Computational Linguistics Laboratory.
“This isn’t fixable,” Bender said. “It’s inherent in the mismatch between the technology and the proposed use cases.”
LLMs are powerful tools that can do remarkable things, but companies and the tech industry must understand that just because something is powerful doesn’t mean it’s a good tool to use.LLMs are powerful tools that can do remarkable things, but companies and the tech industry must understand that just because something is powerful doesn’t mean it’s a good tool to use.
Chinese Parents Trying to Set Screen Limits Get New Ally: The Government
The Chinese government has taken on what may be its most formidable task yet: separating teenagers from their smartphones. China’s internet regulator has proposed rules that would help parents limit the amount of time their children spend online by requiring smartphone makers, apps and app stores to offer a “minor mode” that restricts usage.
Under the draft regulations released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the feature would limit 16- and 17-year-olds to two hours of internet usage a day. For 8-to-15-year-olds, it would be restricted to one hour, while children under 8 would be limited to 40 minutes a day.
The mode should also bar minors from using any apps between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., the draft says. Online apps for education or emergency services would be exempt from the restrictions, and parents could also apply for various exceptions.
Previous government measures to limit screen time have had limited success. Regulators have been restricting the amount of time minors spend online playing games since 2019. In 2021, even stricter rules allowed children just one hour a day only on Fridays, weekends and national holidays.
Worldcoin to Allow Companies, Governments to Use Its ID System + More
Worldcoin Says Will Allow Companies, Governments to Use Its ID System
Worldcoin will expand its operations to sign up more users globally and aims to allow other organizations to use its iris-scanning and identity-verifying technology, a senior manager for the company behind the project told Reuters.
Co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Worldcoin launched last week, requiring users to give their iris scans in exchange for a digital ID and, in some countries, free cryptocurrency as part of plans to create an “identity and financial network.”
In sign-up sites around the world, people have been getting their faces scanned by a shiny spherical “orb”, shrugging off privacy campaigners’ concerns that the biometric data could be misused. Worldcoin says 2.2 million have signed up, mostly during a trial period over the last two years. Data watchdogs in Britain, France and Germany have said they are looking into the project.
Worldcoin raised $115 million from venture capital investors including Blockchain Capital, a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global in a funding round in May.
Rainer Rehak, a researcher on AI and society at the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin said that Worldcoin’s use of technology is “irresponsible” and that it is not clear what problems it would solve.
‘Our Children Will Be Slaves’: Rob Schneider Unloads on Government Control
Actor Rob Schneider unloaded on the government in a lengthy social media post, arguing that politicians on both sides of the political aisle would eventually turn Americans and their children into “slaves” if they didn’t wake up to what was happening.
Schneider, who was outspoken in his criticism of COVID-related mandates and lockdowns, said that the government — including elected officials and unelected bureaucrats — was attempting to systematically strip power from the people instead of working for their benefit.
Schneider went on to say that it started with the children — and the fact that many were no longer being taught how their government was supposed to work or how they could influence the process.
ByteDance Sued for Allegedly Collecting Biometric Data Without Consent
ByteDance is facing a class-action lawsuit over claims that its CapCut video-editing app is vacuuming up data from its more than 200 million active users without consent. Among other things, the lawsuit, which was filed in Illinois, claims that CapCut violates the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting data like face scans and voiceprints without informing users or getting express permission.
The app also allegedly collects details about a user’s location, date of birth and gender as well as their photos and videos. Much of this is said to be in service of delivering targeted ads. In addition, the suit claims that the app is capable of harvesting data from user devices, including the MAC address and SIM serial number.
The lawsuit, which The Record unearthed, asserts that CapCut’s privacy policy was designed to make it hard for people to understand or to give the app “meaningful, express consent.” One plaintiff who started using the app while in the seventh grade was allegedly able to use CapCut without having to sign up for an account, review a privacy policy or have parental consent.
ByteDance, of course, owns TikTok, which has long been the subject of claims that the Chinese government can access U.S. user data. The company has been trying to convince U.S. regulators that TikTok doesn’t pose a threat to national security. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew claimed at a congressional hearing earlier this year that “ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country.”
Kenya Suspends Sam Altman’s Eyeball-Scanning Crypto Project
Kenya is pumping the brakes on Worldcoin — the eyeball-scanning crypto project launched by OpenAI founder Sam Altman. The Kenyan government has ordered Worldcoin to stop collecting data in the country while it reviews the project for potential privacy and security risks, as reported earlier by Reuters.
Worldcoin is a project that uses your iris to create a unique digital identity, which you can then link to digital currencies managed through the company’s World App. The project launched last week and has had people lining up to get their eyeballs scanned by the shiny, silver orbs Worldcoin has set up in major cities around the globe.
In a press release, the Communications Authority of Kenya says it’s going to evaluate Worldcoin due to a “lack of clarity on the security and storage” of the iris scans it’s collecting as well as the “uncertainty” surrounding the attached cryptocurrency. It also takes issue with Worldcoin offering people incentives to get their irises scanned.
Connected Car Data Privacy Under Investigation by California Regulator
How automakers make use of data collected by connected cars is coming under scrutiny in California. On Monday, the California Privacy Protection Agency announced that it will review the data privacy practices of connected vehicle manufacturers. The agency is empowered to do so thanks to a 2018 state law, the California Consumer Privacy Act.
“Modern vehicles are effectively connected computers on wheels. They’re able to collect a wealth of information via built-in apps, sensors, and cameras, which can monitor people both inside and near the vehicle,” said Ashkan Soltani, CPPA’s executive director.
Connected cars are fast becoming ubiquitous — it may well be impossible to buy a new car, truck, or SUV in 2023 that doesn’t have at least one embedded modem in it. In the mid-2010s, many OEMs saw dollar signs at the prospect of monetizing data collected by their deployed vehicle fleets, and unlike with cell phones, it can be hard or impossible to disable location tracking in one’s car.
“Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, geolocation is considered personal information. People have the right to say no to being tracked in their cars, but it is unclear if car companies are providing this right,” said Justin Kloczko, a privacy advocate at Consumer Watchdog. “These companies know more about us than we know about ourselves, and they’re the ones in control of our personal information, not us,” Kloczko said.
AI Could Power the U.S. Economy as Investment in the Sector Is Poised to Hit $200 Billion by 2025, Goldman Sachs Says
Artificial intelligence could end up powering a bigger share of the U.S. economy, as investment in the sector is set to balloon in the coming years, according to Goldman Sachs.
The bank’s economists predicted AI-related investments could hit $100 billion in the U.S. by 2025, while global AI-related investments hit $200 billion that same year.
That’s thanks to the rapid growth in interest in artificial intelligence, with the virality of ChatGPT gripping the attention of Wall Street investors. This year, 16% of Russell 3000 firms have mentioned AI in their earnings calls, the bank said, up from 1% of firms that mentioned AI prior to 2016.
Investment in the AI sector could account for up to 4% of GDP in the U.S. by 2025 and 2.5% of GDP in other countries that are leading AI development, the bank estimated.
Judge ‘Reverses’ Health System’s Decision to Fire Worker Over COVID Vaccine, Orders Back Pay
A judge has reversed a decision from the University of Virginia Health System to fire a woman after she chose not to take the COVID vaccine and applied for a religious exemption.
Virginia District Judge Claude V. Worrell ruled last week that the UVA Health System had wrongfully terminated Kaycee McCoy, a cytotechnologist there for more than 10 years, according to court documents. Worrell ruled that McCoy should be given back pay with interest from the time she was fired to the time of his decision.
McCoy, who aided in screening cancer cells and other pathological conditions, was fired in November 2021 after she applied for a religious exception to the COVID vaccine with a letter from her pastor. Her application was denied, and she was given no opportunity to appeal, according to Worrell’s decision.
While the judge said that religious rights were not absolute, the health system should have allowed a religious exemption in this case because she had shown evidence of her “sincerely held religious beliefs that allowed her to seek an exception.”
‘Never Seen Anything Like It’: Sniper Who Left Military Over COVID Policy Since Found ‘Unconstitutional’
The non-binding decision made by a Canadian military tribunal could result in a flood of new lawsuits against the federal government and reopen a divisive debate over vaccine mandates, a legal expert says.
The Military Grievances External Review Committee (MGERC) recently found that the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine policy within the Canadian Armed Forces may have violated the Charter rights of some members.
More than 400 military members were fired or quit after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic, and 157 of those cases were referred to the committee by the chief of defense staff (CDS) for review.
In at least three of the cases so far, the committee found that portions of the CAF vaccination policy and its COVID-19 directives may have contravened the Charter rights of soldiers who refused to be vaccinated.