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EU’s Plan to Mass Surveil Private Chats Has Leaked
The latest version of the proposed European Parliament (EP) and EU Council regulation to adopt new rules related to combating child sexual abuse has been made available online.
Despite its declared goal, the proposal, which first saw the light of day in May 2022 and is referred to by opponents as “chat control” is in fact a highly divisive draft of legislation that aims to accomplish the stated objective through mass surveillance of citizens’ private communications.
German EP member (MEP) Patrick Breyer and long-time vocal critic of the proposal said on his blog that the text would be discussed by a law enforcement working party at the Council on Wednesday, with the target date for adoption being sometime in June.
He went on to explain that the upcoming regulation is set up in a way that will result in the end of the privacy of people’s digital communications, since the subject of content searches will be “millions” of chats and photos, including those belonging to persons who have no links to child sexual abuse.
Meta Overhauls Rules on Deepfakes, Other Altered Media
Facebook owner Meta (META.O) announced major changes to its policies on digitally created and altered media on Friday, ahead of U.S. elections poised to test its ability to police deceptive content generated by new artificial intelligence technologies.
The social media giant will start applying “Made with AI” labels in May to AI-generated videos, images and audio posted on its platforms, expanding a policy that previously addressed only a narrow slice of doctored videos, Vice President of Content Policy Monika Bickert said in a blog post.
Bickert said Meta would also apply separate and more prominent labels to digitally altered media that poses a “particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of importance,” regardless of whether the content was created using AI or other tools.
The new approach will shift the company’s treatment of manipulated content. It will move from one focused on removing a limited set of posts toward one that keeps the content up while providing viewers with information about how it was made.
Google Incognito Data to Be Erased — but What Happens Next?
Incognito — it’s an evocative word, right? It conjures up images of disguises, trenchcoats, and undercover adventures, with Google‘s “Spy Guy” Incognito icon doubling down on the imagery. Unfortunately, though, the reality of Google‘s Incognito Mode doesn’t really leave up to its name choice.
News broke earlier this week that Google will delete data records from Incognito Mode sessions as part of a lawsuit settlement. The lawsuit points the finger at the Big Tech giant, claiming that it’s been collecting and storing this data since, probably, the initial launch of Incognito Mode.
That’s a huge amount of pilfered information, ironically collected when users sought to keep their browsing data private. Even worse, perhaps, that’s just the latest in a long string of privacy fails involving the Big Tech giant. So, is there anything we can do to ensure the harvesting ends there?
The settlement brings this most recent round of Google privacy blunders to a close — but will Google stop collecting Incognito Mode session data? The grim truth is, unfortunately, that the company could continue to monitor the habits and activity of people relying on Incognito Mode for its apparent privacy and just not tell us.
Meta Pushes Back on U.S. FTC’s Bid to Amend 2020 Privacy Settlement
Meta Platforms (META.O) has rebuffed an attempt by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to amend a 2020 privacy settlement, noting that it had voluntarily disclosed two technical errors related to its Messenger Kids app to the agency.
Meta disclosed the bugs in July 2019, the Facebook parent said in a filing on Thursday, adding it had spent $5.5 billion on its privacy program and related privacy initiatives.
In question is an existing 2020 Facebook privacy settlement to ban profiting from minors’ data and expand curbs on facial recognition technology. The FTC has said it wants to tighten the settlement.
The agency has accused Meta of misleading parents about protections for children.
Italy Considers Law Against Sharenting to Protect Children’s Privacy
Parents in Italy may have to think twice before posting images and videos of their kids on social media.
On March 21, 2024, a two-party coalition presented a draft bill to the House of Representatives (Camera dei Deputati) to protect children’s privacy online and their right to their own image.
Echoing a recent French law, the proposal aims to regulate a growing digital issue known as sharenting — a contraction between share and parenting, that indicates the practice of oversharing content portraying children on social media platforms. Legislators seek to open up this debate, they said, and mitigate the security risks and psychological impacts the trend causes to youngsters.
New Zealand’s Privacy Watchdog Investigating Facial Recognition, Promises Tougher Regulation
New Zealand’s privacy watchdog wants tougher regulation covering the use of biometrics and AI technology such as facial recognition.
New legislation may also be on the table. Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster promised to publish a draft biometrics code this autumn, according to Radio New Zealand (RNZ).
The move comes amid a record surge in privacy complaints of 79% within the last financial year. One of the most high-profile cases is facial recognition technology (FRT) trials conducted by grocery cooperative Foodstuffs which plans to implement the technology in 25 stores over a period of six months to combat retail crime.
On Thursday, Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster launched an investigation into Foodstuff’s facial recognition trial, examining its compliance with the country’s Privacy Act.
