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☆ Meta loses as top EU court backs antitrust regulators over privacy breach checks
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Meta Platforms on Tuesday lost its fight against a German data curb order that strikes at the heart of its business model as Europe's top court backed the German antitrust watchdog's power to also investigate privacy breaches. The ruling from the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) potentially hand antitrust authorities more leeway in Big Tech probes. At issue was whether the German antitrust agency overstepped its authority by using its antitrust power to address data protection concerns, which are the remit of national data protection authorities. Thomas Graf, a partner at law firm Cleary Gottlieb, was more cautious on whether antitrust authorities would want to go into the details of privacy law. "Are antitrust authorities going to become GDPR regulators?

Persons: Andreas Mundt, Benoit Coeure, Thomas Graf, Cleary Gottlieb, Graf, Max Schrems Organizations: Justice, European Union, Big Tech, Meta, Facebook, Data Protection Locations: Menlo Park , California, Luxembourg

☆ Leaked document shows Amazon is in talks to expand its cloud contract with the Dutch government. It just passed a major privacy test, too.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon and the Dutch government are in talks to significantly expand the cloud deal between them. Amazon just passed an important data privacy test by the Dutch government. Amazon Web Services is in discussion to significantly expand its cloud contract with the Dutch government. The deal talks are taking place in the midst of a series of Dutch audits over AWS's data privacy measures, according to the document. Last week, AWS passed the Dutch government's Data Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA), a key part of complying with Europe's General Data Protection Regulation, known as GDPR.

Persons: Amazon's, Eugene Kim Organizations: Amazon, Dutch Ministry of Justice, AWS, Security, Data, New York Times Locations: Government

☆ 12 of the highest-paying jobs in finance
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Getty Images/Peter DazeleyThe finance industry has many high-paying jobs such as chief financial officer, and investment banker. The finance industry is brimming with high-paying, excellent jobs, whether you want to become an accountant, financial analyst or something else entirely. Financial risk managerFinancial risk managers have very important jobs: they help companies and investors understand different levels of financial risk. As high-earning financial professionals, their financial modeling and financial reports are invaluable to the finance sector at large. Most finance professionals in this position have years of experience.

Persons: Peter Dazeley, CPAs Organizations: Getty, Morning, U.S . Bureau of Labor Statistics . Investment, Investment, Financial

☆ Ireland bolsters data watchdog's powers, privacy activists cry foul
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Padraic Halpin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBLIN, June 28 (Reuters) - Ireland bolstered its powerful data regulator's ability to stop the sharing of information during its inquiries into global tech companies amid criticism from opposition parties, privacy activists and non-governmental organisations. Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) is the European Union's lead regulator of many of the world's largest technology companies due to their EU headquarters being based in Ireland, and has levied billions of euros worth of fines under the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), introduced in 2018. The DPC had sought the powers in order to ensure fair procedure, he said. "To be clear nothing in this amendment will prevent a complainant from speaking out about the nature of their data privacy complaint. The European Consumer Organisation, European Digital Rights group and Amnesty International also spoke out against the bill.

Persons: Max Schrems, James Brown, DPC, Johnny Ryan, Catherine Murphy, Padraic Halpin, Grant McCool Organizations: DUBLIN, Data Protection, Irish, of Civil Liberties, European Consumer Organisation, European Digital Rights, Amnesty International, Social Democrats, Thomson Locations: Ireland, European, Austrian

☆ The AI act: Europe is leading the race to regulate artificial intelligence. Here's what you need to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“We have made history today,” Brando Benifei, a member of the European Parliament working on the EU AI Act, told journalists. Detailed summaries of the copyrighted data used to train these AI systems would also have to be published. AI systems with minimal or no risk, such as spam filters, fall largely outside of the rules. Fines under the AI Act serve as a “war cry from the legislators to say, ‘take this seriously’,” Muldoon said. The Act also requires EU member states to establish at least one regulatory “sandbox” to test AI systems before they are deployed.

Persons: ” Brando Benifei, ” Benifei, Brad Smith, Sam Altman —, Doug McMillion, James Quincy —, Racheal Muldoon, Maitland Chambers, Meta, ” Muldoon, Dragoș, ”, Muldoon Organizations: London CNN, European Union, EU, Lawmakers, of, Big Tech, Microsoft, Yale, Summit, Walmart, ” Systems, Facebook, Twitter, General Data, Office, AI, Companies, Google, IBM Locations: Brussels, EU, Europe, China, London

☆ Google's Bard chatbot has been blocked in the European Union over privacy concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An EU regulator has blocked Google from launching Bard in the region. The company had planned to launch Bard in the European Union this week. Google has been forced to postpone the rollout of its Bard chatbot in the European Union over concerns raised by the EU's top data watchdog. The Irish Data Protection Commission is responsible for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU. GDPR, a set of data protection rules, gives individuals more control over how their data is used and transferred by businesses within EU member states.

Persons: Bard, Bard chatbot, we've, Google's, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Altman Organizations: European Union, Google, Morning, Irish Data Protection Commission, Politico, Data Protection, Irish Data Protection, General Data Protection Locations: EU, European, Europe

☆ Dutch watchdog looking into alleged Tesla data breach
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Reuters —The data protection watchdog for the Netherlands said on Friday it was aware of possible Tesla data protection breaches, but it was too early for further comment. Germany’s Handelsblatt reported on Thursday that Elon Musk’s Tesla had allegedly failed to adequately protect data from customers, employees and business partners, citing 100 gigabytes of confidential data leaked by a whistleblower. Handelsblatt said Tesla notified the Dutch authorities about the breach, but the AP spokesperson said they were not aware if the company had made any representations to the agency. Tesla was not immediately available for comment on Friday on the Handelsblatt report, which said customer data could be found “in abundance” in a data set labelled “Tesla Files”. The data protection office in Brandenburg, which is home to Tesla’s European gigafactory, described the data leak as “massive”.

☆ Top EU regulator defends mega $1.3 billion privacy fine on Meta: ‘I have to enforce the law’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A top European Union data privacy regulator on Wednesday defended a decision to hit Meta with a record-setting 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) fine, saying that she had to enforce the law based on existing regulations. Meta on Monday was fined a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) by the Irish Data Protection Commission for breaching the EU's tough rules on data privacy, known as the General Data Protection Regulation. GDPR is a landmark data protection regulation that governs firms in the bloc. She added, "This new agreement, called the European Data Privacy Framework, it's still pending. The Monday Meta fine is the largest to date since the EU's GDPR came into force.

Persons: Helen Dixon, —, Dixon, CNBC's, Meta, it's, GDPR, Arjun Kharpal Organizations: Data, Ireland, Meta, Irish Data Protection, General Data, Amazon, U.S, EU, European Court of Justice Locations: EU, Luxembourg, Ireland, U.S

☆ Meta slapped with record $1.3 billion EU data privacy fine over transfer of Facebook data to US
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The European Data Protection Board announced the fine in a statement Monday, saying it followed an inquiry into Facebook (FB) by the Irish Data Protection Commission, the chief regulator overseeing Meta’s operations in Europe. The fine is the largest ever levied under Europe’s signature data privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. Meta has also been ordered to cease the processing of personal data of European users in the United States within six months. Meta’s infringement is “very serious since it concerns transfers that are systematic, repetitive and continuous,” said Andrea Jelinek, chair of the European Data Protection Board. EU and US policymakers were on a “clear path” to resolving this conflict under a new transatlantic Data Privacy Framework.

The European Union is at the forefront of drafting new AI rules that could set the global benchmark to address privacy and safety concerns that have arisen with the rapid advances in the generative AI technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT. "If it's about protecting personal data, they apply data protection laws, if it's a threat to safety of people, there are regulations that have not been specifically defined for AI, but they are still applicable." Data protection authorities in France and Spain also launched in April probes into OpenAI's compliance with privacy laws. 'THINKING CREATIVELY'French data regulator CNIL has started "thinking creatively" about how existing laws might apply to AI, according to Bertrand Pailhes, its technology lead. "We are looking at the full range of effects, although our focus remains on data protection and privacy," he told Reuters.

☆ Meta fined a record $1.3 billion over EU user data transfers to the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Meta has been fined a record 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) by European privacy regulators over the transfer of EU user data to the U.S. Several mechanisms to legally transfer personal data between the U.S. and the EU have been contested. The latest such iteration, Privacy Shield, was struck down by the European Court of Justice, the EU's top court, in 2020. Meta used a mechanism called standard contractual clauses to transfer personal data in and out of the EU. Ireland's Data Protection Commission also told Meta to "suspend any future transfer of personal data to the US within the period of five months" from the decision.

☆ Meta hit with record $1.3 bln fine over data transfers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Padraic Halpin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The fine, imposed by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), came after Meta continued to transfer data beyond a 2020 EU court ruling that invalidated an EU-U.S. data transfer pact. It tops the previous record EU privacy fine of 746 million euros handed by Luxembourg to Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) in 2021. "Without the ability to transfer data across borders, the internet risks being carved up into national and regional silos," Meta said. Europe's top court, the European Court of Justice, threw out the two previous pacts over concerns about U.S. surveillance. Unless U.S. surveillance laws gets fixed, Meta will likely have to keep EU data in the EU," he said in a statement.

Garante is among the most proactive of the 31 national data protection authorities which oversee Europe's data privacy regime known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The agency was the first to ban AI chatbot company Replika, to impose fines on facial recognition software maker Clearview AI, and to restrict TikTok in Europe. "We are looking for three AI advisers because we are aware AI tools are evolving very quickly and we need experts with tech background to help us in our data protection activity," Ghiglia said. "We explored ChatGPT and realised it was not compliant with EU data privacy rules." "That's why we decided to act swiftly with ChatGPT", Ghiglia said.

London CNN —Regulators in Italy issued a temporary ban on ChatGPT Friday, effective immediately, due to privacy concerns and said they had opened an investigation into how OpenAI, the US company behind the popular chatbot, uses data. Italy’s data protection agency said users lacked information about the collection of their data and that a breach at ChatGPT had been reported on March 20. The Italian regulator also expressed concerns over the lack of age verification for ChatGPT users. In the meantime, EU companies must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, as well as the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, which apply to tech platforms. Earlier this month, OpenAI released GPT-4, a new version of the technology underpinning ChatGPT that is even more powerful.

☆ ChatGPT banned by regulator in Italy, which says there's no legal basis for using personal data to train the chatbot following data breach
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Italy's data protection regulator announced a ban on ChatGPT, and investigation into OpenAI. It cited a March 20 data breach, and no "legal basis" for using people's data to train the chatbot. Italy's national data protection agency (DPA) said it would block access to ChatGPT immediately, and is starting an investigation into its creator, OpenAI. It added that the restriction was temporary, until the company can abide by the European Union's data protection laws, known as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Italian authority also cited a data breach on March 20, where a bug allowed some ChatGPT users to see the titles of other users' conversations.

☆ With ChatGPT hype swirling, UK government urges regulators to come up with rules for A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

In the white paper, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) outlined five principles it wanted companies to follow. Rather than establishing new regulations, the government is calling on regulators to apply existing regulations and inform companies about their obligations under the white paper. "When parliamentary time allows, legislation could be introduced to ensure regulators consider the principles consistently." On Monday, Secretary of State Michelle Donelan visited the offices of AI startup DeepMind in London, a government spokesperson said. Not everyone is convinced by the U.K. government's approach to regulating AI.

☆ Explainer: What is the European Union AI Act?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Apart from uses of AI by companies, it will also look at AI used in public sector and law enforcement. A GPAIS (General Purpose AI System) is a category proposed by lawmakers to account for AI tools with more than one application, such as generative AI models like ChatGPT. The proposals say those found in breach of the AI Act face fines of up to 30 million euros or 6% of global profits, whichever is higher. WHEN WILL THE AI ACT COME INTO FORCE? The Act is being discussed by parliamentarians, and after they reach common ground, there will be a trilogue between representatives of the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission.

☆ 20 years of digital transformation, as seen by an IT expert
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Goto | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Back then, the average person would hear the term "remote support" and probably think it meant getting help for their TV controller. Jaromi said he has seen teams increase their productivity between 20% to 50% by letting GoTo Resolve's efficiencies work for them. For SMBs, GoTo Resolve can often be their main IT presence. But Rescue and GoTo Resolve have constantly stayed a step ahead, building in the most secure layers possible. Looking to the futureOver his 18 years at GoTo, Jaromi has seen the company endure significant changes, from being an upstart innovator to an established industry leader.

☆ Courts Side With Big Companies Including Amazon and Experian in Privacy Appeals
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Catherine Stupp | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Big companies are winning appeals to overturn regulatory decisions that allege they violated European privacy rules, potentially carving out a path for more businesses to challenge similar sanctions. Courts in the U.K., Spain, Italy and Germany sided with companies including Experian PLC, Amazon. The court rejected the regulator’s argument that collecting personal data to create profiles for marketing purposes intrudes on privacy rights. The court said the regulator had “fundamentally misunderstood” the implications of how Experian used data, and that there were no negative effects for individuals. These recent wins will likely embolden other companies to appeal GDPR violations, said Mr. Machin of Ropes & Gray.

☆ This SoftBank-backed startup just launched smart glasses that enable surgeons to virtually observe and advise on procedures across the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The practicing surgeon is the founder of Proximie, an augmented reality startup that enables healthcare professionals to observe and advise on surgeries virtually. The wearable PxLens headset enables remote users to get a first-person view of surgeries or training procedures in 2D. Riddhi Kanetkar/InsiderThrough its 4K camera lens, the glasses enable surgeons and remote users to have a detailed view of the operating room. "It's almost as if you're standing over the shoulder of the surgeon in the operating room," said Hachach-Haram. "I see a world where every operating room in the world will be digital, and accessible to anyone."

☆ Britain plans new data rules to ease compliance burden
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - Britain will make another attempt to reform its data protection law on Wednesday with the objective of easing the compliance burden for businesses while remaining sufficiently in line with the European Union to keep information flowing. The government said it would bring an updated Data Protection and Digital Information Bill back to parliament after its earlier proposals were paused in September for further consultation with industry. The country's current data rules mirror the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the comprehensive legislation adopted in the bloc in 2016 that protects personal data. The EU in turn recognises Britain's standards - a process called adequacy - enabling the seamless flow of data to continue. However, the changes will be limited in scope to ensure that the EU keeps information flowing, the government said, and to protect confidence in the UK's comprehensive data protection standards.

☆ EU privacy body raises concerns about possible U.S. data transfer pact
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BRUSSELS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The European Union data protection watchdog on Tuesday expressed concerns about a European Commission draft decision that could pave the way for a new data transfer pact with the United States, saying more should be done to protect Europeans' privacy rights. The European Data Protection Board's (EDPB) non-binding opinion comes after the Commission issued a draft decision in December saying U.S. safeguards against American intelligence activities were strong enough to address EU data privacy concerns. The Commission subsequently published a draft adequacy decision to which the EDPB, EU countries and EU lawmakers will have to review and offer non-binding opinions. A final adequacy decision is expected by the summer. Set up under landmark privacy rules known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the EDPB is made up of representatives of national data protection authorities in the 27 EU countries and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) to ensure the consistent application of GDPR rules.

☆ Tesla to Change Camera Settings in Europe Over Privacy Fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Catherine Stupp | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Tesla Inc. agreed to change camera settings in its cars after complaints from European consumers and an investigation by the Dutch privacy regulator. The last 10 minutes of recorded footage will be saved under the new settings, instead of the hour of footage that was previously stored. The previous camera settings allowed serious privacy violations, the regulator said. PREVIEWWith the new software update, the headlights of Tesla cars will blink if the cameras are recording, and a message will be displayed on an internal touch screen, the Dutch regulator said. The regulator said it planned to investigate how data is transferred out of Tesla cars.

☆ Meta's cold war with Apple over privacy is coming to a critical moment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Meta's ads unit will only recover if it continues to innovate so it doesn't need to track user data to sell ads. In 2021, Apple changed its iOS operating system to limit the abilities of apps to track user behavior. Apple CEO Tim Cook, for his part, has criticized Facebook's business model several times over the years, with Apple going so far as to declare privacy a "human right." It's clear from Meta's most recent earnings report, and its drive for efficiency and cost-cutting, that this cold war with Apple is taking its toll on the bottom line. "It's forced Meta to move so quickly to building the workarounds, not just to accommodate Apple's changes, but really where it sees the state of digital advertising data use going," Shmulik said.

☆ Reddit just hired its first-ever CRO. He tells Insider how Reddit's ad sales team quintupled since 2020, and why a bad economy won't keep it from hiring more this year.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Ryan Joe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Media companies are cutting staff, but Reddit is still hiring in ad sales. Since massively re-organizing its ads sales team over two years ago and hiring Pinterest exec Harold Klaje to be VP of ads, the size of that team has quintupled, he said. Because of the growth of the ad sales team, Klaje has been promoted to be Reddit's first-ever CRO. Redditors are notoriously protective of their privacy, so Reddit never let advertisers target individual users. He added that Reddit is still hiring and its sales team will expand in 2023, though he declined to say by how much.

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