watchdogs

Soon after Italian watchdog Garante took on ChatGPT with a temporary shutdown locally last year, it tried to strengthen its team by hiring four artificial intelligence (AI) experts.But Italy's data protection agency could not recruit the people it wanted, with a dozen candidates dropping out over issues including pay, highlighting a growing challenge facing regulators around the world. Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill CoursesOffering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Professional Certificate…

Europe's privacy enforcers should oppose Meta Platforms' no-ads subscription service launched in Europe last November because it requires users to pay a fee to ensure their privacy, a model likely to be copied by other companies, a group of 28 organisations said on Friday.The joint letter by privacy activist Max Schrems' advocacy group NOYB, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Wikimedia Europe, the Electronic Privacy Information Centre and others to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) comes as the EDPB prepares…

Meta introduced a paid tier to Facebook and Instagram, which allows users in Europe to opt-out of ads for a fee. According to 28 privacy watchdog organizations, the model should be banned as it might be copied by other companies, completely undermining the GDPR, and would put us in a dangerous position where people would have to pay to protect their privacy. The joint letter was signed by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Wikimedia Europe, the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, and others, and was issued to…

Comcast is discontinuing its its “Xfinity 10G Network” branding to describe its internet service after a National Advertising Review Board (NARB) panel found that the term could mislead consumers into thinking that Comcast’s cellular and broadband services would offer much faster speeds than current-generation networks. Comcast rivals T-Mobile and Verizon had challenged the branding with the National Advertising Division (NAD), an ad industry watchdog, which had recommended that Comcast get rid of it in October 2023.…

Apple Inc. faces a revived full-blown probe into its dominance in mobile browsers and cloud gaming after London judges reversed a decision to block the investigation. The Competition and Markets Authority acted lawfully when it ordered a market investigation into the iPhone maker, judges at London's Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday. They said the antitrust tribunal's decision to overturn it would have had “serious consequences” for the UK agency's powers. The regulator was fighting against a Competition Appeal Tribunal…

Italy's antitrust agency AGCM said on Thursday it had opened a probe into US technology giant Apple Inc for alleged abuse of its dominant position in the apps market.The watchdog said Apple penalised third-party app developers by imposing "a more restrictive privacy policy" than it applies to itself, from April 2021.Furthermore, external app developers are disadvantaged "in terms of the quality of the data made available by Apple," the AGCM said in its statement.In an emailed statement to Reuters, Apple said it applies…

Italy's data protection agency set out a list of demands on Wednesday to address its concerns over ChatGPT and allow the chatbot service run by OpenAI to resume in the country. Almost two weeks ago Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI took ChatGPT offline in Italy after the authority, known as Garante, temporarily restricted its personal data processing and began a probe into a suspected breach of privacy rules. In a statement on Wednesday Garante laid out a set of "concrete" demands to be met by the end of this month "Only in…

Italy's data protection agency set out a list of demands on Wednesday to address its concerns over ChatGPT and allow the chatbot service run by OpenAI to resume in the country.Almost two weeks ago Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI took ChatGPT offline in Italy after the authority, known as Garante, temporarily restricted its personal data processing and began a probe into a suspected breach of privacy rules.In a statement on Wednesday Garante laid out a set of "concrete" demands to be met by the end of this month "Only in…

Google and Meta Platforms have filed a lawsuit against a ruling by the South Korean data protection watchdog to penalise the global tech giants for illegally collecting personal data, industry sources said on Monday.The legal action by the two US companies came after the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) decided in September last year to slap a combined fine of 100 billion won ($77.2 million) on them for collecting personal information without users' consent and using it for personalised online advertising…

Long before detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department showed up at Sheila Kuehl’s house with a search warrant, it was clear this was no ordinary corruption investigation.The department had spent three years looking into an allegation that Kuehl, a county supervisor and one of Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s harshest critics, had taken bribes from a friend in return for Metropolitan Transportation Authority contracts. The investigation fit a pattern. Since his election in 2018, Villanueva has fiercely resisted…