The Liberty Times Net reports Taiwan's Legislative Yuan approved amendments to the Personal Data Protection Act's financial penalty scheme for private entities that violate data security provisions. The new fine scale will range between NTD20,000-2 million based on the severity of the violation. Additionally, violators that do not rectify shortcomings in a given timeframe will be subject to more severe penalties ranging between NTD150,000-15 million.
WhatsApp users will soon be able to lock certain chats with a password, face or fingerprint scans, Biometric Update reports. The feature allows users to remove a specific thread out of their inbox and into a dedicated folder that can only be accessed with a password or a biometric scan. Previously, WhatsApp users could lock or unlock the app with biometrics but not specific chats.Full Story
Messaging platform Discord announced it sustained a data breach after a hacker "gained unauthorized access to the support ticket queue of a third-party customer service agent," InfoSecurity Magazine reports. The company said users' personally identifiable information was exposed as well as "contents" of customer service correspondence with attachments.
U.S. Congress does not want its chance to effectively regulate artificial intelligence to slip by the wayside. Federal lawmakers are inclined to lead in this arena and began their efforts to identify a path forward Tuesday. The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law hosted key AI figures, including IBM Chief Privacy & Trust Officer Christina Montgomery, for a hearing on what AI regulation should address and what kinds of requirements should be examined for developers.
Privacy professionals are witnessing a revolution in privacy technology with the emergence and maturing of new privacy-enhancing technologies. IAPP Principal Researcher, Technology, Katharina Koerner, CIPP/US, discusses one prominent example: fully homomorphic encryption. "As FHE advances and becomes standardized, it has the potential to revolutionize the way we handle, protect and utilize personal data.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, NOYB Honorary Chair Max Schrems discussed his organization's work to rein in Big Tech's alleged privacy missteps while criticizing national enforcement of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. "The difference between reality and the law is just momentous," Schrems said of the perceived GDPR enforcement gaps, adding it's "a race to the bottom" for regulators.
A paper published by Microsoft researchers in March argues OpenAI's GPT-4 is a step toward artificial general intelligence, The New York Times reports. Researchers said the technology showed a "deep and flexible understanding" of human reasoning and abilities.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada will appeal the Federal Court of Canada's rejection of the OPC's 2019 case alleging Meta's Facebook violated the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.
Former Twitter chief information security officer Lea Kissner is joining cloud-security company Lacework, The Wall Street Journal reports. Kissner was among the members of Twitters' privacy and security teams to resign after Elon Musk purchased the company last fall. Lacework is restructuring after laying off 20% of its workforce in May 2022.