Vice reports the U.S. Internal Revenue Service wants to purchase an internet monitoring product from Team Cymru called "Recon—Advanced" that gives access to "internet traffic telemetry." On its website, Team Cymru said the product can "trace malicious activity through a dozen or more proxies and VPNs to identify the origin of a cyber threat." Team Cymru previously sold products to the U.S.
Walmart Global Tech Vice President of Emerging Technology Desirée Gosby said the retailer will be using generative artificial intelligence model GPT-4 to provide offerings including "text to shop," Venture Beat reports. Gosby said generative AI will "be as big a shift as mobile, in terms of how our customers are going to expect to interact with us," also noting possibilities like generative AI models that anticipate what customers are looking for.
U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California Judge Susan Van Keulen ordered Google to pay a USD79,000 fine for failing to comply with a privacy class-action ruling, Reuters reports. Van Keulen's decision follows a class-action lawsuit claiming the company illegally tracked users through Chrome's "incognito" mode.
Recounting his experience growing up under South Africa’s apartheid government in the early 1990s, Trevor Noah, bestselling author, comedian and former host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," said the use of technology to surveil Black South Africans invaded "people’s privacy to their ends." In a keynote interview with Center for Democracy & Technology President and CEO Alexandra Reeve Givens at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2023 in Washington, D.C., Noah discussed how unchecked expansion of surveillance technology could create conditions for more authoritative rule in the U.S.
There's no doubt the rapid growth of generative artificial intelligence large language systems like ChatGPT is getting the attention of the privacy profession and taking the business world by storm. It's also getting the attention of data protection authorities, with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada announcing an investigation into ChatGPT. Author and generative AI expert Nina Schick outlined the eye-opening growth of the chatbot on the keynote stage at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2023 in Washington, D.C.
The U.K. Information Commissioner's Office fined TikTok 12.7 million GBP for breaches of the U.K. General Data Protection Regulation. While TikTok's terms of service states children under age 13 are not allowed to create an account, the ICO estimated more than 1 million U.K. children under 13 were on the platform in 2020. The ICO also said TikTok used personal data of children under 13 without parental consent and did not take sufficient measures to remove underage children from the platform. "TikTok should have known better.
European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders and Personal Information Protection Commission of Japan Chairperson Mieko Tanno announced the first review of the EU-Japan mutual adequacy agreement has successfully concluded. A joint press release said the review demonstrates increased convergence between the EU and Japan's data protection frameworks and that the agreement is working well.
The Tor Project and Mullvad VPN released a privacy-focused browser that minimizes data tracking, CNET reports. Mullvad VPN CEO Jan Jonsson said Mullvad Browser — available on Windows, MacOS and Linux — "is all about providing more privacy alternatives to reach as many people as possible and make life harder for those who collect data from you." Full Story
The Network Advertising Initiative announced it is partnering with SafeGuard Privacy to make its Code of Conduct compliance program online and auditable.
McDermott's Global Privacy and Cybersecurity team published a report examining cyber volunteer programs that provide cybersecurity assistance to small or rural critical infrastructure entities. The report includes steps and recommendations to develop "a much-needed" cyber volunteer framework in the U.S.