Police Are Using AI for Mass Surveillance in the US and in Europe
There is a tension in the world of privacy. On the one hand, governments are using intelligence services and police forces to say we need more surveillance to better protect…
General Privacy News
Meta Hit With 1.2 Billion Euros Fine For Violating the GDPR – Time It Adopted a Federated Approach
Meta has been ordered to pay a fine of 1.2 billion euros (around $1.3 billion) for violating the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by sending personal data of EU…
The EU’s GDPR Is 5 Years Old and Still Not Working Properly: How Can It Be Fixed?
The European Union’s flagship law on privacy, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is five years old. It has undoubtedly had a dramatic impact on the privacy world, as the…
Chatbot Privacy Is Possible with Open Source Models, but Big Tech Might Not Like It
Back in February, PIA blog was one of the first to point out that chatbots might indeed be an exciting breakthrough for artificial intelligence (AI), but that they also represent…
Privacy-Invasive Proctoring Software Declared Unconstitutional by US Court
During the Covid-19 pandemic we avoided most forms of person-to-person interaction unless absolutely necessary. That was deeply problematic for education, which is based on the idea of a teacher interacting…
How a New UN Cybercrime Treaty Could Lead to the Repression of Civil Liberties
Spyware is arguably one of the most insidious threats to privacy today. While other forms of privacy invasion – CCTV surveillance or even browser cookies – are more or less…
What Do Iran’s Theocrats And Tesla Vehicles Have In Common? The Use of High-Tech Surveillance Cameras
Digital technology is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it makes vital tools like VPNs possible, providing strong and affordable privacy protection for personal data when in transit across…
Data Protection Authorities Around the World Investigate ChatGPT Over Privacy Concerns
At the beginning of February, when the excitement over generative AI systems like ChatGPT was starting to build, I warned on the PIA blog “it seems certain that much of…
AI-Based Chat is Coming for Your Privacy: Should We Pause Development of Large Language Models?
Back in February, we noted on PIA blog that the growing excitement about large language models (LLMs), for example in the form of ChatGPT, overlooked the serious privacy dangers they…
Meta’s Tracking Pixel Violates GDPR and the EU Ban on Transatlantic Data Transfers
One of the most insidious forms of surveillance carried out routinely by web sites and their advertisers involves tracking pixels. These are graphic elements that are just one pixel in…