United Kingdom
UK to class data centres as ‘critical national infrastructure’
- The government has announced that Britain’s data centres will be classified as “critical national infrastructure”, giving servers and I.T. systems underpinning the country’s communications extra protection from cyber-attacks.
- The new legislation will put data centres on equal footing with water and energy. This will minimise damage to the economy in the event of critical incidents.
Meta to start using public posts on Facebook, Instagram in UK to train AI
- Public content shared on Facebook and Instagram in the UK will be used to train Meta Platforms’ AI models. The content used to train these models will not include private messages, or information from accounts of users under 18.
- Training AI models in Europe has previously been delayed after the Irish privacy regulator told the company to delay its plan to harness data from social media posts. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) also had requests that Meta tried to address during the delay.
- Users of Facebook and Instagram in the UK will receive in-app notifications from next week that explain the procedure, and how to object to their data being used for training. The ICO has said that the process of objecting to processing has been simplified, and the time frame when users can do so has been extended.
United States
23andMe settles data breach lawsuit for $30 million
- 23andMe will pay $30m and provide 3 years of security monitoring to settle a lawsuit accusing them of failing to protect the privacy of 6.9m customers whose personal information was exposed in a data breach last year.
- This settlement also resolves the accusations that the company did not tell customers with Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry the hacker appeared to have specifically targeted them, and posted their information for sale on the dark web. The settlement includes cash payments for those whose data was compromised, and allows customers to enrol in Privacy & Medical Shield + Genetic Monitoring for 3 years.
- During the breach in question, the hacker accessed 5.5m DNA Relatives profiles (which allow customers to share information with each other) and accessed the information of another 1.4m customers who used the Family Tree feature.
US proposes requiring reporting for advanced AI, cloud providers
- The U.S. Commerce Department said is proposing detailed reporting requirements for advanced AI developers and cloud computing providers in order to ensure the technologies involved are safe, and can withstand cyberattacks. This proposal would set mandatory reporting to the federal government about development activities of “frontier” AI models and computing clusters.
- The department has said that information collected under the proposal “will be vital for ensuring these technologies meet stringent standards for safety and reliability, can withstand cyberattacks, and have limited risk of misuse by foreign adversaries or non-state actors.”
Americans used record 100 trillion megabytes of wireless data in 2023
- In 2023, Americans used over 100 trillion megabytes of wireless data, which is up 36% from the prior year. This comes as a growing number of 5G wireless devices are being used.
- There is increased demand for spectrum use, driven by more wireless advancements. This includes drones, self-driving vehicles, space missions and precision agriculture.
- This rise in wireless has come amid a standoff in Congress on how to find new spectrum. In March 2023, Congress let the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to auction spectrum lapse amid debate about what spectrum used by the Defence Department could be repurposed or shared.
Europe
X unlikely to fall under landmark EU tech rules, source says
- A person with direct knowledge on the matter has said that X is unlikely to be subjected to landmark EU tech rules as it does not meet the rules’ gatekeeper criteria.
- This follows the investigation into X the European Commission opened in May, after X rebutted indications it may have to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which imposes a list of dos and don’ts of Big Tech.
- The DMA classifies companies with over 45m monthly active users, and 75bn euros in market capitalisation as gatekeepers. They must make their messaging apps inoperable with rivals and let users decide which of them to pre-install on devices.
International
Australia threatens fines for social media giants enabling misinformation
- A bill introduced in Australia will fine internet platforms up to 5% of their global revenue for failing to prevent the spread of misinformation online.
- The government has said it would make tech platforms set codes of conduct to govern how they stop misinformation spreading (to be approved by the regulator). If platforms failed to set a standard, the regulator will do so instead, and fine companies for non-compliance.
- The legislation (to be introduced on Thursday to parliament) targets: false content hurting election integrity and public health; calls for denouncing a group or injuring a person; or risks disrupting key infrastructure or emergency services.
