Meta wants EU users to apply for permission to opt out of data collection

Meta wants EU users to apply for permission to opt out of data collection

Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)

Meta announced that starting next Wednesday, some Facebook and Instagram users in the European Union will for the first time be able to opt out of sharing first-party data used to serve highly personalized ads, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move marks a big change from Meta’s current business model, where every video and piece of content clicked on its platforms provides a data point for its online advertisers.

People “familiar with the matter” told the Journal that Facebook and Instagram users will soon be able to access a form that can be submitted to Meta to object to sweeping data collection. If those requests are approved, those users will only allow Meta to target ads based on broader categories of data collection, like age range or general location.

This is different from efforts by other major tech companies like Apple and Google, which prompt users to opt in or out of highly personalized ads with the click of a button. Instead, Meta will review objection forms to evaluate reasons provided by individual users to end such data collection before it will approve any opt-outs. It’s unclear what cause Meta may have to deny requests.

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Source: Ars Technica – Meta wants EU users to apply for permission to opt out of data collection

New Doom Game Is Cute And Fun Until You Run Out Of Energy

Mighty Doom, out now on iOS and Android, is a free-to-play Archero-like top-down shooter starring the one and only Doom Slayer, aka the Doomguy. In many ways, it reminds me of those weird ‘80s cartoons that adapted gory, adult action films into kid-friendly animated shows, like Rambo or RoboCop. Sadly, while Mighty

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Source: Kotaku – New Doom Game Is Cute And Fun Until You Run Out Of Energy

Make a Lazy Version of This Classic French Onion Sauce

Onions are popular here at Skillet. Raw or cooked, whole or chopped, they can bring balance and distinctly savory flavors to a dish. One of my favorite ways to sneak in the complexity of this delightful allium is in a sauce. This one is cheap, creamy (yet cream-less), and it makes any dish feel a tad bougie without…

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Source: LifeHacker – Make a Lazy Version of This Classic French Onion Sauce

Zero-Cost Cancer Screenings and Birth Control 'On the Line' as Judge Strikes Down ACA Provision

One of the Affordable Care Act’s most hardcore and hardheaded opponents has finally struck down one of the most consequential and beneficial aspects of the law. On Thursday, Texas District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that insurance companies are no longer forced to offer free cancer screenings, HIV screenings, diabetes…

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Source: Gizmodo – Zero-Cost Cancer Screenings and Birth Control ‘On the Line’ as Judge Strikes Down ACA Provision

OpenAI may have to halt ChatGPT releases following FTC complaint

A public challenge could put a temporary stop to the deployment of ChatGPT and similar AI systems. The nonprofit research organization Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP) has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that OpenAI is violating the FTC Act through its releases of large language AI models like GPT-4. That model is “biased, deceptive” and threatens both privacy and public safety, CAIDP claims. Likewise, it supposedly fails to meet Commission guidelines calling for AI to be transparent, fair and easy to explain.

The Center wants the FTC to investigate OpenAI and suspend future releases of large language models until they meet the agency’s guidelines. The researchers want OpenAI to require independent reviews of GPT products and services before they launch. CAIDP also hopes the FTC will create an incident reporting system and formal standards for AI generators.

We’ve asked OpenAI for comment. The FTC has declined to comment. CAIDP president Marc Rotenberg was among those who signed an open letter demanding that OpenAI and other AI researchers pause work for six months to give time for ethics discussions. OpenAI founder Elon Musk also signed the letter.

Critics of ChatGPT, Google Bard and similar models have warned of problematic output, including inaccurate statements, hate speech and bias. Users also can’t repeat results, CAIDP says. The Center points out that OpenAI itself warns AI can “reinforce” ideas whether or not they’re true. While upgrades like GPT-4 are more reliable, there’s a concern people may rely on the AI without double-checking its content.

There’s no guarantee the FTC will act on the complaint. If it does set requirements, though, the move would affect development across the AI industry. Companies would have to wait for assessments, and might face more repercussions if their models fail to meet the Commission’s standards. While this might improve accountability, it could also slow the currently rapid pace of AI development.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openai-may-have-to-halt-chatgpt-releases-following-ftc-complaint-172824646.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – OpenAI may have to halt ChatGPT releases following FTC complaint

AI Image Generator Midjourney Stops Free Trials Citing 'Abuse'

An anonymous reader shares a report: AI image generator Midjourney has halted free trials of its service after a number of its generations — including fabricated images of Donald Trump being arrested and the pope wearing a stylish jacket — went viral online, with many mistaking the fakes for real photographs. Midjourney CEO and founder David Holz announced the change on Tuesday, citing “extraordinary demand and trial abuse.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – AI Image Generator Midjourney Stops Free Trials Citing ‘Abuse’

Trojanized Windows and Mac apps rain down on 3CX users in massive supply chain attack

Trojanized Windows and Mac apps rain down on 3CX users in massive supply chain attack

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Hackers working on behalf of the North Korean government have pulled off a massive supply chain attack on Windows and macOS users of 3CX, a widely used voice and video calling desktop client, researchers from multiple security firms said.

The attack compromised the software build system used to create and distribute Windows and macOS versions of the app, which provides both VoIP and PBX services to “600,000+ customers,” including American Express, Mercedes-Benz, and Price Waterhouse Cooper. Control of the software build system gave the attackers the ability to hide malware inside 3CX apps that were digitally signed using the company’s official signing key. The macOS version, according to macOS security expert Patrick Wardle, was also notarized by Apple, indicating that the company analyzed the app and detected no malicious functionality.

In the making since 2022

“This is a classic supply chain attack, designed to exploit trust relationships between an organization and external parties,” Lotem Finkelstein, Director of Threat Intelligence & Research at Check Point Software, said in an email. “This includes partnerships with vendors or the use of a third-party software which most businesses are reliant on in some way. This incident is a reminder of just how critical it is that we do our due diligence in terms of scrutinizing who we conduct business with.”

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Source: Ars Technica – Trojanized Windows and Mac apps rain down on 3CX users in massive supply chain attack

Horizon Forbidden West’s DLC Is A PS5 Exclusive Because…Clouds, Apparently

Horizon Forbidden West was cross-gen on release, so it might have been surprising when Sony announced that the story DLC Burning Shores would be a PlayStation 5 exclusive. The publisher finally provided fans with some answers on the PlayStation blog as to why: the last-gen console wouldn’t be able to handle all those…

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Source: Kotaku – Horizon Forbidden West’s DLC Is A PS5 Exclusive Because…Clouds, Apparently

Beware This Nightmarish New Android Banking Malware

Malware is an unfortunate reality in the digital world we’ve built for ourselves. Since all of our devices run on code, bad actors can use malicious code to take over those devices, or install programs that steal information from them. However, some bad actors don’t write this code themselves. Rather, they pay others…

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Source: LifeHacker – Beware This Nightmarish New Android Banking Malware

Star Trek Is Finally Making That Starfleet Academy TV Series

For years, Paramount has been trying to figure out a show centered around Star Trek’s Starfleet Academy—you know, the place where Starfleet educates its captains, science officers, engineers, etc. before sending them out on five-year missions to explore strange new worlds and whatnot. Well, now they’ve found the…

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Source: io9 – Star Trek Is Finally Making That Starfleet Academy TV Series

Apple TV’s Tetris biopic loses the true plot amid its ‘80s movie tropes

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Source: Ars Technica – Apple TV’s Tetris biopic loses the true plot amid its ‘80s movie tropes

Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to latest fraud, bribery charges

FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (aka SBF) pleaded not guilty to five additional criminal charges this morning, according toCNBC. Prosecutors accuse the disgraced crypto exec of fraud and bribery for conspiring to send at least $40 million to Chinese government officials so they would unfreeze more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency, which he allegedly used to fund loss-generating trades.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) unsealed the third round of criminal charges against SBF in a superseding indictment; SBF has now pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges. Additionally, he faces civil charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). His attorney, Mark Cohen, claimed he would file a motion that SBF can’t be tried on charges brought after his extradition from the Bahamas in December.

Federal prosecutors allege SBF and his partners tried “numerous” legal and personal methods to unfreeze the funds before moving forward with the bribe. They say SBF directed Alameda Research, FTX’s sister company, to transfer more than $40 million to a private wallet. Of course, it’s illegal for US citizens to bribe foreign officials to generate business. The new charges ramp up pressure on the 31-year-old Bankman-Fried, who reportedly “arrived at the courthouse about an hour before the hearing, looking disheveled after an intense media scrum.”

Three former FTX executives, Caroline Ellison, Zixiao “Gary” Wang, and Nishad Singh, have pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges and have agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. There’s no word yet on the judge’s ruling about whether SBF will be forced to use a feature phone and limit internet access as part of his bail terms. After it was revealed SBF was using a virtual private network (VPN) and possibly tampering with witnesses, District Judge Lewis Kaplan previously said he didn’t want SBF “loose on his garden of electronic devices.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sam-bankman-fried-pleads-not-guilty-to-latest-fraud-bribery-charges-165445328.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to latest fraud, bribery charges

FTC Should Stop OpenAI From Launching New GPT Models, Says AI Policy Group

An artificial intelligence-focused tech ethics group has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate OpenAI for violating consumer protection rules, arguing that the organization’s rollout of AI text generation tools has been “biased, deceptive, and a risk to public safety.” From a report: The Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP) filed its complaint today following the publication of a high-profile open letter calling for a pause on large generative AI experiments. CAIDP president Marc Rotenberg was one of the letter’s signatories, alongside a number of AI researchers and OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk. Similar to that letter, the complaint calls to slow down the development of generative AI models and implement stricter government oversight.

The CAIDP complaint points out potential threats from OpenAI’s GPT-4 generative text model, which was announced in mid-March. They include ways that GPT-4 could produce malicious code and highly tailored propaganda as well as ways that biased training data could result in baked-in stereotypes or unfair race and gender preferences in things like hiring. It also points out significant privacy failures with OpenAI’s product interface — like a recent bug that exposed OpenAI ChatGPT histories and possibly payment details to other users.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – FTC Should Stop OpenAI From Launching New GPT Models, Says AI Policy Group

The 8 Most Controversial Rides In Disney Theme Park History

“Disney” and “controversial” don’t typically go together. Even so, 58 million people visited Walt Disney World last year; it’s impossible to please them all. And occasionally, there will be an outcry, uproar, outrage, or brouhaha that’s large enough to make the news.

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Source: Kotaku – The 8 Most Controversial Rides In Disney Theme Park History

April Fools' Day Is the Perfect Time to Watch These 10 Horror Parodies

April Fools’ Day can be a divisive holiday, but I’ll always love it for one reason: it inspired April Fool’s Day, the 1986 slasher flick that plays it straight until the twist at the end cleverly reminds you exactly what the holiday is all about.

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Source: Gizmodo – April Fools’ Day Is the Perfect Time to Watch These 10 Horror Parodies

These Restaurant Rewards Programs Give You the Most Free Food

It’s obvious why restaurants want you to sign up for their rewards program— you’re basically giving them carte blanche to constantly send you ads. While this can be annoying, it’s nothing a burner email or an email filter can’t fix, and its a small price to pay for what you get in return: A bunch of free food.

Now that…

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Source: LifeHacker – These Restaurant Rewards Programs Give You the Most Free Food