WHY DIGITAL RULES MATTER
IN A RAPID ONE-TWO PUNCH, British and Irish data protection regulators announced that Meta had paused its plans, within the U.K. and the EU, to use local users’ data to train its next-generation artificial intelligence models. That came after officials and privacy campaigners questioned the company’s legal right to carry out such data collection under each jurisdiction’s strict data protection rules.
No such pause will happen elsewhere. Meta will continue to build its AI models on user data outside the EU and the U.K. in what is quickly turning into a mad dash for data between OpenAI, Google and others. The lack of comprehensive privacy protections in the U.S. means that Americans don’t have a choice to opt out of such practices (if you’re in the U.K./EU, you were offered such an option).
It’s a personal choice whether you think Meta should be allowed to do this, or not. (Personally, I opted out as soon as I could.) But this is an example of why digital rules, especially around privacy, matter. European regulators acted, based on longstanding rules. Their American counterparts did not have that option.
AND other matters on #democracy and #electionCampaigns on #EU, #UK, #FR and #US. #AI #surveillance #France #data
https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/digital-bridge/the-us-is-walking-in-blind-into-november/