DUBLIN: An Irish regulator helping to police European Union data privacy said Thursday it had fined professional networking platform LinkedIn 310 million euros ($335 million) over breaching users’ personal data for targeted advertising.
The Data Protection Commission (DPC) issued the Microsoft-owned website its first EU fine saying “the consent obtained by LinkedIn was not given freely.”
Targeted advertising is based on information held about an individual.
Regulators around the world, especially the EU, have been trying for years to regulate tech giants when it comes to data protection or unfair competition.
The DPC ordered LinkedIn to bring its processing into compliance with the EU’s strict General Data Protection Regulation, launched in 2018 to protect European consumers from personal data breaches.
“The processing of personal data without an appropriate legal basis is a clear and serious violation of a data subjects’ fundamental right to data protection,” said Graham Doyle, the regulator’s head of communications.
Ireland is home to the European headquarters of several tech giants including Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook-parent Meta.
The US Consumer Protection Agency (FTC) last year ordered Microsoft to pay $20 million to settle lawsuits for collecting personal data from minors registered on the Xbox console’s online gaming platform, without informing their parents.
Ireland fines LinkedIn $335 million over EU data breach
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Ireland fines LinkedIn $335 million over EU data breach
- Microsoft-owned website handed first EU fine, with Irish regulator saying ‘the consent obtained by LinkedIn was not given freely’
OpenAI’s Altman says world ‘urgently’ needs AI regulation
- Sam Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, told a global artificial intelligence conference on Thursday that the world “urgently” needs to regulate the fast-evolving technology
NEW DELHI: Sam Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, told a global artificial intelligence conference on Thursday that the world “urgently” needs to regulate the fast-evolving technology.
An organization could be set up to coordinate these efforts, similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said.
Altman is one of a host of top tech CEOs in New Delhi for the AI Impact Summit, the fourth annual global meeting on how to handle advanced computing power.
“Democratization of AI is the best way to ensure humanity flourishes,” he said on stage, adding that “centralization of this technology in one company or country could lead to ruin.”
“This is not to suggest that we won’t need any regulation or safeguards,” Altman said.
“We obviously do, urgently, like we have for other powerful technologies.”
Many researchers and campaigners believe stronger action is needed to combat emerging issues, ranging from job disruption to sexualized deepfakes and AI-enabled online scams.
“We expect the world may need something like the IAEA for international coordination of AI,” with the ability to “rapidly respond to changing circumstances,” Altman said.
“The next few years will test global society as this technology continues to improve at a rapid pace. We can choose to either empower people or concentrate power,” he added.
“Technology always disrupts jobs; we always find new and better things to do.”
Generative AI chatbot ChatGPT has 100 million weekly users in India, more than a third of whom are students, he said.
Earlier on Thursday, OpenAI announced with Indian IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) a plan to build data center infrastructure in the South Asian country.
