News
The Federal Trade Commission and 17 attorneys general launched a lawsuit against Amazon alleging the company exercises illegal monopoly power through anti-competitive strategies like anti-discounting measures and biasing search results toward Amazon’s own products. The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction that would bar Amazon from engaging in the practices the suit identifies as unlawful.
The NYPD is piloting a program for robots to provide New York subway patrol services over the next two months. The robots will be accompanies by human police officers during the pilot period.
Regulators in the United Kingdom recently confirmed it will proceed with a “U.K.-U.S. data bridge” that will ensure any data regarding U.K. citizens shared with U.S. data processors will be covered by the U.K.’s data protection regime.
Poland’s Personal Data Protection Office (UODO) is investigating OpenAI over concerns ChatGPT violates the GDPR’s personal data processing provisions.
A ChatGPT mobile upgrade allows users to speak queries to a chatbot that will respond with its own synthesized voice, and to upload photographs for which the app can provide descriptions in response.
Indonesia has banned e-commerce transactions on social media platforms in an effort Indonesian Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan indicated was an attempt to generate more “fair and just” business competition. The ban is predicted to impede TikTok’s efforts to grow in Southeast Asia.
A former engineer at Apple recently identified a security flaw with the company’s “Find My” feature, as contacts blocked by an Apple user could share their location with the user as a means of harassment and even reactivating their ability to message the user. Apple fixed the flaw and thanked the engineer.
Microsoft is exploring the use of nuclear reactors as a means of powering its data centers.
Tinder is offering a $499/month invite-only subscription program, “Tinder Select,” through which subscribers can directly message other users, including ones with whom they are not already matched.
Events
On Weds., Oct. 11, Professor Angela Zhang will present “The Paradox of Chinese AI Regulation: Too Little and Too Much?”, a talk about China’s AI governance regulations and strategies. Professor Benedict Kingsbury will moderate. The event will take place from 5:00 to 6:30pm EST at NYU’s Vanderbilt Hall in Room 216, with a Zoom link available for remote attendees. Professor Zhang’s second book, “High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy,” is set to be released in Spring 2024.
The Third Annual Cybersecurity Law and Policy Scholars Conference is taking place this weekend at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University.
NYU hosted a symposium titled Critical Stances Toward AI: For a Critical and Self-Determined Approach to Digital Technology this past week. The Weizenbaum Institute sponsored the symposium in honor of its late namesake, Joseph Weizenbaum.
(Compiled by Student Fellow Cooper Aspegren)