Top News – ChatGPT blocked in Italy, TikTok fined for using children’s data and more

Alexa allegedly collects children’s data

After complaints that Alexa powered speakers have been collecting information about children below 13, without parental consent, violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, COPPA, the Federal Trade Commission recommended that the complainants file a complaint with the Justice Department. Read more

TikTok fined in UK for using children’s data without parental consent

The Information Commissioners Office found that TikTok allowed nearly 1.4 million children from the UK under the age of 13 to use their platform even though TikTok itself has a rule against this. This meant that the personal information of children under the age of 13 was collected and used without parental consent. The ICO has fined TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited and TikTok Inc for £12.7 million. Read more

Privacy forward browser is now available

Two organisations focused on user privacy, the Tor Project and Mullvad VPN have released a new web browser called Mullvad Browser that minimizes data tracking by making all its users look like one user. This means that the more people use it, the better the protection. This browser is free and can be downloaded to work on Windows, MacOS and Linux. Read more

Google to pay $79k for illegally tracking users

Since Google has not complied with a class action lawsuit ruling from last year, claiming that the users of Google were tracked while they were using the privacy mode, also known as Incognito mode, the U.S District Court of the Northern District of California, Judge Susan Van Keulen has ordered Google to $79,000 as fine. Read more

ChatGPt temporarily banned in Italy

Garante, The Italian data protection authority has blocked ChatGPT in Italy to stop the processing of data of Italian users until certain privacy measures are brought about. According to Garante, users and parties whose data is collected are not properly informed and more importantly, Garante finds that there is a lack of legal basis that would justify the collection and storage of personal data. Read more