US and EU agree new data privacy framework
Our top story today is the agreement reached by the US and EU on data-sharing between the jurisdictions. The EU-US Data Privacy Framework represents a formal recognition that the US can offer adequate protection under GDPR for EU citizens’ data. This agreement with bring an end to 3 years of costly uncertainty for tech companies following the invalidation of the EU-US Privacy Shield in 2020. The White House emphasised the economic importance of the agreement stating in a press briefing that $7.1tn of business relies on data-flows between the two jurisdictions.
Read more below for a round-up of the other major tech policy stories currently shaping the industry.
American comedian Sarah Silverman has joined a lawsuit against Open AI for copyright infringement over the use of her work in their Chat GPT training data. Silverman joined the lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, filed by two authors, Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey, in which it is stated that their work was “copied and ingested” to train the chatbot. The lawsuit falls within a wider pattern of litigation regarding the use of copyrighted work in data used to train AI algorithms.
Meta’s text-sharing app Threads has surpassed 100 million users in the first five days following its launch. This signup rate means that Threads has broken the record for the fastest-growing app. The record was previously held by Chat GPT which took two months to reach the milestone of 100 million users. This success has been helped by the sign-up process allowing Instagram users to sign up using their existing accounts.
A Louisiana Circuit Judge has turned down a Department of Justice request to pause an injunction limiting government officials’ contact with social media companies. The injunction, issued last Tuesday by Judge Terry Doughty, curbed government contact with social media companies. The DoJ appealed this decision and asked for an injunction in the interim period. Following Doughty’s decision on Monday not to pause the injunction, the DoJ asked the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to overrule this decision and pause the injunction whilst the appeal is ongoing.
Australia’s competition regulator has asked for stakeholder views as part of a report into data brokers in the region. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission are working on a report on the data brokerage industry covering major organisations including Oracle, Equifax, Experian and LiveRamp. On Monday the competition watchdog asked for views from businesses and consumers on the sector. The report will be provided to the treasurer in March 2024 and will address whether competition issues are arising from the collection and sale of data by major brokers.
