The CNIL imposes a fine on Yahoo
On 18 January, Yahoo was fined EUR 10 million by the French Data Protection Authority (“CNIL”) for violating cookie regulations. The CNIL determined that Yahoo failed to comply with website users' cookie rejection preferences on its website and failed to offer a mechanism its e-mail service users to revoke their consent to cookie preferences. The decision highlights that users were not provided with any alternatives besides discontinuing the use of the messaging service to withdraw their consent for cookies, which violates the principle that consent must be given freely.
Amazon faces a fine for surveillance activities over employees
Amazon France Logistique (“Amazon”) has been fined EUR 32 million by the CNIL for installing a monitoring system considered intrusive towards its employees' activities and performance. In the decision announced on the 18th of January, the CNIL found that Amazon did not provide adequate information and security measures concerning the recorded footage. Additionally, the CNIL noted that Amazon’s such activity constitutes excessive monitoring as Amazon (i) obliges its employees provide a reason for their break time and (ii) sets a retention period of 31 days for data collected through the monitoring system. The CNIL also highlighted that Amazon could have made greater efforts to inform temporary workers about this activity, which resulted in non-compliance with the transparency obligation under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).
OpenAI's chatbot violates data protection regulations
The investigation launched in April 2021 in Italy against OpenAI has revealed concerns about data protection regulations being violated by OpenAI's AI-supported chatbot, ChatGPT. The breaches included the collection of personal data and age protection. On 29 January, The Italian Data Protection Authority has decided to block ChatGPT after it found evidence of data breaches.
Meta loses data scraping case
In the United States, Meta faced a setback in a legal battle against the Israeli data scraping company Bright Data. Bright Data had been collecting user data from Facebook and Instagram without explicit consent, prompting Meta to file a lawsuit for breach of contract.
However, Bright Data defended its actions by asserting that it was merely accessing publicly available information. Crucially, Meta’s users retain the ability to control the data they publicly display, implying that any data shared is not necessarily subject to Meta's regulations. In a significant decision dated 23 January 2024, the California state court sided with Bright Data, ruling that their actions did not constitute a violation of any established rules.
The FTC has started an investigation into AI investments and partnerships
On 25 January, The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has requested information from Alphabet, Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI regarding recent investments and partnerships with artificial intelligence (“AI”) companies and cloud service providers. The FTC is investigating corporate partnerships and investments with AI providers to better comprehend their impact on the competitive landscape. Instructions were provided to companies to gain an understanding of the strategies employed in the development and implementation of AI. A period of 45 days was given to companies to respond to these requests.
European AI Office established
On 24 January, The European Commission (“EC”) announced the creation of the European AI Office (“Office”). The decision will come into effect on 21 February and the Office will be administratively attached to the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology of the EC.
The Office's tasks will involve investigating potential infringements of general-purpose AI models and systems, collecting complaints and alerts, and contributing to the EC’s decisions. The main objective of the Office, however, will be to ensure the implementation of the EU AI Act, which will set comprehensive rules on AI.
OpenAI denies accusations in copyright infringement
On 27 December 2023, The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, the owner of OpenAI, for alleged copyright infringement. The lawsuit claims that their content may have been used to develop generative artificial intelligence and large language model systems.
On January 8 2024, OpenAI responded by stating that the lawsuit was 'without merit' and that training AI models using public internet materials is protected under 'fair use'. According to OpenAI, The New York Times was reported to have claimed that its content was regurgitated, but did not provide any specific examples of such regurgitation. OpenAI also noted that they had committed to investigating and rectifying the matter.