#data rights

(original post) Sooo I'll be honest I'm only *just* learning about and thus reading about all this, but I thought I'd share it along because... seems important, ya'll. An IT buddy of mine tossed it over into my notice.

Remember when Adobe went all "hey btw u grant us access to all ur stuff when it's on x y z of our software blah blah" which threw up a whole slew of fun issues like artists and firms with NDA contracts and such and y'know AI training questions and speculation and generally a whole slew of "the fuck you mean, you're just gonna claim our content for your use?"

Well, Firefox apparently came out with a pretty.... vague-ish new Terms of Service that includes this lovely little vague gem in it:

Wow. That's pretty... Vague. Do they mean they're gonna claim the content to troll through with their data muncher programs when I upload the text of an original book through their browser, to a publishing website while working ot get my book printed?

Are they collecting the image data when I upload, through their browser, my artwork when I am posting cool shit on Tumblr?

Dunno! But I find it Vague. I'm still reading through the privacy policy, and it, took, is unsatisfactorially vague and... either they're lying or they are just really hecking bad at writing actually clear terms of service. The corporate glamour BS is so strong you need windex to clean that lacquered fake sunshine off.

Links my IT buddy suggested I add to this post because they offer more information / source information so you can make your own judgement reading through stuff;

My personal take at least -so far-, is that I'm sure glad I stopped using Firefox browser a good ass while ago. I sure as heck won't be using it anymore now.... not unless they get hella more clarifying about what they're doing because things don't smell right to me.

Thoughts? :thinking_emoji:

(Update one)

Someone tossed yhis post my way which has further food for thought, and some pretty dang good points made (it's also a hilarious read, too)

https://www.tumblr.com/hatsinspace/777221233776394240/do-you-have-thoughts-about-the-changes-to?source=share

(Update 2 03-08-2025)

More links and other insights into this~!

Feds identified more than 30,000 instances of illegal use of FirstMile, an Israeli software that tracks cellphone geolocation data. Purchased in 2018 by the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin), it was used to monitor at least 1,800 opponents of the Jair Bolsonaro administration, such as politicians, journalists, and lawyers. The names of the victims were not revealed yet.

Two Abin officials have been arrested, five were temporarily removed from office, and USD 171,800 in cash was seized from the home of one of the Abin top officials on Friday.

Twenty-five search warrants were carried out in five Brazilian states. With the operation, one of the Abin buildings in Brasília was sealed while the Feds searched every room for evidence. The agents arrested were on disciplinary leave and used information gathered through FirstMile to blackmail other officials and avoid being fired.

“Breakup big tech. We must demand data ownership rights”

Brazil's data protection authority ruled that tech firm Tools for Humanity, cofounded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, must stop offering compensation for iris scans in the country, it said in a statement on Friday.

The ban is a preventive measure, data protection authority ANPD said, adding that it starts from Saturday and includes compensation through cryptocurrencies.

Tools for Humanity leads the World project, which aims to create a global identity system through scanning people's irises in exchange for cryptocurrency and a digital ID.

World's press office in Brazil said in a statement its service complies with all Brazilian laws and regulations.

Data Privacy Safeguards Needed to Protect against Exploitation

The personal photos of Brazilian children are being used to create powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tools without the children’s knowledge or consent, Human Rights Watch said today. These photos are being scraped off the web into a large data set that companies then use to train their AI tools. In turn, others are using these tools to create malicious deepfakes that put even more children at risk of exploitation and harm.

“Children should not have to live in fear that their photos might be stolen and weaponized against them,” said Hye Jung Han, children’s rights and technology researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch. “The government should urgently adopt policies to protect children’s data from AI-fueled misuse.”

Analysis by Human Rights Watch found that LAION-5B, a data set used to train popular AI tools and built by scraping most of the internet, contains links to identifiable photos of Brazilian children. Some children’s names are listed in the accompanying caption or the URL where the image is stored. In many cases, their identities are easily traceable, including information on when and where the child was at the time their photo was taken.

The initiative led by Open AI CEO Sam Altman to create a global identity system through iris scanning has landed in Brazil. But what about privacy, transparency and the ethical implications of such a vast biometric project?

I arrived late at the elegant house in the Vila Nova Conceição neighborhood of São Paulo, Brazil; the event was about to start. A handful of journalists were already gathered around a table with coffee, tea, cookies and snacks at the back of the house. But the tension was palpable; those tasked with "selling" the product to the press knew that they were facing a significant challenge.

When questions poured in — accompanied by few answers — it became increasingly clear that the Brazilian launch of World was prompting far more questions than applause.

Starting Nov. 13, World — an initiative created by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — began scanning the eyes of Brazilians to add to a database that, according to the company, already contains biometric data from more than 7 million individuals. They started with 10 locations in the city of São Paulo — in shopping malls and with street stands.

I'll spare you the adjectives, because the story speaks for itself. Readers are welcome to use some of the concepts I usually use around in my column (techno-oligarchy, neocolonialism, techno-feudalism, etc.).

This is how World is currently promoting its work and purpose: it wants to create a global identity that ensures that the person using it is a human being.

The idea, conceived by founders Sam Altman, Alex Blania and Max Novendstern and financed from the outset by investor Andreessen Horowitz, responds to the growing difficulty computers face in verifying whether a user is a person or a robot. Essentially, with the evolution of AI, those captcha tests are becoming increasingly obsolete.

World created a machine called Orb — a black sphere designed to resemble something out of a science fiction movie — to scan each person's iris to provide them with a unique identity. According to an extensive report from BuzzFeed News, Orb uses a thermal scanner to check people's body temperature, a 3D camera to map faces, and high-resolution cameras to capture videos and images of bodies, faces and irises — all to prove that it is indeed a real person and not just a photo.

The biometric data is reportedly not stored by the organization; only encoded values known as hashes are kept across various servers at universities so that “the iris cannot be reconstructed.” We have to trust that this is true because, as with other tech companies, there is no oversight body that can verify if this promise is indeed fulfilled.

But the issue lies not only in the lack of transparency regarding how data is stored and destroyed or with whom the company shares it — with BuzzFeed's report indicating that World’s data-sharing contract allowed it to share user data with third parties as it saw fit.

The problem begins with the narrative that the organization wants to sell.

Brazil's National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) has announced that it will summon representatives from the X network to clarify the implications of recent changes to the platform's terms of use regarding users' data.

The alert was issued because content posted by users on the X social network will be utilized to train Grok, the generative artificial intelligence developed by the platform.

In an update to its privacy policy effective November 15, the company announced plans to share user data and posts to "train" its artificial intelligence. The ANPD stated in a release to Agência Brasil, “If a risk of significant harm to data protection or the privacy of individuals is identified, additional measures may be implemented.”

Facebook and Instagram this week emailed Brazilian users about their data collection policy for training AI models. This follows action by Brazil’s Data Protection Authority (ANPD) to suspend such collection without warning users first.

In early July, the ANPD ordered Meta, the parent company of both social media platforms, to suspend its policy of using Instagram and Facebook posts to train AI software. 

The agency suspended the ban on August 30, giving Meta five business days to present an updated timeline for implementing a plan to comply with Brazilian legislation and modify the form used by non-users to exercise the right to object.

Meta has committed to informing users about using their data for AI training and updating their privacy policies to provide clearer details. Additionally, Meta has pledged not to use data from individuals under 18 for AI training until further notice.