In an appearance on the Mobile Dev Memo podcast, ICLE Senior Scholar Miko?aj Barczentewicz outlines the legal impact of the EU’s Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act, with specific attention paid to the digital-advertising market. He also discusses the latest news related to Meta’s recent fine by the Irish DPC for using first-party data without consent to empower personalized advertising, as well as the temporary ban that the Italian DPA enforced on OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The full episode is embedded below.

Mandates to restrict the flow of data across national boundaries have taken hold in a growing number of jurisdictions, including India. Spearheaded by nations like China, Iran, and Russia, the idea has vocal proponents among those who claim it will forward the goal of “digital sovereignty.”

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ICLE Senior Scholar Miko?aj Barczentewicz was a guest on the Mobile Dev Memo podcast to discuss the recent spate of European Union decisions related to digital privacy. The full episode is embedded below.

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning (“ML”) have the potential to create breakthrough advances in a range of industries, but they also raise novel legal, ethical, and privacy questions that will likely define the next era of technological advancement. Over the last several years, there has been a flurry of AI- and ML-related regulations and guidance issued by international bodies, governments, and regulators seeking to mitigate the risks posed by AI and ML, especially when these technologies are used to make important decisions related to employment or healthcare. Given the proliferation of these technologies across various industries, more regulation is likely to come. Organizations with AI and ML-based products and services should understand and consider how existing laws apply to them, as well as how the changing regulatory landscape may impact their business plans going forward. In this article, we discuss the differing approaches to regulating AI and ML in Europe and at the federal and state levels in the United States and the best practices for building compliance.

ICLE Director of Law & Economics Programs Gus Hurwitz was a guest on The Cyberlaw Podcast to discuss, among other topics: the electronic surveillance capabilities of the downed Chinese spy balloon; the brief but pointed calls for antitrust and data privacy reform in President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address; the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent loss in court on its challenge to Meta’s acquisition of Within; and other issues that may be on the horizon for FTC enforcement later this year. The full episode is embedded below.

The €390 million fine that the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) levied last week against Meta marks both the latest skirmish in the ongoing regulatory war on the use of data by private firms, as well as a major blow to the ad-driven business model that underlies most online services.

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Under a draft “adequacy” decision unveiled today by the European Commission, data-privacy and security commitments made by the United States in an October executive order signed by President Joe Biden were found to comport with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If adopted, the decision would provide a legal basis for flows of personal data between the EU and the United States.

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European Union officials insist that the executive order President Joe Biden signed Oct. 7 to implement a new U.S.-EU data-privacy framework must address European concerns about U.S. agencies’ surveillance practices. Awaited since March, when U.S. and EU officials reached an agreement in principle on a new framework, the order is intended to replace an earlier data-privacy framework that was invalidated in 2020 by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in its Schrems II judgment.

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Hardly a day goes by without the Federal Trade Commission announcing plans to clamp down on the tech industry. Its latest foray, a proposal for far-reaching rules to counter the bogeyman of “commercial surveillance,” comes like a great dark cloud: essentially hazy but portentous and sweeping.

Read the full piece here.