The reforms, which amend the AI Act and several other privacy and tech-related laws, would also cut back on website pop-ups asking permission to use cookies and reduce documentation requirements for small and medium-sized businesses. EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said the changes, which need to be approved by representatives of the 27 EU member states, would boost European competitiveness by simplifying rules about AI, cybersecurity and data protection. "We have talent, infrastructure, a large internal single market. But our companies, especially our start-ups and small businesses, are often held back by layers of rigid rules," Virkkunen said. Lobby groups for tech giants in the United States, where President Donald Trump's administration has been a vocal critic of Europe's regulatory approach, welcomed the move, while lamenting that the measures did not go far enough.

Matthias Marx says his face has been stolen. The German activist's visage is pale and wide, topped with messy, blond hair. So far, these features have been mapped and monetized by three companies without his permission. As has happened to billions of others, his face has been turned into a search term without his consent. In 2020 Marx read about Clearview AI, a company that says it has scraped billions of photos from the internet to create a huge database of faces. By uploading a single photo, Clearview's clients, which include law enforcement agencies, can use the company's facial recognition technology to unearth other online photos featuring the same face.

French president warns against telling Europeans what words to say and not to say; author Douglas Murray reacts on'Fox & Friends.' Norway's data privacy watchdog on Wednesday fined gay dating app Grindr 65 million kroner ($7.16 million) for sending sensitive personal data to hundreds of potential advertising partners without users' consent -- a breach of strict European Union privacy rules. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority said it imposed its highest fine to date because the California-based company didn't comply with the EU's tough data protection regulations. Norway isn't a member of the 27-nation bloc but closely mirrors EU rules. Grindr said the agency's findings related to consent policies from years ago, not its current practices, and that it is considering its next steps, including an appeal. The data watchdog "relies on a series of flawed findings, introduces many untested legal perspectives, and the proposed fine is therefore still entirely out of proportion with those flawed findings," said Grindr's chief privacy officer, Shane Wiley.

In China, doctors use artificial intelligence tools provided by Huawei Technologies Co. to detect signs of Covid-19 in CT scans. Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc. devised an algorithm that can analyze the biological structure of the new coronavirus and made it available to scientists working on a vaccine. AI is also behind biometric identification systems being rolled out by governments to track the virus and enforce lockdown efforts, including temperature screening systems deployed throughout Beijing and CCTV cameras hooked up to facial-recognition software in Moscow. "AI is being used to fight the virus on all fronts, from screening and diagnosis to containment and drug development," says Andy Chun, an adjunct professor at City University of Hong Kong and AI adviser at the Hong Kong Computer Science Society, a nonprofit industry group. The pandemic is opening up a massive opportunity for the tech industry, while it shines a light on calls for more scrutiny of AI innovations being developed faster than regulators are able to devise rules to protect citizens' rights.

As a birthplace for global tech disrupters, Europe -- home to the likes of Spotify and Skype -- still lags behind the US and China and their juggernauts such as Apple, Alibaba, Google and Amazon. The continent is also falling behind North America and east Asia in artificial intelligence, as measured by investment and patent activity. A fragmented digital market, limited risk capital and onerous bureaucracy are several reasons cited for Europe playing catch up to Silicon Valley. However, Europe's more regulated, activist political culture has proved to be an asset, as highlighted by many of the region's start-ups tackling social-services issues in the "tech for good" sector and working directly with central and local governments in "govtech". Europe's start-ups reflect its public service traditions, says Paul Duan, founder of Bayes Impact, a non-profit group that built an AI -powered job counsellor.

Graph databases are now common within a range of industries such as life sciences, healthcare, financial services, government and intelligence. Graphs are particularly valuable in these sectors because of the complex nature of the data and need for powerful, yet flexible data analytics. In addition, graph databases allow visibility across the data – enabling organizations to share data and show how data is connected. "Enterprises want the flexibility of graph databases, but they also want the security they have come to rely upon with relational databases," said Dr. Jans Aasman, CEO of Franz Inc. "Our new Triple Attributes gives organizations an elegant mechanism to implement the ultimate in graph database security." On November 6th, Franz Inc announced Triple Attributes for its Semantic Graph Database, known as AllegroGraph.

There is a lot you can do with Alexa. Here's how you can add skills. It was every Amazon Echo owner's nightmare. Alexa, the connected speaker, really, truly, was listening in on your conservations, and behind your back, passed on the recording of a private chit-chat to someone on your Echo contact list. This actually happened this week, according to Seattle TV station KIRO, which told the story of a Portland woman's privacy gone amuck.