Meta admits scraping every adult Australian's public post to train AI...
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has recently admitted to scraping the public photos, posts, and other data of Australian adult users without offering them an opt-out option to train its AI models. This revelation has sparked concerns about privacy and data protection.
AI Training and Data Collection
Meta's global privacy director, Melinda Claybaugh, confirmed at a Senate inquiry that the company has been scraping the data of all Australians who have not set their posts to private since 2007. This includes public photos and texts from every public post on Instagram or Facebook. Even accounts of people under 18 have not been spared from this data collection.
While Meta offers an opt-out option for users in the European Union due to the existing privacy laws, Australians do not have the same privilege. The company argues that it needs a significant amount of data to develop a powerful AI tool. However, critics argue that this practice infringes on users' privacy rights.
Legal Reforms and Privacy Concerns
Senator David Shoebridge highlighted the disparity between privacy protection in Europe and Australia, attributing it to the strict privacy laws in Europe. He criticized the Australian government for failing to act on privacy issues, allowing companies like Meta to exploit user data for their benefit.
The government is set to announce reforms to the Privacy Act in response to the outdated laws identified in a 2020 review. The lack of privacy protections in Australia has raised concerns among privacy advocates and the public about the misuse of personal data by tech giants.
Conclusion
The case of Meta scraping Australian users' data underscores the ongoing battle between privacy rights and technological advancements. As companies seek more data for AI training, questions about user consent, data protection, and regulatory oversight continue to be debated.
Ultimately, the onus is on governments to enact robust privacy laws and enforce them to ensure the protection of individuals' data in the digital age.
Source: PetaPixel
