DeepSeek blocked from some app stores in Italy amid questions on data use
The Chinese AI platform DeepSeek has become unavailable for download from some app stores in Italy as regulators in Rome and in Ireland demanded answers from the company about its handling of citizens’ data,Amid growing concern on Wednesday about how data harvested by the new chatbot could be used by the Chinese government, the app disappeared from the Apple and Google app stores in Italy with customers seeing messages that said it was “currently not available in the country or area you are in” for Apple and the download “was not supported” for Google, Reuters reported,The Guardian confirmed it was not available in the Google app store, but it was available in the Apple store for at least one user,Both Google and Apple have been approached for comment,After the Chinese chatbot was released last week close to $1tn (£804m) was wiped off the leading US tech stock index.
The UK government said on Tuesday it was up to citizens if they wanted to use the app, with officials in London monitoring any national security threat to data from the new AI platform and saying they would not hesitate to take action if threats emerged.The Italian regulator for the protection of personal data, known as the Garante, said it wanted to know what personal data is collected, from which sources, for what purposes, on what legal basis and whether it is stored in China.It gave DeepSeek and its affiliated companies 20 days to respond to its questions.“Our office will launch an in-depth investigation to see if GDPR rules [European Union data protection regulations] are being respected,” said the head of the Italian data regulator, Pasquale Stanzione, according to the Italian ANSA news agency.A spokesperson for the Irish Data Protection Commission in Dublin, meanwhile, told the Guardian it had also “written to DeepSeek requesting information on the data processing conducted in relation to data subjects in Ireland”.
DeepSeek became the most downloaded free app in the Apple app store in the US and the UK after it emerged it could achieve comparable performance to competitors such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT at a fraction of the cost.The Chinese app’s privacy policy states personal information it collects from users is held “on secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China”.It says it uses data to “comply with our legal obligations, or as necessary to perform tasks in the public interest, or to protect the vital interests of our users and other people”.Sign up to TechScapeA weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our livesafter newsletter promotionChina’s national intelligence law states that all enterprises, organisations and citizens “shall support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence efforts”.In a further development, Open AI said it was “reviewing indications that DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled our models”.
Distilling is the process of condensing one large AI model into a smaller faster one.Open AI said: “We know that groups in the PRC are actively working to use methods, including what’s known as distillation, to try to replicate advanced US AI models.We take aggressive, proactive countermeasures to protect our technology and will continue working closely with the US government to protect the most capable models being built here.”
Ofcom delivers relief for Royal Mail at snail’s pace – too late to stop Czech takeover | Nils Pratley
What if Ofcom had cut Royal Mail some slack half a decade ago? What if the universal service obligation (USO), the requirement on the postal operator to deliver nationwide six days a week at a uniform price, had been tweaked before letter volumes fully fell off the cliff?Would Royal Mail’s finances have been in better shape? Would Daniel Křetínský, AKA the Czech Sphinx, not have had an opening to make his £3.6bn takeover bid while the share price was on the floor? Or, if he had pounced, would the board of the International Distribution Services(IDS), the parent, have put up a stiffer fight?We’ll never know, and it’s too late to revisit the takeover tale because Křetínský’s EP Group will be in charge by the spring once the last regulatory boxes are ticked. But one can still wonder how events might have played out differently if Ofcom had got its act together earlier. That is because two features stand out in Thursday’s final proposal. First, the changes are modest
European Central Bank cuts interest rates to support growth as eurozone economy stagnates - as it happened
The European Central Bank did nothing to direct investors away from the consensus view that it plans to ease interest rates further over the course of 2024. It announced fifth cut in seven months on Thursday.President Christine Lagarde said that ECB policy is still “restrictive”, meaning it is bearing down on growth and inflation. Much of the discussion in the press conference revolved around the “neutral rate” at which monetary policy neither stimulates nor restricts growth. Lagarde suggested that any esimates of that were “premature”, suggesting that the bank has further to go in cutting rates
Get ahead of the tech curve: aim for Hangzhou, not Silicon Valley | Brief letters
Rachel Reeves is behind the tech curve in proposing to create “Europe’s Silicon Valley” (Report, 28 January). She should surely be considering an equivalent of Hangzhou, home of DeepSeek, the company that knocked $1tn off the value of US tech stocks in a day.John LoweryLondon A “spectacular” vertebra has been “found online” (Report, 28 January). Given the recent changes to Meta, I doubt it was Mark Zuckerberg’s.Dr Jonathan J RossSheffield What’s it like to start your holiday in the airport bar (G2, 22 January)? I fancy myself as a Joan Collins-style traveller, so I have a tiny bottle of champagne from the trolley on the plane (to follow the free whisky samples I drank in departures)
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Ravens kicker Justin Tucker accused of sexual misconduct by massage therapists
Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior towards a number of massage therapists, according to the Baltimore Banner.The Banner spoke to six massage therapists at four spas and wellness centers around the Baltimore area. The accusations include claims that Tucker exposed his genitals, brushed some of the therapists with his penis and left ejaculate on treatment tables. Two spas allegedly banned Tucker from returning. One therapist who spoke to the Banner described Tucker’s alleged behaviour as “really degrading”
World champion Russian pair and US skaters were onboard crashed plane
The figure skating world united in grief after it emerged as many as 14 skaters and coaches, including two 16-year-olds and a married pair of world champions, were onboard the American airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac river in Washington DC on Wednesday night.Flight 5342 collided with a US army helicopter as it prepared to land at Reagan Washington International Airport, leaving more than 60 people believed to be dead. The Skating Club of Boston said six of its members had been on the plane, which had been bringing them back from a development camp that followed the US national figure skating championships in Wichita, Kansas.It named the skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, both aged 16, along with Han’s mother, Jin Han, and Lane’s mother, Molly Lane. A story on Lane’s Instagram account, posted on Wednesday evening, showed the view from an aeroplane window captioned by the airport codes ICT and DCA, corresponding to the journey in question
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