The UK Home Office has cited the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) to justify its claim it has a right to back-door access to the encrypted data of Apple users worldwide. This, which Privacy International has called an “unprecedented attack” that would set a “damaging precedent,” is similar to previous requests for back door access other governments have made and that Apple has refused.
Meanwhile, Jamie from our Department of the Obvious, shares a pair of studies about GenAI. The first, from SEO agency HigherVisibility, finds that people use GenAI search for complex questions and conventional search for simple ones. The second, from academics funded by Microsoft, finds that people with more trust in AI put less effort into checking its results and worries extensive AI use may result in the loss of skills needed to work without it.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has run roughshod over protections intended to protect the privacy of US citizens, has prompted a class action by union groups representing 7.2 million people. The lawsuit brought against the US Treasury Department for providing social security numbers, tax and bank information, alleges Musk’s team data access violated the US Privacy Act.
Media mix models (MMM), originally developed in the 1960’s, have undergone a resurgence as new technologies make them easier to execute and click-based attribution becomes less credible. But evaluating MMM brings its own challenges. Australia-based Mutinex offers a vendor-neutral Open Source MMM Validation Framework which is now available for free to North American marketers and agencies.