EU regulations may impose stricter limitations on cloud service providers from outside the EU

It is likely that several cloud service providers (CSPs) from outside the European Union (EU), including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, would face considerable difficulties in European nations. The EU is presently working on a new regulation that will make it necessary for these CSPs to work with EU companies if they want to handle sensitive data within the European continent. As a result, they will have to create business alliances and legal contracts with organizations established in the EU. The major goal of this regulation is to strengthen EU control and protection of sensitive data.

To obtain an EU cyber security label for handling sensitive data, cloud service providers (CSPs) must form a partnership where a European company holds a majority stake, in collaboration with a non-European cloud provider. This joint venture arrangement is a requirement for CSPs seeking to handle sensitive data and receive the EU cyber security label.

As reported by Reuters, other major limitations are also there in the draft document. Personnel with access to sensitive data should reside in the EU and be qualified for this position after passing a screening procedure. The cloud services holding this data should also be managed and administered from inside the EU, and any data processing should also take place within this region. In addition, serious penalties will be imposed on a CSP in the event that a data breach compromises intellectual property, human health, or public safety.

The intention, as stated in another passage from the text, is to reduce any possible impact of non-EU organizations on EU laws, conventions, and values. To do this, only organizations with legal presence in the European Union (EU) are permitted to run certified cloud services, preventing any person or group from exercising real influence over the cloud service provider (CSP).

Additionally, a CSP must not be directly, indirectly, solely, or jointly controlled by companies whose registered head office or headquarters are situated outside of an EU member state in order to be qualified for certification.

If the proposed rule becomes law, both non-European cloud service providers (CSPs) and their European clients will be significantly impacted. To comply with the new regulations, both parties must make sure that the cloud services they use bear the EU cyber security badge.

Considering that in order to continue functioning, firms will need to acquire the appropriate certification for cyber security, organizations that already use platforms like Azure from Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform, or GCP, for managing sensitive data may be particularly impacted by this need.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Google Takes Responsibility with AI, Panics at Competitors

This year's I/O conference featured a wide range of new services and products in addition to a discussion by Google about the duty of AI.

The keynote address at Google I/O heavily emphasized AI, discussing the company's advancements in the field and what it means to use AI responsibly. Google has emphasized responsible integration early, while competitors like OpenAI and Microsoft struggle to balance letting AI run rampant and keeping it under control.

During Google's event, James Manyika, the head of the Technology and Society division, discussed how the tech giant hopes to integrate AI responsibly while launching many new services.

Google is investing significantly in research and development related to ethical standards, transparency tools, privacy protections, data security measures, and more. The business also revealed a council for AI ethics that will bring together professionals worldwide to offer guidance on moral matters involving artificial intelligence.

The company has also made pledges towards responsible use of data within its products. It includes creating better ways for users to control their data with simple tools like Activity Controls and My Account Privacy Settings. Google also plans to use its expertise in machine learning algorithms to detect potential malicious actors better using its services or manipulating data sets.

Google is trying to maintain the safety and security of using artificial intelligence for all parties. It's clear that Google is doing more than just panicking about potential competitors – they're taking steps to ensure the responsible use of their cutting-edge technology.

Google's recent keynote clarified that the company needed to catch up with competitors like ChatGPT and Bing. Google responded by rolling out several new generative AI features throughout its portfolio of products, including Search, Google Workspace, and even Google Cloud.

Although Google highlights the appropriate use of AI, it is conceivable to interpret the deployment of so many new capabilities as a desperate attempt to outperform the competition. By taking its time to make sure that its features are accurate and prepared for release to the public, Google is attempting to establish itself as the mature adult in the room.

Google's caution that "generative AI may be inaccurate or offensive" demonstrates that the corporation is still looking for a solution to the misleading information problem that its rivals are also confronting. However, these new features seem exciting, and we can't wait to try them out. Watching if they elevate Google above the opposition or make up for previous failings will be interesting.



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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Global Tensions: Countries Across the World Report Armed Clashes in 2023

With the world stepping into the current year, many regions are still fighting various conflicts that are leading to armed clashes and outbreaks of violence.

The widely affected region is Yemen, where the conflicts have been heated since 2014. These problems are resulting in the suffering of many people around the country. Besides Yemen, Syria is also facing wars over the past 10 years, leading to worse outcomes.

Africa is also not far behind in these conflicts and wars. The rise of human violence and civil wars have taken place in various regions of Africa. Parts, such as Nigeria and Sudan are also widely affected due to these conflicts.

In addition, Asia is also experiencing conflicts from previous years. Afghanistan has been under the control of the Taliban, since 2021, which is leading to violence in Afghanistan. While neighboring countries including India and Pakistan also facing armed clashes as per ACLED data. Further, clashes between the army and the local public are also experienced in Myanmar.

Europe's situation is also not peaceful as compared to other countries around the globe. The war between Russia & Ukraine is impacting widely on the economies and the clashes of both countries. These conflicts are resulting in the deaths of thousands of people in these affected countries.

America's situation is also not better as various states have reported several conflicts and clashes over the past decade. These clashes are the source of wars and political instability around the US.

Thus, these past and current conflicts around the globe have resulted in suffering for local individuals. The impacts of these conflicts can worsen, further leading to deaths, displacement, and economic instabilities.

Even while efforts have been made to end these conflicts in a variety of ways, the world community still must come together and find answers to the issues preventing war and its worst effects. For the sake of people's safety, the globe needs more stability and peace.

H/T: Acleddata Via Statista

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Google Launches Its New AI-Powered Search Engine And Here’s What Users Can Expect From The Generative Experience

Google’s much anticipated I/O took place yesterday evening and that’s where the tech giant unveiled a series of new and exciting features to its already-existent search engine.

But what was really the talk of the town is how the company is adding a more generative AI experience to its Search initiative. And some of the new offerings entailed a further perspective of the AI-produced pictures and labels.

For starters, the company witnessed adding new perspective filters that enable searchers to filter the results of the search and produce better results from the likes of blogs, forums, and even videos. Such results are aimed to showcase a more lived experience when users are trying to search for something specific as confirmed by the firm’s VP for Search.

It’s quite clear that searchers of today are on the lookout for responses from those individuals who are putting out their personal experiences and responses across user interfaces that are deemed friendly and more consumable for the young searcher of today.

But what exactly such perspectives appear like is a question worth pondering.

Well, after clicking on the perspectives filter, you’ll witness long and short-form videos, pictures, and written posts that have people sharing discussion boards, social media apps, and sites for questions and answers.

The search engine giant would be displaying some more details regarding the content creators like names, profile pictures, and data on how popular such content is.

On the other hand, similar to how the firm rolled out its About This Result for producing results that are more based on text, another similar endeavor is getting rolled out for the likes of similar pictures that were indexed by its search engine. The latter is where the image might have popped up at the start and now, it’s about seeing where else you can find it like television, news, and more.

The company has also spoken in detail about its AI-produced labels for pictures. Google mentioned how it unveiled an innovative markup for the owners of websites so they could label pictures as being produced by AI technology when necessary.

This might be a new data label in meta and can be included through manual means by owners of a website as well as publishers. And in its Image Search, the tech giant would be revealing which pictures are produced by AI and which are not.

The tech giant does not have any plans to label pictures as AI through its algorithm because it just is not ready for that as the system cannot differentiate machines from humans. Therefore, they’re bound to rely more heavily on image creators to make such labels.

The new search engine that’s AI-powered is definitely being labeled as more human and visual. And if you wish to gain access, well, there’s a waitlist that lets you do just that. So you could be just a few weeks away before playing with just that.

As far as the interface is concerned, it’s going to set out answers through AI right above the listings for search responses. The company is going to label them as Generative AI and then it would be closely followed by another answer to the question.

This response would be boxed and the company plans to cite the sources used to find the response. Moreover, such a site could be clicked upon so you can dig deeper. Similarly, users could follow up with more queries and press the toggle buttons located at the top right-hand side to dig deeper.

This came with another explanation by the company regarding how ads would appear like on Google’s new generative experience.

It’s been revealed that advertisers will not be able to track down immediately how their ads would be performing. But this is just for now as the whole thing is experimental.

The company vows to keep a close eye on how such ads are placed including its performances and user experiences during this trial phase.

Clearly, it’s exciting times for users at Google and it’s going to be interesting to see how people take this new initiative.

Read next: Internet Restrictions Are On The Rise And Here Are The Places That Have Been Affected The Most in 2023
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Internet Restrictions Are On The Rise And Here Are The Places That Have Been Affected The Most in 2023

Internet blackouts are never appreciated, especially in a world like today where everything seems to be online.

The fast-paced IT industry is known to suffer the most and that’s why it’s always recommended to be aware of the places where the web has been restricted and what led to such drastic decisions in the first place.

Well, if you happen to be as curious as us, we’re shedding light on the latest data by Surfshark that discusses just that.

The political crisis in Pakistan saw one of the country’s most popular former Prime Ministers get arrested by paramilitary troops outside the courtroom. And this further aggravated tensions as people took to the streets to protest against this behavior that they deemed beyond unfair.

Many cities were affected including Peshawar where one local medical center spoke of at least three people dying after being shot. Meanwhile, at least 27 people were left injured. But that was just the start of the tragedy.

The province of Punjab saw an emergency situation being declared and the country’s army was forced to step in and take the law and order situation into its own hands. A total of 945 arrests were made and nearly 130 officers belonging to the state police were injured in the protests.

It’s a tense situation and the government is not only making a very strong call for ground troops but it’s also taking tech matters into its hand by enforcing a total disruption of mobile and internet services until further notice. This means limited access to social media websites.

The latest infographics by Surfshark prove how Pakistan is one of the world’s many countries whose government and telecom authorities step in and ban internet services due to a political crisis or some sort of civil unrest situation.

Before this, the data proved that this may not be the first time that we saw such a situation unfold. There have been 12 cases across the nation that have taken place in the recent past. Around 5 of those were linked to protests while one had to do with the current elections and six were linked to turmoil taking place around the entire country.

But it’s the neighboring country of India that has seen the greatest figure in terms of restrictions on the internet which stands today at 108. And a whopping 83 majority were linked to protests galore.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Google Rolls Out New Safety And Privacy Updates For Its Products Including A Spam Folder On Drive

Google’s much anticipated I/O 2023 event took place yesterday and the company was all geared up to launch a series of exciting updates for its products.

The company made it very clear how it is prioritizing safety and privacy for all of its users across different products. And that included a new spam folder that would be allocated to Google Drive.

The tech giant says users would find the feature aligned on the side of their Drive sidebar and it just made it so much simpler to review and separate such files. Moreover, it’s quite similar to Gmail and would end up classifying content in an automatic manner using both spam and abusive material.

Similarly, users can also end up doing such things in a manual manner for Google Drive, Docs, Sites, Forms, Slides, and Sheets, the company adds.

When there is some kind of unsolicited file that’s moved toward the fold of spam, users would be unsubscribed automatically and that would hinder all comments, shares, and mobile alerts regarding the file. After getting unsubscribed, users cannot find any file present inside Drive that’s located out of the spam folder.

Meanwhile, after a span of just one month in this spam folder, all such documents would be removed forever from the Drive, it adds. This would be up for grabs from across the website, Drive on Desktop, as well as for both iOS and Android users. Moreover, the rollout begins today for different accounts and would be coming out at a later date for things like Workspace.

When you go back to the month of March, Google One was seen gaining the dark web for things like monitoring subscribers. Such a scan would be coming toward Gmail IDs too. And it means that users having a Gmail account across the US could now run scans to see if the Gmail ID pops up. And in cases where it happens, you get tips on what can be done. Hence, such a feature would even get international expansion soon, it confirmed.

Google is also making some changes to its Maps feature by enabling users to delete all sorts of recent searches and just simply entering the Web and App Activity. It’s quite similar to Google Search where you simply long-press on any question found on the list.

Meanwhile, regarding the results of Google Search, users would see it being paired with the likes of ‘About this Image’. This is designed to assist in evaluating how authentic and reliable the visual images are that are seen online. Similarly, such a tool is designed to see if there is an image indexed by the search engine, which is actually where it popped up initially and where it can be seen online.

This can be seen when mentioned across the news, some social media platforms, or even a website designed for the sake of fact-checking.

Read next: Google Drops Waitlist For Its Bard Chatbot As It Expands To More Than 180 Different Countries
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Google I/O 2023 Recap: An Event Of Innovation!

A two-hour event filled with exciting new updates was unfolded at Google I/O 2023, the annual developer conference. With groundbreaking innovations in the field of artificial intelligence, the event showcased a large variety of the latest offerings by Google.

The event brought some expected product announcements such as the innovative Pixel 7a and the Google Pixel Fold in the first half of the event whereas Google arranged an exciting surprise that dominated the rest of the event. The artificial intelligence and the eye-catching Pixel hardware took the evening by storm.

With a plethora of innovative products fitted into the two-hour event, it is difficult to keep track of all of them. We’ve covered the most innovative products from all Google announcements to get a taste of Google’s exciting innovations.

The debut of Pixel Fold

A lot of rumors were going around for quite some time. Rumors had suggested the possibility of Google developing its very own foldable smartphone. By the time the Pixel Fold debuted at the Google I/O 2023 and due to the accidental teaser by Google released merely a couple of hours before the event, almost everything about the Pixel Fold was already known.

Since the market already offers multiple foldable smartphone options, Google took a unique approach with its new foldable smartphone. Pixel Fold captures the form factor and model of a conventional smartphone.

With a cover screen of 5.8 inches and a main screen of 7.6 inches, the display of both is approximately the same resolution and panels of 120 Hx OLED. Other features include a tensor G2 system-on-a-chip, 12 GB memory, a co-processor Titan M2, and a battery of 4,821 mAH. The Pixel Fold retails for $1,800.

New Pixel 7a vs. Pixel 7

The Pixel 7a is a mid-to-high-end Android smartphone that closely resembles the Pixel 7 in terms of design and features. It features a plastic-made back, a display of 6.1-inch and a camera sensor smaller in comparison to Pixel 7.

It comes at a lower price point of $499, a whopping $100 cheaper than last year’s Pixel 7. With its top-notch features and affordable price, the Pixel 7a is likely to become a top choice for many Android users.

Long awaited Pixel Tablet

Google also unveiled its much-awaited Pixel Tablet, which was first showcased at the Google I/O in 2022; an entire year before the release. The Pixel Tablet is priced at $499 for pre-orders and is expected to ship from June 20 onwards.

It comes in a variety of colors; Porcelain, Rose, and Hazel colors, with a charging speaker dock of the matching color. The Pixel Table also features built-in Google Home features, making it an ideal smart home controller.

AI Innovations

Artificial intelligence was the theme of the event in the first half, with Google showcasing how it can integrate AI technology with its existing products and services to offer an unrivaled user experience.

One of the major announcements was the replacement of Google's conversational chatbot, Bard, with PaLM 2, a more powerful language model that has the ability to specialize in certain fields such as medicine and cybersecurity.

Google also dropped the waitlist for Bard, making it available in over 180 countries. AI-powered tools and services were also introduced to Google Workspace, including generative AI that can help users create content and structure documents with just a few clicks.

The Google I/O 2023 was a showcase of Google's commitment to innovation and its drive to push the boundaries of technology. With its impressive lineup of new products and services, as well as its groundbreaking innovations in the field of artificial intelligence, Google is set to continue to dominate the tech industry in the years to come.



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by Ayesha Hasnain via Digital Information World