Surveillance, Twitter, Law on Professionals, Vatican
France wants to allow police surveillance of mobile phones and laptops
French police authorities could soon be able to monitor suspects via their mobile devices. As part of a major judicial reform, investigators should be allowed to remotely activate and monitor the GPS, camera and microphone of smartphones, laptops, and other mobile devices, such as those in cars. Each of these measures must be approved by a judge, and the total duration of the surveillance cannot exceed six months. Civil rights organizations fear a surveillance state and warn of the potential abuse of these police powers. France’s Senate has already approved an earlier version of the judicial reform, but Parliament has yet to pass the law after additional restrictions.
Twitter threatens Meta with lawsuit over threads
The market launch of Twitter competitor Threads from Meta Platforms upsets Twitter. As a result, Twitter threatened a lawsuit in a letter to Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and demanded that evidence be secured. Meta reportedly hired dozens of former Twitter employees. Now, Twitter is accusing Meta of knowing that the newly hired ex-tweeters continue to have access to trade secrets and other “top secret information.” It is alleged that Meta commissioned these people to set up the Twitter copy threads – with the specific intention that they use Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property rights. This is a violation of US law, state law, and the contractual obligations of former Twitter employees.
Federal Council waves through immigration law for skilled workers
On Friday, the Federal Council passed the “Law on the further development of immigration of skilled workers”. The law aims to make Germany more attractive to particularly qualified third-country nationals by allowing them to arrive faster and with less bureaucracy. The law lowers existing salary thresholds for regular and bottleneck occupations. A low minimum salary threshold for job starters with an academic degree will also be created, just as employers would like.
The Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church aren’t the first things that come to mind when it comes to artificial intelligence. All the more surprising was the report that the Vatican was involved in a handbook on the ethics of artificial intelligence, among other things. The handbook, titled “Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Guide,” aims to help the tech industry address ethical issues in AI, machine learning, encryption, and tracking. The publication is timely in the context of the currently planned AI Act at EU level.
