The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has urged the public to think about their data privacy before buying smart tech devices in Black Friday sales. The data protection regulator has issued a set of tips for shoppers ahead of the online sales event, reminding them to research how different smart devices collect their data before purchasing them. The tips encourage people to “think before you click” to buy a new smart device, but once they do have it to ensure they regularly install software updates, choose a strong password and “be picky” about who gets access to their personal data. Our recent investigation found smart tech firms are collecting more data than they need and burying this important information in lengthy terms and conditions Rocio Concha, Which? “We know that consumers want to enjoy the benefits of smart devices but that they also value their privacy in an increasingly connected world,” information commissioner John Edwards said. “They shouldn’t have to choose between the two. These tips from our tech experts will help consumers to make informed purchases and have more control over how their personal data is being used.” The ICO’s guidance also encourages people to wipe their old devices before they get rid of them, and request their data be deleted via a device’s settings or by contacting the company behind the device. Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at consumer group Which? said: “Which? is warning consumers to be wary when shopping for connected tech products this Black Friday. “Make sure you have researched the product you’re thinking of buying, steer clear of any that have concerning security flaws and check to see how you can control the data the device is able to access or collect. “Our recent investigation found smart tech firms are collecting more data than they need and burying this important information in lengthy terms and conditions. “It’s positive that the ICO is looking at updating its guidelines on smart tech privacy and vital that this leads to better protection for consumers against accidentally giving up huge swathes of their own data without realising.” Read More Meta to allow users to delete Threads accounts without losing Instagram AI among biggest threats to next UK election, cyber security agency warns AI can create Caucasian faces that look more real than actual humans – study

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OpenAI has built a new bot that will crawl over the internet, gathering information to educate artificial intelligence systems. Operators of websites will be forced to actively opt out, and block the bot, if they want to stop it taking data from their site. Artificial intelligence systems such as OpenAI's ChatGPT rely on vast amounts of data to train their models and learn how to give the correct outputs. So far, much of that data has been taken freely from the web. That has prompted numerous complaints from authors and other web users. Many have criticised OpenAI and others for taking personal information and copyrighted content to train their models, with that writing potentially informing or even being replicated in the system's answers. Artificial intelligence companies have also faced criticism from others who claim that such crawlers are stretching their web infrastructure. Elon Musk, for instance, has said that the load from such bots has forced Twitter to place limits on how many posts users could see on the site. OpenAI's existing ChatGPT 3.5 and 4 were trained on data taken from the internet that was taken up to late 2021. There is no way for owners of that data or the websites it was gathered from to remove it from OpenAI's models. Now OpenAI says that the new system, named 'GPTBot', will be crawling over data and writing on the web to gather more information to train future models. It told website administrators that they should include instructions to the bot to stop it from crawling a website, if they did not want that information to be gathered. Administrators are able to include such information in a file called "robots.txt", which gives instructions to other crawlers such as those used by Google for its search results. OpenAI says the bot "may potentially be used to improve future models". It also says that it is built to "remove sources" that require a paywall, gather personally identifiable information or have text that violates its rules. It suggested that letting the bot access sites "can help AI models become more accurate and improve their general capabilities and safety". Read More Meta’s Twitter rival Threads sees ‘steep drop in daily users by 80 per cent’ Google Assistant will be ‘supercharged’ with AI like ChatGPT and Bard PayPal launches dollar-backed cryptocurrency

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A subreddit has gained attention on social media after one of the moderators 'warned' a commenter for "overrating" a woman's looks. The subreddit called "True Rate Me" uses a strict numerical system to rate the physical appearance of users who upload selfies onto the website. The subreddit contains a guide for rating women and men at the top of its page and is strict when it comes to enforcing correct ratings. A tweet, originally posted by the account @kirbylarp, contained a screenshot from the subreddit showing a user receiving a "warning" for "overrating" a woman who uploaded her photo to the subreddit. The tweet has since been deleted at the request of the woman in the photo. After the subreddit went viral, users wanted to gain a better insight into how it operates, with many shocked and even "disgusted", whilst some tried to defend the page. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter One Reddit user uploaded five photos of herself, saying: "Just curious... 21F" (21, female). Her post had 1.8k comments, and it seemed that any user who rated her seven or above was smacked with a "warning" for giving her too high a rating. One person rated her a seven. "I'd consider going higher, too, if it weren't for mods giving people warnings for anything above 7. According to this sub’s guide, I think you’re prettier than most of the 7’s there, and reading through comments, it doesn’t look like I’m the only one who believes that. I think it’s the mods being subjective with this one…" Another rated her a 6.2. "If you're really only 21, you need to start using sunscreen and daily moisturiser now," one brutal comment read. "Drink lots of water and stop smoking if you do. You're getting away with it, but in a few years, your skin is going to look so wrinkled/old." "5.8 attractive and above average," a third added. "Flaws include lips and skin (possible symmetry issues too). Facial harmony is well above average. The lower third bone structure and profile view are unusually good. Beautiful overall." According to the guide attached to the subreddit, a seven is in the top 2.5%. Actresses Tara Shahidi, Shay Mitchell, and Elizabeth Lail are all considered 7s. Model Emily Ratajkowski is considered a 7.5. "Somewhat uncommon and the most attractive women seen on a day-to-day basis," states the guide. "These women stand out from the crowd and may be able to model or be successful as an 'Instagram model' or influencer." It goes on to describe 7's as having "feminine and attractive" facial features but may possess flaws such as "bulbous nasal tip, slight asymmetry, long mid-face." Men also post photos of themselves for ratings, with a "male 7" being similar to that of a "female 7", but their flaws are considered to be "crooked nose, slight asymmetry, long mid-face, Negative Canthal tilt." Penn Badgley, Tony Chung, and Keith Powers were among those rated a seven. When those outside the subreddit discovered True Rate Me, many took to Twitter to express their shock at some of the comments posted: One user tried to explain that people on the subreddit aren't giving their personal opinions (or at least aren't supposed to) and that all users have to follow the guide. Others lauded those who upload their photos as "brave" people, whilst another user joked they were going to give all women a rating of 10: The subreddit states that it "aims to provide accurate and objective ratings, by implementing standards that give raters a common ground." They also disagrees with the phrase "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", they argue "beauty is more objective than subjective. Why do you think there is always general agreement on which celebrities are attractive and which are not?" In bold at the bottom of the subreddit's wiki page reads: "In order to promote accuracy, rating someone without referencing the scale (UNREALISTIC/SUGARCOATED ratings) may result in a warning and/or immediate ban." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Kai Cenat is the biggest streamer on Twitch and he started posting content on social media at a very young age