Sad morning here in Italy. They officially blocked access to ChatGPT.
OpenAI’s API and Bing are still running. I can’t find any logic at the moment.
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Privacy guardians and bureaucrats diligently at work to foster innovation (sad to say for an Italian)
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Diligently at work, guided by ignorance. I guess a country stuck in front of TikTok is more manageable. There’s no privacy issue there. Nothing to worry about.
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Pulling a few key lines from this article Italy Temporarily Blocks ChatGPT Over Privacy Concerns
Italy is temporarily blocking the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT in the wake of a data breach as it investigates a possible violation of stringent European Union data protection rules, the government’s privacy watchdog said Friday.
The agency’s statement cites the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and pointed to a recent data breach involving ChatGPT “users’ conversations” and information about subscriber payments.
there’s no system to verify users’ ages, exposing children to responses “absolutely inappropriate to their age and awareness.”
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Link to the official garante website: https://www.garanteprivacy.it/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9870847
Finally, the Italian SA emphasizes in its order that the lack of whatever age verification mechanism exposes children to receiving responses that are absolutely inappropriate to their age and awareness, even though the service is allegedly addressed to users aged above 13 according to OpenAI’s terms of service.
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Thanks
As someone who I take that lives in Italy and is affected by this it is nice to hear your view both for a factual record to balance out the news and as a record of history being made. I find many people I talk to in the general public do not even know of ChatGPT and LLMs but those like us know of the importance of such and I personally consider this history in the making.
One place I check daily is Portal:Current events - Wikipedia and give what is noted there a bump in importance.
March 31, 2023 (Friday)
Science and technology
-
Censorship in Italy
- Italy’s Data Protection Authority blocks ChatGPT for allegedly breaching data protection rules and failing to verify that its users are at least 13 years old. (Reuters)
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Thanks for sharing! I’ll check your link.
I’m pretty sure Italy will be followed by other EU countries soon, we are known for starting legislations before fully understanding innovations and new technologies. Will see how it goes.
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Don’t worry.
You can use Opera Browser VPN
i choose as VPN *Los Angeles and work perfectly 
i have a Pro Version.
Queste limitazioni sono ridicole perché come ho scritto in un topic, il futuro non lo fermi.
L’unica cosa è che per il momento sto usando la versione di Opera VPN Pro e non so se con quella gratuita funzionerà lo stesso bene.
Il momento che ho scritto questo post avevo pagato circa 7€ a settimana.
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I believe that even though you use a VPN, OpenAi has to block you is your payment are done with an Italian credit card, or if your personal data show that you are an Italian resident. My GPT subscription was suspended (and money returned) despite the fact I am an Italian resident abroad but I paid with an Italian credit card.
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@logankilpatrick FYI this may need to be updated.
Supported countries and territories is still showing Italy. Perhaps it should show Italy (with certain exceptions)
If you don’t mind answering, I’m curious about how other websites in Italy fulfill the legal requirement for verifying a child’s age. Was it simply by asking for a birth date like many online gaming sites do or is there another method? I understand that there may be multiple answers, but I’m trying to determine if this is a law that, like in the US, is seldom enforced unless a complaint is made.
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Fair point. I have no idea, but I will definitely look into it. If I find useful info I’ll share it here.
Let me know if you want me to translate the sections.
Edit:
TikTok
TikTok potrebbe bloccare il tuo account se abbiamo motivi per ritenere che tu abbia meno di 13 anni (o 14 in Corea del Sud e Indonesia). Se credi che si tratti di un errore, puoi presentare un ricorso.
Come fare ricorso contro il blocco di TikTok
Se sei stato bloccato da TikTok, riceverai una notifica push e una notifica in-app alla prossima apertura dell’app che ti informerà di questa modifica dell’account. Se credi che il tuo account sia stato bloccato per errore, inoltra un ricorso. A seconda della tua età e del luogo in cui ti trovi, dovrai confermare la tua età mediante una delle seguenti opzioni:
Selfie con documento di identità:
Foto con genitore/tutore (per minori di età compresa tra 13 e 17 anni): volti devono essere chiari e visibili.
Autorizzazione della carta di credito (per maggiori di 18 anni):
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Sorry I don’t fully understand your question 
I read that there was a data breach and all the passwords, topics etc…were acquired. This is why Italy is banning the AI, at least from what I understand.
"The investigation comes after the chatbot experienced a data breach on March 20, which jeopardized some users' personal data, such as their chat history and payment information. According to OpenAI, the bug that caused the leak [has been patched](https://openai.com/blog/march-20-chatgpt-outage)."
What a shame. Misguided policies. The reasons they indicate they are banning ChatGPT are so shallow. It seems like they are trying to find reasons to ban it, rather than ban it because of actual reasons.
Now these (in)famous people (who coincidentally all have indirectly indicated that they want their part in the market) are demanding that GPT be halted for 6 months at the same time? Give me a break. Political theater at its finest.
Seriously. Age verification? I’m sorry but it’s a joke of a system (as Gabe Newell once said:
Valve’s head honcho Gabe Newell revealed in an odds-defying statement today that 93% of Steam users were born on January 1st. “It’s something that’s been really bothering us for awhile,” a visibly befuddled Newell told The Noble Eskimo. "The odds of this happening are even less than a billion-to-one.
The data breach? Has absolutely nothing to do with ChatGPT. Low key pretty messed up that they used an open-source library without vetting the crap out of it, but it’s understandable.
ChatGPT should be considered a public utility. It is providing free education & resources to everyone. There is a massive difference between collecting data to use for training, to collecting data to be packaged and sold for advertising (which is what Google does but won their lawsuit claiming that they are a public utility)
Does this include the API? Can you guys still use the playground?
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@RonaldGRuckus API is still running, highly doubt they even know what an API is. I don’t think they’re aware of Bing either because it’s working fine.
In the last couple of weeks I’ve seen a lot of headlines of Italian newspapers repeating the same mantra: ChatGPT = DANGER for our children end for our data. So I’m afraid that even the population will soon start to be afraid of the “evil” AI.
What is alarming from my point of view, is that this country has ignored and still ignores how important technological progress and research are for the development of its citizens, it’s wealth, and it’s competitiveness with other countries. We should study AI, explore it, invest on it, understand it in order to control it.
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That’s a shame. They have done nothing besides eliminate the free (and comparatively safer) version? I suppose it makes sense as it’s the version that they do collect information on.
Still though… madness…
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Nothing at all. I guess they could have incentivate the EU to start a conversation instead of blindly blocking the safer version of AI we have at the moment. Shame indeed.
I mean I would be more worried to see a kid in front of other socials compared to chatgpt.
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Can you reference and quote several respected newspapers in Italy; this is again to collect an accurate historical record.
@EricGT Here’s a couple I’ve collected now with a quick search on big Italian newspapers.
If I find something else I’ll update this comment.
Perché collegare ChatGpt a internet è pericoloso
L’intelligenza artificiale oltre quella umana e gli umani come formiche: OpenAI e i rischi della IA Forte
C’è un intruso nella scienza e si chiama ChatGPT. L’algoritmo entra nella lista dei coautori dei “paper”: è anche in grado di scrivere testi fasulli, compromettendo la credibilità della ricerca. Ora le riviste corrono ai ripari
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