AI is evolving at break-neck speed, faster than existing regulation can catch up.

As the technology gains new capabilities, the risks surrounding AI’s impact on data privacy call for cohesive legislation, according to Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-CA.

“When it comes to AI, the No. 1 harm in my mind right now, in the early days of AI implementation, are AI’s uncanny ability to pierce through digital data privacy and reaggregate disaggregated personal data, and build behavioral models that are eerily accurate at predicting future human behavior,” said Obernolte, speaking last week on a panel hosted by The Software Alliance, also known as BSA.

Obernolte is hopeful Congress can pass comprehensive federal data privacy standards this year, he said. But that’s just step one.

As generative AI evolves, its broad effects on society suggest a more cohesive, thoughtful approach to legislation is needed, one that takes into account the intent behind AI use and the different types of harm that could stem from the technology’s development.

One pitfall to avoid is a regulatory patchwork, according to Christina Montgomery, IBM’s VP and chief privacy and trust officer.

“What we’re seeing happening in the privacy space would be completely unworkable,” Montgomery said, speaking on the same panel. “In terms of AI, we can’t have 50 states regulating it differently. We can’t have countries and governments around the world regulating differently.”

“I think the need for harmonization is really critical,” she said.

Through the starting months of 2023, AI has become a mainstream technology faster than most people expected. OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot and GPT-4 generative AI have already changed the tech industry. Microsoft has embraced OpenAI through major investments and brought GPT-4 to most of its services. However, there are growing concerns about AI development, security, and lack of regulation.

BSA, an advocacy group that speaks for major companies within the tech sector, has published a document that provides a list of ground rules for AI development. Now it wants Congress in the United States to define the rules of what tech companies are expected to deliver when creating AI models.

The group represents companies like Adobe, Oracle, SAP, IBM, and more and was founded by Microsoft in 1988. Aside from urging lawmakers to clearly define regulatory requirements, BSA is also seeking a federal review of company compliance certifications. Notably, the group wants there to be rules for the development of high-risk AI.

Craig Albright, vice president of U.S. government relations at BSA, says:

“We’re an industry group that wants Congress to pass this legislation. So we’re trying to bring more attention to this opportunity. We feel it just hasn’t gotten as much attention as it could or should. It’s not meant to be the answer to every question about AI, but it’s an important answer to an important question about AI that Congress can get done”.

Recent years have seen an uptick in software audits, with more companies being asked to provide evidence of licensing compliance. This is largely due to the fact that organizations are now using more software than ever before, with an increasing number of employees working remotely.

Watchdog groups like the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Federation of Software Theft (FAST) serve the sole purpose of ensuring the protection of software vendors’ intellectual property. These groups and software vendors are dedicated to discovering and auditing non-compliant organizations every single day with little to no notice. According to Gartner, the likelihood of an assessment for a medium to a large firm over the next two years is predicted to be 40%, which is expected to rise by 20% annually.

But why do software vendors act in this manner? Simply put, the main motivator is money. Revenue from software sales fell when the American economy saw a downturn and software expenditures were slashed. Software vendors were forced to hunt for alternative income sources when these profits started to decline. Audit fines and penalties of several hundred thousand dollars to even millions of dollars appeared as lucrative options for these vendors.

According to the BSA, 25% of businesses that operate in the U.S. are non-compliant in some way, costing software vendors an estimated $6 billion in loss.

BSA | The Software Alliance announced the launch of helplines across Southeast Asia to help businesses in the engineering, infrastructure and construction industries amid reports of rampant use of unlicensed engineering and design software by practitioners in these industries.

In a statement, BSA said the launch of the hotlines will help professionals cope with the challenges related to software copyright compliance. BSA is a leading advocate for the global software industry before governments and in the international marketplace.

In launching the helpline, BSA cited of reports about “ghost piracy”, in which authorities report that design professionals working from home are illegally accessing illegal software at their offices while working remotely on engineering, construction and animation design projects.

The BSA helplines are being launched in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.

Representatives taking the calls will be able to share information and connect callers with software licensing experts who can help ensure that companies using the appropriate approach to software compliance and ensure that companies have the right licenses in place to work legally and effectively.

BSA executives said that there is a special concern when design firms working on engineering and construction projects for national infrastructure use illegal software for designs.

“The primary reason we launched the helpline is because genuine, licensed software is the first line of defence in cyber security,” said BSA Senior Director Tarun Sawney.

BSA wants to help as many organizations as possible recognize the benefits or using licensed software.

“Unlicensed software is not safe. And particularly when professionals are designing public infrastructure… there is no excuse for carelessness in what kind of software is used. As a matter of public and national safety, only licensed, safe, secure software should be employed in construction and engineering design projects,” BSA said.

In Thailand, for example, the Economic and Cyber Crime police officers reported raiding an animation studio in Bangkok that was creating entertainment content for a global streaming platform. While officers executed a search warrant for violation of software copyright law, they witnessed workers at home remotely utilizing computers in the office to complete design work.

The company had 20 computers in the office, 15 of which contained unlicensed Autodesk Maya programs, being used for movie and animation special effects. Total value of the unlicensed software was nearly $200,000.

“The construction and engineering industries are at risk of cyber threat – and must take action to protect their businesses by using only licensed, genuine design software. The structures they build for the Philippines are used by all of us. We cannot risk the integrity of our structures and so leaders in the construction industry have a responsibility to ensure that not only are they using a licensed design software, but that all their suppliers and vendors are also using a genuine design software,” said Christine Marie L. Suntay, Executive Director, Optical Media Board

According to BSA, business leaders should take a proactive approach to managing their company’s software assets. This includes communications to staff members about procedures and processes for software use, and a clear directive to avoid use of illegal software.

Larger companies are encouraged to implement a Software Asset Management program to ensure compliance.

The macOS 12 Monterey is bringing a host of updates and new features to Macs and MacBooks, and Apple users are getting excited. The new macOS, which was announced at WWDC may not be out yet, but it’s already set tongues wagging by promising a substantial upgrade that most weren’t expecting – including Shortcuts, a redesigned Safari, and Universal Control.

Luckily, folks won’t have long to wait. macOS 12 Monterey is expected to launch on October 18 at the company’s Fall 2021 event alongside the rumored MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021) and MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021). As with its predecessors, it’s going to be available as a free upgrade, with its public beta already on hand for download if you’d like a head start on what’s new.

If you’d like to hold on until the final version of macOS 12 Monterey is released, which we would recommend when most bugs and problems have been identified and fixed by early testers, it is slated for public release ‘this fall’ so you won’t have long to wait. In the meantime, here’s everything we know about Apple’s upcoming macOS.

The upsurge in unlicensed software usage is attributed to the rise of remote work and megastructure project development, according to BSA | The Software Alliance, a global software advocate, and the police’s Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD).

In the first half of this year, losses from the use of unlicensed software amounted to 212 million baht, a rise from 195 million in the same period a year earlier, the ECD said in a press briefing.

This year, BSA will focus more on engineering and design firms under the Legalise and Protect initiative, aimed at promoting the use of licensed software among enterprises, following the rise of megaprojects worth billions of dollars across Southeast Asia, including Thailand, said Tarun Sawney, senior director of BSA | The Software Alliance.

Thailand is developing the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) scheme worth 620 billion baht, including 10 billion baht budgeted for investment this year, with projects including a high-speed train project linking airports and the U-tapao airport upgrade.

Working with software company Autodesk, BSA plans to conduct outreach to 20,000 engineering and design firms across Asean for a campaign calling on the companies to commit to using only licensed software.

This covers 5,000 firms each in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand.

The prime targets are engineering and design firms and there are also other companies on the list, including manufacturing firms and animation studios, Mr Sawney said.

This campaign follows BSA’s Legalise and Protect initiative, which was launched in 2019 and has helped businesses in Asean to install licensed software on 1 million PCs.

The use of unlicensed software makes companies vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches, Mr Sawney said.

“We are in the cyber risk time when cyberattacks scale up in line with the rise of digital transformation and remote work,” said Mr Sawney.

Pol Col Kreangsak Chitsaard, superintendent of inquiry of the ECD, said police received 197 complaints over the use of unlicensed software in the first half of 2021, compared with 183 in the same period last year.

He said there is a rise of unlicensed software usage particularly by key business sectors, which makes them vulnerable to cyber risks.

The use of unlicensed software by employees at home also makes their firms violate the copyrights law, he said.

According to him, the number of computers found to have been installed with unlicensed software surged to 9,694 in the first half of the year.

Microsoft has just announced that it is adding its Windows Defender ATP to older versions of its operating system, namely Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. But the announcement isn’t as unambiguous as one would expect.

Announcing the new features in a blog post, Microsoft said “customers moving to Windows 10 can add Windows Defender ATP Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) functionality to their Windows 7, and Windows 8.1 devices, and get a holistic view across their endpoints.”

The company says many people have different devices in their environments, and they want them to have the same level of security across all of those.

It also said security is the main driver behind the adoption of Windows 10.

“We hear from our customers security is one of the biggest motivators for their move to Windows 10,” Microsoft’s Rob Lefferts wrote. “With Windows 10 we built the most secure Windows ever, by hardening the platform itself and by developing Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) – a unified endpoint security platform that helps stop breaches.”

Until now, Windows Defender ATP was only available for Windows 10, and a few partners in preview as protected endpoints for other operating systems (not of Microsoft’s origin).

The older operating systems will get the new security solution this summer.