A ban, due to come into effect in Somalia on Thursday, could leave some creators without an income.

The UK’s data protection regulator is to review period and fertility tracking apps over concerns around the data security of such platforms. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the review was in response to figures it had obtained from its own research, which found that more than half of women using these apps had concerns over how their data was being used. The data protection watchdog’s research showed a third of women have used apps to track their periods or fertility, and more than half of those who have used an app believed they had noticed an increase in baby or fertility-related adverts since signing up, with 17% said they had found this distressing. The ICO said its poll showed concerns around data use and how secure their data was were named as bigger fears among women than the cost of these apps or ease of use. We want to make sure women can use these services with confidence, so we’re calling for people to share their experiences Emily Keaney, ICO The regulator is now urging users to come forward and report their own experiences using tracking apps as part of a call for evidence. It said it had also contacted companies who provide period and fertility tracking apps to find out how they are processing users’ personal information. The ICO said the focus of its work would be to identify if there was the potential for harm and negative impact on users. “These statistics suggest data security is a significant concern for women when it comes to choosing an app to track their periods or plan or prevent pregnancy,” Emily Keaney, ICO deputy commissioner of regulatory policy, said. “That’s not surprising, given the incredibly sensitive and personal information involved. “We want to make sure women can use these services with confidence, so we’re calling for people to share their experiences. “This will help us understand whether there are areas that need improvement – from how easy it is to navigate privacy policies to whether people have experienced upsetting and unexpected targeted advertising. “We also know some users feel these apps bring many benefits and we’d like to hear about these too. “As with all health apps, we would expect organisations to safeguard their users’ privacy and have transparent policies in place. “This review is intended to establish both the good and bad of how the apps are working currently. “Once we have more information, we will explore next steps, but we will not hesitate to take regulatory action to protect the public if necessary.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Russian cyber-attacks ‘relentless’ as threat of WW3 grows, expert warns Warner Music sign first digital character Noonoouri and release debut single Met should thoroughly investigate cyber security practices, say experts

When can we expect the NBA 2K24 ratings reveal? Here's what we expect based on previous years.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a sweeping bill into law Friday that will restrict education about gender identity and sexual orientation and ban books with certain sexual content from school libraries, as well as require schools to notify parents if their child asks to use a new name or pronoun.

MicroStrategy Inc., a software maker that’s better-known for being the largest public holder of Bitcoin, looks like a

OXNARD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 25, 2023--

Booking Holdings Inc., which operates the website Booking.com, was sued by Texas for allegedly engaging in deceptive trade

'Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodhunt' is ending development after just 12 months.

Scientists have revealed they had found a way to combine the technology of brain scans and artificial intelligence to transcribe “the gist” of people’s thoughts. Alex Huth, an assistant professor of neuroscience and computing science at the University of Texas at Austin, and a co-author on the new study published in Nature Neuroscience, said that ‘this is a real leap forward.’ The study was led by Huth and Jerry Tang, a doctoral student in computer science. The main development from this study is that it’s non-invasive. This means that subjects do not require surgical implants. Instead, brain activity is measured using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In the study, individuals listened to hours of podcasts in the scanner. Then, given the participant’s consent to have their thoughts decoded, they listened to a new story and the machine-generated corresponding texts from brain activity. It’s not a word-for-word transcript. For example, when an individual heard the phrase ‘I don’t have my driver’s licence yet’, the model decoded the individual’s thoughts to read as ‘she has not even started to learn to drive yet.’ Even when participants thought up their own stories, the machine was able to decode their thoughts still. Tang acknowledged that the advancements made in the study had the potential for negative aftermath. Tang said, ‘we take very seriously the concerns that it could be used for bad purposes and have worked to avoid that.’ They ran tests that highlighted that unless the machine had been trained on an individual’s particular brain activity, it could not decode its thoughts. An individual had to allow for the machine to train their brain activity over a long period of time inside a fMRI scanner for it to work. Researchers also found that it was easy to ‘sabotage’ the machine. Three participants were told to tell a different story in their mind, or count by seven, while listening to one of the podcasts. The study highlights even more development with artificial intelligence, after the popularity of OpenAI’s Chat GPT has sparked debate around the potential of AI. 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.

SAVE 49%: Livestream the F1 for free with a high-speed VPN. A one-year subscription to

TEL AVIV, Israel & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 2023--

We all love our pets, but shedding can be a major pain. If you have