After updating the privacy policy, Starlink customers have a new source of data that is used to train artificial intelligence models. The company has allowed the automatic collection of user information, while providing the option to opt out.
In its privacy policy, Starlink states that it may use users’ personal data “to train its machine learning or artificial intelligence models.”
She added that this data could be shared with third parties “to train artificial intelligence models, including for their own independent purposes.”
William Buddington, a technical expert at the Digital Rights Foundation Electronic Frontier Foundation, told CNET that this trend represents a “full-blown rush” toward data-driven machine learning networks, in the hope of getting better results, “regardless of users’ private information.”
The data collected by Starlink, according to its privacy policy, includes contact information, performance indicators, and billing details, which is standard data collected by Internet service providers.
The company also indicates the possibility of collecting “contact information, such as audio, electronic, or visual information,” in addition to “inferences that may be drawn from other personal information collected.”
The company stresses that a user’s internet history will never be shared with AI models, including individual browsing habits or geo-location tracking.
According to technical standards, data traffic on most websites is encrypted using the HTTPS protocol, which means that Starlink may not necessarily be able to access the content of emails or personal communications to train artificial intelligence.
However, the sites a user visits and the timing of those visits remain of great importance to companies developing AI models, which may harm individuals.
“There are a number of risks, including the risk of on-the-fly engineering in generative AI models, which may enable these models to reproduce the original data that was fed into training,” Buddington explained.
For users who do not want their data to be used to train artificial intelligence models, Starlink offers the ability to cancel the subscription via the application or website, by logging in to the account, going to the account portal, then the privacy preferences section, and unchecking the option that allows the data to be used for the purposes of training artificial intelligence, after which a notice appears confirming that the data will not be used for this purpose. (Erm News)
