Edit 28/04/2023. ChatGPT reopens in Italy, after working on what is requested by the Privacy Guarantor:
- More prominently exposed privacy policies
- filter by user age
- Possibility for European users to deny their data to the algorithm
- Possibility to have incorrect information about your account deleted
01/04/2023. The Italian SA (guarantor for the protection of personal data) has intervened and, for Italian users, ChatGPT is blocked.
It is hoped that the situation will be temporary, at least until OpenAI, the American company that manages ChatGPT, now blocked, does not make the chat compliant with the legislation for the processing of personal data.
The Italian SA accuses OpenAI of the illegal collection of personal data and the absence of a system to verify the age of minors.
In addition, the Italian "Garante della Privacy" has launched an investigation into the case. ChatGPT, now disabled in Italy, suffered a data breach on March 20, including conversations and payment information of subscribers.
The SA noted the lack of adequate information for users and the absence of a legal justification for the massive collection and storage of personal data, in particular to train the platform's algorithms.
In addition, the SA has reported the lack of a filter for verifying the age of users, which could expose minors to inappropriate responses. OpenAI must respond to the requests of the SA within 20 days, otherwise it risks a fine of up to 20 million euros or up to 4% of annual turnover.
Following all these requests, OpenAI has preferred to disable access for Italian customers, even paying ones, who will be refunded. However, OpenAI would do well to make itself compliant with the legislation. Although the dispute came from the Italian Privacy Guarantor, the GDPR privacy legislation is European and it cannot be excluded that other states raise similar disputes.
How to use ChatGPT anyway
In the meantime that the law will take its course, many Italian users are continuing to use ChatGPT by connecting via VPN. There are many VPN services that have free monthly plans of up to a few GB of usage.
When choosing a VPN provider, pay attention to its reputation: to use a VPN, you need to install software on your computer. If this were malicious... anything could happen to you!
When setting up the VPN, you need to select an IP address that has a location outside of Italy.
Some information about the OpenAI company
“OpenAI is a nonprofit organization founded by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Wojciech Zaremba and others. OpenAI's goal is to develop advanced artificial intelligence technologies responsibly and share them with the world to advance scientific and social progress.”
In short, behind ChatGPT there is also some well-known name!