DeepSeek Faces Ban From Apple, Google App Stores In Germany

Germany's data protection commissioner has urged Apple and Google to remove Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from their app stores due to concerns about data protection. Reuters reports: Commissioner Meike Kamp said in a statement on Friday that she had made the request because DeepSeek illegally transfers users' personal data to China. The two U.S. tech giants must now review the request promptly and decide whether to block the app in Germany, she added, though her office has not set a precise timeframe. According to its own privacy policy, DeepSeek stores numerous pieces of personal data, such as requests to its AI program or uploaded files, on computers in China.

"DeepSeek has not been able to provide my agency with convincing evidence that German users' data is protected in China to a level equivalent to that in the European Union," [Commissioner Meike Kamp] said. "Chinese authorities have far-reaching access rights to personal data within the sphere of influence of Chinese companies," she added. The commissioner said she took the decision after asking DeepSeek in May to meet the requirements for non-EU data transfers or else voluntarily withdraw its app. DeepSeek did not comply with this request, she added.

Yes, but they are all like that...

[sinij]

Schneier has an article on what LLMs collect [schneier.com]. It is nothing short of death of privacy of any kind.

Re:

[ffkom]

And the fact that "as a service"-LLMs all harvest your data like this tells us that it is a stupid, politically motivated move to just ban one of them. And DeepSeek is one of the few that enable people to run their own, disconnected LLM instance locally - much unlike the other data harvesters.

What, LLMs have to respect laws now?

[gweihir]

Such a surprise.

People

[registrations_suck]

People can always choose to not use such apps.

Re:

[noshellswill]

People should fuck oppressor nations like China in the economic azzwhole. Removing  digital degrees-of-freedom is an obviously good starting point.