China cracks down on PII collection. In-flight GenAI for JAL

HELLFIRE

https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/31/asia_tech_news_in_brief/

China last week commenced a crackdown on inappropriate collection and subsequent use of personal information. The Middle Kingdom’s Cyberspace Administration, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly announced their intention to deepen enforcement of privacy laws by conducting a crackdown in six settings:
Apps and mini-apps embedded in social media services. China worries operators don’t spell out rules for personal information collection, require permission to access users contacts or media files when that’s not necessary for an app’s functions, and don’t allow opting out or complaints.

Software development kits that don’t include features that allow developers to bake privacy into their code.

Wearables and smart home products that don’t inform users about the information they collect.

Illegal use of facial recognition information in public places, or doing so without securing consent, providing warnings, or protecting biometric data.

Offline collection of personal info when citizens scan codes to order food in restaurants, pay for goods in retail stores, or through mandatory collection of phone numbers, birthdays, and other information.

Illegal collection of personal information by recruiters, transport operators, educational organizations, providers of medical care, and accommodation providers.
The agencies responsible for the crackdown didn’t say why it’s needed, but vowed they would ensure their efforts deliver swift results. None of the targets of the campaign are government entities, an unsurprising omission given China conducts pervasive surveillance of its citizens.

Japan Airlines writing flight reports with offline Gen AI

Japan Airlines has equipped its cabin crew with tablet computers running a Microsoft’s Phi‑4 small language model to help them write flight reports. According to MIcrosoft, incidents like long delays or illness on a flight requires creation of a report that can take up to an hour to write. An app built by Fujitsu and an outfit called Headwaters instead offers a chat interface that allows cabin staff to enter “a few keywords and phrases and checking a series of boxes” to produce reports. The app also translates the reports from Japanese to English. The model runs on the devices and doesn’t require connectivity, so reports are ready for upload after landing. The app was tested in a pilot that ends today, but JAL hopes for a full deployment.

Regards

Blackbird

HELLFIRE a chat interface that allows cabin staff to enter “a few keywords and phrases and checking a series of boxes” to produce reports.

If that’s all the actual “original”, human input needed, why have the AI add anything at all? Simply supply the keywords, phrases, and box-checkings as the “report”… any other ‘facts’, ‘conclusions’, or emphases added by AI are strictly fictional - something that is totally out of line in any kind of air flight report. Those exist for detailed and highly accurate post-flight analysis if ever needed.

Somewhat-Reticent

Microsoft’s description implied crew-to-crew handoff (internal) memos.

“An app built by Fujitsu{link} …” link leads to Japanese-language article.
Is a ( good ) translation available?

Somewhat-Reticent

HELLFIRE ( Got a translation of linked article? )
Non-government entities shouldn’t collect PII for ( sale to ) foreign governments?

HELLFIRE

I quoted TheRegister article verbatim. What TheRegister linked to is what they got.

Regards