Privacy Transformation - Issue 17

PUBLIC SERVICES CARD

Are we the wild west of data protection?

Are we the wild west of data protection?

By their actions shall we know them. The handling by the Government of the public service card (PSC) saga speaks volumes for how it governs.

Right now the whole issue is of far greater importance than whether or not there were attempts to surreptitiously introduce a national identity card.

'We have to see it' - Fianna Fáil insists Govt must publish Public Services Card report

'We have to see it' - Fianna Fáil insists Govt must publish Public Services Card report

Fianna Fáil has ramped up the pressure on Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty to publish the Data Protection Commissioner’s highly adversarial report on the Public Services Card.

PRIVACY

New York, 7 other states and D.C. launch antitrust investigation into Facebook

New York, 7 other states and D.C. launch antitrust investigation into Facebook

Regulators across the country have signaled growing concerns about the breadth of Silicon Valley’s power and the tech industry’s access to vast amounts of proprietary data.

Europe Shouldn't Use Security to Justify Facial Recognition

Europe Shouldn't Use Security to Justify Facial Recognition

As regulators wake up to the threat of this intrusive and flawed technology, governments and police are pushing back with an unconvincing public-safety defense.

DPC consultation on Children’s Data Protection Rights

DPC consultation on Children’s Data Protection Rights

The DPC has created a preliminary report on Stream I of the consultation on Children’s Data Protection Rights.

SECURITY & TECH

Google Responds to Rival Browser Brave's Allegation It Violates GDPR

Google Responds to Rival Browser Brave's Allegation It Violates GDPR

Web browser company Brave said on Wednesday that it learned how Google works around GDPR  to help its advertising partners identify European web users. According to the company, Google uses Push Pages that contain unique identifiers to share information with its partners.

‘Don’t sit on the fence’: UK regulator reiterates GDPR warning to ad tech companies

‘Don’t sit on the fence’: UK regulator reiterates GDPR warning to ad tech companies

The clock is ticking for ad tech businesses that are still playing fast and loose with their compliance with the GDPR.

Apple, angry at Google, hits back at hack claims

Apple, angry at Google, hits back at hack claims

Apple admonishes Google over its research into a security vulnerability, saying it painted an incomplete picture.

Please Regulate Us

Please Regulate Us

A piece in The Atlantic penned by Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, calling for more regulation of tech firms.

An Unprecedented Cyberattack Hit US Power Utilities

An Unprecedented Cyberattack Hit US Power Utilities

Exposed Facebook phone numbers, an XKCD breach, and more of the week's top security news.

Google's New Nest Hub Max Raises Questions About How Much We Still Value Our Privacy

Google's New Nest Hub Max Raises Questions About How Much We Still Value Our Privacy

Many of us still have an expectation of privacy when we’re in our homes, even as we pay companies like Google to take it away.

DATA BREACHES

EU regulators criticize Facebook over latest data leak

EU regulators criticize Facebook over latest data leak

Facebook has suffered another major data breach, exposing the personal information of 210 million Facebook users. Regulators aren't happy.

COURTS

Judge lets Facebook privacy class action proceed, calls company's views 'so wrong'

Judge lets Facebook privacy class action proceed, calls company's views 'so wrong'

A federal judge on Monday ordered Facebook Inc to face most of a nationwide lawsuit seeking damages for letting third parties such as Cambridge Analytica access users' private data, calling the social media company's views on privacy "so wrong."

Google under antitrust investigation by 50 attorneys general

Google under antitrust investigation by 50 attorneys general

The probe, led by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton from Texas, will focus primarily on Google’s advertising and search businesses. But in their remarks, the attorneys general suggested that they may expand the investigation later.

RESOURCES

The Preliminary Draft of the NIST Privacy Framework has been published

The Preliminary Draft of the NIST Privacy Framework has been published

We are delighted to announce the release of the Preliminary Draft of the NIST Privacy Framework: A Tool for Improving Privacy through Enterprise Risk Management for public comment.

We read 150 Privacy Policies. They were an incomprehensible disaster.

We read 150 Privacy Policies. They were an incomprehensible disaster.

Like most privacy policies, they’re verbose and full of legal jargon — and opaquely establish companies’ justifications for collecting and selling your data.

The average policy took 18 minutes to finish and required a college-level reading ability.

The Usable Privacy Policy Project

The Usable Privacy Policy Project develops techniques to semi-automatically analyse privacy policies with crowdsourcing, natural language processing, and machine learning. You can explore some of the project’s privacy policy annotations which identify different data collection and use practices.

AI-powered Privacy Policies

Polisis is a unique way of visualizing privacy policies. Using deep learning, it allows you to know what the company is collecting about you, what it is sharing, and much more. You don't have to read the full privacy with all the legal jargon to understand what you are signing up for.