A recent privacy policy update from WhatsApp appeared to be forcing users to agree to sharing of personal data with Facebook. WhatsApp has clarified exactly what will be shared. Read More
Data Privacy
Technological development has always outpaced privacy concerns, but never more so than in the past decade. Collection and centralization of personally identifiable information (PII), tracking of movements and digital surveillance are all at unprecedented levels. Regulations and laws are only just beginning to catch up to the ability of both governments and private entities to deploy these capabilities.
What exactly is there to worry about? The mass collection and centralization of data by giant multinationals such as Facebook and Google is as good of a place to start as any. Two decades of vacuuming up the personal data of users of various online services has created the most impressive marketing capabilities in history, but these profiles have astounding potential for damage when they are used the wrong way or fall into the wrong hands.
Unauthorized information that is captured in data breaches tends to find its way to massive “combo lists” that are sold and traded on the dark web. Social security numbers are added from this breach, home addresses and phone numbers from that one, personal health information from yet another. Soon, a frighteningly complete profile of millions of individuals is available to anyone willing to pay the asking price.
These are just the established data privacy issues. The emerging ones are even worse. High-quality facial recognition technology is just beginning to roll out across the public places of some countries. Artificial intelligence is not only making mass facial recognition possible, but magnifies the power and reach of any application that involves capturing and sorting information: scanning pictures, analyzing speech, sifting through text and location data. This threatens to not only shatter anonymity and privacy, but allow for highly advanced impersonation and take the concept of “identity theft” to new levels.
Some businesses chafe at the trouble and added expense of new and emerging data privacy regulations, but they are vital to both protecting rights and privacy and instilling confidence in end users. Customers want to be able to submit their payment information without worry about data breaches and identity theft, use services without wondering what is being done with their personal information and use devices without fear of surveillance or having location data tracked. The need for meaningful safeguards only grows greater as technological capabilities increase.
2020 was a watershed year for data privacy. The new year will see the continuation of some long-time trends with a few notable additions. Here's the top 4. Read More
The idea of immunity passports demonstrating proof of a COVID vaccine to move about is being discussed by a broad variety of both government and business organizations. Read More
New privacy labels that Apple requires are revealing some major differences between competing messaging apps, best illustrated by setting Signal next to the voracious Facebook Messenger. Read More
A new data sharing policy is universalizing personal information among Facebook products. WhatsApp informed users of this change in a privacy policy update, which did not provide any means of opting out. Read More
Singapore’s early rollout of contact tracing included one of the world’s first mobile apps for this purpose, TraceTogether. Voluntary public uptake based on trust in government was key, but that trust may be shaken. Read More
Businesses face challenges in handling unstructured data and staying compliant with privacy regulations. With newer approaches, AI will be able to assist much better in data governance tasks. Read More
New FAA regulations came packaged with drone tracking rules, including remote ID requirements that some of the tech giants are objecting to from a technological and privacy standpoint. Read More
If they became law, the proposed FinCEN rules would out the personal identities behind private crypto wallets if transactions are large enough. Read More
The FTC is expanding its investigations into the business dealings of Big Tech. Nine of the industry's biggest names have been asked to provide the agency with information about their data practices. Read More