Tag: Big Data

(May 21, 2019) U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., will propose a bill to give consumers the ability to block websites from the collection of unnecessary data, Bloomberg reports. Under the proposed bill, consumers can choose a setting to opt out of all data collection “beyond what is indispensable to the companies’ online services.” The senator said in a statement while browsers have allowed users to send “Do Not Track” signals, the requests are usually ignored. A spokesman for Hawley said fines against companies wo... Read More

(May 21, 2019) The Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union has released a progress report on the proposed ePrivacy Regulation. The update includes the "state of play" in the council, including discussions in the Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society and at the council on "concerns about the way the ePrivacy proposal would interact with new technologies," including machine-to-machine, internet-of-things and artificial intelligence technology. In turn, the presidency has in... Read More

(May 21, 2019) Vizio's class-action privacy settlement awaits approval from U.S. District Court Judge Josephine Staton, MediaPost reports. As part of the settlement, Vizio will pay $17 million to settle allegations it shared consumers' data with advertising technology companies and data brokers. More than 500,000 customers submitted claims as part of the lawsuit, with each expected to receive $16 per television set. The settlement will see $11 million paid out to customers and $6 million to go to the attorneys... Read More

(May 21, 2019) During its annual meeting in Seattle Wednesday, Amazon shareholders will issue a nonbinding vote on whether the tech company will continue to sell facial-recognition technology, The New York Times reports. A pair of proposals has been brought forth by shareholders. The first proposal requests the tech company stop sales of Rekognition to government agencies until Amazon's board determines it does not violate human rights. The second proposal calls for the tech company to issue an independent rep... Read More

(May 21, 2019) Privacy means different things around the world, depending on a person’s nationality and background, Waze CEO Noam Bardin told the The Wall Street Journal at its Future of Everything Festival. It’s particularly challenging in the U.S., he said, because the U.S. does not have an "official standard for privacy." Until there are consistent data privacy standards in place, Bardin urged tech companies to be as transparent as possible with the data they collect so consumers can choose whether or not t... Read More

(May 20, 2019) Complaints have been filed with the data protection authorities of Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands over the online advertising industry's use of real-time bidding, according to an advocacy website called Fix AdTech. The complainants allege real-time bidding violates the EU General Data Protection Regulation. The new round of complaints are an extension of those filed with the DPAs in Ireland, Poland and the U.K. “We hope that this complaint sends a strong message to Google and tho... Read More

(May 20, 2019) The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary will host a hearing Tuesday titled "Understanding the Digital Advertising Ecosystem and the Impact of Data Privacy and Competition Policy." Witnesses for the hearing include Rotman School of Management Ellison Professor of Marketing Avi Goldfarb, Yale School of Management Theodore Nierenberg Professor of Economics Fiona Scott Morton, AppNexus Founder and Former CEO Brian O'Kelley, Brave Chief Policy and Industry Relations Officer Johnny Ryan, and Freshf... Read More

(May 20, 2019) The International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners published its May newsletter, highlighting its 41st conference that will take place Oct. 21 to 24 in Tirana, Albania. Albanian Information and Data Protection Commissioner Besnik Dervishi provided an update on the conference's programming and side events. The newsletter also featured the unveiling of the ICDPPC's commitment to secondment programs, a conversation with Ghana Data Protection Commission Executive Director Patr... Read More

(May 20, 2019) CNBC reports Google is tracking people's online purchases by pulling the information from Gmail. Despite purchases being made without using Google's apps, the company has access to years of purchase histories with receipts being sent to Gmail accounts. “To help you easily view and keep track of your purchases, bookings and subscriptions in one place, we’ve created a private destination that can only be seen by you,” a Google spokesperson said, adding that the purchase history can be deleted at a... Read More

(May 20, 2019) According to the 2019 Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index, several telecommunications companies around the world are still struggling to provide users with information about how their data is collected, who it’s shared with and why, Quartz Africa reports. One of the 24 companies evaluated in the report, South Africa–headquartered MTN Group has 22 markets in Africa and the Middle East, with more than 220 million subscribers. According to the index, MTN provides little informatio... Read More