Tag: Personal Privacy

(Jun 15, 2018) If there is one way to describe Alvaro Bedoya besides hardworking, it is that he is passionate. Nowhere is that more evident than in his work on the surveillance of minority populations, a passion fueled by Bedoya's time as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. It was during that time that the Snowden revelations hit, and Bedoya was baffled by the ways in which minority populations were being surveilled and the lack of voices speaking up against t... Read More

(Jun 15, 2018) There has been a lively debate in the academic community of late about whether data subjects under the EU General Data Protection Regulation have a "right to explanation" of automated decisions made about them. On one side, some contend that no such right exists under the GDPR; instead, there is a "limited right to information" only. On the other side, some have argued that this is a narrow analysis and that a contextual interpretation would provide such a right. So, is there a right to explanat... Read More

(Jun 15, 2018) If there is one way to describe Alvaro Bedoya besides hardworking, it is that he is passionate. Nowhere is that more evident than in his work on the surveillance of minority populations, a passion fueled by Bedoya's time as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. It was during that time that the Snowden revelations hit, and Bedoya was baffled by the ways in which minority populations were being surveilled and the lack of voices speaking up against t... Read More

(Jun 15, 2018) The University of British Columbia has been ordered to pay $167,000 to a novelist for violating his privacy rights, The Canadian Press reports. Steven Galloway sued the university for sending a memo to groups around campus stating he was under investigation for “serious allegations” and alleging he suffered harm when the school sent communications out about his termination. Galloway had been accused by a student of sexual assault and claimed the school’s actions violated his privacy rights. “I f... Read More

(Jun 14, 2018) Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has called for new privacy laws that would prevent harassment from unwanted media attention, the Australian Financial Review reports. In a paid television interview, Joyce said improved privacy protections are needed. He said, "These people have the capacity to destroy someone's life," adding, "I expect to be papped and interviewed, but private individuals, kids especially, don't have protections there." Joyce and his partner have been at the center of ... Read More

(Jun 14, 2018) New Zealand First Leader Winson Peters’ lawsuit against two top public servants has been criticized by the country’s National Party for putting personal grievances ahead of public service. Peters filed a lawsuit after information was leaked to the media that he had been mistakenly overpaid for seven years. While Peters paid the money back once the error was discovered, he is seeking $400,000 over the data breach. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said earlier that the lawsuit was a private matter th... Read More

(Jun 14, 2018) The New York Times reports Apple has closed off a loophole allowing law enforcement to break into locked iPhones. The iPhone software update will disable a device’s charging and data ports one hour after the phone has been locked, meaning the password would be the only way to access any information. Law enforcement officials have been opening locked iPhones by connecting a device running a specific software to the port. While law enforcement officials are criticizing Apple for hindering their in... Read More

(Jun 14, 2018) Director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center William Evanina warned travelers bound for Russia’s World Cup that they may well find themselves the victim of a cyberattack even if they think they are a low-risk target, Reuters reports. Evanina said, “If you’re planning on taking a mobile phone, laptop, PDA, or other electronic device with you — make no mistake — any data on those devices (especially your personally identifiable information) may be accessed by the Russian g... Read More

(Jun 13, 2018) Ad Age reports on the changes Apple has made to its App Store. The tech company will no longer allow app developers to create databases from the information they gather from iPhone users, such as the phone numbers and email addresses belonging to other people within a contact list. Developers will no longer be able to sell the information to third parties and will be required to use the data for the purpose it was collected or else they will need to obtain consent again. Any developer found viol... Read More

(Jun 12, 2018) Facebook has informed the U.S. Senate it has created an initiative to help educate users about sharing personal data, Bloomberg reports. TTC Labs is a group created by Facebook that is supported by more than 60 other organizations. Facebook wrote TTC Labs “seeks to pioneer new and more people-centric best practices for people to understand how their data is used by digital services, in ways that they find easy to understand and control.” The tech company wrote about TTC Labs as part of nearly 50... Read More