Tag: Personal Privacy

(Mar 22, 2019) Mary Stone Ross was one of the original proponents and co-authors of the California ballot initiative that eventually became the California Consumer Privacy Act. Like many other professionals in the privacy world, her path to privacy was not typical. She once worked as an officer at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and on the House Intelligence Committee. But it was her shared vision that helped lead to a paradigm-shifting privacy law in the U.S. However, as she points out in this post for P... Read More

(Mar 22, 2019) In an op-ed for the Vancouver Sun, Canada Health Infoway President and CEO Michael Green writes about the ramifications of Canada's increasingly digital health care system and its susceptibility to data theft. Green discusses how Canadians are "unwittingly sharing their health information" in different ways, such as through apps, mailing lists and online surveys. "Compromised personal health data has a much greater and lasting impact," Green writes. "When a credit card is stolen, card numbers ar... Read More

(Mar 22, 2019) Following sexual harassment claims against Concordia University professors, Quebec's Education Ministry will uphold a provision in Bill 151 that prohibits accusers from learning the outcome of investigations into the allegations due to privacy and confidentiality considerations, CBC News reports. After the allegations surfaced, Concordia produced a "climate review" where it recommended students should be allowed to know what happens to their alleged harassers. Former Education Minister Hélène Da... Read More

(Mar 22, 2019) Internal documents from Ontario’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services show at least two Canadian provinces track the behaviors of vulnerable people, including juveniles and the homeless, Motherboard reports. Police, social and health workers from Ontario and Saskatchewan allegedly use the shared “Risk-driven Tracking Database” with little oversight and without the consent of the data subjects. The database contains highly sensitive information, such as whether a person uses dr... Read More

(Mar 21, 2019) Finland's data protection ombudsman will investigate claims of data breaches by Nokia-branded phones, Reuters reports. Ombudsman Reijo Aarnio will explore allegations from Norway’s public broadcaster saying it had proof that the devices relayed data to China. The investigation will focus on whether personal information was involved in the alleged breaches and if that collection was for legal purposes.Full Story... Read More

(Mar 21, 2019) Advances in technology, such as the increase in data mining, the spread of smartphones and tablets, and improvements in internet connectivity, have created a data-rich world where the economic and social value of personal data has increased immensely. The increase in the value of data has spawned a new form of value creation dubbed "informational capitalism," or sometimes derisively, "surveillance capitalism." Enter "personal information management systems." These tools form part of an emerging ... Read More

(Mar 21, 2019) As the use of facial recognition rises in retail stores, privacy advocates fear there will be many challenges with regulating systems as they evolve, CNET reports. Recognition software is a useful security tool, but it teeters on a violation of personal privacy with instances of overreach and limited legal restriction. CNET learned that two facial-recognition providers don't monitor their customers' system use, and no laws require them to do so. "So far, we haven't been able to convince our legi... Read More

(Mar 21, 2019) Advances in technology, such as the increase in data mining, the spread of smartphones and tablets, and improvements in internet connectivity, have created a data-rich world where the economic and social value of personal data has increased immensely. The increase in the value of data has spawned a new form of value creation dubbed informational capitalism, or sometimes derisively, surveillance capitalism. In Personal Data Spaces: An Intervention in Surveillance Capitalism?, Shoshana Zuboff wri... Read More

(Mar 19, 2019) In Nevada, legislation that would allow police to test for cellphone use at the scene of a car accident is raising privacy concerns for some, The Washington Post reports. The proposed legislation would introduce "textalyzers," granting police the ability to connect a driver’s cellphone into a device to check for recent activity. Since 47 states have outlawed cellphone use while driving, the article points out that New York, New Jersey, Tennessee and the city of Chicago are considering similar pr... Read More

(Mar 19, 2019) An installment of Fast Company’s “The Privacy Divide” series looks at how poor and marginalized Americans suffer from an increased loss of privacy. The article accentuates how low-income communities in America have had their data privacy routinely violated for decades. Highlighting policies that failed to prioritize and protect privacy, the article notes how their experience could serve as a cautionary tale for others. “The harms for low-income people of a lack of data privacy are more concrete ... Read More