How does the trendy new audio-chatroom app Clubhouse handle user privacy? Recode reports:
What if you didn’t give Clubhouse access to your contacts, specifically because you didn’t want all or any of them to know you were there? I regret to inform you that Clubhouse has made it possible for them to know anyway, encourages them to follow you, and there isn’t…
Tag: data privacy
Tech Coalition Working To Create Digital COVID-19 Vaccination Passport
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hill: A coalition of health and technology organizations are working to develop a digital COVID-19 vaccination passport to allow businesses, airlines and countries to check if people have received the vaccine. The Vaccination Credential Initiative, announced on Thursday, is formulating technology to confirm vaccinations in the likelihood that some governments will mandate people…
Google Will Change How Chrome Extensions Access Data in 2021
At Chrome Dev Summit 2020 today, Google announced it will change how extensions access data and how extension permissions work in 2021. On January 18, a day before the release of Chrome 88, Google will require that every extension publicly display its privacy practices and will limit what developers can do with the data they collect. From a report: The first…
Verily’s COVID Testing Program Halted in San Francisco and Oakland
Amid fanfare in March, California officials celebrated the launch of a multimillion-dollar contract with Verily — Google’s health-focused sister company — that they said would vastly expand COVID testing among the state’s impoverished and underserved communities. But seven months later, San Francisco and Alameda counties — two of the state’s most populous — have severed ties with the company’s testing sites…
Facebook Rebuts Netflix Documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’
Facebook on Friday offered a rebuttal to the hit Netflix documentary-drama, “The Social Dilemma.” The movie revealed, perhaps for the first time to some viewers, how social networks use algorithms to keep people coming back. It also addressed how tech companies have influenced elections, ethnic violence and rates of depression and suicide. Some viewers said they were deleting Facebook and Instagram…
YouTube Will Use Tech Updates To Better Enforce Age Restrictions
YouTube said Tuesday that it has updated its technology to enable the tech giant to better enforce its age restriction policies. From a report: The company has been criticized and penalized for its policies and architecture that displayed harmful content to kids and violated children’s data privacy. The company is announcing three new changes: It will begin using machine learning to…
Last-Minute TikTok Deal Averts Shutdown
“President Donald Trump said Saturday he’s given his ‘blessing’ to a proposed deal that would see the popular video-sharing app TikTok partner with Oracle and Walmart and form a U.S. company,” reports CBS News:
Mr. Trump has targeted Chinese-owned TikTok for national security and data privacy concerns in the latest flashpoint in the rising tensions between Washington and Beijing. The president’s support…
Andrew Yang Takes Lead Role In California Data Privacy Campaign
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang is throwing his weight behind California’s November data privacy ballot measure — not just endorsing the initiative but chairing its advisory board, the Proposition 24 campaign announced Monday. Politico reports: Yang’s involvement could bring more visibility and cachet to the effort, given the tech entrepreneur’s national profile and popularity among younger voters. It could also help…
Australia, UK Open Probe Into Clearview Over Data Privacy
Australian and British privacy regulators opened a joint probe into Clearview AI, saying they want to examine how the company’s facial-recognition technology uses people’s data, just days after the company suspended operations in Canada. From a report: The Australian Information Commissioner and the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office said they will focus on the company’s use of “scraped” data and biometrics of…
France Upholds $50M Fine Against Google For GDPR Violations
An anonymous reader quotes NBC News:
France’s highest administrative court has upheld a fine of 50 million euros ($56 million) Google was ordered to pay for not being “sufficiently clear and transparent” with Android users about their data protection options. Google was first slapped with the fine in January 2019, the first penalty for a U.S. tech giant under new European data…