Facebook to pay $650m to settle privacy dispute over photo-tagging
A United States federal judge has reportedly approved Facebook’s $650 million payment to settle a class action privacy lawsuit with 1.6 million users in the state of Illinois
Consumer body says TikTok potentially breached GDPR
TikTok may have breached the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) through the misleading processing of personal data, according to the European Consumer Organisation BEUC said.
Probe launched after ‘data of 102m Brazilians leaked’
The Brazilian National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) has confirmed it is investigating the leakage of personal data from telephone companies, following media reports of a huge personal data breach.
Swedish DPA fines police for unlawful processing of facial recognition app data
The Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY) has ordered the country’s police authority to pay a SEK2.5m ($297,000, €247,000) financial penalty for incorrect processing of personal data when using Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology to identify individuals.
EU member states agree negotiating stance for ePrivacy regulation
European Union member states have agreed a joint position on the proposed ePrivacy regulation, allowing the EU President to open talks with parliament about the final text.
EU antitrust chief warns Apple must apply iOS 14 privacy policy to its own apps
EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager warns Apple that its own apps must abide by its new privacy update amid accusations of anti-competitiveness from Facebook.
Thousands of Australians remain unaware cyber attack affected them
Service NSW has been unable to contact between 20% and 30% of the 104,000 people whose data was compromised in a breach last March, a Parliamentary inquiry was told.
Clearview AI’s anti-crime facial recognition technology broke Canadian privacy law, probe finds
Clearview AI’s scraping of billions of images of people from the internet was mass surveillance and a clear violation of Canadians’ privacy rights, a investigation by four of the country’s privacy commissioners has concluded.
One Year on from the Cambridge Analytica Scandal
Just one year after news broke of the shocking relationship between Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, the scandal has lost none of its relevance in terms of how organisations worldwide handle data on consumers and employees.
Norway’s DPA proposes €9.65m fine for Grindr dating app
Norway’s data protection authority has notified gay dating app Grindr that it intends to impose a financial penalty of NOK100 M ($11.7m, €9.65m) on the company for breaching consent requirements under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
ICO resumes real-time bidding and adtech probe
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the UK has restarted its investigation into real-time bidding (RTB) and the adtech industry, paused last May so the authority could prioritise activities related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Health insurer fined $5.1m for data breach affecting 9m-plus people
Excellus Health Plan of New York state is to pay $5.1m (€4.2m) to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the US and implement a corrective action plan following a data breach.
ICO adds two projects to Sandbox service in bid to bolster children’s online privacy
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the UK has added two projects to its Sandbox service with the aim of improving children’s online privacy.
Fertility app Flo settles misuse of health data case with FTC
Period and fertility-tracking app developer Flo Health has reached an agreement with the United States’ Federal Trade Commission over allegations the company shared users’ health information with outside data analytics providers despite promising it would be kept private
App developer settles facial recognition deception case with FTC
Everalbum has reached an agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) following allegations it deceived consumers about the use of facial recognition technology by its Ever cloud photo storage app and retention of photos and videos of users who had deactivated their accounts.
Google seeks to dampen Fitbit privacy concerns
Tech giant Google has sought to allay privacy fears now it has completed the acquisition of health and fitness smartwatch maker Fitbit.
WhatsApp delays privacy policy changes following Facebook data-sharing concern
WhatsApp has announced a three-month delay to changes to its privacy policy following concerns over mandatory data-sharing with parent company Facebook.
UK competition watchdog opens probe into Google privacy changes
Google’s ‘Privacy Sandbox’ plan to remove third party cookies from its Chrome browser is being probed by a regulator in the United Kingdom over concerns it would be anti-competitive.
The data protection and privacy trends to watch out for in 2021
PrivSec Report looks forward to the new year and what it could mean for the privacy and data protection worlds.
Tim Berners-Lee launches enterprise-friendly decentralised web platform in move to ‘restore power on the web’
Tim Berners-Lee has launched an enterprise-friendly decentralised web platform using the open-source technology, Solid, to “restore power” on the web.
Uber faces landmark GDPR court challenge over alleged firing of drivers by algorithm
A trade union on Monday filed a complaint in the Amsterdam District Court accusing Uber of “robo-firing” drivers by algorithm
Bharti Airtel blames controversial privacy policy wording on a ‘clerical error’
Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel says a clerical error led to a discrepancy in its privacy policy, which stated the company shared personal information including genetic data with third parties.
Identifying, verifying and authenticating customers in banking
PrivSec Report looks at some of the identification and verification technologies currently being used to ensure privacy and security in an increasingly complex banking landscape while ensuring user experience remains positive.
Half of large companies to adopt privacy-enhancing computation by 2025
Half of large organisations will implement privacy-enhancing computation for processing data in untrusted environments within five years, Gartner has predicted.
Facebook’s lead European regulator investigates Instagram’s processing of children’s data
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has launched two statutory inquiries into the processing of children’s data on Facebook-owned social media platform, Instagram.
