CDP Institute

Pending federal court approval in the US, Twitter will have to pay up for deceiving users about how it used contact data ostensibly collected for “account-security purposes,” when in fact, the government alleges the data was also used for ad targeting.

Seems the wrong way around, yet in another strange-but-true episode of, “You Bet Your Privacy,” 40+ Democratic lawmakers appealed to a scion of Big Tech to take up the defense of women nationwide, should Roe be overturned. Fearing women can become geo-located targets of right-wing prosecutors, the ask is for CEO Sundar Pichai to preemptively shed, then not collect location data to keep hunters off the scent. How Did We Get Here?

British Columbia introduces Anti-Racism Data Act, the first in North America to collect data as a “tool of care” for human rights. It gives the Canadian province limited rights to collect select demographic data to be used to identify and look to eliminate systematic racism. It includes provision for the creation of an anti-racism data committee to be appointed this summer which will work with Indigenous groups, people of color, and racialized communities. Individuals will have the choice of whether they want to have their demographic data used and won’t be denied services if they decline.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), isn’t considered a surveillance arm of the government, but it does have access to a vast trove of data via the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and utility companies that provide heat, water and electricity. A new study has found that data it collects from those organizations and a couple others, adds up to it having data on 1 in 3 adults via license photos, 3 in 4 adults via license data, and 3 in 4 adults via utility records. Concern is that ICE... Read More >

Kudos to Morocco, the one government found not to endorse an EdTech product that risks or undermines children’s rights. Other of the world’s most populous countries – not so much! In fact, alarming findings from the Human Rights Watch report, “How Dare They Peep into My Private Life?,” indicate it’s been open season on surveilling children worldwide, thanks to edtech use of tracking technologies capable of monitoring children in- and outside virtual classrooms across the Internet over time. Think that’s not so bad? Remember that can provide access to the rest... Read More >

Four privacy commissioners from around the country are expected to rule soon on findings. The company has 4.3 million active users per month on its app, second only to Amazon in Canada.

The move comes after academics and researchers expressed concern over risks of discriminatory targeting.

If laws like GDPR and BIPA are found to support that claim, the world of sports betting, gaming, and data will be subject to a whole new economic reality. An initiative, called Project Red Card and spearheaded by more than 850 pro- and former top-level athletes, is evolving a legal claim based on the notion that an athlete’s performance data, even if it’s publicly observed, is personal data and that athletes have a right to compensation for use of their data. It also raises related issues, such as what prior consent... Read More >

By virtue of the drop of one cookie required as a minimum for use, 89% of the top 150 online pharmacies in the EU have violated GDPR rules by both collecting personal data of visitors and customers and collecting sensitive information, including on use of antidepressants, reproductive health products, and addiction treatment. The pharma e-commerce industry was projected to grow by nearly €9.5 billion between 2020-2024 and data collected is highly sensitive. The research conducted by consent management company Usercentrics, looked at companies in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy,  Netherlands,... Read More >

New report from the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) looks at how automated-decision making (ADM) has been viewed historically in cases by national courts and by Data Protection Authorities under GDPR and previous law – and explores how this can inform what to watch for as AI and Machine Learning (ML) use grows.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) did a 30-day look at real-time bidding (RTB) and found user location and activity data is exposed on average 747 times/day in the US, and 376 times/day in the EU. Even more alarming, the ICCL considers these numbers low, since Facebook and Amazon RTB broadcasts weren’t included in the count.

The US Federal Trade Commission has announced that it is illegal under the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA) for companies to deny students access to remote learning platforms if parents or schools refuse consent for student data to be used for marketing and advertising. Companies will also not be allowed to use data collected from a child with a school’s authorization for commercial purposes, and they are obligated to remove data expeditiously when it’s no longer needed.