CDP Institute

The disingenuous, and not uncommon, practice of making it easy to opt-in/tough to opt-out has drawn the ire of CNIL which just slapped Google and Facebook with a combined $226 million fine for making it difficult for users to decline cookies.

Investment bank, Morgan Stanley, has settled a class action that stated it exposed the data of more than 15 million current and former clients.

UAE Cybercrime Law now disallows photographing others without permission. Enacted as an amendment, it is punishable with a six-month jail term and/or a fine up to DH 500,000.

A new survey by Surfshark shows the frequency and reasons countries asked Google to remove content. Russia asked most often, US least often and Spain, Australia and the Netherlands most often gave “Privacy and Security” as their reasons for requesting removal.

An Ipsos survey of more than 1,000 Americans found 70% believe protecting data is getting harder, while just over a third believe companies do well providing data security. At the same time, most surveyed said they took basic precautions – 84% reported they updated passwords, but very few took all six steps that are recommended.

The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the US’s Better Business Bureau is now monitoring “child-directed” ads to ensure they comply with recent guidelines, including for in-app and in-game ads. While it hopes for voluntary compliance, CARU is prepared to refer companies that violate to federal agencies or state attorneys’ general.

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) plans to investigate whether Meta’s Quest 2 headset and VR services prioritize the “best interest” of children based on principles of the UK’s Age-Appropriate Design Code.

A coalition of US civil rights, internet rights and public interest groups responded to Senator Ron Wyden’s call to support national data privacy legislation.

The cybersecurity company’s MediaGuard and BotGuard products protect enterprise companies from sophisticated bot attacks and fraud.

Russia’s watchdog, Roskomnadzor said Google failed to remove more than 2,600 banned posts; and Meta failed to remove over 2,000 from its platforms. These included posts in support of dissident Alexei Navalny, and posts promoting drugs and pornography.

A new amendment to Election Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 allows Aadhar, a social security-type system to connect with country voter rolls. The government says this will allow them to check for duplicate registrations. Aadhar has been controversial since its 2009 inception because it’s been linked to other private systems, including in finance and telecom.