CDP Institute

Favorite brands have secret ways to get you to gift them your data for the holidays. This is made easy via fun products, including from Meta with their Quest Pro ocular-reading headset; Amazon, which is hungry for more data to feed Alexa and has several new product offerings; and Google, Verizon, Nintendo and others. The majority of products on this Top 10 gift list are, however, a bit unclear on how you can delete data after you provide it – but no worries! The companies are happy to keep it.

Children’s apps will now face a more stringent process to gain a place in Google’s Play Store because of changes to ensure apps in the store are compliant with children’s privacy regulations, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The vetting process will adhere more closely to Google’s “Teacher Approved” program, which has stricter guidelines than its other programs that oversaw apps not designated for educational use.

This suit claims Facebook violated an article of GDPR by collecting personal data to use for ad targeting.

This brings Facebook in line with other social media platforms, like Instagram and TikTok, which ask for much less information.

IAB argues on behalf of their constituency that this is a matter of “vast economic and political significance” to be reserved for Congress, which conveniently has failed to act on this issue for decades.

The company works as an agent for consumers who as individuals became part of a collective that acts in concert to demand companies desist using, or delete data unless consent is obtained.

The platform uses AI to detect, redact and replace more than 50 types of personally identifiable information in close to 50 languages.

Reports are that an NGO collected personal information including individual Aadhaar ID numbers from voters by having field agents pose as government officials.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and EU regulators are eyeing Twitter with increasing alarm as new owner Elon Musk slashed global staff by 50% last week and top privacy and security officers quit in protest. Now, his employees fear they’ll be liable if (when?) laws are broken. Musk’s lawyer said there’s no need to worry about going to jail…. But now a Bloomberg News story based on a previously undisclosed FTC hearing document, quotes Twitter’s ex-head of cybersecurity saying it is a “ticking bomb of security vulnerabilities.” Also, FTC... Read More >

Forty US State Attorneys General have just won a years-long lawsuit against Google for deceiving users by secretly tracking location data while leading the same users to believe location tracking was turned off. The resulting $391.5 million privacy settlement is one of the largest in history and follows another from Arizona that Google settled for $85 million over the same issue. Even worse for the company, it is facing similar suits in Washington, D.C., Indiana and Texas.

Argentina, which has had privacy legislation in place for more than twenty years, published a draft bill to update the country’s Personal Data Protection Act. The Argentinian data protection authority (AAIP) draft includes modification to the existing legislation and incorporates four new articles that strengthen protection for personal data and puts the onus on controllers to provide justification for processing data.

Apple, which promises in its privacy statement it won’t harvest user data, is accused of doing just that in a California class action that stems from findings of two independent researchers at software company, Mysk. The researchers found Apple’s App store gathered a bushel of information on iPhone users via Apple’s suite of iPhone apps, including iPhone Analytics, Apple Music, Apple TV, Books and Stocks. The information collected in real time includes what users tap on, search for, what ads they see, how the app is discovered, and how long... Read More >