It’s official in Germany, beginning May 2025, citizens who want official ID documents (and really, who doesn’t?), must submit a biometric standards-approved photo to obtain their ID. While in the past this was met with some resistance, government assurances are that this should lower risks of fraud and document use and provide added convenience.
Way back in 2015, the discovery of Cambridge Analytica’s data breach that exposed the data of ~87 million Facebook users was shocking and was a story we didn’t know would be the harbinger of many to come. But while Meta may have hoped to have exorcised this Facebook ghost, a shareholder’s class action accusing the company of misuse of user data while it knew that Cambridge Analytica violated its privacy policies has just been revived by a U.S. appeals court.
A Pew Research survey on How Americans View Data Privacy found Republican concerns up (77% from 63%), Democrats’ concerns down slightly (65% from 66%) compared with 2019 and both sides saying they’d support more legislation on how consumer data is used. The survey also looked at age, education and race and evolving views on AI.
After years of thinking they were in the business of selling things to people, retailers have realized they’re actually in the business of selling people to advertisers. Retail media networks are the most obvious result, but why stop at ads sold directly by the retailer? Walmart has hooked up with Disney Advertising to test letting advertisers on Disney+, Hulu, and other Disney outlets use Walmart audience information to improve targeting and measure results.