HiTechEdge

Tag: privacy

  • EU Commission Working on Digital ID Framework

    EU Commission Working on Digital ID Framework

    The EU Commission has proposed a digital identification framework for its citizens, one that will help further post-pandemic life.

    In the wake of the pandemic, there has been increased emphasis on digital identification systems as a means for people to provide their age, citizenship, licenses, vaccination state and more. The EU has been working on a way to achieve this goal, while still providing the security and privacy necessary.

    The Commission has proposed a digital framework that would allow EU citizens to rely on their phone for necessary documentation and paperwork, a system that would be accepted by all member states. The EU has emphasized that, while large platforms would be required to support it, adoption would be completely voluntary for individuals. Such a stance is in keeping with the EU’s strong privacy protections.

    “The European digital identity will enable us to do in any Member State as we do at home without any extra cost and fewer hurdles,” said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age. “Be that renting a flat or opening a bank account outside of our home country. And do this in a way that is secure and transparent. So that we will decide how much information we wish to share about ourselves, with whom and for what purpose. This is a unique opportunity to take us all further into experiencing what it means to live in Europe, and to be European.”

    “EU citizens not only expect a high level of security but also convenience whether they are dealing with national administrations such as to submit a tax return or to enroll at a European university where they need official identification,” said Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton. “The European Digital Identity wallets offer a new possibility for them to store and use data for all sorts of services, from checking in at the airport to renting a car. It is about giving a choice to consumers, a European choice. Our European companies, large and small, will also benefit from this digital identity, they will be able to offer a wide range of new services since the proposal offers a solution for secure and trusted identification services.”

    The Commission will continue to work with member states and tech companies to work out the details as the process continues forward.

  • Facebook and WhatsApp Do About-Face on Privacy Update

    Facebook and WhatsApp Do About-Face on Privacy Update

    Facebook and WhatsApp appear to be doing an about-face on a controversial privacy update.

    Facebook sparked a furor when it announced it would start sharing WhatsApp data with other Facebook-owned companies. Users who failed to agree to the new terms would be locked out of the app until they did agree. Many users deleted their account and switched to competing platforms, and several countries came out in opposition to the move.

    In response to the backlash, Facebook initially postponed the rollout date, and then partially reversed course, saying people would not get locked out of the app. Instead, users would be persistently reminded to accept the terms, and be subjected to limited functionality until they did so.

    The company now appears to be doing a complete about-face, sayingit will not keep reminding individuals or limit their functionality.

    Considering the majority of users who have seen the update have accepted, we’ll continue to display a notification in WhatsApp providing more information about the update and reminding those who haven’t had a chance to do so to review and accept. We currently have no plans for these reminders to become persistent and to limit the functionality of the app.

    If WhatsApp does indeed abide by this statement, score one for privacy advocates who kept pushing back.

  • FBI Working With Have I Been Pwned to Disclose Compromised Passwords

    FBI Working With Have I Been Pwned to Disclose Compromised Passwords

    The FBI will start contributing data to Have I Been Pwned, the website that allows people to see if their passwords have been compromised in a data breach.

    As data breaches become a regular occurrence, it’s important to periodically check to see if a password has been compromised by a breach. Have I Been Pwned offers that service, and the FBI wants to contribute.

    According to Troy Hunt, Have I Been Pwned’s creator, the FBI reached out to him to see if there was a way to provide the site with comprised passwords they become aware of in the course of their investigations.

    And so, the FBI reached out and we began a discussion about what it might look like to provide them with an avenue to feed compromised passwords into HIBP and surface them via the Pwned Passwords feature. Their goal here is perfectly aligned with mine and, I dare say, with the goals of most people reading this: to protect people from account takeovers by proactively warning them when their password has been compromised. Feeding these passwords into HIBP gives the FBI the opportunity to do this almost 1 billion times every month. It’s good leverage ?

    As Hunt points out, the FBI’s goals are aligned with his in this instance, and they have the ability to make a significant contribution to the database of comprised passwords. This is a big win all around, and should help keep people safe.

  • India Stepping Up Pressure on WhatsApp Over Privacy Changes

    India Stepping Up Pressure on WhatsApp Over Privacy Changes

    India is ramping up its pressure on WhatsApp, wanting the company to abandon its recent privacy changes.

    Facebook unleashed a firestorm of controversy when it announced it would start sharing WhatsApp user data with other Facebook-owned companies. In addition to losing subscribers to other, more privacy-conscious apps, multiple countries have started pushing back.

    Germany was the first to outright ban the changes, with Hamburg’s data protection commissioner securing a three-month emergency order to stop the new changes from going into effect in Germany.

    India had likewise expressed concerns over WhatsApp’s changes, but now the country is stepping up the pressure. According to TechCrunch, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has written a letter to WhatsApp, and given the company seven days to respond.

    “In fulfilment of its sovereign responsibility to protect the rights and interests of Indian citizens, the government of India will consider various options available to it under laws in India,” the letter reads.

    “It is not just problematic, but also irresponsible, for WhatsApp to leverage this position to impose unfair terms and conditions on Indian users, particularly those that discriminate against Indian users vis-à-vis users in Europe.”


    It remains to be seen how WhatsApp and Facebook will respond.

  • Amazon Bans Facial Recognition for Police Use Indefinitely

    Amazon Bans Facial Recognition for Police Use Indefinitely

    Amazon has extended a ban on the use of its facial recognition tech by police until further notice amid ongoing privacy concerns.

    Last year, amid a wider backlash against police use of facial recognition, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM announced they would no longer sell their technology to police departments. Clearview AI had already been drawing scrutiny for its shady privacy practices, scraping social media platforms and websites to amass a database of billions of photos it used in its facial recognition platform. The death of George Floyd was the final straw, forcing tech companies to evaluate how their technology was being used.

    Facial recognition, in particular, has struggled to ensure fairness and equality. Studies have shown that facial recognition software often has racial biases that unfairly impact people of color. There have been published examples of Black individuals wrongly accused of a crime after being misidentified by facial recognition.

    Amazon had initially put a one-year hold on sales of its tech, but is now extending that ban until further notice, according to Reuters. Amazon did not comment on the reasons for the move, but its decision has already been met with support.

    “Face recognition technology fuels the over-policing of Black and Brown communities, and has already led to the false arrests and wrongful incarcerations of multiple Black men,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, a deputy project director at the American Civil Liberties Union.

  • WhatsApp Delays Privacy Changes in Brazil

    WhatsApp Delays Privacy Changes in Brazil

    WhatsApp is delaying rollout of its new privacy policy in Brazil amid pushback from the government.

    Facebook caused a firestorm of controversy when it announced it would share WhatsApp data with other Facebook-owned companies. The announcement sparked a mass exodus of users to more privacy-conscious apps, such as Signal and Telegram. While users initially would lose access if they failed to agree to the new policy, Facebook later altered course, saying users would experience limited functionality if they failed to agree.

    Governments have joined in the pushback as well, with Germany and India opposed to the move. Brazil joins the list of companies with concerns over the changes. The country’s National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), national consumer body Senacon, competition watchdog Cade and the Federal Prosecution Service have been in talks with WhatsApp, according to ZDNet.

    Under the agreement, users will retain full functionality for three more months, while the Brazilian agencies continue to scrutinize the new privacy policy.

    “WhatsApp has informed that it will not close any account, and that no user in Brazil will lose access to the application’s features in the 90-day period after May 15 as a result of the enforcement of the new privacy policy and the new terms of service,” said Brazilian authorities in a statement.

  • Vizio’s Ad Business Nearly Rivals Its Hardware Sales

    Vizio’s Ad Business Nearly Rivals Its Hardware Sales

    Vizio, known for its TVs, is now making nearly as much money off of the data it collects and ads it sells — at the consumer’s expense.

    Vizio has a troubled history of collecting data from its smart TV viewers, with the FCC fining it in 2017 for collecting and selling viewer data without consent. Although the company is now more transparent about its practices, profiting off of viewer data has become a major part of its business.

    According to the company’s quarterly results, it had a gross profit of $38.4 million for its Platform+ business, the part of its business that collects data and sells advertising. In contrast, the company had a gross profit of $48.2 million from Devices.

    Even more telling, Devices gross profit grew 48%, considerably less than the 152% increase in Platform+ gross profits. The disparity demonstrates how the collection of data, and profiting from it, will continue to be a major focus for the company.

    While some customers may be ok with their viewing habits data being collected and sold to advertisers, privacy-conscious consumers would do well to choose a different brand, or take measures to disable data collection.

  • Germany Bans WhatsApp/Facebook Data Sharing

    Germany Bans WhatsApp/Facebook Data Sharing

    Germany has banned WhatsApp data from being used by Facebook, in yet another blow to the social media giant’s plans.

    Facebook angered users and lawmakers with its plans to share WhatsApp user data with other Facebook-owned companies. Many users started closing their accounts and moving to more secure alternatives, such as Signal. The backlash was so severe that Facebook pushed back the deadline, and ultimately changed the scope of the plan — from locking out users that refused to accept the terms to limiting their functionality.

    At least one jurisdiction is trying to stop Facebook altogether, with Hamburg data protection commissioner Johannes Caspar, banning the company from moving forward. 

    “The order aims to secure the rights and freedoms of millions of users which are agreeing to the terms Germany-wide,” Mr Caspar said in a statement, via The Irish Times, when issuing a three month emergency order.

    “We need to prevent damage and disadvantages linked to such a black-box-procedure.”

    Needless to say, Facebook is pushing back, saying the order will have no impact on its plans.

    “Our recent update explains the options people have to message a business on WhatsApp and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data. As the Hamburg DPA’s claims are wrong, the order will not impact the continued roll-out of the update. We remain fully committed to delivering secure and private communications for everyone.”

  • Majority of States Oppose Instagram for Children

    Majority of States Oppose Instagram for Children

    Attorneys general for 44 states and territories have come out in opposition to Facebook’s plans for a version of Instagram for children under 13.

    Facebook has been planning to roll out a version of the popular social media platform for children under the age of 13, a group that enjoys special protection under the law. Facebook is believed to be in the early stages of planning, with no concrete timelines having been announced.

    Nonetheless, AGs for Massachusetts, Nebraska, Vermont, Tennessee, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming are voicing their opposition.

    In a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the AGs outlined their concerns, not the least of which was the impact early exposure to social media has on young minds.

    First, research increasingly demonstrates that social media can be harmful to the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of children. “In the last decade, increasing mental distress and treatment for mental health conditions among youth in North America has paralleled a steep rise in the use of smartphones and social media by children and adolescents.” Research shows a link between young people’s use of social media and the “increase in mental distress, self-injurious behavior and suicidality among youth.” In fact, an online-monitoring company tracking the activity of 5.4 million children found that “Instagram was frequently flagged for suicidal ideation, depression and body image concerns.”

    Another major concern was the risk of cyberbullying, with the letter highlighting that 42% of young Instagram users had experienced cyberbullying, the highest rate of any social media platform.

    The AGs also took Facebook to task for its track record protecting young users and their privacy.

    Third, Facebook has a record of failing to protect the safety and privacy of children on its platform, despite claims that its products have strict privacy controls. Reports from 2019 showed that Facebook’s Messenger Kids app, intended for kids between the ages of six and 12, contained a significant design flaw that allowed children to circumvent restrictions on online interactions and join group chats with strangers that were not previously approved by the children’s parents. Just recently, a “mistake” with Instagram’s algorithm promoted diet content to users with eating disorders, where the app’s search function recommended terms including “appetite suppressants” and “fasting” to vulnerable people who were at risk of relapsing. These alarming failures cast doubt on Facebook’s ability to protect children on their proposed Instagram platform and comply with relevant privacy laws such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

    It remains to be seen if Facebook will change course or continue with its plans. If it does continue, it may face significant legal challenges given the opposition it is already experiencing.

  • Ignoring WhatsApp’s New Privacy Policy Will Limit Functionality

    Ignoring WhatsApp’s New Privacy Policy Will Limit Functionality

    Facebook is backtracking once again, saying it will not lock WhatsApp users out if they don’t accept new privacy terms.

    Facebook sparked international furor when it announced in January that it would start sharing WhatsApp user data with other Facebook-owned companies. As part of the change, Facebook said users would be required to accept the new privacy policy or be locked out of their account. In response, users started abandoning the platform in favor of alternatives, and counties started coming out in opposition to the plans.

    After pushing the deadline back, Facebook is charting a new course — although one that will likely still leave many users unhappy. According to a post on the company’s site, users that don’t accept the new terms won’t be locked out, but will be hampered by limited functionality.

    You won’t be able to access your chat list, but you can still answer incoming phone and video calls. If you have notifications enabled, you can tap on them to read or respond to a message or call back a missed phone or video call.

    After a few weeks of limited functionality, you won’t be able to receive incoming calls or notifications and WhatsApp will stop sending messages and calls to your phone.

    While WhatsApp won’t be closing individuals’ accounts, the limited functionality may not be much of an improvement for many users.