Amazon Severely Misclassifies Digital Privacy News Writer in CCPA Data

By Fiona Tang

In October, I filed a California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) request — seeking my data from Amazon.com.

Six days after my Oct. 11 query, the tech giant emailed me, “Your personal data is ready to download.”

Amazon’s data revealed that I had been categorized as a female, 45 to 55 years old — who was married, worked in sales-service and had children aged 7 to 9.

My annual income, according to Amazon’s data, was $100,000 to $150,000 (if only I earned that much money).

But in reality, I am a 29-year-old woman, working in civic technology — single and without children. The only attribute that Amazon had accurately predicted was my gender.

Continue reading “Data Privacy Day 2021” →

By Aishwarya Jagani

A plan approved last month to set up a national network of public WiFi hotspots throughout India has raised widespread concerns from privacy and cybersecurity experts.

“I have no doubt that government agencies are also going to have full access (to this data), which could breach citizens’ data privacy — and this can be considered a risk to data security,” Viney Kumar, a New Delhi cybersecurity expert, told Digital Privacy News.

“While this is a great initiative, there are many risks associated with it,” he added. “If this isn’t rolled out in a planned, phased and secured manner then this may turn out to be a disaster as well.”

Eric Cole, a cybersecurity consultant and CEO at Secure Anchor Consulting in Ashburn, Va., said: “The biggest challenge with public WiFi is that it, by default, is typically unencrypted.”

Continue reading “Experts Worried Over India’s Plan for Public WiFi Hotspots” →

By Matthew Scott

Last of two parts.

An effort to give consumers more protection over the use of their DNA was aborted last year when California’s Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) was vetoed in September by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In a letter to the State Senate, Newsom argued that GIPA was too broadly written and risked “unintended consequences” that could “interfere with laboratories’ mandatory requirement to report COVID-19 test outcomes to local public-health departments, who report that information to the California Department of Public Health.”

California Senate Bill 980 proposed the most comprehensive DNA privacy protections of any legislation in the country, regulating how direct-to-consumer DNA testing companies could use, sell and share genetic information.

For the time being, Newsom apparently has decided that access to information that can safeguard the public health is more urgent than safeguarding individual’s privacy from law enforcement, insurers and marketers.

Continue reading “COVID Fears Thwart Calif. Move to Protect DNA Information” →

By Matthew Scott

First of two parts.

Debate over how DNA obtained by direct-to-consumer genetic-testing companies can be used likely will intensify after Blackstone, the New York private-equity firm, purchased Ancestry.com for $4.7 billion last month.

Privacy advocates told Digital Privacy News that, with the change of ownership, the 18 million people who willingly had given Ancestry.com their DNA could ultimately find that it had been used for purposes other than discovering family histories.

Those include being sold to law enforcement to help solve crimes, to pharmaceutical companies for DNA testing and to other companies for purposes that have not yet been realized.

Furthermore, the sale and resale of these companies raises concerns about who owns the rights to consumer DNA once it is submitted to a company for reasons unconnected to personal medical procedures.

Continue reading “New Blow in DNA Privacy Fight” →

Hotel Chain Hacked After Huge Attack 

By Najmeh Tima

“What Happened?” is an occasional feature by Digital Privacy News that looks back on some of the tech industry’s biggest data breaches last year.

While Marriott International is awaiting a final decision from the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) over a 2018 hack at its luxury Starwood hotel chain, the company’s systems were breached nearly two years later, in January 2020.

The data that eventually was leaked involved the contact details, loyalty-account information, personal details, preferences and partnerships and affiliations of as many as 5.2 million guests in Marriott’s Bonvoy loyalty program.

In October, ICO fined Marriott $23.9 million for the 2018 breach of approximately 339 million records, including guests throughout Europe. 

Continue reading “What Happened? Marriott Breach” →

How Companies Use Personalization to Leverage Our Surrendering of Data  

By Asa Hiken  

I was elated when, last month, Spotify released “Wrapped,” its annual year-in-review feature personalized to an individual user’s listening habits.  

But soon, it dawned on me: All those flashy stats on my favorite songs and hours logged are merely points of data that Spotify has collected, analyzed and gifted back to me in lustrous packaging. 

Though Spotify called it “one of the most anticipated moments of the year,” privacy experts call this product something else: “seductive surveillance.” 

So, what is the ultimate — or ulterior — objective behind Wrapped? And, how has Spotify seemed to convince the majority of its users that the collection of their data is not simply admissible, but exciting?

Continue reading “Spotify’s ‘Seductive Surveillance’” →

By Robert Bateman

An Austrian court has ruled that Facebook can process its users’ personal information without consent, owing to clauses in its terms of service.

Plaintiff Max Schrems, cofounder of Austrian nonprofit None of Your Business: European Center for Digital Rights (NOYB), argued that Facebook’s use of tracking cookies was unlawful without user consent and alleged that Facebook had not met the standard of consent required under GDPR.

Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), data controllers like Facebook only may process personal information on one of six “legal bases,” including “consent” and “contract.”

Facebook countered that it had relied on a contract with its users and that it needed tracking cookies to meet its obligations under that contract, including providing a personalized social media platform and raising revenue to finance its business model. 

Continue reading “Facebook Can ‘Bypass GDPR’ After Court Ruling, Privacy Advocate Says” →

By Christopher Adams

Two cybersecurity firms reportedly have proven that software in Chinese-made drones compromise the privacy and security of drone operators.

A study last year by Synacktiv, a French information-technology security company, reached the initial conclusion on the Beijing drones, made by DJI — and its results later were validated by Grimm, a cybersecurity-infrastructure consultant based in Washington.

The Synacktiv analysis found that the software used to control the DJI drones possessed secret features, captured data from user devices and contained a forced-update feature that would allow the Beijing company to gain full control of a user’s smartphone.

The federal government basically has stopped using DJI drones out of national-security concerns — and a total ban on Chinese-manufactured drones and their software by the Trump White House seemed a possibility during the final weeks of the administration.

Continue reading “Chinese Drone Maker Accused of Privacy, Security Compromises” →

Meeting Planners See Information Bounty in Virtual Events From COVID

By Joanne Cleaver 

As a professional event planner and association manager, Annette Suriani is especially aware of privacy controls and exposure during online events. 

As executive director of the Association of Meeting Professionals (AMP) in Fairfax, Va., the group she manages is wrestling with these issues daily, on behalf of their clients and employers.

Like the rest of the conference-going world, AMP members are getting a grip on what privacy toggles suddenly are important as they navigate the previously unfamiliar world of online event-hosting and facilitating.

One thing’s for sure, though: Like the real world, the business of conferences requires data about participants from the moment they register to long after they leave.

Continue reading “‘A Rich Seam to Mine’” →

By Robert Bateman

France’s data-protection authority has hit Google and Amazon with fines totaling $163 million over the tech giants’ use of tracking cookies online.

Google’s $121 million fine and Amazon’s fine of $42 million were imposed Dec. 7 by France’s Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL).

CNIL enforces privacy laws, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), France’s Data Protection Act and the ePrivacy Directive, which sets the rules on cookies use across the EU.

According to Dec. 10 statements on CNIL’s website, Google and Amazon’s websites placed cookies on user devices without proper notice and without requesting consent.

Continue reading “France Hits Google and Amazon With $163M in Cookie Fines” →