Tag: privacy news

First of all, apologies to subscribers for not providing more context about why we suddenly had two newsletters in a row about protecting democracy by fighting disinformation!  As we say on the About page, The Nexus of Privacy looks at the connections between technology, policy, strategy, and justice, so disinformation and the strategies about how…

Concerned about what’s happening on Twitter?  Check out the Nexus of Privacy’s Dreamwidth community – or follow us on Mastodon! Musk’s Twitter takeover raises more questions than answers about data privacy Katie Wedell on USA TODAY (usatoday.com) Actually I think the answer is pretty clear: assume that everything you’ve ever done on Twitter (including your…

Concerned about what’s happening on Twitter?  Check out the Nexus of Privacy’s Dreamwidth community – or follow us on Mastodon! What Karen Memes Teach Us About White Women and Racialized Surveillance Dr. Apryl Williams on Panopto (yalelaw.hosted.panopto.com) “Karen memes constitute public surveillance of Black bodies by white women. This is no different than the racialized…

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new Chief Twit.  His other company is known for racial abuse of Black workers and software bugs, and as soon has he took over he fired Vijaya Gadde, the widely-respected head of Trust & Safety.  What could possibly go wrong? – A new Chief Twit – and a…

MENA region LGBTQ+ activist Afsaneh Rigot disucsses why encryption is crucial for keeping people in marginalized communities safe. Today is Global Encryption Day, sponsored by the Global Encryption Coalition. As the signatories write in their statement: Strong encryption is a critical technology that helps keep people, their information, and communications private and secure. It underpins…

The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’ Chris Gilliard on The Atlantic (theatlantic.com) Surveillance isn’t just imposed on people: many of us buy into it willingly. Gilliard’s latest outstanding article starts with a scenario of somebody using Amazon Halo, Amazon Echo, Amazon Ring, Amazon Neighbors … what could possibly go wrong? These “smart” devices all fall under…

Getting the week off to a good start with a bumper crop of links! Automated systems and discrimination Rent Going Up? One Company’s Algorithm Could Be Why. Heather Vogell, ProPublica, with data analysis by Haru Coryne, ProPublica, and Ryan Little on ProPublica (propublica.org) Texas-based RealPage’s YieldStar software helps landlords set prices for apartments across the…

Danielle Citron on ABC News: “We need a systemic solution” We had Danielle Citron’s new book The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age in the October 6 Privacy News.  Here’s a good short video from her apperance on ABC News last night, where she talks about topics including post-Roe…

A US/EU data transfer agreement, student privacy, privacy after Roe, Colorado privacy regulations … and more! President Biden Signs Executive Order to Implement the European Union-U.S. Data Privacy Framework The White House (whitehouse.gov) Biden’s Executive Order (EO) is the latest attempt to satisfy European Union (EU) concerns about US intelligence agencies’ access to data and…

Before we get to news around the web, a couple of updates here on The Nexus of Privacy: Last week’s post on #StopShotSpotter now has updates about Detroit, Cleveland, and Dayton – which decided not to renew its ShotSpotter contract! Yesterday’s White House Releases a “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights” now has an…

Once again, it’s been over a week since the last update so this is a loooong list. Where to start?  With federal privacy legislation, of course, followed by post-Roe privacy, automated decision systems, news from “across the pond” … and much much more, with almost 50 links all together. Federal privacy legislation Passage of Federal…

Note: after publication, I moved the top story here to a separate post: Surveillance cameras in New York subway cars: Whose voices are heard? Privacy after Roe Apple Keeps Pretending We Don’t Live in a Post-Roe World Justin Sherman, Slate’s Future Tense (slate.com) Apple’s latest version of its Watch includes fertility tracking.  What could possibly…

Tracked: How Colleges Use AI To Monitor Student Protests Arijit Douglas Sen and Derêka Bennett, Dallas Morning News / Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Network (pulitzercenter.org) Social Sentinel (now known as Navigate360 Detect) offers schools colleges technology to scan social media posts from students.   The company positions it as a life-saving tool to help students…

It’s been ten days since our last privacy news update, so we’ve got even more links than normal. Electronic Frontier Foundation to Present Annual Awards to Alaa Abd El-Fattah, Digital Defense Fund, and Kyle Wiens Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org) This year’s EFF awards for helping to ensure that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for…

At least in Washington state, there’s already a touch of fall in the air … as well as plenty of provacy news of course! Encrypted app Signal just hired one of Big Tech’s sharpest critics Nitasha Tiku on The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com) Meredith Whittaker, the former Google manager, is Signal’s first President.   (Signal founder…

Today’s experiment: more top-level topics, less analysis.  Thoughts? Surveillance-industrial complex Tech tool offers police ‘mass surveillance on a budget’ Garance Burke and Jason Dearen on Associated Press (apnews.com) Local law enforcement agencies from suburban Southern California to rural North Carolina have been using Fog Reveal, an obscure cellphone tracking tool, at times without search warrants,…

Getting the week off to a good start! Sephora to pay $1.2m to settle California privacy law claims Jessica Lyons Hardcastle, The Register (theregister.com) Sephora failed to disclose to consumers that it was selling their personal information, and failed to process user requests to opt out of sale via user-enabled global privacy controls in violation…

A range of stories to start the week off … Birthing Predictions of Premature Death J. Khadijah Abdurahman on Logic Magazine (logicmag.io) Logic Magazine’s incoming editor takes a powerful in-depth look at how family policing (aka “child welfare”) became data-driven – and the horrific implications. Every aspect of interacting with the various institutions that monitored…

Trying something different today and including short descriptions with the links. If you’ve got thoughts on this format – or anything else – please send feedback to newsletter-feedback {at} thenexus {dot} today   Also, a new section on student privacy! Student privacy A Tool That Monitors How Long Kids Are in the Bathroom Is Now…