Privacy News: October 19

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?

luxury surveillancewrites

DuckDuckGo’s beta Mac app is open to public with new features

Lauren Forristal on TechCrunch (techcrunch.com)

DuckDuckGo’s web browser for Mac is now available as an open beta test with new features like the Duck Player to defend YouTube users from targeted ads.  Of course I immediately installed it, and it worked just fine on all the sites I tried it on.  In my quick experimenting, its out-of-the-box ad-blocking worked as effectively for me as uBlock Origin in Firefox (my browser of choice); the Cookie Consent Pop-Up Manager is quite useful.  However, there doesn't appear to be a way to block Javascript.

Privacy After Roe

Data Brokers, Police, and the Criminalization of Abortion

Aden Klein and Joanne Kim on Tech Policy Press (techpolicy.press)

Police departments already purchase personal data from third party brokers. Now, that information may be used to criminalize abortion.

hearingDigital Dragnets: Examining the Government’s Access to Your Personal Data

well documentedstates banning or imminently banning abortionSt. Louis CountyState of Missouri Department of Public SafetyCity of DallasCity of Houston

Cracking Down on Federal Aid for Reproductive Health Surveillance: The Computer Analysis Response Team

Jake Laperruque, Center for Democracy and Technology (cdt.org)

The fourth in a series of blog posts examining how the federal government and the White House — which has pledged to fight the criminalization of abortion — can prevent federal surveillance assistance to state and local law enforcement from being used to investigate and prosecute reproductive health care choices. Previous posts looked at Regional Computer Forensic Laboratories (where federal officials help state and local law enforcement to access and analyze electronic devices), the National Domestic Computer Assistance Center (a federal entity that helps local law enforcement collect communications content and other records from companies), and fusion centers (hubs across the country that intake immense amounts of data and distribute it to other law enforcement entities, with significant federal funding and access to federal law enforcement information).  This post focuses on the FBI’s Computer Analysis Response Team (CART), a component of the agency designed to provide digital forensics support across the country

Federal Privacy Legislation

Disabled People Need Critical Privacy Protections in ADPPA

Lydia X. Z. Brown on Center for Democracy and Technology (cdt.org)

tracking disability-targeted hiring benchmarksprofiling students as likely future criminalsrecruiting and hiring processestenant background checkspublic benefits applicationsremote test proctoringdetect disabilitypredict future diagnosis of mental health disabilities

And ...

Cybersecurity Will Not Thrive in Darkness: A Critical Analysis of Proposed Amendments in Bill C-26 to the Telecommunications Act

Christopher Parsons on The Citizen Lab (citizenlab.ca)

This report offers 29 recommendations to the draft legislation in an effort to correct its secrecy and accountability deficiencies, while also suggesting amendments which would impose some restrictions on the range of powers that the government would be able to wield. It is important that these amen…

Why Signal won’t compromise on encryption, with president Meredith Whittaker

Nilay Patel / @reckless on The Verge (theverge.com)

Signal recently killed SMS support as part of that mission

What the era of “doorbell surveillance” means for delivery drivers

Meghan McCarty Carino on Marketplace (marketplace.org)

New research suggests the proliferation of doorbell cameras create an environment of high surveillance that puts delivery drivers on edge.

Remembering David Flaherty

Elizabeth Denham on International Association of Privacy Professionals (iapp.org)

David Flaherty – who studied with Alan Westin, published "Protecting Privacy in Surveillance Societies" in 1989, and was British Columbia's first Information and Privacy Commissioner in the 90s – passed on October 11.

Section 230’s Fate Belongs With Congress—Not the US Supreme Court

Jeff Kosseff on WIRED (wired.com)

A case heading to SCOTUS claims platforms should be held responsible for their algorithmic recommendations. The author of The Twenty Six Words That Created The Internet argues that a history of the statute suggests otherwise.

Innovating Like an Optimist, Preparing Like a Pessimist: Ethical Debt and the Problem of Unanticipated Consequences for AI

Casey Fiesler on Colorado Law - University of Colorado Boulder (siliconflatirons.org)

Thursday October 20, noon - 1:00 pm Mountain Time (11:00 am - noon Pacific).

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is increasingly in use by both the government and the private sector, from the allocation of government benefits to the creation of smart contracts. However, poorly designed AI systems can lead to significant harms, including but not limited to discrimination. The question of how to regulate and build ethical AI is central. This lecture series will emphasize the practical applications of AI technology and ways to ensure principle-based ethics are a key focus of both development and regulation.

What is Fog Reveal? A legal scholar explains the app some police forces are using to track people without a warrant

Anne Toomey McKenna on The Conversation (theconversation.com)

Some US law enforcement agencies are using a commercial app that tracks people all day long via their phones – without a court order or oversight.

Police Need Warrants to Search Homes. Child Welfare Agents Almost Never Get One.

Eli Hager, photography by Stephanie Mei-Ling, special to ProPublica on ProPublica (propublica.org)

Each year, child protective services agencies inspect the homes of roughly 3.5 million children, opening refrigerators and closets without a warrant. Only about 5% of these kids are ultimately found to have been physically or sexually abused.

New Kids’ App Teaches Digital Privacy While Blocking Trackers

The A.V. Club on Gizmodo (gizmodo.com)

The Do Not Track Kids app will help you fight back against tech companies who harvest kids’ data.

Digital License Plates – A Privacy Nightmare for Employers

Steven Gallagher on JD Supra (jdsupra.com)

On September 29, 2022, Governor Newsom signed AB 984 into law, allowing for digital license plates (i.e. “alternative devices”). Employers using these to monitor employees run significant risks.

How Apple’s privacy changes force social media marketing to evolve

Scott Frey, PossibleNOW on VentureBeat (venturebeat.com)

Apple’s privacy changes mean brands must switch to zero-party data, new social platforms and engagement through traditional marketing.

Optus tells customers affected by data breach they can no longer use passports as online ID

Tory Shepherd on The Guardian (theguardian.com)

Exposed passport numbers blocked from being used in national Document Verification System

Another family looks for answers after a breach of privacy in long-term care | CBC News

Bernice Hillier on CBC (cbc.ca)

A third Newfoundland family is speaking up about a reported breach of privacy involving their loved one, who is a resident of long-term care at the Baie Verte Peninsula Health Centre.

Big increase in number of NWT health privacy breaches

Ollie Williams on Cabin Radio (cabinradio.ca)

Reported health privacy breaches in the NWT nearly tripled in the past year, for reasons ranging from Covid-19 data mishaps to improvements in reporting.

Proof of Concept: California’s First Consumer Privacy Fine

Anna Delaney on bankinfosecurity.com

In the latest “Proof of Concept,” Lisa Sotto of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP and former CISO David Pollino join ISMG editors discuss the first California

Countering an Authoritarian Overhaul of the Internet

Written by Adrian Shahbaz Allie Funk Kian Vesteinsson on Freedom House (freedomhouse.org)

At home and on the international stage, authoritarians are on a campaign to divide the open internet into a patchwork of repressive enclaves.

Companies are increasingly tracking eye movements — but is it ethical?

Patrick Lecomte on The Conversation (theconversation.com)

Augmented reality (AR) uses wearable tech to enhance the physical world. To develop and enhance AR experiences, companies are tracking users’ eye movements, which may be more revealing than intended.

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Image Credit: Privacy by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images via Picpedia.