Privacy News Online | Weekly Review: March 19, 2021
Featured: Privacy News Online – Week of March 19th, 2021
Algorithmic bias: how automated decision making has become an assault on privacy
An automated decision-making system was employed in The Netherlands to detect people who are likely to commit benefit fraud. The system could cross-reference data about work, fines, penalties, taxes, properties, housing, education, retirement, debts, benefits, allowances, subsidies, permits and exemptions, and more.
Despite this massive assault on privacy for more than five years, the system failed to deliver any of the claimed benefits. A similar experiment in Michigan failed, resulting in 34,000 people being wrongfully accused of unemployment fraud.
More Privacy News This Week:
A federal judge ruled that Google must face $5B lawsuit over tracking people
A lawsuit filed in June alleges Google actively violates privacy laws by continuing to “intercept, track and collect communications” even when people use Chrome’s Incognito Mode. Google asked for the case to be dismissed, claiming they make it clear to users “that ‘Incognito’ does not mean ‘invisible.’ However, US District Judge Lucy Koh denied the request for dismissal, ruling that “Google did not notify users that Google engages in the alleged data collection while the user is in private browsing mode.”
52% of apps share your data – here are the worst offenders
Privacy and security company “pCloud” compiled data on which popular apps share the most personal information, based on Apple’s new privacy labels. Topping the list is Instagram which shares 79% of your personal information that they collect. Coming in second at 57%, is parent company Facebook. LinkedIn and Uber Eats round out the top 5, each sharing 50% of the data they collect.
Lawsuit Challenges Clearview’s Use of Scraped Social Media Images for Facial Recognition
Mijente, an immigrant rights group announced that they are suing Clearview AI in the state of California, adding “The facial recognition firm is dangerous. Its surveillance tool—used by 2,400+ policing agencies—chills free speech & endangers immigrants, protesters & communities of color. We won’t be safe till it’s gone.”
Clearview AI enables law enforcement and government agencies to match photographs to a database of more than 3 billion involuntarily supplied pictures that were scraped from public sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
T-Mobile will sell your web-usage data to advertisers unless you opt out
Starting on April 26, 2021, T-Mobile will begin using and selling some of your web and device usage data, such as which apps you have installed on your device and how often you use them, unless you tell them not to. The data will be used by their own apps and services as well as for 3rd party advertising, however T-Mobile claims the data will not tied to your name or personally identifiable information.
Brought to you by Private Internet Access
Privacy News Online is brought to you by Private Internet Access, the world’s most trusted VPN service.
Special thanks to Intego
Thank you to Josh Long, our cybersecurity correspondent from Intego, makers of award-winning security software.
