• Jul 2, 2020 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

After exaggerated claims about their importance, here’s the reality of contact tracing apps

Back in February, this blog was one of the first to warn that the obvious technological response to the coronavirus – the use of contact tracing apps – raised important privacy questions. Since then, both the apps and their implications have been the subject of debate around the world. That’s particularly the case for the … Continue reading “After exaggerated claims about their importance, here’s the reality of contact tracing apps”

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• Jul 1, 2020 |
• Glyn Moody |
• Censorship, General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Big win for online freedom in EU: key parts of France’s new “hate speech” law ruled unconstitutional

One of the most worrying trends in today’s online world is a move by governments against “hate speech”. That’s a vague term in itself, so policing it is hard. Making things even worse, recent moves to rein in such hate speech typically involve placing the responsibility with online platforms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter. … Continue reading “Big win for online freedom in EU: key parts of France’s new “hate speech” law ruled unconstitutional”

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• May 1, 2020 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments,

Is the GDPR failing? If it is, how can it be saved?

The coronavirus pandemic rightly dominates the headlines, including those of the privacy world, but in the background, life goes on. For example, companies operating in the EU are still subject to the GDPR, two years after it first came into operation. But as this blog noted a few months back, there are increasing fears that … Continue reading “Is the GDPR failing? If it is, how can it be saved?”

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• Apr 23, 2020 |
• Glyn Moody |
• Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

What’s the best approach for building Bluetooth-based tracing apps as a way out of the pandemic lockdowns?

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, governments around the world are desperately trying to find a way to ease current lockdowns without triggering massive new waves of infection by Covid-19. There is a wide consensus that one promising element of any plan is the use of tracing apps. As this blog wrote back in March, the … Continue reading “What’s the best approach for building Bluetooth-based tracing apps as a way out of the pandemic lockdowns?”

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• Apr 1, 2020 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

How can we protect privacy during a crisis like Covid-19, when “health surveillance” is on the rise around the world?

A couple of weeks ago, this blog looked at the use of smartphones to track people so that contact tracing can be carried out to slow the spread of Covid-19. Two weeks is a long time in a pandemic. Soon after, it emerged that many countries were going further, and using smartphone location to check … Continue reading “How can we protect privacy during a crisis like Covid-19, when “health surveillance” is on the rise around the world?”

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• Mar 26, 2020 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments,

Coronavirus delays the passage of the world’s most important new privacy law

For obvious and justified reasons, the coronavirus pandemic dominates the news currently. One of the latest developments is that India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has put his entire country on lockdown. Ordering 1.35 billion people to stay indoors is a pretty dramatic move. A side-effect of that lockdown is that one of the most important … Continue reading “Coronavirus delays the passage of the world’s most important new privacy law”

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• Mar 13, 2020 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Police forces around the world continue to push for routine – and real-time – facial recognition capabilities

Facial recognition crops up on this blog more than most technologies. That’s in part because the underlying AI is advancing rapidly, boosting the ability of low-cost systems to match faces to those in databases. The Clearview saga is a good example of this, where an unheard-of startup has put together what is claimed to be … Continue reading “Police forces around the world continue to push for routine – and real-time – facial recognition capabilities”

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• Feb 7, 2020 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments,

Why the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) risks turning into a paper tiger

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has just announced two new GDPR inquiries. One of them concerns Tinder, as a result of “concerns raised by individuals both in Ireland and across the EU”. The other inquiry will examine Google’s processing of location data and the transparency surrounding that processing. The issue is whether consent to share … Continue reading “Why the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) risks turning into a paper tiger”

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• Jan 26, 2020 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Top EU court’s advisor: bulk surveillance is “disproportionate”, and national security exemptions do not always apply

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the EU’s top court, has played a key role in protecting privacy in the digital age, in Europe and beyond. In 2014, it ruled that a major piece of EU legislation, the Data Retention Directive, was “invalid” – that is, illegal – and should be taken … Continue reading “Top EU court’s advisor: bulk surveillance is “disproportionate”, and national security exemptions do not always apply”

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• Jan 17, 2020 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Police forces around the world continue to deploy facial recognition systems, despite no evidence of their utility

Last month, this blog wrote about governments around the world continuing to trial facial recognition systems, and the growing concerns this is provoking. There’s one area in particular where facial recognition systems are deployed: law enforcement. That’s hardly a surprise, since the legal system can only operate if it identifies alleged criminals that need to … Continue reading “Police forces around the world continue to deploy facial recognition systems, despite no evidence of their utility”

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