Google’s radar chip can detect your presence, gestures, and even your breathing. How long until advertisers are bidding for this data?
0
PIA blog followed Google’s Sidewalk Labs project in Toronto for some years, until the plan to create a futuristic smart city was dropped in 2020. The principal problem with the project was privacy. A Guardian article quotes Jim Balsillie, co-founder of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, as saying that the project was “a colonizing experiment … Continue reading “Drawing the Line: Are Smart Cities Compatible with Human Rights and Privacy?”
0
PIA blog first wrote about the facial recognition start-up Clearview AI two years ago, when news about its huge database of three billion facial images appeared. Its main market is currently law enforcement, with which it has already had considerable success in the US. But two years is a long time in digital technology, and … Continue reading “Clearview AI Offers to Eliminate Public Anonymity and Destroy Privacy around the World for a Mere $50 Million”
0
This blog has written many times about the risks to privacy of surveillance advertising. Nonetheless, it can be hard to appreciate what that might mean in real life. A new report from Cracked Labs helps flesh out what pervasive tracking online really means. It comes from the researcher, Wolfie Christl, who five years ago, wrote … Continue reading “Gambling with Our Privacy: New Report Shows the Reality of Surveillance Advertising”
0
PIA blog has just written about a major problem for Google: a decision by the Austrian Data Protection Authority that the continuing use of Google Analytics violates the EU’s GDPR legislation. The post noted that the Dutch Data Protection Authority is also investigating the use of Google Analytics; now it seems that France may follow … Continue reading “Google’s Surveillance Advertising Model under Attack on Both Sides of the Atlantic for Its Deep Privacy Problems”
0
The GDPR is finally beginning to make itself felt more strongly, as a series of blog posts have noted. The situation is summed up in a new “DLA Piper GDPR fines and data breach survey”. Compared with the previous year, total GDPR fines have increased from $179 million to $1.2 billion. But as the report … Continue reading “Bombshell Decision That Use of Google Analytics in Austria Violates Top EU Court’s Ruling Boosts GDPR Impact Again”
0
As most people know from bitter personal experience, one of the most tiresome aspects of moving around the web is the constant barrage of pop-ups, asking whether the user agrees to cookies. The companies running the websites like to blame this on the EU’s GDPR, which requires people to consent to cookies and the tracking … Continue reading “Good News for GDPR Enforcement against Cookie Walls, but Also a Dangerous Legal Challenge from WhatsApp”
2
Recently, this blog explored the allegations by 17 US states that Google had abused its monopoly power to stifle competition, and delayed the EU’s ePrivacy legislation. Hard on its heels comes a major report from Reuters that Amazon has lobbied hard against data protection in the US, mostly with success. In a way, that’s not … Continue reading “Amazon has Been Lobbying Hard Against Privacy Protections – Mostly with Success; Who’s Smiling Now?”
0
Back in December last year, Texas and nine other US states sued Google alleging that the company enjoys monopolistic power, and that it is stifling competition. Google called this a “misleading attack“, and insisted that the allegations were “wrong”. The move by the US states is of great relevance to this blog because it concerned … Continue reading “Google Allegedly Boasted of Slowing Down and Delaying ePrivacy Regulation, Accused of Colluding with Facebook”
0
This blog’s posts can often seem a depressing series of stories about privacy loss. But there are some major fightbacks happening in the background, many of which require the slow grinding through bureaucratic and legal processes. The main framework for these is the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), whose impact reaches far beyond Europe. … Continue reading “Belgium, GDPR Superpower, About to Rule Leading Ad Tracking Framework is Illegal”
0