• 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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• 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 6, 2020 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments,

Why 2020 will be make or break time for transatlantic personal data transfers

The transfer of personal data lies at the heart of much of online activity. Since many of the leading online companies were founded and have their headquarters in the US, that typically means that huge quantities of personal data cross the Atlantic every day. If information concerns EU citizens, those data flows are governed by … Continue reading “Why 2020 will be make or break time for transatlantic personal data transfers”

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• Jun 1, 2019 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

General Data Protection Regulation one year on: what has it done?

A year ago, arguably the most important event in the recent history of privacy occurred: the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) started to be enforced. To mark that anniversary Privacy News Online will look at what the GDPR has achieved in its first 12 months, and what is likely to happen next. The GDPR … Continue reading “General Data Protection Regulation one year on: what has it done?”

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• Feb 2, 2019 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments,

Google hit with first big GDPR fine over “forced consent”; eight new complaints filed over “right to access”

Last June Privacy News Online wrote about complaints filed just six minutes after the EU’s tough privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), started to be enforced. They were brought by a new organization defending privacy rights, “None of your business” (NOYB), headed up by the Austrian lawyer Max Schrems. Four similar complaints were … Continue reading “Google hit with first big GDPR fine over “forced consent”; eight new complaints filed over “right to access””

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• Jun 23, 2018 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Social Media, Surveillance,

Why did privacy expert Max Schrems immediately file GDPR complaints against Google and Facebook – and will he win?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force a few weeks ago.  As Rick Falkvinge noted in his post on the topic, its impact is potentially huge. The GDPR has already led to a flood of (annoying) emails from companies eager to tell us about their updated privacy policy, and the blocking of EU … Continue reading “Why did privacy expert Max Schrems immediately file GDPR complaints against Google and Facebook – and will he win?”

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• Oct 9, 2017 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Key transatlantic data flows under threat as US surveillance laws clash once more with EU privacy protections

We wrote recently about clouds gathering over the Privacy Shield framework that governs transatlantic data flows for thousands of US companies. As that post explained, even if the Privacy Shield is struck down by the EU courts, as some believe it will be, there are alternative mechanisms that can ensure the legality of data transfers … Continue reading “Key transatlantic data flows under threat as US surveillance laws clash once more with EU privacy protections”

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