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Category Archives: EU Data Protection

X Marks the Spot Where the Personal Information is Stored

X Marks the Spot Where the Personal Information is Stored: Avoiding Common Mistakes in Data Mapping – “With new global privacy laws requiring consumer access to specific pieces of personal information and documentation of processing generally, organizations are now finding themselves having to go on treasure hunts for buried personal information within the company. Between… Continue Reading

The 2019 Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index is now online

“Microsoft has unseated Google at the top of the 2019 RDR Corporate Accountability Index. Telefónica outpaced Vodafone among telecommunications companies. Yet despite progress, most companies still leave users in the dark about key policies and practices affecting privacy and freedom of expression, according to the 2019 Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index, released today. The… Continue Reading

The EU Wants to Build One of the World’s Largest Biometric Databases. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Fortune: “China and India have built the world’s largest biometric databases, but the European Union is about to join the club. The Common Identity Repository (CIR) will consolidate biometric data on almost all visitors and migrants to the bloc, as well as some EU citizens—connecting existing criminal, asylum, and migration databases and integrating new ones.… Continue Reading

Leaked docs expose how Facebook management leveraged user data for partners – against rivals

NBC News – “Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg oversaw plans to consolidate the social network’s power and control competitors by treating its users’ data as a bargaining chip, while publicly proclaiming to be protecting that data, according to about 4,000 pages of leaked company documents largely spanning 2011 to 2015 and obtained by NBC News. The… Continue Reading

Understanding the Changing Landscape of Data Protection Laws

Klinkner, Blake, Understanding the Changing Landscape of Data Protection Laws (February 11, 2019). The Wyoming Lawyer, February 2019, at 44-45.. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3332687 “As businesses and other entities have sought to collect more personal data on individuals, the public has pushed back, and lawmakers throughout the United States and elsewhere have responded by passing… Continue Reading

DuckDuckGo added to Google Chrome in more than 60 global markets

Techcrunch: Google has quietly added DuckDuckGo as a search engine option for Chrome users in ~60 markets – “In an update to the chromium engine, which underpins Google’s popular Chrome browser, the search giant has quietly updated the lists of default search engines it offers per market — expanding the choice of search product users… Continue Reading

The Web is missing an essential part of infrastructure: an Open Web Index

The Web is missing an essential part of infrastructure: an Open Web Index – Dirk Lewandowski, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, German. (Submitted on 9 Mar 2019). arXiv:1903.03846 [cs.IR] “A proposal for building an index of the Web that separates the infrastructure part of the search engine—the index—from the services part that will form… Continue Reading

EU officials say Facebook, Twitter, Google failing in “fake news” battle

Press release: A Europe that Protects: The EU steps up action against disinformation – “Today the European Commission published reports by Facebook, Google and Twitter covering the progress made in January 2019 on their commitments to fight disinformation. These three online platforms are signatories of the Code of Practice against disinformation and have been asked… Continue Reading

Are Requirements to Deposit Data in Research Repositories Compatible With the GDPR?

Berkman Klein Center: “To reproduce study findings and facilitate new discoveries, many funding bodies, publishers, and professional communities are encouraging—and increasingly requiring—investigators to deposit their data, including individual-level health information, in research repositories. However, this requirement may conflict with the core privacy principles of European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which establishes legally binding rules for… Continue Reading

Cisco 2019 Data Privacy Benchmark Study

Cisco newsroom: “Organizations worldwide that invested in maturing their data privacy practices are now realizing tangible business benefits from these investments, according to Cisco’s 2019 Data Privacy Benchmark Study. The Study validates the link between good privacy practice and business benefits as respondents report shorter sales delays as well as fewer and less costly data… Continue Reading

From Alexa to Siri and the GDPR: The Gendering of Virtual Personal Assistants and the Role of EU Data Protection Law

Ni Loideain, Nora and Adams, Rachel, From Alexa to Siri and the GDPR: The Gendering of Virtual Personal Assistants and the Role of EU Data Protection Law (November 9, 2018). King’s College London Dickson Poon School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3281807 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3281807 “With female names, voices and characters,… Continue Reading

Every moment of every day mobile phone apps collect detailed location data

The New York Times – “The millions of dots on the map trace highways, side streets and bike trails — each one following the path of an anonymous cellphone user. One path tracks someone from a home outside Newark to a nearby Planned Parenthood, remaining there for more than an hour. Another represents a person… Continue Reading