privacy

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

AI, TECHNOLOGY

Can AI Could Help Solve The Privacy Problems It Has Created?

The stunning successes of artificial intelligence would not have happened without the availability of massive amounts of data, whether its smart speakers in the home or personalized book recommendations. Artificial systems use reams of data to get a better profiles of individuals. And the spread of AI into new areas of the economy, such as AI-driven marketing and self driving vehicles, has been driving the collection of ever more data. These large databases are amassing a wide variety of information, some of it sensitive and personally identifiable. All that data in one place makes such databases tempting targets, ratcheting up the risk of privacy breaches. The general public is largely wary of AI’s data-hungry ways. According to a survey by Brookings, 49% of people think AI will reduce p...

Will Submitting Junk Data To Period Tracking Apps Protect Reproductive Privacy? No It Won’t

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, TECHNOLOGY

Will Submitting Junk Data To Period Tracking Apps Protect Reproductive Privacy? No It Won’t

Social media users posted ideas about how to protect people’s reproductive privacy when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, including entering “junk” data into apps designed for tracking menstrual cycles. People use period tracking apps to predict their next period, talk to their doctor about their cycle and identify when they are fertile. Users log everything from cravings to period flow, and apps provide predictions based on these inputs. The app predictions help with simple decisions, like when to buy tampons next, and provide life-changing observations, like whether you’re pregnant. The argument for submitting junk data is that doing so will trip up the apps’ algorithms, making it difficult or impossible for authorities or vigilantes to use the data to violate people’s privacy....

Concerns About Privacy, Accuracy And Fairness Raises As Government Agencies Are Tapping A Facial Recognition Company To Prove You’re You

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

Concerns About Privacy, Accuracy And Fairness Raises As Government Agencies Are Tapping A Facial Recognition Company To Prove You’re You

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is planning to require citizens to create accounts with a private facial recognition company in order to file taxes online. The IRS is joining a growing number of federal and state agencies that have contracted with ID.me to authenticate the identities of people accessing services. The IRS’s move is aimed at cutting down on identity theft, a crime that affects millions of Americans. The IRS, in particular, has reported a number of tax filings from people claiming to be others, and fraud in many of the programs that were administered as part of the American Relief Plan has been a major concern to the government. The IRS decision has prompted a backlash, in part over concerns about requiring citizens to use facial recognition technology and in part over di...

Upholding Abortion Limits While Preserving The Privacy Right Under Roe V. Wade, The Supreme Court Could Redefine When A Fetus Becomes A Person

22Nov

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, POLITICS

Upholding Abortion Limits While Preserving The Privacy Right Under Roe V. Wade, The Supreme Court Could Redefine When A Fetus Becomes A Person

Morgan Marietta, University of Massachusetts Lowell Since the Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to abortion almost 50 years ago, a powerful legal movement has sought to overturn the ruling, while abortion rights advocates have fought to protect it. On Dec. 1, 2021, the court will hear a case many believe will force the conservative justices — who now command a majority of the court — to decide if they will strike down Roe v. Wade or uphold the long-standing precedent. There is a third path the justices could take. The court may focus its ruling on a more neglected aspect of the ruling in Roe — the court’s understanding of the facts of fetal personhood. Roe not a monolith There are two separate rulings in Roe: 1) The Constitution protects a right to privacy, which encompas...

Police Body Cameras Can Invade People’s Privacy But Help Monitor Police

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CULTURE, Journalism, VIDEO REELS

Police Body Cameras Can Invade People’s Privacy But Help Monitor Police

In the course of their work, police officers encounter people who are intoxicated, distressed, injured or abused. The officers routinely ask for key identifying information like addresses, dates of birth and driver’s license numbers, and they frequently enter people’s homes and other private spaces. Police see some difficult scenes; body cameras can record those and make them public. Tony Webster via Flickr, CC BY-SA With the advent of police body cameras, this information is often captured in police video recordings – which some states’ open-records laws make available to the public. Starting in the summer of 2014, as part of research on police adoption of body-worn cameras within two agencies in Washington state, I spent hours riding in patrol vehicles, hanging out at police stations, ...

Undesirable Threats To Student Privacy Plaque Remote Education

6Nov

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION, IN OTHER NEWS

Undesirable Threats To Student Privacy Plaque Remote Education

An online “proctor” who can survey a student’s home and manipulate the mouse on their computer as the student takes an exam. A remote-learning platform that takes face scans and voiceprints of students. Virtual classrooms where strangers can pop up out of the blue and see who’s in class. These three unnerving scenarios are not hypothetical. Rather, they stand as stark, real-life examples of how remote learning during the pandemic – both at the K-12 and college level – has become riddled with threats to students’ privacy. As a scholar of privacy, I believe all the electronic eyes watching students these days have created privacy concerns that merit more attention. Which is why, increasingly, you will see aggrieved students, parents and digital privacy advocates seeking to hold schools an...

Want Data Privacy, Know What You’re Getting

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

Want Data Privacy, Know What You’re Getting

The Trump administration’s move to ban the popular video app TikTok has stoked fears about the Chinese government collecting personal information of people who use the app. These fears underscore growing concerns Americans have about digital privacy generally. Debates around privacy might seem simple: Something is private or it’s not. However, the technology that provides digital privacy is anything but simple. Our data privacy research shows that people’s hesitancy to share their data stems in part from not knowing who would have access to it and how organizations that collect data keep it private. We’ve also found that when people are aware of data privacy technologies, they might not get what they expect. Differential privacy explained While there are many ways to provide privacy for ...

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

AI, TECHNOLOGY

AI could constantly scan the internet for data privacy violations, a quicker, easier way to enforce compliance

You’re trailing bits of personal data – such as credit card numbers, shopping preferences and which news articles you read – as you travel around the internet. Large internet companies make money off this kind of personal information by sharing it with their subsidiaries and third parties. Public concern over online privacy has led to laws designed to control who gets that data and how they can use it. The battle is ongoing. Democrats in the U.S. Senate recently introduced a bill that includes penalties for tech companies that mishandle users’ personal data. That law would join a long list of rules and regulations worldwide, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard that regulates online credit card transactions, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, th...

Privacy concerns with Echo Dot Kids Edition

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

Privacy concerns with Echo Dot Kids Edition

Echo Dot Kids Edition has been on the market for about a year. In March, commonsensemedia.org expressed protective measures parents might consider In May, several lawmakers appealed to the Federal Trade Commission to delve into whether the Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition breaches the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, enacted in 1998, which is a law dealing with how websites, apps and other online operators collect data and personal information from users younger than 13. According to nextgov.com May 9, a group of concerned senators conveyed ”... that while COPPA requires device operators to give parents access to their kids’ personal information, enabling them to review and delete it, the privacy groups’ review of the Echo Dot for Kids revealed when parents have asked Amazon to delet...

Did Facebook’s CEO know about ‘problematic’ privacy practices?

12Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL MEDIA

Did Facebook’s CEO know about ‘problematic’ privacy practices?

Wall Street Journal: Facebook found emails that show its CEO was aware of privacy practices now under investigation. Facebook Inc. uncovered emails that seem to show Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg was aware of potentially problematic privacy practices at the company, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The social media giant discovered the emails in the process of responding to a federal privacy investigation, the Journal reported, raising concerns that it would be harmful to the company if they became public. The potential impact of the internal emails was part of the reason the company sought to reach a quick settlement of the investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, the Journal reported, citing one person ...