"because Woody Harrelson did" | The Cat Herder, Volume 2, Issue 18

Facial recognition was prominent yet again this week as the birthplace of surveillance capitalism, Sa   May 19 · Issue #34 · View online Facial recognition was prominent yet again this week as the birthplace of surveillance capitalism, San Francisco itself voted by an overwhelming majority to ban its use by police and other public authorities. The BBC published video of an incident in London which we mentioned back at the start of February. A man was fined £90 for a public order offence after covering his face to prevent the Metropolitan Police from scanning it during a facial recognition trial in Romford. 😼 All data leaks eventually. This is, however, a rather spectacular amount of personal data. Unsecured server exposes data for 85% of all Panama citizens | ZDNet www.zdnet.com – Share The server contained patient data, but no medical records were exposed – only personally identifiable information (PII). — Turning it off didn’t work? Well there’s a surprise. Google told CNBC you can turn off the tracking entirely, but you have to go to another page for search setting preferences. However, when CNBC tried this, it didn’t work – there was no such option to fully turn off the tracking. It’s weird this isn’t front and center on Google’s new privacy pages or even in Google’s privacy checkup feature. Google uses Gmail to track a history of things you buy — and it's hard to delete www.cnbc.com – Share Google collects the purchases you’ve made, including from other stores and sites such as Amazon, and saves them on a page called Purchases. Pernille Tranberg @PernilleT Denmark is profiling unemployed to predict whether their unemployment is short og long termed. Done without any public debateand at the same time the gov has established a council on data ethics (article in Danish) https://t.co/ehpHcrYmPx 6:19 AM - 15 May 2019 Ahead of this week’s European Parliament elections the European Data Protection Supervisor issued a statement on the importance of data protection in safeguarding democracy. Data protection is essential for a resilient democracy, more than ever in this digital age; it underpins the democratic process and trust in our institutions by ensuring safe and secure voting and respect for individual rights. Whether in safeguarding the privacy of our voting choices or defending public discourse from online manipulation, strong data protection rules protect our citizens and our system of governance in a society predicated on the freedom of action and participation of its members. ‘Europe votes 2019: Data protection is a prerequisite for fair and democratic elections’, EDPS — According to newspaper reports the data protection authorities in Germany’s sixteen states have issued fines totalling €449,000 for breaches of the GDPR to date. ‘German regional data protection authorities impose fines of EUR 449,000 for GDPR breaches’, Telecom Paper — In a case predating the GDPR a fine imposed by the CNIL for a data breach was reduced by 20% on appeal. The primary mitigating factor taken into account was the promptness with which the data controller had taken corrective action. TL;DR for data controllers: Bring your processing into line with your obligations under the GDPR promptly to decrease the level of sanction which may be applied. ‘Data breach - The French Conseil d’Etat lowers the amount of a fine imposed by the French Data Protection Authority’, elexica Prudent data controllers with cross-border operations should probably be keeping a wary eye on this submission to the CJEU. Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna @gabrielazanfir Outstanding questions submitted by a Belgian Court to the Court of Justice of the EU on the one stop shop mechanism under the #GDPR and on the direct effect of Art 58 (powers of DPAs). This will be a key early case with longstanding implications. See Qs ⬇️ https://t.co/zPmRXdNRf8 6:56 AM - 15 May 2019 ‘Questions referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling’ (unofficial translation, PDF), dataprotectionauthority.be “In 2014, Edward Snowden leaked classified documents detailing many of the ways the National Security Administration was exploiting commercial data collection. Angry Birds was named as one of the “leaky” apps it used to access private information. But the scandal didn’t seem to stick.” ‘Angry Birds and the end of privacy’ by Kaitlyn Tiffany for Vox is an excellent exploration and explanation of the sprawling, labyrinthine and hidden landscape of the monetisation of personal data. Ranking Digital Rights published the 2019 edition of their Corporate Accountability Index during the week. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-to-1 to ban the use of facial recognition software by police and other agencies. There was commentary … Will Oremus: “Banning facial recognition for law enforcement won’t stop the technology from progressing. Private companies will continue to develop it, and no doubt some will put it to dubious or even nefarious uses of their own. That’s a separate problem that requires its own set of solutions, but it is not an argument for governments to plow ahead.” Farhad Manjoo: “A detective in the New York Police Department’s facial recognition department thought the man in the pixelated CVS video looked like the actor Woody Harrelson. So the detective went to Google Images, got a picture of the actor and ran his face through the face scanner. That produced a match, and the law made its move. A man was arrested for the crime not because he looked like the guy caught on tape but because Woody Harrelson did. —— Endnotes & Credits The elegant Latin bon mot “Futuendi Gratia” is courtesy of Effin’ Birds. As always, a huge thank you to Regina Doherty for giving the world the phrase “mandatory but not compulsory”. The image used in the header is by Krystian Tambur on Unsplash. Any quotes from the Oireachtas we use are sourced from KildareStreet.com. They’re good people providing a great service. If you can afford to then donate to keep the site running. Digital Rights Ireland have a storied history of successfully fighting for individuals’ data privacy rights. You should support them if you can. Find us on the web at myprivacykit.com and on Twitter at @PrivacyKit. Of course we’re not on Facebook or LinkedIn. Barring a disaster we’ll be in your inbox again next weekend. If you know someone who might enjoy this newsletter do please forward it on to them. Did you enjoy this issue? In order to unsubscribe, click here. If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here. Powered by Revue Privacy Kit, Made with 💚 in Dublin, Ireland

Facial recognition was prominent yet again this week as the birthplace of surveillance capitalism, San Francisco itself voted by an overwhelming majority to ban its use by police and other public authorities. The BBC published video of an incident in London which we mentioned back at the start of February. A man was fined £90 for a public order offence after covering his face to prevent the Metropolitan Police from scanning it during a facial recognition trial in Romford.

😼

All data leaks eventually. This is, however, a rather spectacular amount of personal data.

The server contained patient data, but no medical records were exposed – only personally identifiable information (PII).

—

Turning it off didn’t work? Well there’s a surprise.

Google collects the purchases you’ve made, including from other stores and sites such as Amazon, and saves them on a page called Purchases.

Ahead of this week’s European Parliament elections the European Data Protection Supervisor issued a statement on the importance of data protection in safeguarding democracy.

‘Europe votes 2019: Data protection is a prerequisite for fair and democratic elections’, EDPS

—

According to newspaper reports the data protection authorities in Germany’s sixteen states have issued fines totalling €449,000 for breaches of the GDPR to date.

‘German regional data protection authorities impose fines of EUR 449,000 for GDPR breaches’, Telecom Paper

—

In a case predating the GDPR a fine imposed by the CNIL for a data breach was reduced by 20% on appeal. The primary mitigating factor taken into account was the promptness with which the data controller had taken corrective action.

TL;DR for data controllers: Bring your processing into line with your obligations under the GDPR promptly to decrease the level of sanction which may be applied.

‘Data breach - The French Conseil d’Etat lowers the amount of a fine imposed by the French Data Protection Authority’, elexica

Prudent data controllers with cross-border operations should probably be keeping a wary eye on this submission to the CJEU.

‘Questions referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling’ (unofficial translation, PDF), dataprotectionauthority.be

• “In 2014, Edward Snowden leaked classified documents detailing many of the ways the National Security Administration was exploiting commercial data collection. Angry Birds was named as one of the “leaky” apps it used to access private information. But the scandal didn’t seem to stick.” ‘Angry Birds and the end of privacy’ by Kaitlyn Tiffany for Vox is an excellent exploration and explanation of the sprawling, labyrinthine and hidden landscape of the monetisation of personal data.
• Ranking Digital Rights published the 2019 edition of their Corporate Accountability Index during the week.
• The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-to-1 to ban the use of facial recognition software by police and other agencies. There was commentary …
• Will Oremus: “Banning facial recognition for law enforcement won’t stop the technology from progressing. Private companies will continue to develop it, and no doubt some will put it to dubious or even nefarious uses of their own. That’s a separate problem that requires its own set of solutions, but it is not an argument for governments to plow ahead.”
• Farhad Manjoo: “A detective in the New York Police Department’s facial recognition department thought the man in the pixelated CVS video looked like the actor Woody Harrelson. So the detective went to Google Images, got a picture of the actor and ran his face through the face scanner. That produced a match, and the law made its move. A man was arrested for the crime not because he looked like the guy caught on tape but because Woody Harrelson did.

——

Endnotes & Credits

• The elegant Latin bon mot “Futuendi Gratia” is courtesy of Effin’ Birds.
• As always, a huge thank you to Regina Doherty for giving the world the phrase “mandatory but not compulsory”.
• The image used in the header is by Krystian Tambur on Unsplash.
• Any quotes from the Oireachtas we use are sourced from KildareStreet.com. They’re good people providing a great service. If you can afford to then donate to keep the site running.
• Digital Rights Ireland have a storied history of successfully fighting for individuals’ data privacy rights. You should support them if you can.

Find us on the web at myprivacykit.com and on Twitter at @PrivacyKit. Of course we’re not on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Barring a disaster we’ll be in your inbox again next weekend.

If you know someone who might enjoy this newsletter do please forward it on to them.