Metaphysical Meta | The Cat Herder, Volume 5, Issue 35
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The Ad Lads go to Luxembourg, another large fine for Meta. More profiling and more surveillance from Frontex and Europol. Fingerprinting schoolchildren in Australia.
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This seems rather disproportionate.
In a move to stop vandals from wreaking havoc on bathrooms, a school is adopting biometric technology to track students during class time.
“How did the data breach happen?”
“Oh, we just turned something on without thinking about the consequences of turning the thing on.”
Members of the Garda, the prison service and people working in the HSE are among those whose details could be viewed online
More proof of my long-held position that even Facebook doesn’t know how Facebook works.
In a discovery hearing, two veteran Facebook engineers told the court that the company doesn’t keep track of all your personal data.
Plans hatched by Europol and Frontex to develop a “European System for Traveller Screening” that would require massive data processing and automated profiling have been condemned as ushering in “a future with even more surveillance” by German left MEP Cornelia Ernst, who told Statewatch that “the daily lives of millions of people” should not be shaped by “agencies that long ceased to be controllable by the public and the parliament.”
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The digital phrenology movement in the UK which is also known as the “UK age verification sector” is keen that as many websites as possible will have to use their products and services. These products and services include “AI-based biometric estimates of age via face and voice analysis” which is also known as guessing.
The AVPA warns the ICO against requiring only a selection of high-profile adult websites to enforce age verification rather than making it universal.
The DPC fined Instagram €405 million which it seems the company will inevitably be appealing. The decision hasn’t been published yet so we don’t know the specifics.
Politico: ‘Big Instagram fine shows Europe’s top digital privacy enforcer is finally getting tough’
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The ICO published draft guidance on Privacy Enhancing Technologies and is seeking feedback.
- “In June, the Irish actor Hannah Rose May tweeted a warning after an AirTag was planted on her person during an after-hours event at Disneyland, California. She was in the car park at 2am, about to drive home, when she received a notification that someone had been tracking her for two hours. Sports Illustrated model Brook Nader shared a similar experience on Instagram. Someone slipped an AirTag into her coat pocket when she was in a New York restaurant. Four hours later, in what she described as “the scariest moment ever”, Nader was walking home alone when she received a notification that she was being tracked.” From ‘I didn’t want it anywhere near me’: how the Apple AirTag became a gift to stalkers’ by Anna Moore for The Guardian.
- “Mounting evidence collected by civil society organizations and independent researchers and experts establishes that digital ID systems regularly have a harmful impact on human rights. Researchers at NYU Law School highlighted these findings in a recent report on how the World Bank and its Identification for Development (ID4D) Initiative support and fund a development agenda around digital ID. Although ID4D has shown a willingness to engage with civil society, this dialogue has not led to meaningful changes in policy or practice. Critically, compelling evidence from countries such as India and the Dominican Republic has not triggered adjustments in the Bank’s approach to supporting national governments that are building or upgrading digital ID systems.” From a letter from global civil society organisations to the World Bank on the subject of digital identity systems. Like the one the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in Ireland is still beavering away on despite it being the subject of an ongoing investigation by the DPC.
- “There will — in fairly short order — be a hardened verdict from the court on crux points like whether an entity that devises and promotes mass surveillance adtech infrastructure, and whose rules dictate core procedures of this tracking machinery, is able to evade the full force of EU privacy law by claiming it’s just a standards body guv! And on the IAB’s flagship sleight-of-hand — when it claims TC strings aren’t personal data and don’t link to individuals ergo there’s no need for a legal basis for processing them anyway — which would be quite the get-out-clause for behavioral ads from EU data protection law if allowed to stand by the court.” From ‘Adtech’s compliance theatre is headed to Europe’s top court’ by Natasha Lomas for Techcrunch.
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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.
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