October 3, 2021
The Cat Herder
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| October 3 · Issue #151 · View online |
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Last week it was Jamaica, this week it’s a mandatory but not compulsory biometric identity scheme in Mexico. The ICO spent four times as much investigating the purchase of some expensive chocolate last Christmas as the chocolate itself cost.
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Amazon just offered me £10 to stop using the mobile web version and install the app. It's creepy to think that they can generate at least that much revenue from the private data on my device that apps can access and websites cannot.
Stop using apps.
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Another source who worked on the project mentioned privacy and navigation as chief concerns. “As for my personal opinions on the device, it’s a disaster that’s not ready for release,” they said. “They break themselves and will almost certainly fall down stairs in real world users’ homes. In addition it’s also (in my opinion) a privacy nightmare that is an indictment of our society and how we trade privacy for convenience with devices like Vesta.” The source also corroborated that Astro’s facial recognition abilities perform poorly, which is concerning for a device designed mainly to follow people around and determine if they’re a stranger or not.
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Leaked Documents Show How Amazon’s Astro Robot Tracks Everything You Do
Leaked meetings show the robot will heavily rely on facial recognition and user behavior, but sources who worked on Astro say the robot is flawed.
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The federal government’s COVIDSafe mobile app has not helped uncover close contacts during current COVID-19 outbreaks, the ABC has confirmed. The multi-million-dollar COVIDSafe app was touted as a critical tool to help contact tracing when it launched last year, but has faded from the public consciousness. The software relies on Bluetooth handshakes between devices, so its usefulness has plunged as fewer people have been actively using the app.
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'Not been necessary' and 'never used': State and territory health officials confirm COVIDSafe app hasn't helped in current outbreaks
Since the start of the pandemic, COVIDSafe has only identified 17 close contacts that weren’t found by state officials.
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It might be time for an update from the Department of Health on the effectiveness of the Irish Covid Tracker App.
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If they're doing it in France then why not England? Or elsewhere?
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The CCTV cameras were concealed by ceiling panels but after the lights went out in a toilet block, a staff member noticed an infrared light in between a panel, the Peterborough Telegraph reported. Upon further inspection, it was found that the light was a CCTV camera, with devices found in both the male and female toilets. The discovery was reported to management at the distribution centre with staff being reassured that although the cameras have been in place since 2015, they were not operational.
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Ikea launches investigation after staff find CCTV cameras in toilets | The Independent
Staff members reportedly found cameras before making complaints
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In June of this year Ikea’s French operation was fined a considerable amount for spying on its employees ( The Cat Herder Volume 4, Issue 23). This appears to be something executives and managers in this organisation like doing. |
In February of this year it was reported that concealed-but-not-operational cameras were “found by prison officers in the locker rooms in Castlerea and Cloverhill prisons in the last 10 days” ( The Cat Herder, Volume 4, Issue 6). |
How do these cameras keep ending up in these spaces behind walls and ceilings? It’s a real mystery.
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In a little-publicised decision made at the end of August, the Mayor of London’s office approved a proposal allowing the Met to boost its surveillance technology. The proposal says that in the coming months the Met will start using Retrospective Facial Recognition (RFR), as part of a £3 million, four-year deal with Japanese tech firm NEC Corporation. The system examines images of people obtained by the police before comparing them against the force’s internal image database to try and find a match. “Those deploying it can in effect turn back the clock to see who you are, where you’ve been, what you have done and with whom, over many months or even years,” says Ella Jakubowska, policy advisor at European Digital Rights, an advocacy group. Jakubowska says the technology can “suppress people’s free expression, assembly and ability to live without fear”.
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London’s Met Police is expanding its use of facial recognition technology | WIRED UK
The Metropolitan Police is buying a new facial recognition system that will supercharge its surveillance technology capabilities
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“The Danish DPA held the Municipality of Helsingør failed to adequately assess the risks to data subjects stemming from its use of Google Chromebooks in schools. It ordered the Municipality to stop using them until it carried out the correct data protection impact assessments.” via GDPRHub. |
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“By basing the system on a biometric database, these concerns are multiplied; the danger of abuse from these technologies could prove catastrophic. Privacy International has highlighted many of these risks. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has previously written, biometrics "is by definition inseparably linked to a particular person and that person’s life, and has the potential to be gravely abused”. It is imperative, as the High Commissioner says, for them to be “necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate aim”. Yet, states are failing to establish why biometrics are required for the purpose of these systems and their use is being challenged around the world.“ From ‘PI joins civil society in concerns over Mexico’s World Bank funded digital ID scheme’ by Privacy International.
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"In a few days, we’ll hear from the Biden Administration how the country will be implementing new vaccine requirements. Those requirements will save lives, but a botched roll-out could be disastrous. We’ll have the option of continuing to build on the paper vaccination systems that have helped protect Americans from communicable diseases for decades, or we could give into the tech companies that tell us we need another app to solve this situation. The apps sound appealing on paper, but the reality would be disastrous. Millions of vaccinated Americans will struggle to prove their vaccine status, while millions more are put at risk by the data these unregulated apps collect. Paper proof is not perfect, but we can’t turn back the clock. We’ve never had the sort of centralized medical records and identity system the French have, and we can’t retrofit it in the midst of an emergency. If we want to boost vaccination and build trust in the vaccine, mandates make sense, but new apps are a disaster in the making.” From ‘An American in Paris Reflects on Vaccine Passport Apps’ by Albert Fox Cahn for techpolicy.press.
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“But there’s something else about this story that leaves a bitter taste. The ICO is bloated with directors, executive directors, deputy commissioners, and various other overpaid corporate automatons. They spend millions of pounds on the top layer of senior decision-makers. And yet, faced with a single breach of financial policy, whoever brought in Forbes plainly decided that nobody in the organisation could be trusted to get to the bottom of it. None of the lawyers or auditors, non-exec directors, not a single person is capable of finding out exactly how someone didn’t buy thank-you gifts in the entirely appropriate way. This is a serious verdict – ICO allegedly regulates both data protection and FOI, but is at the same time subject to both. Being able to investigate itself competently and objectively is an inherent part of the ICO’s day job. What does it say about the ICO’s view of itself that the senior people don’t actually have confidence in the organisation to do so? Given the choice, they farm scrutiny out to pricey lawyers instead. That’s what they think of themselves.” From ‘Bitter Chocolate’ by Tim Turner.
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Privacy Kit, Made with 💚 in Dublin, Ireland
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Last week it was Jamaica, this week it’s a mandatory but not compulsory biometric identity scheme in Mexico. The ICO spent four times as much investigating the purchase of some expensive chocolate last Christmas as the chocolate itself cost.
😼
—
Leaked meetings show the robot will heavily rely on facial recognition and user behavior, but sources who worked on Astro say the robot is flawed.
Since the start of the pandemic, COVIDSafe has only identified 17 close contacts that weren’t found by state officials.
It might be time for an update from the Department of Health on the effectiveness of the Irish Covid Tracker App.
Staff members reportedly found cameras before making complaints
In June of this year Ikea’s French operation was fined a considerable amount for spying on its employees (The Cat Herder Volume 4, Issue 23). This appears to be something executives and managers in this organisation like doing.
In February of this year it was reported that concealed-but-not-operational cameras were “found by prison officers in the locker rooms in Castlerea and Cloverhill prisons in the last 10 days” (The Cat Herder, Volume 4, Issue 6).
How do these cameras keep ending up in these spaces behind walls and ceilings? It’s a real mystery.
The Metropolitan Police is buying a new facial recognition system that will supercharge its surveillance technology capabilities
“The Danish DPA held the Municipality of Helsingør failed to adequately assess the risks to data subjects stemming from its use of Google Chromebooks in schools. It ordered the Municipality to stop using them until it carried out the correct data protection impact assessments.” via GDPRHub.
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The EDPB established a cookie banner taskforce and adopted its opinion on the European Commission’s draft South Korea adequacy decision.
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“By basing the system on a biometric database, these concerns are multiplied; the danger of abuse from these technologies could prove catastrophic. Privacy International has highlighted many of these risks. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has previously written, biometrics "is by definition inseparably linked to a particular person and that person’s life, and has the potential to be gravely abused”. It is imperative, as the High Commissioner says, for them to be “necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate aim”. Yet, states are failing to establish why biometrics are required for the purpose of these systems and their use is being challenged around the world.“ From ‘PI joins civil society in concerns over Mexico’s World Bank funded digital ID scheme’ by Privacy International.
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"In a few days, we’ll hear from the Biden Administration how the country will be implementing new vaccine requirements. Those requirements will save lives, but a botched roll-out could be disastrous. We’ll have the option of continuing to build on the paper vaccination systems that have helped protect Americans from communicable diseases for decades, or we could give into the tech companies that tell us we need another app to solve this situation. The apps sound appealing on paper, but the reality would be disastrous. Millions of vaccinated Americans will struggle to prove their vaccine status, while millions more are put at risk by the data these unregulated apps collect. Paper proof is not perfect, but we can’t turn back the clock. We’ve never had the sort of centralized medical records and identity system the French have, and we can’t retrofit it in the midst of an emergency. If we want to boost vaccination and build trust in the vaccine, mandates make sense, but new apps are a disaster in the making.” From ‘An American in Paris Reflects on Vaccine Passport Apps’ by Albert Fox Cahn for techpolicy.press.
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“But there’s something else about this story that leaves a bitter taste. The ICO is bloated with directors, executive directors, deputy commissioners, and various other overpaid corporate automatons. They spend millions of pounds on the top layer of senior decision-makers. And yet, faced with a single breach of financial policy, whoever brought in Forbes plainly decided that nobody in the organisation could be trusted to get to the bottom of it. None of the lawyers or auditors, non-exec directors, not a single person is capable of finding out exactly how someone didn’t buy thank-you gifts in the entirely appropriate way. This is a serious verdict – ICO allegedly regulates both data protection and FOI, but is at the same time subject to both. Being able to investigate itself competently and objectively is an inherent part of the ICO’s day job. What does it say about the ICO’s view of itself that the senior people don’t actually have confidence in the organisation to do so? Given the choice, they farm scrutiny out to pricey lawyers instead. That’s what they think of themselves.” From ‘Bitter Chocolate’ by Tim Turner.
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Endnotes & Credits
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