November 6, 2022
TikTok Surprise | The Cat Herder, Volume 5, Issue 43
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| November 6 · Issue #205 · View online |
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AN IMPORTANT HOUSEKEEPING NOTE Fingers crossed this should go smoothly and none of you readers will have to do anything. So this is a heads-up that at some point in the near future this newsletter will certainly look different when it lands in your inbox. The content will remain the same. As always, thanks for reading! 😼
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Qatar spent $387 million (!) to spy on FIFA officials and critics of world cup 2022. This was just a single-issue operation.
Seriously what are the odds that Saudi Arabia, as a Twitter co-owner, is not interested in DMs of the powerful, critics and many others across the planet? https://t.co/pEXSdeJdrz
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Alarm on Capitol Hill over Saudi investment in Twitter | The Guardian
Possible access to users’ data could pose national security risk and could be used to target kingdom’s dissidents
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ESB Networks wants a lot of your personal data. Because it’s smart, you see. The Gist has more.
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The smart meter project has been going on for years and there are over a million of them in the ground already. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a smart meter. We already have metering on electricity, after all. But the difference here is that they can make their own meter readings and send them back to ESB Networks whenever ESB Networks wants them to. And you’d be surprised how often ESB Networks wants to read your meter. Like, every few minutes, it turns out.
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The Gist: How Smart Is Your Meter?
People are being told to switch to smart meters to save money. Except, something is up with the whole project. This is the Gist.
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The EDPS focuses its recommendations on the processing of individuals’ personal data by entities offering energy-related services to final customers. In its Formal Comments, the EDPS reiterates that, under the ePrivacy Directive, smart-meters can be considered as a “terminal equipment”, like a mobile device. As such, under the ePrivacy Directive, access to information stored in a “terminal equipment” would require, in principle, the consent of its user, unless access to such information is strictly necessary for the provider of an information society service to deliver the service explicitly requested by the user.
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Establishing who is behind Restore Trust’s data analysis and targeting, how it is carried out and why might provide a route to understanding who is actually running and funding its campaign. The law entitles us to this information. And where analysis of data seems to be done in ways that don’t comply with data protection law, it should be challenged. Campaigns that seek to influence our public debate shouldn’t get an unfair advantage by being allowed to break privacy law.
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Astroturfing: who can you trust? - Good Law Project
On Saturday 5th November, the National Trust, beloved by many across the country and internationally, will decide on its new council members. The very core of the charity is at risk from an opaque right-wing…
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Is everyone surprised? I hope so.
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It’s not clear whether TikTok’s announcement of the privacy policy tweak relates to this overarching GDPR investigation. The incoming changes — which are due to apply from December 2 — do also include an update on how the platform collects users location information so they are not wholly focused on data transfers. But the disclosure of China staffers accessing European user data could also be a not-very-subtle attempt to preempt regulatory enforcement over its data transfers — and try to soften a future blow by being able to point to steps already taken to improve its transparency with European users. (Not that that is the only potential issue of regulatory concern vis-a-vis data exports, though.)
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TikTok privacy update in Europe confirms China staff access to data as GDPR probe continues • TechCrunch
An incoming privacy policy change made by TikTok yesterday for users in Europe names China as one of several countries where user data can be remotely accessed.
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The ICO gave the Department for Education in the UK a slap on the wrist for “the prolonged misuse of the personal information of up to 28 million children.” If you’re thinking the Department for Education might have got off lightly here you wouldn’t be wrong. It seems the ICO agrees with you. But because the ICO changed its policy on giving out fines to public sector bodies in June of this year, it didn’t fine the DfE. But the ICO would like you to know it would have fined the DfE £10 million if not for the change in its policy. Which it made itself. |
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“The European Union is often considered an exemplar on fundamental rights in the digital age. Its approach to data protection has been replicated the world over in what has been termed the Brussels effect. And, at present, the region is rolling out a host of new laws and regulations focused on digital markets, platforms and data. But a closer look at the bloc’s approach to biometrics, such as in the case of the EES, raises serious questions about its approach to the governance of digital technologies more generally. It also points to a deeper conflict between the European Union’s stated democratic values rooted in human rights, on the one hand, and a technocratic impulse to digitalize at all costs, on the other. With new regulations on the table, European law makers have a choice — confront and reconcile these contradictions or lose their moral authority and exemplary status when it comes to technology governance. The world is watching.” From ‘Europe at a Crossroads over Planned Use of Biometrics’ by Elizabeth Renieris for the Center for International Governance Innovation.
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“While tightened privacy regulations appear to have positively impacted tracking behavior for non-users, Facebook still appears to go beyond what is strictly necessary for its operations, such as not limiting identifier cookies to a first-party context, nudging (non-)users towards more privacy-invasive options through dark patterns, or cookies being seemingly unaffected by opt-outs.” From the conclusion of ‘Tracking the Evolution of Cookie-based Tracking on Facebook’ [PDF] by Yana Dimova, Gertjan Franken, Victor Le Pochat, Walter Jousen and Lieven Desmet.
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“Humanity is at a crossroads. We need to reject false promises of security and convenience in exchange for a loss of privacy. Something as simple as investing in more streetlights can reduce so-called quality-of-life crimes like package theft and car break-ins without aggravating racial profiling or supercharging oppressive surveillance. Real community safety comes from helping one another, not spying on one another.” From ‘Amazon’s Ring doorbell videos make America less safe from crime’ by Evan Greer for NBC.
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Privacy Kit, Made with 💚 in Dublin, Ireland
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AN IMPORTANT HOUSEKEEPING NOTE
As many of you are no doubt aware, the platform used to deliver this newsletter, Revue, was acquired by Twitter in January of 2021. Since the recent Muskening of Twitter there have been unconfirmed reports that the Revue service will be shut down before the end of this year. Whether this happens or not remains to be seen but in the interest of stability I will be moving this newsletter to another platform.
Fingers crossed this should go smoothly and none of you readers will have to do anything. So this is a heads-up that at some point in the near future this newsletter will certainly look different when it lands in your inbox. The content will remain the same.
As always, thanks for reading!
😼
Context
Possible access to users’ data could pose national security risk and could be used to target kingdom’s dissidents
ESB Networks wants a lot of your personal data. Because it’s smart, you see. The Gist has more.
People are being told to switch to smart meters to save money. Except, something is up with the whole project. This is the Gist.
Coincidentally the latest edition of the European Data Protection Supervisor’s newsletter carries a reminder of what the EDPS thinks of smart meters
On Saturday 5th November, the National Trust, beloved by many across the country and internationally, will decide on its new council members. The very core of the charity is at risk from an opaque right-wing…
Is everyone surprised? I hope so.
An incoming privacy policy change made by TikTok yesterday for users in Europe names China as one of several countries where user data can be remotely accessed.
The ICO gave the Department for Education in the UK a slap on the wrist for “the prolonged misuse of the personal information of up to 28 million children.” If you’re thinking the Department for Education might have got off lightly here you wouldn’t be wrong. It seems the ICO agrees with you. But because the ICO changed its policy on giving out fines to public sector bodies in June of this year, it didn’t fine the DfE. But the ICO would like you to know it would have fined the DfE £10 million if not for the change in its policy. Which it made itself.
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“The European Union is often considered an exemplar on fundamental rights in the digital age. Its approach to data protection has been replicated the world over in what has been termed the Brussels effect. And, at present, the region is rolling out a host of new laws and regulations focused on digital markets, platforms and data. But a closer look at the bloc’s approach to biometrics, such as in the case of the EES, raises serious questions about its approach to the governance of digital technologies more generally. It also points to a deeper conflict between the European Union’s stated democratic values rooted in human rights, on the one hand, and a technocratic impulse to digitalize at all costs, on the other. With new regulations on the table, European law makers have a choice — confront and reconcile these contradictions or lose their moral authority and exemplary status when it comes to technology governance. The world is watching.” From ‘Europe at a Crossroads over Planned Use of Biometrics’ by Elizabeth Renieris for the Center for International Governance Innovation.
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“While tightened privacy regulations appear to have positively impacted tracking behavior for non-users, Facebook still appears to go beyond what is strictly necessary for its operations, such as not limiting identifier cookies to a first-party context, nudging (non-)users towards more privacy-invasive options through dark patterns, or cookies being seemingly unaffected by opt-outs.” From the conclusion of ‘Tracking the Evolution of Cookie-based Tracking on Facebook’ [PDF] by Yana Dimova, Gertjan Franken, Victor Le Pochat, Walter Jousen and Lieven Desmet.
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“Humanity is at a crossroads. We need to reject false promises of security and convenience in exchange for a loss of privacy. Something as simple as investing in more streetlights can reduce so-called quality-of-life crimes like package theft and car break-ins without aggravating racial profiling or supercharging oppressive surveillance. Real community safety comes from helping one another, not spying on one another.” From ‘Amazon’s Ring doorbell videos make America less safe from crime’ by Evan Greer for NBC.
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Endnotes & Credits
Find us on the web at myprivacykit.com and on Twitter at @PrivacyKit. Of course we’re not on Facebook or LinkedIn.
If you know someone who might enjoy this newsletter do please forward it on to them.
