Should Big Tech Own Our Personal Data?

ronjor · Dec 30, 2019

Why you're receiving all those privacy update emails

by Jefferson Graham, Usa Today December 29, 2019
You knew that every time you went online and typed away, companies took every one of your inputs to study, market and share with others.
But did you really realize the extent of it?
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guest · Jan 4, 2020

Survey about Swedish people’s attitude to the internet reveals growing distrust of social media
January 3, 2020
https://www.computerweekly.com/news...rnet-reveals-growing-distrust-of-social-media

Public confidence in global social media operators Facebook and Google retreated in Sweden in 2019 amid growing public distrust over personal data use and online privacy.

The Internetstiftelsen survey, Swedes and the internet 2019 (in Swedish, Svenskarna och internet 2019) revealed that public confidence in social media giants Facebook and Google declined by 17% in Sweden from 2015 to 2019. The annual survey is a useful tool to measure online behaviour in Sweden as well as societal changes in the face of increasing digitalisation.

According to the survey, more Swedes are now “taking a closer look” at how their personal data is being used, not just by technology giants such as Google and Facebook, but more generally by state organisations and public authorities in Sweden. The primary concern for consumers relates to possible intrusions into their personal privacy online.

“Almost half of all Swedes feel monitored on the internet. There is a trend whereby they are becoming more restrictive when it comes to sharing other people’s posts on social media. Overall, we are seeing that the use of social media seems to have begun to level off,” the Internetstiftelsen survey-based report states.
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guest · Feb 10, 2020

GOP senator proposes overhauling federal agency to confront Big Tech
February 10, 2020
https://thehill.com/policy/technolo...erhauling-federal-agency-to-confront-big-tech

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in a proposal published Monday accused the country's top consumer protection agency – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – of failing to intervene as the world's most powerful tech companies amassed reams of personal information about their millions of U.S. users and gobbled up hundreds of smaller companies.

And the FTC's attempts to take on Big Tech have been bogged down by in-fighting.
"The FTC has proven lethargic, unwieldy, susceptible to agency capture, and prone to turf wars," Hawley's office wrote.
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ronjor · Feb 11, 2020

FTC will examine prior acquisitions by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft

Lauren Feiner@lauren_feiner Feb 11 2020
The Federal Trade Commission announced Tuesday it will examine prior acquisitions by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft.
The commission voted 5-0 to issue special orders to review the past mergers.
The special orders suggest that the FTC is honing in on the question of how Big Tech companies use acquisitions to amass power and how the data from acquired companies are used.
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ronjor · Feb 12, 2020

Accenture, an influential global consulting firm, says business success mustn't come at the expense of customers worrying about digital dystopia.

Stephen Shankland February 11, 2020
For years, Accenture has promoted technology like artificial intelligence and big data as tools for big businesses to get ahead. Now the global consultancy says businesses have to protect consumer privacy from the technology Accenture has long advocated if they don't want to be struck by a growing backlash against that tech.
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hawki · Feb 12, 2020

ronjor said: ↑

FTC will examine prior acquisitions by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft
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Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have acquired over 500 companies during the past ten years:

https://www.protocol.com/ftc-scrutiny-big-tech-acquisitions

ronjor · Feb 13, 2020

A new senate bill would create a US data protection agency

Zack Whittaker@zackwhittaker February 13, 2020
Europe’s data protection laws are some of the strictest in the world, and have long been a thorn in the side of the data-guzzling Silicon Valley tech giants since they colonized vast swathes of the internet.
Two decades later, one Democratic senator wants to bring many of those concepts to the United States.
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guest · Feb 13, 2020

Privacy Experts Skeptical of Proposed Data Protection Agency
...experts are skeptical that the U.S. government can get it right
February 13, 2020
https://threatpost.com/privacy-experts-skeptical-of-proposed-data-protection-agency/152861/

A new federal bureaucracy, the Data Protection Agency (DPA), has been proposed to completely revamp how the U.S. government regulates data collection and misuse by big tech companies
Privacy Experts Skeptical
But privacy experts are hesitant in endorsing the new DPA, citing concerns about how effective it would actually be once enforced.

“There are a myriad of factors that would need to be considered for a Federal Regulation on data privacy and security,” Terence Jackson, chief information security officer at Thycotic, told Threatpost.
One big red flag, said Oliveira, is that the proposal around the DPA lacks important details that are critical when regulating privacy.

“I think this is a positive step forward to bring the US in alignment to what is being done worldwide to protect consumer rights,” Oliveira said. “However, I don’t see any recommendations for the size of fine, how those fines would be applied and how the money gathered from those fines would be re-used, [...] ”
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guest · Feb 17, 2020

ronjor said: ↑

FTC will examine prior acquisitions by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft
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FTC to re-examine Google's 2013 Waze acquisition as part of its antitrust sweep
February 17, 2020
https://www.androidcentral.com/ftc-re-examine-googles-2013-waze-acquisition-part-its-antitrust-sweep

Earlier this month, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission ordered Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft to provide information about all 'small' acquisitions that they made between Jan.1, 2010 and Dec.31, 2019. However, it now appears that the FTC isn't just scrutinizing smaller acquisitions. As per Bloomberg, the FTC has decided to take another look at Google's acquisition of crowdsourced navigation service Waze.

Google had acquired the Israeli company behind Waze for $1.1 billion in June 2013. Even though the FTC had approved the transaction nearly seven years back, antitrust experts believe the regulator will be taking a second look as it allowed Google to eliminate a fast-growing rival and further strengthened its grip over user data.
Sally Hubbard, director of enforcement strategy at the Open Markets Institute, which has been pushing for a crackdown on major tech firms, said:

"It was literally Google acquiring its number one competitor in maps. It was a bad deal that should have been blocked."
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ronjor · Feb 19, 2020

Exclusive: Google users in UK to lose EU data protection - sources

Joseph Menn February 19, 2020
The shift, prompted by Britain’s exit from the EU, will leave the sensitive personal information of tens of millions with less protection and within easier reach of British law enforcement.
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ronjor · Feb 20, 2020

Google updates terms in plain language after EU scrutiny

20 Feb 2020 Associated Press
The company updated its terms of service on Thursday in response to a pair of court orders in Europe
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guest · Feb 21, 2020

Labour condemns Google data plans
February 21, 2020
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252478962/Labour-condemns-Google-data-plans

Shadow digital minister Chi Onwurah has called on the government to step in and halt Google’s plans to move data on its UK users from Ireland to the US, at least until the implications for British citizens become clearer.

“Google collects a staggering amount of data on the lives of millions of people across the UK,” said Onwurah, who has represented Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central at Westminster since the 2010 election. “With this announcement, Google will be moving swathes of private information out of the UK without, apparently, consulting British people or their representatives.
[...] Google claims that people can refuse to accept the new terms and conditions, but given that Google has an effective monopoly in so many services, what real choice is there?
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guest · Mar 4, 2020

ronjor said: ↑

D.C. Attorney General Introduces New Data Security Bill
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D.C. Council Passes Data Security Legislation
March 4, 2020
https://www.securityweek.com/dc-council-passes-data-security-legislation

Introduced in March 2019 by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) for the District of Columbia, the Security Breach Protection Amendment Act of 2019 expands the types of information for which companies are held accountable.
Existing legislation covers social security numbers, payment card details, and driver’s license numbers. The new bill adds passport numbers, military IDs, biometric data, health information, taxpayer identification numbers, health insurance information, and genetic information and DNA profiles to that list.

The new legislation also requires companies to implement measures for protecting personal information, it specifies new reporting requirements for companies whose systems have been breached, and requires firms to provide free identity protection services for 18 months if they expose social security numbers.

“This law brings the District of Columbia into the vanguard of state and local governments that have required companies collecting vast amounts of personal information to take appropriate precautions that safeguard consumers’ health, financial, and other data,” said D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine.
A representative of the OAG told SecurityWeek that the council will now send the bill to the mayor, who has 10 days to either sign the legislation or veto it.
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guest · Apr 7, 2020

EU antitrust regulators raise more questions about Facebook's online marketplace
April 7, 2020
https://in.reuters.com/article/eu-f...ut-facebooks-online-marketplace-idINKBN21P285

EU antitrust regulators want to know if Facebook’s (FB.O) online marketplace benefits unfairly from its treasure trove of data, according to a questionnaire seen by Reuters, a sign that they are building up a case against the U.S. social media giant.

The EU document sent to industry players and other parties is a follow-up to a questionnaire that the European Commission sent to the same parties last August focusing on Facebook’s Marketplace.
Classified ads competitors have complained to the Commission that Facebook uses its market power to give it an unfair competitive advantage, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.

In the latest questionnaire companies were asked about the importance of data to enter, grow and be successful as a social media platform, and how they see their access to data compared with Facebook.
The EU competition enforcer has another separate investigation targeting Facebook’s data collection and how the company monetises the data.
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It said results from the latest questionnaire will feed into both investigations.
The Commission said its preliminary investigation was ongoing and it could not comment on the timing or outcome.
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