Starting December 1, Facebook reportedly will remove several biographic details from user profiles, including “Religious views,” “Political views,” “Interested in” (indicating the user’s sexual orientation), and “Address.” Many state privacy laws, including California’s Privacy Rights Act, restrict how businesses can collect and use these types of sensitive personal information. Facebook has not confirmed why it
Texas AG Sues Meta, Alleging Massive Collection of Face Geometries Without Consent
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in New + Now, Social Media
Texas enacted a biometric information privacy law way back in 2001, which was amended in 2009. That was a long time ago in the context of the development of privacy laws, and even longer when it comes to biometric information privacy laws. In this rapidly changing area of law, Texas was surely ahead of its…
Privacy Tip #319 – How Facial Recognition Technology Works and Why You Should Care
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips, Social Media
I have written about the privacy concerns of facial recognition technology many times before [view related posts].
Many individuals are unaware of how facial recognition technology works, who is collecting their facial geometry, and how their biometric information is being used and disclosed.
The Texas Attorney General sued Meta Platforms (fka Facebook) this week,…
Meta Hit with Lawsuits Over Allegations of Promoting Hate Speech
Posted in Uncategorized
Meta has been hit with two related lawsuits totaling over $150 billion in its first major legal challenge since rebranding. The suits (one filed in California Superior Court and the other in the UK) come from a class representing the Rohingya, a minority Muslim population that has suffered severe systematic violence in Myanmar.…
Meta Announces the End of Facial Recognition Technology on Facebook
By Robinson+Cole's Data Privacy + Cybersecurity Team on
Posted in Data Privacy
The Facebook company now known as Meta announced this week that it is shutting down the Face Recognition system on Facebook. Meta stated that this is part of a company-wide move to limit the use of facial recognition technology in its products. What does this mean? If you have a Facebook page and you previously…
Irish DPA Hits WhatsApp with $266M Fine for Alleged GDPR Violations
By Linn Foster Freedman on
When GDPR became effective three years ago, companies took notice of the fines and penalties attached to violations of the stringent privacy law—4 percent of global annual sales. The fines have been racking up, including the most recent one by the Irish Data Protection Commission against WhatsApp—$266 million. WhatsApp is owned by Facebook.
The fine…
Adobe Introduces Software to Replace Third-Party Cookies
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Data Privacy, Websites
This week Adobe Inc. released some updated software for companies to target customers with advertising and offers using the brands’ own data as opposed to third-party cookies. More and more, third-party cookies are being eliminated from websites due to consumer concerns regarding unwanted tracking across the internet. Many web browsers already block third-party cookies, and…
Supreme Court’s Decision in Facebook Litigation Narrows the Scope of the TCPA
By Kathryn Rattigan on
At the beginning of April 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Facebook in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, reversing the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals , holding: “To qualify as an ‘automatic telephone dialing system’ under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a device must have the capacity…
Facebook’s Augmented-Reality: Controlling Computer Functions with Your Mind
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Data Privacy
What if you could control a computer with your mind? Well, Facebook’s latest device may allow you to do just that. Facebook recently announced that it has created a wristband that allows you to move a digital object just by thinking about it. The wristband looks like a large iPod on a strap and uses…
Privacy Tip #273 – What’s with WhatsApp’s New Privacy Policy?
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
WhatsApp started notifying its 2 billion users last month about an update to its privacy policy. Most of its users probably didn’t look at the details, and simply clicked “I agree” when the notice popped up on their phones. (To use the app, one must click “I agree.”) There has been a backlash from privacy…