US Senate makes first moves to curb anti-competitive Big Tech (Issue 17, 2022)
NordVPN in Catch 22 - complying with the law on data requests without any data
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In this edition:
Senate panel passes Big Tech anti-trust bill
NordVPN to comply with law enforcement
The Red Cross suffers massive cyberattack
Facial recognition lawsuit heard in India
Greece’s new Biometric Policing Program threatens human rights
EU regulator calls for ban on political micro-targeting
Israeli firm creates facial recognition body cameras
WhatsApp ordered to clarify privacy policy change
Senate panel passes Big Tech anti-trust bill
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed antitrust legislation impacting the companies behind some of Big Tech’s largest platforms. The legislation prevents companies like Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Google and others from ‘favoring their products and services over competitors'.’
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which passed in a 16-6 bipartisan Senate vote, prevents the companies from ranking their apps above a competitor’s app on their own mobile app stores. The bill was co-authored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Chuck Grassley.
Advocates of the bill and supporters of anti-trust legislation praised the Senate committee’s vote as a significant first step to challenging ‘economic power and market dominance’ among the major companies that run tech giants.
Despite this, there are still concerns among small business owners who worry the influence of corporations and their lobbying efforts may lead to an amended final version of the bill.
The anti-trust legislation will now have to acquire the support of 60 senators to pass its ‘next legislative step.’
NordVPN to comply with law enforcement
Popular VPN service, NordVPN, confirms it will comply with law enforcement data requests. The service promoted itself as not keeping user logs but acknowledges it will comply with court orders. Reports indicate that this is a shift in the company’s previous stance as communicated in a blog post from 2017. At the time, the company wrote that it operates in the jurisdiction of Panama and will not comply with foreign governments and law enforcement agencies. But the well-known VPN provider is changing its policy. It has since updated the original blog post to reflect its change in policy.
According to a report in PC Mag, NordVPN stated that it “will comply with lawful requests as long as they are delivered according to all laws and regulations.” Additionally, the company claims that it will still protect the security and privacy of its customers.
The clarification of the company’s position comes after a joint operation by Europol, in which law enforcement seized the servers of a different VPN provider which was reportedly helping hackers spread ransomware.
A NordVPN spokesperson told TechRadar that the decision to clarify its policy was to dissociate from ‘bad actors’ and cybercriminals. It is important to note that this announcement comes at a time when there has been a dramatic increase in law enforcement requests for user data as we have previously reported.
The Red Cross suffers massive cyberattack
The Red Cross announced that it has experienced a cyberattack on its data servers, which exposed the confidential information of more than a half a million vulnerable people.
The data of around 515,000 thousand people includes “those separated from their families due to conflict, migration and disaster, missing persons and their families, and people in detention.” The agency says the breach was carried out by ‘unknown intruders.’
As a result of the breach, the organization was forced to shut down its Restoring Family Links program systems. The Red Cross claims the ‘breach targeted an external contractor in Switzerland that stores data’ for the organization. The Red Cross director-general, Robert Mardini, said in a statement to the media, “An attack on the data of people who are missing makes the anguish and suffering for families even more difficult to endure.”
Red Cross spokesperson Crystal Wells says the agency has been unable to confirm if the records were stolen, but that it is highly likely. Wells did not want to speculate about who may be responsible for the cyberattack and there is currently no evidence that the information has been made public.
Facial recognition lawsuit heard in India
The practice of using facial recognition technology has been taken to court in India’s ‘surveillance hotspot’ Hyderabad. The lawsuit stems from an incident where a man in the city was stopped by police and asked to remove his mask before the police took his photo. Law enforcement provided no reason for stopping and photographing the man, and his objections were ignored.
A 38-year-old named only as Masood then sent a ‘legal notice to the city’s police chief.’ After receiving no response, he then chose to file a lawsuit against Telangana state’s use of facial recognition systems. This is the first case challenging the use of facial recognition systems in India.
The 38-year-old told the media that as a Muslim who has worked with minority groups, he was worried how his photo may be used. In a statement to Reuters he said, “It is also about my right to privacy, and my right to know why my photograph was taken, what it will be used for, who can access it, and how it’s protected. Everyone has a right to know this information.”
The Indian government is implementing facial recognition systems nationwide to combat crime and find missing children. However, according to the report, there is little evidence to suggest that the technology has an impact on crime.
The lawsuit is expected to be heard later this year.
Greece’s new Biometric Policing Program threatens human rights
Greece plans for a new police program which scans faces and fingerprints. According to Human Rights Watch, this practice is ‘inconsistent with international human rights standards on privacy and likely to amplify ongoing discrimination.’
The program is funded by the European Union and allows for law enforcement to use a handheld device to collect biometric data from the public on a mass scale. The data collected is then cross-checked against a variety of databases including police, immigration and the private sector.
The devices used by police include integrated software that enables law enforcement to ‘scan vehicle license plates, collect fingerprints, and scan faces.’ In addition, the biometric data can be shared with not only national but international authorities. And that’s not all. One of the databases listed may already be gathering data on people in public places.
This new program comes at a time when Greek police have engaged in abusive and discriminatory behavior against the public and in particular migrants, according to Human Rights Watch.
The program is expected to cost €4.5 million with 75% of its funding coming from the EU’s Internal Security Fund.
EU regulator calls for ban on political micro-targeting
The European Union’s top privacy regulator is encouraging EU policymakers to ‘strengthen transparency’ regulations on political ads and ban micro-targeting. A previous Commission proposal to regulate political advertising online did not gain traction in fall 2021, and was considered by some media outlets to be ‘tepid’ and filled with various loopholes.
The European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski appears to agree with this assessment of the Commission’s proposal. Wiewiórowski advocates for a complete ban on online political micro-targeting and makes clear he wants the Commission and EU policymakers to take action.
In his January 2022 opinion released in late January he states, “Personal data are increasingly used to target individuals and specific groups with highly personalized and tailored messages in order to amplify their impact and circulation.”
Previously, Wiewiórowski has also called on EU policymakers to fully ban behavioral advertising. The issue concerns the overall collection and use of personal data, which could be analyzed to determine how a user will react and interact with certain forms of messaging.
The Commission is ‘duty bound’ to consider the regulatory proposals.
Israeli firm creates facial recognition body cameras
A former Israeli Army Colonel claims his company Yozmot Ltd seeks to create police body cameras that allow law enforcement to scan crowds while detecting people of interest in real time. The former Israeli colonel, Dany Tirza, is known for helping to plan the barrier between Israelis and Palestinians 20 years ago.
In an interview with AFP, Tirza said his company has partnered with Tel Aviv-based artificial intelligence company Corsight AI to develop cameras that can be worn on the body and identify people - even those wearing masks, makeup or face paint. Additionally, he says the technology can match to decades old photographs.
However, surveillance technology in Israel has a sketchy history - from NSO Group using Pegasus spyware to surveil human rights organizations and world leaders to Israeli soldiers admitting to photographing Palestinians and entering the images into a database.
Digital rights and privacy activists are taking notice of how the use of surveillance technology in the area is used to further violate the human rights of Palestinians.
Nadim Nashif, a Palestinian digital rights activist, told AFP that the use of facial recognition technology is a way for Israel to further its control over Palestinians and adds to its ‘domination over physical spaces.’
According to France24, the facial recognition technology industry was worth more than $3 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow in the coming years.
WhatsApp ordered to clarify privacy policy change
The Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has been given until the end of February to clarify changes to its privacy policy. The European Commission is concerned whether the company’s new privacy policy adheres to EU consumer protection laws following complaints from ‘consumer groups.’
The European Consumer Organization (BEUC) expressed doubts to the European Union executive concerning WhatsApp’s pressuring of users to agree to its new privacy policy, which reportedly allows for some data to be shared with Facebook and other entities.
The European Commission is raising issues about WhatsApp’s terms of service and if ‘the notifications prompting users to accept the new terms and privacy policy are fair.’ Additionally, the Commission would like to examine the network’s data sharing practices with third parties and other companies like Facebook and Meta.
“We look forward to explaining to the European Commission how we protect our users’ privacy in compliance with our obligations under EU law,” a Meta spokesperson said, reported by Reuters.
According to Euractiv, the commercial practice of data sharing may be in violation of the EU’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive if considered ‘too aggressive.’ Since 2014, regulators have expressed concern over the data sharing relationship between WhatsApp and Facebook, since Facebook took over the messaging service.
If WhatsApp’s clarification does not satisfy the Commission, this could prompt ‘a formal procedure under EU consumer law.’
That concludes Your Worldwide INTERNET REPORT for this week!
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This issue of Your Worldwide INTERNET REPORT was written by Taylor Hudak; Edited by Suzie Dawson and Sean O’Brien; Graphics by Kimber Maddox; with production support by David Sutton.
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