Privacy newsletter - March 24, 2020

Welcome to your latest edition of Osano's Privacy Insider Newsletter! Each week, we send you the latest information you need to know from the world of data privacy.

This week, there is so much coronavirus-related privacy content out there that we split it into its own section. Companies are scrambling to help contain the crisis and to transition employees to remote work. Both of these dynamics have security and privacy risks that need to be managed. A new privacy law came into force last month in Australia, Washington state's bill is shelved for now, and a new Indian law handles government and non-government entities very differently.

Here are the top stories from last week that you might have missed:

Coronavirus:

Google, Other Companies Get Your Data if You Use Verily's Coronavirus Site -The rollout of a coronavirus testing website by a sister company of Google has been marred by confusion and limitations. Now, privacy concerns are circling the service. The site, designed by Verily, the life sciences arm of Google parent Alphabet, requires you to have a Google account before using its coronavirus screening service.

European Mobile Operators Share Data for Coronavirus Fight - Mobile carriers are sharing data with the health authorities in Italy, Germany and Austria, helping to fight coronavirus by monitoring whether people are complying with curbs on movement, while at the same time respecting Europe’s privacy laws. The data, which are anonymous and aggregated, make it possible to map concentrations and movements of customers in ‘hot zones’ where COVID-19 has taken hold.

Managing Cyber Security Risks of Remote Work - With cases of the coronavirus emerging in nearly every state, many businesses are taking swift action in an effort to curb its spread.  “Remote working” is a centerpiece of those efforts. While remote working arrangements may be effective to slow the community spread of COVID-19 from person to person, they present cybersecurity challenges that can be different than on-premise work. 

Video Calling Prompts Privacy Concerns as Pandemic Drives Work, Education Online - As more employers and educators scramble to take their day-to-day lives online due to the spread of the coronavirus, privacy concerns surrounding Zoom Video Communications Inc.’s  data collection and storage policies are receiving renewed attention from privacy advocates and experts — especially as educators contend with how to comply with standing student privacy laws and employees deal with a lack of data privacy protections.

Other:

Extra Crunch Members Get 60% Off Data Privacy Platform Osano - Extra Crunch is excited to announce a new community perk from Startup Battlefield alum, Osano. Starting today, annual and two-year members of Extra Crunch can receive 60% off their data privacy management software for six months. Osano is an easy-to-use data privacy platform that instantly helps your website become compliant with laws such as GDPR and CCPA. Osano works to keep you out of trouble and monitors all of the vendors you share data with — so you don’t have to. 

What the New Australian Privacy Law Means for Consumer Data? - Experts on Australia's new data privacy law, discuss the differences between how Europe and Australia react to data breaches and the descriptions of consent in terms of data collection and handling.

The Washington Data Privacy Bill Is Dead. Again. - On the last day of session, Sen. Reuven Carlyle announced the death of the Washington Privacy Act (WPA). The WPA was one of the biggest priorities for the Democrats this year, a major piece of legislation that would have secured some of the strongest data protections in the world for internet users. But House and Senate leaders couldn't work through their disagreements.

Privacy Advocates and Businesses Take Issue With India’s New Data Protection Law - India’s long-awaited national data protection law, the Personal Data Protection Bill, is under consideration by parliament. The bill has yet to be adopted as a law, and could potentially change in form before it is. But at the moment, it looks to become one of the world’s strongest pieces of legislation of this nature. 

Online Printing Site Doxzoo Exposed Thousands of Customer Files - The U.K. printing company left its customer files on a cloud storage bucket, hosted on Amazon Web Services, without a password. Anyone who knew the easy-to-guess bucket name could access the massive trove of customer files. By the time the company secured the bucket, it contained more than 250,000 customer-uploaded files.

Employers Accused of Abusing EU Data Privacy Rules to Hinder Trade Unions - The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is being misused by employers across Europe as trade unions are denied access to information required to recruit and organize workers. This development comes at a time when millions of Europeans face an indeterminate period of remote working amid the current coronavirus outbreak, with little to no physical contact with trade union representatives.