Welcome to the latest edition of the Privacy Insider Newsletter. Each week, we send you the latest and smartest news in the world of data privacy.
Here are the top stories from last week you might have missed:
- Early signs in the US suggest adoption rates of contact tracing apps will likely be disappointing. The Washington Post reports that 60% of Americans either would refuse to use a COVID-19 contact tracing app or don’t have a smartphone. In Australia, about one-third of people who approve of contact tracing apps actually installed one. Experts estimate that 60% of the population need to install an app to effectively trace contacts.
- Republican Senators in the US have announced that they would introduce legislation to address privacy concerns about COVID-19 contact tracing. Existing drafts of the law leave a lot to be desired. There is a sizable loophole for cell phone carriers. It also fails to address data that wasn't explicitly collected for contact tracing. Link
- Amazon bought thermal cameras to take workers’ temperatures to screen for coronavirus symptoms. In addition to raising privacy concerns, the move has raised eyebrows because the firm producing the cameras is blacklisted by the US for its role in the detention of Uighurs in China. Link
- Internet browser Brave published a bleak report on the enforcement of GDPR. Their analysis shows that non-compliance is rampant and governments are currently too under-resourced to stop it. Link
- This week in data leaks and breaches: A GDPR site advising companies on compliance practices suffered its own password leak. Several other governments revealed security leaks this week, including the Alabama Department of Labor and Australia’s Home Affairs Department. Meanwhile, textbook rental service Chegg was hacked for the third time in three years.
- Brazil’s data privacy law is likely delayed until May 1, 2021. President Jair Bolsonaro announced that enforcement of his country’s privacy law (LGPD) will be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The delay still needs to be ratified by Congress, but that is expected soon. Brazil's delay in enforcement contrasts with the CCPA, which we begin being enforced on July 1st. Link
- Amazon Web Services posted an article about how they work with Osano. The article highlights our use of their blockchain solution for consent storage. Link
- Mozilla released an analysis of the security features of all major video calling apps. Despite the recent bad press about video conference apps' data privacy practices, Mozilla gives most major platforms its stamp of approval. Link