The European Commission published its data strategy. The proposal emphasizes the development of rules for access and re-use of industrial and commercial data, as well as building a single data market and developing EU data storage and processing infrastructure. The Commission also released an update on its proposed policies on Business-to-government data sharing, which centers around the idea of EU-wide legislation on “the use of private sector data by the public sector for the common good”.
A simultaneously released digital strategy draws out plans to build “common European data spaces,” — large aggregations of data accessible by members at both sectoral and cross-sector levels. The commission also plans to develop an act that will govern free-of-cost union-wide sharing of high value public sector data. The latest version of the EU’s AI strategy abandons the idea of a total ban on facial recognition technology, which was previously under consideration.
New criticism of Amazon Ring highlights lack of evidence that the the technology helps reduce crime. In other news related to Amazon’s camera-equipped doorbell, a recent privacy policy update by Ring is criticized for focusing on third party partnerships while not addressing problematic practices of sharing data with law enforcement agencies.
Facebook will Settle Illinois Facial Recognition Suit. The company is said to have violated an Illinois biometric privacy law by harvesting facial data for Tag Suggestions from the photos of millions of users in the state without their permission.
ISPs sue Maine, claiming that Web-privacy law violates their First Amendment rights.
A second security breach of the Likud party app exposes personal data of individual voters. Also in Israel, ATM users are asked to take an election poll in order to withdraw money.
New York City’s council has voted to ban cashless businesses over privacy and bias concerns.
(compiled by Student Fellow Margarita Boyarskaya)