Privacy Digest 10/24

Senators Want TSA to Pump the Brakes on Facial Recognition at Airports

"The 3% error rate cited by TSA represents more than 68,000 mismatches daily if used on all 2.3 million daily travelers."

gizmodo.com

Facial Recognition

Cerebral to Pay $7 Million Fine and Limit Health Data Use for Ads Under Federal Order

Under a new FTC order, telehealth company Cerebral will have to restrict its use of consumer health data for advertising purposes. As reported by The Markup, Cerebral, known for providing counseling services and prescriptions for conditions such as anxiety and depression, has also agreed to pay $7 million to settle charges. These charges include allegations that the company disclosed customers' personal health information to third parties for advertising and failed to keep its promise of making cancellations easy for customers.

themarkup.org

Health Data Data Privacy Privacy

Full Disclosure: Stress Testing Tech Platforms' Ad Repositories

Mozilla called on Check First to test the ad transparency tools maintained by 11 of the world's largest tech companies. These tools aim to let researchers, watchdogs, and members of the public understand how commercial communications influence the information space and affect society.

foundation.mozilla.org

Ad Transparency Tools Ad Tech Big Tech Mozilla

EU probes Meta over child protection concerns

The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into the parent company of social media sites Facebook and Instagram over concerns that the platforms may "stimulate behavioral addiction" in children.

dw.com

Europe Data Privacy Meta Social Media

Why Your VPN May Not Be As Secure As It Claims

Virtual private networking (VPN) companies market their services as a way to prevent anyone from snooping on your Internet usage. But new research suggests this is a dangerous assumption when connecting to a VPN via an untrusted network, because attackers on the same network could force a target’s traffic off of the protection provided by their VPN without triggering any alerts to the user.

krebsonsecurity.com

VPN Data Security Privacy Protection

The 'Sift' strategy: A four-step method for spotting misinformation

Pioneered by digital literacy experts, the "Sift" method is a technique for spotting fake news and misleading social media posts.

bbc.com

Digital Literacy Misinformation Tech Literacy
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