Shocking: Financial Committee Republicans Put Big Bank Donors Before Consumers in Vote to Block Credit Card Late Fee Cap
https://accountable.us/financial-committee-republicans-put-big-bank-donors-before-consumers-in-vote-to-block-credit-card-late-fee-cap/
https://accountable.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-04-15-Research-on-HFSC-Opposition-to-Credit-Card-Late-Fee-Rule-And-State-Impact-FINAL.docx.pdf
Bank of America accused of religious and political 'discrimination' by 'de-banking' or refusing to service Trump supporters
https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-ags-put-major-us-235515677.html
Contracts between universities, China total more than $2B
"The investigation uncovered approximately 2,900 contracts from 2012 and 2024 between Chinese businesses and about 200 U.S. public colleges and universities in all 50 states."
https://www.wsj.com/world/china/chinese-money-american-universities-244bab09
US DOT to investigate unfair practices in airline loyalty programs
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/us-agencies-probe-unfair-practices-airline-loyalty-programs-hearing-2024-04-15/
US Government Tried to Spy on People, Telegram Founder Claims
https://www.newsweek.com/telegram-tucker-carlson-government-spying-1891398
New Privacy Rights Act Exempts Government and Gives More Power to the FTC
Americans Deserve More Than the Current American Privacy Rights Act
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/04/americans-deserve-more-current-american-privacy-rights-act
The House Energy and Commerce Committee Want To Ban Behavioral Targeting
23andMe Saved From Bankruptcy After CEO Floats Private Takeover
https://investors.23andme.com/news-releases/news-release-details/23andme-announces-ceos-intention-pursue-potential-take-private
Privacy Warning: A new wave of wearable devices will collect a mountain on information on us
https://theconversation.com/a-new-wave-of-wearable-devices-will-collect-a-mountain-on-information-on-us-we-need-to-get-wise-about-the-privacy-implications-226537
Could Draft Privacy Legislation Blossom into Law in 2024?
https://natlawreview.com/article/aprils-apra-could-draft-privacy-legislation-blossom-law-2024
How Political Campaigns Use Your Data to Target You
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/04/how-political-campaigns-use-your-data-target-you
Spy Pet Is Scraping Discord and Selling Users’ Messages
https://www.404media.co/a-spy-site-is-scraping-discord-and-selling-users-messages/
The "book ban crisis" is getting worse
https://pen.org/report/narrating-the-crisis/
NPR Suspends Veteran Journalist/Editor Who Called Out Bias
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/16/1244962042/npr-editor-uri-berliner-suspended-essay
NPR Editor Uri Berliner has resigned
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/business/media/uri-berliner-npr-resigns.html
Laws Requiring Social Media Firms to Host Content they Prefer to Exclude Violate the Takings Clause
Man convicted in decades long identity theft that led to his victim being jailed
https://apnews.com/article/identity-theft-wrong-man-arrested-dd9ba1adf0587fa40868dc67f7c407ba
Crime-Ridden San Francisco Seeks To Allow Lawsuits Against Grocery Stores Fleeing The City
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crime-ridden-san-francisco-seeks-151304061.html
Boeing Whistleblower Says Company Is Involved in a 'Criminal Cover-up'
https://gizmodo.com/boeing-whistleblower-says-company-is-involved-in-a-crim-1851416319
Appeals court judges grill Papa Johns, Mattress Firm over tracking software
https://www.courthousenews.com/third-circuit-judges-grill-papa-johns-mattress-firm-over-tracking-software/
Google to pay $62M for tracking users without consent
https://www.courthousenews.com/google-to-pay-62-million-for-tracking-users-without-consent/
Google faces deluge of new $10,000 Incognito mode lawsuits after class-action deal
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/09/google-faces-deluge-of-10000-incognito-mode-lawsuits-after-class-action-deal/
How Google’s Location History Program Could Upend Digital Surveillance Law
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/how-google-s-location-history-program-could-upend-digital-surveillance-law
Two New Apple and Google Platform Privacy Requirements Kicking In Now
"Privacy Manifests are an important tool for third-party SDK developers and app developers to communicate critical information about their privacy practices with app developers and Apple. Privacy manifests describe in detail their use of data and select system APIs, called required reason APIs, which may require collaboration with legal teams to ensure accurate reporting."
https://fpf.org/blog/two-new-apple-and-google-platform-privacy-requirements-kicking-in-now/
Inside Amazon’s Secret Operation to Gather Intel on Rivals
https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/amazon-secret-operation-intel-rivals-eb82ea3c
Every Tech Giants’ Ad Oversight Tools Fall Short
Meta oversight board reviews handling of AI-created celebrity porn
https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-oversight-board-reviews-handling-ai-created-celebrity-porn-2024-04-16/
National Lawyers Guild stands by claim protesting at Berkeley dean’s house is free speech
https://www.thecollegefix.com/national-lawyers-guild-stands-by-claim-protesting-at-berkeley-deans-house-is-free-speech/
Schools Were Just Supposed To Block Porn. Instead They Sabotaged Homework and Censored Suicide Prevention Sites
https://themarkup.org/digital-book-banning/2024/04/13/schools-were-just-supposed-to-block-porn-instead-they-sabotaged-homework-and-censored-suicide-prevention-sites
High Schoolers Describe the Dangers and Frustrations of Censored Web Access
https://themarkup.org/digital-book-banning/2024/04/13/five-high-schoolers-explain-how-web-filters-inhibit-their-learning-and-safety
Investigate Internet Censorship in Your School Districts
https://themarkup.org/digital-book-banning/2024/04/13/students-how-you-can-investigate-internet-censorship-in-your-school-district
Educators Juggling the Potential of Generative AI with Detection, Discipline, and Distrust
"Teachers are becoming heavily reliant on school-sanctioned AI content detection tools."
https://cdt.org/insights/report-up-in-the-air-educators-juggling-the-potential-of-generative-ai-with-detection-discipline-and-distrust/
Battle lines drawn as states take on big tech with online child safety bills
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/15/online-child-safety-bills-big-tech
Senator Warren claims TurboTax ‘relentlessly’ upsells customers
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/15/24128746/turbotax-senator-elizabeth-warren-ftc
YouTube To Cut Down On Mobile Third-Party Ad Blockers
https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/269521462/enforcement-on-third-party-apps
Privacy Watchdogs Urge Congress To Pass Data Broker Opt-Out Bill
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/395315/privacy-watchdogs-urge-congress-to-pass-data-broke.html
Ad Industry Criticizes New Privacy Bill
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/395304/ad-industry-cable-lobby-and-consumer-advocates-cr.html
Dataminr Unveils ReGenAI Which Automatically Regenerates in Real Time
The Future of Privacy Forum Comments to the Office of Management and Budget on AI and Privacy Impact Assessments
https://fpf.org/blog/fpf-submits-comments-to-the-office-of-management-and-budget-on-ai-and-privacy-impact-assessments/
Chirp Systems 'Smart Lock' contains hard-coded credentials that can be used to remotely open any of the locks
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/04/crickets-from-chirp-systems-in-smart-lock-key-leak/
Autonomous Vehicles LiDAR Vulnerable to Road Object Spoofing
https://www.ndss-symposium.org/wp-content/uploads/2024-350-paper.pdf
Omni Hotels Confirms Data Breach
https://www.omnihotels.com/cyber-attack-update?april-14-2024-update
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe law firm fined $8M for data breach that affected 600K people
Cerebral fined $7M for misleading consumers about their cancellation policies and deceiving them about their data sharing practices
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/proposed-ftc-order-will-prohibit-telehealth-firm-cerebral-using-or-disclosing-sensitive-data
Bayer seeks legal shield from suits claiming Roundup causes cancer
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bayer-roundup-legislation-shield-cancer/
Roundup has been linked to cancer. It’s time to ban it
https://pirg.org/articles/the-weed-killer-roundup-has-been-linked-to-cancer-its-time-to-ban-it/
FTC: Addressing Personal Data Vulnerabilities Systematically
Cherry Health data breach affected 185K people
https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/18/ransomware_cherry_health/
Change Healthcare’s New Ransomware Nightmare Goes From Bad to Worse
https://www.wired.com/story/change-healthcare-ransomhub-data-sale/
UnitedHealth Group Says Hackers Stole Sensitive Data
https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/ns/changehealthcare/faq.html
State & Local Privacy News
VT- Prosecutors are managing well over 300 cases. Officials say that has to change, and soon
https://vtdigger.org/2024/04/16/in-most-vermont-counties-prosecutors-are-managing-well-over-300-cases-officials-say-that-has-to-change-and-soon/
ME- Republicans Say Lewiston Mass Shooting Was God's Retribution for Abortion Rights
https://www.commondreams.org/news/maine-republican-shooting
ME- The House of Representatives backs data privacy bill
https://www.pressherald.com/2024/04/16/democrat-backed-data-privacy-bill-advances-out-of-committee/
House sends stricter data privacy bill back to Senate
https://www.pressherald.com/2024/04/17/maine-senate-rejects-stricter-data-privacy-proposal/
ME- Legislature Fails to Enact Privacy Law
https://epic.org/maine-legislature-fails-to-enact-privacy-law/
MA- Jailed Students sue Department of Elementary and Secondary Education over Special Ed Access
https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/04/16/jailed-men-in-massachusetts-sue-department-of-elementary-and-secondary-education-over-special-ed-access/
MA- As state leans in on artificial intelligence, AG Campbell waves a yellow flag
https://commonwealthbeacon.org/government/state-government/as-state-leans-in-on-artificial-intelligence-ag-campbell-waves-a-yellow-flag/
NH- Open Government Advocates Support Recent Public Records Proposal
NY- SUNY Niagara College Opens $8M Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy
NJ- Atlantic City mayor and his wife charged with abusing, assaulting teenage daughter
MD- The St. Paul's School Wants To Know The Gender Identity of Young Students, And If They Had "Oral Sex"
SC- Who Stole 3.6M Tax Records?
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/04/who-stole-3-6m-tax-records-from-south-carolina/
VA- Shenandoah police purchase Vigilant Solutions license plate readers
https://shensentinel.com/news/borough-police-put-bodycams-to-use-license-plate-readers-coming-soon/
VA- Virginia Commonwealth University earns top rating for free speech
https://www.thefire.org/news/virginia-commonwealth-university-earns-top-rating-free-speech
GA- Waymo testing self-driving taxis in Atlanta
AL- Hueytown Police purchase 8 license plate readers
https://www.wbrc.com/2024/04/11/hueytown-police-department-getting-up-8-new-license-plate-reader-machines/
AL- Lawmakers Want Prison for False Reporting Charges. That Could Have Serious Consequences
FL- Gov. DeSantis signs bill limiting book objections in school libraries
KS- Governor declines to veto age-verification for porn websites
"Under the bill, parents or guardians of anyone under 18 gaining access to online pornography could file a lawsuit and seek damages of $50,000 or more against companies that didn’t successfully screen minors from material depicting or describing nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or sadomasochistic abuse in a manner offensive to community standards."
https://kansasreflector.com/2024/04/13/anti-pornography-bill-inspiring-bipartisan-support-among-kansas-lawmakers-to-become-law/
KS- Legislature Unanimously Passed a Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill
NE- Lawmakers pass bill that would allow smaller school districts to arm staff members
"It can be anyone from the superintendent to the janitor," Senator Brewer continued, according to the report. Regardless of the choice, those who are armed must undergo training.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/nebraska-lawmakers-pass-bill-allow-smaller-school-districts-arm-staff-members
NE- Governor Approves Consumer Data Privacy Act
IA- House Passes Bill That Prohibits Credit Card Codes From Tracking Firearms Purchases
https://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2024/04/iowa-passes-bill-that-would-prohibit-credit-card-codes-to-track-firearms-purchases/
WI- Milwaukee police seek ‘open source intelligence (surveillance) tool’ for RNC
https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2024/04/02/milwaukee-police-seek-open-source-intelligence-tool-for-rnc/
TX- We were fined by our HOA for parking in our own garage – It took four years for a judge to agree with us
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Garden-Oaks-homeowners-group-challenged-in-state-7237623.php
ID- State Goes to the Supreme Court to Argue That Pregnant People Are Second-Class Citizens
https://theintercept.com/2024/04/19/idaho-abortion-supreme-court-emtala/
CO- Bill Aims to Protect Consumer Brain Data
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/science/colorado-brain-data-privacy.html
CA- ‘Lol, No’ Is The Perfect Response To LAPD’s Nonsense ‘IP’ Threat Letter Over ‘Fuck The LAPD’ Shirt
CA- No prison time for San Francisco developer who bribed city officials for 18 years
https://sfstandard.com/2024/04/19/san-francisco-developer-sia-tahbazof-corruption-sentenced/
World Privacy News
Between biometric privacy and border control: Tech in the Migration Pact
https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/podcast/between-privacy-and-border-control-tech-in-the-migration-pact/
Mass surveillance and undermining encryption still on table in EU Council
https://edri.org/our-work/open-letter-mass-surveillance-and-undermining-encryption-still-on-table-in-eu-council/
Europe’s free speech debate intensifies after Belgian police shut down far-right conference
https://www.courthousenews.com/europes-free-speech-debate-intensifies-after-belgian-police-shut-down-far-right-conference/
EU interior ministers want to exempt themselves from chat control bulk scanning of private messages
https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/leak-eu-interior-ministers-want-to-exempt-themselves-from-chat-control-bulk-scanning-of-private-messages/
Worldcoin passes 10M users
https://worldcoin.org/blog/announcements/tfh-world-app-passes-10-million-users
U.N. data breach
"The data could include dates of birth, social security numbers, bank account information, passport details, and information related to former and current staffers’ family members, as well as information related to contractors."
https://cyberscoop.com/undp-data-stolen-ransomware/
Meta wants Google and Apple to take over age verification
https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0416/1443722-meta-europe/
Meta’s ‘consent or pay’ tactic must not prevail over privacy
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/15/consent-or-pay-open-letter-edpb/
EU tells Meta it can't paywall privacy
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/17/consent-or-pay-decision-report/
https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/18/eu_meta_subscription_privacy/
The two sides of web scraping: When data collection becomes a double-edged sword
https://edri.org/our-work/the-two-sides-of-web-scraping-when-data-collection-becomes-a-double-edged-sword/
The European Data Protection Board strategy for cross-border data protection standards
https://www.edpb.europa.eu/system/files/2024-04/edpb_strategy_2024-2027_en.pdf
Rounding up Five Recent CJEU Cases on GDPR Compensation
https://www.insideprivacy.com/cybersecurity-2/rounding-up-five-recent-cjeu-cases-on-gdpr-compensation/
Hackers threaten to leak World-Check, a huge sanctions and financial crimes watchlist
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/18/world-check-database-leaked-sanctions-financial-crimes-watchlist/
Russia- Government publishes consent forms for processing personal data in facial recognition and ID systems
http://actual.pravo.gov.ru/content/content.html#pnum=0001202404120032
Russia- Central Bank letter about eliminating personal data recorded during its inspections
https://www.cbr.ru/Crosscut/LawActs/File/7734
Spain- Supreme Court decision on compensation for unlawful consultation of personal data
https://www.poderjudicial.es/search/TS/openDocument/2c742ed184f55d96a0a8778d75e36f0d/20240327
Sri Lanka- Japan's International Organization for Migration gives government $8.4M grant to use facial recognition at airports
https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=98574
UK- Met criticized over arrest threat to ‘openly Jewish’ man near pro-Palestine demonstration
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/jewish-london-met-metropolitan-police-londoners-b2531491.html
Met Police apologize for 'openly Jewish' comment
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-68856360
UK- Vacationers warned to prepare for major new airport facial recognition rules in 29 European countries
UK- Police are relentlessly using live facial recognition
UK- The British Retail Consortium asks police to increase facial recognition usage to combat shoplifting
https://brc.org.uk/news/corporate-affairs/brc-calls-on-pcc-candidates-to-get-tough-on-retail-crime/
UK- Serco and Virgin Active pull employee facial recognition/fingerprint scanner systems
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/16/leisure-centres-scrap-biometric-systems-to-keep-tabs-on-staff-amid-uk-data-watchdog-clampdown
UK- Securitas OneID's whitepaper claims digital IDs are supported by banks because it cuts down on fraud
https://oneid.uk/hubfs/Guides-and-PDFs/Bank-based-digital-identity-the-missing-link-in-solving-payment-fraud.pdf
UK- The Department for Work and Pensions could violate human rights with plan to snoop on benefit claimants' bank accounts
https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-benefit-claimants-bank-account-surveillance-human-rights/
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dwp-plans-to-snoop-on-claimants-bank-accounts-branded-orwellian-sqzf2gvtt
UK- The Crown Prosecution Service says it was wrong to pursue case against press photographer
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/apr/09/cps-wrong-case-press-photographer-dimitris-legakis
UK- Creating Deepfake Porn Could Soon Get You Thrown in Jail
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-cracks-down-on-deepfakes-creation
UK- Police chiefs to regain power to lead officer misconduct hearings
UK- Inside the disinformation industry: A government-sponsored agency censoring journalism
https://unherd.com/2024/04/inside-the-disinformation-industry/
UK- MPs call for an independent review of the Counter Disinformation Unit
https://unherd.com/newsroom/mps-call-for-review-of-government-disinformation-unit/
UK- ICO guide to improve transparency in health and social care
North Korea- Government buying Chinese-made facial recognition cameras to tighten control
"North Korea is putting surveillance cameras in schools and workplaces and collecting fingerprints, photographs and other biometric information from its citizens in a technology-driven push to monitor its population even more closely."
https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2024/04/16/north-korea-is-buying-chinese-surveillance-cameras-in-a-push-to-tighten-control-report-says/
Syria- Mass death, torture and other violations against people detained
Iran- The government's imprisonment of EU diplomat reveals new era of hostage diplomacy
Airports Company South Africa to install facial recognition at every airport on the continent
https://www.tourismupdate.co.za/article/airports-company-makes-headway-digital-implementation
AU- Police Commissioner Karen Webb We Will Be the “Source of Truth”
https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/watch-live-nsw-police-commissioner-karen-webb-and-afp-commissioner-reece-kershaw-speak-to-media-after-teenager-charged-with-terrorism-offence/news-story/05d8b01a26952f7058f51cb355a79ace
Canada- Government to use HEXWAVE weapons scanners
Canada- Government hands ‘long-overdue’ title over more than 200 islands to Haida Nation
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/15/haida-first-nation-land-canada
Brazil- Government Rebrands Internet Censorship Amid Pushback
https://reclaimthenet.org/brazil-rebrands-internet-censorship-amid-pushback
Brazil- Data Protection Authority creates transparency, integrity program
Peru- Jorge Chávez International Airport to use RecFaces to ID passengers