data protection

Facebook Messenger’s encryption plans labelled a ‘disaster’ for child safety

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  Facebook’s plans to encrypt its messenger service will be a “disaster” for child safety and law enforcement, a senior National Crime Agency (NCA) director has said.  In 2019, Facebook confirmed it was forging ahead with plans to bring end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to its Messenger platform, despite calls from governments that it will make it easier for … Read more

Google presses ahead with ‘walled garden’ to replace third-party cookies in Chrome

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Google is pressing ahead with plans to ditch third-party cookies in its Chrome web browser in favour of its own “privacy sandbox”, despite the launch of an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over whether the practice is anti-competitive.  Third-party cookies are created by entities other than the website that the user is … Read more

Singapore police will have access to contact-tracing data

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The Singaporean Minister for Home Affairs has confirmed that the state’s police force has the authority to access Covid-19 contact-tracing app data for the purposes of criminal investigations, raising potential privacy concerns.  Singapore’s TraceTogether app was developed in less than two months and was among the first Covid-19 contact tracing apps to be launched. The … Read more

Private prison firm hit with ransomware attack

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The GEO Group, the company best known for operating illegal immigration detention centres and private prisons in the US, disclosed that it suffered a ransomware attack this summer, exposing sensitive information about inmates and residents.  Personal data and health information of both inmates and residents were exposed during the attack, which took place on 19 August … Read more

Facebook in legal battle over ban on transatlantic data transfer

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Facebook is fighting demands from European data regulators to stop transferring user data from the EU to US servers. In a lawsuit filed in Dublin, the company warned that it would not be able to provide services to EU users if forced to comply with the order.  Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Ireland’s … Read more

Google misled users over data privacy issues. says Australian watchdog

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Australia’s competition regulator has accused Google of misleading consumers to get permission for use of their personal data for targeted advertising.  The move, which is seeking a fine “in the millions” and aims to establish a precedent, comes as scrutiny grows worldwide over data privacy, with US and European lawmakers currently investigating how tech companies treat user … Read more