In an op-ed for Slate, Center for Humane Technology Executive Director Tristan Harris and Harvard University law professor Lawrence Lessig write that a federal court's injunction to stop enforcement of the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act was a demonstration of corporate interests taking advantage of the First Amendment to block legislation to make children's online experience safer.
Reuters reports former Meta employee Arturo Bejar testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Juidiciary's Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law 7 Nov., and said the company was aware of the online harms teenagers experienced on its platforms but failed to take action.Full story
Advocacy group SPARC released a study analyzing privacy risks associated with the publishing industry. The report examines how book publishers' privacy practices align with traditional library standards, specifically pointing to new user tracking issues. Full story
The Electronic Frontier Foundation announced the launch of Badger Swarm, an addition to its anti-tracking tool Privacy Badger. Badger Swarm was created to develop Privacy Badger's tracking knowledge, and now helps block content delivery network fingerprinting. Full story
In an op-ed for Bloomberg Law, U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., urged passage of comprehensive federal privacy legislation to set the stage for artificial intelligence regulation. The lawmakers said a federal privacy law represents "a critical first step toward achieving AI leadership" as "comprehensive protections on the collection, processing, transfer, and storage of our data" can be "foundational" for AI rules.
The California Privacy Protection Agency Board announced the agenda for its next open meeting 8 Dec. The California Privacy Rights Act rules subcommittee will present updates on draft CPRA regulations for automated decision-making, risk assessments and cybersecurity audits.
Euractiv reports EU institutions are gearing up proposals to try to finalize the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act during the potential final trilogue negotiation 6 Dec. Members of European Parliament circulated a compromise text that replaces a previously proposed full ban on biometric identification technologies with prohibited practices and narrow allowances.
Thailand's Personal Data Protection Committee released draft regulations on cross-border data transfers in accordance with Sections 28 and 29 of the Personal Data Protection Act. The draft provides for data being transferred to countries with adequate data protection standards, which the PDPC may decide on a case-by-case basis.
Cryptographers discovered a strategy to privately extract information from public databases, Quanta Magazine reports. The researchers expanded on the idea of private information retrieval to search and extract information without being detected. The strategy works on a smaller scale but with more development the group hopes it could lead to fully private internet searches.Full story
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission accused mobile data broker Kochava of not adequately safeguarding users' personal information and violating their right to privacy, MediaPost reports. The recently unsealed complaint shows Kochava denied the allegations, saying the data it sells is not personally identifiable.