The UK’s Data Protection Authority has launched a framework of best practice guidance based on data protection in artificial intelligence. Based on two years of research and consultation by Professor Reuben Binns, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the ICO from 2018-2020 (now Associate Professor of Human Centred Computing at the University of Oxford), and the ICO […]
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UK Data Protection Index: first findings published
Data protection professionals are calling for more investment in increasing internal resources, software systems and staff training – but only a quarter expect their budget to increase in the next 12 months, according to the findings of the first UK Data Protection Index. The index, launched by the Data Protection World Forum and the DPO […]
US law makers question tech giants’ attitude to privacy
Members of the US House of Representatives queried how the likes of Google and Apple treat users’ privacy. During a five-hour online appearance before the House’s sub-committee on anti-trust, members gave examples of the tech giants taking actions which would directly benefit themselves while harming competitors. One case was a 2015 decision by Google to […]
Danish hotel group fined for failing to delete customers’ details
The Arp-Hansen Hotel Group in Denmark has been fined 1.1m Danish crowns (US$170,000, €148,000) and referred to the police by the country’s data protection authority (Datatilsynet) for storing information on clients longer than necessary. In an audit visit, the DPA found there were customer profiles which should have been deleted several years earlier. The authority […]
Delivery service data breach ‘affects up to 2.5m customers’
A hacker has reportedly obtained information on up to 2.5m users of the US online alcohol delivery service Drizly. The data includes customer email addresses, date of birth, hashed passwords and, in some cases, delivery address. “In terms of scale, up to 2.5 million accounts have been affected,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying […]
Data protection central to fighting financial crimes, says EU watchdog
The European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiorowski says the European Commission (EC) should make data protection a golden standard as EU combats money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The EC is drawing up an action plan for a comprehensive policy on preventing what is known as AML/CFT. Wiewiorowski recommends appropriate safeguards are in put […]
Study proves masked faces make recognition technology less accurate
An initial study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US has shown an error rate as high as 50% in facial recognition for people wearing face masks. The government body tested 89 algorithms and found them to be between 5% and 50% inaccurate when comparing a photo of someone with […]
New report reveals cyber security flaws in UK universities
More than half of UK universities have reported at least one data breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) over the last year, according to a report from managed security services provider Redscan. According to 86 respondents of 134 UK universities approached by Redscan for Freedom of Information requests in March 2020, there were two […]
Healthcare provider to pay US$1m for stolen laptop breach
A Rhode Island healthcare provider has agreed to pay a U$1,040,000 (€906,000) penalty after the theft of an unencrypted laptop. It was stolen from an employee of Lifespan Health System Affiliated Covered Entity and contained patients’ names, medical record numbers, demographic information, medication information and other data. The breach affected 20,431 individuals. The health provider […]
Outgoing Canadian commissioner accepts breaches will happen
Elaine Keenan Bengts, information and privacy commissioner in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, says privacy breaches will remain a constant. “They’re going to continue to happen because human error is usually the nexus of most privacy breaches. You’re never going to fix human error 100%,” she was quoted as saying by the country’s […]