Smart Cities Need Smart Privacy Protections: FPF seeks public comments on proposed Open Data Risk Assessment for the City of Seattle
The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) requests feedback from the public on the proposed City of Seattle Open Data Risk Assessment. In 2016, the City of Seattle declared in its Open Data Policy that the city’s data would be “open by preference,” except when doing so may affect individual privacy. To ensure its Open Data program effectively protects individuals, Seattle committed to performing an annual risk assessment and tasked FPF with creating and deploying an initial privacy risk assessment methodology for open data.
Location Controls in iOS 11 Highlight the Role of Platforms
From Pokémon Go, to the geo-targeting of abortion clinics, to state legislative efforts, the last year has seen significant attention paid to the many ways our apps use and often share location data. In the midst of this heightened awareness of geo-location privacy, iPhone users and app developers may notice a difference this Fall, when Apple will be releasing updates to iOS 11 that will increase users’ control over how their geo-location may be collected and used. The changes highlight the ongoing importance—and legal implications—of platform settings for consumer privacy.
Member Levels and Benefits
FPF educates and consults with corporate leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders on data use that is ethical and responsible. By advising on complex tech and legal issues, and ensuring stakeholders understand the potential trade-offs, FPF’s work has a real-world impact benefiting communities and societies globally. FPF ensures a wide range of views and voices by […]
Meet FPF's 2017 Summer Interns!
We are pleased to introduce FPF’s 2017 Summer Interns. FPF interns work with policy staff on a range of substantive projects. They perform research and craft analysis regarding the intersection of privacy and emerging technologies, including: connected cars, the Internet of Things, education technologies, smart communities, de-identification, advertising technology, biometrics, and genetic analysis.
DPAs/Enforcement
Investigations, sanctions CNIL publicly served a formal notice to WhatsApp, claiming the lack of legal basis for the company transferring data to Facebook after its acquisition. CNIL is the latest DPA that went after connected toys (“My friend Cayla” and “I-que”). It served a “formal notice to cease serious breach of privacy due to lack […]
Case-law (CJEU, ECHR, national courts)
CJEU The CJEU decided in Case C-434/16 Nowak that the written answers to a test, as well as the examiner’s comments on those answers, are personal data of the person who takes the test. However, the questions of the test are not personal data (this may result in a situation where a person receives a […]
Consumer Genetic Testing: Beginning to Assess Privacy Practices
Genetic testing is becoming more widely available to consumers; such testing can be an exciting new opportunity to help individuals flesh out family histories, discover cultural connections, and learn about their personal backgrounds. The availability of low-cost genetic sequencing and analysis has led to numerous businesses offering a variety of services, including some that provide detailed health and wellness reports that explain how genetics can influence risks for certain diseases. The enthusiastic public response demonstrates that there is great demand for this knowledge.
Homomorphic Encryption Signals the Future for Socially Valuable Research on Private Data
Encryption has become a cornerstone of the technologies that support communication, commerce, banking, and myriad other essential activities in today’s digital world. In an announcement this week, Google revealed a new marketing attribution tool that relies on a particular type of advanced encryption to allow advertisers to understand whether their online ads have resulted in in-store purchases.
"Your Phone May Be Tracking Your Every Move; Here's How to Stop It"
During the International Association of Privacy Professional’s Global Privacy Summit 2017, FPF’s CEO, Jules Polonetsky, took a moment to speak with NBC 4 Los Angeles about the privacy implications of granting apps permission to track your location.
Announcing the Inaugural Issue of Future of Privacy Forum's Privacy Scholarship Reporter
Future of Privacy Forum is pleased to announce it has published the inaugural issue of the Privacy Scholarship Reporter. This regular newsletter will highlight recent privacy research and is published by the Privacy Research and Data Responsibility Network (RCN), an FPF initiative supported by the National Science Foundation.