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Washington, DC – Today, Future of Privacy Forum, along with leading consumer genetic and personal genomic testing companies 23andMe, Ancestry, Helix, MyHeritage, and Habit, released Privacy Best Practices for Consumer Genetic Testing Services. The Best Practices provide a policy framework for the collection, protection, sharing, and use of Genetic Data generated by consumer genetic testing services. These services are commonly offered to consumers for testing and interpretation related to ancestry, health, nutrition, wellness, genetic relatedness, lifestyle, and other purposes.

CES 2018 brought to light many exciting advancements in consumer technologies. Without a doubt, Smart TVs, Smart Homes, and voice assistants were dominant: LG has a TV that rolls up like a poster; Philips introduced a Google Assistant-enabled TV is designed for the kitchen; and Samsung revealed its new line of refrigerators, TVs, and other home devices powered by Bixby, their intelligent voice assistant.

Notes from FPF On December 12, 2017, FPF announced the winners of our 8th Annual Privacy Papers for Policymakers (PPPM) Award. This Award recognizes leading privacy scholarship that is relevant to policymakers in the United States Congress, at U.S. federal agencies, and for data protection authorities abroad. In this special issue of the Scholarship Reporter, you […]

Today, the Future of Privacy Forum released a new study, Understanding Corporate Data Sharing Decisions: Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities for Sharing Corporate Data with Researchers. In this report, we aim to contribute to the literature by seeking the “ground truth” from the corporate sector about the challenges they encounter when they consider making data available for academic research. We hope that the impressions and insights gained from this first look at the issue will help formulate further research questions, inform the dialogue between key stakeholders, and identify constructive next steps and areas for further action and investment.

On October 26, 2017, John Verdi, FPF’s Vice President of Policy, was a panelist for the National Archives Foundation’s 2nd Annual McGowan Forum on Ethics: The Challenge of Big Data. The panel discussed the ethical responsibility of those who compile and track citizens’ personal data.  The conversation focused around what responsibility corporations and governments have to protect their customers and be transparent in regard to possible data hacks.

Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) released “Law Enforcement Access to Student Records: A Guide for School Administrators & Ed Tech Service Providers,” written by Amelia Vance and Sarah Williamson. This guide helps to answer some of the basic questions that we have heard from key stakeholders about law enforcement access to data over the past nine months.

The Future of Privacy Forum conducted a study of the companies enrolled in the US-EU Privacy Shield program and determined that 114 European headquartered companies are active Privacy Shield Participants. These European companies rely on the program to transfer data to their US subsidiaries or to essential vendors that support their business needs.

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.