Who owns your voice? Scarlett Johansson OpenAI complaint raises questions
The use of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) raises questions about existing laws' ability to protect a person's appearance and voice. [ more ]
Fatemeh Fannizadeh on Crypto Law, Switzerland and How KYC Is Failing
Financial surveillance and compliance with financial laws can disproportionately impact innocent individuals, leading to a call for innovative solutions like DeFi and privacy technology. [ more ]
Germany's BMI approves Federal Data Protection Act draft
Germany's Federal Ministry of the Interior has approved a draft amendment of the Federal Data Protection Act.
The amendment includes a credit scoring regulation that prevents companies from discriminating against consumers based on certain personal information. [ more ]
Meta faces another EU privacy challenge over 'pay for privacy' consent choice | TechCrunch
Privacy rights advocacy group noyb is filing a complaint against Meta for allegedly breaching EU law by making it harder for users to withdraw consent to tracking ads.
Meta's previous legal bases for processing Europeans' data for ad targeting were invalidated in 2021.
Meta requires users who don't want to be tracked to pay for monthly subscriptions, while those who want free access have to 'consent' to tracking; noyb disagrees with this framing. [ more ]
In Landmark Battle Over Free Speech, EFF Urges Supreme Court to Strike Down Texas and Florida Laws that Let States Dictate What Speech Social Media Sites Must Publish
The Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that a 1998 federal law criminalizing access to digital works for lawful purposes is unenforceable and violates the First Amendment.
The EFF is urging the Supreme Court to reverse a ruling that allows the Justice Department to censor a platform's ability to publish information about government data requests. [ more ]
House Judiciary Committee demands warrant, other safeguards on feds' FISA spy powers
The House Judiciary Committee released new legislation to overhaul the government's electronic spying law, proposing new limits on who can access communications.
The bill would require a warrant if the FBI wants to use an American's identity for a search of the data. [ more ]
The Intelligence Committees' Proposals for a 702 Reauthorization Bill are Beyond Bad
Both congressional intelligence committees have released proposals for reauthorizing Section 702 spying powers, largely unchanged despite repeated abuse.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) released a report calling for reauthorization of Section 702, justifying the program with old justifications and referencing threats like ISIS and terrorism. [ more ]
Another S.702 reform bill lands, but no warrant requirement
US lawmakers have introduced alternative legislation to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act without requiring a warrant for US law enforcement agencies to access electronic communications.
Section 702 allows US intelligence agencies to monitor communications involving foreigners but can also be used to access the private communications of US citizens and green-card holders in certain circumstances.
The legislation introduced by Senator Mark Warner and others includes some safeguards for US person queries under Section 702, but has been criticized for not going far enough to protect privacy. [ more ]
California can share gun owners' personal information with researchers, appeals court rules
A state appeals court in California reversed a previous decision and ruled that the state can continue providing personal information of gun owners to researchers for studying gun violence.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law allowing the Department of Justice to share identifying information of over 4 million gun owners with qualified research institutions.
Gun owners and organizations had sued the state, claiming that the data sharing violated their privacy rights. [ more ]
California can share gun owners' personal information with researchers, appeals court rules
A state appeals court in California has ruled that the state can continue providing personal information of gun owners to researchers for studying gun violence.
The court found that the lower court failed to consider the state's interest in studying and preventing gun violence when it temporarily blocked the law.
The data sharing law is among several gun measures in California that are being legally challenged. [ more ]
European lawmakers try to balance protection and privacy with law on explicit images of children
European Union lawmakers adopt amendments to draft law on preventing circulation of sexually explicit content of minors online.
Law would require internet providers to assess risks and take mitigation measures, but exclude end-to-end encrypted material from detection.
Reports of online child sexual abuse have increased globally, prompting the proposal to force online platforms to detect and remove the material. [ more ]